How to launch a creative business: Episode 8: Creating purposeful content for your creative business

In my blog post last week I spoke about WHY blogging is such an effective tool in marketing your business, the benefits of creating consistent, high-quality content that educates, informs and inspires your potential clients about your products or services. Expressing the benefits of your offerings in a compelling way that truly engages your readers or listeners.

Today I’m going to talk in more detail about HOW you can go about this. Your content creation and posting lifecycle, from blog posts to social media and email newsletters.

I follow a broad 5 step process myself which helps me to create content with ease.

Step 1: is the blog post (or podcast in my case) itself – the longest, main piece of content that you are creating say on a weekly basis. The piece that will take you the biggest effort and time to research and create.

I have a spreadsheet that I use and that I help my clients to use too that covers things like choosing blog post titles, blog categories, and most important of all what the PURPOSE of this point of content is. eg is it to speak about the benefits of a product or service (for example with social proof and testimonials from happy clients), is it to educate your readers about features of your products or services that they perhaps might not know, are you encouraging them to sign up for a piece of free content like an email newsletter lead magnet, are you leading them to sign up for a course or workshop, or to buy a specific product? Every piece of content you create should have a purpose. Even if it’s not a specific action as such, then it should be to build trust or to encourage relationship-building through discussion of a relevant topic.

Once you know the purpose of your blog post or podcast it’s so much easier to write that piece with a beginning, middle and end – like you are telling a story. Stories are interesting, stories compel and engage.

Step 2: for me is Pinterest, I’ve been an avid user since 2011 when it was new and small all the way through the huge visual search engine it has since become. For me Pinterest goes hand in hand with my blogging supporting my SEO efforts. As a photographer now and as a stylist and product creator previously, the visual search capabilities of Pinterest have been vital in helping me grow my business. I use my blog post categories as Pinterest board names, so every blog post again has a purpose and at least one place within my Pinterest boards. I al...