4 Ways Creating Content Will Benefit Your Business
Lucienne Ide, MD, PhD, founder and chief health innovator of Rimidi, shares her insights on the different ways creating content can benefit your business.
We live in a content-rich world, and it’s getting more crowded every day. We’re constantly entertained by YouTube, Neftlix, our social media feeds, or, in the case of my kids, the latest content-generating app craze. Snapchat is out. TikTok is in, in case you’re wondering.
With all of this content, how do businesses rise above the noise to reach their audience? Hint: Create content that people actually want to consume, that they find useful, engaging, or entertaining. The days of hard-sell, billboard advertising are over. Companies, and their leaders, need to create content that will drive demand. That’s why I blog, write media bylines, and look for opportunities to speak at conferences or podcasts or radio shows.
Here are four ways that creating content can support your business goals:
- Creates Demand for Your Product or Service.
The best example I’ve heard of content creating demand is the movie Finding Nemo. When the movie came out, kids wanted fish tanks. In this case, a rising tide lifted all ships. Pet stores around the country saw an increase in fish, tank, and tank supply sales. What about the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge? Not only did it garner donations from individuals, but savvy ALS organizations were able to capitalize on the public’s interest and solicit larger corporate donations and media attention.
B2B is a little bit different and more challenging. But the concept of creating content that your audience finds entertaining, useful, or engaging still applies. What is your audience interested in? What value of your product or service can you shed some light on? What problem exists that your product helps solve? For example, my company helps physicians and patients better manage chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. When a recent study on primary care’s adherence to guidelines for diabetes monitoring revealed that less than 60% of diabetic patients are getting the basic recommended screenings of hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) and lipid tests at least annually, I wrote a blog on why that might be and what tools could help improve how primary care physician’s monitor patients with diabetes.
2. Lends Credibility and Authenticity to Your Product or Service.
Commenting on topical and relevant subjects in the news, or studies like the one I mentioned above, also lend credibility to your own expertise. People like hearing from people, not companies. Whether you’re commenting on a relevant topic on social media, or writing your own piece of content about it, you are showing that you have an informed opinion. In a way, you’re humanizing your company by letting your audience hear your voice and expertise — which leads me to my next point of authenticity.
If you’re an entrepreneur, odds are that like me, you’re passionate about the industry you’re in and want to improve it. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have started your own company! As awkward as it might feel to you, embrace and share your founder story. Show your audience the person and passion behind the ideas and the products. Show them why you became an entrepreneur. Not only will they find it inspiring, but it could lead to other speaking engagements or media requests. After my company shared my founder story, I received a number of messages on LinkedIn inviting me to speak at conferences or share my story on a podcast.
3. Increases Traffic to Your Website
When your company is featured in the news it gives you something to share on your social media channels, boost your brand awareness, and drives new users to your website. Between those sometimes-elusive media hits, you should be making your own news with topics that are important to your audience. It gives you something useful to share with your prospects in email newsletters, personal sales outreach, or social media.
It will increase organic traffic to your website too. As my CTO will constantly remind me, the best way to increase Search Engine Optimization is to add fresh content to your site. Well-executed blogs give you an opportunity to link to other pages in your site, introduce timely and popular keywords for search engines to find, and keep people on your site longer.
4. Increases Personal Visibility and Supports Business Goals.
As I mentioned above, blogs, bylines and podcasts lend credibility to my — and by extension my company’s — expertise. By creating content, I’ve positioned myself as a thought leader in the healthcare industry, and it’s led to more requests to speak at industry events or to provide a quote for an industry trade publication. Ultimately, it’s led more opportunities to plug my company’s solutions.
One last thing to note: be strategic about your blogs. If you’re a healthcare provider and it’s Open Enrollment season, share tips with your patients for what to look for when picking a health plan. If your company has a goal of X amount of new customers in a certain sector by a certain date, your content during that time should be tailored to that sector’s interest and needs.
People want to hear from people, not companies. Don’t be afraid to be that person!
Lucienne Ide, MD, PhD is the founder and chief health innovator of Rimidi, a digital health company focused on enabling better outcomes for patients with chronic, cardiometabolic conditions. Lucie brings her diverse experiences in medicine, science, venture capital and technology to bear in leading Rimidi’s strategy and vision. Motivated by the belief that we can do so much better as individuals, an industry and society, Lucie left clinical medicine to join the ranks of healthcare entrepreneurs who are trying to revolutionize an industry.
