Content doesn’t have to be complex

We all know that content is king. It’s always been true, but in today’s age, it’s taking on new meaning as everyone and their grandma seems to creating it. Technology today allows it to be created faster (think Jasper, ChatGTP, Apple iMovie), edited quicker, and uploaded for the world to see in a matter of seconds.

While the thought process is slowly changing in the business world around creating content, it’s still expected to be polished and professional, which means it can take longer to create. This also means that most businesses are not putting out content as quickly as their audience wants to consume it. What can we do to create good content without breaking the bank or employing a huge team to do it?

Here are my tips:

It’s not about the volume

If your goal for content creation has a number attributed to it, you could be doing yourself a disservice. There isn’t a magic equation to the number of “pieces” of content you create that will yield more followers, engagement, customers, or revenue. While it’s true that prospective customers often need 15 different touchpoints before they make a buying decision, those touchpoints don’t necessarily have to be a piece of content.

Instead of trying to hit a certain volume of content, focus on the quality of the content. When we factor in getting the highest quality, we have to slow down and produce less. Fast usually equals sub-par, and if you’re putting out sub-par content, that will speak volumes to your potential or existing customers.

The content you choose to create needs to be customer-centric. It needs to answer the questions they may have, to educate them on how your solution or product helps them, empower them to do better in their roles. To do this, you need to spend time with your customers, learn their wants and needs, and develop a content strategy that follows their lead.

Create a single, high-investment, high-visibility piece

This could mean many things and take different forms depending on the industry you’re in or the customers you serve. For some companies, this could be a data report of some sort using a third-party data research company or an analyst-like firm. For other companies, this could mean writing a book or publishing a “For Dummies” booklet.

Whatever you choose to do, it will take you a few months to put together, to fine tune, to optimize, and to quality check its contents with a select group of individuals from your target audience. Does it resonate? Does it answer their questions? Does it make them want to engage with you?

Brainstorm the various pieces you can derive from the single piece

Once you have planned out your single, high-investment piece, brainstorm on how you will use it. Because it should be a pretty robust and comprehensive asset, you’ll be able to get a lot out of it.

Use its contents for blogs, social media posts, to create the abstract and fodder for webinars, articles for press placements, the basis for videos. There is so much you can do with it, and all of those derivative pieces should point back to the primary asset so that you can use it as a lead magnet.

Don’t shy away from non-polished content

In this instance, I’m focusing on video content. Most companies won’t put out videos unless it’s been recorded and edited by a professional videographer. But in this world where Instagram and TikTok content is all the rage, even for the business professional, authentic content equals not polished to a brilliant level.

Authenticity goes a long way in humanizing a brand, to prioritizing getting relevant content in the viewers hands rather than wait weeks to have it edited and then published. It’s all about balance too. For smaller companies with less of a budget, they may focus on more “homemade” videos using an iPhone or iMovie or a GoPro, which is fine for their growth stage. Larger organizations with deeper pockets, should shoot for a certain percentage of professionally created videos that will have high visibility, and the other percentage should be focused on creating ad hoc and non-professional videos.

Reuse over time

Content shouldn’t be one-and-done, unless it’s covering a specific point-in-time event or activity. Content should be developed with longevity in mind so that you can reuse and repurpose over a long period of time.

Remember, most of your audience will not see that ad or post you put out at the time you published it. With the amount of content available today and the speed at which people scroll through their feeds, it’s likely that the majority of who you’re targeting will either gloss over it or it won’t resonate the first (or second, or third) time they see it. It may take them several times of seeing your content before their brain starts to become familiar with it, and the brain getting comfortable with what you’re presenting will bode well in the future as the buyer considers solutions to their problems.

Use the data you have to guide the content you create

An often overlooked source of content is your in-house data. This could be found in the telemetry of the solution you offer which should capture the things that are important to your customers. Or, it could be surveys that you run with your customers gauging their interest or concerns.

Analyze that data to find trends or topics that reinforce what you’re saying in the market. Publish that data as a report, branded by your organization. It doesn’t have to be a 10 page report. People LOVE data and findings. Use that to your advantage to spark conversations. People may not agree with what you have to publish, but who can argue with data?

Do you have other ideas or experiences in how you leveraged content to drive engagement? Any tips that you can share or that we can discuss? Leave me a comment.