It’s remarkably easy to look at a polished piece of content and think: “I could whip that up in 20 minutes!”
As is the case with pretty much everything, professionals always make it look easy.
The digital marketing world has seen a big jump in the last year – especially with the mass adoption of AI writing tools, namely ChatGPT.
At Razorcopy, a white-label content creation agency, we’ve been using AI religiously over the past year. One thing we know for sure is expert copywriters still have a major role in a winning content creation process.
Whether you’re a small business owner striving to make your mark on potential customers or an experienced content creator aiming to deliver exceptional results, having a well-defined content creation process is your compass in the vast sea of online content.
In this blog post, we will explore the core ingredients of a winning content creation process that helps brands stand above the pack online. Let’s get right into it, shall we?
Understanding Your Target Audience
Understanding your audience is the foundation of a successful content creation process. Think of your audience as the heroes in their own stories, and your content as the guiding light that helps them overcome challenges and achieve their goals.
The name of the game is not just providing surface-level assistance. Anyone can do this. This is the table stakes of content creation. If you want to go from a “B-“ to an “A” – you need to dive deeper into the user profiles you’re targeting with this content.
Diving Deeper into the Audience
Basic demographics provide valuable information, but you need to get into the behaviors, preferences, and pain points – that’s where the real magic happens. Dive into their daily routines, their aspirations, the challenges they face, and what keeps them up at night. These need to form the basis of the content ideas you cook up.
Say you’re an IT company specializing in cybersecurity. Your ideal clients are those small business owners (5-30 employees) living in constant fear of data breaches. They don’t know a lick about IT security measures – but they understand the dangers of NOT having measures in place. Your content should be super user-friendly and offer easy ways to protect an IT infrastructure.
In this situation, your content would likely involve: best security practices, employee training, password setting, etc.
Identifying Real Pain Points
To truly connect with an audience in a content strategy, website content creation, social media content creation, blog content creation, or anything else, it’s essential to identify the real pain points. One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned in my 10-year copywriting career is this:
The better you are at empathizing with pain points, the easier it is to sell the solution.
As a service provider, selling is a tough job. You have to convince people you have a microscopic understanding of their challenges – and have a unique solution to them.
Here’s where to start:
Content Creation Workflow
- Listen Actively
The first step in uncovering customer pain points is active listening. Pay attention to what your audience is saying, whether it’s through customer feedback, social media comments, or online reviews. Look for recurring themes and common issues that your audience mentions. These nuggets of information are valuable indicators of pain points.
- Conduct Surveys and Questionnaires
It never hurts to go straight to the source with surveys and questionnaires to gather insights for your marketing strategy. Ask your audience specific questions about their challenges, needs, and preferences. Keep the surveys concise – and consider offering incentives to encourage participation. The data you collect will provide a clearer picture of the pain points.
- Engage in Social Listening
Social media is a treasure trove of candid conversations. Monitor relevant hashtags, keywords, and discussions related to your industry. Participate in conversations, answer questions, and take note of the issues that come up repeatedly. Social listening can unveil pain points that you may not have been aware of otherwise.
- Analyze Customer Support Interactions
Your customer support team interacts with your target audience daily. Review transcripts of customer support chats, emails, and calls. Identify the common problems and concerns that customers reach out about. This frontline feedback is a goldmine for discovering pain points.
- Study Your Competitors
Your competitors may have already done some of the heavy lifting in identifying pain points. Analyze how they create content, look at their customer reviews, and monitor their social media platforms. Note the issues they address and consider how you can provide unique solutions or perspectives.
- Use Data Analytics
Leverage web analytics tools to gain insights into user behavior on your website. Look for pages with high bounce rates or areas where users frequently drop off. These could indicate points of friction or confusion that you can address through your content formats.
- Create Buyer Personas
Develop detailed buyer personas that encapsulate your audience’s pain points, goals, and motivations. These personas serve as fictional representations of your ideal customers, helping you tailor your content creation process to their specific needs.
By actively seeking out and addressing customer pain points in your content, you’re setting yourself up as a trusted resource. Remember, in the eyes of your existing customers and potential customers, you’re not just a content creator; you’re a problem-solver.
Empathizing with Human Emotions
Embracing the “Human Element”
This is the area where AI writing tools struggle the most in digital content creation. You know, the whole “being a human” thing.
Empathy is the cornerstone of effective content creation. Beyond simply acknowledging the emotions your audience experiences, it’s about stepping into their shoes and genuinely understanding what they go through on a daily basis.
When you can connect with their joy, feel their frustration, share in their excitement, or empathize with their fear, your content transcends being a mere information source. It becomes a powerful vehicle for emotional connection. Imagine crafting content that not only provides solutions but also elicits smiles, relief, or a sense of camaraderie.
If you do this on a highly personal level, you’re setting yourself apart from most of your competitors – trust me on this.
Finding the Right Balance with AI Writing
Ah, AI writing… the talk of the digital marketing world for the past year.
