January is that time of the year when everybody starts making their resolutions. People resolve to eat better and go to the gym more often, and gym memberships soar. Come February and March, however, numbers dwindle back to a reasonable level. The problem is that most of these eager resolution-makers have found an excuse to stop.
For marketers, one of the biggest excuses for not following through with a content resolution is that their industry is too boring. They believe that making compelling content for insurance, dentistry, or plumbing is simply not possible.
Fortunately, if you’re willing to put in the time and effort, these beliefs give you an even bigger advantage. There’s less competition than in other industries since the content is trickier to create and easy to dismiss.
Here’s six ways to create content if you’re in a boring industry:
Focus on Solving Problems
The goal of content marketing is simply to connect with your audience. Doing it with something exciting that goes viral is great, but you can do it by simply solving a problem. All you need to do is figure out who your audience is and what kind of things you can help them with.
If you’re an exterminator, for example, your most general audience are people who are having problems with pests in their home. You can create a series of posts about controlling ants or keeping mosquitos away from your BBQs. They aren’t exciting topics, but they’re problems your audience is having. If you can help them solve a simple issue, they’ll come to you when they have a bigger issue.
The key to great content is figuring out what problems your great team can solve!
Hijack Trends
If your content isn’t generating much interest, take a look at what is. There’s always two or three topics dominating the news. A great example of these trending topics could be Steve Harvey’s recent gaffe at the Miss Universe competition. All over the Internet, everybody’s talking about his mistake and putting their own spin on whether or not he should be retained, or how the situation could have been handled better.
Taking advantage of such a topic is easy. You could write an article about avoiding mistakes like Steve Harvey by following certain advice. The key is making sure that the actual content is great. You’re enticing people to click your headline, so you have to make what you’re offering is good enough to hook them.
Go Beyond Blog Posts
If you only have a limited number of topics that you’re able to speak about, the best way to stretch it out is by going beyond simple blog posts. There are lots of different pieces of content that grab an audience’s attention in different ways:
- Infographics. You can create a quick infographic by repurposing advice from your blog in a handy, visual way. Infographics are easy to post and share on social media, giving you access to an enormous audience.
- eBooks. If you have a large amount of information available on a single topic, considering putting it together as an eBook. You’ll be able to use it to entice users to sign-up for your newsletter and position yourself as an expert.
- Videos. Video content is extremely engaging and appeals to a massive, increasingly mobile audience. Just like you would with your blog, your can create a simple how-to video that solves a basic problem for your audience.
Use Your Creativity On Researching Topics
If your industry isn’t particularly exciting, brainstorming can be a chore after a while. There should be plenty of low-hanging fruit to get you started, but you need to keep churning out a steady stream of quality content after that. As you run into roadblocks, you’ll need to spend time researching potential topics.
The best way is by simply taking a look at what your customers are asking. Scour your email inbox for questions from your clients. If one person took the time to ask you, it probably means that other people are curious, too. Ask your sales staff to forward any interesting inquiries to keep the ideas flowing.
You’ll also want to check out what other people on the Internet are talking about. Check Twitter hashtags to see what’s on the minds of your audience. You can also use Google or websites like Quora to see what questions people are asking. Best of all, you’ll have a great opportunity at receiving organic traffic since people are already talking about it.
Show Your Personality
Even if you consider your industry to be boring, it doesn’t mean that you are. Use your content as an opportunity to let your personality show. Don’t worry about using too many business terms or proving how intelligent you are. Simply talk to your customers the same way you would on the phone or in the shop.
Humor is another great way to breathe some personality into your content. There’s nothing wrong with making a tasteful joke or referencing something topical. As long as you don’t go overboard, it could be just the trick you need to make your boring topic fun.
Find Ways to Stay Relevant
Creating viral content won’t help you if it doesn’t bring in the right kind of traffic. One of the best ways to create a stream of interested visitors is by creating timely, relevant content.
All you need to do is think about what issues are bothering your customers at any particular time. If you’re a plumber, you could talk about winterizing your pipes in the late fall. An insurance company could create content revolving around flood and weather insurance before hurricane season. The point is figuring out what seasonal concerns occur in your business and leveraging them.
No matter what season it is, you need to find something your audience cares about!
If you’re running into problems creating content to compete in your own boring industry, make sure to reach out to us. Our team of experts has decades of experiencing helping companies connect with their audience, no matter what industry they’re in.
Simply reach out to us here to see exactly how we can help you dominate your industry’s content in 2016!
