Building a startup isn’t just about having a great product or service. Without content, your audience might never discover what you offer. Effective content attracts leads, keeps them engaged, and establishes your startup as a credible voice in your field. To make the most of your efforts, it’s important to use the right formats and tools to reach your audience and deliver your message.
Video Content
Video has become one of the most effective ways to connect with audiences. A short explainer video about your product, a tutorial, or a behind-the-scenes look at your startup can grab attention quickly. Videos allow you to demonstrate your personality, simplify complex ideas, and show your product or service in action.
People are more likely to share and engage with video than plain text, making it a valuable tool for spreading your message. If resources are tight, start small with smartphone videos or free editing software. Post on platforms like YouTube, TikTok, or Instagram, tailoring each video to the audience on those platforms. Use subtitles to make your videos accessible and keep them under two minutes for maximum engagement.
Blog Articles
Blog articles are another powerful way to reach your audience. You can use your own blog to share expertise, announce updates, or offer advice relevant to your field. A well-written blog establishes trust, improves your search engine visibility, and drives traffic to your website.
Guest blogging on established sites in your industry can also expand your reach. Writing for a reputable blog introduces your brand to new audiences and builds credibility. Start by focusing on practical topics that solve problems for your readers. Use clear, concise language to explain how your product or service fits into their lives. Add a call to action at the end, such as signing up for a newsletter or downloading a resource.
Guides and White Papers
In-depth content like guides and white papers works best for more serious or technical audiences. These resources let you explore a topic in detail, showing that your startup understands the challenges your audience faces. For example, a guide on industry trends or a white paper highlighting research-backed solutions positions your brand as an expert in its field.
Offer these as downloadable PDFs in exchange for an email address. This helps you build a mailing list while offering real value to potential customers. Make sure the content is thorough and well-organized. Keep jargon to a minimum and include visuals like charts or diagrams to break up the text and make it easier to understand.
Podcasts
Podcasts are a growing trend and a great option if your startup thrives on storytelling or personal connection. Launching a podcast lets you discuss industry news, interview experts, or share your startup journey. This format allows you to dive into topics that might be too long for a blog post or video.
Podcasts don’t require expensive equipment to start. A basic microphone, editing software, and a quiet space are all you need. Host your episodes on platforms like Spotify or Apple Podcasts, and promote them on your other content channels. Consistency is key—release episodes on a regular schedule and engage with your listeners by responding to their comments and questions.
Graphics
Visual content like infographics and simple images can make your startup’s message easier to digest. Infographics are especially useful for explaining data, summarizing research, or breaking down processes in a visually appealing way. Graphics grab attention and are often shared more widely than plain text, making them a great way to boost your reach.
Social media posts, presentation slides, and email campaigns all benefit from clean, professional graphics. You don’t need a design background to create visuals, thanks to beginner-friendly tools like Canva. Keep your designs simple and focus on clarity to ensure your audience understands your message at a glance.
Distributing Your Content the Right Way
Creating great content is only half the battle. Distribution ensures your work reaches the right audience. Without a good plan, even the best content will go unnoticed.
This is where tools like Skillfusion come in handy. It is a platform with over 100 AI tools, including for content creation and distribution. What makes it stand out is the ability to create custom tools tailored to your startup’s needs. For example, you can build automation tools that create compelling posts for your social media platforms.
Start Small, Think Big
Content doesn’t need to be perfect right away. Start small and stay consistent. Experiment with different formats, track your results, and refine your strategy over time. You don’t have to master every content type at once—focus on what aligns best with your audience’s preferences.
With careful planning and consistent effort, content can become one of your most powerful growth strategies.
Creating content that solves your audience’s problems demonstrates your expertise and shows that you understand their needs. This not only positions you as a trusted authority but also increases the value of your content.
To accomplish this:
Assess the common challenges that your target audience experiences.
Share tips, tricks, and hacks that directly address these issues
Offer actionable advice for immediate implementation
Summary: Offering solution-oriented content establishes you as an expert and provides value to your audience.
2. Prioritize Education Over Promotion
Educational content is more likely to engage your audience and foster trust.
