If you haven’t been living under a rock these last couple of years, then you know that producing killer content has become an absolute necessity for most brands that make their bread and butter online.
These days, quality writers matter. In fact, you could say that they run the show. They are the stonemasons of every successful digital marketing strategy.
If you know how to demonstrate high-value and trust in your writing – then you’re on top of the world.
Every brand, be it big, medium, or small is interested in employing a person who has the ability to influence behavior, provoke actions, and help form strong and lasting relationships with their targeted crowd.
However, even though this all seems great, it’s not often that easy to come into contact with these type of people. There are a lot of content writers online, but only a few of them possess the ability to continually bring real value to your readers.
How come? – Well, because producing compelling content demands a lot of experience, inspiration, and imagination.
If you ask a content writer what’s the hardest part of his job, he (or she) will immediately tell you: coming up with new ways on how to wow his audience.
Even though producing all sorts of different blog posts, infographics, images and research papers to some of you might seem like a pretty cool and interesting job, there’s a lot more to it than it meets the eye.
This sort of work tends to milk you dry. Every single content marketer and writer I know, and I do literally mean every single one, tends to get stuck with his work from time to time. It doesn’t really matter how good or experienced he (or she) may be, it’s only a matter of time when this particular person will run out of ideas.
It happens. No shame in that. But, on the other hand – you still have a responsibility to your employer and readers. You still have to maintain consistency on your blog and social media accounts, and continue to feed your crowd with all sorts of texts, images, and videos that offer some genuine value to them.
When I was starting with content marketing, I used to experience a lot of oscillations in my work. One month I produced 20 amazing articles, and the other – 2 or 3. It was all depended on my current mood and creativity. Even though my employer wanted me to come up with 4-5 blog posts per week for his site, I just couldn’t do it. I was all out of ideas.
Creativity is a tricky mistress. Especially when it comes to crafting content for your or your client’s brand.
Sometimes, the words just flow through your fingertips, and you’re able to produce 2000+ long blog post in a matter of minutes. And other times, well, you find yourself struggling to come up with even one sentence that doesn’t sound like total garbage.
Everyone who calls himself (or herself) a content marketer, knows just how challenging it can be to create great and compelling content when you’re not in the right mood for it. It’s not something that you can easily power through. Nope. Creating content that really speaks volumes to your audience requires more than just the will to type in some generic words on an empty space.
But, no worries, I’m here to help. I have figured out a way on how to automate this process. Read my following steps and I promise you’ll learn how to craft compelling content every single time, even when you’re not really in the mood for it.
1. Lay Down Your Information, Then Put Some Cool Insights Around It
Before you even start to write content for your company’s or client’s website, you must first have a general idea of what you want to write about. You need to know what sort of agenda you’ll be chasing in your upcoming draft, and what kind of information will you be interested in distributing to your audience.
This is the cornerstone of every intelligent blog post or case study. You need to know what you have, and for whom you’re writing this particular text.
However, even though this is the right place to start digging for your gold, it certainly isn’t enough. You cannot just lay out naked information in front of your readers and expect them to convert via your messages. Nope. It doesn’t really work like that. This is not content marketing. As I already said in this blog, data means nothing without the right story. Listing down facts on a specific blank space is nothing more than a commodity. You’re not a journalist. Your job here isn’t to feed people with information. Nope. Your main objective here is to influence behavior, provoke actions, and form strong and lasting relationships with those who come into contact with your content.
If you want to do that, you need to take your information and back it up with some genuine insights. Sure, adding powerful insights to your content requires more work and sophistication, but it’s worth the effort. Insights will immediately increase the value and relevance of your material, plus, they will help make a certain information your own. This is what you need to do if you want to become a real leader within your niche. Apart from just listing information, you need to show your audience that you really know what you’re talking about. You need to show them that you’re a true master of your craft and that you have a firm grasp on everything that concerns your business.
2. Don’t Hold Back – Be Passionate, Share More Than Just Knowledge and Information with Your Audience
The content that usually sparks the most engagement is usually the one in which the writer covers topics and trends that he (or she) truly cares about.
When you sit down and really think about it, this makes a whole lot of sense. People aren’t really interested in reading mild stuff. No. They never were, and they never will be. They value content that is fueled by strong word and contagious energy that makes them instantly jump on their feet and do something.
If you want to make your targeted audience truly care about your content, you need to show them that you care about what you’re writing about as well. A passionate voice vividly communicates who you are, what’s your mission in this life, what you care about, and why should your reader care as well.
