As a business owner, as part of your content strategy, do you create topics that interest you?

Or do you focus on creating content based on what’s going to make you the most money.

Unfortunately, the answer is not black and white.

If you focus on a business that you’re passionate about but does not necessarily have an audience, you’ll struggle financially.

However, on the other hand if you’re hyper-focused on a niche that is going to make good money, but you don’t have a strong motivation to create content for, you may struggle to persevere when things get tough.

Here are the pros and cons of creating content on topics that interest you vs topics that are popular in the market.

Pros & Cons: Writing Content That Interests You..

[pros]

The pros on writing about topics that interest you is that you have expert insight about them.

• In general, you tend to be knowledgeable in topics that you are passionate about.
• Long-term sustainability, you’re in a good spot. Because you’re writing about things that are of interest to you. Burnout is not likely.
• Emotions are contagious. When you’re really passionate about a certain topic, you can feel the passion and heart that’s being put in your work. This is why I don’t recommend people to use ChatGPT to create copy-pasted content. ChatGPT may be good for coming up with ideas, but you can easily tell if an article is written using ChatGPT or an actual human being put some effort into crafting the article.
• Creating content based on things that interest you will finally help you build your personal brand. These are aspects of your personality that you are sharing in the form of content. It’s what will make your business unique.

[cons]

• You need money to survive. If you’re just solely focused on content that interest you, it does not necessarily mean it will appeal to other people.
• In business, what’s important is what other people want not what you want. If you’re solely focused on yourself, you may not necessarily be able to deliver to your audience what interests them.

Pros & Cons: On Writing Content That Is Popular..

The pros of writing for popular articles are that it is easier to promote on social media.

[pros]

• Since popular topics are usually those that are trending, and have an active consumer demand, you’re going to find that promoting these pieces of content is much easier than promoting content that does not have an active consumer demand.
• You can never go wrong with following the trends. Trends dictate what the market is willing to pay for.
• Potential customers and business opportunities are waiting inside in-demand content.

[cons]

• The clear cons of this method are that you may not necessarily have the expertise or the willingness to write content about a topic. Say for example about dog foods, scuba diving gear, etc.
• The longer you write about topics that do not interest you, there’s a very real possibility of burnout. I’ve seen this many times with entrepreneurs that start businesses that they have completely no interest in. When things are good, they’re doing good. But the moment things get tough, they quit. They quit not because they don’t lack the skills, they just lack the passion to continue what they’re doing.
• You may not have the insight to see what’s going to happen in the future. Even though something is popular, doesn’t mean that this will be popular down the line in 1-2 years. The key is identifying content trends before they happen.

Creating Balance is Key

I would never tell someone to be so impractical to tell them to pursue their passions blindly without any sort of financial plan.

But I would also never tell someone to suck things up when their heart is not in the niche. Just because something is profitable does not mean that avenue is right for you. Just like being a doctor is a very profitable careers that can net someone a good income.

However, not everyone should be a doctor – see all the bad doctors out there. If your heart is not there, do not continue to do something you do not like.

Instead, try to balance things out, find ways to create content on areas that have an active audience. Once you see traction is going there, switch things up by posting content that is personal to your business.. see “document don’t create”. Once your itch is scratched of “doing what you want” return to what is profitable.

The content game is always a marathon and not a sprint. If you try to do this to get immediate returns, you’re going to end up in disappointment. Big time!

The Importance of Motivation in Content

Motivation is extremely important in regards to your work as a content marketer. In fact, I would argue that motivation is 3x superior to the words you write. I didn’t say that.. Napoleon did.

Motivation is extremely important, and an ignored factor on the type of content you produce. If you’re not motivated to produce content, people can see it in your sloppy writing, or just generic content. People that are motivated tend to be more creative, able to produce unique ideas that stand out in the marketplace.

Without motivation, you cannot persist long term.

Without motivation, you will not have the ability to pick up your pen/laptop and start creating content.

Without motivation, you will not simply be able to sell.

Creating content is very motivational based. You have ideas you want to share, that are important to your niche. This is why you share them. When you have the motivation to create that content because you want to share something of value to your audience, this is when your content machine gets going.

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