The strategic field is even projected to grow by $269.24 billion by 2024, driven by the rising number of social media users and the widespread use of mobile phones.
But the truth is, 60% of marketers report finding it difficult to create quality content consistently.
After all, who better than you to know that creating engaging, trendy, and world-class content takes time, effort, dedication, and, well… skills! And doing it every day requires even more discipline.
Yet, with the rise of freelancing platforms and the entrepreneurship spirit, the competition at the top is fiercer than ever.
Want to stand out by providing best-in-class content to your clients and become the authority in your field?
Read on as we highlight six ways to become the best content creator in your industry.
Be an Expert in your Field
To be the best at what you do, you need to be current and stay current.
For instance, if you’re a videographer who specializes in social media video production, make sure you’re knowledgeable about all aspects of your industry. Stay up to date with the latest innovations, trendy filming or editing techniques, new software, and industry news across any type of videography, even if it doesn’t seem immediately relevant to you.
The broader you open your mind, the more creative you’ll be. And the more creative you are, the more added value you’ll be able to provide your customers with.
Some of the key things you can do to stay up to date include:
- Closely monitoring what your competition is doing.
- Reading about the latest and most significant news, advancements, and trends in your field
- Listening to your audience and your competitor’s audience
- Seeking insights outside of your specific niche
- Be curious
Consistently following these critical steps is the best way to provide your clients with unique and outstanding content and efficiently answer their needs.
As the famous adage has it, ‘’Knowledge is power’’.
Therefore, by educating yourself on an ongoing basis, you’ll be able to consistently deliver creative, and on-point solutions, as well as valuable pieces of content. Only then will your clients see you as the authority in the field. They’ll naturally be drawn to you and will most likely recommend you to others.
Understand your Audience
‘’The most important thing to remember is you must know your audience.’’ Lewis Howes
Drawing on one of the points mentioned in the previous section, to become the best content creator in your industry, you need to genuinely understand your audience. As a matter of fact, you need to think like them to uncover their pain points. Then, once you’ve found their pain point, you will be able to create the perfect piece of content for your customers.
And this is true for any type of content, from photos and videos to blogs and infographics.
The thing is, being able to understand your audience so that you can be relevant and provide your customers or prospects with what they need is an art. And it takes time, research, dedication, and patience.
But we’re here to help, aren’t we?
So, we’re going to give you some tips below to help speed up the process 😉
- Review any current data, trends, analytics, statistics, and reports about your target market and audience
- Conduct a survey
- Use social media listening tools
- Keep up to date with your competition
- Monitor your feedback, reviews, and comments
- Engage with your audience on social media
- Ask previous clients for feedback
- Review your marketing campaign analytics
- Spend time on industry forums and social platforms such as Reddit or Quora
- Test new filming, writing, or design techniques
- Keep testing
Practice your Skills
Ever heard of the phrase ‘’practice makes perfect’’? This couldn’t be truer for content creators!
After all, as a content creator, you need to use your brain a lot. And the brain is a muscle that needs to be stimulated regularly to be at its optimum.
As a result, constantly flexing your writing, designing, photo, or video editing muscles is essential to ensuring that you always deliver valuable, compelling, and top-notch content. If you don’t practice regularly, you won’t be as sharp anymore, and it will reflect in your work.
Besides, practicing is the best way to improve and maintain your existing skills. Indeed, you’ll get quicker and better every time you actively use your creative mind and apply your technical skills to a project. As a result, not practicing your craft often enough means that you might lose your technical skills as these need to be maintained through practice.
No one was born a genius graphic designer or video editor. Therefore, it’s only normal that getting to the top requires practice, practice, and more practice 😉
Leverage the Best Tools
Sure, constantly purchasing the latest equipment, app, or software and having to train yourself up can seem like an important investment. It might even feel daunting if you were learning about a new tool not so long ago. Yet, it’s the price to pay to be the best!
For instance, subscribing to Adobe Creative Suite or Exposure Software Exposure X6 as a photographer or using Grammarly Pro and Content SEO Checker as a writer will help you step up your game and reach for the stars. If you’re a videographer, embracing cutting-edge technology from virtual and augmented reality to AI and drones can propel you from an average professional video producer to a coveted content creator.
To be the best, you need to harness the power of technology and embrace digital tools and advancements. They’ll help you craft powerful, engaging, and unique content and set yourself apart from your competition.
Establish Your Own Voice and Style
‘’A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories, and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another.’’ Seth Godin
That’s a fact; you’re not the only great content creator in your industry.
However, you can be the best if you manage to develop your own voice and create a unique style that helps customers immediately recognize your brand and your work.
In other words, you need to craft your brand personality. Indeed, you need to create a brand with goals, values, human traits, and even flaws. This is a critical step to becoming the best, whether you’re a social media influencer, a photographer, a freelance writer, or a graphic designer.
Why, you ask?
Because in today’s world, consumers crave personality and authenticity. In fact, 86% of people cite authenticity as a key factor to supporting a brand. Therefore, not only will having your own recognizable voice and unique style allow your content to stand out, but it will also help widen your customer base.
Clients will commission your services because they’ll want your stamp, your technique, and your unique perspective to reflect in their content too.
And if you want to become an influencer in your niche, developing a unique voice and style will help you land these highly coveted brand collaborations!
After all, there are over 25 million businesses on Instagram, so there’s tremendous potential for the best content creators to carve out a global reputation for themselves.
Have Fun with Your Craft
If you’re trying too hard, people will sense it, and you’ll lose the authenticity factor, so critical to being the best content creator in your field. Besides, if you’re not passionate or aren’t having fun anymore, you’ll start losing motivation, which will transpire in your work.
For instance, in one of his recent videos, Graham Stephan, a successful real estate agent and YouTuber, confessed he had a rough time creating quality, engaging and innovative content during the lockdown. Indeed, he found it challenging to stay creative in 2020, felt drained, and lost his motivation, which translated into a drop in his work quality and, ultimately, his engagement.
Being passionate about what you create and having fun along the way is paramount if you want to be the best at what you do.
If you’re having fun creating inspiring content for others, your personality will shine through your work, inspiration will flow, your technique will improve, and your audience will keep growing, turning you into an authority in the field!
For the Content Creators Out There
As a crew of passionate videographers, we know what consistently creating compelling content takes. And sometimes, it might be disheartening not to be able to make it to the top after long months of hard work.
But ‘’good things come to those who wait’’ and with persistence, dedication, and some creative flair, we know you can become the best at what you do.
Follow the six tips above, and you’ll be on your way to the top in no time 😉
And for those of you who love to learn and want to sharpen your video production skills, we’ve put together some video marketing resources for you. These include the value of using drone footage in your video content, the best four spots to film video production in Los Angeles, and setting your commercial shoot.
