7 Ideas for Writing Compelling Content

Whether you're PR pros or marketers, a content strategy for your online presence is a must. Community facilitators, Web site copywriters, thought leadership authors, ghost writers, direct marketers, demand generation teams -- all need to develop the ability to write compelling content.

Content is your digital body language, and it's your ticket to driving action. Take these seven ideas and experiment with them. I find that a combination of two or more works well.

(1.) Create a feeling of involvement

You can see how people react to your content online. Every time you publish a post, you can track how many people visit that page directly and share it. What words can you use to help readers imagine themselves in your copy? 

Take publicizing a Tata Nano car as an example.

One way is to describe what they would feel driving a car. What they would see and experience while driving it, parking, filling it with gas, etc. Another way to drive home the message of its size is by creating a video that shows what it takes to move it into the the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum Hall. [hat tip Diego Rodriguez]

How do you write the story so you put your readers/buyers in it?

(2.) Be honest

We still talk about creating a sense of authenticity with online content, especially the content delivered over social media. Your customers are very smart, they're surrounded by advertising and marketing messages, and they can spot insincerity miles away.

You need to believe in what you're writing for it to ring true. Plus, you have the wisdom of the crowd at play. Why do you think items with both negative and positive reviews sell better? Because there is a certain ring of honesty with letting differing opinions stand, including potential flaws.

Honesty drives credibility (you do need to be believable as well to be truly credible) and creates trust. One way to be honest is to focus on what makes you unique.

(3.) Provide value and proof of value

Establishing an emotional connection with your product through a story is not enough. You need to find ways to prove value, especially when the capital investment you're requiring is substantial.

It's probably easy to think through what you need to write to justify the purchase of a BMW convertible -- can anyone knock this car off its throne? To shell out that kind of money you also want to know that it has the latest safety features and the best technology money can buy with incredible resale value.

Proof of value satisfies the logical side of making a purchase, and it can be helpful to sway the rest of a team when we're talking big ticket items for businesses, which typically have a longer sales cycle.

Let's say your copy needs to persuade a director of IT and for her to convince her CIO to host in your center. Is social proof enough in this case?

(4.) Establish authority

One of the key findings in the most recent Edelman Trust barometer study is that people trust experts -- good news especially for businesses that hire experts in a specific domain and encourage them to speak at industry events, write articles and papers, and blog. 

Establishing authority can be done by using certain key terms in association with your service and putting search engine optimization to your advantage. Remember that even if branding can be aspirational, there needs to be honesty in your positioning, or your attempts will sound bogus.

Establishing authority is easier when done through educating and teaching by showing common practices that lead to success or examples of things to avoid to achieve better results.

Online there is a more powerful feeling of involvement with content and when you deliver useful information time and time over, your authority goes up.

(5.) Build on the desire to belong

Why do young girls buy a Tiffany & Co. silver bracelet or necklace? Their desire to be fashionable and sophisticated comes at a price point that is affordable today in view of an upgrade tomorrow -- aspirational benefit.

A strategy that paid extremely well for the luxury jeweler, so much so that the company managed to engineer a silver lining. Hence the importance of branding. What can you write about your company or product that will help certain kinds of people you want to appeal to associate with it?

You could see yourself as part of a product fan club without necessarily need to have anything in common with other fans. Tiffany is a good example of what the brand means to the buyer, even at varying price points.

(6.) Create a sense of urgency

Your copy needs to lead somewhere for people to take the desired action. What do you want people to do? You want to give customers a reason to buy right after they read your copy. You do that by creating a sense of urgency in your call to action.

How do you communicate a sense of urgency? You run a promotion for a limited time, or offer limited editions of something, for example. There's a big caveat with this technique -- you need to make sure that you're honest with your statement. 

This technique is being used in social networks by companies to build their "like" pages on Facebook by donating points to a cause, or sharing coupons and special offers on Twitter. Legitimate offers work.

(7.) Make the whole brain work

Ever since I read A Whole New Mind, I've been working on including elements of content that speak to intuition and sensation along with thinking and emotion. The feedback I receive about this blog is that I make people think. That is one of my objectives.

