Content has become an incredibly popular marketing tool. As the internet becomes the primary source of information for many people, there is a wealth of opportunity to use content marketing to expand your brand’s presence and extend your influence. But, like anything, consistently creating good content takes practice and focus. This article covers five must-do tips to make sure you are creating good content.
What is content marketing?
Content marketing utilises educational, informative and engaging content to attract, engage and grow an audience.
You have to approach content marketing from a relationship perspective – it is all about establishing and nurturing a relationship between you and your prospective clients/customers.
Large brands will have teams of people dedicated to creating and promoting content. But for the entrepreneur or small business owner, the idea of crafting great content can feel intimidating and overwhelming. If you keep the five tips below in mind, you will lay a solid foundation for creating content that gets your audience interested and engaged with you and your brand.
Five ‘must do’ tips for creating good content
#1 Don’t treat content as a sales tool
If you craft your content with the end goal of making a sale, your efforts will have a high chance of failing. Your audience wants to be left feeling educated and empowered after consuming your content. They don’t want to feel like you are pushing a product/service. Content marketing is best used to nurture a lead throughout the buying process – from awareness, to preference to purchase and hopefully loyalty. Take a long-term relationship approach to your content, not a sales approach.
#2 Be smart about your content type
Blogs are not the be all and end all of content marketing. Yes, they can be very successful in building an audience and brand. But blogs also take a lot of time and commitment to make them work and achieve significant ROI. There is a wide variety of other content types you can use to engage with your audience, including:
- How to guides
- Checklists/cheatsheets
- Webinars
- Email newsletters
- Email series/tutorials
- Research papers
- Infographics
- Case studies
Ultimately, the format of your content should be driven by two key considerations:
1) the nature of the material you want to provide, and
2) the format your target audience wants to consume this material in.
#3 Solve a problem
For content marketing to work, it has to create value – both perceived value and actual value. The easiest way to do this is to make sure your content solves a problem your target audience has right now. Your choice of content topics should always come from a deep understanding of your target audience and their needs/wants/pain points. You want your audience to increase their ability to act on whatever their problem is because they have consumed your content.
What is their first step?
What can they do today?
How can they think about it differently?
What action can they take right now?
#4 Position yourself as an authority
Content marketing is your opportunity to build trust, authority and loyalty with your audience. Every piece of content you release should build your position as the ‘go to’ expert in your chosen field. Don’t try to produce content that appeals to everyone, because it will end up appealing to no one. Be specific about the topics you want to be an expert in and dive deep into them. Draw on your experience and expertise to demonstrate how you can help solve whatever problem your audience is struggling with.
#5 Demonstrate your Unique Value Proposition (UVP)
One of the biggest challenges entrepreneurs and small businesses face when creating content is that they feel like they have nothing new to say – that all their content ideas have already been covered by someone else. But no one has your distinct combination of experience, expertise, perspective and personality. If someone has already blogged about a topic, that is ok – you can write a version that is better or different or more targeted to your specific audience by drawing on your UVP. Your unique story is your most powerful marketing tool, so make sure you are tapping into that and sharing it throughout your content.
Producing great content can be an extremely effective way to grow your audience and build long term relationships based on trust and value. But it can also be time consuming and overwhelming. If you follow these five tips, your content is more likely to be engaging and effective and therefore worth the time and effort you put into creating it.
If you would like to chat about how we can work together to create kick-ass content for your business or organisation, get in contact. I would love to help you build stronger, more valuable relationships with your audience.
