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Content Creation For Any Business In Eight Simple Steps

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They say ‘content is king’ and they also say that ‘good content will find its audience’.

Now, one of those is true and the other says ‘good content will find its audience’. We might talk about how to find the audience another time but, for now, we’re going to focus on the actual content itself.

The reason content IS, in fact, king is that good content can do a multitude of things for your business:

  • Help sell whatever it is you sell
  • Expand the reach of your marketing
  • Position you as an expert in your industry
  • Engage your workforce
  • Help you recruit the best talent

In those terms, content definitely looks like a good proposition, right?

How do I create content?

‘Content creation’ can sometimes seem like a chore and, worse again, impossible.

A few months ago I had a call from a guy who was considering working with the same SEO company we use for Cuckoo Events. He had spoken to the SEO guys and they’d suggested he talk to me. His business was selling online stationery and he couldn’t see how ‘content creation’ was something they could do and was worried his SEO wouldn’t be near as effective without content.

He was right in that his SEO wouldn’t be as effective without content but was very wrong to think ‘content creation’ wasn’t something they could do. We spoke for 45 minutes and, when he hung up, he had countless ideas for good content they could create.

The point of the story is this – ALL businesses have content they can create.

Here are some tips on how to go about creating content for your business.

#1. Answer questions

I was recently on a panel on content creation as part of BriteSpace Dublin and, when asked to provide my best advice to business people with regard to content it was this – answer questions.

This is the approach we take and has led us to produce infographics which have been widely shared as well as blog posts which have been very well received too.

#2. Be the expert

There is significant value in positioning yourself as the expert in your industry. Be the business that customers know as having answers and providing insights and information.

Occupying this kind of position in the minds of customers and potential customers can lend great weight to your marketing and promotional messages.

#3. Involve your front line staff

If you’re looking to answer questions and be the expert then you need to consult with the people who are fielding the questions from your customers.

Your front line staff, call centre teams, sales reps are the ones who are interacting with your customers and potential customers on a regular basis. Talk to them and ask them to come suggest content that they know your customers will find useful and have a need for.

#4. Build an audience.

If you’re going to be creating content, then you’re going to need ways to distribute it. You need a social media presence. You need a presence in industry groups. You need to be in networking groups. You need mailing lists.

This harks back to what we briefly touched on earlier – good content won’t find its audience. You need to cultivate an audience so that, when you’ve something to share, you’ve people to share it with.

#5. Trust your instincts.

You and your team know your industry. You know your customers and what they value. You should know what content will appeal to them. So think and talk among yourselves and take a punt on producing some content you’re pretty sure people interested in what you do will be interested in.

#6. Don’t force it.

Creating content, much like having a social media presence, needs to be a ‘real’ thing. Neither can be solely, or mainly, focused on statistics and metrics etc.

You need to have an environment in the business where it can happen organically. Once it comes from a real, organic place it has a much better chance of being effective and of use to your audience.

#7. Forget about ‘going viral’.

Not all content will set the world alight and, more importantly, it doesn’t need to. Very few things ever ‘go viral’ but, remember, you’re not looking to speak to everyone in the world. You’re looking to speak to people with an interest in what you do.

#8. Make it pretty.

Whether it’s an infographic or a blog post or anything else, how it looks and reads is important. Much like anything else, it needs to be attractive to the eye.

This may mean having your graphic designer put aside some time to design some graphics for your blog post. It may mean paying a specialist to design an infographic. It may mean hiring a photographer to get some good product photographs. It may even mean getting someone in to shoot proper video for you.

Whatever it takes, make it pretty.

The bottom line

Good content that people share can be very powerful. ALL business have the capacity to create good content. Hopefully these 8 steps can help you create content for your business.

Images: ”Handwriting of Awesome Content word in notebook for website content concept/ Shutterstock.com“

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