Focus on:
Sharing your knowledge and expertise generously
Highlighting the benefits and features of your product without being overly promotional
Offering valuable insights that can be applied even without purchasing your product
Summary: Focus on educating your audience to build trust and increase engagement.
3. Engage Your Audience on Their Preferred Platforms
Understanding your audience’s preferred platforms ensures that your content reaches them effectively.
To achieve this:
Conduct market research to determine popular content formats and platforms among your audience
Tailor your content to suit each platform’s unique characteristics
Engage with your audience by replying to comments, asking questions, and encouraging discussions
Summary: Reach your audience effectively by delivering tailored content on their favorite platforms.
4. Maintain a List of Relevant Topics
Keeping your content relevant to your audience’s interests is crucial for engagement.
To create a list of suitable topics:
Stay up-to-date with industry trends and news.
Utilize keyword research tools to discover what people are searching for in your niche.
Engage with your audience on social media to gather feedback and ideas
Summary: Stay relevant and engaging by creating content that reflects your audience’s interests.
5. Implement a Content Schedule
A well-organized content schedule helps you maintain consistency and stay on track.
To create an effective content calendar:
Plan content creation and publication dates well in advance
Balance different content types, such as blog posts, videos, and social media updates
Make room for flexibility to accommodate last-minute changes or updates
Summary: A well-planned content schedule ensures consistency and helps you manage your content strategy effectively.
6. Track Your Progress
Monitoring your content strategy’s performance allows you to optimize your efforts.
To effectively track your progress:
Establish specific goals for your content strategy, such as engagement rate, website traffic, or lead generation
Regularly review your analytics to identify patterns and trends
Make data-driven adjustments to your content strategy based on your findings
Summary: Tracking your content strategy’s performance enables optimization and ensures that you achieve your goals.
By understanding and implementing each of these six key components, you’ll be well-equipped to create a powerful content strategy that supports your product launch and helps you achieve your business goals.
Contact me here if you’d like to discuss how I can help you make your launch a success!
You’re a small to medium business and you’re ambitious. It’s not enough that you have people finding you on Google or coming across your website through luck. Instead you’re ready to take your business to the next level.
How you plan on going about achieving that, really comes down to your approach to marketing. It’s time to start taking that direct marketing campaign seriously and reaching out to your customers. Take a look at our top tips for getting it just right.
Know Your Audience
The first step is figuring out exactly who it is that you’re talking to and to do this, there’s nothing else for it but a good amount or research. It counts for everything and will form the basis for the rest of your campaign.
Make sure you know exactly who it is you’re trying to reach. Discover your ideal customers’ hobbies and interests, their favorite social media channels and so on. Find out what they read online and when they access it. Then you’re set to start tailoring your messages with content that really appeals to them and start increasing your average email open rate.
A Clear Call To Action
How do you do you want your customer to respond? Are you asking them to sign up to a newsletter, are you going for a straight sale or are you asking for their loyalty by responding to a series of emails? Whatever you choose, make sure your emails are clear, concise and offer them some reward for their action of opening your email over and above anyone else’s.
Why You?
It’s a big question and one that deserves exploring closely. Of all the hundreds of marketing emails that get sent out every day, what is it about yours that makes it special and deserving of time and attention?
The answer is your unique offer. The chance for your customer to benefit from something that is unique to your business and the temptation to sign up to your offer because you’ve made it irresistible. To create that desire, you will need to pull out every trick in the book and reach your customer through any means you can. Use their love of certain social media to talk to them. Find a way of expressing your shared values and draw them in with offers that really pop out.
Direct marketing is so popular because from it, you will almost certainly see some results if done well. If done incorrectly you run the risk of alienating people from your brand, so make sure your messaging and your content is just right every time.
Be a marketing genius with a campaign that ticks all the boxes that not only reads great but looks great in the inboxes of all your customers. Make your brand the market leader in direct emailing and give your competition some serious cause for concern. Then watch as the sales roll in, thanks to your laser focus and attention to detail.
