Remember, it's not about you

With the decline of the news media and the explosion of social media and other digital communication channels we are all publishers and storytellers now. 

Every business has the opportunity to build its own audience by creating compelling content and telling stories that engage with clients, customers and stakeholders.

The art of good storytelling is to be engaging and relevant to an audience.

However, too often business owners and marketers want to talk about themselves, their products and services, and not about their customers.

The secret is: nobody cares about you. They only care about what’s in it for them.

Whenever you are writing or creating content you always need to keep your client or customer in mind. You have such a short amount of time to get your message across - don’t waste it by focusing on your business instead of the customer.

Benefits not features

What this means is that you should always focus on the benefits of your product or service, how you improve people’s lives or solve a problem they have, rather than just talking about the product or service features.

A feature is something mechanical: a fact. ‘This car has ABS’. Great, but what does it mean for the client or the consumer? Tech talk, jargon, or academic speak will lose your audience.

A benefit tells how it will make their life easier or better. ‘This car has ABS which means your family is safer in the wet’. Benefits will always do a better job of grabbing attention.

It’s such a simple thing to remember, but it will make such an improvement to your content.

People love stories

Another way to stop talking about you is to tell a customer’s story.

Make it real, give examples, bring it down out of the ivory tower, anecdotes and testimonials are particularly effective.

Coupled with a good photo, a good customer story with the right human insight can connect a customer with your product or services and prompt action.

The readers will see themselves in a similar situation and think, ‘this could be me’ and may even feel like you are speaking directly to them.

A compelling story based on a solid human insight is also what makes a piece of content sharable.

Social media has opened the possibility of sharing the story to significantly wider audiences than previously available.

Create a compelling enough piece of content and your audience will do the work for you of amplifying your message, championing your cause and presenting you to new potential customers.  

Start with something that the reader already knows or agrees with

The chances are that whatever your product or service, there is bound to be an online community that is dedicated to it where people will ‘gather’ based on shared beliefs and interests.  

For example, did you know that there are over 50 blogs and podcasts dedicated to Harry Potter?

So with a little research you can find where these communities are clustering online: in Facebook groups, Instagram, around blogs and podcasts.

Think about the messages that resonate in these groups and if your customers are there, target your content accordingly.

If you are looking to revamp your communication strategy and target your key consumers through engaging content, give Elevate a call on 07 3180 3666 and see how we can help transform your customer journey today!