We mostly work with large corporations that require a lot of privacy, so we’re often not able to share specific thoughts and ideas on the work we’re doing with them. But in a fun exchange with a local photographer last week, I feel I shared some quality advice about turning great content into valuable content for his business and he agreed to let me share the exchange with you.
If you read our blog, you already know Inbound Marketing is about providing value. That works well with me because I really enjoy sharing feedback that can help others (after doing this for over 16 years).
Russ Climie is a professional photographer who, along with his wife Rebecca, specialize in family, wedding, and event photography. He reached out last week in hopes of joining our already full Lunch and Learn event. In his follow up, he shared a recent blog post he was proud of. And rightfully so, it was good. The post was titled, “7 Tips for More Effective Speaking | HOW TO NOT SUCK”.
The content, as you may be able to imagine from the title, was tips for speakers. His tips were:
- Look Sharp
- Style Yourself
- Lower the Microphone
- Remove Your Name Tag
- Don’t Drink
- Pause when Speaking
- Smile More
The piece was well written. After reading, I shared three recommendations with him.
1 | Capitalize on the uniqueness of the perspective
I really enjoyed the tips and with my experience in public speaking, found them insightful and valuable. But what stood out to me was that the title didn’t capitalize on the uniqueness of the perspective. His article was written for public speakers from a photographer’s point-of-view after photographing over 600 events.
My recommendation was to refine the title and use the perspective as a way to differentiate his content while also making it more intriguing. Instead of 7 Tips for More Effective Speaking | HOW TO NOT SUCK, I suggested a few options:
- 7 Tips for Effective Public Speaking from a Photographer’s POV
- 7 Tips for Effective Public Speaking from a Photographer
- Photographer’s Take: 7 Tips for Effective Public Speaking
I added public to speaking to give it better context as well. With a little brainstorming, I’m sure it could be better. But the point is to utilize the title to differentiate your content while still targeting the keywords you’re after.
Differentiation is important:
2 | Target your buyer personas
His article is great…for speakers. But the problem is that speakers don’t hire Russ and Rebecca. Their buyer is the event coordinator.
Instead of rewriting the entire piece, my recommendation was to incorporate content that connects with the event coordinator.
Depending on how the content is incorporated, the title could be further refined/targeted. For example (X = a specific type of event being targeted):
- 7 Tips to Improve Your [X] Event from a Photographer’s POV
- Photographer’s Take: 7 Tips to Improve Your [X] Event
3 | Include a call to action
The article ended with no call to action for the reader. It’s important that each article/blog post written includes a call to action that naturally takes the reader to the next step.
In Russ’ case, his content could easily be turned into a downloadable file that includes their branding and ties to their event photography. Depending on the event, this could become valuable content the event coordinators could share with their speakers.
By collecting email addresses, they’d start to create a database to build relationships for the future.
Turning great content into valuable content
The content was great, but it was targeting the wrong buyer persona. For Russ and Rebecca, creating relationships with speakers isn’t nearly as valuable as creating relationships with event coordinators.
So to quickly recap, when creating your content, be sure it’s:
- Valuable and unique
- Targeted to your buyers
- Includes an appropriate call to action
Again, we don’t typically share assessments like this but after receiving Russ’ permission, I felt it was a great example of how to turn great content into valuable content for a business.
If you have any thoughts to add to this, feel free to share them in the comments.
