I was visiting one of our clients this week to discuss the strategy for online marketing for the next few months and as always the subject of “What content?” reared its head again. We had quite a long conversation about not producing content for contents sake, (after all if that’s the case you are really only writing for Google, and guess what… Google really can’t read!!) but more understanding what actually clients, or prospective clients want or need from your business.
Actually when it boils down to it, it’s quite easy, when individuals go online they are typically wanting just three things
1) A solution to a problem or a need that they have.
2) To be entertained
3) To keep in touch with family and friends, or businesses they are fans of
So as a business, taking this list as your starting point, you need to create content that addresses these three areas, and to make it easier for you, I’ll add a fourth
4) Thought Leadership
If you have these thoughts in the back of your mind, then you will always produce timely relevant content that engages your reader. Other factors that also help are ‘seasonal’ or current trends, if you can piggyback off the back of these then you will also resonate…but your content still has to address the issue of wanting just 3 things!
Once you have an idea for a piece of content, lets say you have a solution to a particular problem, how are you going to deliver that content? Can you deliver it in multiple ways? For example… this blog post I am writing right now, is a solution to a business problem of ‘what content’… Lets think about how you could absorb this information
- As the written word (this blog!!)
- As a small presentation (powerpoint or something similar)
- As an infographic
- A pdf download – or online flipping book if there’s enough content
- A podcast for you to listen to
So you have picked one solution and then managed to mix it into 5 different pieces of content that you can distribute to your audience over a period of time. Think about it, if you then can do the same for another 4 content pieces, you’ll have 20 items in your content library.
Content really can be easy if you understand why people go online, and you supply a Pick and Mix approach.