A strong point of view, consistency and confidence necessary for content to make a lasting impression with prospects, influencers and the market.
Impact. It means to impinge or make contact especially forcefully. And as a business leader, you have it, especially when it comes to your people. But when it comes to impacting your external audience, prospects, influencers, or your market with content – chances are good that you need to kick it up a notch. Here are three ways you can.
1. Take a stand. Marketing and technology firms (the two types of firms I work with) are very similar in that too often, they both end up taking orders from the client and then struggle to pull a rabbit out of a hat fashion a solution around those orders.
This “go along to get along” attitude, however, will likely result in little, no, or even negative impact on the client’s business, which, in the long run, is no good for their business, either.
The first place people get this message (that you are an order taker) is your website.
Take a look at your copy. What’s your point of view? Is it authoritative, or solicitous? Tentative, or definite? Inclusive, or exclusive? Hint: If you want to be the one giving the orders, the answers should be authoritative, definite and exclusive.
Tip: If you are positioning yourself as an expert, never start an article or post with a question, rhetorical or otherwise. It sends the wrong message. And frankly, starting with a question is the mother of all weak leads.
2. Be consistent. Say, when’s the last time you updated that blog? I know, right?
For reasons ranging from attention spans to Google algorithms, if you’re not producing a steady stream of content like clockwork, you won’t make much of an impact online. If you can’t seem to make the time to produce, hire a coach that will help you and hold you accountable for caring as much about your own impact as you do about that of your clients.
3. Build confidence. Publishing content is actually a great way to build confidence as over time you will weave a very tangible tapestry that, viewed as a whole will paint a very clear picture of what you know, what you believe, and what you think is important.
Publishing also gives you an opportunity to discover your unique point of view (key word: unique). Publishing also forces you to come to terms with what you know, or more importantly don’t know.
Those new to content creation are often surprised to learn that it is normal to have to hunt the Internet for examples or statistics to support the points they want to make in a post. But good examples greatly increase the impact of any piece.
The Internet and the ability to proliferate content easily gives you and your business incredible impact potential. Take a stand. Be consistent. Build confidence. Maximize it.
