A good story needs protagonists, “heroes”. Personal connections determine how brands are perceived and how much people trust a company. Managers and employees need to become more digital – urgently!
The digital competence of the protagonists in German companies is for the most part far too low, especially in international comparison. Marketing cannot achieve anything in social networks if the faces of the companies remain entrenched in the analogue world.
5. The form of the content must change.
What has been described above also means that short, easily digestible pieces of content that appeal to the intellect and senses on multiple levels are becoming more important. Users' demands on aesthetics and technical processing are increasing. Multimedia forms are becoming more important. But unfortunately, marketing in many companies still hasn't understood this.
Does that mean that advice pieces, such as this one, have to give way entirely to real-time formats or 360-degree videos? I don't think so either. Every format has its audience, but you have to know who you are publishing for and why.
6. One platform is not enough.
I'm currently observing this in many companies: the bank data value of a content strategy has finally been recognized, and so the first thing they do is work on their own website and set up a corporate blog. The content published there could just as well be distributed on paper via internal mail, because outside of the company it is hardly read. There is a lack of distribution.
There is a lack of awareness that you have to meet potential users and customers where they want to be and where they have a certain need at the moment.
7. There is not one solution for everyone and everything.
Personalized content that relates to the respective user and their customer journey is what is really important in these rapidly changing times. This is of course especially true where revenue is to be generated and goods or services are to be sold. In fact, there are still companies that present their content on the web as if it were printed and just as inflexible. You can even still hear the saying "Our customers don't visit our website on mobile anyway."
The whole thing would be so simple if the user data and social signals, which are easier to obtain than ever, were also processed. But that's not the case. German companies talk a lot about "Industry 4.0" and the "Internet of Things" (IoT). The actual effects, especially in corporate communications, customer acquisition and customer service, are so small that they are hard to find even with a magnifying glass - with a few exceptions, as always.