Companies have become obsessed with content creation and many firms are completely flummoxed (yeah I love that word) by this concept, but go with what you know and you’ll do great.
Every company in the world has a level of expertise in its core business. Think about it. How many times has someone shared a client story about how you were able to help on a first project. Ask your customer service people about conversations with current or prospective clients. What kind of questions do they get and what type of answers do they give?
The trick is to create a simple system to capture and retell these stories for the other people who want to know the same things but haven’t asked yet.
We have a new client in the printing industry (more to come about that) and during our initial conversations about content creation for their website, we went through this “capture” process with them. One of the stories they shared is how they advise clients during their design process to wind up with some really great images. This is gold. They know the story and they are experts in sharing it one-on-one every day. The only difference is that they now have to capture it and share it with a larger audience.
This is where a lot of companies freeze in their tracks.
The concept of writing something just looms as too much, too many ways to do it wrong and taking too much time. This is usually because people are over thinking things when it comes to writing it down. Don’t.
Find your own voice.
Start by thinking about how you would tell the story to your best friend and follow that approach. Be human, show who you are and think about how you word says it, and write it the same way. We’re not talking about the Editorial Page of the New York Times here. We’re talking about a blog, a post, a tweet. The value is in the content you are sharing and you can find your own style fairly easily.
Step 1
Think about a client or project story you’ve heard, or told, and write it down as if you were telling it to a friend. Keep it focused, to the point and don’t stray too far.
Step 2
Have a friend or colleague read it. Get their reaction and listen to what they say, and modify it if necessary.
Step 3
Have someone you trust proof it for spelling and grammar.
Step 4
Give it to someone else to read and get their reaction.
Step 5
Put it out there and see what happens.
Above all be yourself. Then your writing will be in your style, the story will ring true and you’ll be on your way to solving the content creation conundrum.
If your working on something fun…send it to us and we’ll review it.
photo credit: Andrew
modified by Shout Out Studio