Telling your story authentically

Telling your story authentically. Many people I talk to about content marketing for their business struggle with the idea of what to write about and whether what they have to say has value.

For most service-based businesses (including health businesses) often, what you are selling is your expertise, your knowledge, and your experience. This makes you uniquely qualified to discuss these things with your client group or target audience!

First, some background on Content Marketing

Content Marketing – a type of marketing that involves the creation and sharing of online material (such as videos, blogs, and social media posts) that does not explicitly promote a brand but is intended to stimulate interest in its products or services.

Oxford dictionary

Benefits (why should your business do it?)

Content marketing can be a lot easier and more natural than other marketing techniques because it doesn’t directly involve selling to consumers.

Business owners don’t have to worry about sounding too pushy with their marketing efforts, thus making it a lot easier for prospects and consumers to build trust in their expertise.

Content marketing is a great way to improve reliability by giving relevant information and is also an ideal method to enhance popularity by providing internet users share-worthy content that they can pass on to other users.

Secondary benefits

1. Improve SEO & Website Traffic
2. Connection and Communication with Your Target Audience
3. Branding your online business
4. Leverage new opportunities for yourself and your business

See also –

Here are some top tips for creating authentic content

1. Write what you know

Telling your story authentically is easier when you are writing about the subjects you know a lot about and, are an expert in.

Topics can include – information from new research, best practices, case studies, topical or newsworthy subjects in your area etc

2. Address your audiences’ pain points

What keeps your clients awake at night?
Do you know what frustrates them?
Which goals do they want to achieve?

• For a health professional this may be pain, a functional difficulty, being unable to work due to injury, etc. or, they may want to run a marathon.
• If you’re a business mentor this may be the ability to attract and retain new clients or expand their small business to be able to support several employees.
• For an accountant this may be their business’s financial stability, whether they can invest in business expansion or the ability to add a second location.

You get the idea!

Whatever it is – the ability to understand and empathise with these pain points will align you with and allow you to partner with your clients to help them. It encourages trust and establishes your authority in your area of expertise.

Obviously – the first step here is knowing who you are writing for, and to. Don’t skip this step when planning!!

See Step 1 here (click on image below) –

3. Fill gaps in knowledge

What subjects do you commonly get asked questions about? These may be 100% in your area or they may be related subjects. Remember there are no silly questions! And chances are – when one person is confused or has a limited understanding of a topic, more do too.

4. Focus on them, NOT YOU!

This may seem like a no-brainer but you’ll be surprised how often this does not happen. Remember the solutions that you offer to the pain points we discussed earlier and keep benefits in mind. WIIFM (what’s in it for me) is powerful stuff.

5. Start with the end in mind

What’s the goal of writing this particular piece? To provide information? Direct people towards a certain service you offer? Or, Simply to entertain? Keeping this goal allows you to check that your writing has hit the mark.

And also…

• To be authentic – write in your style. Keep it conversational. There may be times when a formal tone is required but again – this depends on your target audience and who you are pitching your content towards. A great way to personalise your content is to incorporate personal stories or experiences into your writing. Remember – if you’re writing about someone else’s experience ensure that you have their permission!

• If several people in your business contribute to your content marketing efforts – take some time to build a structure around
  • Tone
  • Formal or informal language
  • Use of technical language or jargon
  • etc