Good content needs to inform. That's the whole point. Whether it's via your podcasts, videos, or blog posts, people (your audience) don't have the time or the desire to weed through a bunch of filler to get to the message you're presenting. By the time you get to the point, you've lost them.
Don't be that person.
Get to the intent of your message upfront, but not before you understand your audience. If you're writing for your business customers, for example, you better know their needs and what questions need answers, or else your content marketing will fall flat.
Before you can realistically expect to resonate with your readers and have any chance of connecting with them, your first order of business is serious market research.
Discover your target audience and find out the questions they're asking. Your job is to address their pain points and provide solutions.
In every way, your content should provide a level of value your readers can't find anywhere else. Keep it humble and generous in a way that your readers will learn to trust your company. Keep all your content unique to your purpose and original, meaning that it's not stale and especially, not dull. Your uniqueness resonates with readers and holds them onto your content, creating a need for more.
Why Your Content Marketing Fails
Getting back to knowing your audience, don't expect your marketing efforts to go anywhere except back to the drawing board if you don't put one foot in front of the other and follow directions.
It's human nature to jump ahead to get the advantage but end up falling on your butt because you failed to prepare. Before any marketing efforts begin, take the time to learn about and understand your target audience. These are the people most interested in your content and your company. Don't disappoint them.
Stale or flat content that doesn't inspire or attract positive attention to your company isn't content at all. It's just filler that takes up space. Get some emotion into the mix, and you will be pleasantly surprised at the results.
Emotions can move mountains, and it's the most potent force on Earth. If you can use your content to harness your audience's feelings and direct them to your company, you have a winner. You do that by telling a story.
How to Draw Readers to Your Content
If you see the title of an article that doesn't compel you to read it, do you take a chance and read it anyway? Probably not. It's the good titles or headlines that evoke an emotional response that makes us read further.
Instead of a title such as, How to Ride a Bike, try, How to Safely Ride a Bike. Next one: Instead of Tell Your Kids to Obey, try, Explain Why Your Kids Should Obey. Here's another one: Instead of Lock Your Doors at Night, try, How an Alarm System will Stop Intruders.
Emotions cause action, and in this case, the action is for your reader to continue past the title. You want them to read the article, listen to your entire podcast, or watch your whole video. Don't let a weak title keep your readers from consuming and acting on content that ultimately ends in a sale or more trust in your brand.
The Emotional Attachment to Your Brand
Every brand has a story, and it is brand storytelling that creates an emotional bond between your customers and your company. Think about the message your company sends to customers. Why was your company started?
Most content marketing is about what, and not the why. In this context, the why starts the emotions working and begs a new story about the company, its products, its people, and its purpose.
Customers are more likely to create an emotional connection when your values match theirs. Suppose they can relate to the story because of shared values. In that case, they identify with your story and see themselves owning the product or service that your market research identified previously as a solution to their problem.
Brand storytelling will largely change marketing by forcing you to stop bragging about why your product is better and instead focuses on how well your story resonates with people and motivates them to connect with your company.
Besides... who likes someone who constantly brags about how great they are anyway? Leave that up to the digital nomads...
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