How do you feel about marketing your business?
For many of us, while we know marketing is necessary, we struggle to make it a priority. We want to reach out to more clients and make the world a better place for those we can help, but we find barriers to marketing our business that are hard to overcome - maybe lack of time, lack of ideas, or lack of confidence.
But creative content is inspiring! It captivates your audience, creating moments they’ll relate to. It builds your brand awareness and helps people choose you. We all know that people buy from people, and creative content is how your people will get to know you.
Although it can feel hard to develop creative ideas and execute them, this is an essential part of your marketing strategy. In this article, I’ll look at what creative content is and how you can use it for your business marketing.
The Importance of Content Marketing
Content marketing is about producing valuable content that attracts and engages the people you want to sell to. You’re providing your audience with the help and solutions they need rather than just selling to them. To engage people, you’ll need creative content that stands out and really shows people who you are.
Whatever platform you use, content helps you share your business message with your people. It might be:
Visual Content
Photography - whether it’s professional brand photography, or your own carefully taken phone pictures, every image you use reflects your brand.
Graphics, Illustrations and Infographics - you might use Canva for your graphics or have the support of a graphic designer; however they are created, such graphics can have a huge impact, informing and engaging your audience.
Videos - again, these might be live videos for social media or professionally recorded for your website. Video is powerful content that evokes emotions and captures the attention of those watching.
Written Content
Social Media posts - on social media, the text is usually enhanced by your eye-catching visuals, but always make sure you have something to say.
Blog Content - blog posts are articles, or pages, on your website on which you talk about the things which interest and help your audience. These are great for search engine optimisation (SEO), helping bring people to your website when they are looking for specific subjects. For some people, writing articles can be quite daunting, but a copywriter can help you; in fact I work closely with Natalie of Writer for You.
Case Studies - again, case studies provide real value to your audience, showing examples of your work. This is another way of boosting your SEO and bringing people to your website, and - as with blogs - you can share these on your social media, too.
Articles - articles are similar to blogs, pieces written to inform and support your audience. These articles, however, will not be hosted on your website; they may be for magazines or newspapers, online publications, LinkedIn, or other people’s websites. As long as the audience for these platforms matches your audience, this will provide useful content marketing.
Books - a book is the ultimate in content marketing, really showing your reader how much knowledge you have to share. I recently co-authored a book called
Be Brand Rich, packed with loads of marketing tips, which I found to be a fabulous way to raise my profile.
Whether it’s on your social media, website, someone else’s platform, or printed on paper, creative content will draw more people to you. Your aim is to capture the imagination of your audience with great content that grabs attention and keeps them coming back for more. You’ll build brand awareness with consistent, high-quality content that helps your brand stand out.
The purpose of your content is to bring in the right people and then encourage conversions, pushing them to take action, whether it's making a purchase or signing up for your newsletter. And, great content will improve your website's SEO because search engines love fresh, engaging content that increases your website's visibility.
How to Create Great Content
Planning is key. I talk about this often, including in my recent post How a Marketing Plan Helps Your Personal Brand.
As I mentioned earlier, many of the people I talk to struggle to market themselves because there are too many other things to do, or they struggle with ideas. Planning helps remove both these obstacles. By taking some time to plan in advance, you can think more creatively about what you’re doing so that when the time comes to post, you’re already halfway there.
I always suggest that people block out some time for planning and content creation and treat that time seriously; using it effectively will really benefit your business.
Your plan will also help you stay consistent with your marketing as long as you make sure it is realistic. Don’t set yourself impossible goals so you give up after two months.
Your plan doesn’t need to be complex, but it does need to consider:
Your Audience: Who is your target audience for this content? What are the benefits for them of what you’re telling or showing them?
Your Goals: What do you want your content to achieve? Are you trying to educate, entertain, or persuade? It’s important this is clear and that you tell people what to do next.
Your Platforms: Think about where you want to be seen and what kind of content will be effective in those spaces - you don’t need to be everywhere so think about where your audience is.
Making Your Content Stand Out
Use the Right Visuals: High-quality images, videos, and graphics will make your content more engaging. While it’s sometimes necessary to use on-the-go smartphone photos, think carefully about whether they say what you want them to. Your own photos will be much better for brand recognition, storytelling, and engagement.
Experiment with Different Formats: Try different media and different platforms - blog posts, videos, infographics, social media posts, webinars, articles and more - there are so many options. While you don’t need to do everything, by trying new things you might discover something you love, like creating fun short-form videos.
Focus on Your Message: Use strong language, tell stories, and ask questions to keep your audience interested. You don’t need to write a lot but when you do write, make sure your audience recognises you and your message.
Make the Most of Different Platforms: Understand where your people find you and how you can use your content on each platform. It may be that your customers love Instagram Stories; think about how you might also be able to use this content elsewhere.
Reusing Your Content: Make the most of the work you’re doing by sharing it on different platforms - your blog or webinar should be promoted on your social media, and your TikTok video can be added to your website.
Repurpose Your Content: This is slightly different from just reusing your content; think about whether you can do something different with it. You’ve written a blog, so create some social media posts and infographics to support it; then, once you have a whole series, you can turn them into a book. Or perhaps you create short ‘How to’ videos which you can pull together with additional content to create a workshop.
Update Old Content: You can make the most of your content by keeping it fresh, updating it with new information or trends, or creating roundups and follow-ups of highlights in your year.
Creative content that talks to your audience will help your business grow - and it doesn’t have to be a struggle. With a little planning and effort, you can produce content that resonates with your audience and drives results. Next month I’m going to be writing a little more about creative content and there’s something exciting in the works - you’ll find out more about it then!
If you need creative brand photography to show off your amazing business, improve your storytelling, and show people the benefits of working with you, Business Besties is a fantastic offer, allowing you to share a brand photoshoot for an amazing price. I’d love to talk to you about how it works, so please do get in touch at liz.devonshire@virginmedia.com, or arrange a chat by clicking the link below to find out more...
Comments