Blog Archives - Page 12 of 16 - Mutant Communications

You can’t do everything

This feature is part of a regular series”Getting frank with Joe” giving you a brutally frank, yet realistic look at the business world.

When you run your own business, it’s easy to fall into the trap of believing no one has the same passion and drive that you have. You’ll think other people’s way of doing everything isn’t how you would do it, the quality and attention to detail isn’t at the level you have, and the drive and passion behind it simply isn’t there.

The ironic thing is that you are correct. Your business is your baby and you cannot expect people to have the same investment in it without the emotional and financial input you have had.

But it also doesn’t matter. Seriously, stop complaining and be a solutions person.

Having worked with dozens of startups, this is one factor I regularly see that impacts the long term viability of a company – no matter its market potential.

Focus on growing your business

In a small business it’s easy to oversee all activity and influence everything. That’s cool if you want to stay a small business, but I’m guessing you don’t. If you are spending all your time overseeing everything, you need to ask yourself how effective you can be actually growing your business.

You know what you are good at, so why not focus on that? Get other people to do the other work to free you up.

Different doesn’t mean worse

When you hire someone else to do a job, I guarantee that 95% of the time they won’t do it exactly how you would. You need to get over that. I don’t mean throw quality to the wind, I mean get used to people doing things differently.

It’s better to get something happening, than to kill time and slow your growth doing everything yourself.

If quality drops when you step away, or your staff aren’t performing, then invest your time into training rather than instantly taking over every function. If things don’t improve, fire them, and hire someone better.

Interns are not a growth solution

I’ve seen this a lot and I think it’s worth slotting in here as a standalone point. If you are trying to resource your company by stacking it full of interns, you are going down a dangerous path. Yes they are cheap and enthusiastic, but they are also inexperienced and short-term.

By all means, have your interns to help lighten the load, but don’t treat them as a replacement to hiring experienced, capable professionals.

Experience is sometimes worth the spend

When you hire for any specialist role, make sure you’re getting someone who knows what they are doing and are experienced in the field. It’s worth the extra money.

If you are tight on finances the argument is the same. It’s better to have someone who is experienced and great working for three days a week, rather than paying the same for a full-time junior who needs constant support and checking.

Specialists are specialists for a reason

If you are using an agency or have a senior hire, listen to what they say. This doesn’t mean you can’t have input – it means that you don’t ignore their warnings without an extremely good reason.

I’ve seen so many CEOs of all-sized businesses decide they know better and interfere in a process they, quite frankly, have no business getting involved in.

You might have read the newspaper every day for your entire adult life or even been interviewed a couple of times, but it doesn’t mean you know more about the media than the trained specialists you are paying, who have dedicated their working lives to getting results for clients.

I know all of this is easier said than done, but if you invest your time and resources towards making sure the people around you are capable and awesome, the payoff is massive.

Have a question? Why not drop us a note at [email protected].

The do’s and don’ts of social media

It should be no surprise that in this day and age our eyes are glued to anything that is square-ish, has a touchscreen, and fits comfortably into the palms of our hands. Chances are, the opened apps include Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat – the works, if you will.

If we’re going to be spending this much time browsing through social media, we might as well do it right. And to all the millennials who think they’ve got it down – think again.

Social media can be used by almost everybody. You don’t need to have 10 social media accounts or post something every half an hour to be deemed active. To obtain and sustain a successful social media presence and witness the results you really want, first understand the following do’s and don’ts:

Don’t focus on the number of likes

What an outrageous thought, but let me explain why. What really matters isn’t how many likes you receive, but rather who liked your post. If you scroll through a list of ‘likes’ and realise that you really only wanted to reach 5% of them, the rest are as good as none. This is because you’ve attracted the wrong audience, resulting in a lack of engagement.

To put it simply, let’s say you run a small ice cream cafe and post on Facebook announcing that chocolate scoops are 10% off, praying silently that your customer numbers will magically double overnight. But instead of dessert enthusiasts, you realise that the ‘likes’ came from your co-owner, boyfriend, and mother. Sure, these are all people extremely dear to your heart, but they’re not who you’re targeting. The ‘likes’ may look impressive online but they’re not serving your business’ purpose.

