How to Go About Creating Content

Episode #3 of the course Digital PR made easy by Marco Capra

Hi there!

Brands, like people, need personality. They need to speak and get heard. Just like us, they need a voice. And voice is exactly what you think it is: the way the brand “speaks” through any form of communication. It’s more than the tone; it’s the attitude that comes across—for example, through a slogan or a simple tweet.

I invite you to take a few samples of the content published by your brand—say, two to three pages on your website and four to five posts on your social media pages—and reflect on its voice:

• Is it recognizable?

• Is it clear?

• Is it consistent?

• Is it honest, genuine, true to the brand’s values?

Brand voice often gets overlooked, but it doesn’t have to be hard. The key is that a brand should speak like a person. Online, as well as offline, people want to talk to real people.

Storytelling can help you a lot with this, namely: telling your story and telling other people’s stories.

Your Story

It’s called “your story” because your brand needs to stand for something, needs to share its vision and goals, and shape all this into a story. So, think of how you can tell an interesting, compelling story with a beginning, a development, and an end. It can be a story about how the brand was born or about how it solves a problem for its customers, but whatever you choose, you need to have a story. Innocent Drinks has a great one:

“We started innocent in 1999 after selling our smoothies at a music festival. We put up a big sign asking people if they thought we should give up our jobs to make smoothies, and put a bin saying ‘Yes’ and a bin saying ‘No’ in front of the stall. Then we got people to vote with their empties. At the end of the weekend, the ‘Yes’ bin was full, so we resigned from our jobs the next day and got cracking.”

Other People’s Stories

Other people’s stories are what your customers stand for, what their vision is, and what their goals are.

When you talk on the internet, you have to align these stories, know where they meet, and put them together into one powerful story—one where your customers are the protagonist and your brand is the helper.

Stories are very powerful tools that engage and create empathy, so storytelling should be something you keep in mind whenever you create content.

Content Strategy

Content is a key part of a brand’s online communication, and you probably know that a brand needs to create content on a regular basis to show everyone that it’s alive and well. So, it’s important to have a content strategy in place. How do you create one? Start by asking yourself a few questions:

• What do you want to achieve? Do you want more people to know about your brand? Do you want those who know it to know more about it? What is it?

• Who do you want to reach? You should have a very clear idea of who your target audience is. The more you know, the more effective your content will be.

• What aspect of your brand do you want to focus on? Do you want to show that you are innovative? That your brand means quality? Laser-focus on the kind of message you want to convey.

• What tools are you going to use? Copy? Video? Images? Are you going to publish a blog post, host a webinar, or upload a white paper that people can download?

• Do you have a voice? What kind of voice?

• What do you want the experience to be like? When someone interacts with your content, how do you want them to feel? Happier? More relaxed? Smarter?

• Where are you going to publish that content? The platform should align with the kind of content you have. Are you planning a campaign on social media? A series of blog posts? A new section on your website?

• How often will you release new material?

I hope you don’t feel overwhelmed. I just want you to realize that the more people create content on the internet, the more your content needs quality to stand out. And in order to do it consistently, you need a clear strategy.

Tomorrow, we’ll talk about reaching your niche.

Take care,

Marco

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