Today's Mission: Define a Purpose for Your Content
For many people, one of the difficulties of creating content is not having a clear purpose in mind. It feels like a waste of time. When creating your content, you need to be clear at the outset of the goals for each piece.
So how can you get the clarity you need for every bit of content you create?
Ask yourself the following questions:
Who Are You Creating the Content For?
You can refer to your buyer personas to help you define who you're writing your content for. Hopefully you've been adding to them throughout the challenge. I recommend having at least 3-4 active personas when you first start out. This shouldn't be difficult, after all, you likely have quite a large patient base to build personas on.
As you create your content, think about who you're writing it for and what you'd like them to do.
For example, say you're posting a free diabetes tracker you'd like your diabetic patients to download and use. By asking for an email in order to download the tracker, you'll be able to build your mailing list.
So that's your goal. And depending on who you're writing for and what you want them to do, your content will be different.
For customers who love your front shop, you may focus on posts about different products you have for sale. If you have patients on a medication with side effects, you may do a post on how to ease discomfort. Knowing who you're writing each piece for helps keep your purpose crystal clear.
Where are You Posting the Content?
Where you're planning on posting your content matters. If you're posting to your blog, you're content will be different than if you're sending an email. Blog posts are generally a little longer, while emails should be more succinct.
The page your content is going on is also important. If you're writing a blog post, it's pretty clear that it'll go on your blog. But if you're writing content to add to another page on your website, it needs to fit with what's already there.
Keeping your content consistent is important as far as tone, but you need to keep your goals in mind too.
What Message Are You Trying to Get Across?
This is a great question to brainstorm whenever you sit down to create content. By writing out the message, you avoid getting off track.
Try to keep your content to one topic and don't spread it too thin. It's great to have one overarching message you want your reader to take away.
How Does Your Content Fit with the Rest of Your Content?
Before creating your content, be sure to keep it in line with the rest of your content offerings. Be aware of anything you've already published on the same topic for repurposing. You may be able to take bits of prior content and make something completely new.
If you're creating new content, how does it fit with your current postings? How can you make it fit even better?
What is The Goal of your Content?
Again, it's so important that every piece of content needs a goal. Be sure to map out your goals for each post before you create it for extra clarity.
Are you educating, inspiring, engaging or informing your audience? Or are you striving for a mix? Doing an outline for each piece before you create is a great idea. Laying out your goals and how you'll achieve them before you start will keep things stress free.
What Action Should Your Audience Take?
Once you've defined the goal of your piece, lay out what action you'd like your readers to take.
Why is this important?
You'll need to tell you readers what they should do in your call-to-action (CTA). Neil Patel has a great article called How to Create the Perfect Call-to-Action. Check it out, because it's important that you learn more about CTAs.
Your CTA needs to be very clear; no hints, just plain language. Remember that as obvious as your CTA may seem to you, it's still very important to write out exactly what your readers should do.
Once you've answered the above questions, you should have a very clear idea about your purpose. And while each piece has a goal of its own, don't forget how it fits with your overarching goal.
Your mission for today is to read the article on creating the perfect CTA. Then, take some time to surf some of your favourite blogs and websites. Analyze some of the content on those sites.
What do you think the goal is for each piece? Who is the content written for? You? Or someone else? Identify the call-to-action; where does it appear in the post? Note how clear it is, and how well it directs you to take the intended action.
Jot down anything you love about their techniques, for potential use in your own content. Don't forget to look refer to your buyer personas to get an idea of how different CTAs will fit with your target audience. And, be sure to talk to your staff about their opinions on great CTAs.
Enjoy the process, and we'll see you back here for Day 12!