Content is king. you have probably heard this more than a thousand times but you should also know that engagement is queen. In this article, we will discuss a few tips on how to make your content stimulating enough to drive sales and business growth. Firstly, before you proceed to create marketing content, you need to perform a “self-check” on the business/product or service you are rendering. You want the content to be engaging enough to pique the interest of your prospects.
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Creating Content That Sells
The initial message you send should include a concise overview of your company, and a snippet of what the prospect or client should expect from you. This shouldn’t be too long as well because as soon as it is received, your prospect’s perception of your business has begun to take shape. Your content has to be specific.
Categories Of Content You Should Create
There are a few ways to go about creating content that your prospects can connect with. The following, are categories of content you should consider creating:
- Witty: Any content that may tickle your clients’ and prospects’ funny bone, could be well appreciated entertaining: Generally, entertaining content is not bad for business. It might not sell your product at the time but it gets people to engage with you.
- Informative: If there is something new with your products or industry and you think your prospects and clients may be interested, you could share.
- Useful: Tips on how to use or protect products or other things around products are another way to go.
- Inspiring: Your clients and prospects could also appreciate inspiring or thought-provoking Content.
If your content does not fall into any of these categories, your prospects may not pay too much attention to it. This is why you need to know what your client is most likely interested in and plug into that, just like we discussed when you were building your client list. Now you have to deliver on those sorts of free service, information, and content you promised.
After every post or communication, you should remember to add a Call To Action (CTA). Your CTA does not always have to be for them to buy your products, sometimes you could simply encourage them to look out for other posts, to share with friends, to check out your website, or to simply follow your business on other platforms.
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Creating Content With Visuals
You come across various content on different online platforms daily and you engage with some of them more than others. The reason for this is not that you are dismissive. The truth is that some things appeal to you more than others. Now, the question is, what are those things that make up the type of content that appeals to you? Or in this particular case, your clients and prospects on WhatsApp?
There are so many variables, a lot of which we have already talked about. Once you have narrowed down the group or groups of people you want to communicate with, you should look at some of the things they also look at. Use a case study if you can. If you sell shoes for young men, ask a friend or a relative what they engage with. Go online and look at similar content from as many creators as you can. This will give you direction, as well as inspiration to create your content. Try out different samples to see what people engage with most.
That being said, there are key things a good content must contain, especially branded or marketing content, and that is excellent visuals. You have probably heard the saying “pictures tell a thousand stories” so many times that you are tired of hearing it. Well, it stands true till today. Look no further than Instagram for evidence. The picture frenzy may have started on that platform but every online platform has adopted it because the results are there for anyone to see. Your clients and prospects will engage with great pictures and graphics more than simple everyday visuals they have seen a hundred times.
The good thing is that you do not have to be a master photographer or a versatile graphic designer to get great visuals for your content.
There are platforms where you can get amazing pictures for free and you don’t have to worry about licensing issues. Some of them are:
When you want to create your own custom graphics, a great tool to use is Canva (CLICK TO SIGN UP). It is an online graphic design tool anyone can use. There are loads of templates that you can edit to fit exactly what you need. You can also add your own pictures. After a while, you may begin to enjoy using it for your designs.
However, before you begin to source for pictures and create designs, keep your prospects and clients in mind. Do not just use the most visually appealing picture you can find.
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Your selection must first relate to your brand and resonate with your audience (prospects and clients). It is always advisable to use African models when faced with the choice unless of course, you have a foreign client base. You should always stay on topic. You should not have a beautiful model wearing a winter jacket in your Ankara brand marketing materials.
Taking Quality Camera Pictures On Your Phone Or Camera
The importance of making catchy and quality pictures of your products cannot be overemphasized. You may need to hire the services of a professional product photographer on how to go about this. If you can’t afford the services of a professional photographer, you can take awesome pictures on your phone. Here are a few tips to note when taking products pictures from your phone as a small business owner:
Taking Quality Pictures On Your Phone Or Camera
- The first step to taking awesome product pictures on your phone is to make sure that your scene set-up will make a good image, to begin with.
- To that end, you want to make sure your products are clean and your setup is correct before you start taking pictures
- A plain white background is best for most of your product shots. This lets your product take the spotlight and removes any distractions.
- If you are shooting indoors, set up your white background “studio” with a window to either the left or right and a white reflector of some sort on the opposite side.
- Ensure you clean your lenses to avoid any specks of dust and smudges on your lens
- Steady your camera, investing in a mobile tripod stand for your phone is advised to eliminate camera shakes. This is a tiny purchase that will make a big difference.
- Try out the different phone camera settings on your phone, take multiple pictures and select your preferred ones
- There are good photo editing apps you can use to correct colours and make your product pictures more desirable.
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Scheduling Your Content
Keeping your contacts engaged is a continuous effort. Businesses that can communicate for extended periods endear themselves to their clients. This means your campaigns should be scheduled properly for long term communications.
To help with this you can download the SMEStoriesNG -custom-made content calendar with this link.
