How to Market in a Boring Industry? Content marketing works, everyone knows that. You have read countless articles about it. Seen all the stats and benefits repeated ad nauseam.
This discussion does not rehash the stale old arguments about benefits. We instead focus on getting things right. Content marketing is a necessary piece of the digital marketing puzzle. There is no getting away from this fact. Industries which are traditionally considered as “boring” have to throw their hat in the ring.
The Myth of the Boring Industry
There is a reason we put the word boring in quotes. According to us, there are no boring industries. All industries are interesting to their customers. Subsets of people out there do find the intricate details of the so-called boring industry exciting. They might even love working in that business, they have dedicated their life to it. The secret is to emulate their excitement while creating content.
A quick trick—Reach out to the top salesperson in the company you are writing about. Talk to that person and you will understand exactly what works and what doesn’t. Make their input the cornerstone of your content strategy.
Try to understand why the industry seems boring to you. The most likely scenario is that you don’t know the nuances. The ins and outs of the industry baffle you. You don’t understand the benefits of the products and services. Dive into learning about it and you will be able to write effectively.
Why Does All Content Have To Be Interesting?
This is another question that pops up very often in marketing discussions and online blogs.
Here is the simple answer: No!
Most people equate the word interesting with entertaining. Content is meant to educate and convert – not entertain. It has to be compelling and address the concerns of the potential customer. Compelling does not always equal fun.
It is possible that the audience in your target industry may not want entertaining or necessarily exciting content, instead your readers might prefer straightforward and informative content. A good way to judge this is to see what kind of content your competitors are producing. Also notice the kind of content your target audience is responding to the most.
Blog posts can be written using informal styles but serious content such as white papers, case studies should have a serious tone. This, however, again depends on the specific industry.
Learn How to Stop Worrying and Love the Boredom
It doesn’t matter how boring or non-glamorous you find the industry. It is highly likely that you find it boring only because you don’t need the product or service. Your job is to put aside your assumptions and learn about what makes your customers tick.
Your job is to sell the product through your writing. The harsh reality is that you can never sell a product effectively if you don’t understand it. The key is to dive deep into the research. Use whatever resources you have and learn anything you can about the particular industry, products and your client. You won’t become an expert obviously, but you will end up gaining a thorough knowledge and appreciation about the ins and outs of the industry. Here are some essentials you should start out with:
- Learn the feature/ characteristics in detail
- Discover the benefits and the benefits of the benefits
- Explore the strengths and weaknesses of the product or service
- Get to know the target customers—their needs, desires and wants
- Find out where the prospect’s needs and the industry’s offers intersect
As you understand more and more the boring-ness factor will disappear. These may sound like a standard list of things that every content marketer does every day. The standard steps have to be performed more efficiently if the industry seems boring to you.
Hacks for the Hardcore Researcher
Now that you know the importance of proper research, how exactly do you go about it?
Most marketers consider research a grueling task. We understand those sentiments all too well. Content creators love the aspect of creating and crafting content. The research phase is a bit tedious but it comes with the territory. Get the research phase right and half of your work is done.
It is not necessarily that complicated a process, however it is time consuming. Anything which takes up a lot of time is inevitably dreaded the next time you are faced with it. There are a couple of tricks to speed up the process. You will save both time and effort if you are a little smart about it. Use these tricks to streamline your research process. Pretty soon your research phase will seem less like a burden.
The first thing you should do is get yourself mentally ready to dive deep into the topics and get your hands dirty. Thorough research usually takes, almost one-third of the entire content creation time. You need to ensure that you:
- Use credible and authoritative content
- Vet the information sources you use
- Try to avoid using sources that are too old. In the world of marketing any content older than a year is usually considered out-dated
- Integrate the information you discover into your content in a natural and meaningful way
This might seem complicated at first but the time invested will allow you to be more innovative and creative with the final content.
Using High Quality Sources
This is an important aspect which must be discussed in detail. Use this handy checklist to qualify each source. It would be better if you memorize it, you will save a ton of time. Most of these will be clear from a glance.
- Who has written the content?
- The qualifications/skills/experience of the author?
- Date of publication
- Check the sample size: if it is an original survey or report
- What methodology was used to collect the data? Did the researchers control for errors?
