Steal These Thoughts 29.11.22 | Why you need content marketing

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I don't get it...

Also, not forgetting the usual dose of weird, wonderful and what I hope is helpful content from the rest of planet earth in my curated roundup.

The big thought

I’m a big believer that everyone is a marketer in some way.It’s a core activity we do in our career, from discussing career development to showcasing our work. Marketing plays a part in all of this. This doesn’t mean you need to be an expert, but you’ll certainly be well served to be savvy in this area.If there is one thing which has served me well (and particularly well in the world of workplace learning) it’s understanding the basics of marketing and how humans engage with content.I’ve spoken a little bit about this before with lessons from the world of neuroscience with content connection.Here are some tips to improve your engagement campaigns 👇

What doesn't work

Here’s a classic example of failed attempts at drawing attention to content on collaboration tools and email.

The 3 areas of headlines, context and visuals are simple things that we can utilise to great impact.90% of the time this is how I see people try to market their content internally and even externally through vendors too. I’ve found that not only the conversion rate but also the value of these types of posts is zero.So, how can we make this better?

How does that look and feel? Better, right?Let’s talk about why and how we can construct more messages like this.

3 steps to improve

1/ Headline

You can now see a clear headline that describes what the audience will get from this post. Think of it as the trailer for your message.

2/ Context

This is the meat of our message.Here, the messaging is less transactional and more conversational. You'd never guess that talking to people like humans works. Also, note how sharing key tips and not pushing content as the sole message gives this a different feel.It's more like sharing something with a friend vs saying 'do the right thing'.People don't like being told what to do.What I've also done here is share a bunch of useful and tactical tips for the reader. A further resource is only mentioned as a route to continue learning more.If you want people to take action, you need to give something first.

3/ VisualOur first (and bland) message had a rubbish image.Visuals don't need to be overpowering. Often basic works, as seen in the visual below. You don't want to leave people confused with visuals.Get to the point and be clear on why this content is of value.It doesn't need to be a Picasso!

Now, I’ve used a message on a collaboration tool to demonstrate this.But you can apply what we’ve walked through here across many channels.None of this is some secret sauce or a guarantee that you’ll get crazy engagement and conversion on every post you share with your workforce.It’s a framework which can help each of us to create better communication campaigns for our audiences. The focus of all of this is providing value.If your sole goal is to just sell content to your people from your content libraries, this will never work. Put usefulness and value at the core of your comms and marketing strategy to build credibility.These are just a few thoughts on how we can all be smarter with content marketing for connecting learning content with audiences.I’ll talk about this more in the future.

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One more thing...

“Every artist was first an amateur” Ralph Waldo Emerson

That's it for this week. Please do share your thoughts with me on these pieces or anything I share on the Twitterverse and LinkedIn. Chat to you soon and stay healthy people!Don't forget to visit my website for more content.

(P.S. Writing this newsletter is a labor of love for me and I'd keep doing it if only one person read it. If you enjoy my words, this content and think it might benefit others too, then please do me the honor of sharing this with your community).