How to Know if You Should Create Content

Creating content for your business is a fantastic way to tell everyone in the world a bit about yourself, your products, and the story behind what you're doing. It's a great way for you to make sure you're staying up to date on what's going on in your industry. And it can drive visitors to your website through exuding the essence of your brand.

If you're thinking about creating some content, there are a few things you should consider to make sure you and your audience both get the most out of your efforts.

Is creating content right for you? Check out these tips:

Look at your industry

Take a look at what the most successful businesses and individuals in your industry are doing when it comes to content. Do they have content? What kind of content is it? Does your industry cater to people who generally prefer video content, or article content?

See what others are doing, and what's working for them.

Pretend you're on the other side of your business, as one of your customers. Would you like to see content? If so, what type of content would you like to see the most? A blog with new articles every day? A blog with a mix of articles and videos? A YouTube video channel to subscribe to that has regularly-posted new videos?

If others in your industry are using creative content, I'd say creating content is right for you.

Examine your resources

Once you have an idea of what content others are creating and what seems to be working for them, it's time to see if it's feasible for you to do something similar.

If you have a small computer repair company and want to market like Dell does, you're clearly rich in ambition. But unless you have the budget to match, you may have to downscale to something more realistic for a company of your size. Check your budget with both the time and money you're able to invest into content creation.

Remember: everyone starts somewhere, and that somewhere is almost always very small. And small content creation efforts is one way that builds your website with purpose.

If you have the time and money, even just a little of both, creating content is absolutely something you can and should do.

Analyze your story

Think of what makes your story stand out from the rest. Did you start your business because of some interesting and unexpected experience? Do you have a unique set of skills that makes you more attractive than others in your industry? Did Michael Jackson love to frequent your store?

Even in a corporate world, people love something with a little bit of heart and personality. Think of what gives your story its unique appeal and run with it.

Position your story

Once you have an idea of what your unique story is going to be, think of how you can position your content to emphasize this story.

Say you run a small online shop. You became interested in running a business because your dad used to let you help with the family finances when you were a child and you really loved it. Consider positioning your story in a way that markets your company to families, having some content relating to the importance of teaching children financial responsibility, and offering tips on how to do this.

This will make your story pull in a whole new audience – families with younger children – and offer them financial services above and beyond what a typical accounting company may offer them.

People love that stuff.

Choose your medium

I covered this pretty in depth above in the “Look at your industry” section. Here's when you'll choose which medium to go with.  Videos, articles, and blogs are a few of the most common options you have.

If you really can't decide, it wouldn't hurt to do a mix of everything. Start a blog, write some short articles, and add a video that compliments the article really nicely. After a little while you may find that people really prefer your videos, or that nobody cares about the videos, and you can always adjust your efforts down the road.

Create

If you think you're ready to create some content, you can either hire a content writer or create yourself. Don't worry about it being perfect. Do the best you can, and have fun with it.