It’s no secret producing and distributing creative content mystifies many marketers, regardless of industry or the size of your marketing team. Do you feel your content is repetitive or lackluster? Are you looking for a new way to approach your content distribution? Are you looking at your competitors and thinking, wow, why can’t our content look like that?
Creative content is not out of reach! All it takes is an approach of the five W’s – who, what, when, where, and why.
By diving into the reasoning behind your content and the direction you’d like it to go, you can start the process of delivering the content your audience wants.
Why?
Perhaps the most important question to ask yourself when starting the content creation process is why? What is the reason for the content? If you’re writing content simply to fill space or stay on schedule, the content will fall short almost every time. Figure out the purpose behind the content, and don’t be afraid to mix it up or stray off your usual type of content.
Do you have content for each stage of the buying cycle, or are you stuck in “sell” mode? If you normally publish content strictly for informational purposes, you could try adding in a fun blog about your team to help foster and improve relationships between your customers and employees to improve retention.
Dig deep into the why behind your content and you will likely start brainstorming new content to create and new methods of delivery.
Who?
Once you have determined the why behind your content, the next important question is who are you creating the content for? Some may argue that why and who are dependent upon one another, and these questions can often be answered together. Regardless, the target demographic of your content is essential to crafting the content itself.
It is important to create content for your usual demographics, but it is equally as important to branch out of your comfort zone and target some of your smaller, more niche markets. Perhaps try a new persona you don’t typically target. Create a piece for a different stage of the sales funnel.
What?
Now for the most exciting part – what kind of content are you actually going to create? Of course, the type of content will depend on your demographic and the message you want to get across, but there are a lot of ways to present your content. You can even take a piece or two you already have and consolidate or re-package them as a different content type.
Many trends in the B2C industry are also gaining traction in B2B, like videos and podcasts. Consider if a short video would get your message across more clearly than a blog, or if a podcast interviewing an expert on the subject might be of higher value to your consumers.
And, as always, customer testimonials, employee stories, and case studies are highly effective because they provide a direct example of external or internal satisfaction with your company. By learning of specific instances of times your company has excelled, customers are more likely to trust you and your products. Instead of a standard product advertisement, you could increase engagement by providing a short and moving case study and customer testimonial of a client who has used the product.
There are so many ways to differentiate your content marketing from competitors, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. Allow for brainstorming and creativity from your employees; you might be surprised at the amazing ideas that come from the people who know your customers best!
When and Where?
Now you must decide how your content will be distributed – when and where are you going to share or promote this new and exciting content? While a social post and an email might be top-of-mind (and important), there are many other ways to get your content in front of the right people, such as:
Sponsored Distribution. If you have the budget, sponsored distributions are highly effective when used as part of a multi-touch strategy. Whether it is sponsoring a post on LinkedIn or distributing your eBook through a paid database, paid methods of engagement are a great way to pull in new leads and nurture existing ones.
Employee Distribution. Employees provide a personal and effective connection to the company. Do your employees have connections that would be valuable to the company? Provide them with the tools and means necessary to easily share your content across their networks.
Make it Personal. It is very easy for content to become impersonal and detached, particularly in the technology space. Try engaging in the comments on your posts, posting in industry groups on LinkedIn, reaching out to industry partners for collaborative distribution, and making connections locally in areas you might be targeting. No campaign is one-size-fits-all, so establishing custom methods of distribution based on demographic, locale, industry, etc. is crucial to success.
Ask The Partner Marketing Group for help!
If you think through the five W’s when creating your creative content, you’ll keep your content focused and effective. And don’t forget our creative team is here to lend a hand with decades of marketing expertise to share. Contact us to talk through some ideas or go download our ABC’s of Content Marketing eBook for more creative content ideas!