Reach out to YOUR target audience

Some posts on Facebook may be boosted to become ads, meaning that you pay to reach a wider audience. Boosting essentially means selectively choosing the audience who sees your posts on their News Feed. It’s a very cost effective way to reach the right people, and Facebook’s Business Manager page gives you the complete rundown on how to fully utilise the functions to effectively promote your business.

Take a look at the example below:

As a frequent budget air flyer who’s always looking out for cheap deals to Taiwan, this FlyScoot ad definitely appeals to me. FlyScoot consistently monitors footprints on their social media pages and website, and effectively churns this data to target audiences who need to save a buck or two but still loves to travel around Southeast Asia.

Don’t slap on texts and links

Humans on social media have attention spans even shorter than that of a goldfish – an incredulous three seconds. This disturbing yet very real fact should make you think twice about how you post. If you want to share a blog on your company Facebook page, you pretty much only have one shot to get it right.Just think about all the other pieces of content which you are competing with – you need to make your post stand out!

Customise the appearance of each post

Spot the differences between these posts. Which would you rather click on?

There is so much flexibility with social media these days. Certain functions allow you to not only enhance the visual appeal of your posts but also increase your readership.

For example, posting as the Page Admin on Facebook allows you to:

Edit the post caption to remove any URLs
Replace the default photo that automatically comes with the link
Rewrite the main header of the link
Change the subtext of the link
And so much more

These simple yet effective tweaks transform a boring, black and white post into one which really displays the most attention-grabbing information. Remember, you’ve only got three seconds to reel in your audience, so make it count.

Don’t be the same

Companies usually make the common mistake of posting the same content across all their active platforms – meaning the exact same captions, hashtags, and images. Sure, you’re getting the word out, but you’re also annoying your audience. Don’t get me wrong, it’s alright to share the same information across all your social media, but be creative about it and tweak it to match your audience.

Be selective and get creative

It’s important to understand how each platform works. Instagram for example, leverages on jaw-dropping photos and hashtags to capture the right audience. While Facebook extends beyond this by allowing users to share their reactions or emotions.

Look at this example below from The Yard:

Both of these posts talk about the same thing: new trampolines. But, they’re customised to sit well within each respective platform. Doing this will allow you to reach the maximum number of users without turning anyone off.

Now it’s your turn – go create magic on social media.

Need help with social media? Drop a message to [email protected]

Drop the mic – The structure of an inspiring speech

Speeches, as with presentations and important announcements can be a pretty daunting task. It is something that becomes unavoidable as you climb higher up the corporate ladder.

Being a good speaker is one of the common traits of a thought leader. Confidence, coherence, and finesse may sound like a piece of cake, but are a lot harder to execute in reality. Most of us tend to get caught up with stage fright and forget about the actual preparation.

Like most things, it takes a little time, patience and personality to ace the speech, so here are some tips to help you drop the mic and kill it.

Be aware of your audience

Know who you are speaking to – students at a study hall, media guests at a launch event, or corporate VIPs at a business convention. Who ever it may be, being aware of your audience will help set the tone and delivery of your speech.

Check out this great speech from Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg as she discusses why fewer women reach the top of their professions. You can guess her audience is women, and Sheryl addresses her points so well.

Understand your topic

It’s easier to explain something that you are passionate about. Knowing and understanding the topic of your speech will give you the confidence to express yourself better and do a phenomenal job at delivering the message.

Watch as Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson movingly talks of growing up in ‘lower-income-housing’ and about the people she knows who still rely on the state for healthcare. Clearly she knows her topic, and can relate to it, and is using her experience and knowledge to educate others – it’s powerful:

Brainstorm

List down as many potential talking points as you can. Take a minute to review that list and pick out the relevant and important points to go into length about.

Structure

Focusing on the important points will provide some structure, maximising the delivery of your speech. Your audience will appreciate the pacing and flow, which will engage and prevent them from tuning out and getting bored.

One killer line

Put some thought into that one killer line that encapsulates your speech – it packs in a punch and makes it thoughtful and memorable.

