Your team’s time and talent are precious, whether your business has 1,000 skilled employees or a crew of three. So, if you’re going to invest those resources into creating content, that content should drive the most value possible.
Content must emphasize the “know, like, trust” factors to effectively guide more clients through your doors (or into your email inbox) and build positive interactions. When it comes to crafting such high-impact content, consistency is key.
In particular, your content needs a consistent cadence, consistent brand, and consistent messaging.
1. Cadence: The Rhythm of Your Content
Think of cadence as the rhythm of your content marketing strategy, or how regularly you’re publishing content. Every content channel requires a consistent publication rhythm, from blog articles to LinkedIn posts to email newsletters.
The psychology of cadence
User experience researchers at Nielsen Norman Group describe how behavioral consistency benefits humans in a social context, stating that “unpredictable people are less likely to be liked and to thrive among others.” Let’s assume this principle holds true in content creation, as well. Just as people prefer consistency in social behavior, audiences appreciate a predictable and regular content cadence. This consistency in how and when you deliver content helps to establish a reliable presence, enhancing your brand’s trustworthiness and engagement with your audience.
Think of your content cadence as an unspoken promise to your audience. While they may not consciously track that you email them once a month or post three times a week on LinkedIn, rest assured—they sense the rhythm. This rhythm builds trust and holds your brand in their peripheral vision.
How to set a realistic cadence
A consistent cadence maintains momentum and eliminates the stress of continuous decision-making. When should we create? When should we publish? When should we post?
Yet, without a team focused solely on content strategy, creation, and distribution, you’re likely to get overwhelmed and abandon your attempts at content creation altogether.
To prevent content burnout, we recommend a “walk, jog, run” approach. Much like gearing up for a gym routine, start by setting small, achievable goals that allow you to gradually scale without driving yourself—or your team—into the ground.
2. Brand: The Character of Your Content
If you’ve ever bought a book for its cover or a bottle of wine for its label, you already understand the powerful role visual branding plays in promoting a product. In the case of content marketing, the “product” is your content, and audiences want their content to be as visually appealing as it is informative, thought-provoking, or clever.
Supporting written content with high-quality, consistent branding makes that content instantly recognizable to your audience—and we aren’t only talking about your logo. Colors, fonts, graphics, and even the terms you use can dramatically impact how your content—and the company behind it—is perceived.
The psychology of branding
Research into the psychology of branding reveals that “brands can trigger cognitively engaging, emotional, and socially meaningful experiences.” The research also acknowledges that today’s brands are more than marketing tools; they are also “a means for reaching relevant social outcomes.”
In short, brands can and do have a measurable impact on an audience’s thoughts, feelings, interactions, and values.
How to leverage branding for a big impact
Do you consistently deploy the same branding elements throughout your digital landscape? And, equally important, do your brand visuals align with the tone of your content?
If your visual brand doesn’t set the same tone as your content, you’re probably due for a brand overhaul.
Colors and graphics. You’ve probably noticed that most wellness brands embrace earth tones, sports brands choose bold fonts, and finance brands prefer clear and clean logos. Visual brand elements should complement and strengthen your company’s communication, from your website copy to your blog post themes to the way your team engages on social media.
Fonts. One visual element many companies overlook is the appearance of their written content—the copy itself. In addition to selecting complementary fonts for your brand, your team should commit to applying those fonts consistently throughout all written communication.
Here at Every Little Word, for instance, we craft all our documents in Roboto font using predetermined sizes for specific elements. While these documents—blog posts, social media copy, newsletters, and more—are for our clients’ eyes only (not the general public), we still believe in the value of brand consistency for these priority visuals.
Terms. Brand terminology is another low-hanging fruit you should closely evaluate. Are you using the same terms across all your brand platforms? For example, “Book a Discovery Call” is Every Little Word’s standard call to action (CTA), and we are careful to use that exact phrase over and over. We don’t say “Book a Meeting” or “Schedule a Discovery Chat” or even “book a discovery call”—variations that may seem insignificant but ultimately play a vital role in building brand familiarity.
In your own business, set standards for the terms you use and how they’re written. This short checklist will help:
- Are your product and/or service names consistent?
- Do you maintain consistent capitalization for various brand-specific terms and phrases?
- Do you leverage consistent catchphrases?
3. Messaging: The Theme of Your Content
Consistent messaging builds recognition and trust, and the most powerful messaging roots that recognition in not only what you do but also what you believe. Well-crafted messaging is a cohesive narrative that irrefutably marries your brand with its broader mission. Perhaps that’s why Hubspot says that to develop a compelling brand message, you “need to know two things like the back of your hand: your target audience and unique value proposition.
Messaging is the art of extrapolating core themes from your brand and developing content that regularly draws from those themes. Just as the many parts of a symphony resonate as a single song, thoughtful messaging composes a recognizable “melody” that places your brand top-of-mind when someone needs your services.
The psychology of messaging
Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute reveals that “64% of consumers say that having shared values is one of the top reasons they trust a brand.” Of course, your audience can’t share your values unless they know what those values are. That’s where consistent brand messaging comes in: reinforcing your value proposition, building trust with your audience, increasing brand awareness, and making your brand more memorable.
Inconsistent messaging only confuses an audience, whereas consistent messaging decreases friction by eliminating uncertainty.
How to identify and develop your focus themes
You’ll find your focus themes already embedded in the bedrock of your brand. When Every Little Word collaborates with a client to develop their content themes, we begin with questions like these:
- What do you sell?
- What do you not sell?
- What are your core values?
- Who is your target audience?
- What differentiates you from your competitors?
Of course, any good content marketing strategy will regularly evolve. As your business grows and you introduce new products, services, or causes, your messaging will almost certainly shift—but it should always circle back to your brand’s core themes.
If you find that your messaging is scattered or inconsistent, take a pause before diving into content creation. This is the time to develop clear brand guidelines and firmly plant your content pillars. You don’t need to scrap everything you’ve ever done and start from scratch; you can begin the process of whole-brand alignment from where you are right now.
So dial back, reassess, and engage help if you need it. When you invest time and resources into nailing your messaging, you’ll avoid the pitfalls of promoting a disjointed brand identity.
Why You Need a Calendar for Your Content Marketing Strategy
Waiting for inspiration to strike is not a content marketing strategy. If you’re serious about establishing an effective content development process, you need a disciplined approach to creation and execution.
Someone who wants to run a marathon doesn’t say, “I’m going to start running.” They set a clear goal with achievable benchmarks, such as, “I’m going to run a half-mile every day at 6:00 a.m. for two weeks and then increase to a full mile.”
The same approach applies to content. And you can set those goals and benchmarks with a content calendar.
A content calendar will help you stay focused and on track. Every Little Word develops a custom content calendar for every client that includes elements like these:
- Publication dates for each piece of content: Provides a clear timeline, showing exactly when each piece of content will go live.
- Structured process for content feedback: Facilitates constructive feedback, ensuring that all content aligns with a client’s voice and objectives.
- Brainstorming and development of content ideas: Involves generating and refining ideas to keep content fresh, relevant, and engaging.
Together, these components work to streamline your content strategy, enhancing the overall effectiveness and impact of your brand’s communication.
Take the Next Step with Every Little Word
Ready to get serious about your content? Consider a Content Assessment from Every Little Word. We’ll not only evaluate your existing content, branding, and website performance but also take a deep dive into what your competitors are up to.
The outcome? A robust content marketing strategy and an actionable implementation plan that you can set in motion immediately with or without our continued support. (Hopefully, with it!) Consistency has never looked so easy.
Let’s talk. Book a Discovery Call.
