Drawing a blank when it comes to content marketing? 10 ways to get started

We all know that we need to do it and that it’s now a critical component of the marketing mix. Yes, you know what I’m talking about, content marketing.

Creating interesting and useful content is a way of building trust, awareness and goodwill with potential clients. It’s growing at a rapid pace, because it works.  However, it does mean an ongoing commitment

How do you do it?

There’s countless ways – create a blog, a video channel, your own magazine, app or piece of key research.

It’s easier and cheaper than it’s ever been to create and distribute content.  However, it’s well known that’s not really the hard bit.

The hard bit is coming up with ideas

If you are drawing a blank when it comes to content marketing, here’s 10 ways to consistently generate quality content:

1. Break down the top 10 frequently asked questions you get from your customers and then write a blog or video or post about each of them.

2. Break down the top 10 questions that customers should ask but don’t and then write a blog or video or post about each of them.

3. Interview each of your staff members to find out more about what makes them tick outside of work. Showcasing the people that work for you engages your clients and customers.

4. Create a schedule about key seasonal buying times or events e.g. spring racing, an upcoming election or end of financial year. Write a blogs or opinion pieces that relate to your industry.

5. Think about the most common “how to” problems you are asked to solve: make short videos (1-2 minutes each showing “how to” do something) or develop a step-by-step “how to” guide.

6. Showcase your customers. Arrange to do a video or phone interview.

7. Create a theme for days of the week. For example, Monday might be a tip, Tuesday might be a photo, and Thursday might be some industry relevant news.

8. Generate a research project:

• Conduct a survey of clients, social media followers and contacts to create key insights into client or customer behaviour, etc.
• Create an infographic highlighting the results.

• Develop a downloadable copy of the research.

• Blog about each of the key findings.

9. If you are doing a presentation – transcribe your presentation and develop it into a series of blog posts.

10. Share what you’ve learnt from any real life events. Been to a conference, seminar or training event? Share what you learnt or observed from being part of it.

If you start prioritising content marketing as part of your mix you will reap the rewards. Content is now the most important part of being found online.

Developing a plan around what you are going to create is the first step and will make it easy to generate high quality content consistently.

Since starting her outsourced national marketing consultancy Marketing Angels in 2000, Michelle Gamble has helped hundreds of SMEs get smarter marketing. Michelle helps businesses find more effective ways to grow their brands and businesses.