How often do you stumble across low-quality written material with no real message or meaning while surfing the net? How long does it take you to dive in the pool of diverse web content to bring the most original and inspiring ideas back to the surface?
The truth is that the Internet is flooded with the worst kind of writing: uninspired, thrown-together, no-originality content. We’re talking about the really boring, trivial content that could only stimulate you to shut your computer and take a nap.
Boring, Trivial Content Is Your Brand’s Worst Enemy
Low-value content will never support your marketing goals for a number of reasons. First of all, today’s prospects are savvier than ever and know how to differentiate thought leaders from players who share the herd mentality and have nothing new of exciting to say about their company or their products. Secondly, they have a short attention span and a zero tolerance for writing that fails to answer and address their needs, questions and demands and only makes them waste time in front of their computer screen.
How do businesses entirely avoid this pitfall? How do they get creative with new stuff?
5 Ways to Kick Trivial and Boring Content Ideas to the Curb
If you’re striving to find the simplest answers to the questions I just asked, keep reading. I’m listing the 5 easiest ways to replace unremarkable concepts with written gems that will boost your readers’ interest and loyalty.
Write with Your Audience in Mind. The truth is that you don’t have to waste all your time trying to craft content pieces that are loaded with bells and whistles. Sometimes, the more you try to adorn your writing, the more you lose your focus and get farther away from the real substance of the message that you’re trying to convey. Therefore, as Hubspot points out, even when you’re working on educational content, you can upgrade your copy by making it respond to the questions and concerns of your audience. For instance, let’s assume that your services have been contracted by a company selling automotive supplies. By answering a very mundane question related to a popular topic, such as vehicle maintenance for example, you would actually be creating high-value content that would be assimilated with great interest by your targeted audience.
Let Social Networking Websites Be Your Guide. When it comes to crafting interesting content, social media platforms are your number one ally and one of the most amazing sources of inspiration that you could ever ask for. Just think about it: social networking websites represent the natural habitat of thought leaders and influencers who are constantly recruiting faithful virtual ambassadors. This is the place where companies go from small and obscure to big and successful in record time. Need another reason to poke around Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn? In this case, think about the fact that these websites are the major platforms where quality, relevant and original content can instantly become a viral sensation. Some of the freshest stories shared through these channels can inspire your writing and help you stay far away from boring, trivial content.
Use the Best Tools to Get Inspired. Sometimes, the most trivial concepts are born out of excessive boredom, apathy and a dangerous lack of inspiration and motivation. What can you do when you’ve struggling to overcome a case of writer’s block? Should you still be praying for inspiration after your fifth cup of coffee? Here’s a simpler alternative that can help you put pen to paper and let those clever words flow smoothly: use a wide range of free and almost free online tools designed to inspire your new content pieces. Content Marketing Institute has recently published a long list of such aids that can take your writing to a whole new level. Options such as Ahrefs Content Explorer tool, Topsy, Hubspot Blog Topic Generator or Ubersuggest are the best choices that you should explore to come up with exciting topics for your blog and avoid uninspiring ideas that could only make your readers yawn or raise an eyebrow while bouncing off your page.
Plan Ahead. Last minute decisions and successful content creation shouldn’t be a part of the same sentence for a very simple and logical reason: as a goal-oriented small business owner, you should know how, when and how often you should satisfy your readers’ cravings for premium content. In other words, proper planning and a smart, well-balanced editorial calendar are everyday essentials that can tighten the bond with your audience, while also optimizing your content flow. These two key elements will also help you avoid the tension, confusion and sense of powerlessness that could make you resort to cheap, yawn-inspiring content, which you may be tempted to use as time-fillers to give your audience something to chew on while you’re working on a new recipe for content success. There are several prominent content strategy tools, such as keyword research for example, that could offer you the expert insight you may require to start and follow a detailed editorial calendar that would ultimately enable you to achieve a rich online presence and a deeper connection with your content-hungry audience. Don’t forget that brainstorming with new staff members could offer you the finest food for thought that you could ever dream about adding to your content menu. Ask your client manager to attend these sessions to find out what kind of topics they would like to add to your editorial calendar. After dealing with clients all day, client managers are the team members who usually come up with the most spectacular content ideas that have what it takes to please and stimulate writers, readers and clients at the same time. At the end of the day, it becomes obvious that good old teamwork will never go out of fashion, especially when it comes to organizing brainstorming sessions revolving around creative concepts that can be rewritten and reinterpreted in countless ways.
