2017 will be the year that brands and companies begin to seriously invest in their content creation efforts. We are already seeing major brands such as Cisco investing heavily in the hiring of content specialists and this will continue over the coming years. So now is a good time to start focusing on your existing content strategy and how to improve it moving forward.

A great way to get started is to audit your current content strategy. A content strategy audit is different from a simple content audit. A content audit typically focuses on engagement parameters only, whereas a content strategy audit analyzes your current strategy and measures actual results from your content strategy versus desired business outcomes.

Think of it this way: Your content is the stuff you create, your content strategy is what you hope will happen as a result of the stuff you create. For example, if you write 1 post a week for your blog, you can audit the engagement metrics associated with those blog posts, such as numbers of visitors, time spent on each post, social shares, etc. But if you audit that content in the context of a content strategy audit, you would analyze how that content led to other actions, such as number of white paper downloads, or times a lead-gen form was accessed, or number of email newsletter subscribers converted from that post.

For example, let’s look at the last post I wrote on this blog. If you just examine engagement around the post, you can see it did pretty well. It got over 200 social shares, and that’s not including shares on Twitter, which were probably another 200-300. So about 500 or so shares on social sites.

If my goal for this post was to simply generate engagement, then this post was a winner. It generated a lot of shares, a lot of chatter online, and gave my blog a 10-15% bump in traffic for a few days.

But if I want to look at this post from the context of how it impacts my overall content strategy, I have to dig a bit deeper. The end goal for my content isn’t simply to create engagement, I want to ultimately get business from the content I create. So engagement isn’t the end point, it’s closer to the beginning.

Think of how you would approach this if you owned a retail store in the mall. You send out a circular that announces the sales you’ll be running this weekend. That’s your ‘content’. You hope that ‘content’ will drive ‘engagement’, or in this case, people to your store. But the end goal isn’t simply to get people in the store, you want to sell them something.

So there’s a process that needs to happen:

1 – The circular or ‘content’ needs to drive people to the store
2 – Once inside the store, you need to convert them into customers

So if you approach your content in the same way, you need to first create content that drives engagement, but then that engagement needs to convert into a desired action.

Let’s go back to the last post I wrote here. We’ve already established that the post drove engagement, but we’ve also established that driving engagement wasn’t the ultimate goal of that post as part of my larger content strategy. I wanted that post to drive business for me.

So when I create the content, I position it so that it encourages the reader to engage in a desired action. For example, in the previous post, there was a pretty obvious call to action placed in the middle of the post in the form of this banner:

If you click on that banner, you are taken to the page that promotes my Content Strategy Audit service. So I want the content (post) to be engaging so that people read it, but once they arrive here, I want them to then click the Content Strategy Audit banner to go to that page. Then finally, I want them to contact me about purchasing a Content Strategy Audit.

So there’s three activities I want to track associated with this content:

1 – How many people viewed the content?
2 – After viewing the content, how many people then clicked on the banner and visited the Content Strategy Audit page?
3 – How many people after visiting the Content Strategy Audit page then inquired about purchasing the audit?

Looking at this list, you can see there’s three conversions that need to take place; You need to read the post, then once you arrive here you need to click on the banner ad for the Content Strategy Audit, then once you’re on that page, you need to email me to discuss buying the audit. Let’s take each one separately:

1 – How many people viewed the content? I’ve already stated that this particular post had higher than average social sharing, as well as traffic. So simply from an engagement standpoint, this post did its job.

2 – After viewing the content, how many people then clicked on the banner and visited the Content Strategy Audit page? I can check Google Analytics and find this information. But it’s worth noting that there are a lot of variables that can impact this on-site conversion. Maybe the banner would have converted better in a different location like at the end of the post. Maybe a different graphic would work better or maybe different wording. All of these variables must be considered and it pays to tweak things and see how conversion rates can be affected. I already have some ideas in mind for how I want to make some changes.

