They say content is king, yet so much content looks like total crap.

I am intrigued. Everyone in this day and age knows that content is king. That what we share and what we are saying is key to improving perception of a brand and sales. What surprises me the most is the lack of great content. The large cooperation’s are getting there. But the smaller brands are just not getting there. I have talked to a few companies that are not in the multinational category and they all have the same excuses.

 

EXCUSE ONE: WE DONT HAVE TIME

If you are a company in the developing phase where focus is getting every other aspect of production, delivery, customer service etc. in place the excuse is often that there is a lack of time. It is in many senses a valid excuse, yet what you are doing is shooting yourself in the arm you need for growing and developing the brand.

It is in these crucial phases of a company where good content can make the very difference. One small entrepreneur I worked with had so much work handling customer service she barely had time to work with what her passion and what the purpose of her company was all about. We sat down and looked at all aspects of communication and digital content and decided to make some improvements of the content on her webpage. We created FAQ’s, and work flow processes and stared sharing digital content that looked nice and had clear purpose. The initial investment for her was in one sense massive, but a few months down the line that investment turned into the possibility for her to cater for her customers and earn more money.

 

EXCUSE TWO: COSTS TO MUCH

We look at the large cooperation’s and their commercials and drool. You can see the dollar bills flying for every second passing of the video or images and designs that evidently costed heaps of money.

It’s true that great content cost money. But that is not an excuse for sharing crap. There are layers of what you can do and not with what you got. The question is how you plan and where you put the money you got. There is always a way to make content that looks and feels good and still caters for the needs your company has in the current phase of existence. And even more so if you don’t have all the capital you need, you need to be even smarter in spending your bucks where they will benefit you the most.

 

EXCUSE THREE: WE NEED TO START WITH ESTABLISHING A STRATEGY

I am all for strategies, they are key for every company. If you don’t have a communication and branding strategy, it’s definitely a mile stone you need to have in your near future. Never the less, before you have the time and resources needed you can’t just skip it and hope for the best.

From my experience the trial and agile development of a communication strategy is a great way to get started. Another great way is to make short term goals and strategies that can be put together into a full strategy further down the line.

 

SO WHAT TO DO?

My recommendation (and yes, I’m promoting myself and my line of work here) is to find someone to help you. If you are in an expansion phase of your company, you might not have the resources and capability to set aside a person full time on branding and communication. In the same way as you find a company or person that can assist in the bookkeeping and finance side, do the same for branding and communication.

I have got the privilege to work with many great companies in an early process of the development of their idea or company and it has resulted in a clearer understanding of what direction they want to take, and how they want to do things. With the great benefit of being able to share great and relevant content from day one.

So, find someone that actually has proven knowledge and capabilities and find a path that works with your current situation. Waiting too long will most likely result in allot of extra work, energy and money to salvage the chaos that was created by allowing things to just happen.