Think about Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream”, or John F Kennedy’s “…ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can for your country” – both were delivered with passion and punch:

Repetition

Build on your intensity and impact by repeating the important points.

Martin Luther King boldly repeated, “I have a dream”, but if you find that repeating your killer line may be too much of an overkill – try instead simple repetition of brands, names or important points that you want your audience to remember.

Introduction

Grab the audience’s attention from the start – make a joke, share an interesting fact, tell a story or a personal experience. Get the message across in three points or less. This will avoid unnecessary droning.

Body

Keep it short, simple and to the point. The key is to keep things as succinct as possible. This is easier said than done, but using the structure as a guide will help focus on the messaging.

Conclusion

There is no need to stress too much about ending with a bang. Try leaving it up to the audience. Open the floor to questions as this is one of the best ways to discover how effective your speech was. It gives you an opportunity to sense the energy of your audience – do they seem excited and eager to ask more questions? Or are they slumped in their seats, eyes glazed and lifeless?

There is always something to take away from the end of your speech so use this as a lesson for your next one.

Practice makes perfect

Read your speech out loud alone, practice in front your friends and record yourself. Listen to constructive criticism and feedback, and take everything onboard.

Do you need help writing your next speech? Our team is ready to make your words work for you. Get in touch at [email protected].

3 easy steps to speaking fluent Instagram

The subtle difference between a double tap and a scroll-through could lie in the caption. Instagram is full of well-lit, pretty images, but it’s the caption that anchors the image to your audience’s life

Using the right voice

The voice is the personality behind the account. The trick to achieving the right pitch is by establishing who your target audience is and mixing that with the nature of your business. You need to establish your own voice and Instagram is a social platform, so be social!

Consistency in format (both photos and choice of language)

Look at big companies like @generalelectric, you’d notice that there is a strong consistency in how the photos are all professionally shot. More importantly, there is consistency in how the captions are crafted. In the case of GE, their Instagram is all about inspiring people and sharing their research work to the world.

Ask the right questions

Look at @Sharpie’s instagram. There is a lot of art, which is great because it shows what the product can do – but the captions are conversational and show a personality behind both the brand and the images.
Here’s an example:

What would you create with an everlasting supply of the world’s greatest marker**? **Personal opinion

A photo posted by @sharpie on Aug 13, 2013 at 3:27pm PDT

The picture is not great, and well that filter should be reserved for a Lana Del Ray music video, but the caption opens up the creativity of the reader and it follows the most important branding lesson we learned this year: advertising is about your audience not you.

Using the right lingo and hashtags

No matter who your audience is, Instagram is about getting people talking. There is a ton of Instagram lingo out there, and we don’t know where it comes from (either Reddit or the Kardashians) but it goes viral quickly, with short life cycles. Here are a couple we came across just looking today:

#transformationtuesday: self-explanatory. Used for weightloss but you could get creative with it for companies if you have a new product update.
#smh: shake my head
#fam: your peoples, someone you would consider family member
#wyd?: what would you do? Hypotheticals used to create conversation
#squadgoals: aspirations with your crew
#af: as heck

By now you should be speaking Instagram perfectly. If you’re a business that needs help speaking this foreign language get in touch with us at [email protected].

Distributing content to the right people

Great job! You’ve created a lot of content that’s just waiting to be read. Now the next step is to identify what you want to share, how and when.

Suggested read: Content Distribution 101

Ask yourself these important questions:

Why are you sending out content?
How will it support business goals?
Who are you targeting?
What can you offer your target audience at each stage of their journey?
How will you be different?
How will they find the content? Where will you publish it?
When and how will you measure results

Answer these, and then begin to work your content selection and distribution around the buyer journey.

The buyer journey

Following the buyer is key to a successful content marketing strategy. A content distribution strategy should begin with the awareness stage, followed by lead generation, then to nurturing, and finally the sales push. You will find that different content pieces will be suitable to fulfill each stage, which will ultimately determine the distribution channel/s.