Employ Expert Writers. At some point, you may realize that your limited amounts of time and energy represent real obstacles standing in the way of your content creation efforts. In this case, what’s the simplest way to avoid generic, overdone, extremely boring or trivial concepts that will never do your company any favors? If your goal is to get rid of most of the burden of coming up with unique, awesome content, consider hiring a team of expert writers.
Trivial Content Is Perfectly Preventable
Whether you choose to use the finest online tools to boost your creativity, conduct brainstorming sessions or create and follow a strict editorial calendar, you should know that all these strategies can help you avoid damages associated with poorly materialized, dull or trivial ideas. If you’re already at the bottom of the sea of trivial content and don’t know how to swim, do keep in mind that professional content creators can put the wow factor into your marketing messages while crafting a unique story around your brand and feeding your readers’ ever-growing appetite for captivating writing that actually serves both aesthetic and practical purposes. Photo credit: g-stockstudio / iStock
Let’s face it: not all brands that we hear about are as hip, recognizable, popular and well-established as Old Spice, Coca Cola or Red Bull. As a content creator, you may have to craft killer copy with a real substance for plumbing companies, accounting firms and businesses selling construction supplies. In all honesty, such players operating on yawn-inspiring niches are far from being glamorous, so how could you use your mind and your pen to make these industries shine on their own?
[Tweet “There are no boring subjects, only disinterested minds.”]
How Do You Actually Define and Represent a Yawn-Inspiring Product?
If you were to adapt G.K Chesterton’s statement to make it reflect the realities of the content marketing world, you would most likely reach the conclusion that there are no boring products; only boring content specialists who fail to capture and highlight the essence of the stuff that they have to market. Just think about it: no matter how generic, outdated or mundane it might be, any category of goods or services still manages to respond to the needs and demands of a narrow niche of potential buyers and yes, those people want to hear everything about them. How much do they cost? Are they really that good? How are they different from other available options and why should they actually buy them? These are only a few questions that a good copywriter should have in mind when it comes to promoting less trendy, innovative or interesting products in an effective manner.
7 Ways in Which You Can Resuscitate Your Copy for an Allegedly Boring Concept
So now that we can all agree on the fact that there is no such thing as a 100% boring product, let’s assume that you’re stuck with a run-of-the-mill line of goods whose looks, functionality and promised benefits do not actually stimulate your brain cells. Your inspiration is long gone and you can picture yourself losing sleep, chewing on your pencil, drinking way too much coffee, praying for creativity, crying and pushing the intimidating deadline over and over again. How can you avoid such a dramatic episode, give 110% at work and turn the copy for those unremarkable products into one of your most notable written works of art? Here are a few ways in which you could do those yawn-inspiring businesses justice.
Your Product Evokes At Least One of Four Key Emotions: Prove It! Have you ever wondered what separates viral content from the one that sinks into oblivion soon after its production phase? According to recent research made public by the University of Pennsylvania, viral content owes its popularity to a mix of four key attributes: surprising, awe-inspiring, emotional and positive. No matter how dull your product may be, chances are that it can actually be associated with at least one of the four characteristics listed above. If you can’t find the link between your concept and these adjectives, create it yourself. Add a surprise element to your copy to accentuate the uniqueness of your product; create a stimulating story around the things that you’re struggling to market in order to craft emotion-rich copy that convinces, converts and sells better than anything else. The possibilities are endless; you just have to learn how to play with the right mix of emotions to get to your readers’ hearts.
Think Outside the Box. The mere thought that you have to come up with an original idea and become the creator of something that has never been said or written before can be quite frightening. How can you overcome your anxiety and report amazing results during this challenge? According to a recent article published by Entrepreneur, ironically, thinking outside the box implies following certain rules and guidelines. Did you know that too much creative freedom can actually kill your concentration? Neither did we. Here are three strategies that you can apply to guide your brainstorming session in the right direction.
