You’ve nailed your brand. It looks like a hamster eating a marshmallow. The words read like Shakespeare on crack. Your brand defines you, aligns your people and makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, like you've just eaten a furball from the nether regions. Now what? How can you get your message out to the world? How can your company inspire others, enter the psyche of the collective consciousness, drive business and influence?
It's easy...Just grab a massive talking rainbow fish, and slap the world around the face with it.
Here's what I mean, in more detail, plus some other tips on how to get people talking about your brand...
Open ears lead to Kent peanut factories
Sit at the bar of a busy pub on your own and wait. Overhear conversations. Eat the odd peanut. Then, when a conversation comes along about a subject that you know all about, drop in an additional point that nobody has thought of. Suddenly, you are the conversation. There are people standing around you. As the new leader of knowledge on the subject, people will buy you drinks. Before you know it, you own a peanut factory in Kent and tell stories to thousands in the beat poetry tent at Glastonbury. You get the idea, a good content marketing expert doesn't just know how to begin a conversation, they know how to find conversations already happening around them and move them on.
Avoid long stories about two reasonably priced bags
A postman orders a bag on Amazon, and it's meant to turn up the next day and doesn't arrive. So after sending a few emails, he cancels the order and decides to go shopping. He eventually buys a bag from John Lewis for a reasonable price. When he returns home, he discovers the bag he cancelled has been delivered, and his debit card has been charged for the bag. Livid, he sits in a chair thinking sad thoughts about bags and communication - NOBODY WANTS TO READ THIS. BE INTERESTING OR BE IGNORED.
Slap the world in the face with talking rainbow fish
Everything anyone has ever told you about being safe, and testing the water and not offending anyone and not taking risks is all bullshit. Offend people. Wake them up. Write content that opens their eyes. Write content that inspires. Write content that you care about. Write content that will make a difference. Be bold. Be brave. Opening up your own business and walking away from standard employment was a risk. It was a bold move. Don't believe yourself if the voice in your head is telling you to act like somebody else just because you have reached a point where you have something to lose. Push on. Continue being yourself. Write the content you want to read.
Explosive content doesn't have to involve beans
It's nice to tell a story. It's nice that there is an arc, that everything has a beginning, a middle and an end. But not all content has to be that way. Don't get stuck in a pattern where everything is the same. An article that states facts that your audience cares about can be just as explosive as a story about how someone purchased your beans and won the 2006 Texas farting contest.
Want some free pointers on how to tell the world about your brand?
Download free 'Stop Throwing Dead Pigeons at Strangers: a guide to content marketing'.
To discuss content marketing and how it can help you and your business, email [email protected]