Frank: O captain! My Captain! Our fearful trip is done; the ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won. The sitcom we've abandoned, it's to our desks we go. New stars to guide our sail, same name, different show.
Krista: Hi everyone, and welcome to Casual Fridays. I'm Krista.
Jillian: … And I'm Jillian.
Krista: Today …
Jillian: I'm pregnant.
Krista: I know you're pregnant.
Jillian: I'm pregnant, I'm pregnant. Well they don't know. And by episode four, I look a lot different. I just don't want to freak anybody out.
Krista: So you went with just blurting it out? Is that all?
Krista: It's easy to look at this video-
Krista: It's easy to look at this video series and assume we're just having fun and killing time. I mean, don't get me wrong, most of what we do is fun. I mean, it's in our tagline.
Jillian: This is our content marketing strategy that we created in order to humanize our brand and bring awareness to the changes here at our agency.
Krista: Meaning we wanted to introduce ourselves, our actual selves, to our network. Humanizing your brand is a great way to build trust with your clients, and to be honest, many of the people we meet feel like they know us, not just our logo.
Jillian: All advertising is in a constant competition for attention. And to stand out, you need to take chances, which sounds great until it's your money. So we take those risks first. We're testing everything and gaining priceless, first-hand experiences.
Krista: We can check out Ad Week and read a zillion case studies, but you never truly learn something until you experience it yourself.
Josh: I knew that wasn't gonna work.
Grace: Eh, hold my beer.
Krista: Now the first step for any marketing strategy should be to define your goals and objectives. What exactly are you trying to achieve? It's always good to have a healthy balance of tangible and intangible goals. For example.
Grace: I just want one glass of wine.
Krista: That's tangible.
Grace: I want to get lit.
Krista: That's intangible.
Grace: You're intangible.
Krista: So the more specific and targeted you can be, the better.
Jillian: Only after you have your goals and execution plan in place should you start thinking about the creative message. The biggest thing we learned from the 20 episodes of Casual Fridays was the more we pushed the envelope, the better the results.
Krista: When we shifted our creative style, we shifted our goals, our target audience, and our promotional platforms too. Sure, entertaining videos are great and really fun to work on, but maybe educational videos and white papers are really what you need. Just be sure whatever you do fits you, your personality and your plan.
Jillian: Building trust is not an easy thing to do. Creating quality content that entertains and informs your audience is a great step in that direction. I guess our data will show if we've done that here and if not, practice makes perfect.
Krista: There's a whole lot more that goes into executing and maintaining a successful marketing plan. And we can talk about this all day because we actually do.
Jillian: So if you want to keep the conversation going, tweet us @QuinlanCompany. Thanks for hanging with us. Enjoy your Friday, and as always, keep it casual.
Krista: I don't have a signoff.
Frank: So this is season three. We hope you like the new format and we'll be hitting you with new episodes every other Friday throughout the entire summer and fall. For those, and for some exclusive content, choose your email right about now.
Episode 1 - How to Develop a Content Marketing Strategy
We're not just a pretty logo. Or a casual tagline.
We're effective marketers who understand the importance of aligning strategic content with our objectives. That's easier said than done, though. Brands often have growing pains. And, believe us, we're no stranger to them.
We used to refer to ourselves as tradigital (gross).
But that's where our experience comes in. It's also how we're starting off Season 3 of Casual Fridays. So if you're sitting, keep doing that. Things may get awkward.