Content Strategy and Why You Need One
Since I started at Good, the one thing that has shifted has been the need for brands to move from pretty straightforward advertising around their product or service to becoming content publishers.
No fluff, just straight-talking insights. Our Journal is where we share honest takes on branding, backed by years of experience. If you’re after real-world thinking that cuts through the noise, you’re in the right place.
Since I started at Good, the one thing that has shifted has been the need for brands to move from pretty straightforward advertising around their product or service to becoming content publishers.
Yes, that’s right, you read that right. Sustainability is important, we’re not arguing that, but are brands getting their messaging around it right? We’re seeing some trends and we’re not encouraged. Oh, we also have our longest prepod but trying to edit it was a nightmare so, yes, five minutes of ‘banter’ before we get into the good stuff. Let us know what you think. About the sustainability chat, not our prepodding.
Research. It’s a polarising topic. Rarely do we see research apathy: you either love or hate it. If you love it, chances are you’ve seen the value – it’s given your brand clarity or strengthened your marketing strategy. But if you hate it...
Sure, they're the biggest company in the world with budgets that would make your eyes water. But we can still learn so much from Apple, no matter what size the budget or what business you're in. We got talking about it. See what you think.
Post pandemic, it feels like the sustainability trend is going to dominate. For a tired old brand cynic, it’s the next cab off the rank for brands to fetishise now that AR, QR codes and social media seem to have normalised.
There’s a formula for brand success and it’s really no different from that tried-and-true recipe you always go back to. When it comes to brand, we know what works – simplicity, quality and consistency – and it’s what’s worked for a very long time.
The world of branding is notorious for making changes to brands all the time. It's as if we need to keep changing to attract attention, when in actual fact, it's the opposite that's true. The more brands stay the same, the more recognisable they become.
If you communicate coherently and consistently with your customers, you'll outperform your competitors. We wanted to prove that this is the case, so we started to get insight from data to prove it. And, lo, Clarity Reports were born. We chat through what they are, why we think they’re useful and how the reports can be used to guide brands.
I feel for clients as they go around their agencies—presentations, suggestions, observations and, occasionally, insights. And then, when talking through a particular challenge, they are brought up. The Jesus of Modern Branding: Apple.
To understand what it takes to create an effective employer brand, it’s essential that we’re on the same page about what exactly an employer brand is, and why it's important.
We’re delighted to announce the launch of our first product from Good, the Clarity Report. We’ve been working on creating these reports for about eight months now, so it’s a relief to get it out in the world.
From a business perspective, the pandemic’s been shit. It’s forced lots of businesses to close, increased layoffs and generated tons of debt. At Good we were not spared. We stared into the abyss along with everyone else and wondered…will we make it out?
There’s loads written on tone of voice and it’s an important component of a successful brand. I want to go a bit further and say that language is about more than just TOV, it can work harder for brands.
The hippies won!!!! Branding is fully democratised! This is the future, now! Everything is awesome. We think. We'll have a chat about it. We see massive upsides and a few potential banana skins.
I’ve been thinking a wee bit about what happens to brand in this digital world, and one of my conclusions is that it’s being overpowered, and we’re now “branding by algorithm”.
One industry I think is particularly behind the curve in the brand space is recruitment. They misunderstand the value of ‘brand’ and the disproportionately important role it plays in customer interaction which happens primarily in the digital sphere.
Recorded just before Christmas, we were bombarded with the perfume ads which led to a chat about branding and the luxury market.
Today’s marketing landscape is more complex and crowded than ever. Combined with the fact consumers are busy, distracted, and have enormous demands placed on their time – how do brands achieve that much longed-for ‘cut through’?
We're in another lockdown. We're mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore. And it starts with those branding theories we just can't stand. We picked three knitting rippers to start with. We could've picked more. A lot more. We're raging. But still staying positive.
Your website is the most apparent, transparent, accessible, immediate and influential asset you have. But sometimes brand isn’t applied to your site as well as it should be. Why is this, what’s the consequence of ignoring brand here and what can you do to make sure you’ve got the best experience going? We go through it all. We also introduce the Salami of Trust, probably the biggest branding buzzword of 2021. No problem.
There’s been some buzz recently around an interesting new metric that claims to be a quick health check on your brand.
The world of brand is filled with buzzwords designed to make us sound clever. Both agencies and clients are guilty of using them – seemingly relishing the art of making simple things complicated. We call it Brand Bollocks, and the industry is full of it.
We've implemented a new client policy and we're interested in chatting it through. We're really interested in what you think about this. What have we missed, what are your concerns, what do you like? We're keen to learn. Drop us a line at [email protected] Oh, and a terrible Sean Connery joke told terribly.
I like the term ‘leaking value’ when it’s attached to brand. For me, it perfectly encapsulates the idea of what happens to organisations when they have a brand problem that’s hidden from view.