Branding Emotion (The Cinematic Version)
October 2, 2024
I wrote a blog post about why the hell does emotional movie moments have anything to do with your next branding project?
A post by:
I lost a pitch recently. I was gutted as I am too attached to my failures, but that is another blog post entirely.
The potential client I lost wanted a rebrand/brand awareness/website/advertising project thing… It was very vague and open-ended, mainly because they didn’t know what they wanted. Which happens, and that’s ok. The real issue was that no traffic was going to a subpar website and, therefore, no lead generation. So, they asked for a new website to explain their services and an advertising campaign to go with it. Simple enough, but is it the best solution?
What they asked for was bigger than the following: A. Website, B. Ads to the website, and C. Get leads and customers. Sure, this can be done, but this is where the consultative brain kicks in.
What they were really asking was incomplete. What is needed is Content Marketing: A Brand, Story plus Content project on top of the ABCs of a website-101 project. Building a beautiful website and some clicky advertising driving to that site might be great initially, but without your story, it isn’t enough. Why should customers be interested in your services if there aren’t any examples to showcase, explain, or guide them? There’s no engagement, no reason to stay interested in a basic services site. It’s a waste of advertising spend and isn’t going to cut it in the long run with the deserved results.
Along with your products, services, and leadership–your story is a massive part of your brand. If there’s just a website without the story, then there’s not much to discuss with your customer. There’s no brand opportunity.
Content generation, story-branding, content marketing, or whatever you want to call it, are stories about your product or services, your thought leadership, and about you! In the particular space the client was in, they could add their extensive thought leadership and share those experiences. The potential for content was amazing, and it would be a success for them.
So, what are the actionable items I’m trying to get across here? Get your story down, and explain why you should be the choice above all others. Get that consistent brand message out there. Then, you build that story into multiple touchpoints, blogs, Medium articles, LinkedIn posts, or even eBooks. Get those eyeballs from multiple sources loving your story and insights. Get the stories about your successes, case studies, wants & wishes, and be that destination site and a voice in your space. Then, point those pretty ads and properly spend them on your content marketing to get proper returns and results. Make your content marketing align with your digital marketing efforts, and you’ll be an online powerhouse. I’ve seen these results, and they are so much more effective than a basic website.
Unfortunately, that pitch fell flat. Maybe I didn’t sell it as good as I could. Maybe I am wrong about all of this. But that’s what my gut (and experience) tells me, and that’s the story I’m sticking to.
Let me know what you think. If you want to explore a project with me, check out my work and my stories and reach out!
Cheers!
Greg Cooper
Owner & Lead Doodler
Idea Circus 💡🎪
Not “Influencer” social,.. but social enough.
I wrote a blog post about why the hell does emotional movie moments have anything to do with your next branding project?
Blog Project Showcase : Propel Software A post by: Event & Content Projects For Propel Software It’s fun to see your work “in the wild.”
Idea Circus Is The Complete Package
That’s a dumb joke about brand & packaging design, but I wanted to introduce some new design initiatives for this studio, which caters to the wine, spirits, and cannabis industries.