Here’s a great representation of the buyers journey (and what you need to do at each stage):

Source

During the discovery or awareness stage, you’ll likely be sharing fun and light information to capture initial interest, and hoping people download your lead generation call-to-action. Following this, you can take it up a notch and delight them with more informative content pieces, personalised emails, demos or deals. This is the nurturing stage, and when your prospect is ‘considering’ a purchase – so an important stage.

Next, if they look like a hot lead, you can give them more detailed materials about your business. This is generally done by the sales team, and includes content in the form of product sheets and pricing guides. By this stage, this prospect should be on their way to becoming a paying customer.

Distributing your words

Now let’s look at the how you will get your content seen.

Each stage will require unique content as you are targeting the buyer at different stages in their decision process. The key is to target the buyer’s emotions and help them identify their need for your product or service nice and early.

This table provides examples of the type of content and channels suited to each stage in a buyer’s journey.

You will need to remember that your industry, product and sales lifecycle will all determine the length of your campaign and the type of content you produce. Only you know your target audience and how they respond to different information, so each content distribution plan should be unique and tailored to your business – not a carbon copy of any other business.

From planning to performance

Any strategy needs to be measured to assess its effectiveness. Without proper measurement, you will have no idea if your content is working.

Run your campaign and at its conclusion look at each stage of the buyer journey separately.

Here’s an example of a typical campaign measurement system:

Step 1: 20-30 days after end of campaign

How much traffic was generated to your website?
How did your social channels perform (likes, shares clicks etc..)?
Any initial leads?

Step 2 – 45-60 days after end of campaign

How many qualified leads have you got?

Step 3 – 90-120 days

How many leads have you converted to sales?

Of course, not each campaign has the same sales cycle length, so as I previously mentioned, this should be unique to your business. Through this you can see how each buyer stage performed, and where any content adjustments need to be made for your next campaign.

Need help with your content? Drop a message to [email protected]

How to create killer content

Do you wonder if your marketing budget is being spent in the right places? Or whether your dollars are delivering maximum ROI? Content marketing has far surpassed traditional advertising in today’s social-media driven world. Viewers channel-hop during television commercials and ignore ad placements in newspapers and magazines. Instead, they actively seek out content they are interested in.

With the human attention span getting shorter by the minute, the competition for audience attention is intense. How exactly do you set your writing apart from the increasingly saturated blogosphere of content?

Use compelling titles

People scan more than they read. A huge wall of text often turns readers off and you’ll find them scrolling past your content in a jiffy. Your title represents your content on keyword searches and social media. It practically sells it and 8 out of 10 readers today don’t look past post titles. With an interesting title, you are more likely to attract your audience to at least scan through your words. Include subheadings that stand out so that your readers have an idea of what to expect next.

Here is a an example from Hootsuit of a great headline:

Be consistent

It isn’t enough to merely schedule your content for a couple of times a week. Sure, that is consistent frequency, but the key to retaining your readers and attracting them to read post after post comes down to a lot more than just timing. Your tone should be streamlined across each platform you utilise to engage with your audience. To leave a lasting impression, you’d want to give your brand a unique personality. Start off with an overall content strategy and consolidate a fixed tone in order to set the foundation.

Go visual

As mentioned earlier, readers often switch off when they face a wall of text. Imagine scrolling through paragraphs of Times New Roman size 12 font (boring right?!) and then something colourful catches your eye. Of course you would stop to look. Not only do visuals help to illustrate your content, but statistics show that visual content is processed 60,000 times faster in the brain as compared to text. Integrate colourful infographics and videos when you’re creating your content to increase the chances of getting your content read.

Here’s a great example from Deliveroo. They have provided mouth-watering mac and cheese images that makes reading the content a whole lot more exciting –Who’s hungry?

Involve your audience

Engage your readers by speaking directly to them through your content. Posts need to be relatable and readers should never feel detached from the narrative. You can also leave your readers with questions and perhaps address them in the next post. Your content should ideally spark a wave of comments, increasing its reach to a wider audience.

