When I visit the United States, I am bombarded with the sentiment that “corn is king.” When I travel through Western Canada, canola is king. I would like to suggest that CONTENT is king and if you are not focused on building good content around you, your business and your audience, your business is in jeopardy.
Positioning yourself as an expert to your target audience has never been more critical — no matter how you make a living, your customers and potential customers have more options at their fingertips than ever before. Of course, everyone says they are best option. How do you differentiate and decide who best fits your needs?
Creating and curating content is a time-consuming process but one that tells the story of who you are. Five years ago, all I heard from the ag sector was, “Why should I have to tell my story?” Now all I hear is, “Can you please help us tell our story!” Successful companies know how critical it is to tell their story and how critical it is to continue to improve storytelling skills within their organization and when talking to clients.
Unsuccessful companies don’t bother to tell their story. A recipe for disaster.
Gone are the days where you can just sell or advertise yourself to success. Your customers and potential customers are out there learning about your competition and learning why they do what they do. You must tell your story on a virtually constant basis and if you are not doing that, someone else is doing it for you — and I guarantee the story they’re telling about you isn’t a flattering one designed to help you get more business.
Developing quality content that tells people who you are can be tailored to any format you want to show it on — social media, website, blog, print or one of the many other options available — to ensure your story is shared to your target audience.
Everyone can be a storyteller! What do you want to share? Why do you want someone to know that information? What is your primary goal as you share your story? Define those pieces up-front and then work to bring it to life.