3 – How many people after visiting the Content Strategy Audit page then inquired about purchasing the audit? This is another conversion point. By clicking on the banner to come to the Content Strategy Audit page, you are assuming they are interested in learning more about the audit. How well this page converted into purchases of the audit gives me insights into whether or not the content of the Content Strategy Audit helped convert those visitors. So there are more variables that can be played with, such as giving more of an explanation of what’s included in the audit, or maybe less. Or maybe I could increase conversions by simply removing the price.

Now if all this seems like it’s getting a bit ‘in the weeds’, you’re exactly right. But, the bottom line is that if you truly want your content to be effective for your business, you need to invest the time to critically examining whether or not it is truly effective in helping you achieve desired outcomes for your business. As I’ve said before, engagement without desired business outcomes is just noise. Noise is easy to create and measure.

Meaningful outcomes are far harder to create, but create more impact for your business.

So when you audit your content strategy, you want to first decide What Is The Goal? Why are you making the time commitment to creating content in the first place? What are you hoping will happen? Create the goal first, then work backwards from the goal, creating content that will help you reach that goal.

For example, if the goal is to generate more product signups, then you need to create your content with that end goal in mind. You need to think about how your content will help move a visitor closer to wanting to singup for your product. You probably want to think about including relevant Calls to Action in your content that encourage the reader to signup for your product. I did this in the previous post by including both links and a banner ad that pointed to the page for my Content Strategy Audit. Because I wanted visitors to go to that page.

And before you think ‘All content needs to do is create engagment’, I beg to differ. I just did a search for Content Marketing Manager positions on LinkedIn. Here’s some of the job requirements that employers are demanding for these positions:

“to increase brand awareness, grow subscribers, and attract leads.”

“Develop and manage a global content strategy that drives XXXX’s brand awareness, website traffic, lead-generation efforts, and new customer acquisition”

“Accountable for all content marketing initiatives to drive traffic, engagement, leads, that deliver sales and customer retention.”

As you can see, most companies are expecting more than simple engagement from their content. They want that content to move people to perform specific actions. Think of it this way, let’s say you are a marketing agency, and you have a competitor that is also crafting a content strategy for 2017. If your content goals for 2017 are a 15% increase in ‘engagement’ and their content goals for 2017 are a 15% increase in leads generated, who do you think will have the better year? Probably your competitor, because their efforts are focused on creating content that comes closer to impacting that agency’s bottom line.

Now at this point you may be thinking “But Mack in your previous point you said that you can’t create content that ‘sells’ if the customer isn’t ready to buy, and now you’re saying that good content should do more than just create engagement. Which is it?” My point is that your content should aspire to a higher purpose than simply creating engagement.

Remember the AIDA model from your college marketing classes? AIDA stands for Awareness, Interest, Desire and Action. You make the customer aware of your business, you get them interested in learning more about who you are and your products, which creates a desire to own those products, and that leads to a purchase (action). Your content needs to be positioned so it can move the potential customer through the buying process. Many businesses focus on creating content that builds awareness, that establishes thought leadership and that helps get the ‘name’ of the business out there.

But then what? Creating content that builds awareness is fine, but what about the next step? What about creating content that builds interest? And if you can get me interested in your products and services, I might become interested in actually buying those products and services. Your content needs to be there to hold my hand and move me closer to a purchase.

Now as part of your content strategy, you may find that certain tools or platforms are best suited for creating and housing different types of content. For example, you might use the content on your blog primarily as a way to build awareness for your business. Then maybe you then move those customers to another tool or channel to build their interest and to ‘close the deal’.

However, none of this will happen until you make a commitment to get serious about your content strategy in 2017. That means taking the time to put together a strategy, to decide what it is you want to accomplish, then executing that strategy. Then along the way you can continually audit your efforts so you know if you are making progress or not, and adjust as needed.

