Content marketing…Underestimate your audience at your peril.
Love them, or just don’t understand them, trainspotters (or rail enthusiasts as they like to be known) know their stuff. So after BBC4’s #TrainspottingLIVE first aired on Monday there was a media bonanza as flaws in the programme’s apparently ‘live’ footage were exposed.
Actually you didn’t need to be Sir William Stanier to have worked out the convoy of Class 66 locomotives had been filmed during winter months. Despite our dismal summer, the trees are in leaf. There were several other gaffes, but as I left my anorak in the car this morning, we’ll leave them for another time.
From a PR and marketing perspective, the lesson to be learnt here is never underestimate your audience. As content marketing becomes more and more in vogue – and rightly so – there is an ever present danger that whoever is creating that content will get their facts horribly wrong. And if not picked up at the proofing stage – and there must be one – once published, your content could do your brand severe damage in the eyes of your customer – your audience!
After all, your audience is the expert. Whether they are simply a potential diner in your restaurant, or a large business looking for a solution you could provide, they will have done their homework and will know how they want that meal to taste or what the solution they require looks like.
The key to great content creation is understanding and respecting the people who will be reading it. Assume they know as much or more than you do. Don’t try to impress them with complicated language or technical terms. And whatever you do, don’t insult their intelligence.
Good journalism comes into play here. Make sure what you are writing is thoroughly researched and all the facts are verified. The piece needs to be packed with information to keep the reader engaged. Present the piece in a well structured way – beginning, middle and end – and make sure there is a strong opening and conclusion that will leave a lasting impression on the reader. The journalists at The Sun are very adept at writing in this way, because they cover important issues in a way that all can easily understand, without falling into the trap that the bulk of their audience is blue collar and therefore must be stupid.
Of course the safest way to tackle content creation for your content marketing campaigns, is to employ the services of professional writers, who take a real interest in your business, don’t have their own agenda.
If you need help creating content for your publications, marketing collateral, website or blog, Junction Media can help. To learn more contact us at: [email protected]