We’ve all heard the phrase, “Content is king.” But there’s more to that statement than you think. Before you put any ol’ content on the website, you need to understand that it’s actually original content that’s king. Writing rehashed content that your competitors have already published – or worse, copying their content verbatim – is a successful recipe for getting penalized by Google and a whole lot of legal issues.
Let’s be realistic, though: Original content isn’t easy. It requires resources and time, two things that smaller organizations may not have. Expecting your one-person marketing team to crank out original content left and right is not the right way to approach this problem (unless you want to your employee to quit). Instead, consider these tried-and-true methods for creating original content.
1. Let your audience do the heavy lifting. User-submitted content is one of the easiest ways to get original content out the door. You’ve already taken care one of the biggest obstacles in marketing: the actual development of the content. Scour social media and other platforms to see what your clients are posting about you and then use that as your content – or give it your own twist.
2. Play to your strengths. Maybe writing a white paper or a blog can take you an extraordinary amount of time, but video comes naturally to you and your team. Maybe it’s the other way around: Writing takes you mere minutes while video can take forever. If you’re a smaller organization, focus on the items that can give you the most momentum for the littlest effort – every minute counts. If your strength is writing, get to it. If it’s video, grab your camera and start recording.
3. Brainstorm. One of the toughest parts about content creation is generating ideas. Brainstorming can help you overcome that. We’re not just talking about brainstorming with your peers, though. Focus groups can help you get outside perspectives, as can “lunch and learns” featuring industry leaders or other subject matter experts. If your team needs a jolt of creativity, start inviting such people in for discourse and discussion.
Need help producing original content? Wax Custom Communications can help. Call us at 305-350-5700 today.