Success in business is all about creating a brand that resonates with your target market. And this is as true for freelancers trying to establish a consistent client base as it is for coffee shops trying to become the next Starbucks. In an era where consumers know that they have a plethora of choice and that they can afford to be fickle, you need to be able to give them something that your competitors can’t.

Fortunately, you have something that no competitor can match. Yes, you do! Your unique experience, your singular knowledge, your wisdom and your insight. Other people may do what you do. But absolutely nobody can do it like you do! The trouble is that people don’t know who you are yet. They need to get to know you if they’re to place their trust in your brand.

And if you’re not investing your time and energy in content creation, you may find it much more difficult to engage your audience. Creating unique content establishes you as a thought leader while giving your target audience something of value for free. Something that’s especially appealing to cash-strapped consumers in the current climate. It’s the best way to establish your knowledge, expertise and professional experience while helping new prospects and existing customers to build a strong relationship with your personal and business brand. Here are a few ways you can do it…

Blog Posts

Regular blog posts are a great way to share your daily insights and you should, where possible, dedicate around an hour a day to blogging. Your blog is a great place to start sharing your insights. What’s more, blogging regularly encourages visitors to keep coming back to your website, thereby improving your SEO.

Vlogs

Videos are a fantastic way to engage busy people in a time when most of us consume media on the go and in short bursts. You can communicate a lot of information quickly and efficiently in a vlog. They can be used to communicate knowledge or provide a peek behind the curtain to show your audience how your business is run. While videos take longer to make, they’re most definitely the key to establishing your authority to a broader audience that doesn’t necessarily have the time to sit down to read through a 1,000 word blog post.

Live Streaming

Webinars and other forms of live webcasting are a fantastic way of creating value in your brand by addressing your customers’ and prospects’ questions and concerns in real time. This can go a long way towards establishing yourself as a knowledgeable figure who can be trusted to look after them.

Infographics and Tutorials

Your customers and audience will likely have a lot in common. And it’s up to you to address their shared concerns, issues, frustrations and pain products as well as how the products or services you provide can help. As such, infographics and tutorials are a great way to quickly and easily provide solutions and build value in your brand.

Just Remember…

Content creation is about promoting yourself. But even more, it’s about providing value to your clientele. As such, every piece of content you create should be designed to be useful or helpful to them in some way. Otherwise it may come off as being self-aggrandizing… and that’s not useful to anyone.