Most blogs about content start with phrases like "content hacks" or "content pro tips." The thing is, most businesses aren't actually creating content for their brand. They post content - mostly on social media. The make posts, reels, stories....pieces that titillate, but not always pieces that communicate!
Content - or content marketing - is a communication tool. It's a strategic approach that aims to create and distribute valuable, relevant and consistent content aimed at not only attracting, but also engaging and retaining customers.
In a digital world, creating content that is strategic and considered, and deeply brand centric, is key.
Content connects your target audience to your brand. When you flow content out through the relevant channels, it functions like signposts to your website: pointing at your asset, giving people reasons to come on in.
Why care about content?
The actual stats around content vary from source to source but overwhelmingly everyone agrees businesses who produce good content, do better. Why?
- Content is cheaper that traditional forms of promotion and advertising;
- Content creates a deeper, more authentic connection between your audience and your brand;
- Marketers who focus on content, like blogs, can experience significantly better ROI than those that don't (one article cites 13 x higher ROI!)
- Content creates leads - often qualified leads, because if they're ready to click, they're already somewhat sold on what you sell;
And so on, and so on.
The catch is, while some 56% of businesses worldwide say they intend to spend more on content marketing, overwhelmingly most businesses, especially small-to-medium businesses, don't have a documented content strategy.
And the problem with that? Burnout. So much precious time, cost and energy wasted by constantly trying to reimagine what to post, and wondering why it's not generating the results you hoped for.
Let's avoid burnout shall we!
Here are the four 'things' we reckon will take you from posting to creating content that works.
- Know the brand.
- Write it down.
- Learn how to read analytics.
- Know your limits.
There's a bit to work through right? But if you're keen to learn - and maybe get started on your own content strategy so you can create killer on-brand content, keep on reading.
If you want to cheat it (a little) - we've created some learning guides that will give you enough knowledge that you can brief someone else to help you (like us!)
THING (1): KNOW THE BRAND
Often the people who start businesses are also the ones creating posts on social media. This brand is their baby and thus, the brand tone becomes personal. In a nutshell, the brand is them - and people buy the person.
Not such a problem if you intend to remain the face of the business overtime. However if you envisage somewhere down the line that you might want to scale or sell your business, then you first need to build a brand - as a strategic (learning guide alert - look for the Foundations one!).
If you're the latter - the type of business that's gonna scale, or sell one day - before you create content, you need to know who your brand is, why people should pay attention, and be able to articulate that clearly.
THING (2): WRITE IT DOWN
Writing down what you will create (topics), when you will create it (calendar) and which channels you will post it through will save you so many headaches. We promise. It's called a Content Strategy - and it's powerful.
One early client (Coffee Capsules 2U), took the content strategy we wrote, and used it consistently for five years to build a massively successful brand using good content as its backbone.When they sold the business years later, that content strategy stayed. The strategy became a reference point. It kept the crew on message, on point - saving countless hours and dollars.
The simplest way to start thinking about what to put into your content strategy is to first think about;
- Who is your audience and what do you know about them?
- What content will help connect your audience to your brand - not just to what you do, but why they should care? This is also about the type of content too - email, social, SEO-drive blogs, webinar, audio content, videos, reels, long-form articles, ebooks, landing pages and so the list goes on. Which leads to....
- How will you create content that not only reaches your audience but connects with them. Will you create in house, use tools like Canva plan monthly | quarterly?
- Where does your audience play (which channels do they use)? If your audience is not the type to read long-form educational content, don't create it. If they're likely to be turned off by kitschy reels, don't create them. Know where they play so you can invest your energies in the right place.
THING (3): LEARN TO READ ANALYTICS
The best thing about digital (other than the lower costs per serve) is data. It pours out of digital - it's basically quantitative research, tailored to your brand, delivered almost instantly. It's like rainbows and skittles to marketers: we can never get enough.
Creating content takes effort - time and money. With a content strategy, less time and money are wasted. But still, as with any investment in a business, you need to know what the ROI is - the return on investment. Measure your efforts. Look at where your business ranks in Google Analytics before you start creating content. Know what your baseline # of followers is or engagement levels of social. Check the open rates on emails. The read rates. The click throughs. Do all that. Because that insight will tell you which content you create connects more readily, and is more engaging to your audience.
Static or ascending stats. Good. Declining stats. Not so good. The numbers tell you a story. Look for it. Heed it.
THING (4): KNOW YOUR LIMITS
No, this isn't a hard sell for MLAB to broker your content creation, and manage that on your behalf. Although we can!
No, this is about genuinely recognising your limits. Most businesses with a website will need content. Remember content is the signposts in market that say - hey, over here, choose us because....
Without content your website is a wasted asset.
But news flash, not everyone loves writing, creating, planning or scheduling content. It's hard. Writing copy for digital - knowing how to find keywords - it's hard. Most people need to build that muscle.
Then there's the time. We get it. When you are a business owner, time is precious.
If you're part of a growing business, chances are you are the financial controller, the sales person, the CEO, the manufacturer, the distributer, the strategist, the futurist. Getting around to marketing, let alone creating content that works? Who has the time?
Outsourcing is definitely an option. Which is why having a documented content strategy is so useful. Give the strategy to someone. Hand them a library of images or products or the budget to create those things, and away those folks will go. The price need not be excessive either.
Some, like ours, starts for as little as $395 + GST per month for social content creation, or the same price again to create 2 x on brand 600 word blogs. That's not a lot. It's about balancing what your time is worth vs. investing in help.
Anyway, it's not a sell. It's a reality. We're genuine in this. Content, while important, can take a back seat if as a business owner or manager you are overwhelmed by other business stuff.
Know your limits and push to others who can support you and your brand, if it's getting too much.
THAT'S A WRAP!
Those are our top four 'things' to take you from posting to creating content. We hope you enjoyed! If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask - or, if you just want some more support to get your content right, connect in and we'll get you on track.