Remember, engagement without desired business outcomes is just noise. Click To Tweet

 

The Importance of Topic Buckets

I’ve written here before about Topic Buckets and why they are so important. Topic Buckets are the 2-3 areas that your content will focus on that are associated with your business. Think of Topic Buckets as your business’ elevator speech. If you meet someone in the elevator and they ask you what your business does, what would say? Think about the 2-3 areas that you would want your business to be known for. Those are your Topic Buckets. You should try to fit every piece of content you create into one of your Topic Buckets. This brings clarity and focus to your content creation, but it also helps to establish your business’ association with these 2-3 areas. By constantly creating content that’s focused on your 2-3 Topic Buckets, you are helping others to understand what your business is about and what it does. Additionally, you are helping to establish your expertise around these areas.

For example, this post is focused on Content Strategy, which is one of my Topic Buckets. This is a very long and in-depth post that is written to help companies create better content strategies in 2017. I want to be known as someone that can help companies create better content strategies, so I wrote a very detailed and instructional post that will teach companies how to do exactly that. Ideally, this post will help establish my expertise in helping companies create amazing content strategies. The added bonus for me is that it will help others understand what type of work I do, which can lead to more referrals.

But honestly, at the end of the day this post is nothing more than a commercial for my consulting services. However, I purposely did not write this post to be an advertisement, because very few people want an advertisement. They want content that creates value for them. So if I can write a 3,000 word post on how to create better content in 2017, that creates value for the reader. Which means I can gain the reader’s attention, and once I have their attention, I have a chance to convert them in some way that I’ve determined has value for me. Notice there are multiple links back to my Content Strategy Audit page. Those are there as a reference point within the post, but are also included because I hope people will click the link and check out that service. This is because I am always viewing my content as being promotional and thinking about how I can add relevant Calls to Action within each post.

You should approach your content in the same way. You should understand that your content is there to promote your business, but you should at the same time understand how to promote your business in a way that also creates value for your audience. This is why the concept of Topic Buckets are so important, because it allows you to focus your content creation efforts on 2-3 areas that relate to your business. And if you approach your content as being promotional while also creating value for the reader, you will create content that promotes the topic areas that are relevant to your business.

Or if this whole idea of creating content that promotes your business makes you feel icky, think of it this way: If you have created great content, you have earned the right to ask for something from your reader. Remember the PBS pledge drive example in my previous post. PBS aired a wonderful live concert of The Highwaymen, it was great content that I loved, so I didn’t mind a few short breaks within that 90-minute performance from PBS asking for donations. PBS earned the right to ask for donations by providing amazing content.

Your focus should be the same, especially if you feel uncomfortable ‘asking for the sale’. Simply create amazingly valueable content and not only will you have earned the right to promote yourself, the odds are your audience will WANT that promotion. If I stumble across a site that creates value for me around a topic I am interested in, what will I do? Subscribe to new content from that site. I am communicating to that site that I want to get new content from them as soon as it is available. Whenever we interact with someone that creates content that has value for us, we want more. I know this from my own experience as a content creator. Whenever I create a piece of content that’s very popular and well received, I see an increase in traffic from that content to the following pages:

1 – My bio. People that have never read my content before want to know who I am.

2 – My Buy Think Like a Rock Star page. People that find value in my post become interested in buying my book.

3 – My Speaking and consulting services pages. People that find value in my post become interested in hiring me as a speaker or consultant.

No doubt, you have seen the same thing whenever you create content that is popular with your readers. This indicates that IF you have created content that’s valuable to your readers, then those readers are more OPEN to promotion from you. In fact, if you have positioned your content correctly, a relevant Call to Action (such as asking for a download of a white paper, subscribing to a newsletter or buying a product), should be expected and WELCOMED by your readers. So just think about that as you are creating content, you want your content to promote your business, but you also want that content to be so insanely valuable for your readers that they don’t mind the the promotion, they even welcome it.

Before I wrap up this post, a final word on why Topic Buckets can be so helpful to your content strategy. Remember that Topic Buckets are really the 2-3 things that you want to be known for. Once you have decided what the Topic Buckets are for your business, ideally you should then prioritize these Topic Buckets. So you know what Topic Bucket is most important to your business, then you can rank the others after that.