Check out this great example from The Smart Local:

Take your sales hat off

Today’s tech-savvy consumers are so used to viewing content that promotes a branded products and services they are practically immune to direct sales. Aggressive overselling only turns potential consumers away because the more you try to sell, the less interested they become. Instead, focus on building your voice and influence within the industry. Be genuine and convey your ideas directly in your content. This not only creates a brand impression in the eyes of your readers, but interests them to patronise your content because they know that there will be no hard-selling involved.

Adidas has nailed it. The article has no mention of buying Adidas clothing but indirectly implies fit parents need cool workout gear. (If you have’t got it, they want you to go buy Adidas workout gear!)

Content marketing is a powerful way for businesses to reach out to their target audience. The best kind of content is captivating, makes audience want to continue reading and most importantly, makes them want to share it on their social media platforms. Don’t forget to leave a call-to-action to guide your readers on what to do next!

Need help nailing your next content piece? Get in touch with us at [email protected].

Your brand sucks: Part 2

If you’ve just joined us, this feature is part of a regular series giving you a brutally frank yet realistic look at the startup world. In ‘Your brand sucks: Part 1” I talked about realising that effective brand communication is key to success. This second part will continue with some more honest truths.

You are not Steve Jobs

You just aren’t.

Don’t make subtle comments in meetings about what Steve Jobs’ approach to marketing was. Don’t make sly comments about Steve Jobs’ attention detail when you are ripping apart plans or copy. You just aren’t him!

But don’t worry. You are you, and that’s awesome. You can have your own vision for your brand. Use that to justify your decision making processes instead of having input simply for the sake of having input.

You are building your own empire, and that means there are a whole new set of rules that you decide, and which marketing students in 30 years’ time can marvel at. If you don’t know what the vision is, then that’s also ok. Plenty of amazing leaders have built billion dollar companies by knowing their strengths and collecting the right people around them, who can help them to articulate, communicate or even develop a vision and brand.

Don’t go cheap

This makes me want to cry. I see it most often from the types who transition from a bigger corporation into startups. They are used to these things simply happening in the background without understanding it. They usually react to the discovery of cheap offshore outsourcing like they’ve discovered a life hack no one else has ever stumbled across before.

They’ll proudly pull out their branding decks at a first meeting and exclaim how they got it done in Thailand for a few hundred dollars (often followed by a series cocky statements reminding us that our prices need to be dirt cheap, or they’ll simply get that done offshore as well.)

Firstly, I take this as an insult to me, my colleagues and the craft we’ve spent our working careers learning and developing in. It’s not a great start to any partnership to insult the other person. If you talk to me like this at the beginning, I will simply tell you to go elsewhere. Why would I pour my energy into your brand if I think you’re an arse?

Secondly, the “great deal” you were offered probably sucks. Nine times out of 10 you’ve gotten something I would slap a high school student for submitting. This is particularly true if you’ve just asked them to come up with something without a brief or concept.

If you fail to see the problem and refuse any input, I’d write you off as a lost cause. No one’s got time for that, and I’d prefer not to associate my agency’s brand associated with you. As a startup you are already up against the odds. Throwing in an amateur, cheap-looking brand and poor strategy just makes your own life so much harder.

Like any rules there are exceptions, and people love to cry out in outrage pointing out the inaccuracies of it all because they can point at a handful of companies it doesn’t apply to.

And to be honest I don’t care. Ignore it and make your business journey 10X harder than it needs to be.

It’s not about spending money, it’s about using your brain.

Need help? Drop me an email at [email protected].

Are your words too serious?

We are not living in a world populated with robots (well not yet anyway), and people are becoming less and less receptive to the direct sales approach. Instead, it’s all about conversational content. Readers don’t want to be spoken to – they want to feel like they are speaking with you.

Think about the last conversation you had. How was the flow? The tone? What about the language you used? This is how you want to ‘speak’ to your readers, and your words alone should be enough for them to want to engage with your brand.

As many of us do struggle with writing in a conversational manner and actually making it sound good at the same time, here are some tips on how to sound less like a robot and more like a human:

It’s time to get real

Remember you are talking to other humans. Be real and be yourself. It’s ok to sound knowledgeable and professional, but come on, no one will understand that fancy terminology, nor will they care to be honest.

