Value-Driven Content Will Rise to the Top: How to Do It
What is value-driven content? Simply put, value-driven content addresses the specific needs of customers and provides valuable solutions based on a company’s core offerings. It is outwardly rather than inwardly focused. Value-driven content always asks, “What can I do for you?” instead of, “How can you help me succeed?” Value-driven content makes the reader the hero of the story, and that leads to higher engagement.
It isn’t rocket science, but creating value-driven content that rises to the top requires patience and determination. Asking yourself key questions about your business, researching your audience and what they most want, and then sticking to a consistent plan will lead to content that is as effective as it is engaging.
Want to learn the best way to get value-driven content? Read on.
Know Your Audience. If you know your audience, you can create a great user experience for them. And when you create a great user experience, you develop a solid reputation and gradually grow your base.
So who is your audience and what kind of experience do they want? To understand this, you must first know what their need or pain point is, and how your business can ease that burden better than anyone else. Next, you must carry that message through all of your value-driven content. From nurture emails to blog posts to website content, the words should reinforce a value-driven theme. With that consistency, your audience begins to recognize the significance you bring to their lives. And you
Know Your Business. Your value-driven content must reflect the very heart of what you do: what you offer, why you offer it and why it can make a difference. Just as important as knowing what your business is, is knowing what it is not. Value-driven content doesn’t make promises that can’t be kept or lead the reader down the wrong path.
Value-driven content is best guided by a company’s purpose statement. If you have a solid purpose statement that defines your relationship with your audience, you can build value-driven content. In basic terms: Think about what you do, from whom you do it and why you do it well. Let those three factors guide your value-driven content.
Be Consistent. Recall a product or service that seemed amazing in the beginning but gradually lost its luster or became unreliable. That feeling of being let down or abandoned happens when consistency is not factored into a company’s business model.
The same thing can happen when a content strategy loses its focus. To continually delight the audience, value-driven content has to be reliable. When creating a content strategy, aim to keep the energy and sincerity high throughout. If you’ve got the audience engaged after an email nurture sequence, keep it going with equally inspired blog posts, web content, online ads and follow-up emails. For value-driven content to rise to the top, it has to be reliable and consistent.
Stay true to yourself and your audience. When you’ve got a successful content strategy, there’s no need to make any bold departures. The key is to remain focused on the value you bring to your audience and how it will create a positive impact. Content can be tweaked and refreshed every so often, but if you have an audience engaged with your content, don’t feel the need to make any drastic changes. Certainly be open to adding new channels, creating videos and podcasts, for example, but be sure that the value-driven content remains intact.
Is it working? Ask your audience. If you are following through on the above tactics, your value-driven content will quite naturally rise to the top. But if you’re still feeling unsure about how well your value-driven content is working, just ask the people reading it. Keeping in touch with your audience lets them know that a.) you care about them and b.) you value their input.
You can create a customer or reader survey, asking for feedback on the content you are providing. Does the audience find value in what they’re reading? Are they looking to you as a reliable resource? Is there anything they would like to see that would increase the value-driven content you’re providing?
Keeping in mind for whom this content is being created – your audience – will allow you to remain focused on the main goal, which is satisfying the audience members around whom your value-driven content has been built.