NEW REALITY: CONTENT IS KING – PART 2

content is king.jpg

Back on the subject of content.  Essentially, content is what separates web sites that work from websites that don’t. How? Well, consider this…

Content Draws
It draws visitors to your site and into the sales-consideration cycle. Content reveals the extent and the value of your expertise, your knowledge and depth of involvement in your particular field. It shows customers and potential customers that you think, you care, you understand. It reveals passion, establishes credibility, and conveys authority far more effectively than exhausted phrases like “For 25 years, Your Widget Provider” ever will.

Content Differentiates
Consider how far one simple three-to-five paragraph article on a subject in your field can take you today. One article – that’s you talking to a specific aspect of your particular area of expertise or telling a story about a satisfied customer or revealing success secrets or better business tips or questioning/affirming a new advancement or simply venting your professional frustration — can achieve wonders for your business. It immediately puts you ahead of all those competitors that are sending out nothing but bullets and hype and hyperbole. You become “the one that wrote the article”…and a good article/think piece/white paper (or even a good blog) bears repeating.

Fact is, if you have a story or idea or success solution worth repeating, bloggers, podcasters, videobloggers and e-news forums and article services will do just that – repeat your story — all over the world, potentially bringing hundreds of thousands or millions of people your way.

And that’s just on the Web. One web-generated article can also become:

• The first chapter (s) of a book.
• The outline for a seminar or series of seminars
• A brochure
• A point of purchase display
• A sell sheet or handout flyer
• A local newspaper article
• Your stand-up speech at a networking event

One article can feed your advertising, online marketing, and promotional efforts for a year or more. It’s content, and content has applications far beyond its first publication.

Content Shows Them That You “Get It.”
It makes you an expert. It establishes you as a credible source. And the more you provide, the more your credibility grows.

Publishing—  providing content —  brands you as a thought leader…and that’s a nice thing to be. Especially since what you do can so easily be compared to the “services” list of any other less knowledgeable competitor (amateur/loser/criminal) in your field.

 

Content Drives Action.
Initially we’re talking about actual participation in the promotional process (the two-way proposition), not just mere propaganda (one-way interruption). You provide valuable information to your clients and potential clients out there – information drawn from other sources/experts as well as from your own experience, but most importantly, for them. Ultimately, you become the go-to expert they associate with your field/product/service…and they become your customer.

That’s right, your customer. ‘Nuff said.

Scot Simmons