How to create valuable content
How do you feel about the content you’re producing? Regardless of your company size, content marketing should be a key part of your overall marketing strategy. After all, content is the fuel of every other part of marketing.
In a study conducted by The Future of Commerce, looking at the tendency of a customer to purchase from a brand, consumers were 131% more likely to buy from a brand immediately after consuming early-stage, educational content from that brand.
What is early-stage educational content? It’s the first pieces that future customers see from you. It could be a blog post, a how-to video, or a digital asset they’ve downloaded. Early-stage content resonates because it demonstrates an understanding of the problem, and starts to provide insights on your point of view and ultimate solution.
It’s impressive that consumers are 131% more likely to buy, but what’s even more impressive is a week after reading the content, consumers actually found that brand more trustworthy, even if they had no further exposure to the company’s content.
It’s no wonder businesses are so keen to produce content for marketing purposes. It clearly works.
Unless it doesn’t.
How does your experience compare to these stats?? Even if you don’t track this kind of data (I don’t), you probably have a good sense of how it’s going. Consider these questions:
What is your audience gaining from your content? Is it educational or entertaining?
Is it solving a problem your audience faces?
Is there strategy and intention behind your posts?
Creating truly valuable content for your audience requires dedicated focus on the core problems you solve for them.
Who is your target audience?
Your target audience is a fundamental piece of your marketing strategy because you need a solid understanding of the audience you’re trying to reach (and who you don’t want to reach).
Whether you offer a product or service, the process of honing in on your target audience is similar. It involves looking at your competition, your offering, and your clients (or who you think your clients should be).
From here you can create a general picture of the people who would benefit most from your offer through demographics like their age, location, income level, and gender.
Content is generally only valuable to those for whom it resonates. So, look at how you can speak directly to this audience.
What platforms are they on? These are the platforms you should be showing up on as well. Your content isn’t valuable if it’s not being seen by the right people!
What kind of content do they prefer consuming? Blog posts, video content, pictures, and podcasts are all great forms of content but trying to do all of them (especially at the beginning) is unrealistic and won’t be as impactful as choosing 1-2 places to show up and doing those well.
Are there certain colours and fonts that you can use to appeal to your target audience? Hopefully, these are similar to your branding so that content is easy to create. (This is always a good thing to think about when you’re going through the branding process!)
How regularly are they consuming content? This can give you an idea of the frequency with which you should also be showing up. Keep an eye on your analytics to see if how your audience engages shifts over time.
What does your audience need or care about?
Educational and informative content can be a great way to build trust with your audience, but it’s important to ensure it aligns with what your audience actually wants to learn about.
What are the interests and values of your target customer? Research the questions your audience is asking and find ways to answer them with your own unique spin. (Pro tip: Keep an ongoing list of the common questions you get from prospects and customers as fodder for creating content.)
What are your competitors creating content about? What’s performing well?
What do your social media or website insights show in terms of what resonates with your audience?
Rather than simply adding to the noise of the online world with general information, speak directly to the needs and wants of your audience and you’ll likely find it’s much more well-received.
Beyond speaking directly about your industry or product, this also means reflecting on a broader perspective. It means looking at the current social justice issues that surround your audience and looking at ways you might be able to authentically infuse brand activism into your strategy by matching your message to the moment.
It means having a point of view, and it means offering insight and content that’s focused on more than what will directly serve your company in the short-term.
How does your audience want to feel? How do they want to benefit?
Beyond the demographics of your audience, you also need to understand the more intangible aspects of their experience so you can connect with them on a deeper level.
Your offering likely solves a problem that your target audience faces regularly. Dive into that pain point to explore how your audience feels when they’re struggling with [insert problem here] and how they want to feel on the other side.
Other than your specific product or service, what can you offer your audience with respect to their pain points?
Consider my business for example. I work with startups and small businesses to help them reach the right audience with the brilliance of their offering. However, I also offer free educational content through:
This blog, where I openly share my knowledge and expertise on marketing and communications.
My podcast, Small But Mighty Biz Stories, where I share about small businesses my target audience will love.
My social media accounts, where I connect directly with my audience to offer tools and quick-form content in a more conversational way.
Regular emails where I give tips and advice that readers can implement quickly. (Not a subscriber yet? Scroll down below to sign up!)
These platforms directly benefit my audience and help me to build brand awareness and trust.
Now, look at your own business. How can you start creating trust with content that speaks to where your audience is currently at and helps them to achieve their goals?
Giving your customer some quick wins or tools they can implement immediately shows that you have a lot to offer!
When and where do your audience needs exist?
When thinking about your audience needs, are they seasonal or location-based? In addition to the form of content you choose, consistency and time of day are important factors to consider when coming up with a content strategy that will genuinely serve your audience.
If your content is truly most valuable in one location or season, consider looking at how you can elevate your content when it’s most relevant. Would it help to put ad money behind your content during those seasons? Would adding location tags or specific hashtags help your content be seen?
Even if your content is most valuable at one time of year or one location, consider if there are ways you can make some content evergreen so that it’s applicable year-round.
Your business agenda isn’t as important as your audience needs
Create content that aligns with your audience's needs over your business goals. Yes, your own interests are important to ensuring the energy and passion behind your work shine through. But even more important is what your audience is looking to see, and how the content you’re putting out will be perceived by your consumers.
With every content idea you come up with, ask yourself whether it falls under the key messages you've determined for your business, and how it benefits your audience.
While it takes time and energy to develop a successful content marketing strategy, the potential payoff is worth the investment. When consumers feel heard, seen, and valued, they’ll reciprocate with engagement, support, and dollars spent.