09 Jun How To Get Unstuck When Creating Digital Content
Have you ever gotten stuck when you were trying to create digital content? Maybe you don’t know what to talk about? Maybe you just can’t think of anything good? Or do you just have writer’s block? I’ve come up with all of these excuses in the past myself, so I can completely relate. So the big question is how do you get unstuck? My answer is to just get started! I know, I know. You’ve heard that answer before but please let me explain.
First and foremost, speak as if you are talking to someone one-on-one. I think we are so used to reading corporate copy that has no personality, it makes us think that it is the industry standard. The problem with trying to write copy just like these large corporations is that we are not large corporations. We aren’t trying to reach the masses like a large corporation would. They are trying to get in front of everyone.
As solo entrepreneurs or business owners with a small team, we can’t compare ourselves to large companies such as Walmart. According to a Bloomberg.com article, Walmart has around 120,000 items that they sell in-store and 35 million items that they sell on their online store. With having so many items, they have products for almost anyone. Us, on the other hand, may have twelve products or six services. It’s levels to this business world and we need to understand where we are on the spectrum. Because we are selling very specific items or services, we need to talk to very specific people, i.e. your target audience or what I like to call them, your DREAM CLIENTS.
As I’m sure you can tell, this blog post isn’t very “buttoned-up” and “corporate.” I’m just one creative boss chick talking to another creative boss chick. Just be yourself and speak how you would speak in real life when writing your blog posts or social media captions. The reason most people get stuck when writing content is because they are trying to write in a corporate voice. You are trying to speak in a voice other than your own. It’s hard to pretend to be someone that you’re not. Most people look at it as modeling yourself after the greats but you can’t forget to add yourself in the mix.
Also, that boring “corporate” copy is getting to be very antiquated. With the popularity of online marketers and social media influencers, the larger corporations are starting to do what the online entrepreneurs are doing. I was on the Walmart website recently and I was looking in the Ideas section on their website. In that section, there are articles that give tips based on the current season that we are in. I was reading one of the articles and it mentioned to “keep it classy” and they used the word “lowkey.” I definitely didn’t expect this type of personality from Walmart but kudos to them for keeping up with the times. I’m not saying to get too relaxed and put out content that has typos or that doesn’t have any effort put in it. However, I am saying be yourself and put out well-researched, typo-free content, or minimal typos. We are human after all.
I would suggest to really study the online influencers that you follow and take notes on why you follow them. For example, I follow Marie Forleo, the online marketing G.O.A.T., the Greatest Of All Time. Marie Forleo has a YouTube show called MarieTV. I’ve been watching her show for at least six years now. After all these years, I am still a huge fan. One of the reasons that I still enjoy her content is because she is very informative. She gives very good tips and tricks on how to improve and uplevel your business. She’s also very inspirational. She tells stories about she has struggled in the past in her business and/or life and how she was able to overcome obstacles. Now, what keeps me coming back to her content is her personality. She’s hilarious and she uses colorful language from time to time. She’s different from what I was used to when it comes to self-help. When I thought of self-help in the past, I’ve always thought of a very serious topic. She’s able to make the topic of self-help and online marketing a lot more light-hearted, which is very refreshing.
What makes her different from all the other self-helpers and online marketers is HER. I enjoy the silly aspect of her videos. She tells a story in a comedic way. She uses that story as an analogy to explain her tips and tricks for the week. Marie educates in a way that I’ve never seen anyone do before her or after her. Her uniqueness and being true to herself has allowed her to become a self-made multi-millionaire. I model myself after Marie Forleo, not by trying to act like her, but by being myself.
Secondly, stop thinking that you just don’t have anything to talk about. Again, I always say “tell a story opposed to writing a ‘corporate’ article or social media caption.” I can’t see anyone not having any stories to share about their business or an inspiration story to tell. I don’t think we can’t truly have writer’s block about things that happen in our lives. I’ll give you an example.
Let’s say you went to work one day and it was an ordinary, mundane day. Then you received an email to go to the main conference room for a town hall meeting. In the meeting, you found out that everyone is receiving a bonus of $2,000 because of the successful campaign last month. Exciting right? What would you do as soon as you had a free moment? You would call a loved one and tell them what happened. And would you just say, I got a bonus of $2,000 and just get off the phone? Nope. I’m sure you would start the story off about how it was a boring day at work. You kind of thought something weird was going on because all the higher-ups were going around whispering. You would probably tell them anything else that was important to the story and that would make the story more interesting. Most likely, if you needed to text this story to someone, you wouldn’t get writer’s block. And I’m pretty sure that would be a long text message.
We need to look at stories related to our business and our personal brand that same way. What has happened to you recently that aided you in learning something new about how to run your business or that has made you a better person? Is there an obstacle that you recently overcame? What is something new that you learned in an unconventional way that has assisted you in taking your business to the next level? The easiest way that you can look at it is to tell a story about something that has happened in your life and then tell what the moral of the story is. What lesson did you learn from the experience? As entrepreneurs, we are lifelong learners so we are always gaining new information. Just type your story and share it.
Just remember, we are all different but we always have similar problems and struggles. There will always be someone that can relate to some of the issues that you have had. They will listen to how you overcame the issues and that will give them the tools and motivation to overcome whatever they are dealing with. And isn’t that what we are here to do as business owners? We are here to help.
The moral of this story is to be yourself and to be vulnerable so you can use your experiences to help people. That’s going to help you to create content that authentic, which is going to make it so much easier to create. If you are looking for a tool to help you get clarity on what your story is and how you can connect with your audience, please click here or the image below to get my FREE brand workbook.
I believe in you and I know that once you let your walls down and be your truest self online, content will just pour out of you and you will be unstuck. Until next time creative boss chicks… have a great day and continue to create!
This brand workbook will help you get clarity on who you are and who your company is as a brand and will assist you in discovering who your dream client truly is.
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