Does your business actively post on social media? Do you blog? Have an e-newsletter? How about creating videos about your spa or skin care practice? It’s likely you answered yes to at least one of those questions, and maybe all four. Guess what you are doing? Creating content.

Now, more than ever, content is king. Why is content creation important? Your leads, clients, potential partners, and media want to read great content. In fact, 20% of the time that an internet user spends online is spent just reading content and 80% of internet users like to learn about companies through the custom content they provide.¹

Content helps you attract and engage customers, bring new visitors to your website or facility, and reach the end result of building your bottom line. Content creation and marketing also positions your brand and yourself as experts.

Through creating your own content, you also demonstrate expertise in your field (skin care, spa management, massage, and so forth), while providing knowledge that can help educate readers’ purchasing, wellness, and lifestyle decisions. In fact:

• 61% of online purchases are the direct result of a customer reading a blog.²
• Companies that publish 16 plus blog posts per month get three and a half times more traffic than those that post four or fewer posts per month.³
• Video content can help provide a great return on investment and significantly increase conversions, according to 72% of businesses surveyed.¹

As a public relations professional and former journalist, I spend my days creating content. Social media posts, articles, press releases, and pitches that tell a story – all of these are content. And, content can and should be used in multiple ways. For example, you likely need new content for your website to describe your holiday packages, treatments, and events. Once this text is written and placed on your website, there are a myriad of ways in which to use it:

• Social media posts
• Newsletters and e-blasts
• Ads
• Shelf talkers
• Scripting
• Press releases
• Videos

To dive deeper into content management, I corresponded with content specialist and entrepreneur, Allie Hembree Martin. As the founder of Fame and Fortune Brand Management explains how content creation helps day spa owners, aestheticians, and others in the wellness industry spread and control their messages, “Through content creation, you are essentially giving your brand a voice and a personality. If you are communicating to your customers and letting them understand your brand, the more your customers will want to hear what you have to stay. It’s all about building a level of trust and growing the relationship from there.”

Martin describes content creation as producing any materials that would be deemed valuable by your audience. “This can be something as simple as an inspirational quote that speaks to an individual or as lengthy as an article that provides valuable resources to business leaders,” she continues. “However, this doesn’t just come in the form of text; videos and audio, like Instagram stories or podcast episodes, are content, too.”

How do business owners and managers figure out which platform works for their audience? Martin suggests her clients find where their clients and potential customers spend time online and go there. “Go to where your potential customers are and give them solutions to their pain points,” says Martin. “The reason influencers are able to grow their audience so quickly is they are providing valuable content to their followers, whether that be sales on the latest fashion trends, makeup tutorials, food and travel suggestions, etc.”

While content creation may seem like a large undertaking, it does not have to be. Martin suggests starting small: “If a monthly blog post is all you can accomplish right now, let that be your starting point. As you see your audience and attention grow, you will want to develop more content. If available, use your internal resources, and if not, there are companies…that can work with you to provide a consistent flow of content.”

To Martin, a content calendar is the best way to organize things. She suggests that, after determining what you want to focus on each week, month, and quarter, lay out the content and when it will publish. “This calendar ends up being your guiding light as you are evaluating other marketing opportunities that present themselves over the year,” says Martin. “If it doesn’t align with your plans and calendar, you know it’s not the right fit for you.”

References

1 Smith, Keran. “Why is Content Marketing Important? Learn the Importance of Content Marketing for Your Business.” LYFE Marketing. Aug 2019. https://www.lyfemarketing.com/blog/why-is-content-marketing-important/.

2 Content Marketing Institute. https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/.

3 Kolowich, Lindsay. “How Often Should Companies Blog? [New Benchmark Data]. Hubspot. https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/blogging-frequency-benchmarks.

Respected for her communication skills and media relationships, Debra Locker has worked in public relations and journalism for nearly three decades. She is the president of Debra Locker Group (originally Locker Public Relations), which was founded in 2008. Debra Locker Group is an award-winning boutique agency that specializes in lifestyle, spa, wellness, and beauty. Clients are featured on “The TODAY Show,” “The Doctors,” in SHAPE, Marie Claire, and The New York Times – to name only a few. Prior to becoming an entrepreneur, Locker was the public relations director for the International SPA Association.