Learn

The pressure of ensuring you are producing regular, quality content to your website can cloud the actual purpose of your content – the reader. Content marketing is an entry level method of reaching out to new prospects whilst they are in the research stage of the buying cycle. By being present in the content they are reading, you are introducing them to your brand and making them aware of your products/services.

Content marketing isn’t about the hard-sell, it’s about informing and educating whilst building a brand persona.

It can be easy to get stuck in your ways as a business owner, when your default angle is to sell and promote. Content marketing isn’t the place for this, don’t lose your compelling story in the overly promotional supporting content alongside it.

Journalists develop enviable writing, organization and strategizing skills from their work and these skills are what content marketers today are lacking. It’s time to start thinking like a traditional media company and focus on the content again, instead of clicks and sales.

These international mega brands aren’t writing content with the aim to sell a product, service or opinion – they’re telling compelling stories that people actually want to read. It is this type of content, not thin content, that attracts loyal readers.

Here are three simple lessons you can learn from journalists to help improve your content marketing:

5W1H

A simple recipe that you should follow by rule of thumb to write valuable, informative content is 5W1H.

• Who
• What
• When
• Where
• Why
• How

This rule should be applied to all content you write, whether that be a blog article, video or service page.

It may seem simple, but this writing method ensures that no crucial information is missed out and no questions are left unanswered. As a content marketer, your aim is to answer questions and solve problems.

Credibility

In order to gain credibility and authority in your industry, you need to do your research. Double check and triple check your facts before you put them out there into the world – you don’t want to contribute to the ever-growing fake news culture.

Make fact-checking a staple part of your content marketing strategy, this includes any online sources already out there, and try to focus only on quotes from those who hold the authority to discuss the topic.

If we were to write a piece on the latest SEO development in the industry, we wouldn’t just talk to any Tom, Dick or Harry about it – we’d go straight to the top. Authoritative quotes from the likes of Matt Cutts, Danny Sullivan, and Barry Schwartz would not only add weight to the piece but would also increase the credibility.

Get To The Point

It may be your website, but it doesn’t all need to be about you.

You have your ‘About’ page to share all your accomplishments and awards, leave your product and services pages for what they’re meant to be about – how what you offer can benefit the consumer and what your service entails. The purpose of your content is to address questions and queries whilst educating on the topic they came here to learn more about, not upsell and over promote. We live in an age where we are all hyperaware of advertisements and generally don’t like to be advertised to unless we’ve asked to be, so you need to understand the importance of balance.