It seems like every time I discuss content creation and strategy with a client, they don’t like the idea of creating their own “blog” content and publishing and promoting it. I can’t blame them, as it’s a lot of work to write an article or film a video. What makes it even more difficult is that you usually can’t associate a return on investment from content creation, unless you get really deep into the analytical weeds. Since most small and medium businesses can’t justify the cost of the analysis to see if the cost of content creation is worth it, they skip both.
There are several reasons to create and share content freely, and I’ll list them all. But in my opinion, here’s the most important reason:
We know when we make a purchase it’s from a business, but we prefer to do business with other human beings, not some cold, unknown business entity. When customers consume the content you produce, it adds that human element that would otherwise be missing. That human element creates these advantages:
Quality content and quality products or services will make your customers want to hear from you. At this point, one of the biggest challenges becomes, “What ‘quality content’ can I provide to my customers?” This is a tough question to answer – in fact, answering it might be tougher than actually creating the content. Here are three ways I use to come up with content ideas.
There are approximately 2,316,833 different SEO tools you can use. You’re right I made that number up, but there are a lot of options. For this exercise I’ll recommend two. Both are free, and you can use one or both.
First is Ubersuggest. Type in the keyword and you’ll get an idea of how often it’s searched for. You can also see a trend graph, which helps in determining a keywords “staying power” over time. Here’s what I got when I searched for “pest control.”
I would consider a mix of video and text to be the best bet. How much of each is up to you. I also feel that it’s easier to make a video and then create a transcript, audio file and video from it. That can then be used in multiple platforms – You can share it to social, your website, e-mail, podcast, or other platforms.
What about the frequency of new content? Do it as often as you can, but at a minimum, you want to get something out weekly. I know that’s easier said than done (I publish content too. It’s tough). One thing to try that can make that easier is to keep posts short. A 3-5 minute video or an article that’s 600-1,000 words is a good length. It’s easy to go over that though, so consider breaking one piece of content into a multiple part series.
Your customers want to hear from you, and while difficult to measure, sharing content will bring more customers to your business. Brainstorm ideas for topics, then schedule them out and set a goal of at least one new content piece er week. Video can be transformed into an article, a podcast, or a shareable snippet on social media. It’s also about to overtake text as the preferred way to consume content (if it hasn’t already).
What other questions do you have? Post in the comments and let me know how I can help.
Drop light image by Skye Studios on Unsplash
