Putting off a content review? Don’t! This periodic communications exercise is important, even necessary, for a healthy company. Right now, take a critical look at a recent blog post, the latest tweet, or that new website marketing blurb. Does the copy accurately reflect your business goals? If not, then your content creation skills require honing through the following three methods:

1. Verbalize goals that solid content will help you achieve, and put everything on paper. Print out using large letters and bold fonts! Then post the goals for easy viewing when writing.

The book What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School** discusses a study where only three percent of people interviewed had clear written goals. When interviewed 10 years later, these individuals made 10 times more money than the other 97 percent of study participants combined.

Egos (even subconsciously) can interfere. You want to connect to target audiences online; but blogs, videos, infographics and other Internet mediums all take time and effort. Keeping goals close at hand both maximizes opportunities, and increases your ability to connect products with planned objectives.

2. Create a path to action and make a roadmap. Plans will vary depending on content type and purpose.

Landing pages, calls to action and action statements create a clear route for people to follow. (For further information, read “Calls to Action: What Are They and Why Do They Matter?”) Even when soft selling and relationship building are primary strengths, venturing out of the box online and stating what you have to offer is necessary.

You carefully crafted a marketing message aimed at a target market segment. The communication will reach the intended audience. Yet with so much to sift through online, an individual may set aside or even forget a message lacking an action statement.

3. Know your audience. No matter how amazing the message, your delivery may flop if directed at the wrong people.

Your differentiation statements offer a clear alternative to the competition. Further supporting exactly how target groups receive the message is what will determine success.

One way to create a conversation starter – both in person and online with advertising and marketing – is through the value your product brings individuals in terms of saving money, saving time or offering piece-of-mind within their busy lives.

But how well does the message connect to the specific target market segment?

From the group, grab a Character Customer Profile. (Don’t have one? Profiles are easy to produce. Discover how to write your own through Red Direction’s Find Your Audience page and the “Build and Use Character Customer Profiles” article.)

Sit down with a cup of coffee or tea and revisit the client persona; next, thoroughly reread the newly-created content from this Character Customer’s particular worldview.

Then consider: if you were this customer, would the message successfully reach you?

**This is not an affiliate link.