Content is everything.

Content informs, educates, fulfills, inspires and helps your audience gain trust in your brand. It’s the act of giving them what they want, not telling them what you think they should know. In essence, it’s hitting them “right there.” <points to heart>

Content keeps your audience on the edge of their chair, or makes them fall out of it when it’s really, really good. It’s not simply words on a page. It’s a page, or video, or post or workshop full of information that really means something to the audience. There are tons of types of content, but here are my personal favorites.

(If you want me to buy your product and trust your brand, here’s a freebie on how to get me – and likely your audience as well – to insta-buy.)

Videos*

Photos*

Articles *

Blogs*

Press Releases*

Social Media posts*

Webinars*

eBooks*

Workshops*

Asterisks? Because they’ll only catch my attention if they’re interesting (not put me into a snooze fest). Engage me. That’s the tricky part. But there’s good news! There’s are plenty of webinars, books and resources on how to create engaging content. My suggestions:

Copyblogger

Content Rules by Ann Handley and C.C. Chapman

Thoora

Twitter (Follow content specialists. You’ll be pleasantly surprised, try it out.)

So start learning, get writing (thoughtfully), and good luck! Engage.

Renee Achterhof is a content writer for Mindscape at Hanon McKendry