Why in the world are you “doing” content?
Writing is hard, time-consuming work, whether you’re a professional writer or someone for whom writing is not a native skill.
And yet, more people are writing more than ever, thanks to a modern marketing ethos that embraces storytelling, brand narrative and content. Big consumer brands and small B2B businesses alike are using words to convince their customers to align, invest, join, purchase.
Since I started my writing business nearly eight years ago, I’ve been helping clients tell mouthwatering stories to their audiences. And I’ve come recently to the realization that people struggle not just with the writing itself, but with the why — why they are writing in the first place.
Writing is a miserable exercise if you’re doing it for the wrong reasons.
13 Reasons Why (Not) to ‘Do’ Content
OK, not 13 reasons. That’s just a clever play on a book title. But I see many smart businesspeople who do the content thing for the wrong reasons, such as:
Trying to establish their smarts: We need to write some stuff to show our customers and prospects that we know a lot.
Keeping up with the Joneses: Our competitors regularly post content to their blogs, so we should probably do that, too.
Driving search traffic: We’ve read that Google will upgrade our position in search results if we’re adding dynamic content to our site every week.
Yes, content will demonstrate your thinking, elevate you versus competitors and bring readers to your online door.
But those are dumb reasons, in and of themselves, to do content. If writing is a heavy lift for you, then writing to keep Google happy only exacerbates the suck. There’s no motivation to keep going. You’ll draft a couple of blog posts and then find something more pleasurable and productive to do with your time.
OK, So Why Should You Produce Marketing Content?
There is only one answer to this question: To serve your reader. Full stop.
This is Content Tip No. 1: Writing is not about you — not about proving your smarts or disseminating your knowledge. It’s about the reader — their needs, their interests, their problems.
When you write from a position of service, everything clicks into place. You find more joy in the process. Writing becomes easier, because you’re motivated by helping people. Service-oriented content is a natural pheromone, attracting readers who genuinely need your help. This is essential if you’re a business trying to find highly qualified prospective customers or if you’re a brand seeking to build a tribe of passionate, loyal consumers.
So always, always start a writing project — whether it’s a white paper or a blog post or an email newsletter — with the reader’s needs in mind. Put your reader on a pedestal.
Write from a position of service. You are a teacher, a cheerleader, a sherpa.
Which means you have to understand your reader. That brings us to Content Tip No. 2: Get inside your reader’s head. Create a profile of your readers. Who are they? What are their work and personal lives like? What keeps them up at night? What makes them feel awesome? What are their most pressing questions? What do they not see that you do? How can you help them?
Show readers that you deeply understand their world. There are several ways to approach creating B2B marketing content that resonates with understanding and empathy:
- You are so deeply familiar with their world that you anticipate their deepest questions and problems. This shows up when I’m working with design/marketing/communication agencies that sell their expertise — they’ve solved the same problems for their clients over and over.
- You see that they’re doing something wrong and you can correct their actions in a way that leads to their success.
- You have a contrary point of view on a concept or process that’s common in reader’s market, and you can help them achieve success by doing what others are not doing.
- You have a lesson you can apply to the reader’s world from another market.
Bottom line: You know your reader so well that you know what they struggle with, and your writing offers guidance on how to solve those challenges.
Finally, here’s Content Tip No. 3: Begin with the end in mind. Know what change of thinking, new point of view or different action you want your readers to take away from your content. Then shape your writing accordingly.
When you write for others, you overcome the sensation of “ick” that most people feel when they’re talking about themselves, because you’re not talking about yourself. You forge real connections with real people, not anonymous Google traffic. You’ll discover that the writing process accelerates, because you know your reader and what she needs.
Need help? I’m here.