Yes, you can! But should you?
A friend of mine recently decided he could fix his stopped-up drain, despite having no previous plumbing experience. He got under the sink with a wrench (or “spanner” if you drive on the wrong side of the road) and his laptop and watched a video explaining how to remove the U-bend and clear the blockage. As soon as he had unfastened the U-bend, a sink full of dirty water drained right onto his laptop. Sometimes, do-it-yourself is a bad idea.
What about creating your own marketing content? Nobody knows your business like you do. You’re intimately familiar with your products and services. You can list all the ways in which they outshine your competitors’. You’ve got the numbers on how they can help your customers do more, do it better and get more bang for their buck. But we think there are some good reasons to use an agency instead to create your content.
We can help you make more money
We often create blog posts for companies under the byline of an executive or subject matter expert. These are smart people. They have something to say. But what is the cost of them taking the time to create a blog post on a trending topic or summarising a recent report? Getting it just right, distributing it to stakeholders, getting feedback and making revisions? Those hours could deliver a lot more value to the company if they were doing their job. We can take their notes, presentations, webinars or have a short call with them and create something on point while they focus on their core responsibilities.
We can save you time
Even if you write a piece of content, you’re not really finished. In addition to posting it on the company website, you should probably promote it on social media. LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and whatever else might come, those platforms help get eyes on your content, generating mindshare, enquiries and engagement. We have the skills to create social media entries for your content, each tailored to the proper length and style. And after that content is on your site and your social media posts are posted, you have to start all over again. Out of sight is out of mind. Regularly creating content is a good way to stay relevant. We can help you create and maintain a schedule that works for you.
We’re good at telling stories
There are undoubtedly a lot of smart, talented, passionate people in your company. They love what they do. It excites them. But how are they at telling stories? What we do at Collective Content is identify what makes your product or service interesting to a potential customer. We don’t create a list of technical specifications. We go beyond that and tell them what it means for their business. We can show them how you can eliminate a pain point for them. As a fresh pair (or multiple pairs) of eyes, we can often see something special that really brings your story to life.
We like doing this
Collective Content is full of people who love telling stories. Whether it’s creating a whitepaper, a video, a blog or something else, we really like what we do. We think it’s fun. Executives and subject matter experts might not like having to write blogs or whitepapers. And, as mentioned, it takes them away from their core responsibilities. Let them do what they love. Let us worry about finding the perfect phrasing for an idea. We’ll make sure everything adheres to your company style guide. (And if you don’t have one, we can help with that.) We’ll be ready to work with you on any feedback, helping you get just what you need. Creating great content is what we live for.
My friend got his sink cleared and was able to get a new laptop (minus his insurance deductible), but he spent more time and money on the process than he would have by hiring a professional in the first place. At least he got a good story out of it.
If you’d like to get a good story without soaking your laptop, please contact us. We’d be happy to talk with you.
