Whether you are a content marketer or a copywriter, you face the same challenge. You must make your content or copy stand out from the rest in your niche.
If you don’t, you will never sell the product or service you’re promoting. And you definitely won’t last in your job or your career very long.
That means it’s imperative that you learn how to create better content or persuasive copy.
Well, I want to show you one way you can make ordinary content or copy feel extraordinary.
Do you know the best part about what I’m about to reveal to you? It’s a method that many people don’t know or completely overlook.
In order for you to fully understand this method, I first need to tell you a story, or better yet, a legend.
Because the legend you’re about to hear contains the secret behind this powerful method…
The Legend of the Extraordinarily Ordinary Tea
There once was a group of elderly, cultured gentlemen who met often to exchange wisdom and drink tea.
Each host did their best to find the finest and most costly varieties of tea that they could.
Each host worked hard to create exotic blends that would arouse the admiration of their guests.
When the most honored and respected member of the group had them all over, he served his tea with unprecedented ceremony.
He measured the leaves from a golden box.
The elderly group of cultured gentlemen praised this exquisite tea.
They couldn’t stop talking about how amazing the tea was.
But what the host revealed next surprised his guests...
He smiled and said, “The tea you have found so delightful is the same tea our peasants drink. I hope it will be a reminder to all that the good things in life are not necessarily the rarest or the most costly.”
First of all, it is true and very important for us all to remember that many of the ordinary things in life are pretty amazing in and of themselves.
I don’t want you to miss that lesson.
But I didn’t tell you that story to teach you that lesson. I told it because I wanted to teach you a hidden lesson.
The Hidden Lesson
I want you to notice the important hidden lesson in this legend. What is the hidden lesson?
The lesson is that presentation and packaging really matter.
Do you think the elderly tea connoisseurs would have been raving if he served the ordinary tea in an ordinary way?
Do you think that his friends would have been in awe of his tea if he measured it out of an ordinary container?
The answer to both of these questions is no!
You see, he didn’t present his tea in an ordinary way. He presented itwith unprecedented ceremony.
He didn’t measure it out of an ordinary container. He measured the leaves from a golden box.
That is what influenced the opinion of his guests.
That is what created the feeling that they were drinking something extraordinary.
How This Lesson Can Help You to Make Your Ordinary Content or Copy Feel Extraordinary
After reading this far, some of you are feeling like the elderly gentleman’s friends.
You have enjoyed the “taste” and “experience” of the content I just presented for you to consume.
The possible impact of the method and truth I just revealed has really intriguedyou. If you’re feeling that way, I’m glad. That was the plan I had for you when I wrote this article.
Do you want to know how I created this content in a way to impact you? I did it by applying the same method I just revealed to you.
In other words, I used the same method that the honored and respected member of the tea connoisseurs used.
I took an ordinary (but very important) idea and I focused on doing my best to present it to you in the most extraordinary way I could.
What was my idea?
My ordinary idea was this: How you present your content will make all the difference in whether your content or copy feels ordinary or extraordinary.
How I Used His Method in This Article
Instead of just presenting the above sentence/method to you, I focused on the presentation of the method:
I started by focusing on the need you have to make your content or copy stand out.
I reminded you how the ability, or lack of ability, to do this will mean success or failure for you.
I told you that that is why you must learn how to create better content or persuasive copy.
I told you I wanted to show you a method that many people don’t know or many overlook.
Then I told you the legend of the extraordinarily ordinary tea.
ONLY after all of that did I reveal the idea/lesson.
Now, please pay close attention because this is really important…
All of the things I did before “the reveal “were important things for you to know or be reminded of. All of those things were true.
Your content or copy must stand out from your competition or it will fall short.It will fail you.
It is extremely important that you know how to create powerful content and engaging copy.
The ordinary idea that I revealed today will play a very important role in enabling you to make your content or copy feel extraordinary.
In fact, this ordinary idea is so important I COULDN’T risk the chance of you ignoring it. I HAD to figure out the most extraordinary way to present it to you.
Otherwise, you never would’ve consumed this content. This means you never would have learned (or been reminded of) this valuable, but very ordinary idea.
I couldn’t risk doing anything else or anything less. This ordinary idea was too valuable to waste.
Would You or Your Team Like to Learn How to Create Content Like This?
If you or your team of content marketers or copywriters would like to learn how to create powerful content or persuasive copy, I have three options you can choose from:
Stay tuned for the next article that I’ll be posting next week. I’m going to continue to show you how to harness the power of the 7th marketing fundamental you need to succeed in 2021. (You can read all of the 7 marketing fundamentals here.)
Contact me if you’d like more information about a small, paid coaching group I’m thinking of starting. If there’s enough interest, I’ll teach a small group of you many more ways you can use to create powerful content and persuasive copy – copy that will stand out from the rest of the content or copy out there. Contact me and I’ll give you more details on what I’m going to teach and how much it will cost.
(*Don’t worry. If you contact me, you won’t be obligated to be a part of the group. I won’t pressure you or barrage you with emails begging you to be a part. I don’t want anyone to be a part of this group unless they are really interested and excited to be a part.)
IMPORTANT: If you work for a company and you have a group of content marketers or copywriters you’d like me to coach, I would be willing to start a group with just your team. We would just need to agree on a regular coaching time and a price that works for your team and me. Contact me and let’s talk about it more.
You can choose option 1 and option 2. You can stay tuned for my next article and contact meabout the coaching. 🙂
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Powerful content or compelling copy doesn’t just happen by accident any more than a great book or popular movie happens by accident.
Engaging content or effective copy is not only written using creativity. It’s also formed with a clear purpose and strategy in mind.
If you want to know how to write powerful content or great copy, then you will want to keep reading. I’m about to reveal to you the indispensable elements behind all great content or copy.
But before I do that, I need to tell you a quick story that will reveal something interesting about our desire to know the elements that form things…
The Universal Theory of the Ancient World
There was once an interesting theory that was believed throughout the ancient world.
What was this “universal theory”? It was the theory that nature and all of matter could be explained by four elements: water, earth, fire, air.
The cultures of Ancient Egypt, Greece, Persia, Babylonia, India, and several other cultures all had similar elements on their lists. That’s really interesting, isn’t it?
It’s interesting that people who were separated by great distances all came up with a similar list of the core elements of this world.
Of course, science doesn’t believe that these four elements are what make up our material world anymore. Atomic theory now states that matter is composed of atoms.
But my point is, whether it’s the ancient cultures or modern science, all of us are always trying to figure out the core elements that make up the things around us.
Well, I have good news for you today. There actually are some core elements behind all powerful content or copy. In fact, I would say there are 11 elements.
I’ll reveal what those 11 elements are in just a minute. But first, let me remind you of what I shared in my last article.
The 7th Marketing Fundamental
In my last article, I told you that the words you use are the 7th marketing fundamental you need to succeed in 2021.
In other words, after you’ve chosen your Who (the 5th marketing fundamental) and created the most powerful offer that you can for them (the 6th marketing fundamental), the next most important thing you can do is focus on the words you use.
The words you use or don’t use in your content or copy will make all the difference between your company experiencing success or failure from the marketing you use in 2021.
But you can’t just use any words that are randomly thrown together and expect to see amazing results.
If you want your words to have an impact, then your content or your copy must contain certain powerful elements.
