Creating high quality, thought-leading content, that stands out, can be difficult. But knowing a few simple tricks can go a long way to helping you improve it.

‘I’ve created this great blog, shared it on LinkedIn, but no one’s reading it’.

We’ve heard this countless times before and you may have too. It may have even been something you’ve said to yourself after spending hours honing and refining your latest blog.

But why does this happen?

The answer is almost always because your content doesn’t resonate with your target client.

When creating content you want to remember one simple but important fact – Your target client doesn’t care that you’ve produced a piece of content. They care about how it can help them solve their problem.

This small but important point is critical when creating any marketing. If it doesn’t speak to your target client’s problem, it won’t be engaging to them and they’re unlikely to read it.

But how do you improve your content? What can you do to ensure that your next blog, video or podcast not only speaks to your client’s problem, but does so in a way that grabs their attention and leaves them wanting to find out more?

Here’s our top three tips to help you do just that!

Start with a question

When you start producing content the first thing to remember is that it needs to answer a question or challenge that your target client has.

Knowing this from the beginning will give you the focus you need to keep your blog on track and make it relevant for your target client.

But what question or questions should you answer? A really simple trick here is to choose a question that you’ve recently been asked at a client meeting. If that specific client had the issue, it’s likely that many other clients in your industry or horizontal will have the same challenge and want to engage with content that solves that problem for them.

Make it actionable

There’s nothing more disappointing than taking the time to read a blog which tries to address a question or issue, but by the end, it hasn’t actually given you anything to work with. You’ll turn your audience off if you don’t give them something tangible.

What your reader wants is advice that they can put into action. They want to be empowered to do something having given their time to read your content.

It doesn’t have to be much, but it needs to demonstrate that you understand their question and have a practical step that can help them find a solution.

Mix up the format

You have a whole range of options when it comes to the format of your content. Some people love blogs, but they’re not for everyone.

Other formats to consider include video, podcasts and infographics. These let your target client engage with your message in the way that suits them.

They may not want to read your blog but they may love to listen to your podcast.

If you do choose to use one of these other formats though, remember, the same principles apply: answer a challenge your client has and make it actionable.

When it comes to choosing which format to use, there are two useful questions to ask yourself:

  • How do your existing clients choose to consume content?
  • What option is the most appropriate for the content you’re planning to create?

It’s a combination of the two points above that will help you determine what format is most suitable and you should think about these two questions each time you look to create something new.

Time to get going

And there you have it, by using each of these three steps you will dramatically improve the content you create – helping you and your consultancy to stand out from the crowd.

If you’re about to start writing a new blog or recording a video or podcast, try out our tips and we guarantee your content will start getting the attention it deserves.