CONTENT CREATION Where do I START And why?

“It’s time to get the party started.”

As you probably already know, Alice and I are big believers in content creation. We dedicate most of our working lives to it. And it gets results.

Whether it’s a printed magazine, a blog, a long-form sales letter, an email newsletter or a social media post, it’s all content and it has the potential to connect if it’s done well.

As with so many things in life, the key to successfully creating content isn’t so much a skill as it is a mindset. A marketing mindset, an open mindset and a mindset that puts connecting with your customers first. Tasks can always be outsourced but the foundations of why you are doing something can’t be.

Start with why
If your first thought is “I need to start a blog/Instagram account/magazine (delete or insert as appropriate)” then whoa there, cowboy. This is great news but slow down, you move too fast. You’ve jumped about five steps ahead. And these are really important steps. Steps that success depends upon and steps that will mean you

haven’t totally wasted your precious time creating wildly and aiming blindly.

Ask yourself why you want to do this. And not just once. Keep asking yourself ‘why’ until you can’t ask anymore.

“I want to start an Instagram account for my cake business.”

Why?

“Because I want to share photos from behind the scenes and the finished cakes with my existing customers and
target market locally.”

Why?

“Because I have loads of good photos that I already take of the baking process and cakes. I’d like to motivate others to bake by explaining the methods in the captions, show customers how much love goes into the cakes and inspire them to dream up their own creations. It will also serve as a nice archive for me and a good way to showcase my portfolio of what can be done to my customers.”

Why?

“I’d like to get 50 new customers this year.”

Why?

“To hit my target revenue growth of £2,500.”

You get the picture. Content creation takes time so you need to make sure you have the right motivation in place. The example above demonstrates a good mix for a perfect ‘why’ because it involves:

Content that is already being created (don’t start an Instagram account if you don’t know what you’ll capture, how you’ll do it or how to write good captions).

It works in line with business goals, attributing actual trackable target metrics.
There’s an incentive to create the content beyond revenue driving tactics.

It’s about the target audience. It’s about inspiring them and giving them something useful.