Content for some people is social media or Instagram. For some, it is their blog or their podcast.
But essentially, content is anything you are using to communicate to your audience that's not sales and promotional. It can be educational, entertainment, or of the highest value – a kind of transformational content.
Today, we’ll examine 6 critical aspects you should consider to develop highly effective content.
1. Develop a Clear Strategy
A clear strategy is so important because it's your overall roadmap for your content efforts. And if you're doing it because somebody told you to do it, or you read that it's necessary, or it's the flavor of the month, then that's very short-sighted because you're not going to understand how to get the best leverage out of it. You need to ask questions such as the following to come up with a highly effective content strategy.
What are your business goals?
How is marketing going to support that?
How is your content going to help you reach your marketing targets?
2. Focus on Brand Ethos
Businesses should have a strong brand before they create content for marketing. One might have the best content globally, but the brand ethos must underpin it. Just not with logos and graphics. Branding is all about how your company, your product, everything you do make people feel. What is the emotional response that is evoked in people when they hear or see your brand? The response needs to be followed up with a narrative that includes but is not limited to your logo, visuals, brand voice and brand personality that incorporates the values and what you stand for and how that's communicated.
Your brand experience is every single touchpoint that anybody has with your brand in any shape, or form, whether on email, telephone, newsletter, website, in-person meeting, or at an event. And every touchpoint and experience give the customer an aligned and congruent experience, shaping how they feel and perceive your brand.
3. Use the right visuals
It’s essential to have the right visuals across all the platforms, strengthening your brand identity. Many business owners don't understand what type of visuals to put out, which is an essential element of content strategy. There are various types of content, and visuals should complement textual content in helping people understand who you are. You need to remember the appropriate visuals showcase your expertise and ability to help people solve problems.
4. Add your thoughts to what someone else has said
Make sure you don’t publish what has been said by someone else as it is. Add your thoughts to that, acknowledge the person’s ideas and give attribution. Putting your perspective is essential because that's what will set you apart, build trust with audiences and make them see you as the go-to expert—an answer to their problems.
5. Maintain sustainable and scalable content
You must remember people have what's called a cumulative memory. And they will remember more of what they saw over, say, a full year. To show up, you must create a sense of consistency and reliability. And to do that, you might put out a whole lot of fanciful content. But if you can't sustain it, it can have a damaging effect on your brand.
6. Have proper systems and support for content
You should have appropriate systems and support in place to make content sustainable. A major element of setting up these systems is ensuring you have the right people for doing the right thing. Someone good at strategy may not be a great copywriter. Someone great at copywriting is probably not a skilled video editor. Someone who's got an editing skill is perhaps not as creative as a designer. So have the right person for the right task, and then, construct a simple, repeatable and documented system to carry out content operations.
In conclusion, you must focus on content that is going to deliver some transformational value. Your content must help people shift a perspective or enlarge their understanding of the topic you are an expert in. At SunYello, we work with you to come up with highly efficacious content. Our strong focus on understanding your business needs coupled with our ability to deliver the winning content with minimal expenditure will help us enable the success of your digital marketing initiatives.
I hope you liked this post. Let us know how your content is helping you reach your marketing goals. We'd love to know.
