Lightbox Agency

3 tips to think like a journalist & create a powerful corporate narrative

Brand narratives generate leads. It’s all in the psychology; we’re hard-wired to remember stories. Appealing to a person’s emotions activates the amygdala, which in turn releases dopamine, and that’s what triggers retention – and action.

So brand journalism, the art (or is it a science?) of finding stories within your organisation that show your purpose, your process, your people, should be a key part of your marketing mix. We asked seasoned journalist Nicky Speed, now Edge Hill University Head of Corporate Comms, how to create those stories.

Every business has a good story. Can we help you tell yours? Let’s talk! Get in touch.

Has this AI algorithm made writers obsolete?

As a little experiment, Lightbox wrote the headline & introduction (in bold), gave the GPT-3 algorithm some one-line key points, then made minor edits for brevity and clarity. The copy was otherwise written by AI.

The robots are out for our jobs. Copywriters, content writers, editors, journalists… none of us are safe! Well, that’s the theory anyway. GPT-3, the natural language processing algorithm created by San Francisco-based OpenAI, is seriously capable. It can write entire blogs in seconds. Blogs like this one.

Among a whole host of other applications, it lets marketers automate their content creation, freeing up time and resources. But it’s far from perfect.

What’s really impressive is that it can generate an article with what sounds like … Read more

How to sell your B2B story, from the BBC’s Rhiane Kirkby

The average Brit sees more than 5,000 adverts every single day. So business buyers – and remember, they are those same people at work as after they’ve closed their laptop – aren’t so interested in being sold to.

That’s why the best B2B marketing tells a story. A story of personal, human experiences your audience can relate to.

It might be the finance firm empowering staff with its organisational culture. It might be the tech founders fulfilling their vision to disrupt a particular sector, having come from humble roots. It might be the healthcare provider changing lives with its approach to treatment.

Whatever your business does, there’s a good story in it. The job for a marketer, brand journalist or

How to generate 67% more leads with a website content strategy

There’s lots you can teach your customers or clients. Whatever your business does, whatever its size, the reason you’re in that business is that you’re top of your game in what you do. There’s no better selling point than that. A website content strategy is how you demonstrate your expertise to leads and prospects.

A great website content strategy will:

Increase your brand awareness
Educate your audience
Build trust in your brand
Convert more leads

Businesses with a website content strategy generate 67% more leads on average (Hubspot). So what does it look like in practice? Here’s some of the best examples.

Monzo

The app-based bank’s digestible, sharable and frequent content builds consumer trust in the brand by helping readers … Read more

How to get more from a shoestring content budget

Content is still king. Informative, educational content one of the most effective ways to engage people with your brand. That’s why 73% of B2B marketers are investing in content marketing, rather than promoting products or services with direct sales messaging.

Like any form of marketing, great content does require a budget, whether it’s an in-house creator’s salary or bringing in more flexible support externally. But getting results doesn’t have to break the bank.

Here are four ways to get more from a modest content marketing budget:

React to industry trends.

A fair chunk of your time and budget for content creation is often eaten up by planning the topics that will resonate most with your audience.

While it can

How to write a homepage that sells in 15 seconds

Your homepage is your shop front. It’s where prospects become customers. That process needs to begin fast; the average person scans a website for just 15 seconds before they either ‘bounce’, leaving without engaging with your message, or they click something. And 15 seconds’ reading isn’t much. So your homepage needs to begin their buyer journey straight away.

Here’s a few tips on how to write a homepage that does that.

Know your elevator pitch.

With so little time to engage your reader, you need to get straight to the point. How would you explain what you do and, more importantly, how it benefits your customers, to a stranger in a lift?

Keep your homepage just as concise. You might … Read more