The 11 Elements Behind All Powerful Content or Copy
Below are what I believe to be the eleven elements behind all powerful content or copy:
Capture Attention– You must have a captivating headline and an intriguing intro or you will never get anyone to consume your content or copy. If they don’t consume it, your company will never experience the success that it could in 2021.
Hold Attention – Once you capture their attention, you need to know how to keep hold of it. Because if you can’t keep your prospects attention, you will never be able to lead them where you want them to go.
Entertain – Your content or copy must be enjoyable to consume. If your content or copy isn’t enjoyable to read, then it will not be consumed. But if it is enjoyable to read, then people will not only consume it once, but they will also come back to read other content or copy you create. They will also share it with others.
Personality – If you want your content or copy to stand out, it must have a unique voice or tone. In other words, it must have personality. The common problem with a lot of content I see is that it doesn’t stand out. It sounds the same as any other content on the same topic. Copy without personality has the same problem. If your content or copy doesn’t stand out, it will never impact your prospects.
Educate – Great content or copy leaves people feeling like they know something that they didn’t know before. Or maybe it reminds them of something they forgot or have been overlooking. If your content or copy educates people, they will come back for more and share it with others.
Believable – Your content or copy must provide your readers with reasons to believe. I think it was Todd Brown that said this, “Not all things that are true are believable, and not all things that are believable are true.” You must tell the truth and do it in a way that people believe and accept it. If people don’t believe you, they will never purchase from you.
Answer Objections or Question – Questions or objections are a normal response to any information. You should not be surprised by them. You should expect them. Not only should you expect them, but you should also anticipate them and answer within your content or copy. If you can answer the objections and questions of the readers of your content or copy, then you have removed a major barrier that keeps people from purchasing from you.
Speaks to the Heart and the Mind – We are beings that have emotions and intellect, so both should be spoken to or I should say “written to.” If you want to create powerful content or copy, you need to create content that speaks to people’s hearts and their minds.
Inspiring – The origin of the word “inspire” comes from a Latin word that means to inflame or to blow in to. In other words, when you inspire someone, it’s like you’re blowing air over a low flame to make it grow. That means your content or copy can inspire many things in your readers. It can inspire confidence, hope, or inspire them to take action. Powerful content or copy is inspiring.
Empathetic – Your content or copy must show that you understand and can relate to the feelings of your readers. Do you want to know the secret to create content or copy that’s empathetic? You have to actually have empathy with your readers. If you don’t, then any content or copy you create with the appearance of empathy will ring hollow.
Motivate to take action – This is the ultimate sign of powerful content or copy. Powerful content or copy moves people to action. That means that it moves them to do things like: purchase from you, subscribe, share, or even comment on your content. If your content or copy doesn’t inspire people to action, it really just ends up being empty words. Empty words will not bring success to your company this year.
In My Upcoming Articles, We’ll Go Deeper
Today, I just wanted to touch on the eleven basic elements. But in my upcoming articles, I will go a little deeper on some of these elements,
Notice I said “some.” I won’t be able to go deeper into all of them. But I do want to give you some specific tips on how to use some of these elements in your content or copy.
Stay tuned. In the meantime, why don’t you sign-up below so that you will be notified when my next article goes live or when future articles do.
(While you’re at it, you should also sign-up to get access to the free resources in our DRCM Member’s Resource Area.)
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University-educated people know around 40,000 words. (BellEnglish.com)
A child in first grade uses between 8,000-14,000 words. (Scholastic)
When actually speaking and with everyday writing (emails, letters, notes, etc.), the amount of words the average person uses goes down to about 5,000 very common words that are used repeatedly. (BellEnglish.com)
300 to 600 words may be enough to travel, but at least 1,000 words are necessary for a conversation in another language. (MosaLingua.com)
Keep those facts in mind. Why?
Because the marketing fundamental I’m going to reveal to you today has something to do with word usage.
Keep reading and you’ll discover what I mean…
The 12 Marketing Fundamentals You Need to Succeed in 2021
If you haven’t read the other articles in this series, then you should read the next section. It will help you to understand the importance of the marketing fundamentals I’m sharing with you.
*Skip This If You’ve Read the Other Articles in This Series*
In my first article of the series, I laid an important foundation that I have continued to build on. In that article I said…
Based on some things I’ve been reading from the experts I follow, there are some interesting trends and predictions that are said to be coming our way in 2021.
These trends and predictions will be opportunities for people that know how to leverage them.
But I believe that the sweet spot in 2021 is the place where opportunity and the fundamentals meet.
You see, the people and companies that succeed the most are the ones that keep their eye out for opportunities and then take advantage of them by harnessing the fundamentals.
What fundamentals? The marketing fundamentals that have existed for at least 100 years and that will probably exist for at least another 100 years.
The third marketing fundamental is follow-up. Because two of the biggest mistakes many companies make are tied to follow-up. They don’t follow up at all. They don’t follow up enough.
The fourth marketing fundamental is a unique selling proposition. Because if you’re ever going to get your prospects to choose your company, product, or service over your competition, then they have to know WHY and HOW your business is different and better than any of the other choices.
Now that you’re all caught up, you’re ready to discover the 7th marketing fundamental.
When I revealed the 5th marketing fundamental, I told you that there’s a secret that successful direct response marketers all know.
They know that the most important element in a successful direct response campaign is the list. It’s what I called your Who.
When I revealed the 6th marketing fundamental, I told you that there’s another secret that successful direct response marketers know.
They know that the second most important element is a successful direct response piece is the offer.
Well, today I’m going to reveal the third most important element of a successful response piece.
After the who and the offer, it’s the most important component to creating powerful copy or content. This component is what I am calling the 7th marketing fundamental.
What’s the 7th marketing fundamental? It’s the words you use.
5 Important Facts to Understand About the 7th Marketing Fundamental
Now, that you know what the 7th marketing fundamental is, let me clarify some important facts that you need to understand:
Most marketers start with the words. That’s the wrong place to start. You must start with the right list, the right who, or the right audience. (They are all basically the same thing.)
If you are creating content or copy that is meant to directly influence sales, the second thing you must do is come up with the most powerful offer that will appeal to the list/who/audience you’ve chosen.
That is NOT to say that the copy/words/content that you choose to use are not that important. They are very important. But their importance doesn’t come into play until after you’ve chosen the right who and the right offer.
After those things are chosen, there is nothing more important to creating powerful marketing than the words you use. The most important elements are not the images you use or the layout of your page. Even though those things are important, the words you use are more important.
The words you use or don’t use will make all the difference between your company experiencing success or failure from the marketing you use in 2021.
That means your success in implementing the 7th marketing fundamental in 2021 comes down to how you answer these questions…
Do you know the kinds of words, phrases, and sentences that will make your prospects actually enjoy reading your copy or your content?
Do you know the kinds of words, phrases, and sentences that are the most effective to useto capture your prospect’s attention?
Do you know the types of words, phrases, and sentences that are the most important in helping your prospects to overcome their hesitancy to act on your offer?
Do you know the types of words, phrases, and sentences that will cause your copy or content to stand out from the sea of sameness?
In my upcoming articles, I’m going to reveal some of the elements that you can use to create powerful content and copy. Once you know these elements, you will enable you to answer “yes” to all of the questions above.
Stay tuned.
The First 6 Marketing Fundamentals You Need to Succeed in 2021 (INFOGRAPHIC)
If you haven’t, you can click the link above to read the full article. If you’ve already read it, I’ve included the infographic below again. Why?