Set up Parameters for Your Brainstorming Process. Start by setting up a deadline for the overall process; this will keep you focused and organized. Next, strategize by putting pen to paper. Make lists. Enumerate the uses and benefits linked to your product. Circle the ones that could make your prospects’ hearts skip a beat and spend the rest of your time trying to figure out how you could emphasize them.
Search for Inspiration in the Most Random Places. This way, you will stimulate your brain to make new connections that it wouldn’t normally establish.
Put Quality over Quantity. You don’t need one hundred directions for your copy, so make sure you focus on one or two key aspects of your goods, rather than filling pages with unnecessary words that nobody has time or patience to listen to.
Turn Features into Benefits. Here’s another shocking truth that you should be prepared to handle: prospects don’t really care about product features; they are all looking forward to hearing more about the benefits promised by the products that you’re representing. So instead of saying that a certain laptop has a rugged design, choose to highlight the fact that the gadget can withstand years on non-stop abuse. Disclose the fact that you can spill countless cups of water on it without suffering the consequences. You can drop it from a height exceeding 6 feet and expect to get it back in one piece. So basically, when you’re turning features into benefits you’re actually learning how to say the same thing in a different manner while getting the readers involved by stimulating their imagination.
Find the Simplest Way to Electrify and Elevate the Ordinary Benefit. Let’s continue with the same exercise, shall we? You can say many things about a last-generation laptop. Its battery lasts for ages, its roughed design is pretty impressive, the laptop can withstand most stressors, yada yada yada, the price-quality relationship is also an advantage. By listing all these favorable things, you will most likely confuse or bore your readers and kill their focus. Instead of talking about all these benefits, accentuate the most important one and craft your copy around it.
Create an Interesting Story around a Less Interesting Product Feature. According to Copyblogger, when it comes to marketing a product launched on a “boring” market, you can step up your game by tackling a less exciting feature and give it a different spin. According to Hubspot, this is the key to taking a brand or good from dull to exciting over the shortest period of time. The story behind that one feature is the element that can make or break your copy. Skilled content markets managed to breathe new life into a plain corrector fluid by creating and promoting a series of funny, surprising videos presenting encounters between a bear and a hunter. Through this simple strategy employed via YouTube, Tipp-Ex counted over 46 million views and witnessed sales increases of approximately 30%, among other notable benefits.If Tipp-Ex made corrector fluid become hip, then you can certainly put your mind at work to make anything else cooler than cool.
Work Closely with the Client. Don’t be afraid to get the client involved in the creative process. In some cases, you can obtain the most satisfying food for thought from your customers. Meet them in person and expand on different topics. Not all of them have to be strictly related to the line of products or services that you’re striving to promote as efficiently as possible. For example, a real-life story explaining how the company was started and operated by three different generations is a gold mine that you can explore to reach your audience. At the end of the day, your prospects want to hear from brands with stories that they can relate to. Find out what makes a certain company unique in its yawn-inspiring industry and turn these attributes into the focal points of your narrative.
Provoke Conversations to Come up with New Marketable Assets. Here’s an extra tip that you may want to consider: don’t avoid social interactions. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you should start approaching strangers on a bus. Whenever you get the chance, talk to your friends, acquaintances and relatives about the project that they’re working on. Some of them may match the profile of the prospects that you’re trying to attract. Why would they buy a certain product? Why wouldn’t they? What kind of benefits do they expect to witness during or after the buying process? Even the least creative people can help you understand the way in which potential clients could interact with the new concept that you’re promoting, so make sure you include your copy inspiration and challenges in your list of amiable chit-chat topics.
Actually, Being Boring By Definition Is Not That Bad
Products launched on boring niches actually have an advantage: as soon as they benefit from above average copy, they can easily crush the competition in their sector. Buyers know that corrector fluid is useful, but nobody has ever thought that it can also be incredibly hip and desirable. No matter how mundane your product or service can be, remember that you could always count on a professional writer who could identify and underline the cool factor of your brand and goods, help you fuel your connection with your audience and make your competitors bite the dust.
Photo credit: Tomwang112 / iStock
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