The Journal: Telling a Company’s Story
Hermès Leather Journals. Photographer unknown.
Storytelling is at the crux of marketing, especially in the design industry. Each firm possesses its unique narrative, and these narratives expand with each project they complete. There are various platforms to convey these stories, but one of the most impactful is through a company’s journal on their website. A Journal functions as a more refined blog that dives deeper into a firm’s background, expertise, inspiration, and projects. This long-form content is valuable as it allows potential clients and collaborators to understand the specific positioning and perspective of a company.
The layout and content of these journals vary, which allows each firm to showcase its individuality. Companies can profile a specific vendor they collaborate with or reflect on a historic designer or architect that’s inspired their work. Also, as press moves more digital and becomes more challenging to secure, writing a detailed backstory about a recently completed project in a journal post gives a firm creative control and confirmed exposure.
Once these journal posts are crafted, and on the website, they are strategically pushed out through an upcoming newsletter and then funneled through social media platforms. The journal posts create a range of tailored content shared for some time after the blog is published. Linking to journal content on social media or newsletters is beneficial for SEO as it drives traffic right back to your website. Firms can appeal to wider audiences as each journal post may resonate with a different demographic. The journal increases overall visibility and cultivates a dialogue with like-minded industry members.
This long-form content can serve as an opportunity to facilitate connections with current and potential collaborators. Relationships are a crucial component of the design world, and celebrating those long-time partnerships is essential. Highlighting well-established collaborators also alludes to the high caliber of projects a firm may work on without explicitly stating it. Tagging these collaborators in social media posts then spreads more awareness around your firm and curated content as other firms reshare.
Not only can you cover interests in your journal, but spotlighting the internal team is a beautiful way to give employees deserved recognition and provide an inside look at who’s working directly on client projects. Interviewing team members, ranging from the CEO to those in the field, exhibits the range of talent and varied experience at a company. The interviews then result in a more substantial brand presence and boost company morale.