Let’s take a quick trip back in time to 1986…
Remember Ben Stein’s character in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off? He was, quite possibly, the most boring teacher to ever exist on the planet. His students stared blankly into space, tried to fight off naps, and even drooled on their desks.
Here in 2019, there’s plenty of digital content that evokes the same responses. But unlike high school students, prospects and customers aren’t forced to listen to you until the bell rings. Unless you grab attention right out of the gate, people are going to click the “Back” button faster than Ben Stein can say, “Anyone? Anyone?”
So how do you inject some much-needed excitement into your content—without being cheesy and over-the-top?
1. Create content that aligns with your passion
You’re in your industry for a reason, right? Whatever the niche, you (hopefully!) wake up in the morning excited about the people you’re going to talk to, the products you’re going to sell, and the solutions you’re going to provide. Take that excitement and apply it to your content.
Bottom line—if you aren’t excited about what you’re talking about (or writing about, or designing a graphic about, etc.), no one’s going to be excited to consume it. Instead, you’ll be the digital marketing version of Ben Stein.
2. Embrace your personality, not just your brand
Yes, every piece of content you create (both online and off) needs to align with your organization’s specific brand voice. But that doesn’t mean you can’t show off a little bit of personality!
For example, here on the Marvel Marketers’ blog, all of our superheroes write according to our company’s brand guidelines—but all of our posts are distinctly different:
- First, we all cover subjects that are professionally and personally important to us as individuals. We all have different areas of expertise, and our posts reflect that.
- Second, we all have our own individual voices that set us apart. If you’re a frequent reader, you can probably tell the difference between a post I’ve written, a post that Janice has written, a post that Rebecca has written, a post that Phil has written, and so on.
3. Share your own experiences
The more “human” your content is, the more exciting it’s going to be. After all, how boring would a post about deleting duplicates be without Sophie’s unique voice and personal experiences?
She did a great job of painting a clear picture of the deadline she faced, the messy spreadsheet she was handed, and the pressure of pleasing an important client. Regardless of your specific expertise, we can all understand emotions like those. That’s why her post is one of the most popular we’ve published all year! And, at the same time, it shares a very important lesson about keeping your database clean.
4. Don’t hesitate to turn to the pros
No matter how much passion you have or how many great experiences you have, sometimes you just don’t have the time or the desire to create truly exciting content, and that’s OK! In those situations, turn to the content pros on your team.
Here at Marvel Marketers, there have been many times where I’ve interviewed members of our team, gotten their insights and expertise, and written the finished product. I’ve also sat down with our superheroes to flesh out content ideas—like when they have an interesting topic they’d like to cover but aren’t sure of the best way to approach it for our audience.
Bottom line—your team is well-rounded for a reason. There is no “I” in team, but there is one in “boring content”! Use your teammate’s strengths to create content that you can all be proud of.
