How To Create Epic Content Without Heaps Of Cash

HOW TO CREATE EPIC CONTENT WITHOUT HEAPS OF CASH

What is content?

Day in, day out we are bombarded with messages from companies vying for our attention. What makes us enjoy the messages from some brands and switch off from others? In short, the value and quality of their content. Let’s take a look at 5 simple methods you can test to boost your content creation.

The Power of Mobile

We all own a smartphone that is packed with enough power to create great content. By spending a little time to fully maximise the features of the phone and treat it more like a camera we can harness great results. An added tip is to upgrade with some simple and affordable upgrades: tripod, moment lens etc. Check out some YouTube videos of videographers/ vloggers who share their tips on creating great content on the fly with a smartphone. The key is practice, practice, practice.

Ask your customers

A point that we’ve touched on in previous posts is the importance of community building around your brand. Customer generated content falls nicely into this category, by posting customer generated content you gain a number of advantages:
  • Your brand becomes human. Repetitive polished ‘professional’ images become mundane and cold. 
  • Your customers feel valued.
  • Your customers become part of the brand/ tribe (value flowing both ways) – as opposed to you shouting in one direction.
  • You have a pool of content to use
Note, people usually need to be incentivised to post about your product (unless the experience was epic – check last blog post). Don’t be afraid to run a giveaway such as ‘most liked images receives free product’. A good idea is to encourage a consistent hashtag #BrandNameTribe for example, this allows you to monitor all content and builds a strong tag for your brand.

Prizes

Everybody loves to win a prize. A highly successful strategy, if executed well is to launch a giveaway for your customers. In exchange for an entry they will typically like your social pages or become an email subscriber. This grows your audience and enables you to directly reach targeted customers. Partnering with similar companies to increase the prize pool is a great way to not only offer a more handsome reward for the winner but to access your partners customer base also. 
There are many competition platforms available that allow you to run a giveaway without coding skills. We have used Gleam.io in the past and have enjoyed the user experience. 
  • Virality possibility as people share the competition
  • Opportunity to learn about customers interests and consumption habits
  • Sustained interest in brand throughout competition period
Warning: We were delighted after waking up to hundreds of competition entries, only to find ‘compers’ had found the giveaway and entered. Apparently ‘comping’ is a full time job for some and involves entering any and every competition possible in order to bag freebies. Lots of entrants feels great but is pure vanity unless the entrants are genuinely in your target demographic.

Freelancers to the rescue

A common objection to content creation is ‘But I’m not a graphic designer!’ Don’t sweat, there are solutions. Websites such as freelancer.com give you access to highly skilled designers from around the globe who are willing to work with you on a project basis at incredibly affordable rates. You’ll often hit upon a great relationship and continue to work with your freelancer beyond the initial project. Investing this small amount will allow you to build a premium looking campaign which is on brand and consistent with your marketing channels.

Don’t be a perfectionist

Perfectionism is not the way. Often we can be paralysed by our own high standards and end up not shipping anything at all. If you are a start-up brand people do not expect you to have an incredibly polished and premium set of images and video so don’t worry. The key indicator of success is your authenticity, people like brands they resonate with both in terms of tone of voice and values. Take a look at our ‘Finding Your Why’ post to delve into this further. Understand why you are doing this and be real.
Warning: this is not to suggest posting sloppy content for contents sake is a good strategy. Always ensure the standard and consistency of your media, but don’t stress if it is unlikely to be a blockbuster nomination.

Wrap up

Play around with the strategies above, they are all designed to inspire you to find your brands true, authentic voice. We hope this helps to shine a refreshing light on creating content and we’d love to hear from you about your very own creative ideas, results and learnings.

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