Because I want to ask you to do me favor. Can you share it on your favorite social media platform and/or on your website?
When you do, you’ll not only be helping your followers and/or website visitors, you’ll be helping me to spread the word about this series I’m doing.
The First 6 Marketing Fundamentals You Need to Succeed in 2021– Infographic
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Pay Attention
When we think about attention, we use a phrase that I think means more than we probably have thought about before. We use the term “pay attention.”
We’re trying to get people to pay attention to us – to our marketing, in order for us to do these other things that I’ve talked about.
Now, think about that.
When you pay for something, you are taking something that’s valuable to you (your money) and you are giving it to somebody else in exchange for that thing.
When somebody is paying attention to us, they are exchanging something that’s valuable: their attention. These days attention is a very, very valuable asset because it’s so rare.
They are paying us with their attention for something in return. They might be hoping:
To be entertained
To gain an insight
To learn something
To distract themselves
Etc.
In other words, they expect to gain something. Now, if you pay for something, and you get nothing in return, then you feel like you got ripped off. You’re never paying for that thing again.
You’re never buying from that person, that company – or whatever/whoever, again. We need to remember that.
Return on Attention
If someone pays attention to us, that is just the first step.
If we don’t reward them, give them something in return – if they don’t have a return on attention (R.O.A), then they are not going to pay us attention again.
That’ll be the last time they ever pay attention to us.
But if reward them for giving us their attention in the first place, then they will pay it to us again and again and again.
When that happens, we don’t just gain a temporary moment of attention, but we gain an audience.
The Power of Building Audience
An audience is a powerful thing. As direct response content marketers, an audience is one of those things that we need to really understand the value of.
An audience has as much value as a list does. Now, I’m not saying we should have an audience instead of a list.
But we should realize the importance of both, making sure that we’re building up a list of prospects and an audience of prospects.
So you need to make sure that when someone pays you attention, that you reward them.
You reward them with education.
You reward them with entertainment.
You reward them with helpful answers to their questions, solutions to their problems.
If you do that, they will pay you their attention again, and you will gain an audience.
That’s the secret to earning your prospect’s future attention…today.
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Tell other people about it, share it, or embed it on your website. Tweet about it, share it on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Instagram. I will give you more great content as a reward for your attention.
Member’s Only Content Focused on Attention
I will be sharing a special post in the member’s resource area of this site that will be focused on how you can keep your prospect’s attention after you capture it.
I’ll also point you to one of the resources that members have access to which can help you to capture attention in the digital world.
If you’re not a member, you can join for free…
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Next Week: The Second Marketing Fundamental You Need to Succeed in 2021
Make sure to come back next week. Because next week, I’ll begin talking about the second marketing fundamental you’re going to need to succeed this year.
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I saw that the movie The Man Who Invented Christmas is on Hulu. That reminded me of some important content marketing lessons that I wrote about on one of my other websites back in 2017.
I think the lessons are still really important, so I want to share them with you here…
How Dickens Accidentally Helped Make Christmas Popular
Today, I want to show you how Dickens helped to make popular one of the most beloved holidays in the United States: Christmas.
And I want to show you how he did this by unintentionally taping into the power of content marketing.
In fact, as you’re about to discover, he wasn’t really intending to promote Christmas, but something else much nearer and dearer to his heart.
Today, I want to tell you how he did this. In the process, I want to reveal some important content marketing lessons that we can learn from Dickens.
And it all starts with a movie that I didn’t plan on watching.
(In case you’re worried, there are no real “spoilers” about the movie in this post!)
Movie – The Man Who Invented Christmas
The Great Movie We Didn’t Plan on Seeing
It was the day before Thanksgiving and all through the house… Oh, wait. Wrong story. (Sorry! I couldn’t resist.)
But it really was the day before Thanksgiving. My wife and I, and our three sons, were all getting ready to see Thor Ragnarok.
My sons and I had already seen it, but we wanted to take my wife to see it, because we thought she would love it. (She loves to laugh. We love to hear her laugh.)
But we made a fatal error.
We didn’t think we had to show up that early to a 3:30 pm showing of the movie because it was the day before Thanksgiving, the movie had been out for a while, and we thought many people would still be working.
We were wrong.
When we got there, 10 minutes or so before it started, we found out that the only seats that were left were in the front row. We didn’t want to do that, so we asked them what other movies were playing soon.
Both of the movies were ones we had thought about watching at some point — before we were forced to make this choice —so we thought for a second and decided that we wanted to see a more light-hearted movie.
So, we chose The Man Who Invented Christmas.
The Man Who Invented Christmas – Official Trailer
I had seen the trailer, and I thought it could be good. But I wasn’t sure if it would be cheesy.
Well, it wasn’t cheesy at all!
In fact, I really loved the movie.
I thought that the screenwriter (Susan Coyne) and director (Bharat Nalluri) did a REALLY great job at presenting a story that we all know in a new, entertaining, and very emotionally powerful way.
But it was what the movie revealed about how Dickens inspired the holiday of Christmas, as we know it today, that gave me the inspiration for this post.
Let me explain…
How Charles Dickens Unintentionally Harnessed the Power of Content Marketing to Make Christmas Popular
Image of Dickens’ original “A Christmas Carol” book via Wikipedia
Preface to the Original Edition A Christmas Carol
I have endeavoured in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea, which shall not put my readers out of humour with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me. May it haunt their houses pleasantly, and no one wish to lay it.
Their faithful Friend and Servant, C. D. December, 1843.
—
After watching the movie and researching Charles Dickens, I discovered that the way that we think about and celebrate Christmas is NOT the way it was in Dickens’ day.
In Dickens’ era, Christmas was not the popular holiday it is today.
Christmas was a second-class holiday in many peoples’ minds. Easter and Boxing Day were much more popular in that day and age.
It had been popular up until the late 1700s, back when people actually took 12 days to celebrate it. (Remind you of a certain song?)
By Dickens’ time, all of the old traditions and ceremonies had faded away.
It wasn’t a joyful time of the year. There were no decorations, carols, etc. People weren’t walking around with a sense of “the Christmas spirit.”
But Dickens loved Christmas. He had an affection and nostalgia for it.
Why? Because when Charles was young, his father used to celebrate it, in the old ways that people used to, with Charles and his siblings.
Still, his purpose for writing the book wasn’t really to make Christmas popular.
He had a much more basic and urgent need on his mind.
The Great Charles Dickens… Broke?
Original copy of Dickens’ “Oliver Twist”
Charles needed money!
He had written several flops after the huge success of Oliver Twist.
He had many large expenses, a fifth child on the way, and his payment checks from his publisher were lagging. (Things haven’t changed much, have they? 🙂 )
So he NEEDED to write another book and it had to be a good one. His family’s survival depended on it. But the inspiration for the book wasn’t to make Christmas popular.
He had a much more personal interest that he wanted to encourage/promote.
You see, he had gone to Manchester to deliver a speech in support of adult education for manufacturing workers there.
And when he saw the poor conditions of the children at the Field Lane Ragged School (a school for the poor), he remembered his own difficult childhood.
These events inspired him to go back home and write a story set during the Christmas season. A story about a struggling lower class family and a rich man who has a change of heart.
You see? His main goal – besides making money so his family wouldn’t be in the poorhouse themselves – was to have his readers walk away with a different view of and concern for the poor.
And he hoped that setting the story during Christmas would inspire his readers to become like the renewed and changed Scrooge at the end of the story.
(The way the movie portrays the process of coming up with this story is great!)
The Amazing Reception for “A Christmas Carol”
Scrooge passing out toys
The public’s reaction to the book was unbelievable!
The book was released during the Christmas season of 1843 and it became an instant bestseller in England and eventually in the U.S. as well.
Charles Dickens would go on to gain so much fame from A Christmas Carol that he was like “The Beatles” of his day.
Now, I am NOT saying that his book is the only reason that Christmas became so popular and adored. There were other factors too.
But Dickens had such an influence on Christmas and was so connected to the holiday that when he died in 1870, it is said that when a young girl heard of his death she asked her mother…
“Mr. Dickens dead? Then will Father Christmas die too?”
CONTENT MARKETING LESSON #1:
Stories, the Secret Weapon of Powerful Content Marketing
Think about it.
If Dickens had just written a book about the plight of the poor in England and the need to care for them, the book would’ve never become a bestseller and the well-known work it is today.
But instead of just writing directly about the need to care for the poor, he wrapped the idea behind the veil of a powerful, relatable story.
Don’t miss the importance of this fact. In a great book called Winning the Story Warsby Jonah Sachs, he gives an interesting perspective about how stories have the power to persuade…
Stories are a particular type of human communication designed to persuade an audience of a storyteller’s worldview.
“The storyteller does this by placing characters, real or fictional, onto a stage and showing what happens to these characters over a period of time.
“Each character pursues some type of goal in accordance with his or her values, facing difficulty along the way and either succeeds or fails according to the storyteller’s view of how the world works.”
“Your brain enters and experiences stories! Your brain can ignore dry facts. It passively takes in data and stats. But when you tell a story (if you tell it well), then the brain wakes up and plays along!”
In other words, when you speak to people’s intellect you make them think. But when you speak to their heart, you inspire them to act!
Because Dickens wrapped his ideas up in stories, they not only changed peoples’ minds about the poor, they also changed their attitudes and hearts about the poor.
This caused them to see that Christmas (the time of the year when the book was released) was the best time to DO something about their new feelings and concerns for the poor!
A Strange Example from My Own Life
Recently, I watched a documentary about writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, the actual creators of Superman.
It told the story of their struggle to gain back their rights (and income) to the character they created for DC comics.
It was so heart-wrenching to see these guys try to get just a small piece of the financial rewards for their character, while they lived an almost penniless existence.
In the end, it was so rewarding to see that decades later they were awarded by Warner Bros. (the then owner of Superman) a significant amount of money to be paid to them annually until their deaths.
What does this have to do with the way that stories and feelings inspire us to act? Nothing at this point in my story.
It’s what happened next that shows the impact of this story in a very strange way.
After I watched the documentary, I went online to look something up. As I did, I ended up being led to Wikipedia and I found this message…
In case you can’t read it from this image, it says…
TITLE: We ask you, humbly, to help.
Hi reader in the U.S., it seems you use Wikipedia a lot. This Friday we ask you to protect Wikipedia’s independence. It’s December 1, we haven’t hit our goal, and time is running out in 2017 to help us. We depend on donations averaging $15, but fewer than 1% of readers give. If you donate just $3, the price of your Friday coffee, you would help keep Wikipedia thriving for years. Please take a minute to keep Wikipedia growing. Thank you. — Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia Founder
I’ve never given to Wikipedia before.
In fact, I have never even wanted to give to them before.
But after seeing the story of those two creators not getting the money due them, I saw a similarity in Jimmy Wales’s request.
I have gotten a lot of benefit from Wikipedia over the years, but Jimmy never got anything from me in return.
The story of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster had impacted my emotions and so I decided to give.
And I decided to not just give $3. I decided to give $15. The amount isn’t an impressive amount. I only mention it because it was the higher amount they were asking for, not the minimum they were asking for.
Why did I do that? That’s how much of an emotional impact the story of the creators of Superman had on me!
It had so much impact that I gave to someone else who also seemed to be in a similar place. Because I didn’t want to be like DC Comics acted back in the day.
Did you catch that?
Their story had bled into the reality of my OWN life! I felt I was acting like DC Comics formerly acted. That made me want to change my ways.
Do you get it now? THAT’S what Charles Dickens’ story did.
People didn’t want to be like Scrooge (before his transformation), so they responded in the real world to the poor (and each other) with care and compassion.
It didn’t just change their attitudes about the poor. It changed their attitudes about Christmas… and it is still impacting people’s hearts today.
That’s the power that stories have!
Too many content marketers focus too much on getting the facts across and forget to share stories that will make those facts have more impact!
The Types of Stories You Can Use in Your Content Marketing
There are many different types of stories that you can use in your content marketing
Stories from others (like this one)
Personal stories from your own life or from individuals within the company you are creating content for (like my Superman story)
Your business’s origin story
Customer stories
Case studies
Just make sure that when you tell these stories that you make sure to do it like a storyteller would and not like an analyst would (no offense to analysts!).
CONTENT MARKETING LESSON #2:
Form Impacts and Increases Function
There is one last thing I learned AFTER watching this film. And this lesson has nothing to do with Charles Dickens himself or even his story “A Christmas Carol.”
It has everything to do with the movie – the story about him.
The book came out in 2011, but I have never heard of it!
What is the lesson that content marketers can learn from this?
It’s simple.
Never imprison your content in only one format! When you do, you limit its audience and impact.
That means that you need to remember to repurpose your content so that you can extend its reach and the reactions it causes in people.
A book reaches a smaller amount of people than a movie does. Not only that, but the impact of reading a story is different from seeing it acted out before you.
When they took the story from the book and transformed it into a movie, it changed its influence.
The wisest and most successful content marketers have always understood something. They know that each form of content has a different level of impact, reaches a different audience, and even has a different perceived value to each audience.
If you want an example, think of how people value movies over books. You can see this difference in value when you look at the typical box office earnings of a blockbuster movie and compare that to the earnings of a typical best selling book. The movie makes much more money because more people value movies than books.
In case you’re worried, your new format won’t take away the value or impact of the old format. The truth is that new formats can actually impact the original format in very positive ways. Let me show you what I mean…
Do you understand what that means? It means that the story of Dickens’ impact on Christmas, in the form of a movie, has positively impacted the sales of the book!
(I know this personally because I went ahead and put the book on my Amazon Wishlist.)
That’s why you must free your content from the limits of only residing in one content form! When you do this you will see amazing new results through your new form of the content and your original form.
I don’t think that Charles Dickens ever meant to change how people thought of and celebrated Christmas during his day.
And he could never imagine influencing people 174 years later who lived on another continent!
But that is the power of content marketing that’s infused with stories or veiled in a larger story. It can have a huge impact, even when used unintentionally.
If that true when it’s used unintentionally, then just think of the impact it can have when you use the combination of content marketing and stories intentionally!
Read the Rest of This Series
After posting this, I finally began to read the book I mentioned in this article. That lead me to build a whole traffic building series off of what I read in chapter one.
P.S. If you haven’t downloaded my free guide, The Content Marketer’s Ultimate Guide to Creating Content That Captures the Short Attention Spans of Today’s Readers, you should do that right now. It reveals how you can use a literary technique that Dickens used to become famous, then you go do that by clicking here.
NOTE: The post you’re about to read originally appeared here on my site RecessionSolution.com back on July 1, 2015.
