Author name: writeminded

If you’re like every other growing business owner with whom I have ever spoken, you struggle with getting content created for your marketing, sales, and promotional efforts. The time needed to get it done is often hard enough, but then, after the time and effort of “getting it out there,” watching it get swallowed up in the rest of the noise from similar brands is so frustrating that many times, the efforts seem for naught, and the focus turns to other tactics. The stats show that 57% of content creators cite that creating the right content for their audience is one of the major challenges they face with their marketing efforts. Unfortunately, this scenario is more the norm than the anomaly. Content becomes a necessary evil that is tackled in an ad hoc manner without a cohesive plan of attack or goals to be tracked, and the potential for ROI drops even further. Here’s the thing. Your brand needs content. It is the conversation starter and the most successful engagement tool in your toolbox between you and the people behind the brands you want to work with. Content, in all forms—from articles to memes to infographics and webinars or sales assets—educates you on who you are, what you do, and why you’re the right answer for the people you seek to engage. I know you know this, but the cycle of content-creation frustration is still very real for most brands, large and small. It’s also necessary for every brand, regardless of size. Now, hear me out. We live in a global business reality where just about every product and service is already being sold, content creators know that every story has already been told, and new or smaller brands are pitching against behemoths with a large existing client base. So, how is a smaller or newer player ever going to stand out in such a crowded field? Welcome to the P.I.T.A. principle. Content creation is the baseline for any successful brand, regardless of size or reach. But it can’t be done in a one-off, get-it-done-to-get-on-to-the-next-project kind of way, and it takes time and intention to have the required effect. So, let’s break it down: The PITA Content Plan Principle Perspective: Any company’s key differentiator is the people behind the brand. At the end of the day, whether it’s through a video, a post, a graphic, or longer-form content, we are still people seeking to connect with and engage other people. This means that you need to identify and clarify your view before you write a word, create a single image, or develop a multi-channel, multimedia content marketing editorial calendar. Your view on your industry, the market you support, the specific brands you approach, and your perspective on the offering you are bringing to market. Simply put, you must clearly and definitively identify your WHY for doing this. This takes intentional engagement with your teams – from sales to marketing, account management, and operations. For example, one great way to get feedback is to send a survey to your team that they can answer anonymously if they choose, asking how they see what you are offering and its value to your prospects and clients. Ask them to define their view of your pitch and your key – unique – way of coming to the table. Ask for comments and suggestions. The more personal you get with your WHY perspective, the more input you get from your team that you help firm up your brand’s WHY, and the more unique your baseline messaging will be. Pro Tip: When creating your messaging and content plan, avoid getting caught up in industry jargon and avoid being too human in your details. Your brand is only as unique as the people behind it, so be courageous and put your genuine stamp on it. Let your team and your personal touch be the real story. Intention: Why are you in this business? Be honest. What problem or issue are you trying to solve with your offering? Why did you get on the road, what has driven you forward, what’s derailed your progress, and how do you plan to avoid those future setbacks? All brands have had to re-route or shift their plan at some point, but it is their intention to ensure that the roads or divergences they choose expand their reach instead of reducing it. Your intention to your prospects and clients needs to address an issue they see as necessary, one that can be easily identified and that hits home to create a need to engage. If your intention is only about your end goals, you may want to rethink your plans. Pro Tip: Market research offers insight into what your target audience really needs, how they’re talking about it, and what they need to hear to pay attention. Doing market research as part of your content plan will help you define or redefine your intention for your target audience as you create your content marketing plan. Timing: Like everything, timing for every element of your content plan matters. Timing of posts, cadence between media types, channels, and messages, the timing for follow-ups, and knowing when to back off are almost as important as the message you send. This is most important when using multiple mediums and platforms to get your message out. Your content plan needs a clear editorial calendar as its guide to ensure well-balanced, diverse, and trackable content shares. This calendar should be visible and used by both sales and marketing teams, clearly defining what is being shared (topic, media type, goal), with whom, and on what platforms to avoid cross-or-adverse messaging. Pro Tip: Your sales and marketing team need to work as a combined Growth Team instead of working in silos on their own. Your content plan can be the baseline of this effort, leading to better success, like 38% higher conversion rates and 36% higher client retention rates. Audience: The final criterion of why content plans have to be a P.I.T.A.

