A lady jolts awake in the dark, awoken by a thud from downstairs. A wizard, who’s been coaching within the magical arts since he was a boy, is about to face his first nice check. Airplane crash survivors on a distant island grapple with their new circumstances.
Every sentence is the beginning of a brand-new story. And one way or the other, in a single sentence, these tales have the facility to seize our consideration and spark our curiosity—one thing content material entrepreneurs goal for with every bit they create.
So, what’s the important thing to efficiently capturing curiosity in industrial audiences? Creativity.
How can we get artistic with content material advertising?
As a content material marketer for a B2B tech firm, I understand how burnout feels and the way exhausting it’s to generate new concepts. There’s round the clock stress to create new content material—whether or not the objective of that content material is to recruit for an occasion on social media or promote a brand new product on the weblog. Typically, I really feel extra like a content material machine than a content material strategist.
When you share this sentiment, we’re not the one ones. In truth, analysis finds that 61 % of creators are experiencing burnout.
Entrepreneurs can’t produce their finest work in the event that they’re burnt out. And in case your content material doesn’t stand out out of your competitors, it received’t flip your prospects’ heads. Content material high quality is a significant factor for potential consumers evaluating manufacturers with comparable merchandise. Research present that poor-quality content material decreases the chance of a sale by 40 %.
Your model’s content material wants to seize consideration, or your prospects will go elsewhere. How do you make that occur? With extra creativity in advertising belongings.
3 methods to embrace artistic content material advertising
For now, let’s neglect about website positioning, analytics, firm targets, and deadlines. As an alternative, let’s deal with other ways to spark creativity with content material to gauge curiosity and engagement.
1. Develop a deep understanding of your model
The traditional Greek aphorism “Know thyself” suggests that is the very best type of information. The identical college of thought applies to your organization’s model.
You may be considering, “Clearly! I’m a marketer. It’s my job to dwell and breathe our model.” Even if you happen to clearly perceive your merchandise, firm values, and goal persona(s), doing a intestine test in your model is crucial. Even veteran staff and model creators must ask themselves, “Is that this consultant of who we’re?” at occasions.
Does everybody in your group share the identical understanding? If not, it’s time to make sure everyone seems to be on the identical web page. You possibly can’t produce artistic content material with out one key ingredient: Consistency.
Your model wants to face for one thing, and your artistic content material must make noise in your business.
However and not using a constant model underlying all of your content material, your most sensible concepts will confuse your viewers.
“Creativity” doesn’t imply each weblog submit or whitepaper you write is drastically completely different from the one earlier than it. In truth, the definition of creativity is just “using creativeness or unique concepts.”
Is now the time to redefine your model or convey new concepts to the desk to current a artistic however unified new entrance? A re-vamp may assist make your content material really feel extra contemporary and thrilling. Or, perhaps your group simply wants richer documentation and model requirements, so everyone seems to be rowing in the identical course.
2. Experiment with completely different media
Nearly each firm with a content material advertising operate covers a number of core areas. The commonest embrace an lively weblog, social media, long-form belongings (like eBooks and whitepapers), electronic mail newsletters, and buyer case research.
Don’t get us unsuitable: You want these kind of belongings. They’re the bread and butter of content material advertising. However creativity in advertising is about bringing novel concepts to the desk. Chopping-edge thought management is one strategy to stand out. However are you able to go even additional?
Along with fascinated about the “what,” take into consideration the “how.” How will you use completely different media to current artistic content material in a approach that few others are leveraging? It’s 2023, and there are such a lot of methods we are able to relay data from one individual to a different. For instance:
Multimedia content material: Movies, infographics, podcast
An estimated 3.63 billion folks worldwide will watch digital video content material in 2023. But solely 12 % of entrepreneurs really feel like they’re utilizing video to its full potential. There’s an enormous alternative right here. Whether or not utilizing visuals to assist inform a narrative or creating content material that prospects can hearken to, multimedia content material can relay extra digestible content material extra effectively. In truth, it’s estimated that one minute of video is value 1.8 million phrases.
Interactive content material: Quizzes, embedded displays, dynamic charts, and graphics
Content material customers need one factor: Worth. When you can reply a query they’ve or resolve an issue, you’ll earn their loyalty. Participating, customized, and interactive artistic content material is a good way to try this.
Interactive content material, like a quiz that tells you the place your group may finest profit from AI, additionally encourages prospects to share their views with their networks.
3. Attempt a hub-and-spoke content material technique
You possibly can’t generate artistic content material with out killer concepts. Sadly, generally these concepts don’t come to you if you want them. Whenever you really feel caught, lean on the facility of brainstorming method. The hub-and-spoke technique is one among our favorites.
What’s hub and spoke?
Image a bicycle tire with a hub within the heart and a myriad of spokes branching out of it. The hub-and-spoke content material technique comes from that visible.
When devising a hub-and-spoke technique, you want one core content material piece from which all different items will derive. Sometimes, this is able to be a bigger content material asset, like a video course on lead era technique or an eBook about rising cybersecurity dangers. From there, the spokes are items of artistic content material that develop upon concepts inside the core asset, resembling quick video clips on social media, a weblog submit, or an infographic.
Hubs and spokes are nice for creating a giant splash marketing campaign from one robust, artistic core concept. It additionally retains readers in your web site longer, as every bit can hyperlink to at least one one other, or all items can roll off from a core pillar web page. It’s a wonderful alternative for prospects desirous about a particular matter to do a deep dive into your model.
A hub-and-spoke brainstorming session virtually at all times yields wonderful outcomes on your group. It permits you to create an inventory of associated concepts and use solely the most effective ones. Maybe one concept you thought can be nice is a useless finish. Nonetheless, one other concept takes off and permits you to develop artistic content material that includes distinctive views in supporting items, resembling interviews with inner stakeholders.
Put your most artistic foot ahead
The good, large world of content material is your oyster!
By creating content material that prioritizes creativity, you can also make every bit of content material you produce a good looking, wealthy story that captivates your readers and immerses them in your merchandise, your group, and your core values.
Would you like artistic content material advertising suggestions delivered straight to your inbox each week? Subscribe to The Content material Strategist publication immediately!
Picture by
rawpixel
