Power Of Cartoons In Content Marketing

Most marketers today know that they need to invest and increase their efforts in content marketing strategies. There is content overload but a definitive need to be different to stand out from the crowd.
51% of B2B marketers indicate they will increase their content marketing spending in the next 12 months - Content Marketing Institute

The main objectives of any content marketing strategy is to:

• Drive sales / Lead generation 
• Engage the relevant audience and Influencers
• Create brand re-call / awareness

Marketers share content in form of whitepapers, case-studies, infographics, blog posts, analysts reports, videos etc. I believe that an untapped form of content marketing is through 'Cartoons.' Ever thought about the power of content marketing with cartoons?

Effective content marketing today means capturing the essence of a great idea in a quick snackable way!

Cartoons can induce life into the content that can strike a chord with your audience. They have the power to capture the attention of your audience and tell a story in a unique way. 

Cartoons can help companies breakthrough the content clutter and are a great way of taking complex ideas and making them easy to understand.

Kronos, an industry leader in time management and talent management solutions, wanted to extend their brand, reach new prospects and engage with employees. They did this by launching a weekly cartoon series that was shared with more than 3,000 employees as well as with industry analysts, customers and the media. They further posted them on a website dedicated to the series.

The cartoons were embraced very well internally and Kronos took a step further to engage with people outside of the company by launching a contest to caption their cartoons, for which they received over 500 entries! One of the companies even wanted the permission to outfit their walls with Kronos' cartoons! Imagine someone seeking permission to print your content at their workplace! Isn't that a testimony of how relevant your content can be?

When you think about cartoons, don't take them in the literal sense always. They could be in form of doodles or illustrations as well.

Amul, one of India’s oldest and most well-known food brands, itself a product of the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (and the largest milk producer in the world), uses images in a very effective way.

Be it a cause or social issue, Amul is quick to jump into the story, often introducing the Amul girl into the landscape. This has made the brand iconic. Check out a few examples here.

Topical: Outrage against terrorism



Topical: Legend leaves international arena

The next time you are thinking about ways to break through the content marketing clutter, consider cartoons as a powerful content marketing tool.

Thinking of how to get started?

• Figure out what is the one message you want to communicate 

"For me, it's the narrow focus. You can really communicate one & only one message in a single cartoon #SocialPowWow" - @ErinMFeldman

• Be clear about how much marketing budget you are willing to spend on such an activity: Cartoons have to align with strategy and budget

"Start with a small ask and work toward more budget as you see results #SocialPowWow" - @ErinMFeldman

• Be consistent in your messaging while using cartoons as a tool to share your story

"Cartoons are serial in nature #SocialPowWow" - @ErinMFeldman

• Make it interesting and engaging by adding humor 

"Intelligence, humor. It's about visually communicating ideas, even if using stick figures (like xkcd) #SocialPowWow" - @ErinMFeldman

If you have experimented with content marketing through cartoons, I'd like to know how it had a positive impact on your business!

The Emerging World of Brand Journalism

The Internet has made brand publishing ubiquitous. Gone are the days when brands required an intermediary to reach their target audience. Now, they have the luxury of reaching out to their audience directly, through content storytelling.

Welcome to the emerging world of brand journalism

Brands are using digital publishing tools and social media to directly reach out to their audience. 

On January 11th this year, one of the biggest e-commerce platforms in India, Flipkart.com announced the news of their new co-founder on Twitter. As a PR professional or a reporter, we usually expect big announcements to unveil at a press conference/event BUT with digital media, things are changing.

Flipkart tweeted the news via their handle @FlipkartStories and uploaded the full story on stories.flipkart.com. The news of course spread like fire!

Flikpart now shares all their stories on the stories.flipkart.com.

This example reiterates the fact that:

• Brands want to own the narrative and want to be storytellers to reach out to their consumers/stakeholders directly
• Brands are looking for quick and effective ways of communicating with their target audience 
• There is no need for intermediaries to tell a brand's story - with brands sharing their own stories, they don't need reporters to reach out to the stakeholders. However, how 'authentic' the story is, cannot be judged 

Brand journalism and brand content have very different purpose and ethics. Journalists/reporters share authentic news with the public, however, a brand's content is always targeted at its consumers. The ultimate aim of a reporter is to'inform' the public and that of a brand is to 'sell.'

So while we say that the world of brand journalism is emerging, not sure if it will 'shake up' the media industry. That said, we might see a rise of brand editors in the near future. What do you think?