When preparing to create a piece of marketing content, you want to keep in mind that it must stand out from the rest of the content on the Internet as well as delight and engage your readers.
In order to do this, you must do some planning before you start writing. Decide what the purpose of the content will be and how you can incorporate revelant examples and data. Find someone else to look it over for readability and errors, and finally, determine how you will market it so readers will find it. Follow these nine steps when planning your new content.
How to Create Useful Content
1. Determine Your Goal
You must care about the purpose of your content. Ask yourself the following questions so you can nail this down:
- What is your business goal?
- What outcome are you hoping your content to produce?
- How does your content fit into your overall business goal?
2. Switch Perspectives
Make sure what you’re writing will connect with your readers. For each piece of information you provide, ask yourself, “So what?” and then list out all of the reasons your content is beneficial to not only your business, but also to your readers.
3. Give Examples and Data
People respond to numbers. Cold, hard facts are sometimes the best way to get a point across. Look for credible sources and data to support your assertions, and make sure you can cite this data for your readers.
4. Organize Your Work
Determine the best format to convey your information in a way that people will want to read and that they will find useful. Some of your choices include
- Blog posts
- Email newsletters
- eBooks
- Infographics
- One-sheets and sales slicks
5. Write for Your Target Market
Whenever you sit down to write a piece of content, have a clear idea of your target audience. Think about your buyer personas, and write specifically for them. Your readers must be able to connect with your writing in order to find it engaging and useful.
6. Brainstorm and Order Your Ideas
The first step is to think about good topics and get all of your relevant thoughts on paper (or, more likely, on your computer screen). Don't worry yet about grammar or sentence structure. Think about all of the points you want to make and how you can support or illustrate them, and then place them in a logical order.
7. Write a First Draft
After you’ve ordered your thoughts into a basic outline, it's much easier to start filling in your text. Use your notes to build paragraphs around each point you'd like to make, and add headings, subheadings, bullet points, numbered lists, or whatever other structural devices you'd like to make your piece easy to read and digest. After you've completed a first draft, walk away from your content. Take a break or switch tasks for a while so you can come back to your draft with a fresh perspective.
8. Rewrite and Edit
Now that you’ve written a first draft and taken a mental break from it, come back reread your content. Writing teachers often advise their students to read their writing aloud to themselves because it's easier to catch mistakes in grammar and sentence fluency this way. At the very least, make sure you're processing each word and forming it in your mind. Skimming your own work is a very ineffective way of proofreading; you already know what you mean, so you're less likely to get hung up on wording that doesn't make sense than if you read aloud.
Make any final revisions that will improve the strength, tone, or appeal of your piece. Make sure it's visually pleasing as well.
9. Publish
Now that you’ve perfected your content, it’s ready to be published! Be sure to include a call to action that logically follows your content and directs your readers to next steps that will help you reach your business goal.
By following these nine steps, you’re sure to write meaningful content that will keep your readers engaged and coming back for more!
Professional Content Creation
If you know creating content is an important part of online marketing and are ready for a professional partnership to take your content to the next level, contact Blue Frog today by clicking the button below!
