Wouldn’t it be great if someone could categorically tell all of us business owners and entrepreneurs when everything is going to get better, when everything is going to go back to normal, then we would know there was an end in sight and everything would be okay! Imagine that …
Imagine also, if you could travel back in time to a pre-recession/pandemic moment … with the gift of hindsight, what would you have done differently to get your business ready to face the past seven months? Another question … should you have been doing that anyway?
Sadly, sometimes, it does take a dramatic event to make us realise what we should have been doing all along … equally, we can just be idling at a crossroad stuck in neutral trying to pick the right gear to get going. However, we find ourselves unprepared or uncertain, being able to future proof your business is totally in your control.
We live in a world where the power of ‘selling’ sits with the individual buyer, it is the golden age of the consumer and they alone get to choose who they want to work with or buy from … and guess what, they want to get to know you, what you stand for, what you want to be known for, what your very purpose is! How does that happen? … Great content. Great content … in context … telling your story and the paramount importance of relevance. Customers now expect more interaction with the brands they like and love.
“The power of content lies in entering an audience’s heart and mind through a consistent story well told; one with people, not products, at its core”.
(Aaron Orendorff – Common thread Collective, 10 Ecommerce trends for 2021)
In order to be relevant, you need to know:
“Successful brands heavily use written, audio, visual, and experiential content to drive full-funnel marketing campaigns: awareness, interest, desire, and action,” explains Nik Sharma, 2019 Forbes 30 Under 30. “Great content doesn’t sell a product, it sells an opportunity to better an aspect of your life.”
(Aaron Orendorff – Common Thread Collective, 10 Ecommerce trends for 2021)
I cannot begin to recount how many webinar invites I have received versus those I actually attended; how many books I’ve been advised to read versus those I actually read; how many courses I was invited on ‘free of charge’; how many helpful tips have been shared with me on all my social feeds; how many messages I’ve had offering me the solution to my problems and in reality, very little, if any of it was truly relevant to me … but when it was … I was ‘pulled’ in and ready to buy!
But let’s just take a few steps back, in order to to build a strong contextualised content marketing plan that engages with the relevant audience, with consistency, relevancy and continuity to drive leads and conversions, you need a deep understanding of how your business impacts the society you want to work with.
You can future proof your business and be ready to scale for growth by becoming a brand-led, purpose driven business who totally understands what they want to be known for and how their brand impacts their customers and consumers.
So, promise yourself, no more crystal balls, no more looking back in anger, no more regrets, take action now to control the future of your business. Nail your purpose and tell your story with strong “in context” and truly great content.