Why content creation is important? 12 unusual ways to use content in your business

As I write this blog sitting at my desk overlooking a window with a majestic view of the city, I can’t help but notice the empty streets. No, it’s not past midnight yet the city wears a deserted look. The markets are closed and only the delivery vehicles are seen. Where is all the business happening then? Online. We live in evolving times and this is the reason why content creation is important. Wanna know how you can use content creation to boost your business? Hang on!

30-second summary

Ok, busy bee! I got you. I know you are here to find the unusual uses of content creation for your business. If you don’t have the time to dig deeper, I made this section exclusively for you. Here’s what’s included in the post. But hey, the devil is in the details. Your choice.

• Use content creation to spread the word about your business
• Use content creation to attract new customers to your business
• Use content creation to upsell to existing customers
• Use content creation to keep in touch with your audience and fans
• Use content creation to dispel myths, doubts, concerns related to your product/business/industry
• Use content creation to become an authority, not just an expert

Why content creation is important?

Why is content so important? Because the internet is expressed in content. The lifeform of online media is content. Everything that comprises the internet is CONTENT.

You visit a website, that’s content. You watch a video on YouTube, that’s content. You post a picture of your cat (I am biased for cats because I am a cat parent :p), that’s content. Someone leaves an emoji on that picture, that’s content. You put that picture on your blog, that’s content. It’s funny but to express the importance of content creation, I have to use content.

Handpicked for you: What comes under content creation? 15 hacks for getting started if you are a complete beginner

Ok, let’s dive right into it now. For the sake of readability, I will breakdown the entire post into 5 broad heads that you regularly use in your business. Then, we will map each stage to the importance of content creation and how you can use it. Sounds great, eh? Ready? Let’s do it.

Business Awareness	Content creation so that people know about your business
Business Promotion	Content creation to promote your product/service/business to potential customers
Business Sustainability	Content creation to retain and nurture your existing customers
Business Confidence	Content creation to get closer to your audience and gaining fans
Business Leadership	Content creation to establish yourself as an authority and not just an expert

12 unusual ways to use content for your business

Content creation for business awareness

1. Use content to inform about your business

Why is content so important for your business? Because when you use content creation as a tool, you can effectively reach out to thousands of new prospects who don’t know about your business.

No matter if you are already an established business or just starting out, you can always use content to introduce your product/service to new potential customers.

Types of content you can utilize: Blog post; Videos; Live broadcasts

Pro tip: Don’t use just an email to inform about your business, product, service. Use emails to lead them to your business, product, service.

2. Use content to launch a new product/service

Your business will evolve with time. You will add new products, new services, new tools and creating content about these updates will help you gain more customers.

A lot of new businesses do not utilize the power of content to introduce new features, services, tools to their existing audience or customers. That’s a big mistake. Don’t assume everyone will know about it eventually. Go out there and shout from the top of your brand voice, ‘here’s my new product/service/tool’.

Types of content you can utilize: Newsletters; Social media posts; Demo videos

Pro tip: Make sure to keep your customers/audience updated about every single change to your product or service. You never know who is looking for that update.

3. Use content to highlight the problem you solve

The biggest reason why people use the internet is to find a solution to something. It can be as simple as finding the meaning of a word or as complex as reading about the symptoms of COVID-19.

Why content creation is important to spread awareness about your business is because you can be creative about it. You don’t have to necessarily talk about your product or service all the time. You can always create content around the problems you solve through your product or service.

E.g. I create content around content marketing for business owners because that’s the problem I solve. I help business owners create meaningful content and educate them about the importance of having a content strategy.

Types of content you can utilize: Social media stories; Videos; FAQ section on your website; Landing pages

Pro tip: Address the problems and challenges your ideal customers face before they use your product or service and show them the transformation you can bring about.

Content creation for business promotion

4. Use content to grab eyeballs

One thing that content marketing tells us is that every piece of content you publish is a form of promotion. The sooner you learn this, the better your results.

As a business owner, you will always want to scale up your business. And scaling up translates to reaching new customers, on boarding them and selling to them. What’s the best way of doing that? Creating content to promote your business.

Handpicked for you: What is content creation? And what does it mean for your small business?

Promotional content is:

1. Intentional
2. Measurable
3. Result-oriented
4. Attached to your business goals
5. ROI based
6. Educational/Inspirational/Insightful
7. Conversion-driven
8. Has a specific CTA
9. Leading to the next step
10. Tailored for multiple content delivery platforms

Types of content you can utilize: Ads; Videos; Social Media; Pop-ups

Pro Tip: You don’t always need to spend money to promote your business. Content marketing offers a ton of ways to promote your business solely through content.

5. Use content to reach new audiences

Even if you constantly publish new content, utilize the power of ads, and actively reach out to prospects, the scale at which your audience will grow remains more or less static (unless of course your content goes viral).

But your prospective customers may not always be your audience. How do you reach out to this untapped potential and promote your business? Well, content creation again comes to your rescue, my friend.

You can use the power of collaborations to reach out to new or similar audiences. Content collaboration can include guest posts on peer portals, collaboration with other industry players, guest appearances on video/audio platforms etc.

Types of content you can utilize: Guest posts; Influencer promotions; Paid partnerships; Guest appearances; PR

Pro tip: Rather than trying to poach your competitor’s audience, it’s way better to collaborate and work together.

6. Use content to answer questions

Oh boy, you’ll love this one. Do you know what’s the best part about content? It is it’s ever-present demand. The internet has answers to almost every possible question that you can think of. From how to write an email to how to save the world from climate change, you search for it and you will find it.

Despite that, there are still more questions being every single day. And no matter how many answers exist, there is always space for more. If questions come in variations, answers too appear in various forms. And this is what you can leverage for your business.

Use content to answer all unanswered questions in your niche. If the answers exist, top it up with a better answer.

– Dev Matharia

Every time you make something better, add a new perspective, or enhance the solution, you get closer to adding new customers to your business.

Types of content you can utilize: Blogs; Forums; Reviews; Social media comments

Pro Tip: Q&A forums sites like Quora, Reddit and social media comments are amazing places to promote your business without spending a dime on ads.

Content creation for business sustainability

7. Use content to nurture existing customers

The biggest mistake businesses do when it comes to scaling up is only focusing on attracting new customers.

– Dev Matharia

What about the existing customers? Have you realized their full potential yet? In most cases, the answer is usually no.

Acquiring new customers is great and should always be the top priority of your content strategy. However, a significant portion of your efforts should also focus on existing customers.

How can you do that?

• Create content for buyer’s journey beyond the acquisition stage in the funnel
• Preempt the next steps for your existing audience and create content to take them to the next level
• Create use-case-scenario-based content and share it with your existing audiences
• Share how-to videos
• Gather queries around your product/service and share it exclusively with your subscribers

Handpicked for you: How to create content for social media? 5 proven tips for getting started

Types of content you can utilize: Videos; Blogs; Surveys; FAQs; Newsletters

Pro Tip: Your existing customers already know, like, and trust you. This is the easiest segment ready to move to the next level.

I recently made a post about nurturing your existing customers on Instagram. Check it out here.

8. Use content to dispel myths around your niche

If content has brought about awareness, it has also significantly contributed to myths. Good lord, there are more popular myths than actual information. Somehow, the tendency of fake content to go viral is significantly stronger than accurate information.

But this also presents you with a great opportunity. An opportunity to build trust in your business. You can use content to dispel myths and doubts around your niche.

Use content to call out fake information, misbeliefs, limiting advice, fake gurus, and so on. You can either use your own platform or utilize the power of social media to distribute your content.

Types of content you can utilize: Blogs; Videos; Case studies; Behind-the-scenes; Social media

Pro Tip: A lot of your competition will hesitate to venture here. This leaves you with a magnificent opportunity to claim the share.

9. Use content to upsell

Treat this as an extension to nurturing your existing customers. If you are not selling first to your existing customers/subscribers, you are leaving money on the table, my friend.

I remember this fascinating statement by Michael Hyatt during one of the webinars: “I treat my existing subscribers as virtual ATM. Every time I need a cash injection, I send an email.“

Now that’s a fantastic thing to say. The takeaway: if you are not selling first or upselling to your existing customers, you are losing out on a big chunk of ready customers.

Types of content you can utilize: Newsletters; Landing Pages; Direct Messaging; Shopping Cart Pop-ups

Pro Tip: Conversion in your existing customers will always surpass the conversion from new subscribers.

Content creation for business confidence

10. Use content to build trust with your audience

How do you build trust effectively?

1. By consistently delivering on your promises
2. By consistnetly working on developing a pattern of postivite feedback, listening, serving, non-critical acceptance, motivation, and trusting first

When you build your content strategy around these two factors, you significantly increase your chances of building trust. And trust is the stepping stone to building your audience for your online business.

Types of content you can utilize: Personalized emails; Coaching calls; Free workshops; Webinars; Digital resources

Pro Tip: Your audience will take time to trust you. If you create content focused on building trust from day one, you will get there soon.

11. Use content to gain fans

Nothing beats raving fans of your product/service. They become your finest ambassadors and do not hesitate to recommend your product/service to everyone in their circle.

That is why gaining referrals is a big pillar of content strategy.

The more your audience recommends you, the better your chances of getting more sales every single time.

– Dev Matharia

The easiest way to get fans talking about your product/service is to make them the hero of your business. Let them take the spotlight. Make it all about them. Solve something for them. Help them accomplish their goals.

Types of content you can utilize: User-generated-content; Testimonials; Customer reviews (unedited please); Contests/Giveaways

Pro Tip: The one thing that turns a customer into a fan is ‘how you made them feel’. If you strike here, you will never lose.

Content creation for business leadership

12. Use content to establish your authority in your niche

Don’t be an expert. People are tired of experts. Because a lot of experts never deliver on their promise. And the market is so flooded with experts that there isn’t any fascination about it anymore.

People go after visionaries. They look up to the people who talk about the future, the trends to come, the way forward. Use content to establish yourself/your business as a thought leader in your domain.

This is the kind of authority you should target with your content. Because this authority translates to big-ticket sales, multiple figures businesses and loyal fans.

Types of content you can utilize: Videos (go big on this); Blogs; Newsletters; Podcasts

Pro Tip: Becoming an authority will not happen overnight but you can start building the foundation through your content from today.

Conclusion

That’s all folks! These are the 12 unusual ways to make content creation a part of your business mapping it to your goals. Why content creation is important? Well, here is the summary to this important question:

• Use content to inform about your business
• Use content to launch a new product or service
• Use content to highlight the problem you solve
• Use content to grab eyeballs
• Use content to reach a new audience
• Use content to answer questions
• Use content to nurture existing customers
• Use content to dispel myths around your niche
• Use content to upsell
• Use content to build trust
• Use content to gain fans
• Use content to establish your authority

If you liked this post, share it with someone who can use it to build their business. If you would leave a comment or share this post, it would mean the world to me. Did you find anything amiss? Why not share it with me right here and I promise to get back to you instantly.

PS: Part IV of the content series ‘Everything about content creation: Basics’.

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