We live in a transactional world, and it drives our business environment.
What did you do for me last? Was it good? Maybe great? Was it disappointing? Gone. Boom. Continuity, the assumption of value, is hard-fought and hard-won.
The simple truth is - you must earn the right to be read. And you should assume this is true every single time.
If I have followed you and read your stuff before, I’ll open the email or read the headline. Maybe scan the subheads to see what’s in it for me. But if it doesn’t deliver, if your content doesn’t deliver the goods immediately and transparently, your potential reader, your prospect or customer, is walking out the door. On to the next.
This is reality. And if I wasn’t hitting a nerve, you wouldn’t have read this far. So now what do you do. I suggest 3 things:
1. It is what it is. Have confidence in who you are and what you’re doing
2. Be prolific. Do I need to explain this?
3. Put a bee in your bonnet. Plan out your editorial calendar. Look back to your previous content – what works and what didn’t work. What was written that your readers found valuable and what was written because you thought it was brilliant?
Content works in developing relationships, moving prospects and customers along the consideration cycle, developing a preference for you, how you think, what you do.