Free vs paid content
The plethora of information available has created a tension between paid-for/proprietary and free/open-source content. This divide means consumers are not picky about where it comes from; the decision about whether they consume your content or not is made on quality.
Embracing your truth, but understand difference
Stories must be authentic to stand a chance of fostering a connection with an audience. Consumers are savvy enough to pick up on something that doesn’t ring true, so make sure you are clear about the brand identity, what you want to achieve by telling the story and who you are telling it to before you don the storyteller hat.
Think about the conversation your brand needs to have with prospective customers and how to start that conversation through storytelling. Then consider the platforms, devices and channels that will help your brand tell its story authentically. Different channels need different stories, in the same way different markets culturally and linguistically respond to the same message.
Ultimately the objective is to position your brand so when you say the words ‘once upon a time’, your audience is sitting comfortably, not only waiting to hear what happens next, but bursting to tell their friends how it ends.
Fergus Stoddart is the joint managing partner at content marketing agency Edge.
Kirsten Robb is a former journalist at SmartCompany. Previously, she worked at News Corp as a property reporter for Leader Newspapers and the Herald Sun, and holds a Masters of Journalism at Melbourne University.
