Finding motivation – let me motivate you!

Some days you just don’t feel it! I get it!

Creating content for your business is exhausting. You have to not only come up with ideas, physically create the posts, blogs, emails, website updates, etc, etc, but you also need to do it all with the motivation and drive to present the best version of your business.

My aim is always to try to help you to create content yourself and to keep you motivated and interested in writing engaging copy for your small business. Therefore, I have come up with my own ‘MOTIVATE’ acronym to give you some ideas – when you just don’t feel like it!

M – Maintain focus
O – Offer added value
T – Try something new
I – Inspire your clients
V – Value your clients
A – Add authenticity
T – Talk to people
E – Educate your audience

M – Maintain focus

One of the best ways to keep motivated about the content you create is to remember what your marketing goals are and what your purpose is for the content you create. What are you trying to get people to do? Remember your ‘calls to action’. Remember your aim. Remember to educate, inform, inspire, engage…if you have a sales target then you need your content to work hard to help you reach it. That should certainly give you some motivation.

O – Offer added value

As I said at the start, I understand that content creation can be laborious so why not reignite your passion for creating content and offer something which truly adds value to your services or products. Can you offer a free download or a set of helpful instructions? Help solve someone’s problems or offer them something for free.

T – Try something new

If you are bored by the content you are creating, it is probably because you are doing the same thing over and over again. This similarity can wear you down! You truly feel like you are on a content creation treadmill! So why not try something new? Have you ever done a Facebook Live? Have you ever run a competition, either via social media, your e-newsletter or on your website? Have you considered starting a blog? Try using GIFs or a different form of image. You can even get involved with what is trending or common hashtags like ‘Throwback Thursday’ or ‘Motivation Monday’…there are so many content ideas out there!

Read about some more social media ideas and some innovative contents ideas here.

I – Inspire your clients

We all need a bit of a boost some times – so consider how you can inspire your clients. This may be inspiration to purchase one of your products or service by considering what you offer from a different view point or it could simply be an inspirational quote or message – just to show that you actually care. You may wish to share your own issue or adversity – inspire those around you…remember you never know who may be reading.

V – Value your clients

By putting out rubbish content, you are not valuing your clients, so if you feel unmotivated to create something powerful and well-prepared…perhaps don’t bother! Only publish content that you are proud of. If you are getting weighed down by the pressure to create regular content, consider if you have chosen to create too much. Are you on more than three social media platforms? Are you sending out newsletters monthly when perhaps quarterly would suffice? Value your clients – they deserve decent content which you have carefully crafted.

A – Add authenticity

I think the worst thing about content (often published by SMEs) is the lack of authenticity. A lot of the content becomes quite generic and very “corporate”. Don’t get me wrong, I think it is important to ensure your content reflects your brand and there is a certain level of consistency, but if you get stuck using stock photography all of the time and impersonal formal copy which isn’t absolute necessary for your business then consider if you can share something more authentic and original from your business. This doesn’t have to mean personal information but actual photos of your work, space, products, services, meetings, surroundings! People love an insight in to you and your business. Everything doesn’t have to be perfectly polished and ‘Insta-ready’!

T – Talk to people

Have you asked anyone recently what they like and don’t like about the content you produce? Whether that is social media posts, blog posts, website design, emails…even print media…whatever it is, ask for some feedback. You can run a poll on Facebook. You can simply ask a question on LinkedIn about favourite form of communication. You can send out an actual survey to your mailing list. Whatever it is, get some feedback. I am sure when people tell you what they like that will motivate you to create more of it and not get bogged down doing what you and others don’t particularly engage with anyway. Furthermore, having this ‘conversation’ is a great way to engage with your clients, friends and supporters too about your business and content.

E – Educate your audience

I think ‘educational’ is the most overlooked form of content creation. People primarily Google to learn something – whether it is the closest hairdressers or how to put together a wardrobe! So can you offer tips or advice? You can even host an ‘Ask me anything’ session inviting questions to help educate people. More and more people are asking questions of search engines via voice activated technology and smart speaker…so offer those answers; solve problems and be the voice of expertise. It simply means mixing up the content you create – it doesn’t have to be all informative and sales based.

Are you feeling motivated now?

I hope all of these ideas will give you at least one fresh piece of inspiration to help you feel motivated again. As small business owners, we have to create content. We have to communicate with our audience … so don’t let it become a drag!

If you feel a content strategy would help you define your purpose and marketing goals or you simply need some support with content creation, please get in touch via my contact page or directly on kate@thecontentconsultancy.com