In today’s digital age, AI has become an indispensable tool for content creators. As a forward-looking content creator, you understand the power of AI. However, it’s crucial to strike the right balance between human creativity and AI assistance.
Keep in mind: human audiences value authenticity. Your role as a brand is to ensure your content retains that human touch.
The best content creators are using AI as a tool – rather than allowing it to overshadow their unique voice and perspective for the sake of efficiency. Striking a harmonious blend of human creativity and AI assistance is the alchemy that results in content that informs AND emotionally connects with people.
SEO Content Creation
Navigating the Search Engines
I won’t dive super deep into the relationship between SEO and content marketing – I could write a book on this. But I need to convey the importance.
Unless you want your content to function as a personal diary, you need to have (at least) a basic understanding of search engine optimization (SEO).
On the ground level, this involves naturally incorporating relevant keywords and phrases to improve your content’s discoverability. By doing so, you’re improving your content’s discoverability and positioning it as a valuable resource to those seeking information, much like a guiding light leading them to their desired destination.
So where to start?
Finding Your Keywords
Identify your most important keywords – and more importantly, the intent behind them. For example, say you’re a mold remediation company. One goal of your content might be to educate people on how to spot mold – and when it’s a problem.
You’d want to target informational keywords/phrases: signs of mold in a house, early-stage signs of black mold in air vents, toxic signs of black mold in air vents, etc.
Keyword research should be the basis of your content ideation strategy. By creating content around these terms and phrases, you’re putting your messages in a good place to get found on Google searches.
Writing for SEO
Optimizing for SEO goes beyond keyword placement. It involves creating content that is valuable, informative, and engaging. Search engines prioritize content that provides genuine value to users. This means your content must answer questions, solve problems, and meet the needs of your audience.
A-level copywriters understand the principles of SEO writing – and know how to optimize their work to help it rank on Google searches. At Razorcopy, we use a combination of SEMrush and Surfer SEO to optimize each piece of content we write.
The Value of Smart Linking
Internal and external links can sometimes get overlooked – but are vital aspects of marketing content creation.
Internal links – which connect pages within your website – help to guide people through your content while boosting your website’s SEO. Internal Links function as the glue that binds your web pages together, enhancing user experience, improving SEO, and reducing bounce rates.
External links lead people to web pages outside of your own. When properly incorporated, they lend credibility to your content, create trust with your audience, and open doors to potential collaborations.
By referencing authoritative sources, you are also demonstrating a commitment to delivering the most reliable information.
Proofreading and Polishing
A single error in your content can completely compromise its integrity. Sad, but true.
The best copywriters are also meticulous editors and proofreaders. This involves diving deep into a piece of content to make sure it checks the right boxes, explains concepts clearly, meets the SEO standard, and much, much more.
Personally, I like to create content in the same way I speak. If something seems wordy, it probably is. I use the text-to-voice feature to run through everything I write to make sure no stone gets left unturned.
The Content Creation Process Flow
Now that we’ve explored the essential elements of a winning content creation process, let’s outline a basic step-by-step that you can follow for consistent success.
Step 1: Research and Planning
Start your content marketing plan by researching your target audience, their interests, and pain points. Create a content calendar to map out your topics and publication schedule. This stage sets the foundation for your content creation expedition.
Step 2: Idea Generation
Fueled by keyword research tools and an understanding of common pain points, brainstorm content ideas for 3-6 months down the road. ChatGPT is an awesome tool to help you get started and identify trending topics. From here, add your creative angles to give the topics that “X” factor.
Step 3: Writing
Here’s where your caregiving spirit shines through.
Craft your content, keeping your target audience and SEO best practices in mind. Write in a clear, concise, and engaging manner. Keep in mind, the most important thing is to empathize with your readers’ emotions and address their pain points. This is the most time-consuming part of the process – you might consider hiring an expert copywriter to take the reins here (wink wink).
Step 4: Editing and Proofreading
No content should go live without thorough editing and proofreading. Consider using a mix of ChatGPT human editors to comb through your content to make sure it checks all the right boxes.
Step 5: Optimization for Search Engine Results
Before you hit publish, you need to optimize the content for search – especially if it’s more informational. Make sure relevant keywords are incorporated naturally and the content adheres to SEO best practices. Consider using Surfer SEO for this.
Step 6: Publishing and Content Promotion
It’s time to share your content with the world. Publish it on your website and/or promote it through various channels, such as social media, email marketing, and guest posting.
Step 7: Monitoring and Analytics
Don’t just publish content then never think about it again. Keep a close eye on how it performs. Analyze metrics like website traffic, engagement, and conversion rates. This data will be used to refine your content creation process and improve your future strategies.
Nurturing Your Content Creation Efforts
A winning content creation process revolves around understanding your audience on the ground level, empathizing with their emotions, and presenting unique solutions to their problems.
By following this content creation process flow, you can consistently deliver high-quality content that resonates and drives results.
Are you a business owner or agency struggling to get your content game up to par?
You’re not alone.
Razorcopy is here to help you elevate your content from a “B” to an “A”. Get in touch to start the conversation.
