Investigative content: Bringing authenticity, purpose and truth

to your content strategy in 2016

Clickbait has made people value and

distinguish between good and bad

content paving the way for better

content with real meaning to prevail.

1. Talking about things that matter

Ask yourself one question: What are you

saying that has any

significance at all?

Will your content change anyone’s

life?

Will your audience care about your

content?

Talking about things that matter

6 key tips for purposeful content

“I wish brands would stop talking so much shit!” #notbornyesterday

1: Remember brands are defined by how they engage consumers not by what they sell. Always keep this front of mind.

2: Uncover your brand’s purpose to enable you to build a meaningful content roadmap

3: Build content on issues your audience really cares about

4: Fully commit to driving longer term conversations about real issues core to your brand purpose (not just throwaway campaigns)

5: Take a stance on something and use your content to bring about real change

6: Be authentic!

2. Revealing controversial ‘truths’

The truth will set you free

Revealing truths through your content

• Seek ways to ‘uncover’ stories which focus on revealing truths

• People like truths and truths help your content spread further

• A controversial story-telling approach can be part of your con-tent strategy to bring meaning to your audience lives

• But it should not necessarily be the approach in its entirety.

3. Case study

Post Office Expose

We suspected a postcode lottery when it came to exchange rates charged in Post Office branches and set out to investigate if the Post Office was ripping off it unsuspecting customers.

The client: Travel money and prepaid currency card provider FAIRFX

The purpose: 1: To make consumers aware they were getting ripped off by the Post Office and other travel money providers offered better value. 2: And to challenge perception that the old household names are the best because they have been around longer and put FAIRFX into ‘consideration’ phase

The approach: Produce investigative content to drive earned media, brand awareness and support SEO.

Investigating the truth

Investigating the truth

To gauge interest in the story, we discussed the concept with a Press Association editor who was interested in us conducting the investigation. In fact, he wanted it for the next day! (A challenging timeframe to say the least.)

We hopped on social media (Twitter/Facebook) and found 20 participants all over the country to be our moles. They were instructed to mystery-shop various Post Office branches to investigate what the exchange rates were.

Each shopper had to visit their assigned Post Office branch between 9-11am the next morning, check the branch exchange rates, take photographic evidence and send to us immediately.

Gathering the evidence

As the evidence came in, we analysed the data to draw out storylines. Examples included:

• Someone buying £500 worth of euros in Ashford, Middlesex, would have been 47 euros worse off than someone changing the same amount at the same time in Durham.

• People in the North of Scotland (Inverness) were getting their travel money cheaper than people in Edinburgh.

Media coverage

Challenges and lessons learnt

• Stick to your guns when investigating and revealing truths (the Post Office fought

hard to kill the story)

• Collect and keep sufficient evidence/sources/research to back up your story

• Manage the detail tightly

• Ensure full stakeholder buy-in

• Be agile and able to build stories fast

The power of the truth• The story challenged people’s

perceptions about the Post Office and propelled FAIRFX to consideration phase

• Beat the Post Office on travel money mentions in August as a result of the story

• It delivered 125 pieces of media coverage across the UK including p10 Telegraph, Daily Mail to name a few.

• ROI was less than 1 pence per thousand eyeballs

• Media reach of 4.5 million people

• 2 award nominations

5 reasons to adopt investigative content

“I’ve heard everything you have to say, before.” #boresnore

1: Getting your brand associated with real issues breeds credibility

2: Revealing unknown truths can fuel wide audience reach

3: Translate into culturally relevant stories according to who you are trying to reach

4: Investigative stories are unique and impactful

5: No-one cares about the tired/repetitive narratives that have filled up the web

4 take-home questions:

?1: How are you going to address your audience in more impactful ways in 2016?

2: What are you trying to say that is of any significance at all?

3: How are you going to use content in 2016 to effect real change?

4: How can you use investigative content in your strategy?

Journalists like real

data!Sharon FlahertyManaging Director

BrandContent sharon@brandcontent.co.uk

@contentprlover