Effective Content Creation & How to Get the Most Out of Your Content Marketing

You started your business because you are passionate about something. You have a desire to serve and you know your product or service will solve the problem your ideal customer is struggling with as we speak. 

The problem is, you probably have become aware how much time and effort marketing is taking away from doing what you love!  Let me help you reclaim your time and make this necessary evil a little easier so your message can get out to those who so desperately need you.

What is Effective Content Creation?

Effective content creation is the key to a successful marketing campaign. It's not enough to just publish anything online, the content needs to be targeted, relevant, and high-quality. It also needs to attract your  perfect fit customer in a way that makes them want to consume more of your content, know, like and trust you and ultimately do business with you.

How to create effective content for your business or brand

The front end time and energy researching the right kind of content for your ideal customer and setting up systems to help you create original content quickly and efficiently is well worth the time and stress it will save in the long run.

Plus, it makes marketing so much easier!

Quality over quantity

Get it out of your head that you need to participate on numerous platforms pushing out content on the daily.  This is simply not true and will actually provide you with shoddy results.

You'll want to focus on one or two platforms that you enjoy.  If you hate Instagram there is no reason to spend time and effort on a platform you don't even like.  

Publish quality content that your dream client is gobbling up.  Not just pictures and rushed captions simply to check a box on some content "to do list."  Spend the time and effort creating content you are proud of and focus on the topics that attract customers and clients TO you.

Yes, you need to be publishing consistently.  That doesn't mean it has to be daily. So choose a schedule you can consistently stick to. If that's only one blog post a month and posting on social media 3 days a week, that's fine. As time goes on you'll get faster at creating really engaging content that converts.

Know your "ideal customer" inside and out (don't skip on this crucial step)

There are so many names for the person you are marketing to: 

• Ideal Customer Avatar (ICA)
• target market
• dream client
• buyer persona
• perfect fit customer
• niche
• ideal client

Regardless of what you call it, this is a step in marketing that some people resist or skip all together.  Don't be that person!

If you try to market to "everyone" or "anyone" you are being much too broad in your misguided efforts to not "offend" or turn away a potential follower, customer or client. What ends up happening is you dilute your marketing message so much that it ends up being so bland that it doesn't attract anyone. In the world of marketing it's perfectly acceptable to repel people from your message so that you can get to the  people you will absolutely LOVE working with.

When you discover the qualities, characteristics and behavior patterns of your ideal customer, you are on the way to the kind of marketing that makes people say, "Hot damn! This is exactly what I was looking for!" 

Be clear about the benefits and the features of your offer

Benefits are said to be the emotional aspect of selling, "it's what makes people buy." Benefits translate features into results and outcomes.

 Benefit Examples:

• Create content that your followers want
• Save Time
• Strop stressing
• Finally feel organized and productive

You may have been told to skip on using the features of your product or service in your marketing, but I'm here to tell you that if your customer has a logical brain or a someone they have to "justify" the purchase to, you are going to want those features included. 

Features are the facts about what you are selling and are typically easy to rattle off the top of our head.

 Feature Examples:

• 10 Weeks of easy to consume tutorials
•  Weekly modules in video format
• A physical workbook that steps you through each module in the course
• 3 private 90 minute coaching calls
• A 6 hour day of done for services

Understand the different stages your ideal customer goes through to reach the decision to buy from you

As much as we all want to think that our social media posts result in a drooling, eager buyer.  That simply is not always usually the case.

Make sure your blog posts and short form content hit these various stages of the "customer journey."

• Unaware - "I've never heard of you or your business. I'm not even sure I have a problem and if I do, that I want or need a solution to it"
• Skeptical - "Ok, I have a problem, how do I know you are the person who can help me?"
• Engaged - "I'm intrigued, tell me more, but don't use industry jargon. Talk to me like you truly understand where I am coming from. I'm close to making a purchase."
• Invested - "Not only am I a customer, I sing your praises and would make a great testimonial or case study."

Write Unique Content  

Now that you understand the wants, needs and problems of your audience, you'll need to deliver your content in a way that is true to who you are and speaks to their specific pain points.  Differentiate yourself from your competitors by creating content with your own words, personality and style.

You might be tempted to copy or borrow content from others in your market if they seem to be having great success.  Their success, and yours comes from speaking in their own voice, serving their customers in their unique way and putting their own spin on their content marketing.

If you want to be an effective content creator, use these tips to get the most out of your content marketing efforts. You'll find that the effort you put in on the front end, with a little organization and strategy will make creating drool worthy content fun and easy.