Valerie Antaki - At Mumbrella360 in Sydney, Domain’s Editorial Director Toby Johnstone spoke to the power of content and storytelling, and how important they are in achieving cut through in today’s muddied marketing world. By focusing on content, Toby has transformed domain.com.au into one of the most active platforms in the world. 

He said that the brand releases a staggering 500 pieces of content per month across all their channels, which is HUGE. While this may not be achievable for all companies, everyone can take a page out of Domain and turn content into commercial success. 

How?

As Toby put it - invest in the storytellers of your business.

Prioritise content for your brand. It’s how you’ll catch and keep the attention of your audience. People don’t listen to ads anymore but they do read stories. 

Understand your audience. Research their demographics, digital habits and perceptions and opinions of your brand and others in the industry. As you begin to create content, be sure to measure how many leads each piece generated. With the rise of digital communications and online communities, doing this is easy and fairly cost-effective. If you don’t know how, contact me and we can discuss it together.

Know your channels. Every platform is used differently by different audiences across different brands. For example, Instagram can tell a visual story; Twitter is for quickly broadcasting news and sometimes heated conversations; while Facebook is where you can build a community. When assessing your channels, be sure to include all communications channels your brand owns. A HC health check is a great way to gather all this information. 

Have a content strategy. You can’t be successful in communications without a solid plan.  Seek advice and map out your content, PR, marketing and internal communications activities. 

Gather stories. Put methods and channels in place so employees across your business can submit story ideas or put forward happy customers that would make engaging and interesting content. If these channels already exist, monitor them and thank those contributing. 

Tell your stories. Source writers who can put together an entertaining editorial while still conveying your commercial messaging. Ones who can plan, write and distribute your content across your channels is a bonus. We can help you with that too.

We’re expert storytellers, strategists, and business people, so give the team at HC a call if you want to explore how content can turn into business. 02 9748 1002 or email me at valerie@hc.net.au