From the course: Marketing Foundations: Integrated Marketing Strategies

Sourcing options

From the course: Marketing Foundations: Integrated Marketing Strategies

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Sourcing options

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- They say that great ideas come to us when we least expect them, like driving in our car, relaxing on the beach, or even taking a walk. Since great ideas are the key ingredient to great content, the question is how do you keep the good ideas flowing? The best creative teams have regular opportunities to come together and pitch new content ideas, themes, and formats that align with your brand's goals. Here are some tips to help your team. Green means go. Leave your critical mind at the door. After all, the goal is to generate as many ideas as possible. Build an idea vault. Most likely you won't be able to act on all of the good ideas at once. It's always good to save a few gems for later. Vet the winners. Now that you've identified a good set of ideas, it's time to narrow them down. So ask yourself, which ideas are most relevant to your target personas? Which ideas are most helpful or address specific pain points? Do your ideas align and represent your brand story? After generating a set of strong ideas, it's time to develop your content and fuel your supply chain. Here are five potential sources. Number one, your customers. Some brands that do very well with customer-focus content include Southwest Airlines, HubSpot, and Ford. Others like GoPro and Red Bull have staked their brands on either user-generated, stakeholder-inspired, or community-based content. This could come in the form of testimonials or a live stream event, whatever your typical buyer might prefer. Number two, your ad agency. The role of the traditional ad agency has shifted somewhat in the digital age. However, they're still a great resource for valuable, compelling content. To get the most out of your agency make sure they're up to speed on your business, your products, and branding goals. Share the ideas you generated in your brainstorming sessions and see what they can come up with. Number three, employees. With a social employee advocacy program, your brand has access to a diverse group of people who are in sync with your mission, vision, and values. Further, their passion for your brand and regular interaction with stakeholders provides much needed insight into your audience and improves your brand reach through employee networks. Whether your employees are curating or creating content, this authentic approach will help drive your message beyond traditional marketing channels. Number four, in-house creative talent. Recent data shows that marketing departments are increasingly looking to in-house talent for their content needs. Not only can it be more cost-effective, afford greater control, enable quicker turnaround, but your content creators will also have a deeper understanding of your brand, products, and services. Number five, crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing has come a long way in recent years. The key to understanding how to engage creatives who know your market, have a track record for engaging customers, and know how to create compelling content, as part of your regular content mix, crowdsourcing can help you deliver affordable content both quickly and with minimal risk. If you're known as an engaging, collaborative brand, talented content creators will leap at the chance to work with you. At the end of the day, think of content sourcing options like a multiple choice question. It's not about picking option A, B, or C. Rather, it's about picking D, all of the above. Just remember, building a dynamic brand means producing diverse, compelling content that all speaks to what your brand stands for and why your audience should care.

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