Boudin Bakery in San Francisco
The Surprising Lesson From a Bakery
We had some friends visiting San Francisco from Washington, DC, so we went up to spend time with them.
We saw a lot of things I haven’t seen, even though I’d lived 30-40 minutes from San Francisco for most of my life.
One of the places we saw went to was the Boudin Bakery on Fisherman’s Wharf.
While we were there, I learned some interesting things about the bakery that I didn’t know.
And in the process, I learned some important lessons that apply to content marketing.
Here are some of the things that I learned:
Boudin Bakery was started in 1849 by a French baker named Isadore Boudin.
He came to San Francisco and started his bakery in North Beach because of the Gold Rush population boom that had happened the year before.
It is the oldest bakery in the West.
It’s one of the oldest businesses in San Francisco.
He used a traditional European technique of capturing natural yeast found in the air for his “mother dough”.
They still use the same “mother dough” to this day!
The 171-Year-Old “Mother Dough”
Boudin Bakery 1849
Did you hear what I said?
Boudin still uses the same “Mother Dough” that they first used back in 1849.
Isidore captured the original yeast from the air 171 years ago and he was happy with it. It produced a flavor in the bread that was pleasing to him.
So instead of trying to capture the yeast again and trying to duplicate it, he did what bakers have done for thousands of years: he kept part of that original “mother dough” to use in the next batch.
That is how Boudin Bakery has continued to produce consistently delicious bread for all these years!
They don’t start completely from “scratch” with each new batch.
They always begin with a part of Isidore Boudin’s original dough.
The original dough is replenished daily with flour and water, so that the strains of yeast that he captured way back in the 1800s can continue to survive and can be used to make another loaf of bread today and tomorrow.
The Secret of Today’s Publishing Empires
Effective content marketing comes from two things.
It comes from using a powerful content marketing strategy and from utilizing great content.
What you need to realize is that people who produce great content and harness effective content marketing strategies hardly ever start from “scratch.”
They almost always have some sort of “mother dough” that they use as a “starter”.
But you need to understand that this doesn’t just apply to content marketing strategy.
It also applies to content marketing creativity.
That means that if you want to come up with new ideas for your content marketing,you don’t have to try to come up with them out of the blue.
Great Content
Let me explain by sharing with you a practice that copywriters have been using for decades.
Years and years ago copywriters learned a powerful secret to creativity.
Instead of starting from scratch every time they wrote an new ad, they discovered that it was better to use a previously written successful ad and use it for inspiration and ideas.
They created what became known as a “swipe file,” which was a file of copywriting that had already proven to be effective.
They would look over the samples that they gathered in this swipe file and use them to unlock ideas and inspiration for any and all new copywriting ideas.
What I am trying to get you to see is that the way to come up with the best content marketing ideas is not to start from scratch every single time.
The best way to come up with content marketing ideas is to use some sort of “Content Marketing Swipe File” as your “mother dough.”
The Way That Leads to Effective and Consistent Results
The Boudin Bakery has successfully produced amazing sourdough bread for 171 years, because they use the same “mother dough” that produced the first amazing loaf.
If you want to produce effective content marketing, then you must do the same thing.
Don’t start completely from “scratch”. That’s too risky.
Instead use a portion of the “mother dough” from a strategy or idea that has already proven itself to be effective.
Then add your own ingredients and twists to it.
That is how you consistently produce great content marketing.
“Listen to the mustn’ts, child. Listen to the don’ts. Listen to the shouldn’ts, the impossibles, the won’ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me… Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.”
― Shel Silverstein
Have you been wondering about what kinds of content you should or shouldn’t create during the Coronavirus?
Or have you ever wondered if you should be creating any content at all?
After you read it, I think you’re going to be more excited about your purpose as a content creator or content marketer.
Because the answer about the types of content you should create during this time won’t just give you content marketing ideas, it will give you inspiration.
Your Mission: Become the Voice of Hope for Your Audience
What you’ll learn in my post on ContentMarketingInstitute.com is that you don’t need to worry about if you should be creating content during this time.
Yes, you should be. You no longer need to worry about what type of content to create.
If the content you want to create will give your audience hope about the present and their future, then you should publish it with confidence.
Not only does my post about John’s SGN story reveal the type of content to create in a Coronavirus world, but there are also several things you’ll learn about how to create this type of content.
But there’s something that I didn’t mention in that post, that I want to share exclusively with all of you here…
In case you think that John just got lucky with this message of hope during this unique time, you’re wrong. This desire for a message of hope during a difficult time isn’t new.
The fact is that through SGN John stumbled upon a universal need and truth that has been true long before any of us were around. Let me give you two examples:
During World War I, after a British battalion stationed in the front line at Ypres, Belgium, came across a printing press abandoned by a Belgian, they decided to print a satirical newspaper for the troops called The Wipers Times. It became a source of hope and humor for the troops. (You can see a great movie about this on Amazon.)
During World War II, USO overseas shows began with a tour of the Caribbean. According to Wikipedia, “Within five months 36 overseas units had been sent within the Americas, the United Kingdom, and Australia, and during 1942 1,000 performed as part of 70 units.” As most of you know, the USO shows also became a source of hope and humor for these troops too.
You see? This means that this lesson isn’t just important for this strange season of life.
It’s a strategy that you should keep in your playbook for now, after this pandemic, and for the next time the economy or world is thrown into chaos.
The Skill You Can Use Now and In the Future
That means that if you can learn to master the skill of creating content that’s full of hope, you’ll not only have an impact now but also in the future.
When times of difficulty and desperation come again — and they will — you’ll have the ability to not only inspire your prospects and customers, you’ll have the ability to change their lives and change your business.
Get a Free Copy of My Book Become a Member of the DRCM Member’s Area (It’s Free!)
When you sign-up to become a member today, you’ll get access to a free copy of my book 51 Content Marketing Hack (Currently being sold on Amazon for $9.99)
In honor of Juneteenth, I thought I share a post about one of my favorite inventors, George Washington Carver. But I believe that he was not only an incredible inventor, he was also a person who used content marketing in a very powerful way.
He started a “School on Wheels” and went out to farms so he could teach farmers how to revive soil by planting peanuts and sweet potatoes.
Not only did he do that, but after teaching them, he went to his lab to create markets for these plants and ended up inventing 300 uses for the peanut and 118 uses for the sweet potato.
You see, Carver used content marketing (through teaching/speaking) to not only revive the soil but also revive the economy as well.
This teaches us something important that we all need to understand.
Content Marketing Isn’t About Tricking People, It’s About Serving Them
Content marketing isn’t about manipulating people or tricking them into buying your product or service. It’s about helping people.
If you have a solution to their problems, if you have an answer to their unanswered questions, if you have a way to genuinely make their lives better, it’s your duty to reach them.
Not just so that you can make a sale or receive income, but so they can be helped.
Content marketing allows you to do this by being able to educate people and build a relationship with them, so they can see working with you(or purchasing your product or service) as a natural foregone conclusion.
That’s what content marketing is really about… or at least should be.
It reminds me of this well-known quote from Zig Ziglar, “You can have everything you want in life, if you help enough other people get what they want.”
So along with all of the other important ingredients for creating effective content marketing, let me add this missing ingredient… sincerity.
Adding that unwritten and unseen ingredient could change others’ lives and yours in the process.
Here are two questions for you to focus on as you try to achieve this with your content:
What do my prospects need to know and understand so they can see greater results in their lives?
