Sharing information online has drastically changed ad influenced the dissemination of information. As a result, marketing is no longer what it was. In the last few years there has been a shift towards inbound marketing while traditional marketing techniques have taken a hit. Sure, outbound marketing still works, but it’s not as pervasive as it was a few years ago.
These days, many small businesses are finding out that creating and distributing their own original content costs far less than paid banner ads, media buys or newspaper center spreads and produces even better results.
Businesses are not only generating more revenues, they are also building tribes and enhancing their reach for a fraction of the usual costs.
Given that content has become an integral aspect of marketing online and tons of businesses are adopting it as part of their marketing strategy –inevitably resulting in the abundance of mediocre content- what can you do to make sure your content stands out and beats the pack?
It’s simple really: Write Epic, Unforgettable Content!
I believe this bears repeating over and over again. When it comes to creating and promoting your content this year and beyond, your mantra should be: the best content in the industry.
Smart business owners who adopt this will find their websites ranking higher on the search engines, enjoy increased social mentions, get traffic from multiple sources other than the search engines and most importantly, build an audience/community that’s fiercely both loyal to their brand and willing to spend even more money on the business’ products and services.
This year, resolve to do away with mediocre content. No one likes it. Here’s a measurable yardstick you can use to tell if your content is awesome: People should rave about, share, bookmark and distribute your content. If your audience isn’t doing that, they you’re doing it all wrong.
So, what do you need to create absolutely superb content every time?
Research Like Your Life Depends on it
Let me ask you a quick question: if you were diagnosed with a deadly disease – hopefully, you won’t be, just play along with me here – and you wanted to seek alternative therapies, how much research would you do?
How many naturopaths would you consult with? How many options would you consider? Would you consider combining conventional treatment methods with alternative medicine? Think of just how far you’d go to find the right information and apply that same approach to all content that you’ll be creating this year.
Listen, it’s better to create two well researched and well written blog posts a week than ten drivels masked as content. Find reputable references – I’d choose references and stats from Harvard Business Review over one back alley publication – and accurate information. Make sure that whatever you’re giving your audience this year, is nothing short of the best.
Multipurpose Your Content
You probably know this already, but it bears repeating again. Create and convert your content into multiple formats like pdfs, powerpoints, images, videos, podcasts and so on. It’s no longer enough to have your content in just one format.
Pre-empt your audience and give them what they want. If you’re creating a video, please make sure there’s a transcript or even a downloadable pdf that your visitors can read on the go if they don’t have time to watch your video.
If you have never used infographics, now is the time to start incorporating them into your content. A picture can often be more powerful than a thousand words, and the best part is it doesn’t take more than 2-3 minutes to digest the content.
Nobody ever said your content must be in text format to be appreciated. If you’re uncomfortable with showing your face, get a screen capture software like Camtasia or create the content and outsource the script reading to someone on Fiverr.
Again, be the best this year and nothing less.
Oscar K, you’ve brought up a very important fundamental when it comes to Internet SEO and marketing. Content is king is the same declaration that still holds true today, especially when search engines such as Google are creating algorithms to augment the efficiency of what’s clearly genuine and amazing content vs. what seems monotone and often generic.
People want to see something new and exciting, and like you’ve mentioned already, it needs to be that standard that makes them want to share it with others. And when it comes to quality over quantity in this case, you were right on the dot for this. People mostly want to make half hearted attempts and try to aim for consistency, but they’re forgetting to be consistent in their quality rather than quantity.
And the more time an individual puts in to making sure the content is reachable, and has a myriad of formats accessible and easy to use is what enables them to truly succeed. No need for spammy ads, and no need for shady SEO businesses that promises someone to rank #1 in just a few days or weeks. Just simple, well-thought out, and creative content with a little hard work and effort sustaining it!
Thanks for this informative post. It is very enlightening and worth putting to work.
I believe that in order to write unforgettable content, try writing in a perspective that others wouldn’t expect. Give them a new way of seeing something; try to get them thinking.
Every blog post I read is something that hits me. It makes me think because its filled with content that I didn’t expect.
I hope I’m making sense. Thanks for this post!
Gosh, this makes me want to get out there and figure out a content plan! As an artist I have lots and lots of options in the graphics department. Thanks for the boost!
Writing good, well researched content, is not just gonna help with the page ranking but also with the link spread. I notice a trend where people tend to quote authority websites with good content since they become the go to website when users are in need of certain information. And we’re not even counting the resulting bookmarks and social signals. Even other websites in the same field tend to link back since linking to good content ads value to themselves.
To multipurpose my content is something I already do. Given the many devices users browse on, devices with different software or apps installed it’s a good idea to offer all kind of formats for the same content.