People want to get excited by what they see and read. Our attention spans are getting shorter and shorter, and so many new things constantly distract us. It’s so important to make every word count. Get to the point and remove all that fluff and technical jargon.

Tell a story

Every piece of content you write should tell a story. Let’s take a look at bios. If your personal or company bio is too serious, with too many big and important-sounding words, it’s going to drive people away.

You want to avoid intimidating people. Not everyone will have a full understanding of your trade, so if you are talking about a high tech solution without explaining it in layman’s terms, people will be interested (mainly because they won’t know what it is you actually do). Instead, they will move on and well, that there is the loss of a potential lead.

State what you do, and state it clearly. The trick to inspiring your readers is of course with great content, but equally as important is how easy it is to absorb.

Check out this great example from Google:

Everything on their website about Google is so easy to absorb. It has a friendly tone, is brief and to the point, and is simple and easy to understand. Yes I know, we all know what Google is and what they do, but if you had no previous knowledge of the company, this would be enough information to get you there.

Google could have easily started trying to explain the tech side and the algorithms, and…. Oh look a squirrel (that’s us getting distracted by something more interesting).

Here’s a personal bio that we love. Note the light tone and sense of humour used in this one. Yes, this is obviously a fake profile, but we really do need to appreciate the creative content.

And finally, if Hillary Clinton can make politics sound fun, I’m sure we can make our jobs sound equally as exciting, if not more.

Get Inspired

Ok so if by now, Google, Darth Vader and Hillary Clinton haven’t inspired you to rethink your content, then perhaps try someone that will. What do you like to read? Who or what inspires you? Why do they inspire you? Is it the language, the content, the voice – Or all three?

Read some different blogs, bios and articles, and apply what you like to read to your own content.

Read it out loud

This part is particularly important. When writing our own content – whether for yourself or for a company – you are going to be too close to the subject. Try to avoid selling and have a bit of fun when writing (we don’t always need to be so serious). Trust us – with the right tone, even serious topics can sound fun!

Once you’ve written your content, read it out loud. How does it sound? If you are bored, start again. It’s also great to ask someone that isn’t familiar with your product or service to read your work. This is the best way to know whether you’re on the right track.

Now it’s your turn – go out and inspire someone with your words!

Need help with your content? Drop a message to [email protected]

Content distribution 101

You have written all this content, but what’s next?

You may have read our recent post which talks about making the most out of your content, and stretching it that extra mile, and in this post I’m going to go a bit further and explain what content distribution is and how to develop a clear strategy.

Content is all the rage, but if you publish it on your website and leave it at that, it’s very unlikely that many people will ever see it. This subsequently becomes a waste of your time, resources and money. Any marketing activity needs to be backed up with a clear strategy that best matches your goals. Content is no different and there are many avenues that brands can take advantage of to gain their worth in words.

There are three main ways in which content can be distributed.

Through paid channels – when you pay for you content to be distributed (i.e. Advertorials, social ads, Google ads etc.)
Via your own channels – the channels that you have direct control over, such as your website social media, and newsletters. Basically, anything your have direct control over.
With shared opportunities– when other people share your content through PR channels, to include media coverage, social shares, reviews etc.

Below is a chart showing the activities falling under each category. Interestingly, it shows us that all three distribution channels are connected. This simply means the same piece of content can in fact run through multiple channels.

(Source: http://blog.bufferapp.com/content-distribution-tools)

The more visibility your content piece has, the more people are going to see it, which ultimately means you will have more success in delivering your message, and evoking a response.

However, I do need to stress that a great content distribution strategy means very little if the piece of content is not suitable for your intended audience or is poorly written – so firstly get that right. (Check out our blog to help you create quality content)

Work out a strategy that best suits your budget and goals. Incorporate as many channels as you feel are necessary in reaching YOUR target audience. Ask yourself: Where are they looking for content? How do they engage? If you are targeting a younger female audience, say 25 and under, with your latest beauty product and tips, it’s fair to say they are very active on social media, so competitions, mentions, shares and reviews will be most effective, as will engaging with influencers and running targeted social ads.