Additionally, having Topic Buckets helps you better organize your content calendar. For example, let’s say you have 3 Topic Buckets. If you have an editorial calendar that requires one new blog post per week, then you could write a new post on each of the 3 Topic Buckets, and the 4th post could be on the Topic Bucket that you prioritize as being the most important to your business. This instantly solves the ‘what will I write about?’ problem because you know to write about your Topic Buckets. You just pick which Topic Bucket each post is about, and go from there. So it greatly simplifies the writing process from the standpoint of picking your topic. Which, if you’re like me, if often the biggest issue you face when writing a new post. Using Topic Buckets has greatly helped me with this, and I believe it help you as well.

The Checklist You Need For Each Piece of Content You Write

1 – Remember the goal for your content strategy. Every piece of content you create should be associated with that goal. If your goal is to generate sales, then your content needs to be created in that context. If your goal is to build brand awareness or to establish thought leadership, create your content with that focus. Remember the saying ‘Begin with the end in mind’ because it applies here.

2 – What Topic Bucket does this piece of content fit in? Figure out the 2-3 things that you want to be known for, and try your best to make sure that every piece of content you create fits into one of these Topic Buckets. Also, prioritize your Topic Buckets so that you cover each and also focus more on the ones that are most important to your business.

3 – Create content worthy of the ask. Get in the habit of viewing the content you create for your business as being promotional, but do so with the understanding that it must also create value for the reader, or else you’ve wasted both your time and the readers’. Remember the PBS pledge drive example; Strive to create content that’s earned the right to ask for a donation. If you truly create great content that’s valuable to your readers, they will WANT to get more information about that topic, or they will want to sign up for your newsletter or subscribe to your content, or buy your product. Remember, the value you create IS the promotion. Think about what value each piece of content creates for the reader, and how that will ultimately create value for your business as well.

4 – Carefully consider your Calls to Action. This ties in with the above point especially. Create content that’s worthy of the ask, then carefully ask for the exact thing you want, that’s also relevant to the content you have created. Should every piece of content you create include a Call to Action? Not necessarily, but every piece of content you create should be worthy of you asking for something in return from the reader. Maybe it’s something as simple as asking them to visit a page, or leaving a comment. Maybe it’s directly promoting a product or service you provide. But the idea is to think more carefully and deliberately about not only the content you create but the time you are asking your readers to invest in consuming that content. If you have created value then you have earned the right to ask for something.

5 – Understand how you will measure the success of each piece of content you create. If you are writing a blog post, think about what needs to happen in order for you to realize that the time you spent on that post was worth the effort. Know what KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) you and your boss will use to judge the effectiveness of each piece of content. This is also useful to keep in mind as you create the content because it will help you create the content in such a way that relevant KPIs are impacted by the content.

Finally, I wanted to close this post by letting you know about a very cool writing tool I just discovered from Peter Shankman’s blog. This tool is OmmWriter. It is designed to minimize distractions when you write so you can better focus. When you run OmmWriter, it takes over your screen so all you are left with is a blank screen with a background that you set (I prefer the snow scene). All system notifications are turned off so there’s no distractions. Additionally, several musical tones are provided (I prefer #5) that really help me get sucked into the writing and it also helps with focus.

Case in point, this is the first post I’ve written while using OmmWriter, and it is going to end up being around 4,000 words. Prior to this, the longest post I had ever written in 11 years of blogging was right at 2,000 words. I found it much easier to focus and just ‘get in the flow’ and write more in less time with OmmWriter. Now it does have a few obvious limitations to discuss. First, you can’t insert images or a lot of special formatting so you can’t just write a finished post with OmmWriter. You’ll still have to do some editing and formatting before it’s ready to publish. And it’s not free, although you can buy it for as low as $5.11, that’s the minimum price you can pay and the creators of OmmWriter let you decide what you will pay.

