The internet has opened up a whole new world for businesses looking to convert new customers and the marketers reaching out to those customers.
The rise of high-profile Youtube stars and celebrity bloggers has shown us that just about anyone with a PC or smart device and an internet connection can become a content creator.
In fact, many businesses and organizations have turned to content creation as a means to communicate better with their audience. Unfortunately, the low barriers to entry coupled with the huge competition means that there is a significant amount of white noise usually present.
In times such as these, even the best content creators find themselves struggling to stand out from the crowd. Despite the challenges, the rewards are very much worth it. A decent content creator can quickly find themselves attracting a crowd of millions. This is why one often hears marketeers talking about how they’re trying to go viral.
However, many content strategists make the mistake of trying to become the next big thing. Oftentimes, they overlook the importance of creating quality content that engages with their audience.
Instead many try to go for the shock factor which typically leads to the creation of subpar content that ends up getting lost in translation. Being marketing experts ourselves, we’ve put together this guide to show you, how you can create quality, engaging content that works for you.
1. Know your audience
Whether you’re creating videos, writing articles or putting together online classes, it’s vital that you know who your audience is. Content marketing works because it enables you (the content creator or marketer) to form meaningful connections with your audience. Studies have shown well-crafted content is able to convert six times more customers as compared to other online marketing strategies.
This is why it is especially important that you know and understand your target audience. The father of modern-day advertising; David Ogily often espoused the importance of respecting one’s clients and customers.
In fact, one of his most famous quotes reminds us that ‘The Consumer Isn’t A Moron; She is Your Wife’. When planning out a content campaign, always take the time to understand the needs, wants and fears of your audience. Being able to address all of these allows you to create content that resonates well with their own internal philosophy. Thus, making it significantly easier for you to stand out in a market filled with white noise and distractions.
All of this is the fruit of extensive research and thorough analysis of consumer behavior. Diving in headfirst without understanding your target audience will only lead to disaster.
2. Define your goals
Unfortunately, too many of us make the mistake of not properly identifying and defining our goals prior to the launch of a new campaign.
What is the purpose of this upcoming campaign?
Are we looking to generate interest in a product or service? Are we looking to convert new customers? Or maybe we’re looking to re-engage our existing audience?
Identifying the true goal of a content creation campaign has the benefit of putting everything into perspective. For example, when you are betting on horses, on websites like Twinspires, you set realistic goals so you can win the most money possible.
A goal of a new marketing campaign is to generate interest and create leads for a new product to be launched.
With that in mind, the content strategist can focus the efforts of his/her team on the creation of videos and articles that attract the attention of new potential customers. The content created is then tailor-made to generate awareness and spark interest in this new product which in turn enables the organization to reach out to a larger crowd.
3. Focus on quality
With hundreds of thousands of content creators on the web nowadays, just about anyone with an internet connection and a computer can create their own content. In the past, businesses like Mahalo and other ezines flourished by pumping out hundreds of pages of generic content daily.
This frequency allowed sites such as these to be at the top of Google’s ranking system. However, after Google’s algorithm update, ezines were hit hard as they were punished for their lack of originality.
Taking a lesson from this, today’s content creators need to focus on producing content that’s actually worth something to your audience. Instead of recycling old ideas and concepts, focus on creating your own voice and image.
The Hoonigan brand is one such example of crafting quality, original content that really works. Founded by rally superstar and entrepreneur Ken Block, Hoonigan Industries have carved out their own niche all over YouTube and the world. Renowned for their unique brand of automotive madness, Hoonigan videos have been a hit attracting more than 500 million views on YouTube.
As we’ve seen, crafting quality content is no mean feat. However, by keeping these 3 rules at the back of your mind and with some practice, you’ll be able to consistently produce great content that engages with your audience.