70% of B2B buyers do their research online and 62% base purchasing decisions solely on digital content.
Yet, in an age where we see up to 10,000 ads each day, how can you ensure that your content stands out, is memorable, and engages with your target audience?
The answer is to create a brand content strategy that’s consistent and always-on. But what does this mean?
What is consistent marketing?
Consistent marketing is the process of regularly producing valuable content so as to engage with your target audience at multiple touchpoints in the buying journey.
Following a consistent content marketing plan not only provides your team with structure but it increases the opportunities for you to connect with customers and prospects.
This is particularly important when you consider the marketing concept known as the ‘rule of seven’, whereby a prospective customer needs to see your brand seven times before they’ll take action.
Ensuring your brand has a consistent presence will help to keep your brand top of mind in a busy marketplace. That’s why you should distribute content across all available channels, such as social media, podcasts, and blogs – but, in particular, the ones your target audience uses most.
Consistency doesn’t only apply to regularly distributing content, of course. The branding and messaging within your content should also remain consistent so that your content is unmistakably yours (e.g. the colours, fonts, and tone of voice all align with your branding) and continues to reinforce your key messaging (e.g. so as not to confuse your audience with mixed messaging).
The benefits of being consistent extend beyond boosting brand recognition. Research shows that brands with consistent messaging are worth 20% more than those with inconsistent messaging.
What is always-on marketing?
Whereas consistent marketing relates to scheduled bursts of content, always-on marketing is, as the name suggests, an ongoing continuous approach to marketing.
In other words, it’s where a brand produces reactive content in ‘real-time’ as opposed to distributing content that was planned weeks or months ahead.
This round-the-clock approach gives you the freedom to pivot off-piste in reaction to external factors. For example, during the coronavirus pandemic, many businesses were forced to re-think their marketing to reflect the new normal or working remotely and doing business online.
Equally, if customers aren’t engaging with your scheduled consistent marketing, it’s vital that you take action to remedy the situation with a different approach.
An agile outlook on your marketing gives you the best chance of responding to unexpected change in a timely and effective manner.
Why you should be consistent and always-on
If there’s one thing we’ve learned over the past couple of years, it’s that best-laid plans will most probably change. So, even though your starting point should be to have a packed content plan that allows you to consistently produce content in line with your overall business objectives, it should also be agile enough to go off-plan.
This gives you the freedom to produce random ad hoc campaigns as a reaction to world events, market trends, or customer feedback alongside your steady drumbeat of consistent activity.
The key thing to remember is that every piece of content you produce, whether it’s planned or responsive, should add value to your target audience.
To get started, we’d recommend pulling together a shared content calendar document that details your upcoming content plans across specific touchpoints. Be sure to add due dates and list who’s responsible so everyone has visibility of what’s needed. Just remember that it’s a fluid document – subject to change as you consistently monitor its effectiveness through an always-on lens.
Want to ensure your content marketing strategy includes an effective mix of consistent and always-on activity? Check out our marketing strategy page for inspiration or get in touch for a free consultation.
