Sure, we’d all like our content to go viral, but that’s not realistic and quite honestly, it’s not even necessarily effective marketing. (Though it certainly can be – see Blendtec and Dollar Shave Club, among others.) A better goal – and one that’s more achievable – is to create content that is memorable.
For content to be memorable means it must resonate with your audience, which means it has to be meaningful to that audience, and of value. That’s just the start, though. To be truly memorable, requires more:
Paint a Picture
A picture may be worth a thousand words, but a few well-chosen words can be worth much more. You should include visuals wherever you can (oh, the irony of there not being a visual with this post), and you should always pay attention to using words that are descriptive and capture your audience emotionally. Pay attention to your content’s written style. And for Pete’s sake, if you’re not a good writer, hire someone who is!
Tell a Story
What’s more interesting, the astronomy facts that underly why the sun rises and sets every day, or the Native American legend about the sun following the moon across the sky? (You can read a version of that legend here.)
Obviously, the story is more memorable, and that’s why content like case studies are a great way to get quantitative data to stick in your prospects’ minds. It’s more than just a stolid collection of facts. It brings those facts to life by putting them in the context of someone’s business. Hopefully, that business is similar to your prospects’ business, adding even greater weight to the story’s outcome.
Repeat
No, you don’t have to repeat yourself within a piece of content, but you should use the power of repetition to help break down the barriers we build around ourselves against the deluge of marketing and other content that bombards us every day.
Presenting the same content in slightly different form not only helps create the kind of familiarity that increases our prospects’ comfort with us, but it also helps us reach prospects in their preferred manner, whether via email, one social media channel or another, podcasts, video content, etc.
