In this video, Christine gives three examples of how brands can use unscripted long form content to build customer loyalty, become the trusted curator of news and entertainment in their space, and open doors for great brand collaborations.
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Transcript:
Hey, welcome to our video this week. I’m gonna dive further into the conversation we had in the last video about how brands can use unscripted long-form content like chat shows and other types of content to further their efforts either in marketing, conversion, customer loyalty, brand awareness, And so, again, I’m not quite going into show hosts for a few weeks, because I think there’s some really interesting things that brands are wondering about and asking about, and I want to make some really helpful content around that. But I’m going to share some specific examples of brands I’ve seen use unscripted, long-form content, whether it’s a podcast, a YouTube show, a docuseries, like all these words that are kind of melding together these days, because you can kind of use these mediums however you want now, the rules aren’t as specific anymore for how you make this long-form content. But I want to give you some ideas that if you maybe are working in-house at a brand or you’re in charge of kind of the content machine and you’re like, we’ve done so much stuff but like we need to be more efficient, we need to break into new waters, we need to have a different relationship with our audience. Hopefully this will give you some ideas. And when I say unscripted long form content, it doesn’t mean there’s no scripting or there’s no production. It means we’re not talking about highly produced narrative style content that’s more traditional. Like we’re not talking about making short films and beautiful like, you know, narrative or journalistic style stuff. Unscripted has this moment in the zeitgeist because we are so connected to each other digitally, and there is a resonance that’s happening with customers, audiences, clients, when they can see content that feels like they’re just in the room chatting with the person who’s sharing or the people who are sharing, and it doesn’t feel like they’re watching something that was produced for them and being presented to them. So that’s kind of the nuance I want you to take with this video is when I say unscripted long-form chat show style content, it’s produced, there’s guidelines, there’s a format, but it’s not like a storyteller came in and created the entire arc. It’s more like let’s create a container and put the right people in it and see what wisdom they have to share or what entertainment or what infotainment And then let’s make a bunch of great content from that that people can relate to whatever platform they may consume it on okay, so option number one or opportunity number one is One of my favorite examples ever Trader Joe’s podcast I think is like a shining beacon where you allow your customer base your fan base your audience to come behind the scenes of how your brand actually makes the sausage and for lack of a better term. And the reason I love to point to the Trader Joe’s podcast, it’s called Inside Trader Joe’s, is because they’ve done this really masterfully, they’ve won awards for it, like it’s one of the most popular branded podcasts out there, because they were really smart about taking the talent on their marketing team that was well suited to being show hosts, the co-hosts are like very good at it, They partnered with the Wright Production Company to come up with topics and seasons and episodes that gave like a truly very authentic feeling peek behind the scenes of how Trader Joe’s does what they do. They’re interviewing managers in their stores and employees and even sometimes customers. They’re, you know, traveling around and getting field recordings. They’re doing in- In, you know, headquarters, they’re going into the test kitchen and they’re also just chatting with the actual, like, executives. There’s this really fun element to that show that I think does a behind-the-scenes look into a brand really, really well. It’s obviously a beloved brand with a very large audience. So the preparation was there but I think that concept of like how to show people the behind the scenes of how you make what you make and the care and effort and thought you put into your product or your service or your brand is really transformative for customers because Obviously the target market for the trader Joe’s podcast is trader Joe’s customers like there is already a big enough a customer base but what it’s doing effectively is converting existing customers into super fans and who evangelize and market for the brand. And yes, I’m sure there are people who listen who become Trader Joe’s customers, but definitely the target market is the already fan. And they were so smart about that. So if your brand maybe is in that position where you have really a true fan base that loves you so much and wants more, empower them to evangelize how great you are by giving them more of a behind the scenes look. Second opportunity or second potential here for brands to use this kind of media is to Be the trusted commentator or curator of news, events, commentary on the industry you inhabit. And why this can be really effective for existing brands to do is because if you are well-respected in your space, in your niche, in your industry, but there is kind of a gap for good information or commentary, about what’s going on. Maybe you are in a really quickly evolving industry like cryptocurrency or even you know some health and wellness industries like there’s constant developments and news and iterations and stuff to talk about. Sometimes when you are a brand that people already know, like, and trust but then you’re offering them like guidance, curation, updates, and news about what else is going on in the industry, even if it doesn’t directly promote your own product, that builds massive loyalty and a really good brand image that you’re here in the thick of it with them, navigating, figuring out, doing research. You’re literally doing a service for people if you can fact check and dig a little deeper and have access maybe to the primary sources of some of the biggest updates in your space. that’s a literal service you’re doing for an audience that can then start to really associate you as like the most trusted voice in the space, whether or not they’re your direct customer. That can do a lot to build brand ambassadorship and paint you in a really positive light that of course in the long term can lead to you know customer conversions and revenue but I think for a lot of brands the place they’d love to be in the bigger audience’s mind is like the trusted curator and commentator on the industry. And if you have the bandwidth to do something that long game, it can be so, so, so invaluable and open all kinds of doors for collaborations with other partners in your space. It paints you as a team player, which is very powerful in corporate America today. Okay, a third idea, and this more falls into infotainment, information, entertainment, infotainment. If you have maybe a voice or personality or a culture in your brand that maybe leans a little more towards the pop culture, entertainment, fun, a humor that can be so powerful when translated into unscripted long-form content because whether or not you’re creating, you know, entertaining content that also informs your customer about like how to make good purchase choices or how to navigate the space that you occupy, maybe you’re, you know, in the space of leadership and career advancement and you’re helping bring content that literally helps people learn how to do better at their jobs or like get that next promotion or you know become a better leader but you’re doing it in an entertaining way. There’s a magical combo that I think brands don’t use as much as they could right now and this usually means bringing in outside talent which I’ve talked about in other videos. You don’t have to like source this talent from within your own company. It’s rare that you probably have these type of media trained people on your team already. But when you can do the right partnerships with some great hosts, maybe you have guest hosts, maybe you have co-hosts or a regular host, and you can find the right blend of entertainment and information, it’s really magical because that takes resources. And so most podcasts won’t be able to access that level of production or talent. But if you have resources and you can, and you can become kind of the favorite in the infotainment space for your industry or just the niche you occupy. it’s one of the best places you can possibly be. Because then over the long term, as audience realizes that’s who you are and loves you for that and talks about you that way, it can open all kinds of doors. It obviously builds a lot of great brand likability, but it also helps people really trust that you’re here to make their day better, not just to sell them a product. And if you do partnerships with other brands in the space, it can shine a very good light on those other brands. You become known as this like very sought out collaborator, because if you figure out how to do infotainment the right way, everybody wants to collaborate with you, which can lead to really interesting revenue generation opportunities. or not revenue generation if that’s not what you’re about. Maybe you’re in a non-profit space but you want to be able to amplify voices and you want to be able to tell stories that you couldn’t completely do within your own organization. If you become like a trusted infotainment content machine, those doors open in some really cool ways. Okay, I kind of gave you three lightning round ideas. I want to know if you have questions about these, if you’re interested in more, we can dive deeper. But I think talking to brands right now and thinking bigger picture about how they can use this specific type of media to further their goals in marketing or audience development or customer conversion. These are some of the best things I see working right now, and it is a long game. But if you’re a brand and you have a long game vision, you can do amazing stuff in this space right now, and it’s not crowded yet. So subscribe to the channel. I’ll bring you a video next week, and we’ll see you then.
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