The Importance of Specificity in Content Marketing

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“Many writers rely on generalities rather than absolutes as they craft an article; this is both a cheat and disrespectful to the reader, who is left without the kinds of supporting details that can turn a good article into a great one,” Don Vaughan advises in a recent issue of Writer’s Digest.”There’s a meaningful difference between ‘a couple of centuries’ and ‘215 years’.”

Asked where writers might go to find those supporting details (other than a simple Google search), Vaughan suggests checking:

  • government agencies
  • military agencies
  • universities
  • data resources, both U.S. and overseas,

but also just talking to as many people as you can, expressing curiosity about their knowledge and opinions on the topic.

“Specificity can be your weapon of mass effectiveness,” Jason Cohen once wrote in “A Smart Bear”. Whether for marketing copy, blogging, a sales pitch, be specific. “Generic words are a sure sign of lazy writing.”

In content marketing, we’ve learned at Say it For You, the more specific you are in describing the shortcuts and solutions, the more engaging that content will be. Web searchers are on a fact-finding mission, looking for information that relates to what you do, what you sell, and what you know about.  The more specific the key words and phrases in the title and in the body of the blog post, the greater the chance search engines will direct those searchers to your blog. Then, the more specific the examples you provide and the terminology you use, the more impact you’re likely to have on readers of your content.

As “ghost writers’ for our clients, (our Say It For You contract guarantees that we will not write content for their competitors), we often find ourselves creating content on topics in which we have no prior experience or training. Don Vaughn’s advice about finding supporting details from agencies, universities, and specialty magazines is very apropos. “You don’t have to be a subject matter expert to write on specialty topics,” he says – “all you need is an innovative idea specific to the topic”  – and the willingness to delve into:

  • aspects of the topic’s history
  • profiles of prominent people who’ve benefitted from the product or service
  • news about developments in the industry
  • different opinions on the topic
  • human interest stories.

In content marketing, specificity can turn out to be a weapon of  creative effectiveness.

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Add the Power of the Photo to the Power of the Words

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“Consider the power of a simple photo,” Bill Shapiro writes in Entrepreneur Magazine. “Those few inches of paper, those few drops of ink — or, you know, those few hundred thousand pixels – have an almost magical ability to transport you back in time, to connect you to your deeply held values, to inspire, to motivate, to thrill…”.

A study carried out by PR News found that content with good images get 94% more views than those without, Bernard Schroeder points out in Forbes. But it’s not good enough to use just any photos, he cautions. The sheer number of images being displayed on product packaging, websites, billboards, ads, and social media can be overwhelming to consumers, so it’s important to select quality and impactful images for your business, he stresses.

At Say It For You, we certainly don’t need to be sold on using images in content marketing. (This very post is actually #2140 of this blog, and in every single one of those, you’ll find a photo or image of some kind.) As Debbie Hemley observed years ago in her post about blogging, pictures have the power to pique interest, aid in learning, and evoke emotions. In any written (or oral, for that matter) presentation, there are three elements – information, “slant” or opinion, and visuals.

To use images and media to their best effect, a Harvard article advises, don’t use them to “spice up” a page; include only those that support or add to the concepts in the text. (Years ago, I chose the image shown above to illustrate the point that the way we dress broadcasts who we are and how we respect others – I felt that image reinforced the opinion I’d expressed in the text of the blog post.)

Side notes: There are technical advantages to consider in using images, in that the “alt text” identifies to search engines what the image is about (formal man dressing for a celebration, event, job interview or wedding on a wooden hanger); incorporating keyword phrases aids in SEO (search engine optimization). There are concerns as well – the use of AI-generated images poses ethical concerns and the danger of copyright infringement.

As content marketers, we can add the power of the photo to the power of our words.

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Content Market to Reach the Ones, Not the Everyones

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Paul was trying to be everywhere, serve everyone, and sell everything. Still, his business had zero revenue for three months in a row. Then, using coach Justin Welsh’s “Rule of One”, Paul was able to effect a 90-day transformation, gaining five clients and a waitlist of three more.

The secret was in the focus, Welsh explains.

  • Paul’s content got better because he focused on one specific topic, posting content on one platform only.
  • His expertise deepened because he chose one offer that solved a specific, expensive problem.
  • He chose one customer type to target; he wasn’t trying to be everything to everyone.

