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Why Does Writing Content Matter for Small Businesses?

This morning I was sitting on my porch thinking about the new lawn company I hired the other day.  Within a few days some young workers came out and cut the grass, trimmed the edges (though not as well as I would have liked), cleaned up and quickly left before I could even interact with them.

It’s a problem I see with a lot of businesses – not necessarily the edging issue but the lack of interaction.  I hired a company, had people do the work, but never exchanged dialogue outside of hiring their service.  How many customers do you have where you offer minimal engagement outside of the service you provide?

Fostering Engagement with Content

Whether you create videos, blogs, articles or you share content video social media profiles, you’re creating opportunities for engagement.  While writing content might seem to be a one-way channel, every medium offers a space for user reply and engagement.

How important is that engagement?

Think about those times you’ve hired a contractor, a service professional or simple made a purchase through a retail store where there was additional dialogue.  How many times did you ever feel out out, annoyed or frustrated because an employee was too helpful?

As customers, we crave the additional bit of conversation.  We love information that leads us to a better product.  We like knowing what is trending, what matches our interests and more.  Content writing provides all of those things while maintaining a level of engagement that rivals physically standing in front of an employee.

Fast forward a few days and I found myself in Best Buy trying to locate one of Joe Satriani’s newest albums.  Noticing the lost and frustrated look on my face, an employee offered help and asked about my interests.  She helped me locate the CD in question and offered up some similar music suggestions while helping me find other CD’s I had been looking for.  It wasn’t until I was finished that she mentioned she didn’t work for Best Buy – she was a vendor that helped maintain the stock.

Her direct dialogue and engagement helped me make a purchase and turned me on to some additional music.  It created a really pleasant experience for me and it’s one that I’ll remember for a long time.  This same experience can be achieved through content writing and content marketing in virtually every medium.

Knowing what to Say

The hardest part about writing content is knowing what to say and what people want to hear.  If you say nothing, you’re just like the landscape I hired that leaves me already questioning whether or not I hired the right company.  If you do decide that content marketing is right, then take the approach of the vendor at Best Buy.

She didn’t try to hard sell me, she didn’t try to push products my way.  She was genuinely interested in what I liked, she listened, and she made recommendations based on my interest.  If you’re having a hard time coming up with topics then talk to your customers on a personal level in your location or via social media.  Find out what interests them and provide responses that lead them toward a solution to their questions, concerns, etc.