Why Waiting to be Inspired is Not the Answer

Don't you find that even if you take just a few days away from your creative work that it's easy to forget where you left off? Even if you can only spend 15 minutes on your content development, that daily effort will make it much easier to sink back into what you were working on and keep that creative flow. By consistently practicing our craft, we create opportunities to be inspired rather than wait for it to happen.

Like "The Tortoise and the Hare" folktale, sometimes slow and steady wins the race. 

When it comes to content creation, many people I speak to get tripped up by feeling the need to have everything just right before getting started. I understand this and commend their commitment to excellence. Yet, sometimes, just diving in head first and keeping up a continual routine is going to serve us better.  

My best advice is to carve out some time at the end of each month to brainstorm/research some content topics for the following month.

For example, if you know you want to blog once per week, you might want to draft a handful of potential post titles and source related images and/or necessary facts/quotes. This effort helps to just get some ideas forming. Your actual content may shift, but at least you have some great starting points for when you get down to work.

I will say, sometimes planning too far in advance doesn't always work for me. I'm usually inspired by what is going on at the moment which allows me to be really connected to what I'm writing. This post was inspired by my own planning efforts for upcoming social posts.

I was super lucky and had a free Sunday morning (kiddos are at Grandma and Grandpa's) to gather a bunch of content for my Instagram posts. Feeling so organized right now! I'm guilty of usually only preparing a few days ahead or even the day of, which results in me posting a lot less often then I'd like. 

After you get in the habit of carving out that time to brainstorm and research ideas, commit to working on developing that content every day. 

“A small daily task, if it be really daily, will beat the labours of a spasmodic Hercules.”

— Anthony Trollope

Cheers to consistency!

-Arica

image via Thought Catalog

Inspiring Examples of How to Create Content with Value

What is content marketing? To keep it simple, I see content marketing as the voice of your brand and what you consistently put out into the world that conveys the value of your business, products and services. The content itself must be useful and relevant to your audience. You want your audience to look forward to what you have to provide. Just because it's free, doesn't mean people automatically want it.

The most important aspect is that it provides value. 

Content Marketing can take on many forms. Here are a few vehicles for content marketing:

• Videos
• Books
• Infographics
• Podcasts
• How-to Guides
• Testimonials
• Blog Posts...wink wink ;)
• Lookbooks

Ok, what about the actual content?

When I'm working on content, I find having too many options is actually stifling. It's easy to get overwhelmed and fear there is something else better out there I could be providing. What can help is to actually give yourself boundaries. For content creation, here are three types of value you can bring:

You can...

• Entertain
• Educate
• Inspire

If you're like me, things start to click with examples. I pulled a couple that relate to each of the three value buckets listed above. 

You'll love the video below - pinky swear.

---

Entertain

#missadventure by Kate Spade New York

In 2014, Kate Spade launched a series of videos featuring Anna Kendrick, Zosia Mamet, Kat Dennings among other fabulous and very likable female actresses, comediennes and even political activists. I dare you to watch just one and not click to the next...

Kate Spade did an AMAZING job of integrating their new product collections into comedic adventures. Yes, you know they want the clothes, shoes and accessories to take center stage, BUT the girls are so impeccably styled, you don't mind and kind of like it.

The Lego Movie

If my little dude wasn't already obsessed with Legos, the Lego movies and other programs have won his heart - and mine. They do such an killer job of making you forget you're excited about paying to essentially watch an advertisement about toys. Genius...

---

Educate

Co-Schedule's Headline Analyzer

A brilliant way to provide value to the user regarding how to improve their headline copywriting skills, the FREE headline analyzer provides a score based on the overall structure, grammar and readability of your headline.

With this valuable free resource, Co-Schedule positions themselves as a voice of authority in the space which invites the user to check out other products and services without sales pressure.

Amber Renae's True Colours Kit

For less than a couple of lattes, you can change everything you thought about what colors work best for your skin tone, hair and eye color. I spoke about this on Instagram recently and I'm telling you, I thought I knew what colors suited me best, but I couldn't have been more off!

Amber created a super easy way to determine what "season" you fall into: Winter, Summer, Autumn or Spring. Then she created videos for each and a handy pocket guide so you can reference your best shades when out shopping.

It's a great way to get into the fold with Amber, understand her teaching style and check out her programs and courses on personal branding and presentation. What season are you??

---

Inspire

Sharpie Creations

You might think content marketing would be tricky for a company that sells markers. Sharpie thinks outside the box by helping YOU think outside the box.

To inspire current and potential Sharpie fans, they launched a campaign to share all the ways people use the classic permanent marker in crafts, around the house, on clothing, art and more. Website visitors can browse, rate and get inspiration.

The 'Dove Real Beauty Pledge'

Dove has been an inspirational force in the beauty industry for sometime now. In this campaign, Dove invites all women to realize their personal potential for beauty by engaging them with products that deliver superior care.

