13 Jun Content Creation: A Game Changer for your Online Marketing

In today’s digital world, content creation is evidently necessary for both small and large businesses. But the thought of content creation can make many business owners wince as they would prefer sales talk rather than creating an effective content creation campaign. What is content creation? What role does it play in the online marketing process?

When we say content creation, it’s not like merely putting up all your ideas and thoughts and then it’s done. An effective content strategy takes time as you need to make sure that it isn’t just a mediocre piece of content but content that is valuable, relevant and will surely resonate in the market.

Content creation is a contribution of valued information used in the digital marketing. It serves as a glue that pulls together the strategic, integrated, intelligent and customer-centric qualities throughout the online marketing process. By catering to pre-defined groups of people, content creates value for the customer in the broadest sense, in tune with brand and business objectives.

Here are some benefits businesses can get if they invest in content creation:

Brand awareness

How are you going to earn more sales if nobody knows that you even exist? You’ve got to establish your brand’s voice in the market. Content creation is one of several ways to improve your brand’s image and marketing effort by crafting and sharing quality content via websites, blogs, social platforms, press releases, etc.

Customer engagement

Content creation can also be a form of customer service. Through blogs, consumers can share their insights by writing in the comment boxes. Social media is also very powerful that once you share a very relatable, interesting and helpful content, users will eventually follow your page or your website in order to view and be updated of your future posts. Hence, it could be a good start of a healthy business relationship which can end on conducting business with each other.

Lead generation

A good content strategy can always help guide leads throughout the sales process. In fact, a research conducted by Kapost, found out that “per dollar, content marketing contributes to three times more leads”. If your company consistently produces good quality content particularly with discussion of the how’s and why’s of your products, then there is no doubt that consumers would run to your page and start keeping in touch with you.

Client retention

Regular content updates on blog and social media can help preserve clients. This ensures that you’re keeping your name in front of the customers, and regularly reminding them of the value you offer.

Creating a piece of content especially if it is not your expertise, is not fun, plus the pressure of creating something that should make your audience drool over. The good thing is that even though some parts of business and marketing are becoming increasingly automated, content creation still remains to be a very manual job. Here are some helpful tips for a starter in content creation:

1) Research and read industry-related articles

One of the ideal tips in coming up with a piece of content is that you should at least have a background or idea with what it is all about. With the help of related industry news and trends online, you can understand the context behind what had happened historically in their industry and how that shapes their target audience’s mindset in the present.

2) Constantly flex your writing muscles

Successful content creators understand the importance of regularly writing. As a writer, you cannot avoid times wherein you experience ‘writer’s block’—a state when you cannot come up with any idea on what to write. That’s normal. That is why it is highly suggested that you jot down related ideas that come to mind, and later put it all together in order to come up with a fully realized thought. Successful content writers may not always be inspired to write, but they absolutely know that something inspiring can come from their writing.

3) Ask questions

Do not hesitate to ask questions. An inquisitive and curious writer is a brilliant one. There are a lot of ideas out there that can add to your existing ones. Answers that are collected can possibly bridge gaps on the piece of content you are creating. It can even contribute to solving a problem, if there is really one. In fact, Lorraine Twohill, head of the marketing team in Google said, “You need to be curious to identify problems worth solving and then come up with new solutions.”

4) Curate Content (When It Makes Sense)

Curating or sharing content online is normal these days. Anyone can share someone else’s content via social media. It can be done with a snap of a finger. Nevertheless, successful content creators know it’s not enough to just simply do it that way. It would be highly recommended that whenever you curate content, there should be something valuable that you need to add. Give readers additional, useful information or even a thought or opinion regarding the content you are sharing. In that way, you are not only educating them, but you are also making them come up with their own opinions and arguments.

One last tip! Do not be sad if you come up with a piece of content that is not too good. It does not happen overnight. So go on! Because the more effort you put forward, the greater the return will be. Over time, your content will become better crafted and more educational, in which then can be a momentous game changer for your online marketing efforts.