​When creating a piece of writing for your email, website or your blog, you may get excited about sharing everything you know about the topic. This can lead to the dreaded long boring copy that people barely scan much less read.

​I think toddlers are one of the most destructive little people you can find, I cannot believe the amount of crazy mess my little girl can make within a span of minutes. It blows my mind but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Writing a headline for your blog can either be a fun experience or a chore and you may be tempted to leave it to the end after you've written your amazing piece. DON"T DO THAT.

Content Marketing seems like all the rage these days, but what does it really mean for the small business owner and how can you use it for your business? Before we get into the meat of things, let’s define content marketing, according to Content Marketing Institute,

“content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.”

For the small business owner, it means you need to get on board and figure out your content marketing strategy and start sharing your valuable expertise. This can seem overwhelming to some, but it does not have to be.

Content Marketing for the small business owner is simply giving your customers what they value from you: advice about an issue they are having, conversation when they enter your place of business, inspiration through sharing something positive or uplifting to brighten their day, education and any information you know they will find valuable.  Your customers will thank you which can mean leads you can turn into sales. It is not a quick process, it is a long term commitment like any good relationship with a high potential for customer loyalty.

As a guideline here are 5 types of content you should share with your customers.

3.       Inspirational: provide relevant motivational images, videos or a funny customer story. Use hi res images for motivational posts, I find these to be much more inspiring with a great quote.

4.     Entertaining: everyone loves to be entertained, show a lighter side to your business by sharing a fun video you found online, however keep it as relevant as possible to your business, then again who doesn't love a good video of a cat chasing his tail.

1.       Advice: give your target audience advice on a problem they may have, offer valuable solutions and ideas. Make sure you follow up with your advice, to see if the problem was resolved.

2.       Educational: provide information where your customers are sure to learn something, this can be in the form of e-book,a simple cheat sheet with helpful tips and tricks or a how to information. This type of content depending on your business should be the bulk of your content marketing strategy. You can include some promotional information here, but keep it very limited. 

5.       Get personal: customers love reading personal stories, share something about you, like how you got started or a sneak peek into a new product/service you are working on.

For a detailed list of content ideas check out this link from QUICKSPROUT 15 types of content to drive more traffic.


I hope you find these tips helpful and please let me know if you have any questions or comments.

As a small business owner, I am sure you’ve thought about blogging for your business or perhaps you've wondered how to write much more captivating posts or email campaigns to attract your target audience.  

To help you do this effectively, I would like to share 4 simple rules I’ve learned from my writing course, “Writing with Flair”. It will help you get into the writing mindset faster and deliver with elegance and precision.

1. Think the your words you use. While you are writing, think deeply about the words you use and how you use them. Keep it simple to the point, and in a style your specific target audience will understand.
   
   
2. What's your reason for writing. Have a strong intention to connect with your audience. Talk their talk.
   
   
3. Keep it real. Don’t’ use fancy over the top words. It can confuse and dilute your message.
   
   
4. Present your writing in a clean consistent format. For example, capitalize the same word consistently throughout your writing, use punctuation properly. The reader may not recognize these details, but it will feel and look good them once presented well.
   
   

Good luck with your writing, and continue to follow my posts to learn more as I learn more. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

So there is all this hype about content marketing being the building block to your online presence, the corner stone to making you sound authentic and real when you write, this is all true, but how did we get here?

Whatever happened to talking to people in real life and not just going to networking events and elevator pitching everyone!

Why did we stop conversing?

This is our reality now, and in this crazy and fun world of online marketing and technology, we must adapt to make it work for us, however let's not forget to simply have a conversation with people. I personally make a point of doing this by meeting new people and interacting socially, it truly helps me to keep the conversation real!

Now as marketer, I am always reading to keep up to date on  the latest news.

Recently, I've come across so much information about content marketing and with so many concepts and ways to get your point across, some very good information and some just overwhelming.

That's why I created this simple guide to help you decipher what is important.

Do you struggle with content marketing?
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DOWNLOLAD MY FREE E-GUIDE TO HELP YOU GET FROM CONTENT IDEAS TO EXECUTION IN NO TIME! CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD.