Many marketers feel that their industry calls for them to write on topics that won’t easily engage potential customers and index with the search engines. It’s an endless challenge for content marketers in B2B markets to present content in entertaining or engaging ways. But there are some good ways to create interesting content in any industry. Perhaps your industry isn’t what’s boring!
Reel Them In: 5 Steps for Creating Interesting Content
So how do you get people to take interest in your messages and content? The solution isn’t always a witty writing style or flashy infographics or extensive market research, although those are all good forms of content. There are ways of writing about your industry that will keep readers engaged, because your topics don’t have to be boring. To quote a recent Copyblogger article: “There are no boring topics, only boring content creators.”
- Ask Questions: Focus on answering the questions your target audience is asking and put it in their words. Add a word or two. Move some things around. Switch your title from a statement to an open-ended question. By asking questions, you can transform your topic into something people will take interest in and make them think. They will want to find out the answer.
- Use Lists: To-do lists, grocery lists, lists of interesting words I can never think of when I need them…lists are how I operate and how many people organize their day. Sometimes I even scribble tasks into my to-do list that I’ve already accomplished just so I can cross them out immediately.
- People like to categorize things, and they won’t begrudge you a quick list or a bulleted outline that might give them a framework for what they want to know about a subject. Lists offer fast, understandable knowledge that’s easy to remember and is genuinely helpful. And they’re almost never boring to write.
- Be Customer-Centric: Every product and service can generate excitement if you present it in the right light. Find out who your readers are and write content that showcases thier lifestyles, interests, and passions. Focus your content on the consumer rather than the product and encourage conversations that resonate with your parallel issues.
- There are ways of including subjects in your content that connect your services or products with the interests of target audiences. For example, if you’re an archiving or note-taking software provider, you could draw parallels to strategies for organizing the garage. Here’s an example of a blog about spring-cleaning from the popular note-taking app, Evernote. Be creative. You might interest people who would otherwise skip your content.
- Avoid Industry-Heavy Jargon: Unless you’re catering to a very specific industry, try to write your content in layman’s terms that are easily grasped. Technical terms can scare off potential customers, and they won’t take the time to slog through your content, attempting to understand it. Sometimes people mistake an industry that loads their content with technical terms for a boring one. Show them you’re not boring!
- Surprise Them: Say something unexpected. Do you remember Domino’s “Our Pizza Sucked—And Why It Only Took 50 Years to Fix It” campaign? I recently wrote a post about why print is an eco-friendly and sustainable way of doing business, titled “Printing Is Unsustainable…April Fools! It busted five myths about printing being unsustainable.
Ideally, surprises, humor, lists, and customer-centric writing makes your audiences look twice. If they have to look again, they’re that much more likely to click your link. And then you have them interested in content that otherwise feels hopelessly boring. It’s up to you to show them it’s not boring!