So definitely try out OmmWriter and I hope you love it as much as I do. My problem has always been that it takes me way too long to write a really good blog post. My ideas seem to come in spurts, and it often takes me 5-6 hours to write a substantial 1,000 word post. I wrote this post in about 4 hours, and it’s right at 4,000 words. OmmWriter really helped me focus and write more in less time. Here’s the link to check it out, and I’m not getting a penny from them, just wanted to share a really cool writing tool that I think you’ll love.

Most companies start blogging and creating social media content for one reason: They are ready to sell their products and services.  So they create content that sells their products and services.

The problem is, most people aren’t ready to buy.  So when you try to sell to someone that isn’t in the market for your product, your sales message becomes a nuisance.  And by association, your brand becomes a nuisance.  The reality is that your content can be amazing, but if it isn’t aimed at your customer and their specific point in the buying process, then it will not work.

Period.

Now, let’s back up and see what type of content customers find trustworthy.  Research from Forrester into what type of content customers find trustworthy found that 70% of respondents found product recommendations from friends and family to be trustworthy.  Only 32% found content on a company website or blog to be trustworthy.  At first glance, it would be easy to understand why the average customer trusts their friends and family far more often than they trust the content from a company they don’t know.  But there’s also another factor at play that greatly influences trustworthiness.

Relevance.  Since your friends and family know you, they can apply that knowledge to give you more relevant information, and you are more likely to trust information that’s relevant to you.  If they know I’m in the market for a used sedan, they don’t bother telling me about the great deals the local Chevy dealer has on new trucks, because they know that’s not what I’m looking for.

The bottom line is that amazing content is relevant content.  Relevant content is amazing content.  If you give me the content I need, in the form I need, and the precise moment I need it, that’s relevance for me.

Too many companies use content as a way to convert customers when they should be trying to create customers.  You can’t convert customers until you have them, and when you push content that sells into the face of someone that isn’t ready to buy, you ensure that your content gets ignored.

For example, many companies are attracted to blogging because it can be a wonderful way to raise awareness for your business. But you have to incorporate that into your content creation.  If you are trying to raise awareness for your business, then that makes you are trying to connect with new customers that don’t know who you are and don’t know why they would want to do business with you.

So if you create content that sells directly to new customers, it’s going to be a disconnect.  Since new customers aren’t yet aware of your business and products, then you need to focus your content on topics that relate to your products.  Here’s some examples…

If you sell athletic wear, create content focused on the activities customers would engage in while wearing your athletic wear.

If you sell cameras, create content focused on the experiences and events people would photograph with your camera.  I blogged about this last week.

If you sell  carseats, create content focused on how parents can be safer drivers.

Make Your Content Like the PBS Pledge Drive 

But let’s say you’re stubborn, and you are determined to SELL in your content.  That’s fine, you can absolutely promote your products and services in your content.   In fact, if you create useful content for your readers, you SHOULD use that content to sell to your readers.  Always keep in mind that if you have created useful content for your readers, then you have earned the right to promote yourself to your readers.  In fact, your best content SHOULD include a call to action for your readers.

Case in point, PBS is currently in the middle of its latest pledge drive.  Tonight, it will show a special concert from 1990 with The Highwaymen; Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson.   This is a unique and special concert that PBS usually doesn’t show.  Since PBS understands that this is content that its viewers will love, it uses this concert to promote its pledge drive.  During the concert, PBS will have scheduled breaks where it will ask viewers for donations by offering them the concert DVD in exchange for a donation.  PBS earned the right to ask for the donation by providing excellent content that was valuable to its viewers.

