How to Create Compelling Content in 2024

Written By Bill DeLisle

Whether you’re building a brand, marketing a product, or communicating expertise, digital content is often the best way to reach your audience exactly where they are with exactly the message you want to deliver. 

As the marketing mantra goes, content is king. 

It’s also an exhaustively abundant resource, with more arriving every day. 

Here’s what I mean: 

  • HubSpot reports that more than 600 million active blogs are published online, collectively producing more than two million new blog posts daily. 

  • Statista found that approximately 500 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute.

  • HootSuite notes that more than one billion stories are posted across Facebook's app suite daily. 

Don’t be dismayed by the size and scale of today’s online information ecosystem. There is an existing (and growing) audience for this content. In other words, content is king because it works. 

However, just creating and publishing isn’t enough. Cutting through the noise and keeping people’s attention requires you to actually say something compelling.

Here’s how to create content that delights, surprises, informs, engages, and converts in 2024. 

#1 Lean into your authority & expertise.

The internet is awash in content that over-promises and under-delivers. From endless clickbait to laboriously long SEO drivel, your audience has access to unlimited quantities of content, but they are starved for quality. 

Like a diet of only empty calories, online information often fills up but rarely satisfies, and people are desperately looking for something of sustenance.

That’s why your authority, your recognized expertise on a subject, and your perspective, your viewpoint or experience with a particular topic, are the cornerstone of any effective content strategy.

Your audience wants to be informed. More importantly, they want to be empowered. They want to be equipped to do more or do better, and your expertise is the bridge that gets them from where they are to where they want to go. 

You might be thinking, “I’m knowledgeable, but am I an authority?” 

Your authority can come from many facets, including your formal education, personal experience, or professional status. It can also be supplemented by timely research that elevates your authority and adds to your perspective. 

In this way, the equation for compelling content is simple: demonstrated authority + rigorous research = quality content that delivers on its promise. 

#2 Let your voice shine through. 

Don’t get me wrong. People want to be informed and empowered, but they don’t just want to be informed and empowered. They want an experience that entertains and captures their attention. 

Put differently, it matters what you say, but it also matters how you say it. 

That’s voice. 

Authority and perspective influence what you say, while voice impacts how you say it. 

There isn’t a definitive formula or right way to write; however, there are some definite no-nos when it comes to capturing your unique voice, including: 

  • Trying to mimic someone else’s voice

  • Relying on jargon or buzzwords to sound authentic 

  • Separating your personality from your business writing

  • Avoiding vulnerability

  • Ignoring feedback. 

If you want your content to resonate with your audience (and you do!), how you present your information matters, and voice is one of your most potent tools for capturing and maintaining their attention. 

People come for the content. They stay because of your voice.

#3 Help your content make the connection.

Too often, brands create content that, while theoretically directed to an external audience, is practically self-focused, failing to reach an audience or make a meaningful impact. 

Content created in a vacuum has limited reach. That’s why, rather than waiting for your audience to find you, leverage or cultivate channels to reach them directly. 

This might include: 

  • Creating highly engaging social media content that directs people to your recent bylines or blog posts 

  • Distributing blog content through newsletters or direct-to-customer interactions

  • Leveraging relationships and partnerships for guest blog or cross-promotion opportunities

  • Using paid advertising to extend your reach and find new audiences. 

Create valuable content that people actually want to consume. Then, help your content reach your audience, ensuring every touchpoint maximizes its potential. 

Continuing to Evolve in 2024

Compelling content is always a moving target. People’s preferences ebb and flow, media ecosystems evolve, and budgets change. 

What worked last year might not be as effective this year, especially as new Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI) tools flood the internet with cheap and easy-to-create content that fills space but may not engage audiences. 

The above strategies will help your content make the most impact in 2024. Whether you're a brand builder, a marketer, or a thought leader, wherever you are in the process, you’re not alone. 

Let’s work together to help your authority, perspective, and voice coalesce to create your most compelling content ever in 2024! 

Bill DeLisle