What do they need to know and understand before (or so that) the solution you’re selling can really help them?
Figure out how to answer those questions and then go and serve people with your content.
“There are no original ideas. There are only original people.” – Barbara Grizzuti Harrison
—
“Originality is nothing but judicious imitation. The most original writers borrowed one from another.” – Voltaire
Focus Your Originality on the “How”
Many content marketers and content creators stress out about trying to come up with unique content that no one has ever seen before.
Look. It’s important to have original ideas, so do your best to come up with as original ones as you can think of.
But the reality is that the chances of you coming up with a completely brand-new idea are pretty slim. As King Solomon said, “There’s nothing new under the sun!”
It’s also important to realize that HOW you craft and present your ideas is what really matters when it comes to originality.
Why? Because it’s the only real way for you to create anything that is new.
That means that your focus and concern should be more on your HOW than on your WHAT. What I am telling you is this…
If you like this quote, then please share it!
What Do I Mean by “How?”
You might be wondering what I mean when I say you should focus on the “How” and the most original presentation of your ideas that’s possible.
When I am talking about “How,” I am talking about things like:
Personality – The style you use to present your ideas
Stories you use
Examples you use
Structure – The order and way you present your ideas
Attitude – The tone you use to present your ideas
Perspective – The viewpoint you take or the angle you use to present your ideas
These six things will give you the chance to create content that will be perceived as original and that will stand out from your competition.
The Game-Changer
“He who resolves never to ransack any mind but his own will be soon reduced from mere barrenness to the poorest of all imitations: he will be obliged to imitate himself.” – Sir Joshua Reynolds in Discourses on Painting and the Fine Arts, Delivered at the Royal Academy
Think of the 80/20 principle when it comes to content creation.
Focus 20% of your time on coming up with original ideas (the WHAT) and focus 80% of your time on crafting and presenting those ideas in unique ways (the HOW).
When you focus the majority of your energy and creativity on being creative with HOW you present your content, then that will change everything.
You will be able to stop being tormented by the fear of originality and your content will begin to stand out in your market’s mind.
A Powerful Example of “How” in Action
I have a really powerful example that will show you how focusing on your “How” can make your “What” seem completely original and unique.
The first video below is one of Justin Bieber’s songs from 2015 called Love Yourself. Listen to at least the first 57 seconds of it…
Justin Bieber – Love Yourself Lyrics
Pretty catchy isn’t it? Ok, great.
Now that you have that melody in your mind, take a listen to the first 1:20 seconds of Postmodern Jukebox‘s version of the song in the video below…
Love Yourself – Vintage 1929 Postmodern Jukebox Justin Bieber Cover ft. Sara Niemietz
It sounds like a completely different song, but the words and underlying melody (the “What”) are the same!
How did they make it sound so unique? Postmodern Jukebox focused on the “how” more than on the “what”.
And the result is a song that sounds totally different, but just as catchy and original sounding.
Now, don’t misunderstand me. I am not suggesting that you use the same exact words and content as someone else.
That’s illegal and lazy.
But I wanted to show you these two videos to show you that if Postmodern Jukebox can take the exact words and basic melody of Justin Bieber’s song and make it sound totally different, then you don’t ever have to worry again about your content ideas not being 100% unique and one of a kind.
All you need to do is what Postmodern Jukebox did. Focus your creative energy on the “How” and your content will be a sweet original sound in your prospect’s and customer’s ears.
“Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren’t very new after all.” ― Abraham Lincoln
—
“All my best thoughts were stolen by the ancients.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
Are you creating amazing content, but you’re still having trouble getting any attention with it?
If you are, then keep reading.
Because I’m about to reveal a powerful way to not only make your content stand out, but also make it more valuable.
I’ll explain more of what I mean in just a minute, but first, you need to hear this story. (This story will tie into the lesson we can learn from “Hot Ones”.)
It might seem like a strange story to start with. The reality is that within this story is the solution to your problem…
Not Your Average Albertsons
There is an Albertsons near us that is not your average Albertsons.
It’s more like Albertsons on steroids. It’s the Disneyland of Albertsons.
This is what makes it so special:
They have wide aisles.
There is a bar within the store called Talon Tap and Spirits.
They have a full-Service Asian Bistro
There’s a fresh sushi station
They have a Starbucks
There’s an olive bar
And an oyster bar
There’s also a pizza area
And more
My mom was visiting from out of town and was amazed at the store, the variety of products that they had, and the way things were displayed.
I didn’t realize it yet but I was about to come across something that would remind me of a very important marketing lesson. A marketing lesson that I am going to share with you today.
You see, we went down a spice aisle and I came across a row of salts that caught my eye.
It was salt from a company I had never heard of before calledJacobsen Salt Co.
As you can see in the picture above, what made these salts stand out to me was the unique flavors:
Habenero Salt
Basil Salt
Black Pepper Salt
And Garlic Salt (Ok,this one isn’t that unique!)
It was at that moment that an important marketing — and content marketing — lesson came to my mind.
How You Make an Average, Common Product or Piece of Content Stand Out in a Crowded Market
I realized that the Jacobsen Salt Co. had applied an important marketing lesson that we all should learn from. Let me explain…
You see, they took an average, common product (salt) and they transformed it into something that’s above-average and unique.
How? By adding something new and different to it.
They added habanero, basil, etc. And by adding to it, it became above-average and unique.
You can do the same thing not only with any product or service, but you can also do that to any piece of content that you create.
Don’t believe me? Ok, I’ll prove it to you.
Hot Ones: How to Spice Up Your Typical Interview Show
A show that’s based on an interview format is nothing new. In fact, according to Wikipedia, there are 93 talk shows.
So, if you were to create a new talk show, you’d have a really hard time standing out and building an audience.
But what if you decided to use the lesson from Jacobsen Salt Co. and add something to your talk show?
That’s exactly what Christopher Schonberger did when he created the web series Hot Ones produced by First We Feast and Complex Media.
The basic premise of the show is to have host Sean Evans interview celebrities while they eat from a platter spicy chicken wings that increasingly gets hotter and hotter.
That simple and unique concept has enabled Chris and this show to stand out in a crowded market!
If you haven’t seen an episode, check out this one with Paul Rudd. (Warning: Sometimes the guests cuss in response to the hotter and hotter wings they eat.)
How a Marketing Guru Applies This Concept to Make His Content More Valuable
In case you don’t know who Dan Kennedy is, he’s the marketing guru who many of the top online marketers trace their success back to.
Well, many years ago Dan Kennedy came up with something that he calls “Magnetic Marketing”, and it’s still a powerful way to market any product or service.
Dan is a perfect example of adding something new/different to your marketing and/or product.
How? You see, he took his same basic product and applied it to dentists and chiropractors.
The same core product (i.e. content) was the same. But he created new and additional content that showed how to apply his concepts uniquely to dental practices and chiropractor practices.
The result? He was able to sell these courses at a higher price than just the generic product. Why? Because he added something new/different to his coursethat applied to a specific group of people.
That means that when you add to your content you not only make it stand out, but you also make it more valuable in the eyes of your ideal prospects.
How to Apply This to Your Content Marketing
Here are three questions you can ask that will help you to take what I’ve talked about today and easily apply it to the content you create:
Is there something new and different you can add to your content that will make it stand out? (Jacobsen Salt Co added unique flavors. Hot Ones added spicy wings.)
