We’ve all heard it before, “write for people, not for search engines”. If the blog and article section your website is exhausted with industry content, what else can a content team deliver?
Once a content strategy starts working, and traffic graphs are moving in the right direction, conversion optimization is the next logical step. However, marketing teams can spend an extraordinary amount of time looking at things such as landing page design, call to action analysis, and more. Eventually, someone needs to ask the question, what about trust? Can we create content that builds trust with our audience? Yes, content can be created with the sole purpose of trust building.
If the niche that you are working in has 2-3 big well known players, a smaller company is not going to be trusted just because they are showing up in the SERP.
Harvard Business Review refers to trust as an intangible value. In terms of knowledge as a source of trust, most companies are sitting on a gold mine. They have someone at the very top who could gain the trust of new and interested clients by simply sharing what they know, in an interview.
Strategy: While it’s referred to as an interview internally, once it’s complete, it appears as a storytelling asset. Others may call it an audio SlideShare, or a video. Whatever term is used, it’s a tool that will help build trust for the brand with new audience members. It will help the brand tell a story.
How do you go about creating this storytelling asset, with a simple interview?
Step 1: The interview.
If you are persistent, eventually, someone who works directly for the brand will be able to spend 15 minutes on the phone with you. A creative marketer can craft questions that will produce useful, relevant content, regardless of who is completing the interview.
Introducing Speechpad. This affordable service will not only record the phone interview, but it will also transcribe the entire call. The content of the phone call can be sent to a copywriting team, and they can cherry pick the most relevant, useful quotes. Once the quotes are identified, the marketing team can select relevant photos and images to add to the story.
As a digital marketer, you’ve experienced the endless rejection of ideas, or perhaps they are just ignored. Initially, it would be easy to assume that your suggestion of an interview to build trust will also be rejected, or ignored. Don’t give up so fast! It’s all in the presentation.
Step 2: Make your case. Statistics are on your side.
Assuming the idea is rejected, or ignored at first, you’ll need some data to back up your case. Statistics for building trust for brands through video are favorable.
Need some statistics to help build your case?
According to a Cisco Visual Networking Index, IP video traffic will represent 79% of global consumer internet traffic in 2018, up from 66% in 2013.
According to Forbes Insights, 75% of executives said they watch work-related videos on business-related websites at least weekly.
A Cisco global survey found that 61% of young executives say they will rely more heavily on business-class video in the next 5-10 years.
Step 3: From Audio Slideshow to Video.
Examples?
Niki Blaker created this amazing SlideShare with many quotes as slides. Imagine, inserting a voiceover to read through the quotes, and narrate the story? Add a little music, and instead of a silent SlideShare, you have a video, with a narrative.
The recorded interview, turned into a slideshow and then a video with sound offers endless options. Use video editing software to upload audio, such as iMovie or PowerDirector 13. Prezi offers the option to insert voiceovers at certain points in a video, perfect for inserting audio to read quotes from the interview.
More examples:
Gardening Video
Personal Interview Video
Helpful links:
PetaPixel – How to Make an Audio Slideshow
SoundSlides – 5 Steps for Successful Storytelling
Inbound marketing doesn’t end with page one rankings and increasing traffic graphs; that is only the beginning. Once traffic takes off and keeps climbing, it’s time to build out a brand’s story, so that new prospects will trust the brand and take the next step.
Build trust through storytelling; with tools such as Speechpad and Prezi, and your inbound campaign won’t be in danger of stalling out before it reaches the top.
Source : Inbound.org