Few things are as mind-numbingly aggravating as a block to creativity. We’ve all experienced that frustrating sensation. Sometimes it hits just as we sit down to write our weekly blog post or think up topics for our next video. We want to want to create. We have to create. Our business is depending on our ability to churn out valuable, quality information… but nothing happens. Ideas aren’t flowing. Creativity isn’t flourishing. The motivation tank is running on empty and soon you lose interest in creating content for this week.
Thankfully, there are a few things you can do to recharge your creative batteries!
5 Ways to Beat the Creativity Blockers
1. Make Sure You’re Getting Enough Rest
This is the hard-to-actually-do-but-also-obvious solution to a severe case of creativity block. Business burnout is a real thing and can keep you from accomplishing more than just creative content. If you can’t remember the last time you had a full night’s sleep, a day off, or a few hours to yourself, then schedule a self-care day ASAP! It might feel like your absence will cause your business to collapse, but what’s more likely is your exhaustion will lead to mistakes, missed opportunities, and poor performance.
2. Create a Routine and Stick to It
Believe it or not, your brain doesn’t perform best when it’s forced to multi-task, and, while routine isn’t always fun, it’s one of the best ways to stay motivated and creative. Schedule your week and organize your tasks. Clearly write out what you have to do and when you’ll do it, giving yourself a realistic amount of time to get each task done. Not only will you end up accomplishing more, but you’ll be able to do it faster and with less stress since you can clearly see everything you have to do and know when you have to focus on it (and you don’t have to focus on multiple tasks at every moment because you have time allotted for them later!).
3. Put Away All the Distractions (including research, if it’s keeping you from creating)
You’ve surely heard this tip before, but that doesn’t make it any less important! The internet and research are great ways to learn and get inspiration for future content, but they can also be creativity killers. What starts out as a quick Google search easily turns into an hour-long rabbit trail that only ends up making you feel distracted, inadequate, or uninspired. Research what you need for your content and then close any unnecessary tabs on your computer, put away your phone, turn off the TV, and focus on one thing: creating content.
4. Talk to People About What You Do
Few things are as fantastic for boosting your creative mood as talking about what you love. So, talk about it! Network with professionals in your field and bounce ideas off of them. Find out what they love about their business and why they love it. Talk to your clients! Ask them how you can be more helpful to them or what kind of content they’d like to see more of. Talk to your friends and family. Free yourself to get excited about what you do!
5. Go Through Your Old Content For Inspiration
Sometimes the reason creativity dies is because we doubt our ability to create. We doubt our voice, our product, or the value in our work. Rather than wallowing in this, go through some of your old accomplishments and see how much you’ve done! Instead of forcing yourself to come up with entirely new content, consider repurposing some of your old gems to increase your reach with far less work.
Everybody struggles with time. Rather, we all struggle with not having enough of it! Which makes time-intensive projects like content creation such a grueling process. A lot of people think that if they want their content to have value, maintain quality, and result in conversions for their business, it will inevitably take up a lot of time creating it.
But this doesn’t have to be the case!
Here are 4 Tips For Speeding the Content Creation Process
Obviously, creating quality content that will provide your viewers, readers, and customers beneficial information is always going to take a bit of time. However, it doesn’t have to take you days (or weeks!) to pull off. Try these strategies in order to turn out quality content quicker:
1. Write First, Edit Later
A big reason content creation is so difficult and time-consuming is because we have a tendency to kill our creativity before it has a chance to flow freely. We don’t like our title, so we agonize over it. We don’t know how to begin, so we re-work our first sentence dozens of times. Should that first paragraph be shorter and more condensed? Before you know it, an hour has gone by and you only have thirty-five words you like!
Rather than editing your work while you write, just let yourself write. Let the ideas flow and the word count build before even thinking about editing. You’ll come up with a lot more content, cover more topics, touch on interesting subjects, and have more fun. Polishing your work will also be easier later once you’ve got all the content on the page and know what you are saying.
2. Improve Your Attitude!
You’ll be surprised at how much your way of thinking will affect your ability to work. If you keep telling yourself, “I can’t write this,” “I’m so bad at making videos,” or “This will take me forever to do!” then guess what? You’ll be right! Try telling yourself that you can write well, you can film good videos, and you can get this done on time. It might take hard work and you might be slow at the start, but you are capable of improving.
