Hallmark Media is aware of you don’t look a content material present horse within the mouth.
That’s why The Hallmark Channel and its sister networks will debut 33 motion pictures this vacation season. (And for Hallmark, the Christmas vacation season began Oct. 21.)
Audiences tune in by the thousands and thousands – 80 million watched not less than a part of one in 2021. And the films don’t require large budgets.
And but, no Hallmark vacation film is all that authentic. They share comparable plots. Some even share the identical lead actor (with a unique character title and job). Forged members pop up in supporting roles throughout the lineup.
The formulaic content material works so effectively that Lifetime, Netflix, HBO Max, GAF, Hulu, Uncover+, Peacock, and others have created their very own “authentic” cavalcade of this vacation film style.
All of it combines to offer a present to content material entrepreneurs – rethink the concept that it’s essential to create progressive or fully authentic content material to draw and preserve audiences.
#Content material have to be progressive to draw audiences, proper? The success of @HallmarkChannel formulation may make you rethink this in #ContentMarketing, says @AnnGynn by way of @CMIContent. Click on To Tweet
The Hallmark film formulation
Love them, hate them, or don’t care, you’re most likely considerably aware of a Hallmark film plot:
- A lady experiences a life change and travels to a brand new vacation spot that’s imagined to be non permanent. It’s typically a visit to go to household or a short-term relocation for a piece mission.
- Whereas there, she encounters a problem – the household enterprise is failing, or the proprietor of a property her employer desires to accumulate doesn’t wish to promote.
- She additionally encounters a person with whom she has a battle – a childhood classmate who wasn’t good to her, an individual who works for her employer’s competitor.
- As she works to resolve her problem, she discovers the person is useful or isn’t the unhealthy man she thought he was.
- The couple realizes they like one another.
- She decides to remain, and the film ends with a kiss.
(Sure, most of these motion pictures function a person and a lady within the lead roles, with Christmas because the central vacation. This 12 months, The Vacation Sitter turned the primary Hallmark film that includes a same-sex couple within the lead roles. And Hannukah has been the featured vacation in solely a handful of the flicks.)
Why does it work to inform variations of the identical theme on daily basis for months and even all 12 months (Hallmark has expanded that storytelling mannequin from Christmas to all 4 seasons)?
Let’s discover how one can undertake a Hallmark method in your content material advertising and marketing.
1. Authentic content material isn’t (all the time) required
Take a web page from Hallmark’s script and spend much less time making an attempt to give you authentic concepts and distinctive content material. Acquainted content material remixed into new packages works simply as effectively and even higher to draw and develop audiences. Recognizable content material indicators make consuming content material simpler and set expectations for easy-to-understand and rewarding outcomes. (Hallmark motion pictures lend themselves to multitasking – you possibly can simply catch up even in case you don’t listen for a couple of minutes.)
I’m not suggesting that none of your content material belongings must be authentic or thought-provoking. You continue to want so as to add your model’s distinctive spin and a special approach to the acquainted parts in your content material. Sprinkle in a number of authentic concepts that may appeal to viewers members who all the time need one thing completely different whereas retaining those that depend on the acquainted to assist them heat as much as contemporary concepts and approaches.
Sprinkle authentic ideas into your #ContentMarketing, however repeat acquainted parts, too. You will assist audiences heat as much as the contemporary concepts, says @AnnGynn by way of @CMIContent. Click on To Tweet
2. One story isn’t essentially worthy of a marathon
Repeating a well-recognized tone, model, and story arc gained’t assure content material success instantly. Hallmark aired solely 9 motion pictures in 2009 and added a number of extra annually till it went right into a Countdown to Christmas film marathon stretched over two months.
After you publish or air a number of items of content material primarily based on acquainted parts, stand again and have a look at your viewers’s response. Test your analytics: What number of impressions or views does the content material get in the course of the first week or month? How a lot time do readers or viewers spend consuming it? How often do they click on on the decision to motion?
Your analytics questions ought to join straight with the targets of your content material advertising and marketing technique. As soon as you discover which content material kind, theme, or story arc resonates finest, double down on that formulation.
3. No spoiler alerts wanted – it’s OK for the viewers to know the way the story ends
All Hallmark motion pictures have completely happy endings. In the event that they didn’t, they may not be as well-liked. Audiences benefit from the consolation of figuring out how issues will prove. They don’t have to fret an excessive amount of that issues will prove badly for the characters.
In advertising and marketing, case research play an analogous position. A model wouldn’t publish a buyer story that goes awry and stays unsolved. Audiences devour them though they know the result will probably be optimistic. They wish to know the story that introduced a profitable final result to the shopper. What downside did they should resolve? How did they seek for an answer? Why did they select yours? What advantages did they expertise from the answer? That’s the plot of a case research.
