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Dear reader,

Imagine you’re standing at the edge of a tumultuous river. Roaring sounds. White foam. The Bruinen works. On one side you have business strategy (e.g., what your company does), on the other you have brand strategy (e.g., why your company exists). In the middle, the monstrous task of communicating. Communicating with people internally, with people externally. People that buy, people that don’t. On this channel and on that.

Day in and day out, you spend your time contemplating how to create the best boat. Latest technology. Newest design. Best rowers. It’s what will allow you to finally have things under control, to ride what I like to call the Great Content Rapids of 2024.

Just kidding.

I would never give something a name like that, nor introduce it in this manner. And I won’t make it a habit to write intros like that either. (Hi, by the way, if this is your first newsletter. I’m Flavia–dependably direct but never mean 🫡 )

While many people treat today’s “content production” as something new, I remember it being like this a decade ago. I know because I stood against it from the moment I took over Brandingmag. My top priority was clear: Forget what everyone was saying about content needing to be shorter, and focus on long-form thought leadership instead. Never promotional but always educational.

It was a tough sell at a time when the Adweek’s of the world were filling page after page with misguided PR content about self-proclaimed “never-before-seen” approaches or executive job changes. When no article was surpassing 500 words in length, and some even stopped 50% of the way there.

Everyone was telling me, “People don’t have time to read–they don’t have time to care.” But I refused such a future. I stuck to my belief that some principles never go out of style (still do), and my gut was right: It all turned out to be an exaggerated trend. As of today, people have been finding time to read our “super long” articles for years…

I reiterate: That exaggerated trend has lasted 10+ years already, so if you think the only trends worth watching out for are those easily spotted because of their speed, think again. You need to solidify your principles and cultivate your intuition, so you may depend on your mindset no matter what the noise.

What I realized over time is that this trend was nothing but a reflection of the desire to measure everything. Brandingmag is not the news channel type, so we’ve never measured our success based on how much content we create. (This is one of my core principles, for example, and has stabilized me throughout my career.)

It is true that the more content you create, the higher your traffic will be. In fact, I’ve seen it be almost a direct correlation. But to treat communications as a game of churn out is to cut yourself short, both in terms of immediate and long-term success. Remember what my mother told me: Work smarter, not harder, baby.

Quality comes from specificity

Communications has always been about quality, we’ve just been too distracted to see it (we can thank platform updates for that). People have been bombarding channels with their usage of every latest and greatest trend since I can remember. So, why are we now noticing the great influx of content as if it’s something new?

Simple. Because we continue to be too focused on the numbers–in this case, the number of content pieces being created. And with generative AI, that number has gone up even more. All of a sudden, an increasing number of people are pinpointing and debating the growing quantity as if the impetus or values behind it didn’t exist before.

I argue that the petulant source has always been there. Tech tends to reflect and exacerbate our existing habits, and this “current” is no different. People have always been overly focused on production metrics at the detriment of qualitative ones, not realizing that simply churning out as much content as possible is like lying–you’ll only see the web you’re caught in when it’s too late.

I’m not saying quantity is not important and, yes, I understand that quality is difficult to measure (although we’ll get to measuring content in a future newsletter). But who would I be if I didn’t show you how I get brand leaders to understand the importance of quality first and quantity later? The key is leveraging a concept they know and value: specificity.

Say you’re a marketing agency…

I had the great pleasure of perusing what feels like the same website over and over again in search of a sample brand narrative to share with you. However, given that I don’t like pointing fingers, what I’ve done instead is taken bits and pieces from the brand narratives of various well-known marketing agencies and strung them together:

As a modern marketing solutions company, we’re on a mission to help clients navigate, progress, and thrive in a world of change by building the capabilities they need to not only meet but exceed customer expectations—both at speed and at scale. Global brands rely on our integrated network of agencies and specialized practices to champion meaningful progress through creative, media, commerce, data, and technology.

Our values are born from what matters most to people, and earned by how we as an organization show up in the world. At the core of our offering sit integrated human-centric solutions that drive better business and societal outcomes for people everywhere. This includes working with our clients to embed sustainability across their businesses and innovating with our people and partners to support communities.​

You can bet that any subsequent product and service marketing would sound very similar to those “integrated human-centric solutions”, but as I mentioned in my previous newsletter, the strategy cannot simply jump from brand narrative directly to those sales-y components. Because there’s not enough meat–there’s not enough understanding about what can or should be said. All this space to fill and no idea what to fill it with. No guidance, no structure, nothing. Everything created by the siloed marketing teams of each department, division, region, etc.

And what happens when someone doesn’t have anything useful to say? They fill the void with as much talk as possible. Hence the focus on quantity, which is largely due to this lack of attention given to the editorial framework. No effort is put into bridging the blatant chasm between brand narrative and marketing communications, so each strategist and creator hustles to survive their own way across it.

They shouldn’t have to though. A proper editorial framework is architected by the same folks who built the brand narrative and should, in my humble opinion, look something like this:

Notice the specificity of the sample proposition. I didn’t just say “User-generated content can add a lot to your brand’s credibility”, which is what most strategists would do. I went a step further to say “Multimedia user-generated content is the best way to build trust online.” I made a statement, divulged an opinion, took a stand–and it could still be taken further.

Another note: This is a sample framework, so don’t get hung up on replicating it perfectly for your brand(s). You can play with the structure. Some of my clients make only one of these content strategy breakdowns, while others leverage multiple. Some follow it line by line, others add components (e.g., a Target Audience row between Geographies and Topics).

Pushing toward specificity is what leads you to something only you can be known for: the combination of your unique take and personality. As Nick Liddell reconfirmed for me recently, being specific does not pigeonhole you in any way. On the contrary, the strategy is so good it makes you more successful than you would have been trying to please a larger audience from the start.

Be mindful of the mindset

With a structure like the one above, guidance is given–messaging is intentional–from brand narrative through capabilities and thought leaders, all the way to actual content pieces. No space left for insecurity, generalizations, or meer repetition. Everyone knows where the brand wants to play, what it wants to be known for, what it can offer, and who’s best positioned to personify it.

But while the framework is important, it’s nothing without the right mindset. You can utilize the structures I give you where they fit, but don’t forget to pay as much (if not more) attention to the principles and values shown along the way. They comprise the editorial mindset you need to apply this framework–or any custom version of it–effectively. And it’s what’s going to cement the difference between you and those counting their content pieces.

Everyone might look at the “inundated” situation today as being new or overwhelming, but I recommend you stay calm knowing that we’ve seen this tree before. Let everyone build a boat, while you build a bridge. Rise above it all. Don’t even concern yourself with what other people are doing (ask me what I think about competitive research, I dare you). No matter what “rapids” come next–real or imagined–you’ll be solid. Your mindset will become a literal, solid bridge between business and brand. Never under threat, and never out of style.

Stay human,

Flavia Barbat