According to scientific research, asking the mind to work hard is also a powerful way of creating a positive, enjoyable or stimulating effect on the brain. My posts leave plenty of work for the people who are keen on trying on new ideas and executions.

Read your own copy. Are you being too obvious?

***

When you write compelling content, you're pulling your readers into the story. Good content works as a trigger for taking action. The kind of action depends on what you want readers to do next. When you are in the service business, that next step may be validation and social proof.

[image courtesy of Matt Brett]

Comments

[Nick Usborne]

Please don't mention A Whole New Mind again! : ) From the day I first read it I have been using what I learned as a competitive advantage. A really excellent book, from the always smart Daniel Pink. You're right, of course - appealing to the intuitive part of readers' minds holds the potential to create a far deeper and more lasting connection.

[Linda Kolker]

Thanks for the reminder about A Whole New Mind--time to re-read it. I'm finding Chip and Dan Heath's new book, Switch, really helpful in pointing out how to connect with people to create change by appealing to the emotional, non-rational side.

In fact, the way they present ideas is well-written--they know how to make concepts memorable and compelling (no, I'm not being paid to write this--just really inspired by the book).

[Wendy Maynard]

Yes, absolutely. Creating valuable content is the essence of powerful marketing. Increasingly - no matter what industry you are in - it's essential to position yourself as a trusted resource so that you don't become just a commodity. And providing incredible content to your customers is the way to do just that.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Nick - glad you found that book as useful as I have. I've known Dan for a number of years and he's never let me down. One of the smartest and most interesting people I know. He has a great sense of humor, too.

@Linda - you know what they say about great minds... I just read Switch and wrote about it last week. At least one application. I'm still thinking about many more, of course.

@Wendy - knowledge gains value when shared. It's counter intuitive, yet I found it to be true. I'll be talking about another book I'm reading that will give us more insights into the power of knowledge unleashed in content.

[Tom Gable]

In addition to providing something of basic value, add a provocative thought or topic for further exploration. Stimulate new thinking and perhaps a little controversy. A lot of the blogerati provide what veteran journalists call "thumb suckers," which refers to stories that describe something that exists or recapitulates existing knowledge but doesn't add any new insights or value.

[Elaine Fogel]

Hi, Valeria. Sound advice. I'd like to link to this post in my June newsletter. Thanks.

[Brian Driggs]

This was another one of those posts where I'm reading along and every single point hits home. A thorough button-pushing today, Valeria. Awesome. Love feeling inspired. :)

Shared this with the team at Gearbox this morning even though I couldn't comment at the time. How are we keeping these simple concepts in mind with what we're doing every day? Powerful stuff in it's simplicity.

Particular favorites are:

5. Sense of belonging. Everyone wants to belong. I like to think they want to be part of something bigger than themselves. I like to show people how they ALREADY belong because this almost always leads to...

6. A sense of urgency. It's confirmation that you matter. You're important. Someone out there wanted to know what YOU think about something. Tell everyone you know about it. Welcome to OWNERSHIP.

POW.

Thank you!

[Ricardo Bueno]

One thing that I've been challenging myself to do better is tell stories (especially in my speaking). It's such an important element and it works so well at drawing people to make a connection. I feel that I'm getting better in this area, but as always, there's room for improvement.

[Steve Roesler]

Hi, Valeria,

This is a terrific synthesis of what really matters and has gotten my day off to a good start.

Doesn't get any better than that!

[Khush-AdSense Information]

Two points are very striking to me. One, involve your audience and people trust authority. Very thought provoking post.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Tom - then I guess we should have iPampers instead of iPads :) All Kidding aside, I agree on providing food for thought. However, what many end up doing is creating controversy for controversy-sake. Being contrary with a really well formed argument is hard work.

@Elaine - glad to be helpful. Thank you for stopping by.

@Brian - sense of belonging appeals to the emotional core. There's a reason why going "where everyone knows your name" is such an attractive proposition. Interesting transition from sense of urgency to ownership. Glad the post energized you. Your comment energized me.

@Ricardo - opening a conversation with a story can be the most connective thing you do. We're all students in life.

@Steve - you've been on a roll yourself lately. Thank you for your well written and thoughtful posts.

@Khush- thank you for stopping by.