We’ve all heard the phrase ‘content is king’; it has already developed enough usage to have earned the moniker of cliché.  The phrase, which was famously coined by Bill Gates in 1996, still stands true, perhaps even more so in today’s culture.

The trouble is, in addition to the thousands of brands we see every day, we are now getting bombarded with content via social media, blogs and a myriad of other sources. Amidst this information overload, we need to find a way to stand out.

So what’s the winning formula?

  • Is it relevant? What would your target audience bite your hand off for?  Know your clients and what challenges they face on a daily basis.  Identify where are they succeeding and the differences between clients who are succeeding and those who are not faring so well.
  • Is it unique? Take each of the potential subject areas and audit everything already published to identify areas of white space. This will ensure that your content is in demand and fresh, not just keeping up with the Joneses in their trending but setting the trend.
  • Is it accurate?A survey-led approach is great but tackling this half-heartedly can be damaging.  Whatever your approach, make sure you do your research. The best research you can undertake is speaking to existing clients; do they agree with you?
  • Is it useful?  Your target audience isn’t reading the content as a leisure activity; they’re reading it because it will hopefully give them an edge. Match your primary message with supporting content such as case studies, best practices, benchmarking tools and influential expert commentary.

Once you have successfully delivered in these areas you’ll still need to invest in promoting the content, but this approach will deliver a much greater ROI.

Llewellyn Nicholls