Every business must think of itself as a media producer in the age of digital marketing.  But how do you become in effect a newspaper, magazine, or TV news station online.? What do you write about or feature in videos?

Produce Content That Goes Beyond The Surface To Seek Answers

In journalism we covered beats.  A police beat reporter established relationships with detectives, desk sergeants, and patrol officers.  A good reporter listened, asked questions, and broke stories.

Produce Content That Focuses On The Main Issues

The process is no different for companies.  Your sales team and representatives have relationships with customers.  Ask yourself, what do our customers or clients talk about? What’s always on their mind?  What are their challenges or pain points?

Produce Content That Addresses Frequenty Asked Questions

Make a list of those frequently asked questions (FAQ’s).  This is a starting point for deciding what topics to produce content about.

Next look for common terms or expressions that customers use to search online.  I use an inexpensive tool named KeywordKeg to hone in on an editorial strategy.

Conducting keyword search helps identify subject niches to produce content about.  Keyword search also aids SEO efforts to show up in search results about your product or services.

For example, we built a content strategy for a new hot rod shop that customizes 18-wheelers.  We learned that the highest number of searches focus on “Custom Semi Trucks“. Other search terms included “Big Rig Show Trucks”.  This provided insight on what descriptive language to use in titles and copy.

Next, we use the keywords to search Quora and Google Trends.  Are their large numbers of people looking for answers to a question that you can solve?

Produce Content Around Hot Trends That Are Gaining In Popularity

Is there a hot trend that your content can ride to popularity.  

I compare this to surfing. A surfer paddles out in search of a distant swell.  They want to catch it as it starts to break for the “Cowabunga” moment.

Ask yourself, is there a popular trend that I can create a piece of content around? For example, a divorce lawyer could ride the wave of a high profile celebrity divorce.

“What Does the Breakup of Brad and Angelina Tell Us About Community Property?”  See what I did there. I captured your attention.

Think about writing the title of your blog, social media post, or video first.  Then build the content that over delivers satisfaction to the viewer.

Produce Content That Tells A Captivating Story

Now for the hard part.  You’ve got to tell a story.  Storytelling is part of our DNA.  It connects to a human experience.

Shakespeare was the master of the 3-Act story.  Think beginning, middle, and end. Establish a conflict and resolve it at the end.

Produce Content That Resolves A Conflict

The conflict is the problem that you can best resolve for your client or customer.

In our next Clarity Conversation, we will feature a master storyteller.  You’ve seen his work in Star Wars.