Share your values

Share your motivations and your goals – the things that make you ‘real’ and relevant – something that goes beyond seeking profit. Being ‘real’ as a company requires that you not only transmit, but also receive input – from clients to employees. In fact, in today’s age of social interaction, this term has become a means for businesses to sound less ‘corporate’ and more conversational to their audience. They benefit from the informal environment of social media platforms and are able to present themselves in a colloquial and approachable manner.

Be consistent

Contradiction only leads to confusion among customers. It’s perfectly fine to adapt your message to your environment, but giving mixed, unfocused or unclear messages leads to misunderstandings and mistrust. Your content won’t be able to support your marketing efforts if you are not hammering out your message consistently across channels. So, while it’s important to tailor your approach to different channels, your fundamental message should remain the same.

Prove it!

Always support your arguments with evidence. If you don’t meet the burden of proof required for your claims, then you will breed mistrust and no one will respect what you have to say, regardless of how often you hit them with your content. Assertions need to be supported.

Potential buyers like to see claims supported by empirical evidence. You may like to present different cases or success stories in which you can highlight how you tackled a important challenge and provided a solution that produced notable results. You may also be able to present research or data gathered either internally or from a third party. However you choose to do it, make sure your claims are built on solid foundations.

Be transparent

Say whatever you can say to your audience. Your audience knows you well, so you have to be honest. If that means giving them a behind the scenes look at how you operate, then do so. This way, you avoid confusion and you often answer your customers’ questions without them having to ask. Of course, it depends on the information that you are prepared to release publicly, but it’s important to make an effort to present a clear and transparent image to your audience. Transparency is impressive and garners empathy.

Know your limits

Be selective about your content marketing efforts. Go back to basics and consider what your company’s core strengths are and be willing to present as much of that as possible. At the same time, be wary of promoting areas in which you are not strong. While this may seem obvious, you need to make sure you present this image clearly in your content. One topic may seem relevant to you, but does your audience care about it? Unsure? Test and find out.

Organisations must constantly strive to deliver authenticity in their content marketing. It’s a differentiator and is held in high regard by customers. Any other method of generating content is simply a waste of time and it may even hurt your reputation.

* http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/what-is-content-marketing/