In this edition Iâve switched things around. Instead of the links to external articles Iâve written a small essay on a marketing topic that grabbed my interest. Let me know if you have any opinion on this new format.
The are two main modes brands use to communicate:
Broadcasting
Shaping
Broadcasting is making sure internal company news (be it product releases, HR advancements etc) are being heard on the outside.
On the other hand, the shaping mode is about highlighting trends, and generally speaking bending the world to make it fit better with the brandâs worldview.
The goal of the shaping mode is to expand your brand platform. Being able to say a more than âProduct Y is releasedâ and attract customers. How? By putting content out there that will attract like-minded people.
The first wave of âshapingâ happened when big tech cos started having blogs, and publishing white papers. The second wave happened with the rise of social media. And the third wave weâre seeing now is the brand as media.
A few of these examples are:
Stripeâs Increment magasine
Mailchimpâs Presents and its collection of movies, podcasts, and magasines
Allianzâs Project M magasine
These brands have nothing to do with the publishing business. Yet, at one point they decided to form fully fledged publishing teams.
Stripe uses Increment to shape how engineering teams can work together. It also heps them build goodwill among software engineers, a notoriously difficult audience to reach. Mailchimp uses its movies and podcasts to show how anyone, and any idea can become a business (but without all the youtuber dropshipping bullshit). And Allianz uses its publication to show how much of an expert they are when it comes to pension funds around the world.
Itâs definitely a step up from the more traditional âthought leadershipâ content weâre used to see in the form of blog posts and ebooks. You might be wondering why brands are spinning up internal publishing teams when most of us now spend our time online. To quote Seth Godin: ââIn a crowded marketplace, fitting in is failing. In a busy marketplace, not standing out is the same as being invisible.â
Now that everything has moved online itâs useful to use a different medium to communicate your ideas as a brand. Itâs also part of a trend back towards the analog world, the same way weâve seen the comeback of the vinyl in the past few years. Having a brand magasine also helps to become the voice of the industry by being the player who defines which key issues will be discussed and when. It also makes sense when your target persona is not easy to reach via conventional media such as paid ads.
Hereâs the deal: the problem with traditional online advertising is that you have to hope that your persona has a buying intent when they see your ad. The opposite philosophy (which content marketing supports) is that you should instead create âgoodwillâ with your target customers. Only then can you expect them to come back to your brand when the time is right.
Content marketing such as brand magasines create demand and brand preference, online ads capture this demand. Itâs definitely not something adapted for all brands but as a marketer I canât help but really admire brands that accept to sidestep a little from the performance path to put out those impeccable publications.
Tweet of the Week
Video of the Week
99 Problems: A brand movie by Mailchimp â The inside scoop on the world of the Irish ice cream business. Through the eyes of Pinky, self declared 'king of the ice-cream men', explore an unregulated industry where rival drivers stop at nothing to protect their livelihoods.