So, I am a really huge fan of the Impressionist movement. The Impressionist Movement, which kicked off in the 1860s and lasted until the 1880s, was all about capturing the fleeting effects of light and color, often through outdoor painting. This group of around 30 artists, including big names like Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Edgar Degas, focused on everyday scenes with visible brush strokes and innovative perspectives. Despite initial criticism, they held eight exhibitions between 1874 and 1886, showcasing hundreds of works. Today, their thousands of pieces are celebrated for their revolutionary approach and lasting impact on the art world. Whenever my husband and I visit a new museum anywhere in the world, we seek out these pieces and spend the majority of our time there, reveling in the use of light and color that is uniquely represented. I am preferential to Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro and Monet (the one with the mistress), while my husband adores Van Gogh almost primarily. Out of those 30 or so artists that drove this movement, we can recognize the work of the artists we favor pretty easily, we can tell by the colors, the style of the brush strokes, the use of light as well as the subject, and several other telling criteria. These elements uniquely identify each artist in a crowded field of work. They uniquely represent their BRAND. I can say the same thing about authors – not many people would confuse Stephen King with JRR Tolkien, for example. Their brands, their verbiage, use of alliteration or vernacular as well as the subject matter they cover are diverse. Identifying YOUR Perspective and Brand Voice So, how do you, a small or mid-sized business owner inject your perspective, your color, your light, YOUR voice to your brans in a way that uniquely identifies your work in a crowded field? Intentionally. Look at what you bring to the table for your company, to your industry and how YOU, the individual that you are can add your own flavor to the story. In other worlds, “to thine own self, (and brand) be true.” But unlike the impressionists, there’s one more step that you as a business owner and authors have to take to get it exactly right. The Buyer Persona Factor You need to understand WHO your audience is, define them down to their name, location, job, hobbies, age, and what gets them to act, whether it be buying a book or your services. Paint a CLEAR picture of who they are, where they exist and what they need to hear from you to engage with you and your company. See, the thing is, despite all the jargon, needs analysis results and sales pitches, we are ALL people trying to engage with other people. The human perspective, using our human capacity for communication, is STILL at the heart of real growth of the best brands. it’s really a one to one conversation between your CEO, CSO, and your buyer persona, that leads them to engage with you, to become a customer and decide to work together. So, when you build your next messaging plan for your newest campaign rollout, ask your self this: Who are you? Are you Degas whose failing site led to even more beautiful work? Or are you Stephen King that uses allusion to the “good old days” gone by to lull his reader into complacency before shocking them? And who is your buyer? he or she? Alabama or Manhattan? Homemaker or executive? And what problem do they really need you to solve for them? Need help getting to the bottom of all this so your target market can identify you “on sight”? Book a call. We’re here to help. https://calendly.com/tclose-writemindedllc/30min

This past weekend, my husband and I had the great pleasure of attending the retirement party of a very good friend of ours in Toronto, Canada. The Travel Gods were kind, offering an easy flight to and from Philadelphia. We had an eventful, fun-packed weekend and enjoyed some much-needed downtime. During the party, I, the camera-wielding nightmare of my family, sought to capture the night with some photos. The man of the hour loathes being the center of attention almost as much as he hates “posed” photos. I ignored his protests and began choreographing some group photos to commemorate the momentous occasion. I got some great shots then, including one photo of all 4 generations of the men in their family. As the night continued, and the cocktails flowed, (and people stopped letting me bully them) I gave up on the orderly pics and shifted to candid photos. Stay with me, this is the revelation. Your Brand’s WHY Factor Everyone began their natural interactions in the beautiful way that a group of people who live and play together often do so well. And I began to see the Moments, not the pictures. I noted small but meaningful interactions, charged by the uniqueness of each relationship the lens captured. And it was astounding. When we reviewed the pics over breakfast the next day, while everyone loved the posed photos for “who and what” they showed, it was the Moments that drew the best reactions. Moments are about the WHY.   These images were not perfectly posed. The lighting wasn’t always exactly right. But the genuine feelings, and LIFE, the meaning, screamed from each view. So, what’s the revelation? As we parsed through the pics, the eye behind the camera, and the importance of that perspective, my perspective, became the resounding theme. My friends were ecstatic, and I was reminded that MY unique part in the creative process mattered. I dialed into the WHY story of my target audience with my eye, making it both human and poignantly personal, and it hit home – in a big way. As a content marketer and business owner, even I had to be reminded that I was a driving factor behind the voice of my work. My unique eye and perspective were as important a factor in the result as my audience’s needs were. Break the Canned-Content Cycle, and Find Your Brand Voice When we focus on producing high volumes of content, we often lose sight of our WHY. We lose our unique eye, which resonates less and decreases returns. This goes for small business owners and “lean” marketing teams as well. Bandwidth struggles turn content into a necessary evil instead of a chance for a unique creative expression of your offering. Revelation #1: It is important to check in on your company’s WHY. Put a pause on the content churn to check in on your CEO’s vision, talk to your team about what your potential buyer needs, and shift the focus of your lens to the MOMENTS your audience finds themselves in when they look for offerings like yours, and build your messaging and campaigns around lens. Focus on your EYE, blend that with your “WHY” of starting or joining your company, and what you want to do FOR your prospective clients. Then, apply that unique lens to your content creation across all channels. Your brand voice becomes a unique sound in the space, not more white noise built from buzzwords and jargon. You’ll see the results in the caliber of clients you attract. I guarantee it.