The Content Marketing Brand Management Checklist
By Erin Nelson
Source: Contenly
Brand management is a little bit like dental hygiene: Those who ignore it are going to end up with big problems that easily could’ve been avoided. Yet marketers who fail to comply with brand standards and legal safeguards risk losing more than just a tooth.
These failures often cost content marketers their credibility and, in some cases, their jobs. Just ask the people who sexualized IHOP’s pancakes, told Bloomingdale’s shoppers to roofie their friends for the holiday season, and put the male symbol on the cover of The Washington Post’s magazine for a story about the 2017 Women’s March. Perhaps the most painful part of these marketing blunders is that it wouldn’t have taken much effort to prevent them.
Without an efficient governance system of necessary checks and balances, two things can happen to a brand: Benign mistakes can turn into PR nightmares, or approval processes can become begrudgingly slow. To ensure your brand doesn’t run into a crisis—or stall production with unnecessary steps—we’ve put together a brand management checklist to help you keep your content marketing on the right track.
1. Is your language on brand?
Upholding a voice comes down to more than just perfect grammar. In order for audiences to identify your brand, the language needs to reflect a certain style that separates you from competitors.
Chances are a B2B pharmaceutical company will shy away from first-person narratives to maintain a level of industry authority. However, a B2C brand can use the first-person to communicate with an audience in a smart but colloquial way.
Narrowing in on language specifics requires thinking about SEO keywords that should be associated with your brand as well as the words or phrases you want to avoid. At Contently, our managing editor used our Brand Assist tool to blacklist the word “authentic” for reasons you can read about here.
2. Is the grammar tight?
While checking grammar may seem like a small task, it’s easy for writers and editors to neglect the technical rules of publishing. But minor mistakes can damage a publication’s reputation. At Contently, our Brand Assist tool alerts us when an article falls back on passive voice or mistakenly includes double words.
3. Is the tone consistent?
Content strategist and writer Melissa Lafsky describes voice as “the soul of your brand, articulated onto and within your content.” Just think of the difference between Tinder and Genpact. While both companies confront societal problems through technology, audiences would be confused if Tinder’s witticisms appeared in Genpact’s authoritative materials.
The challenge for brands is not only to determine what that voice should sound like, but also how to maintain it across all branded materials. This issue compounds as companies open global branches and add more contributors. As you expand your content operation, ask if you have a system in place to ensure that regardless of who writes the whitepaper, blog post, or tweet, your brand’s tone remains consistent.