As a content creator, you can do the exact same thing. Notice I did this above by inserting a banner for my Content Strategy Audit directly into the post. I didn’t do that with my previous post because it wasn’t as in-depth as this post.  This post does a deeper dive into content creation, so as a result I feel more comfortable inserting a Call to Action directly into the post.  But also notice that particular Call to Action is also relevant to the content of this post.  A thorough post about content creation and strategy included a relevant Call to Action for my Content Strategy Audit.  It’s not that you can’t sell and promote with your content, it’s that you need to do so smartly.  Think about this as you are creating your content, if you’re writing a blog post that does a deep dive into a particular topic associated with your business, then it could make sense to promote your white paper that you did on a similar topic.  If I’m interested in the topic of the post, I might be interested in reading your white paper about a complimentary topic.

Let’s look at a slightly different example.  LawnStarter is a startup that provides lawncare services such as mowing and trimming in select cities across the US.  On its blog, the Austin startup does a great job of creating posts that are focused on lawncare and travel in the cities it serves.  But it’s hit upon viral sensations with its posts on the most beautiful college and high school campuses around the country.  Here’s one example:

There’s two very interesting elements to note about this post.  First, it’s gotten over 40,000 Likes on Facebook!  The second, note that just to the right of the post, is a very clear Call to Action letting you get $10 off your lawn mowing service.  What LawnStarter has done is create content that is somewhat (perhaps even loosely) related to its core business.  But that content has gone viral, which means people are reading the post, and when they do, they are being exposed to a clear offer to get $10 off a lawn mowing service.

If LawnStarter had written a post just about getting $10 off its lawn mowing service, would it have gotten over 40,000 Likes on Facebook?  Of course not, it wouldn’t have gotten 40 Likes without being boosted.  But by changing the focus of the content away from its services (lawn mowing) onto something related to its services (beautiful landscaping and high school campuses), the post becomes far more interesting. And since LawnStarter was smart enough to marry a clever and clear Call to Action next to that post, they will benefit greatly from its popularity.

And the best part about this Call to Action? You’re letting the customer choose the content (experience) they want.  If they just want to read the post and look at the cool pictures and videos, they can.  But if they come read your post, then want to learn more about LawnStarter and even do business with them, that option is readily available to them as well.

The Bottom Line

Your content should only be selling IF your reader is ready to buy.  If your content strategy is to use the content to build awareness for your business, then you have to take that into account when you create content.  The job is to attract attention, and you do that by creating content that focuses not on your products directly, but the connections those products have to your customers’ lives.

At the same time, great content that creates value for your readers has earned the right to add a Call to Action.  Think of it as the PBS pledge drive example; no one wants to sit through a 90-minute commercial for buying the concert DVD, but a lot of people are willing to watch 90 minutes of the concert, with a short 5-minute commercial for the DVD placed every 20-30 minutes.

It’s the same approach with your content.  If you create content that interests your reader and truly does help build awareness for your business, then you are also building desire.  By creating content that the reader finds interesting, you’ve also made your business more interesting to that reader.  So you should focus on giving them valuable content, but also think about how you can include relevant Calls to Action in and around your content that gives interested readers the ability to move closer to doing business with you, if they chose to.

There’s been a ton of research into the idea that ‘money can buy happiness’.  The consistent conclusion is that money can buy happiness, but it greatly depends on how you spend that money.  For example, purchases of an item do tend to have an impact on happiness.  However, that happiness is typically short-lived, and can actually have the opposite affect if the item becomes outdated or less useful.  Can you remember the excitement you had when you bought your first iPhone?  Probably not, because a few months later the next version of the iPhone came out, and yours was ‘old news’.

On the other hand, research into how purchases can drive happiness has found that when we spend our money on experiences, the happiness enjoyed is more long-term.  This happiness can be increased if we share those experiences with others.  For example, if a family purchases iPhones together, that happiness will be short-term because soon the technology will become obsolete.  Plus the purchase can even become a source of disappointment if friends and acquaintances purchase newer phones that have more functions and capabilities than the now outdated iPhones that your family owns.

But if that same family had instead spent that money on a trip to The Grand Canyon, they would not only enjoy happiness from the trip itself, but for the rest of their lives, they could share that experience and re-live it through story.  They could also share their experience with other people that had visited The Grand Canyon.  So the value of the trip and its impact upon the family’s happiness is long-term.  In many ways, the happiness that the family enjoys from the trip can actually increase over time.