Your content strategy should ultimately help drive sales, and in-between help educate and inspire your target audience. Be smart and never compromise on quality.

Part two of this topic will show you how to set up a content plan and distribution strategy – so stay tuned.

Need help with your content? Drop a message to [email protected]

Stop using these words

I know, it’s hard to write good copy. You know what your product is about, you understand the ins and outs of it all, but can you actually put the right words down on paper? Remember that your readers are real people. They are not going to respond to cheesy sales talk – this will turn them off.

Overtime, content has evolved and is now one of the more popular marketing tools out there. However, with lots of content, comes a stream of overused and annoying words and phrases.

Here are some of the top words that frankly, in my opinion, should be banished.

1) The very best

State-of-the-art
Best-in-class
First-rate

Unless you have solid proof then stay far away from them as they mean nothing to your readers and cheapen your brand. I understand that your product is your baby and to you, it is the best, but sadly your customers don’t care. Look at it from another angle – no business is ever going to claim that what they are offering is rubbish, so claiming that you are “first-rate” just devalues your brand.

2) The visionary

Revolutionary
Innovative
Next generation

Really? Are you? Ok, if you talk about Steve Jobs and Apple – yes! But most of us are not Steve Jobs, so stop trying to amplify your product. Remove all that fluff from your content and tell people what you actually do and how you can help them. It’s that simple!

3) The vain

The best
Amazing
Superior

Again – really? Using words like this to describe your company or product generally don’t get you anywhere. If your product is indeed superior and the best – show us, don’t tell us! Use vanity with caution as it can really disrupt your credibility, and like I’ve already said…no one really believes or cares that you say you are amazing. Actions speak much louder than words.

The main takeaway for this is that content is a lot more than just a few words that explain your product. You need to inspire people and spark an emotional reaction from them with your words, graphics or videos. Be real and be honest, and stop using all that fluffy sales talk. We are all human, so remember to write words that you, yourself would want to read.

Need help creating compelling words? Need help with your content? Drop a message to [email protected]

What is the meaning of content?

Ok, so I’ll be the first to admit words and phrases like ‘content’ and ‘content marketing’ are becoming overused. Every one claims to be doing it, but very few people really understand what all that fancy lingo means and, more importantly, how to use it properly to get the desired results.

I’m here to run you through some of the more common terms, from buyer personas to visual content.

Buyer Personas

Buyer personas are fictitious characters that represent an accurate snap shot of your target audience. Knowing your audience, and understanding their needs is key to the success of any content marketing campaign. Take the time to identify whom you are targeting and develop your content ideas from there.

Calls-to-Action

Remember this term, as this is a vital addition to your content marketing. This little button (or link, or whatever you choose to use) is the key to converting site traffic into leads. It’s generally displayed in the form of a “download now” or “click here” action button, but this little beauty doesn’t always need to be focused on lead generation. It can also be a link to social media, or an external link or an email. Whatever you choose, just make sure it’s relevant to the content piece.

E-books

What’s an e-book I hear you ask? Well, the best way to describe an e-book is an extended piece of content that explains a topic in more depth. The blog posts you write should be short snippets about different aspects of one topic. Think of your blog posts as individual chapters in a novel, and the e-book is the novel. It’s combining everything into one detailed piece of content that educates and inspires the reader.

Editorial Calendar

Every content strategy should be accompanied by en editorial calendar. This is your planner and the road map for all content creation. It will help you develop your ‘story’ and put together the topics you wish to cover – and of course which buyer personas the content is targeting.

Keywords

Basically a keyword is something a user types into a search engine to find information about a particular topic. Content marketers should understand which keywords their target audience favours, and front-load them across the content they produce. All this should also tie in with your SEO campaign to get the most bang for your buck.

Newsjacking

This is a tricky one that not many people really understand. Simply put, Newsjacking is a practice of making the most out of recent and highly popular news. I don’t’ mean report on the fact that Kim Kardashian broke the Internet with her nude photoshoot. No – that’s going to be covered a lot anyway, and really… who cares! I’m talking about putting your own spin on it. So, for example if you are a social media agency, talk about how this impacted Instagram or what that means for brands.

