How to create content that brings you customers?
Not content, but context is the king. Try content management in the right context. See it as a food item. Serve what your customers want.
Content creation is an art. So is cooking. Content can be served in multiple forms. But, like food items, not every content is consumed with equal mojo by us.
Let’s see how an average customer reacts to a content, if it was served to them as a food item.
News Articles: Green Salad
News articles are like your green salad which is good for health but you’re ready to push the plate aside as soon as pizza is served. There’s no doubt that news articles are very important for your mental diet, but as a content marketer, that may not be your first choice when you want people to spread a word about it.
Infographic: Today’s Special Cocktail
You remember that pub, where they had a special cocktail blend for the day and you liked it very much. Yes.. Infographics are like that special cocktail which is consumed with great interest and you remember the taste. Infographics are crux content presented with artwork, just like how your drinks are. If you like it, you come back to it and spread a word or two. But it is not for everyday.
Slide Decks: Tex-Mex
Tex-Mex tastes good, looks good and is easy to consume, but if you don’t trust the chef, you order something else which you’re more confident about. Same is the deal with slide decks. They are easy to consume content but not very popular due to scarcity of good quality decks. If you can come up with a better/interesting content, and present it in a neat way, you’ll attract more consumers.
Social Posts: Pizza
Pizza, the food we all like and enjoy with friends. It’s delicious, fast and and can be consumed on-the-go. People come back to it more often than not. Social posts are like pizza that attracts readers for quick and easy consumption while having fun. Being a content marketer, you know how important it is to be socially active, because that’s where you find the power of virality. Just be sure, you don’t dilute your content image with too much content in less context. This may hurt you the same way a bad pizza hurts a pizza joint.
Videos: Grandma’s Sandwich (with extra cheese and secret sauce)
Ahh! The best food I had ever eaten is my Grandma’s sandwich with extra cheese and a secret sauce which makes it taste so good. It has a perfect mix of good taste and useful nutrients. So, I ask for it every other day. The beauty is, the taste never gets old or boring. Likewise, videos are the best content delivery medium today when executed well. You get all the relevant information in an interesting format.
Website: Menu Card
Your website is the front face of your business and hopefully lists down all your services. The content on your website decides whether visitors will explore more of what you have or leave from the first page, similar to how a restaurant needs to have a kick-ass menu card that builds curiosity. Try and update your menu card (web content) every six months to increase returning visits.
Blog: Coffee
You used to drink coffee to energize yourself and now it’s an addiction. Coffee is easily available and you don’t really care who’s brewing, you just smell good coffee and dig it. Likewise, blogs are people’s favorite reading material for quick information. It takes generally 3-4 minutes to finish reading the blog and you end up gaining some info. A quick refreshment, just like your morning coffee. As a content marketer, don’t miss out on serving hot (trending) blog to your readers regularly.
Advertisements: Sickness Soup
Your ads are that sour soup which your mom cooks when you’re sick. You don’t mind it once, but you don’t like it, and you never want it again in your life. So how do you make your customers read/watch your ad? Add some salt to it. Make your ads interesting (funny or informative) and serve them without they even noticing. You may also try native marketing. Include your ad content in your core content in a way that readers/viewers consume the ad without being force-fed.
Emails: Breakfast Cereal
Breakfast cereals are good for health and you enjoy having it most of the times. But sometimes you need a break, no matter how many honey loops you put in it. Emails are just like that. They are important because they carry direct, personalize messages for you, but you need a break from them because of spams and repeat mailers.
Few other forms in which you may share your content are podcasts, webinars, whitepapers, user conferences, trade shows etc. But serve your content in a way that is most interesting and relevant with the context. You shouldn’t create a video on information/topic which is not related to your product. That’s waste of a platform. And if you’re looking to communicate over email, SMS or social media, take help from applications like FirstHive, that streamlines your cross-channel communications.
Think like your grandma and create a sandwich that is rich in taste as well as nutrients. I mean, create a content that is informative and also presented interestingly. Videos are the best option today that allows that. Try it.
Hope this blog cooked some delicious food for your thought. So what are you cooking today?