This concept both encourages and inspires women to be themselves by clearly defining the Dove core values and vows:

1. Feature real women, never models.
2. Portray women as they are in real life.
3. Help girls build body confidence and self-esteem.

---

My best advice is to begin by:

1. Determining how you can bring value to your audience.

2. Make a list of the ways that you (or your products/services) can provide value before asking your audience to purchase from you. 

3. Look for even more specific examples within your industry. You never want to steal ideas, but you might get a spark of inspiration for your own content by checking out successful campaigns by your peers or completely different types of businesses that might have a similar audience to yours.

Cheers to creating content with clarity!

-Arica

Getting Started Part 1: Bring Clarity to Your Brand + Freebie

"The only thing worse than being blind is having sight and no vision." - Helen Keller

I recently met a business owner with a great product. They came to me feeling a bit lost in all of their marketing efforts. They were doing a lot, but it didn't seem to be bringing them much in the way of leads and sales. Their current marketing efforts were focused on attracting customers that may not have valued this particular product because it didn't align with their mission and values. In the end we determined that the root of the cause was loosing touch with their initial vision, having unclear goals and missing the mark with their core audience.

They needed to shift.

Here is what I suggested they focus on first:

#1 Bring clarity to the brand with a clear company mission. 

#2 Define goals. 

#3 Determine core audience.

In the initial phases of marketing your new business, it's easy to feel overwhelmed. There is a lot on your list. The concept of "content creation" may be confusing and foreign - you just don't know where to begin or what to talk about. So before we get started creating awesome content for your business, let's take a step back and get a few things in order first. 

Because I like to provide my content in smaller bites, I've created a three-part series with foundation guidelines, free templates and advice. In this first part of the series, it's all about getting clarity on your brand and mission.

If you already have a marketing plan in place, you may have some of this worked out. If so, I still suggest you answer these questions and compare them to your initial plan - you might find your answers have changed over time. 

If you never created a marketing plan, this is a great place to start. I highly recommend creating a plan, but by no means do you need anything highly formal or exhausting (with some exceptions if you are looking for investors...).  In many of the businesses that I've worked for where there wasn't a formal marketing plan in place when I was hired, I developed a simple deck in PowerPoint. It was easy to digest for upper management and my team. I included fun visual examples and it didn't take months to create. 

As we diving into step #1 of bringing clarity to your brand, here are a few questions to get you started:

1. What is your company mission?

2. What is the single most important value that you provide customers?

3. What makes your product/service different from the competition? 

Here are examples of potential answers to the questions above for an eco-friendly toothbrush brand:

1. Help make the world a better place by providing a high-quality toothbrush alternative that is considerate of the environment along with being dentist approved with stylish design.

2. Allow customers to feel good about caring for their necessary dental hygiene with an environmentally friendly product that is sustainably grown, organic, BPA-free and biodegradable.

3. An alternative toothbrush for adults, children and pets with an environmentally friendly and dentist approved materials as well as stylish design for the same price as typical plastic or nylon toothbrushes on the market.

To make it even easier, I created a free Brand Clarity Workbook for you to fill in, plus a few additional questions and simple identity forming exercises... :) Get Access Here.

If you would like to run your answers by me, please send to arica@writtenandstyled.com. I'd be happy to have a look. :)

Don't miss Part 2 next week, where we will get into defining goals. Sign up here to be the first to know about the post. 

Cheers to creating content with clarity!

-Arica

Get thoughtful work done first.

As you sit down to begin work for the day, what are you doing first? Wait, actually what did you do when you first woke up? I have a sneaking suspicion that you might be picking up your smart phone to either check email or browse your social apps of choice. Yes?? When you start working, are you again starting with email and the small tasks that are nagging at you to be checked off a list?

Let me say that you are not alone in the struggle. Here is an excerpt taken from the wonderful book, Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus & Sharpen Your Creative Mind (The 99U Book Series 2013 by Jocelyn K. Glei, 99U): 

"....So long as he arrived at work already feeling tired, he instinctively put his energy into executing simple tasks. Doing so allowed him to feel productive without having to expend too much energy. It was the equivalent, he came to realize, of a sugar high" (p.53).

We all do it time after time (some more than others). It's so rewarding to check things off a list and feel like you are getting ahead, but when it comes time for the big important tasks, we fall short and it's easy to procrastinate. 

What should you be doing first?

Well, everyone has to find their own flow, but I find that it's easiest to focus on my writing early in the morning or late at night when everyone is still asleep. However, later at night means I'm probably working up some stress hormones because I've already put in a full day.

As Benjamin Franklin is quoted to have said: "Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise."

So I've begun getting to sleep and waking up early to write. Actually it's 6:11am as I write this now. I even finished early enough to take in the sunrise! Great way to start the day.

Quick Tip: 

Try and find time in your week that is dedicated to solely generating ideas for the content you want to write about. This way you are ready to get to writing rather than get to contemplating topics. 

Cheers to creating great content with clarity.

-Arica