I can’t play the banjo, not even a little. I can’t play the guitar. I took some lessons when I was a kid, but I never could get the fingers on my left hand to hold the strings properly. My chords always sounded muffled. Can’t sing either. I wasn’t too bad before my voice changed, but once my adult voice settled in, it sounds completely different from what I hear in my head. So I am always off key. I can’t draw at all. Stick figures are pretty much the extent of my abilities.
Do you know what I can do? Well, I’m a photographer – went to photo school and everything. I’m a pretty good web/graphic designer – I’m doing a lot of that in my current position. I think my writing skills are alright, but you would be a better judge of that. The point is, we are all good at some things and not so good at others.
I’m going to be throwing around the word “creative” a lot in this article. Don’t let that word intimidate or discourage you. There are many ways to build creative content for your small business. You just need to figure out where your strengths lie and then play to those strengths. Choose the platform that is right for you and practice, practice, practice.
Alright, with that out of the way, let’s dig in and get creative…
What is creative, and where does it fit into my marketing strategy?
I view creative as a sub-set of primary content creation. Content is a blog post, creative is the small amount of refined copy that accompanies a print ad. Content is a podcast interview, creative is a thirty-second radio spot. Content is a well lit photograph of your product, creative is a beautiful photo of a person using your product in the real world. Content is a YouTube video displaying the key features of your product. Creative is an elegant 15 second pre-roll video that the viewer will watch all the way to the end (rather than clicking the “skip” button).
The real difference between the two is the level of patience and attention to detail used when creating them. A simple product photo can be created in a matter of minutes and can be replicated over and over. A creative advertising photo may take hours or even a full day to produce and perfect.
There are, of course, different levels of creative content. I think of these levels like a pyramid. The base of the pyramid is your primary, good quality, content. Creative content comes more and more into play as you move up the pyramid. The more creativity and attention to detail required, the closer to the top of the pyramid, and thus the less frequently used.
But I am not a “Creative” person. How do I produce creative content?
We are all creative people. It’s just a matter of how often do you exercise your creative muscles. And we are not talking about painting the Mona Lisa here.
The creative content needed to market a small business is reliant on making something that looks/sounds good, and clean, and effectively communicates your point. By following a few simple rules, you can start producing great creative content to help your business grow…
- Keep it simple. When you are putting together creative content, remember less is more. Whether you are designing an ad, shooting a photo, or recording a commercial, leave plenty of space to communicate your main point.
- Maintain consistency — as you are designing, stick to a limited set of colors, fonts, sound effects, ideas, etc., and use them over and over. This consistency will stick in the viewers/listeners mind.
- When in doubt, go with symmetry. As you are shooting photos or designing landing pages, keep things symmetrical unless there is a compelling reason to do otherwise. Your audience will expect things to line up and look orderly. Just using symmetry can be the difference between an amateurish ad or image and a professional looking one.
- Patience – Practice patience when producing creative content. This is not the time to worry about words per hour. Quality is the order of the day. It may take you much longer to create 100 words of compelling advertising copy than 1000 words of standard blog copy, and that is okay. Take your time and get it right.
Where does creative fit in the overall strategy?
At first, there may not be room for creative. Your priority has got to be the base of good quality, search engine friendly, customer focused content. Remember the content pyramid as discussed above.
But as you get the base of your pyramid built out, it is time to think about adding some creative content. Maybe every single article gets a beautiful (and shareable) header graphic. Maybe the time has come to upgrade the production value on your podcast. Have you thought about creating an infographic?
Creative content can be the missing element that pushes your content to generate social shares and online buzz. So creative content probably won’t be your highest priority content, but it should be one of your priorities.
Additionally, creative content can be the most fun to produce. It will give you a nice change of pace as you round out your editorial calendar.
I will touch on these ideas more in future articles. This is just a primer to get your juices flowing and to start you thinking about the possibilities. As you consider the points above, think about your own personal interests and passions. Can any of them be turned into creative content for your small business? Almost everyone has an interest or hobby or past profession that can be accessed to help them create.
Do you have any examples of this? I would love to hear about them in the comments. Your example might be just what another reader needs to push them past their creative boundaries.
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Photo Courtesy of Ryan McGuire / Magdeleine