Here is an excerpt from a content strategy brief I wrote for a global aerospace company…
Strategy
The enterprise’s content and advertising strategy is rooted in one primary goal—to build brand equity for the enterprise. This is achieved through the consistent, long-term use of approved imagery and messaging, which is critical to projecting confidence, authority, and a single, consistent identity.
The strategy centers on our current content suite, which showcases the breadth of the portfolio and combines to support and reinforce the “one company” strategy. It was created in accordance with the company’s global brand strategy and guidelines.
The current content suite is to be used for as many media placements and in as many applications as possible—again, with the goal of building meaningful brand equity over time—an effort that is, by its very nature, strengthened by consistency and weakened by variation.
Style
In creating visuals for our content and advertising, the goal is realism and authenticity. When we relate our value specifically to a person, a situation, or a business that it is clearly experiencing benefit, we increase the understanding and acceptance of our value. We make our value real.
For this reason, our content and advertising is photography-based—and photorealistic in nature—so that we can ground our identity in reality and make it more authentic and convincing. This is why we must avoid showing our products in the abstract—against a sky or a digital background, for example. This undermines the goals outlined above. Instead, presenting our products in real, mission-specific settings—in which progress is being made and possibilities are being realized—gives us the opportunity to tell a larger story that resonates more clearly. This is the way in which we position and differentiate ourselves—by humanizing our value, proving our transformative power, and underscoring our higher purpose.
In writing copy for content and advertising, we work toward this same goal. Active, energetic, mission-specific language reflects the company’s brand narrative and supports it. Copy is intended to intrigue rather than inform; facts, data, and proof points can support positioning but cannot replace it. Our content is a first step—an invite and an attempt to engage. Once engaged, an audience will be more receptive to additional information and will be more likely to seek it. In this way, we use our content as way of influencing perception and sparking action.