This is not something that can be easily faked. That’s why, when it comes to crafting content for mine or my client’s website, I always stick to what I know and like best. As you probably know by now, I’m a huge movie fan. I don’t shy away from that. I don’t hide it in my content. In fact, I often use my passion for cinema to make my messages even more convincing.
Everyone who has ever read any of my blog posts, has probably encountered at least two or three film references in them. However, this isn’t the backbone of my content strategy. It’s just something that I use to open myself up to people and make them see that I’m a guy who knows and enjoys something more than just digital marketing.
Also, when it comes to tailoring the right content that has the chance to resonate well with my targeted crowd, I always like to share what’s behind the curtain and give my readers a piece of my own personal history. This sort of thing helps my readers establish a strong and personal connection with me, as a writer. It also helps them build curiosity about my works. People love seeing how things get made. They love being part of the process. That makes the whole brand a lot more relatable to them.
Just look at all the gossip magazines out there. Everyone wants to more about their favorite celebrities. They want to know who their friends are, where do they hang out, who they’re dating – basically everything concerning their personal life. People are and always be curious about everything and anything. Make sure to use that to your advantage.
3. Add Some Meat On Those Bones – Ask Provocative Questions, Aim For Your Audience’s Pain Points!
I’m a highly opinionated person, I don’t really try to hide that. I often speak my mind in my blog posts, I call BS on things that I find to be bad, and I’m not afraid to praise tools, brands, and people I like and respect in my work.
Even though most of my former employers disapproved this, I often tend to ask provocative questions via my content. Why? – Well, because I want to create something that really gets people going. My job here is to get them to interact with my brand, and get excited about our work and products. I cannot do that if I don’t aim for their pain points. I need to answer questions that really trouble my audience and not just cover topics I found while doing my regular keyword research.
If you, like me, work with a lot of small to medium sized businesses, you know that they all have a huge resentment towards almost every big brand out there. And why shouldn’t they? Thanks to their endless marketing budget and aggressive advertising strategy, these big brand are pushing my clients out of business. They’re making them work extra hard in order to win over their targeted customers.
If you slam a common enemy in your writing, you’ll do wonders for your content. Just look at this blog post, for example. Who’s our common enemy here? – Content marketing, of course, and all the complexity that comes with creating content that sparks interest from your desired crowd.
Naturally, I focus all my energy on providing sound and legitimate solutions to some of their biggest obstacles when it comes to digital marketing – but I’m not afraid to go and poke the bear when he’s sleeping. I’m not scared to tackle some of their biggest flaws or personal failures.
I don’t hold anything back, I go right for the kill.
I think this is one of the major factors that help me craft compelling and engaging content. My suggestion here is that you don’t try to sugarcoat your messages. Speak from the heart, and people will respect you for who you are, and not just what you do.
4. Don’t Be Afraid to Overdeliver
Even though most of my colleagues think that we, as content producers, should do our best to paste ourselves, and create short and concise posts – my experience sings a whole different song.
If you have something to offer to you readers, don’t hold it back. It doesn’t really matter if you write for a web hosting site, a digital marketing agency, or a small arts and crafts shop – your extra effort will always be appreciated and rewarded by those who’re exposed to your content.
If you manage to impress your targeted crowd and give them always a little bit more than your competitors – they’ll truly admire you for your work. They’ll reward your effort with shares, likes, comments, and best of all – they take actions on promotions and proposals when you ask them to.
The key here isn’t just to stuff everything you know in a single post. Nope. It’s to create an article, or any other form of content that keeps on giving more and more, while you scroll it down.
5. Content Comes First, Format Second
Even though this sounds like a pretty basic tip, a lot of businesses make the same mistake here – they focus on what they want to create, instead of what they want to say. It doesn’t matter if you’re creating a blog post, a webinar, an infographic, or just a huge Facebook post or content – you need to invest all your energy in your content.
You need to make sure that you have your hands on something smart, valuable, interesting, and relevant for your audience. You need to make sure that your content is something that will educate and inspire those who come into contact with it.
Once you do that, once you’re certain that you’re producing something worth your while, then – and only then – you should start to experiment with all sorts of different formats. When you have your hands on something truly worth publishing, you’ll easily find a format that best fits your words and messages. It a lot harder to create, for example, a solid infographic, or a giant blog post, if you don’t really have nothing to work with.
Thank you for sticking around to read this post, from top to bottom. I hope these 5 steps will help you step up your content marketing game and produce material that always wins big with your audience. If you have anything to add or ask – please, write your thoughts in the comments section below.
That’s it for now,
See you soon again,
Goran @ AltusHost B.V.
The author is highly qualified and writes blog posts weekly.