Is there a different target market that you can create content for which is less crowded than the current one that you’re in? (Dan did this by tweaking his course so that it would help dentists and chiropractors.)
Is there a different format that you can create your content in which will make it stand out? (Pat Flynn, from the Smart Passive Podcast, discovered that when he created content in the form of a podcast instead of just blog posts, that people began waiting in anticipation for it.)
How You Can Learn “Magnetic Marketing”
By the way, if you’ve never heard of “Magnetic Marketing”, you’re in luck. Dan finally came out with a book that teaches you everything you need to know about it.
Stay Tuned Tomorrow for a Unique Way I Will Present Content to You
I want to reveal one other way that you can create unique content that will stand out in the market.
I’m going to do that by presenting a unique way to take the content in this post and create another post that will be valuable to you in a completely different way.
In fact, it will help you improve your content creation skills.
Stay tuned and see what I mean.
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Believe it or not, there are some powerful content marketing lessons that we can learn from Christmas songs.
In this video, you’ll not only discover important content marketing lessons you can learn from Christmas songs, but you’ll also learn valuable content creation lessons.
In this video, you’ll discover:
Two important content marketing lessons that we can learn from Christmas songs.
Two takeaways that you can apply to your own content marketing.
And three methods you can use to produce your content based on the way popular artists create and record Christmas songs
The Surprising Content Marketing Lessons You Can Learn from Christmas Song (VIDEO)
Does it sound to you like I say, “Christmas sogs” at the beginning of the video? It does to me! I’m not sure what happened, but let’s pretend it didn’t happen! 🙂
Well today, I want to talk to you about my follow-up post and infographic that contained even more types of content we crave.
More Content We All Crave
Because of the popularity of my “21 Types of Content We Crave” post, ContentMarketingInstitute.com asked me if I wanted to do a follow-up post. I said, “Sure!”
From the very beginning, I’ve never claimed that my “21 Types of Content We Crave” are the only types of content we crave.
The twenty-one that I mentioned in my original list are just the main types that I came up with back in 2012, as I pondered the types of content that I had observed have a huge impact on people.
But as I was putting together my follow-up post for CMI, I thought a lot about other types of content we all crave.
I began to really think again about the types of content that I’ve seen have a huge impact people. And I began to think about the types of content I might have left out.
After much thought, I’ve come up with ten more, powerful types of content we all crave. So here’s my new list of 10 more types of content we all love to consume.
The Kind of Content We Must Create to Influence, Inspire, and Move People to Action
You need to understand this about my original 21 types of content and these additional 10 types:
This is the kind of content we never get tired of.
This is the kind of content we always have time for.
This is the kind of content we don’t forget.
And this is the kind of content we want to share with others.
This is the kind of content we must create if our goal is to influence, inspire, and move to action the unique group of people we have chosen to reach.
You don’t have to have each of these types in every piece of content you produce. Sometimes one type is enough. For longer forms of content, you might want to use multiple types of content and move from one to the other.
MY CHALLENGE TO YOU
Print out this list and put it somewhere you can see it regularly to help you develop irresistible content as part of your content strategy.
Regularly pick one or more items from this list and ask yourself one of these questions:
Does the content I am writing meet this criteria?
What can I do to make the content I’m creating fall under this category?
*Do you have any more types of content that you’d add to this list? Post them in the comments.
Share This Post and My Previous One with Others
Can you do me, yourself, and others a favor?
Please pass this post and my last one on to your friends, colleagues, and followers if you found it helpful.
**You are also welcome to post it on your blog or site. (A link back would be appreciated.)
What Another Person Said About the Training I Later Created
Like I said yesterday, I later created a paid webinar that revealed the little-known way that people could tap into the types of content we crave in order to create more engaging content.
I then talk that same information to a group of B2B content marketers.
The people who attended the webinar (and later my live teaching of it) really loved it.
Here’s what another person said after attending this same training:
“The title of Scott’s presentation, ‘21 Types of Content We Crave,’ was completely misleading, and that’s a good thing. For most audiences, the phrase ‘types of content’ denotes the different content assets: data sheets, white papers, infographics, news releases, etc. Currently, there are many content experts who talk about content strategy and content assets – talks that have become content cliché. Scott’s presentation, on the other hand, was about the different emotional triggersthat content should elicit and evoke – a truly brilliant and novel approach.”
– Alok Vasudeva, The Marketer’s Continuum
Watch the First 12 minutes of “31 Types of Content We Crave for FREE
Image of My Training Video (Not Clickable)
Want to Take a Peek at My Training Before You Pay?
I want to let you watch to the first 12 minutes of my 52:39-minute video training.
You can watch it for free. All you need to do is sign-up below.
That way you can see if you would like to purchase it or not.
I came up with the idea for the infographic below one day when I began thinking about the common themes of content that appeal to people across a wide range of audiences.
I had the infographic created and wrote it for ContentMarketingInstitute.com.
It originally appeared on their siteback on June 5, 2012.
Before their site redesign, the number of times it had been tweeted was over 800 times.
It has since been shared thousands of times by people from all walks of life.
21 Types of Content We Crave (INFOGRAPHIC)
What One Person Said About the Training I Later Created
Later, I created a paid webinar that revealed the little-known way that people could tap into the types of content we crave in order to create more engaging content.
I then talk that same information to a group of B2B content marketers.
The people who attended the webinar (and later my live teaching of it) really loved it.
This what one person who experienced the live training live said afterward:
“Scott is a fantastic speaker. His presentations grab your attention from the very start, then keep you on the edge of your seat for the entire duration. Scott had an audience of B2B content marketers hanging on his every word. Scott’s presentation sparked so many ideas that the subsequent Q&A with audience members ran long. Being a good sport, Scott stayed until every last question was answered.”
– Dennis Shiao Former Director of Content Marketing, DNN
If you would like to listen to a sneak peek of the webinar, then you can below…
Watch the First 12 minutes of “31 Types of Content We Crave for FREE
Image of My Training Video (Not Clickable)
Want to Take a Peek at My Training Before You Pay?
I want to let you watch to the first 12 minutes of my 52:39-minute video training.
You can watch it for free. All you need to do is sign-up below.
That way you can see if you would like to purchase it or not.
Sign-up Below to Watch the First 12 Minutes Now
See 10 More Types of Content We All Crave Tomorrow
Four years later, ContentMarketingInstitute.com asked me if I wanted to do a follow-up post, since the original post was so popular.
I said yes and decided to include ten more types of content we all crave.
“It was one of those moments that remains one of the greatest in Pawn Stars history because they were looking at a 1961 Gibson SG Les Paul Guitar that was played by the wife of the man who created it. It is like having Babe Ruth’s grandson bring in a signed rookie card of him. It does not get much better than that. After an expert confirmed the value of it to be close to $150,000, a deal was made for $90,000.”
It’s the story of Mary and her connection to Les Paul that made the guitar so valuable, not the guitar itself.
My Secret to Creating Valuable Content is Very Similar
The reason I couldn’t believe what I was hearing is because one of my secrets to creating valuable content is this…
“All of your content’s value comes from the story you wrap it in.”
– Scott Aughtmon, DirectResponseContentMarketing.com
How do I take a common idea or truth and make it feel new and valuable? I wrap it in a story.
Simply by using the right story, I can exponentially increase the value of the idea.
My Secret in Action: It’s Right Before Your Eyes
Want an example of how I use this content creation secret? OK, you just read one.
