By Sophie Knox

So everyone’s talking about creating good content. If you have an online presence – let’s face it, if you don’t by now here’s your wake-up call – you need content. Simple as that. The best designed website with the trickiest features means nothing if it doesn’t have good content.

And you’re not just competing with your direct market players; you’re competing against every other source of information and entertainment that exists on the Internet. It’s the noisiest chat room on the planet. So how do you make it stand out from everything else?

Try these tips:

  • Review your marketing strategy. It NEVER hurts to look at your overall strategy with fresh eyes – whether those eyes are your own, an agency or a consultant. Is the strategy right for the current market? Have you constructed content pillars that align with your strategy? (What are content pillars? Usually four themes, topics or initiatives that align with your overall brand strategy and values. Content is derived from those four pillars alone. Mastermind can help you put these in place.) Does your strategy allow for relevant content to be produced over a long-term period? All these questions need to be asked before effective content can be created.
  • Get Help. Once your marketing strategy ticks all the boxes, you’re ready to implement a content plan, so best practice is to appoint someone with the right skills to help you create the plan and the content. It’s important to recognise that you can’t do everything yourself – if you’re not a professional editor, writer or producer and find yourself wading in the waters of content creation, you’re almost certainly going to drown in the time and effort involved, and the quality of the content will suffer.
  • Develop a style. And be consistent. When writing blogs, creating images, sending emails or filming the video that becomes your content, decide what kind of message you’d like to deliver. Do you want a relaxed, friendly and down-to-earth approach or an upmarket, sophisticated and aspirational style? For example, if you envisage your brand being part of the consumer’s everyday life at an affordable price and consumed regularly, then the content that surrounds that brand needs to fit in with that lifestyle – talk to them like they’re your friends, not a parent with big words and imagery they can’t relate to. Use their language and live in their world.
  • Make them want more. This is the hardest part. Everyone will try something new once. So when creating content, try to make it unique and compelling enough that the consumer wants to come back for more. Whether it’s a food and wine match, an educational guide, how-to article, funny quote or an opinion piece, if the consumer identifies with your brand in a positive way, chances are they’ll be back for another whirl. Remember, the content is not about you, it’s about the consumer, and how your brand fits into the consumer’s life.
  • Make it visual. We live in a visual world. Consumers look at pictures, diagrams and icons before they read the text, so entice them with the images. Think of your online presence as a virtual magazine – if you want the consumer to pick up and buy a copy, they need to be attracted by the images on the cover.

Keep these tips in mind when creating your content and you’ll be surprised at the success you find at the end of the Yellow Brick Content Road.

For help giving good content, phone Mastermind Consulting on (02) 9818 7142