3. Repurpose Old Content Into Fresh Content
It’s easy to think you have to come up with something new in order for it to have value. You probably have tons of old content sitting in your website history or your computer hard drive that you spent hours on but only used once. Consider pulling out all the old content that worked well and was popular and repurposing it to achieve a new goal. You’ll be surprised at how quickly you get new content out!
4. Research More
Sometimes a difficulty in creating quality content is rooted in a lack of ideas, understanding, or knowledge. Try doing more research in your field, as well as fields related to yours, in order to get your creative juices flowing. Take a class, read a magazine, join a group of like-minded people. Always continue learning so that you can teach what you’ve learned to your audience. There will always be more things to learn!
If you’re interested in learning more about content repurposing, saving time, and making more money with less work, join my Content Repurposing 4 Module Workshop! Spots are filling quickly!
Have a great week!
Robyn
PS: Sure, you could continue to labor over your content creation or you could start repurposing all the incredible content you already have at your fingertips, and reaping major rewards. Sign Up Now!
There tend to be a lot
of rules surrounding content creation. It must have value, it can’t be too
long, the information must be relevant, not to mention accurate, relatable,
accessible, easily understandable, and the list goes on. It’s way too easy to
get overwhelmed by all these rules and regulations. Overthinking your
content—is it good enough, interesting enough, or worth hitting the publish button
at all—is its own chore. But content creation doesn’t have to be this big of a
headache! In fact, content creation can be easy. You just have to know a few
simple tricks.
4 Tips for EASY Content Creation
Research, practice, and
learning the tricks of the trade are the best ways to make any job easier. So,
if you’re overwhelmed by your content creation to-do list, consider these
“tricks” to lighten your load:
1. Create a Content Calendar
Initially, this might
sound outdated. In practice, it’s a lifesaver! Rather than relying on your
memory or mood for the day, manage your posts effectively by planning them out
a week, month, or more at a time. By using a calendar, you can easily track the
frequency of your blogs, regulate your posting so it remains consistent,
organize themes and campaigns, keep track of topics you’ve covered in the past,
prepare for upcoming topics, avoid annoying repetition, and prevent creativity
burnout. While this planning tool might sound like an annoying amount of
upfront work, it will actually help you work less in the long
run and feel more organized while doing so.
2. Implement More Structure to Your Workday
Your brain is much more
effective when it’s allowed to focus on one specific thing rather than a
million different tasks. So rather than tackling your mile-long to-do list
randomly, schedule out your day/week to handle similar projects at the same
time. For instance, focus on answering emails, organizing your inbox, and
returning phone calls on Monday morning. Write your blog posts and email
campaigns Monday afternoon. Plan out your social media content and future
social campaigns on Tuesday morning. Tuesday afternoon, film and edit your
weekly video. By segmenting your days rather than fire hosing yourself with
your whole list of tasks the entire week, you’ll be more productive, and your
content creation will feel less overwhelming.
3. Schedule All of Your Posts
This point goes
hand-in-hand with the previous one. Rather than relying on yourself to come up
with a creative blog post every week, and a social media
post every day, and also a video whenever you can find the
time, use the various scheduling tools available and then move on! Take one
day at the beginning of the month to schedule out your social media content for
the remainder of the month. Take a few days to brainstorm and create blog
content for your website for the entire quarter. Pull out a few changes of
clothes and binge-record yourself all day for all your video content coming up.
Schedule these posts weeks, or even months, out so you don’t have to worry
about it again for a good long while (just be sure to set yourself a reminder
on that calendar for when you need to start brainstorming ideas again).
4. Repurpose Past Content
You might think that
hitting that “publish” button is the last step for your content, but think
again! Repurposing past content is one of the best ways to get more out of your
work with less effort. Any content you create can be repurposed to reach new
audiences or meet a new goal. Don’t waste anything, especially your time. If
you’d like to learn more about repurposing content, then you should join
my 7-day challenge and
find out how to grow your audience and increase your reach!
