EXPOSED! How To Go Evergreen.

A Manual to Making Your Story Timeless

As a public relations professional, I took notes, but as a person, I internalized his message. The presentation was about storytelling and how to craft the perfect content. The message was “why.”  It is a very humbling question to ask yourself why you do what you do.  

So, there I was intrigued; then out of nowhere, Jim Olson, founder, and president of Hangar 6 Strategic Storytelling mentioned evergreen content. This is just a term for stories that are “always relevant.” I don’t know about you, but in the past, I had always been taught to craft a very personal story that speaks to the emotions of another person. Of course, the concept of evergreen content blew my mind, so to make sure I fully grasped the term, I related it back to beauty. 

Beauty. What does that word mean to you? What comes to mind? Is it your partner, the Eiffel Tower, your dog, a supermodel, or maybe it’s your mom. Whatever beauty means to you and whoever you thought of, like me you should realize that you just created evergreen content. 

For a moment I want you to imagine that you own a multi-million dollar cosmetics company; diversity is your slogan and innovation is your bread and butter. How do you make that last? How do your company and its ideas remain relevant? The answer is, you get very comfortable with creating evergreen materials. 

Of course, in the digital age, we’re living in, creating material that is “timeless” seems almost impossible. With social media platforms become a breeding ground for the latest trend of “outrage culture,” how does one break through the chaos and remain relevant with an everlasting story? In my opinion, the answer is research. Yes, I know it sounds both simple and really inconvenient, but I promise if you ask most public relations professionals, marketers, or advertisers what they do before implementing any campaign, approach media, post a billboard, etc. they’ll say research.

Photo by Edho Pratama on Unsplash

 I just so happened to be reading Forbes the other day, with the hope of reading something inspiring, and I found this quote: “The common facts of today are the products of yesterday’s research,” said Duncan MacDonald. Nowadays we’re so lucky to have access to some amazing research tools, no longer do we have to search for a book on the shelf, the inconvenience related to research shrinks every day. 

I can’t recommend enough that everyone knows how to use Google or Bing.  I’m not saying that these search engines have all the answers, but if you ask the right questions they’ll get you close. Evergreen stories don’t just happen. They take a deeper level of thinking, which I’m sure if you’re reading this you’re already thinking deeper than the ocean. 

Some of the things I suggest you look for to get started are why you and other people care, now or in the future; and what is the best way to get your point across. Answering questions like these take your story from talking about the latest lip gloss that will soon be replaced by the newest lip gloss, to talking about the latest lip gloss and how it’s reshaping the beauty industry. Which one would you rather read?

So, the next time you’re thinking of writing a timeless evergreen story, take a moment to do your research. Because if you don’t know what you’re talking about and why it matters, how can you expect anyone else to? 

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Shh! I’m Trying to Boost My Voice

Your guide to strategic brand analytics in the digital age

Have you ever thought about breaking away from the crowd? Yes? Great! This post offers an in-depth summary of how you can raise your voice higher than most people online.

What is the key to standing out?

Digital analytics may be one of the best-kept secrets in the marketing, advertising, and public relations industries. The reason for the secrecy, well,  if everyone knew the power of data and how to interpret it, there would be no need to outsource. You’re in luck! This post has broken the complicated subject of digital brand analytics and market share into three easy to digest parts.

Brand, what does that mean to you? Some people may think of Nike, MAC Cosmetics, Target, Chanel, Starbucks, etc. Those are all great corporations and brands with several things in common, one being the ability to effectively analyze content and engagement.

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Of course, you are an individual and small-business that may not have the available resources like those of Nike or similar companies. To be successful, you don’t need them. Take this quote from Chuck Hemann and Ken Burbary in Making Sense of Consumer Data in a Digital World: Digital Marketing Analytics, “to stay consistently relevant, you must have your finger on the pulse of your digital brand health.”

With that said, here is the first step you should take when growing your brand:

Brand share begins with measuring what category and audience your brand reaches and occupies. The easiest way to think about brand share is to break it down into three equally important parts:

1. What people say – Also known as share of voice (SOV), is easily broken down as: conversations about your brand / total conversations in your brand category. For example, take all the conversations happening about Nike, then divide those conversations specifically about Nike, by all the conversations happening in the apparel category.
2. What people do – More commonly known as share of search (SOS), equals searches about your brand/total searches in your brand category. This may be self-explanatory, and just refers to how many people are searching for your brand compared to your competitors.
3. Who’s your audience – Or share of audience (SOA) is equal to the total audience for your brand / total audience per competitor within a category. This part is a little more complex and should be broken down. Start with focusing on one platform like Facebook, then move onto your other platforms collecting the total sum. After you are done calculating the total of your own audience, do the same for your competitors. By plugging in your total audience with that of one of your competitors, you will then discover your SOA.

If you can remember these three parts, then you’re well on your way to understanding market share, solidifying your brand, and having a competitive advantage over your competition.

I’ll leave you with this quote from Tom Peters in Fast Company, “all of us need to understand the importance of branding. We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You.”