How to create content that connects

As many business owners know, sharing content marketing is a vital activity to promoting your business. Yet it's so disheartening when you spend all day making podcast, email or social media only to hear crickets.

So how do you make content that resonate with your audience no matter how big or small your audience is. 

How do create content that connects?

A content marketing strategy gives you the foundation to understand your expectations which determine your focus. It helps you understand your audience and uncovers their needs, then it helps you tell a story that they resonate with.

Here are 3 things here to consider if you want to create content that connects;

Goals 

Know your outcomes What you want to achieve? So mine this year - Credibility and Community.

To do that, I need to share educational and engaging interactive information. I have a Focus on weekly long form - YT Podcast Email blog THEN daily socials. Where last year my focus was on building social media following with short form content.

e.g of goals...

• Build Linkedin Connections 30%

• Grow mailing list by 500%

• Hit 5000 Podcast downloads

Having measurable goals help you track results so you know more of what to make. Once we understand what our goals are, then we have to get crystal clear on who we are talking to because if you don’t… you can waste alot of time sharing that canva tile on instagram with no results.

Audience

Have you defined your ideal person? 

When target EVERYONE we talk to no-one. 

It's important to get clear on your ONE PERSON, this is where you create an ideal customer.

In marketing, we call this an AVATAR or customer persona.

While you might have many different avatars that buy or use your product or service. 

We’re just going to pick one for now. We want to understand their habits, routines their lifestyle, then you begin to understand their needs, challenges and pain points. 

When you making content with them in mind, you make content that resonates with them and they feel you’re talking directly to them and you understand them.

Having that one person in mind is really powerful when you make talking head videos, which is so important to establish credibility.

It helps you visualise with that person and have a conversation.

How to create an avatar;

• Describe your ideal client, just one. 

• Provide as much detail

• What's their name? 

• Their age, job, family 

• Lifestyle, where they hang out?

This is a very powerful exercise because you can uncover their habits and lifestyle. You uncover what motivates them to take action. You can use a previous client or create a fictitious one.

If you’re a visual person you can keep a photo or create a persona in canva and keep it handy. So when you record that video you are thinking about talking them.

Kind of like making a vision board.

So we’ve established GOALS, AUDIENCE and now we uncover their STORY

STORY

It’s what I call a VIVID STORY. 

V - VISUALISE their need, put yourself in their shoes what are they feeling or thinking

I - What's the IMPACT or consequence if they don’t take action

V - What VALUE do you provide, what are your solutions, service or product

I - When they IMPLEMENT and take action what's the transformation, from this to that

D - What is DESIRE or result they will receive afterwards.

Using the VIVID STORY method, how would this apply if you had a Skin care range;

AVATAR: Sarah she’s 25, single, lives alone, works in an office, no kids. She rarely goes out and spends her weekend watching netflix and doom scrolling on tik tok. 

Visual - HER PAIN She’s depressed, doesn’t out because she has bad acne 

Impact - consequences, If she doesn’t take action and clear her skin up she’ll have scarring and be more reclusive

Value - Solution - Skin care treatment that helps clear acne 

Implement - transformation Sarah goes from having outbreaks and feeling embarrassed to having clear skin and confidence

Desire - The result is Sarah gets a boyfriend because they feel more social and starts dating

Create your own...

Begin by writing down up to 10 of each point of your avatar.

This exercise becomes the foundation for all of your content ideas, subject headlines and hooks. For website copy, emails, reels, podcasts, blogs and Books.

The Vivid Story tells us so much more about our audience and it really helps us to understand them.

Doing this alone can feel daunting, and it's the kind of thing that gets pushed to the back burner.

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Happy Planning!

Deb Szabo