Compelling content is like porn. It is difficult to define, but the reader knows it when she sees it. However, we can make a few educated guesses as to what kind of content might rise to that level.
Tap Your Own Data
Website analytics is a great place to start for that.
- What search terms found your website, and what pages did the visitors view when they got there?
- How and in what order did they consume solution subject matter or product information?
- What can you deduce about the problems they have and the solutions they are seeking?
Knowing those answers can provide a big clue to the next question. Review your high-traffic web pages that focus on your domain expertise (the deep industry knowledge your company has) and ask: what other digital assets can you create that provides similar but even better content?
Steal From The Competition, But Do It A Lot Better
Industry blogs, yours and other industries, is another great source for ideas, too. Set up an RSS Reader with Google Alerts for important keywords. (Learn how to easily make your own Social Media Listening Dashboard. )
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People who download your white papers, eBooks, or read your blog are looking for information that helps them do their job better. They read and share information they feel is relatively unbiased and insightful. So, chuck out the self applauding marketing crap speak. Tap those smart brains in your organization to talk about what they know. If you do that, you will build your street cred and get virtual face time with prospects before they ever hit the sale’s funnel.
Wiretap Your Internal Experts
Prospects want what you know. Here is the opportunity to bring knowledge experts from your company into your content marketing program. If your co-workers are willing to write, that’s great. However, most co-workers have other things to do, and put off writing until it just falls off their radar.
Did you know that people do like to talk about what they do? If you have ever been to a party you know it’s true. You can use that to your advantage. Make it easy for them by interviewing them, and recording that conversation. Spend 20 minutes having them tell you what they are working on, or about an area they like to talk about related to their work.
That interview can be transcribed. Do yourself a favor and have that outsourced. There are lots of services who do that for a very reasonable fee. Now you can look at the transcript and decide what you have. A blog post, a series of blog posts, an eBook, or a white paper. Ideally, you can do several of those with the content. Like a blog post series that you then make into an eBook.
You can watch a video with Matt Ceniceros of Applied Materials talk about how he does this very effectively.
Talk About What You Know. Not About What You Sell
Repeat with me: The key is to talk about what you know, not about what you sell. At least for content that early stage buyers are looking for, and you really want to target this group. This is where opinions get formed. Here is where you have the greatest opportunity to frame the discussion and define the product category, as long as you provide good faith council. Everyone knows BS when they read it. This is not rocket science. Trusted, forthcoming advice is compelling content.
Compelling content educates the buyer about smart practices. Everyone wants to make smart purchases. Regardless if it is for their company, or for their personal use. When you give a reader an informational advantage on how to knowledgeably move forward with their purchase, with minimal risk, to the next sales phase, they will trust you more than a competitor.
Disclosure: An earlier version of this appeared as a response I gave on Focus.
About Steve Farnsworth @Steveology
Social media and content marketing strategy and implementation that generate leads, builds customer loyalty, and word-of-mouth marketing. Contact 650-331-0594 to see if working together could increase your market position and sales.
Jim Dougherty
November 27, 2011
Steve – I think the point about “tapping your own data” is great advice. There is so much redundant that something fresh really sticks out. I think of the Neuromarketing blog as an example of a really great point of view (as well as yours). Cheers!
Tom Thompson
December 13, 2011
“Talk About What You Know. Not About What You Sell” is perhaps the best single piece of advice I’ve received on creating SM content. Thanks!
smminc33
April 2, 2012
I agree with @Tom, I love that line…I will keep it in mind when I am thinking of content ideas for sure!!
Steve Farnsworth A.K.A. @Steveology
April 2, 2012
Thanks, Jenna!
Barr Seitz
May 16, 2012
Great point about using the data. Content (art) and data (science) need to go hand in hand. A colleague of mine, Roxane Divol, recently wrote a piece that talks about how social media has forced us to rethink content – her piece is called Content is Queen. If you’re interested, you can read it here (http://cmsoforum.mckinsey.com/article/content-is-queen-2) and would love to hear other perspectives on the topic since it’s increasingly critical for marketers (and sales leaders, CFOs, CEOs, legal, etc.).
Food Forays
January 3, 2013
Great points made here… sharing what you know and becoming an “expert” for your audience helps gain trust and confidence. By “giving” your audience something they need and want, you’ll open more doors to selling your product or service.
Chuck Kent (@creativeoncall)
February 16, 2013
I’ve come to this post quite after the fact of its posting, but your points still apply. I would add just one more: Go Out on A Limb. There is so much “me too” content out there, which one will only contribute to unless they head the second half of point 2 – “Only do it a lot better.” If we don’t all start taking a few more risks and getting more creative (as in creating, rather than just copying, content approaches and perspectives) people may tire of the repetition and turn to other sources.
BTW, interesting visual flow at the top of the post, from the headline, swooping through the curves of the visual to be directed to the point and subject matter or your opening line.
Dennis N. Duce
March 11, 2013
Thanks for the great post! I too love the idea of talking about what you know not what you sell. As a sales veteran this is a hard habit to break. Great advice!
Steve Farnsworth A.K.A. @Steveology
March 15, 2013
While it’s not an original thought, it is a good one to work on and pass on to fellow marketers.
Corey Petree
April 19, 2013
As a video producers, we work from interview transcripts all the time. I think it’s a great idea to process expert information into written material this way. It’s easy and it’s also a fun way to write and edit the information. It gives the expert a comfortable, quick way to impart the material and it creates an interesting perspective on the info to process it this way. It’s certainly a good way to make sure the material feels conversational, and it’s a great way to start writing.