Content Is King—But It Can Also Kill Your Business

It’s said that “Content is king.” True, it’s the driving force behind brand awareness, user engagement, and customer advocacy. But, if it’s not done properly it can kill your business.

When I say content, I’m not just saying words on a page. Content is copy text, but it is also visual graphics, images, videos, and sound bites—Anything visual or audible that supplies information to others.

According to Social Media Examiner “The most important content for marketers is (only one choice allowed): Original Written Content (45%); Original Visual Assets (34%); Original Videos (19%); Original Audio Content (2%).”

3 Tips for Creating Content That Works

WHEN CREATING THE CONTENT FOR YOUR WEBSITE OR ANY OTHER DIGITAL MARKETING EFFORTS, KEEP IN MIND THESE TIPS:

Don’t Be Selfish

Many times a business will write for themselves, not for their audience. When you first start thinking of content creation, be sure to  develop a content strategy that aligns with your business goals and also with your audience needs.

People don’t like pushy salespeople, so when your content talks more about you rather than how your product or service solves customer problems, you could be turning off potential customers.

Consider hiring someone to help you create your content strategy or a copywriter to write your content if you’re not able to do it yourself. Don’t think it’s a wise investment? Here’s why you should hire a copywriter.

Give Them What They Want – Fast

Potential customers come to your website because they are looking for a solution to their problems. They want to hear what your product or services are, how it will help them, and where to go to learn more. Your content should help them make quick decisions by giving quick snippets of information and allowing them to explore more if they are interested.

As you write think of customer needs and what information a customer is seeking. Go back to your personas often and consider the reasons why they are coming to you in the first place.
Not sure where to start? Learn more about writing for your customers.

Favor Quality Over Quantity

Quality content is the key to successful marketing. Quality content has a ton of definitions but—to me— it’s original, relevant content that will motivate users. It informs, entertains, or fills a need. Learn more about quality content.

You can create a boatload of content, but does that really work? Stuffing pages with keywords and links or designing a bunch of pretty graphics and images for your pages sounds good, but if your content isn’t relevant, you’re not being effective in communicating to your customers. Learn more about creating content that converts.

To create quality content, you need:

A Content Strategy

Develop the plan that drives your content creation. Evaluate what the creation, publication, and curation of your content will be. Think about your business needs but, more importantly, also the needs of your customers.

To Identify Audience Needs

Start with creating personas and really look at what services and solutions your customers are seeking. Keep in mind where they are in the buying cycle, and how they are likely to engage with you at those stages.

Create Compelling Content

No matter the content (a blog post, infographic, new web page, etc.), create content that will influence your audience to take action. It should be unique, relevant, and targeted to fill a need they have. Remember, they are looking for someone to solve their problem, and if you do it properly, they will trust you as an authority and want to do business with you.

Hire Gravitate. Get Results.