I wanted you to realize that it’s the story you use to create the context for your ideas that will determine whether your content seems valuable or not.
But instead of just telling you this idea, I told you the story of the secret that Rick Harrison revealed on the TV show Pawn Stars.
I used that story to give you a unique context for understanding my content creation secret.
And it’s that story that made my idea much more interesting and valuable than it would ever be without the story.
So, if you want to exponentially increase the value of your content, remember my and Rick’s secret: all the value comes from the story.
P.S. You can watch the episode that I was talking about right now on HistoryChannel.com. Click here.
(NOTE: You will have to enter your cable provider.)
I heard a story about a farmer who had some puppies he needed to sell.
He painted a sign that said “Puppies For Sale.”
He took the sign and nailed it to a post on the edge of his yard.
As he was pounding the last nail into the post, he felt a tug on his overalls.
He looked down and there was a little boy looking up at him from the other side of the fence.
The little boy said to the man, “Excuse me, mister. I want to buy a puppy.”
The farmer wiped his neck with his handkerchief and said to the boy, “Well, these puppies come from mighty fine parents and they aren’t cheap.”
The boy dropped his head for a moment.
Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of change and showed it to the farmer.
“I got thirty-nine cents. Is that enough to take a look?”
“Well, alright. Sure, boy” said the farmer.
The farmer then whistled and yelled the dog’s name.
Suddenly, the mother dog came running out from the doghouse followed by four little puppies.
The little boy pressed his face against the fence and he smiled at the sight of those puppies.
And then, out of the corner of his eye, the boy noticed a movement coming from the doghouse. Slowly another little puppy appeared, but this one was much smaller than the others.
It sort of slid down the ramp and then hobbled awkwardly toward the other puppies.
The little boy pointed to the runt as it joined the others and said, “I want that one!”
The farmer couldn’t believe it.
He said, “Now, son, you don’t want that puppy. He’s never gonna be able to run and play with ya like these other ones here.”
When the boy heard that, he stepped back and rolled up one of his pant legs to reveal a steel brace running down both sides of his leg. It was attached to a specially made shoe.
Looking back up at the farmer the little boy said, “You see sir, I don’t run so well myself. That little puppy needs someone who understands him and I do.”
—————————- Isn’t that what we’re all looking for? Someone who understands?
An author named Jess Lair had a great definition of empathy. He said, “Empathy: Your pain in my heart.”
And do you know what? There is power in empathy.
One type of content that you MUST create as a content marketer is content that describes your prospects’ or customers’ problems, dreams, etc.
Why? It shows your prospects and customers that you can relate to them.
When someone knows you understand them, then you have their attention like no one else.
And you won’t just have their attention. You’ll have their alliance.
But your empathy must be real. If it’s not it will backfire.
So stop trying to “sell” with your content marketing and start trying to empathize.
Watch what happens.
P.S. In the past, I’ve been asked to share examples of how to use my “21 Types Of Content We Crave.” (Click title to see the infographic.)
Well, this post uses content types #4, #7, #19, and #21. If you have examples of the 21 types, then tweet them using the #contentwecrave hashtag.
Without knowing you personally there are not a lot of things that I can predict will grab your attention every time except for one thing: the thing you crave.
Because I know that if it’s something you crave, then you’re going to have your reticular activating system on “high alert” and on the lookout for that thing.
That means that if you want your marketing to capture your prospect’s attention, then all you have to do is figure out what they crave.
Now I CAN’T tell you what your prospect specifically craves, but I CAN tell you what they crave a universal level.
And it has everything to do with what I call “content we crave.”
Watch my latest video to learn about the “31 Types of Content We Crave” and how you can use them in your marketing to grab attention…
How Marketers Can Capture Attention Using My 31 Types of Content We Crave (VIDEO)
After you watch my video, you can download or print out my two “content we crave” infographics so you can use them as your cheat sheet whenever you want to create copy or content that has a higher chance of capturing your prospect’s attention.
P.S. Make sure to check out my infographic “7 Ways to Create Boring Content” before you leave. It will give you ways to guarantee that your content will be boring!
P.P.S. Make sure you check out the steps at the end of this post to learn how to create interesting content.
In a Reader’s Digest issue from April 1981, a man named Louis De V. Day, Jr., told an interesting story in an article called Pennomena.
The story was about the surprising and funny solution that a group of college students came up with in order to help them get through a boring professor’s lectures.
And I believe that this story presents an important reminder for all us content marketers.
Here’s the story in Day’s own words…
The Funny Way a Group of College Students Handled a Boring Professor
“Several years ago a professor at the University of Pennsylvania was know for giving boring, cliché-ridden lectures.
“At the beginning of one semester, an innovative class breathed new life into his course by assigning baseball plays to each hackneyed phrase.
“For example, ‘on the other hand’ was a base hit;‘by the same token’ was a strikeout; ‘and so on’ was a stolen base.
“Divided into two teams by the center aisle of the lecture hall, the students throughout the term played inning after inning of silent but vigorous baseball.
“On the last day of class, the impossible happened — the score was tied, the bases were loaded and the batter hit a home run!
“The winning team stood and cheered wildly.
“Though deeply appreciative, the professor was quoted later as having wondered why only one-half of the students had been enthusiastic about his lectures.”
The One Lesson a Boring Professor Can Teach You
It’s hard to learn from a boring professor, but there’s an important lesson they can teach us. And that lesson is this…
The power of your words is not just in WHAT you say, but it’s also in HOW you say them.
They’re the equivalent of a boring college professor who can’t get through to their students. That’s never going to work!
Your prospects and customers won’t make an effort to make your boring content exciting, like those students did. Instead they’ll just tune you out completely. Or unsubscribe!
So that leads us to these questions:
What can you do about this?
How can you make sure that you’re content is not boring?
In order to help you with this, I thought it’d be fun thing to tell you what NOT to do.
So below I am presenting to you what I am calling “Seven Ways to Create Boring Content.”
You’ll find it below in two helpful formats for you: 1) An infographic and 2) A text version of the list
7 Ways to Create Boring Content (Infographic)
7 Ways to Create Boring Content (Text Version)
If you follow these tips, you’re guaranteed to bore people every time!
1. Create content that has no personality
2. Create content that is exactly the same as any or all other content I can find on the subject
3. Don’t use any stories
4. Don’t give any examples
5. Don’t surprise me in any way with your content
6. Don’t take an interesting perspective on a subject
7. Don’t share a bold opinion
Time Drags When You’re Boring
I heard that the famous film director Billy Wilder, who was known for classic movies such as “Some Like It Hot,” was once asked how he liked a new film.
His answer was both funny and enlightening.
He said, “To give you an idea, the film started at eight o’clock. I looked at my watch at midnight –and it was only 8:15.”
Isn’t that true? When you’re bored, time drags… on… f-o-r-e-v-e-r!
When you follow my tips above, you’re sure to slow down time for people in the same way.
So how do you create exciting and engaging content?
How to Create Interesting Content
If you want to know how to create interesting and engaging content, it all comes to doing the opposite of everything in my list above.
That means you need to create content that:
Has personality
Is different than other content that can be found on the same subject
Tells stories
Gives powerful examples of what you’re talking about
Surprises people in some way
Gives an interesting perspective
And finally shares a bold point of view
This is the kind of content that will never bore people.
If you’d like more examples of how to create exciting and engaging content, then make sure to check out my “21 Types of Content People Crave”.