- Is it curated content? If yes, try to track down the original source
Always be Researching
Try to make your research an ongoing effort. Most content writers are sticklers for perfectionists and stay in touch with the recent happenings of the industry. It’s a great habit that helps you stay informed and on your toes. All those hours of reading can be put to better use if you try to curate all the relevant materials you find. Develop your own personal collection of useful facts and statistics you come across. If you spot any interesting thoughts shared by an industry influencer, add it to your collection. You can use this personal treasure trove of inspiration to come up with ideas for your own blogs or utilize them for work.
You can use tools such as Pocket to collect and organize industry reports, statistics, interesting articles, news reports, etc. A Trello board is also a great option to collect and categorize content;,another tool which most content marketers love is Evernote.
Spice Things Up with Compelling Content
There are a few specific do’s and don’ts which can help spice up your content collection. If you already have a lot of content ready for publishing, you can repurpose it. Give it a few tweaks and publish it.
- Do not create unrelated content simply to gain backlink and attract traffic.
- Focus on producing relevant content that is engaging and informative.
- Avoid link baiting, although it will drive up visitor numbers but the majority of these will not convert.
- Use data and insights to make people feel informed.
- Don’t just publish numbers; use charts, graphs and tables.
- Write like you speak naturally; academic tone is usually too stiff and stuffy.
- Try to imagine you are having a conversation with the customer.
- Use subheadings, bullets, videos, blocks of quotes to break up that huge wall of text into bite-sized chunks of information.
- Take advantage of visual mediums such as Instagram and Pinterest.
- Use storytelling to make your message more relatable and shareable. Be sure to use words which conjure up vivid imagery.
- Tap into people’s emotions and use emotional headlines.
- Associate a direct positive result in the headline if you can.
- Use examples to illustrate and clarify your message.
- Stir up a little controversy (just a little) by writing about topics which invite some debate. Try to make it relevant to something which is currently a hot-button issue..
- Remember to keep track of your content performance with analytic tools.
Boring Companies Getting it Right
These companies operate in industries which are considered dull. Things like real estate managements, finance, appliance manufacturing are a snooze-fest for most people. These companies defied this view and have managed to create compelling content. Check out some of the examples:
Land Securities
Land Securities is one of the largest commercial property management companies in the UK. It operates in an industry that marketers would consider pretty boring. This, however, hasn’t stopped them from creating compelling content. Their annual reports are a great example of compelling content; check out the 2015 Annual Report. You will instantly notice the following:
- Customer feedback is the central focus of the page
- The financial highlights, CEO’s message are presented afterwards
- The qualities of the company and strategy are stated in a simple and clear manner
- Financial performance data strikes the right balance of graphics and numbers
Who knew real estate could be so interesting?
Glencore Xstrata
Check out any company website and you will most likely spot a list of all office locations written out in the standard way. Glencore has a worldwide presence, 90 locations spread across 50 countries. They took a more creative approach and created an interactive Global Operations Map to give the customer a glimpse of the company. Our team of designers can also design creative websites for you.
BankRate
Finance isn’t exactly the most exciting of industries. Most people would consider it stiff and dull. This notion, however, didn’t stop BankRate from providing helpful advice to their customers in interesting ways. BankRate has a set of useful auto loan and mortgage calculators and even tax forms available on their website. They did not focus on cool or edgy content, they chose a simple approach which helps their customers.
Blendtec
Thinking about blenders is as much fun as watching grass grow. A blender is a dull household appliance; making it sound interesting seems like a Herculean task.
This is exactly what the blender manufacturer Blendtec has managed to do. They started a promotional video campaign on Youtube called “Will it Blend?”. Every video features a kind of showdown between everyday household objects and the blender’s power. One of the most popular videos shows the blending of an Apple Watch.
For those of you who are wondering, yes, the blender tore the Apple Watch to shreds. The Apple Car will stand a better chance in this battle. Blendtec managed to boost sales by 700% within 2 years as a result of these videos.
The last point we would really like to drive home is the importance of understanding the unique power of providing value. Incorporate this into your content strategy to make your brand stand out from the crowd. Consumers these days are exposed to a torrent of information. The only content which captures and holds their attention is one which provides some value.
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