Humans get bored at times with even the best activities in the world. It’s simply human nature to want more: more challenges, more experiences, something new to add more to our life. In sex, we are told to try new things in the bedrooms. Seniors are counselled to do more activities to keep their brains fresh. Children do well when they are exposed to a variety of activities and so on.
But then again, when things get too different, we get skittish. Another evolutionary bump; too much change signifies something bad is looming and we duck and cover!
So how does this relate to your content? In a very real way actually; spicing up your content is important to engage readers, but you have to ride the balancing act between intriguing and scaring customers. People want their basic foundation to remain the same, but with just enough detail changed to make them feel like something is new. Small changes are the key, and this requires a light touch.
How do you combine spice with nice? Read on for five ways to make changes to your content without freaking out your readers and consumers.
Messaging, not Branding
Stop concentrating on your brand for a little while and concentrate on your messages. Put more emphasis on your services, customer testimonials, new products, or other things focused on what you can offer customers instead of on your brand. This is beneficial for your customers so they won’t be upset with you and you’ll still get plenty of conversions.
Change up and Divide Your Audience
Instead of trying to market to the lowest common denominator, try dividing up your audiences and market to them individually. Women and men respond differently to messages as do youth vs. seniors and different professions. Tailor some content to new and more varied audiences so that you can target more traffic and make them feel as though you are speaking directly to them. You may have to do some research to find out what people want, and you will probably have to practice writing for different groups, but it’s worth the effort in the end.
Let the Customers Have their Voice… Easily.
Lots of online shops now have quick customer feedback options. For example, Amazon asks you to rate your seller and/or product based on a simple star system and then you can write some quick comments. It takes about two minutes, but customer involvement makes the customer feel as though he has a voice in your business and gives you some excellent feedback on where you are doing things right and where you need to do
some more work. It takes little effort for both sides, but has some great rewards.
Try Something New in Your Content
But not too new. Take a look at your past content, and see what kind of personality you display and then do a couple pieces that highlight your discovery. For example, if you do lots of work to show how reliable you are, do some content highlighting ways that customers can make the most of your services in their life. Change up your content to things like video or podcasts for a few content runs. As long as your messaging and brand remain largely the same, you can tweak things to make your content stand out again without annoying people.
Go Beyond What You Knew
Or try to see the forest beyond the trees… the ground beneath your feet… and so on and so on. As a marketer, you’ve spent so much time going from point A to B to C that you might have forgotten to look for Z or A2. Look at what others are doing and see how you can take advantage of it or get some inspiration from it. Learn from others, and think outside your comfort levels to get more unique and memorable content for your business.
Adding some sizzle to your content means putting a twist on the work you do to make it more memorable and more enjoyable to readers. When you have more memorable content, you will have happier customers and more conversions and that means a successful business. Try something new!(ish ;))