Refine Your Business' Image with Smart Content Creation Strategies

It's no secret that the quality, novelty and impact of a business' content determines its success in this increasingly competitive online market. What's not so obvious to many entrepreneurs is how they can deliver on content that can capture an audience's attention long enough for them to consider purchasing products and services.

Many online businesses seem to operate under the assumption that any content slapped onto a website or a social media platform will cut the mustard, just because it's online. Hosting a website, using a Twitter account and employing standard email marketing tactics don't ensure a business' online success. In fact, I'd say those three features should be standard for any online business because they put an enterprise on par with everyone else.

So what content creation strategies actually help a business better establish an online presence and connect with a viable customer base? Every pro blogger and web marketer has his answer to this question, myself included. Here are three pro tips that I've employed to great success for amping up my business' content and refining its message for readers online.

Inject Some Humor and Levity into Your Content

One of the first things I ask fledgling online businesses is this: Why so serious?

But really, the way that you convey your business to potential customers matters just as much as the business itself. You can have the best product in the world, but there's no way that you'll get people to listen to you or try it out for themselves if you can't build a captivating narrative around it.

I find that humor and clever language works wonders for companies trying to pitch their ideas to readers. Showcasing your wit through your content communicates a number of key points to your readers, namely:

1. You're not only a business, but a person with a sense of humor.
2. You're intelligent enough to be clever about your business and/or the industry that you work in.
3. You're business is young, dynamic and willing to take risks and show a little bravado to get a point across.

Humor is a critical tool in marketing because of its power to disarm and welcome the skeptical reader. Of course, there's a fine line between being witty in your content and trying too hard to make the reader laugh, and that's a line that you'll have to tread carefully as you write.

Cite Industry Facts and Figures Graphically

Selling your business to unknown readers isn't all fun and games. A company's humor and wit have to be tempered with the genuine conviction that its product or service can really benefit a large demographic. In making their case to potential customers, many marketers will cite industry data, statistics and general information that explains exactly how their businesses can serve target markets.

Using industry data to make your case can be a smart move, but it could also be disastrous. There's no way you can hope to win over many people if you publish tables of numbers and analytical data to make your case. No, you have to display all your hard data graphically'with an infographic'if you want to maximize the effect of such information. Most people on the web want their information in a quick and digestible format, and graphic data is the best medium for such a thing.

Go Beyond Twitter to Market Your Content

Like I mentioned earlier, Twitter alone doesn't ensure success for online businesses. Sure, you can push content through tweets targeted at prominent people in your industry, and you might just get some useful RTs (retweets), but there are so many more services out there that may help your business reach an even wider audience.

I think Pinterest is one of the newer platforms out there that really understands the potential in Web marketing tactics that most traditionalists in the industry have overlooked. Pinterest's interest-centric model allows products to speak for themselves, free from all the marketing jargon that typically surrounds them. It's a great service for people who want to connect with others based on shared interests, but it's a veritable goldmine for businesses that can look at the trends and analytics of the service to get a grasp on what's hot and what's not in their industry.

There's no excuse for marketers not to use these services, especially as tools for creating engaging content that ultimately sells their products.

photo credit: betta design