Remember that all your content should be useful to YOUR target audience. Oh and if you are quick enough to capitalise on popular news, Google will reward you and bump the ranking of your story.

Visual Content

With so many words and our limited attention span, visual content is fast becoming the cool kid on the block. Here, I’m referring to images, infographics and videos, which are crucial to capturing the attention of the time poor consumer, and really get them to engage with your brand.

I hope this was helpful and gave you a deeper insight into the powerful world of content marketing.

If you have more questions or need some compelling words, get in touch with us at [email protected].

Is your startup ready to launch? Probably not.

You’ve got two engineers, a cool co-working space, a product in the works, angel funding, and a registered company name. Congrats! You’ve done a bunch of productive stuff, but it’s not enough to introduce your company to the world.

There are several fundamental steps you need to do before consulting a PR agency for the launch of your product or service. There is a common misalignment in a startup’s timeline, where the founder feels they need to get media attention for their half developed idea first, then raise more funding to complete the world’s greatest product.

Sorry friends, it’s the other way around – you need to develop a working prototype before letting your freak flag fly in the media – otherwise you’ll spend a lot of cheddar building a product with features nobody needs.

Some startups tend to think first about how they can scale their idea before they have a working product. But let’s say you spend $200 on Facebook ads, get some downloads – but your app is buggy, or has a three second loading time – that’s an automatic uninstall. Figure out first if it can be used and sold before spending tons of cash on it.

There’s only one chance to launch, so before calling up a PR company and selecting the fillings of your mini sandwiches for media, make sure you have the following, in this order.

1x solid MVP

The MVP (minimum viable product) is a working product with core features, let’s say version 1.0 of your product that lets you gain insight as to whether the world actually needs it. There’s no purpose in spending your savings building the Uber App if you don’t develop a functional “driver” account that makes you scale the adoption among drivers.

20 x friends

Well, they could just be colleagues or neighbours – individuals who will not blast you on social media if the product is buggy. You need at least 20 people who are using the MVP and are willing to give you feedback. Here you need to ask, do people love it? Do they need it? Will this gain traction? Will they trash if after five uses? You need to build a product that can gain traction before scaling.

Feedback

It’s better to do repairs or a pivot BEFORE you launch than after you launch. A company that has an identity crisis doesn’t look good to the media. Once you have some local users, this is the opportunity to do some A/B testing, improve on the UX, and even at this early stage you still have resources to pivot if you realise no one needs blue tooth dog collars. Now ask, is it going to be scalable?

[Spoiler alert Silicon Valley S3]: You don’t want to end up like Richard when Jack Barker’s cuts up Pied Piper to make it easier to sell via the ‘Conjoined Triangles of Success’ to make it more profitable.

10x pieces of good content

Let’s say you’ve launched early and the media are flooding to your Facebook page. But umm, there isn’t anything on here except 1 post from your mom that says ‘I’m proud of you!’ Have someone create content on your company website just to show that you are truly interested in the issue you’re solving.

5 x brand ambassadors

We don’t mean the tanned and toned Instagram influencer who holds ANYTHING for $500 a post, we mean a real human being who truly LOVES your idea and product. If you have social friends who are ranting and raving with one another about your idea, then it brings some legitimacy to your product. An enthusiastic brand ambassador is worth more than any advertisement at this point.

1x small community

Once you have some people who love your product or service, it’s enough to start a community. This can just be a minimum of ten people who are talking about your dope product online. Successful startups have kicked off because there was a community around an already existing common issue: ‘Jon realised he couldn’t get meatloaf online, ‘til he met Peter and Jim who also wanted to digitise the meatloaf industry’.

People might not know they need your specific product, but if they meet other people who love it, they might realise they have been missing your product their whole life.

Always remember to start small, very very small. Do that small thing very well and invest in making it better for your fans. Only then can you grow and improve. This will reduce the amount of money wasted on building and selling a product that nobody wants.

Get in touch with us at [email protected].

This article was first published in Tech in Asia on 11th May 2016