So how can you apply this research into your content creation?  By focusing on the experiences associated with your product.  This applies even if you are selling a product such as a smartphone, or if you are selling a local destination.  My friends in the tourism industry have known the power of selling experiences for decades.  So if you actually are selling experiences such as a destination or a waterpark, or similar, then using the experiences with your content is much easier.

If you are instead selling an actual product, then create content that’s associated with the experiences involving that product.  Notice that Apple actually does this with its iPhone commercials.  Most are focused on how you could capture moments with the iPhone during your experiences.  Such as travel, a wedding, riding in a car, being with friends, etc.

Think about what you are selling, and consider the experiences that are associated with that product.  Or consider life-changing events, like a wedding, a graduation, a birthday.  How does your product relate to those experiences? A camera could take photos of the wedding, maybe a car could be a graduation gift.

The reality is, until a customer KNOWS that they want to buy your product, content that focuses on the product itself does not interest them.  And this is a disconnect because many companies subscribe to the ‘well people won’t know that they want my product unless I tell them about it’ theory.  People would rather hear about how your product fits into their lives.  Which is why you want to relate your product to the experiences that your customers enjoy.

That approach will earn their attention and make them consider that maybe they should buy your product.  Gain awareness by focusing on how the product relates to the customer first, then when they are ready to buy, shift to more product-centric content.

Pic via Flickr user Laura Hadden

Companies (and their agencies) love sharing case studies. They can be great PR for your business, but they typically aren’t the best way for your brain to learn.

Let’s be honest: Case studies are shared to promote the company and sometimes its agency or partners.  They aren’t positioned as learning tools, they are positioned as promotional tools.  And there’s nothing wrong with that, if a company has done good work and wants to toot its own horn, they should feel fine doing so.

I’m currently looking for a job, most specifically, a Content Marketing Manager or similar position (if you’re hiring, here’s my information).  In talking to B2B companies and agencies, one of the most common needs I am hearing from companies hiring for this position is “We are looking for someone that can help share our client success stories in order to grow our business”.  For B2B companies and agencies, this sharing of case studies makes perfect sense, because it’s proof of concept.

But often, these case studies aren’t positioned in a way that encourages learning.  Too often, case studies are shared, results are given, and takeaways provided. Unfortunately, this isn’t the best way to teach your brain the core concepts that drove success for the case study.  It helps the reader understand the case study, but it doesn’t help the reader understand how to apply the same core concepts to its own business.

Let’s say that your business sells productivity software.  If you share a case study from how your software helped a big-box chain retailer, the reader is going to understand how your software helps in that particular situation.  What you need to do is also share hypothetical or abstract examples that would be more relevant to your targeted audience.  For example, if you want to attract more software clients from the manufacturing industry, you could share your case study from the big-box retailer, but add to it a hypothetical example or two from the manufacturing industry.  Give an example of how a potential client in this space could use your software in the same way as the big-box retailer did.  The added relevance will help the potential client in the manufacturing industry understand how your software could help THEM.

By offering both case studies and hypothetical examples, you make it easier for the brain to both spot and learn the core concepts.  If you only offer the case study, then the brain will learn why the case study worked, but it won’t fully grasp the core concepts, because you are only sharing them in one environment (the case study).  But when you offer the case study AND hypothetical examples, it becomes much easier for the brain to detect (and learn!) the core concept that flows through both the case study and your examples.

The best part? When you marry a great case study with relevant examples that facilitate learning, then you drive more engagement and more interest in your business.  It becomes far easier to see the benefits of working with your business, which also drives more leads.

So if your business wants to make better use of its client case studies, focus on adding relevant hypothetical examples that facilitate learning of the core concepts.  This helps the reader understand why they should work with you and will greatly improve the efficiency of your content marketing efforts.

Or you can just hire me to do it for you!

Pic via Pixabay