By Sophie Knox
So everyone’s talking about creating good content. If you have an online presence – let’s face it, who doesn’t? – you need content. Simple as that. The best designed website with the trickiest features means nothing if it doesn’t have good content. You’re not just competing with your direct market competitors; you’re competing against every other source of information and entertainment that exists on the Internet. It’s the noisiest chat room on the planet. So how do you make it stand out from everything else? Try these tips:
1) Get Help. Once you’ve created your marketing strategy and are ready to implement a content plan, appoint someone with the right skills to help you create the content. It’s important to recognize that you can’t do everything yourself – if you’re not a professional editor and find yourself wading in the waters of content creation, you’re almost certainly going to underestimate the time and effort involved, and possibly the quality of the content will suffer.
2) Develop a style. And be consistent. When writing the blogs, creating the images or filming the video that becomes your content, decide what kind of message you’d like to deliver. Do you want a relaxed, friendly and down-to-earth approach or an upmarket, sophisticated and aspirational style? For example, if you envisage your brand being part of the consumer’s everyday life, at an affordable price and consumed regularly, then the content that surrounds that brand needs to fit in with that lifestyle – talk to them like you’re friends, not a parent with big words and imagery they can’t relate to. Use their language and live in their world.
3) Make them want more. This is the hardest part. Everyone will try something new once. So when creating content, try to make it unique and compelling enough that the consumer wants to come back for more. Whether it’s a food and wine match, an educational guide, how-to article or an opinion piece, if the consumer identifies with your brand, and has a positive experience with your brand, chances are they’ll be back for another whirl. Remember, the content is not about you, it’s about the consumer, and how your brand fits into the consumer’s life.
4) Make it visual. We live in a visual world. Consumers look at the pictures before they read the text, so entice them with the images. Think of your online presence as a virtual magazine – if you want the consumer to pick up and buy a copy, they need to be attracted by the images on the cover.
Keep these tips in mind when creating your content and you’ll be surprised at the success you find at the end of the Yellow Brick Content Road.
