Today the UK "Leave" campaign for getting out of the EU started their tour with Boris Johnson, the ex mayor of London in Truro, just a few minutes from where I sit typing this up.
The UK referendum on whether or not to leave the EU is creating a huge amount of content in the political space and some is seeping into where I work, which is the commercial branding sector. It is a tricky thing to use because if you take a side you alienate the other side and if your business can't afford the added attention from taking such a stance, best to keep out of it.
Although it does feel that when people shop it's more about the price and quality of the thing they buy, than whether or not they are pro or anti EU.
When I heard that Boris was going to be setting off from Truro in a big red battle bus, made in Germany of course, I knew it represented a chance where I could grab some unique content.
Now as I am not a political blogger you are justified in thinking, "what's the point". But I was able to get quite a few, professional stills and a bit of video that is unique and where I hold the copyright. This means I can now use this content to get attention, build my brand, get links and social signals.
The content created becomes an asset that I can use quite a lot in the run up to the election, and every once in a while afterwards. I can use the assets in a number of ways.
- Contacting pro/anti groups and giving them permission to use the content in exchange for a link.
- Examples of real time content creating, just like I am doing with this Linkedin post. Open a dialogue with journalists, letting them use the assets in return for good will. It's always good to help journalists along the way.
- Selling the assets on the open marketing. I wont be doing this with these assets as there was more than enough content created by other media people who happened to be crammed into the other bus. Also, I would get far more value by elevating my own brand.
Most find creating content very hard, but there is usually something happening on the doorstep in real time that you can tap into, and if you are the only person there who is creating content about it, all the better.
In Cornwall we have a lot of auto events, for clients who are in this space I have gone to these events creating huge amounts of original content for them to use. Having something original that others want is a great place to start in your content creation. You don't have to work as hard on the promotion side if you do this.
I will be taking bookings for this seasons content creation that happens in Cornwall. Get in touch if you want something cool creating.
If you need to learn more about these techniques, you may want to try out my Content Mastermind Group.
I have also published this on Linkedin