Content Creation: Our Rock Solid Formula
1. Always start with the client
One of the most important aspects of our job is creating authentic content on our customer’s websites that is knowledgeable and easy for readers to relate to. But most importantly, just by the content on the website, someone should be able to get a feeling of the company’s culture. So we ALWAYS start with the client.
We get to know our client on a personal basis, and really listen to what they have to say about their company and more importantly HOW they say it. Are they proud? Knowledgeable? Successful? Confident? We try to pick up on the overall feeling they have about their company and try to illustrate that through the content that we create.
Also, our clients are a wealth of knowledge! We know the internet marketing industry, but when we are working with companies that sell… let’s say water heaters, for instance, we utilize them to assist with our learning curve. This ultimately helps put those sweet details into the content that only the experts would know.
2. Create a plan
It is important to have a little pow-wow with your content team and come up with a plan for creating some impressive content that will come across as organized, knowledgeable, and just plain fantastic. At 5fold Marketing, we use a Beginning, During, After formula that helps us to stay organized and focused. We created this formula because we want the readers to read through the content as if they were reading a story.
Think of it as a book. We introduce the characters, explain the problem/solution, and in the end everyone lives happily ever after. If we were creating content for a pest control website, we would introduce the company and the technicians, explain ways that pests can be a problem and what the solution to the problem would be. Lastly, discuss warranties or guarantees offered to maintain the “happily ever after.”
3. Research, research, research
No, we are not experts on the topics we write about for our clients, but we don’t use that as an excuse to hold us back from writing some very intelligent content. We live in the information age for goodness sake! We don’t have to reinvent the wheel. We go online, look at competitor’s websites, and use our good friend Google to help us become super smart on whatever topic we are researching. Not only do we have a brain full of facts to create crazy wonderful content when we are done, but we also have some interesting random information that make us more well-rounded human beings. By the way, did you know that a standard water heater’s life span is 8-10 years, where a tankless water heater could last well over 20 years? Just saying.
4. Mix it up with different types of content
No one wants to visit a website and just see plain printed text. We like to mix it up by incorporating different sections, images, videos, comparison charts, infographics, quotes, testimonials, awards, and the list goes on. This is the fun part, and we like to be creative! We close our eyes, take a breath, and deeply reflect about who will be seeing this website, well maybe not that intense. But, we do put ourselves in the visitor’s shoes and ask ourselves what we would want to see if we were looking at this page. Would a huge novel about the different types of pests and the climates that they live in sell us on buying pest control services from this company? Probably not!
5. Let the real experts critique
We always review our content with our client when we are done. They look it over, to ensure that we have explained everything correctly, used the precise terminology and included all aspects of their company that they would like to display to their online visitors. Once we have the stamp of approval from the real experts, we are good to go and our content journey is complete, at least for the moment.