PART 1 : CONTENT
The following article is part of an ongoing series from J.Schmid with the critical elements and insights you need to strategize, execute and launch successful omnichannel campaigns. Watch your email and follow #CampaignBuildingBlocks on social media to keep up with the full story.
Any successful campaign, at its core, is about storytelling. The iconic signature photo. The memorable language. The heart-tugging anthem video. The humorous Instagram posts.
Content … it’s what tells your campaign story. How you engage on a sensory level. How you connect with your audience. The more you connect on a basic, human level, the better your campaign will be.
How you use content to accomplish this is vital to the effectiveness of the campaign. Fortunately, there are more ways than ever to capture engaging content that makes your brand look, feel and sound more human. And with increasingly tighter budgets, it’s more important than ever to maximize your efforts while saving money.
With these three techniques, you can create showstopping content that captures emotion, connects on a human level, and brings your campaign to life … all without killing your budget.
A campaign does not reside in one medium or on one channel alone. Neither does your content. When you’re building your campaign, always think about a broad reach. How will these assets live on your website? On social media? On television? In print? To get the most out of your campaign, follow these three techniques – plan, prioritize, maximize – to get the most out of your content, and the most bang for your buck.
1. PLAN
Planning is the most vital step in efficient content collection. For a campaign, use this as an opportunity to get as many new assets as possible. Most of your visual collateral will come from a photo or video shoot. This is your chance to really make your content count.
Most of your visual collateral will come from a photo or video shoot. This is your chance to really make your content count.
While you’re planning your next shoot, plan to get as much content as you can. Don’t think about just the product, or the person, or the place. Think about how those assets will be used. If you’re planning a tabletop shoot of merchandise, look for opportunities to do multiple captures to generate fun animated gifs. Doing a model shoot? Add some behind the scenes shots or Boomerangs to use on social media. While you’re shooting still photos, also plan for video opportunities, where your photographer or a secondary videographer captures live action footage. Conversely, if you’re doing a commercial or video shoot, get still photos as well.
Plan for behind the scenes material to show your audience how things are done. This can be done with available technology – smart phones – and doesn’t have to have a big budget associated with it.
You have the models. You have the merchandise. You have the crew. Use those valuable resources to get as much as you can in the time that you have. This is a content-rich opportunity to tell that campaign story.
2. PRIORITIZE
With your plan in place, you can go to your photo shoot with confidence, knowing that you will get the content to bring your campaign to life. Because time, resources and budget are limited, break down your plan by must-haves. What are the pieces you can’t live without? Make a list of all the assets you intend to acquire and prioritize them:
Model photos
Product photos
Lifestyle photos
Selling video
Emotive video
Location scenery
Animated gifs
What do you have to have? What can you sacrifice if time becomes an issue? Make sure you give your team and your crew the time to get what you need.
What do you have to have? What can you sacrifice if time becomes an issue? Make sure you give your team and your crew the time to get what you need. If possible, allow for some exploration within the plan. Does an opportunity arise on set to get a moment you didn’t plan for but that would enhance the story? Chase that idea. But make sure you get what you need first. Prioritization ensures that you serve the campaign with the right content.
3. MAXIMIZE
Now that you have your content, it’s time to put it to use. And to put it out there, in every channel, at every touchpoint, every place it can connect with your audience. Campaigns are most effective when they are consistent and persistent. Your commercial, your billboard, your email, your Facebook post … wherever your campaign lands, it should speak in one voice, with one clear visual identity, even as the medium changes.
The recurrence and repetition of your visual storytelling will create resonance in the audience. Repurposing the content gives a unified vision to the story.
That’s where the content you’ve captured comes to life. If you have a signature, iconic image as the lynchpin of the campaign, maximize it. Don’t limit it to one channel. Make it recognizable, unmistakable. The recurrence and repetition of your visual storytelling will create resonance in the audience. Repurposing the content gives a unified vision to the story. Pull video snippets from your commercial and use them on social media. Take a billboard and refine it for use as online retargeting ads. Use campaign photos in your catalog to enhance the story. This not only maximizes your message, it maximizes your budget.
Content. It is the mighty buzzword for any storytelling assets used to sell your message. Content is critical in the creation and execution of a campaign. Find a hook, whether visual or verbal, build a story around it, and look for cost-saving ways to bring it to life without killing your budget.
With a campaign, you’re not just going after the sale. You want a campaign to resonate beyond products and services and to connect with your audience on a deeper level. You’re not just selling a product or a service. You want to connect with people. Your images and messaging should resonate on an emotional level. By being more human, you become more relevant to the people you’re engaging.
The right content can do that. It’s the power of your campaign. It’s the heart of your story.
Need help planning and executing your campaign content? Contact Matthew Fey at mattf@jschmid.com or call 913-236-8988 to help build it.
Tags: #campaignbuildingblocks, #campaigncontent, Brand Storytelling, campaign, campaign planning, Content, Matt Fey