We hear it from clients all the time – content creation can be a lot to wrangle. We get that. People crave content and consume it at a staggering rate.

Cranking out content is one thing. Creating branded, high-quality, engaging content is another. Let’s think about quality over quantity. If you are investing time and resources into content creation, make it count – for your brand and your bottom line.

Not sure where to start? Here are five keys to creating high-quality content and making it worth your while.

1. Know thy brand.

The ancient Greeks were on to something with the saying “Know thyself.” In marketer speak, that translates to “Know thy brand.”

Consider this your first commandment of content. Now imagine Morgan Freeman saying it. Good work! You’re on the right track.

Branding is the foundation of what we do at MindFire. In fact, we often hold Brand Discovery sessions with clients to dive into what truly differentiates their brand and makes it tick. Then we put those findings to work for them – and one way is through content development.

Understanding your brand gives you the opportunity to create authentic, high-quality content that resonates with your audience. That’s marketing gold! High-quality content can help you:

• Grow brand awareness.
• Engage your target audience.
• Build brand credibility.
• Create consumer trust and loyalty.
• Gain a competitive edge.

2. Get to the heart.

At MindFire, we connect the soul of a brand with the heart of a consumer.

It starts with putting your audience first and getting to know them. You may know your brand, but do you know your audience? Who are they? Where are they? What do they want to know? Why do they (or should they) care about your brand?

Armed with those audience insights, you can create high-quality content to truly connect with them. That content should:

• Capture their attention: We all know that attention spans continue to shrink. Let’s be honest, we’re all susceptible. The strongest content captures your audience’s attention quickly!
• Spark an emotional response: Creating content that makes your audience feel something gives them a reason to care and engage.
• Showcase your creativity: Understand what resonates with your audience and focus on creative approaches to your content. And remember, just because a content format might be popular doesn’t mean it’s right for your brand.

3. Develop a content strategy and plan.

High-quality content doesn’t happen overnight. It requires planning and foresight.

Develop a content strategy that is integrated within your overall marketing efforts. Your strategy is a high-level roadmap for planning, creating, distributing and managing content. A content plan should be part of that strategy. Keep these factors in mind when developing your content plan:

• Define and align your goals: Your content goals should align with your overall marketing goals that ultimately drive your business.
• Identify the players: Content creation is a collaborative effort that can involve writers, designers, videographers, photographers, project managers and more. Don’t have that employee bandwidth? Consider partnering with a marketing agency to take on some of that load.
• Determine assets and metrics: What types of content – such as videos, digital ads, social media assets and more – need to be created and how should they be tracked and measured? This is an ongoing process.
• Create editorial calendars: An editorial calendar is simply a list of upcoming content to be produced and when you plan to publish it. This keeps your team on track and helps keep your content relevant and timely.
• Adjust the plan: It’s a fast-paced world and your content plan should be flexible. What works today may not work tomorrow.

4. Create the things.

Make no mistake: high-quality content does NOT need to be complex. It’s perfectly acceptable (and often in your brand’s best interest) to keep your content simple.

As marketers, we can fall into the trap of burning time overthinking things. The result is spin, not productivity. Instead, we should focus on the end user and their experience. That means creating content that reaches the right audience through the right channels at the right time.

The great thing about high-quality content is it’s only limited by our creativity. It can entertain, educate and inspire. That can be through blog posts, paid and organic social media assets, e-newsletters, programmatic and behavioral digital ads and more. Video continues to be a top performer for brands.

It’s up to you to build content that tells your brand story. The outcome will be two-way conversations with your audience that lead to lasting relationships.

5. Measure, refine, repeat.

You’ve just developed and distributed your mind-blowing content. Now what? Remember that content plan we mentioned above? Ongoing metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) should be part of that, based on the types of content you’re creating.

One of the nifty tools we utilize for our clients is an online platform that tracks and visualizes performance metrics in one centralized hub. Many metrics, such as social media and web, can be pulled directly into the platform and viewed in real-time. Content performance before your very eyes… who doesn’t love that?

As you gain insights from metrics, you can refine your assets and messaging, and pivot as needed to further your content’s success and that of your overall brand.

Bottom line: It’s a content-cluttered world and that’s not changing anytime soon. Need some help? Connect with us. We’re here for you and happy to partner with you to meet your content needs.