60ADA1D6-0436-47EE-83A3-6017F550DC7D

With so much content being produced right now, it’s important to keep in mind some best practices to ensure your content cuts through the noise and reaches your target audience. Here are a few tips you can implement today that will have a lasting impact on your content efforts.

  1. Always. Be. Helpful. This is by far the most important advice I have right now especially during the pandemic. The purpose of anything that you write should be to help someone with a problem. Promoting yourself is not the goal. In order to do this, you need to put yourself in the shoes of your client. If you really consider their perspective, challenges and goals, and you will create useful, actionable content, not noise. Let this guide your entire content strategy. 
  2. Use “earned media” whenever you can. If you have PR professionals to help you facilitate relationships with reporters, take advantage of that (always be responsive). If you’ve been quoted in publication, tell your network about it on LinkedIn and via branded email blast (to a targeted list).
  3. Make sure every piece of content you post serves an overall strategy. Your communications should consistently express your core message and value proposition. It goes without saying that you should always put your clients first and find ways to be helpful to them in your content. Also always think show versus tell with everything you create. 
  4. Email is still a great way to communicate. Many people prefer to receive email communications, and it’s a direct way to reach your target audience. It’s still a simple and clean way to communicate, since it doesn’t involve social networks, Google searches or advertisements. Consider how you could use it. Maybe a monthly email update on client alerts and blog posts along with industry news and case studies. 
  5. Be brief. Long-form articles are great to delve into a complex subject, but people don’t usually have time to read an in-depth article, or they lose attention after awhile. If you actually want your audience to read your content, especially now as we rely more on our mobile devices to consume content, keep each article/email/post on the short side between 500 and 800 words, create compelling subject lines and get to the point within the first paragraph.