A Must Watch Documentary For Marketers and Creative Content Producers in 2017 and Beyond

"The only right way to do content marketing is to be a story".

As a musician or small business owner responsible for selling your own product much of it really comes down to how persuasive you can be. Or as Robert Rose the Chief Strategy Officer at Content Marketing Institute said,"We describe value basically. That's the classic marketing training. If you look at how marketers have been trained at universities really since time began, it's how do we actually describe the value of the product or services in an ever- clever way."

I'm all about growth and development which oftentimes means exploring the past and attempting to get a clear understanding of what was previously done to determine x, y, or z results. So if I'm interested in learning about effective marketing and brand awareness techniques and best practices than of course I'd consider learning from some of the industries best that have been doing it over the past 60 years and what other way to do that than watch a documentary. Well luckily I found one called The Story of Content: Rise of the New Marketing and it's great.

A Content Marketing Institute Film, The Story of Content: Rise of the New Marketing is a 45 minute documentary Executive Produced by BrightCove with appearances from Don Schultz Professor Emeritus-in-Service at Northwestern University, David Meerman Scott a Best-Selling Author of 10+ Marketing Books, Todd Wheatland the Global Head of Strategy at King Content, Ann Handley the Chief Content Officer at MarketingProfs, Kirk Cheyfitz the Co-CEO & Chief Storyteller at Story Worldwide, Andrew Davis the Author of Brandscaping, Julie Fleischer the Senior Director of Data, Content and Media at Kraft Foods Group, Greg McCoy a Senior Archivist at Procter & Gamble, and others!

This documentary really helps to break down the history of brand awareness, marketing, and how the story of content creation is helping to focus on being good towards a specific audience where you understand the specific buyers you are trying to reach instead of just saying, 'please anyone take me'.

The first television ads were about value but at some point in the 50s and 60s marketing became more brand ego-centric and all about themselves over the true value that is brought to the customer. Basically America became commercialized and watered down with brands simply trying to sell themselves regardless of whether the customer actually needed the product or whether they could actually do what they were selling.

I love this line;

"You can try to sell your story or you can just simply tell your story" Greg McCoy, which is similar to what Gary Vee preaches -"Don't create but document".

Publisher VS. Advertiser for audience.

Brands now understand we can do it directly.

Digital media marketing in 2017 is different than the old days when mass media communications was the ideal approach to marketing and selling a product. Now because of social media and the internet, the publisher and advertiser are competing for the audience since brands understand we can do it directly ourselves instead of paying some huge corporation a ridiculous amount of money for their one-size fits all approach.

Joe Pulizzi, founder of Content Marketing Institute said, "Instead of having to advertise in someone else's channel I have the opportunity to create my own valuable relevant and compelling content in our own channels to really create loyalty, build relationships directly with what we like to call subscribers instead of going out and having to pay for that attention." Which has lead to the power of content creation and internet marketing.

Blendtec is a great example of a company that leveraged engaging content that got customers hooked on their videos that ultimately sold their prospects on their blenders.

By using social media video marketing and platforms such as Youtube to establish a direct connection with their targeted audience allowed them to open up a new kind of relationship with the consumer. So as they saw their sales continue to increase they understood that it was because of their videos and their engaging content that ultimately fueled that relationship with their audience.

At the end of the day, there is so much BS out there whether we're talking about scam/ con-artist on the streets or in politics, we're getting sold every minute of each day of the year and people are sick of it. Now of course there are companies like Redbull and their phrase, 'Redbull gives you wings' combined with engaging content has led to millions of dollars in return. So if you're a marketer you really need to use today's direct marketing channels as effectively as possible which means leveraging content to tell your brand story to your targeted audience, and if you're doing it correctly it will resonate with people that are interested in what you have to offer them.

This is why it's tough for me to have conversations with clients that insist on only paying for marketing services while neglecting their website or social media pages. What good is it to drive potential customers to your storefront or "home base" if it doesn't look good enough to convince them to purchase your services?!? But that's another conversation for another day lol. My simple point is, in today's world with the internet and access to your prospects, content is vital to any successful business.

If you need help with creating compelling content that helps to tell your product or service story and improve your brand awareness then please do not hesitate to reach out to me here.

Don't forget to follow me on Instagram and Facebook if you aren't already!

Bonus Blurb:

I just saw this in the Youtube comment section below the video but I thought it was funny because it's spot on...

"Due to the increase in the consumers consuming social media content (Youtube, Facebook, Twitter etc..), you guys are subtly promoting your institute by showcasing this brilliant content; which to my knowledge is a classic example of a brand promoting themselves via content marketing. A brilliant promotional strategy to get your brand out there in this chaotic and noisy world. Usually an educational institute would promote themselves by just showcasing what courses they provide through annoying pop-up ads or sponsored facebook posts etc.., but you guys have actually differentiated yourselves by creating a knowledgeable & valuable content and sharing it for free through social media (Youtube), with the main objective of enticing your potential customers to get an interest in such a field so that they can sign up for your courses, thereby increasing your customer base. A genius marketing move. Kudos to you guys!!!!" Darshi Pandit