How would you feel if a brand you have an interest in just stopped communicating to their customers? Even if it´s only temporary, it can make people think twice about using the company´s services until they are certain they have not gone awry.
Consistency trails only creative and clever in terms of importance when it comes to content, as it´s one of the key drivers of trust in a brand. If you provide content on a random basis, customers will suspect that your product and services will be delivered in a similar manner. Content marketing is a way you can allay such fears and demonstrate you can serve them well.
Don´t just take our word for how vital consistency is, however. Canon has launched its first digital product as it seeks to become more engaged, more often with its customers.
It introduced its digital imaging service Irista in June, seeking to compete with the likes of Dropbox, Google Drive and Apple´s iCloud in the world of online storage – pretty well-established opposition.
So why take the risk? As Canon´s new business developer Floris Oranje tells Marketing Week, engagement is crucial to brand loyalty these days. And as he explains, customers will see straight through you if you do something half-heartedly.
“We want to be building closer relationships with users and their experience of photography,” he said.
“This gives us a direct communication channel with users and allows us to have a much more frequent and direction conversation than we´ve had before. We want to be talking to customers on a more structured basis in terms of frequency, to have a continuous conversation.”
Currently most consumers only engage with Canon when they are looking to buy one of its cameras, but the brand has recognised that this alone is not enough in these competitive times, where consumers are more knowledgeable than ever before.
Is constant content crucial for all brands, or can it sometimes be too much? How can you ensure content is consistent but not colourless?