Flexibility is Key: Tony Lederer, Chief Strategy Officer at The&Partnership, on creating meaningful brand connections
There is no one-solution-fits-all when it comes to crafting compelling content. Tony Lederer, Chief Strategy Officer at The&Partnership, walks us through the ins and outs of creating authentic experiences between brands and their audience.
Content is the bridge between you and your audience. How do you anticipate and then integrate the right topics for your audience while maintaining a consistent brand voice?
Great content occurs at the intersection of brand values and audience values. While any good marketer has a thorough understanding of the brand values part of the equation, matching those up to audience values to create content that resonates is trickier.
It really comes down to three essential elements. The first is having a deep understanding of the audiences you’re trying to engage. What values they have. What topics move them. What they find meaningful. The second is identifying where the synergies are between these audience values and those of your brand. And finally, creating content that threads the needle between what the audience cares about and what the brand wants to communicate.
Flexibility is key. And being willing to make short term sacrifices for the longer-term vision. For instance, holding back on pushing content out in response to some big pop cultural moment that has your audiences engaged. While it sometimes does make sense to ride these sorts of trends, it has to be in context of having a natural overlap with brand positioning. Without that intersection, you lose the consistency of voice you want to maintain for the brand over the long run.