4. Acquainted faces assist
Hallmark motion pictures normally embrace a well-recognized face (or two). Most of the actors began their careers as youngsters – Lacey Chabert (Occasion of 5), Tamera Mowry-Housley (Sister, Sister), and Alison Sweeney (Days of Our Lives).
Hallmark additionally makes use of the identical lead actors – women and men – in a number of motion pictures in a single season. They merely swap out the pairings so the identical actress and the identical actor don’t play towards one another in the identical season. For instance, this 12 months, Andrew Walker did double obligation, starring in A Maple Valley Christmas on Nov. 5 and Three Sensible Males and a Child on Nov. 19.
Audiences respect seeing faces they know. Take into consideration that includes acquainted faces – sources or storytellers – all through your model communications.
In the event you do a photograph shoot for a buyer profile that runs in a digital publication, for instance, guarantee that the shopper turns into one of many faces in your company web site. That method lets your viewers see somebody they could acknowledge out of your different content material and communicates an authenticity that inventory imagery can’t.
Or create a video collection with one particular thought chief as host or presenter in each episode.
TIP: Enhance upon Hallmark’s formulation for range. Right here’s the place I don’t suggest copying Hallmark. The channel’s lack of range in casting – particularly for lead roles – got here beneath criticism a few years in the past and even led to this 2019 Saturday Evening Reside skit. Since then, Hallmark has made some strides (although it nonetheless has a protracted option to go.)
5. Take into account producing sequels to well-liked tales
Some Hallmark motion pictures show so well-liked that the channel creates annual sequels. Does any of your content material name out for sequels or perhaps a spinoff collection?
In the event you’ve profiled folks or companies, you could possibly do a follow-up content material piece to see what has and hasn’t modified because you final informed their story. Likewise, if a podcast episode spikes your obtain or listening numbers, take into consideration “what’s subsequent” subjects and add them to the editorial calendar.
Or, in case you discover somebody who shines in entrance of an viewers, think about giving that individual a video or podcast present.
6. A much bigger viewers doesn’t require a much bigger funds
Hallmark vacation motion pictures appeal to about 80 million viewers for one vacation season, barely greater than Netflix collection like The Crown or The Witcher, which value way more to provide.
Hallmark productions reuse taking pictures places (simply as they reuse plot factors) and no matter else they’ll. They could get a package-deal low cost when actors’ contracts embrace a number of motion pictures, too.
Maintain this method in thoughts as you ponder how you can do probably the most together with your content material advertising and marketing funds. Discover the set of content material you’re planning and establish the assets you’ll must create it. Then, search for methods to avoid wasting by packaging manufacturing. For instance, in case you’re planning to publish a month-to-month video, may you save money and time by writing all of the scripts and taking pictures them in a single batch? (You’ll want to contemplate whether or not your on-camera expertise ought to put on the identical garments or differ their outfits.)
Or, if you already know you’ll must rent freelancers to put in writing a number of tales over the subsequent six months, you may save time by discovering one certified author and making a single contract that covers all of the items. You would even ask for a bulk low cost.
7. Anticipate copycats
The appreciable success of Hallmark motion pictures prompted a number of copycats. This 12 months, Lifetime, Netflix, Peacock, Hulu, HBO Max, and others have dozens of those motion pictures. The rebranded Nice American Household community introduced in a former Hallmark government and among the Hallmark stars (together with Candace Cameron-Bure) to create a brand new lineup of flicks. Discovery+ took the films to a brand new degree, that includes two motion pictures with stars from The Meals Community property in minor roles. Heck, even QVC received into the vacation film enterprise with Holly & the Scorching Chocolate streaming on QVC+.
Be flattered when different manufacturers recreate what you’re doing, however don’t relaxation in your (not-so) authentic storytelling laurels. Even when your formulation nonetheless works to your viewers, mirror on what tweaks you could possibly make to maintain your content material present, related, and but fairly acquainted to your viewers.
Do not relaxation in your storytelling laurels. Mirror on small tweaks to your formulation to maintain #content material feeling present, related, and (but) nonetheless acquainted, says @AnnGynn by way of @CMIContent. Click on To Tweet
Be careful
I’ll finish this text following the Hallmark mannequin and ship what you most likely anticipated – an unambiguous decision. Followers, non-fans, and even haters of the Hallmark mannequin can study quite a bit about what to do – and what to not do – by learning its success.
The ethical of the story: Audiences wish to devour one thing acquainted. With a little bit of ahead pondering, you possibly can create cozy content material that works for them and your model.
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Cowl picture by Joseph Kalinowski/Content material Advertising Institute
This text is an replace of the Dec. 19, 2021, model.
