Content marketing has become without a doubt one of the necessities for brand promotion online. And in many cases it is viewed as a necessary evil, but it needn’t be. You just have to start looking at it from a different angle.
It’s true, walking through the woods in the quest to attract the right customers ain’t easy; we all know there are many potential Prince Charmings out there but we’re never too sure when the Big Bad Wolf will appear. To help you face your fears of running into the Big Bad Wolf I’ve put together my blog writing essentials which will make it easier for you to locate Prince Charming.
Create exceptionally good blog posts for your brand with my top 5 E’s for blogging:
1. Entertain
Be entertaining, give your readers a reason to read your article and keep reading. Think of your article as a story, one that takes your readers on a journey. Hook them in with a great headline and keep them moving on the journey. Like every good story your article should have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Complete with conflict-causing villains and conflict-resolving heroes armed with problem solving solutions.
Make your readers want to meet you by being approachable. When possible avoid using dry, technical language (yawn). Instead use everyday language, free of jargon, that they can relate to. Remember that people are easily distracted online so the simpler you make your message, the more likely they are to hang around until the end.
2. Empathise
There’s a lot of hype around empathy at the moment, and while content may be king, empathy is it’s religion. Empathy is something that humanises your brand, it breaks down the wall between brand and consumer thus allowing (potential) leads to relate to you.
The key is knowing what your audience struggles to understand or finds difficult, what it is that gives them grief. Enter the hero (i.e your brand) with your trusty first aid kit.
So rather than going for the hard sell, listen, and offer solutions that will improve their situation.
If you’re still not sure why emotions are important for a brand have a read of this article ‘Empathy Sells’ from FastCo.
3. Educate
Tell the reader what you know, let them see why you’re the best choice. It may feel like you’re giving away your secrets but a few teasers won’t hurt. The result is your information is given value, and your audience will begin to see you as a credible source of information.
“Valuable content increases demand for the products and services you sell.”
Andrew Davis
Sharing your information gives it a value, and as a result you’ll keep your readers champing at the bit for more.
4. Examples
This is your showcase, this is where you give your readers confidence in your ability with real life examples of how your brand’s products/services have improved someone’s situation. So, going back to empathising with your audience, here is where you can provide them with evidence that you can be trusted to solve their problems.
This could also be a form of curated content. By backing up what you’re saying with quotes, articles, videos, SlideShare presentations from reputable sources you align your brand with leaders, adding authenticity.
It’s about selling yourself without selling your products.
5. Evoke
Give your readers a reason to engage with your content by evoking a response. The 4 previous E’s will help you with this. Get them thinking, ask questions, work up to it through your article and then end it with a call-to-action.
Your call-to-action could also be a question that encourages them to leave a comment. Or you could point them in the direction of other sources of information on the topic that you or other industry leaders have created.
Turn your dreams into realities.
There is a lot more that goes into developing blog articles like the art of crafting killer headlines and not to forget the technical side of things such as optimising your article so that it can be found by the people you want to read it. But if you inject these 5 E’s into your writing you’ll be well on your way to attracting your audience, engaging your readers and turning them into princes, I mean customers.
Have you used any of these elements in your blog articles? Do you have any favourites, maybe some you’ve successfully used that I haven’t mentioned? Share your stories below, I’d love to hear them.