Beginning back in 2008, I’ve returned again and again, in this Say it For You blog, to the theme of target marketing:

Blogs and Podiums – Choose Yours Wisely – Pick one primary area of focus – don’t try to do everything in one post.
Befitting Bloggery – Everything in your content should be tailor-made for one type of customer.
In With Blogging; a Small Business Can Have a Long Tail – high quality content can have a huge effect in a small market.
Smaller targets, Better Hits – Smaller, shorter, and centered around just one idea can turn mini-power into maxi-power.

“Trying to be everything to everyone is one of the gravest mistakes any business can make, the BigCommerce Team advises. Not only will targeting allow you to allocate your advertising dollars and marketing efforts better; “failure to understand the desires, core values, and preferences of your target audience can backfire tremendously”.

I like to call the process of creating content for professional practitioners and business owners “SME-DEV”, (Subject Matter Expert development). Yes, content needs to be focused “outward”, always keeping the needs of that carefully researched target audience in mind. At the same time, we must produce content that focuses on the people behind the business or practice, presenting them as Subject Matter Experts Who Both Know and Care.

Content marketing focuses on the ones, not the “everyones”.

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Will They Get Your Cultural Allusions?

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“Water, Water Everywhere” is the title of an article in the AARP bulletin. The subtitle reads “Supermarket aisles are flooded with all different types of bottled water.  Are any of them worth the money?” Author Andrea Wickstrom makes the case for eschewing the bottles and drinking tap water, citing growing evidence that microplastics negatively affect human health…

Cultural allusions

An allusion is a figure of speech that makes reference to a place, person, either an actual one or one found in literature. The expression “Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink” is an example of the latter – it comes from “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, a poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. 

There are three possible reasons, I explain at Say It For You, for using cultural allusions in content marketing:

  1. To get readers thinking about a product or service in a new way
  2. To get a point across without going into a lengthy explanation
  3. To cement a bond between the reader and the company or professional practitioner, based on shared experiences and knowledge

The problem is – will they get it???

Readers who do not happen to recognize the underlying story or reference point (in this case the Coleridge poem) are going to be puzzled rather than enlightened.  That means that we, as content writers, must gauge our readers’ level of education.  If we miscalculate their ability to recognize the allusion, the danger is that they’ll find our content frustrating rather than illuminating. (Due to the age group receiving the AARP Bulletin, the editors have made certain assumptions about their readers’ education level.)

 

Huh-Oh Titles

The “Water, Water Everywhere” title is an example of what I call the “Huh? Oh!” tactic. The first part (the “Huh?”) is there to startle and capture attention. The second part (the “Oh!”) explains what the text is actually going to be about. (In online marketing, that second part matches the content of the post with the terms consumers typed into their search bar.)

While, as content marketers, we need to know as much as possible about our target readers, you don’t have to qualify for membership in AARP to realize that there are titles of many types to attract readers of many ages and types!

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My Personal “Old is Gold” Celebrity Experience

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When executed successfully, a celebrity endorsement lets you leverage their fame and influence. But, even if all that’s happened is that you’ve met a former celebrity, you can leverage the nostalgia and authenticity it provides. “Brands have long realized that tapping into fond memories isn’t just a feel-good moment; it’s a powerful marketing strategy,” the mediaant.com points out.

Fifteen years ago, as president of my Indiana chapter of the National Speakers’ Association, I attended the NSA Winter Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. Country music star Mel Tillis led a breakout discussion, ending by inviting all of us to attend the Grand Ole Opry performance he was hosting later that day.

There are two special points Mel Tillis made during the question/answer session about communicating with an audience (None of us could help noticing his stutter, which he explained would disappear when he was performing music):

  1.  “I’m always coming up with new anecdotes and stories.” It’s important for any speaker to keep coming up with new anecdotes and stories to illustrate each point, Tillis stressed. That’s a lesson content marketers need to learn, for sure, since maintaining high rankings on search engines means creating content again and again over long periods of time. Anecdotes and stories keep the material fresh.
  2. 2. “Sure, I get tired, like if I have to sing ‘Coca Cola Cowboy’ one more time, I think I’m gonna die. But what you need to do is act like it’s the first time you’ve ever done it. After all, every time I walk out there, it’s a different audience.” In “pull marketing” through content, you are attracting only searchers who have a need relating to what you do, what you sell, or what you know about. You may be “tired” of “same old, same old”, but, for most of those searchers, it will be the first time they’ve ever read your content.

 No, I don’t have a celebrity endorsement from country singer Mel Tillus (The singer died in 2017, after performing onstage for fifty-two years), but I wanted to share with my content marketing friends the nostalgia and authenticity of this memorable and inspiring “Grand Ole Opry” encounter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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