Content marketing for ‘boring’ industries

Have you ever created content thinking: is anyone ever going to read this? You are certainly not alone. And that’s normal. Creating interesting and relevant content for so-called ‘boring’ industries is not that easy. Let’s say logistics, or finance. In some industries creating content can be tricky. Yet, with a few adjustments, you can transform your content into an interesting and fun piece that inspires and entertains other people. Here are a few pointers to get you started.

Be helpful

Be TRULY helpful. If you help your target audience solve a problem, they will certainly feel like your content was interesting. Write for people that are looking for your content, whatever industry it may be. You will automatically be relevant and interesting to them. Those who do not belong to your target audience, will probably still find your content boring. That’s okay, they weren’t your customers anyway, they would have always thought of your content as boring either way.

Let’s say you create content about finance. That may be interesting for CFO’s, accountants or other finance professionals that are looking to solve a problem. They are likely to find your content helpful if you offer them something new and helpful. If you feel like you don’t have creative writing skills to make your topic interesting, then it’s ok to just create something educational.

Avoid jargon

Using a lot of jargon does not make a professional impression. Unfortunately, some people still think they do. Your target audience doesn’t know all that jargon. Write as you would talk. Throw all the jargon away and replace it with words your average reader would understand.

So avoid words like ‘deliverables’, ‘downsizing’, ‘helicopter view’, ‘co-creation’, ‘task force’, ‘benchmark’… For each of these words, there are synonyms that your target audience does understand.

Be specific

Being helpful automatically also means: be specific. Nobody ever helped anyone by being vague, right? So use concrete examples and perspectives that your readers can identify with. This is easier to achieve if you already have your buyer personas mapped out: it means you already know what what they are looking for.

Being specific starts from the title. If you can make that specific, you increase the chances that people will start reading. Just one thing though: being specific doesn’t mean you have to stuff your blogpost full of facts and figures. You can use those to make a statement, just don’t overdo it. Being specific is mainly done by tuning your content for your buyer persona’s. For example, if your buyer persona works in the construction industry, make your content specific to that industry.

Fair is fair: we’ve also failed to be specific enough at times. There’s nothing really wrong with that, it just means that it doesn’t stand out as much. You can always turn that into evergreen content, or make it more specific later on.

Tell a story

We posted about the importance of storytelling before. By telling stories, you give meaning to information that consists of facts and figures. Storytelling helps you connect with your readers. With only facts and figures and no storytelling, this is a lot harder to do. On top of that, you gain authenticity points by telling your own unique stories.

People remember stories more easily than numbers. Think about a way to tell the same thing, in the form of a story. It might take a little more effort, but it’s definitely worth it. Be creative and look at your messaging from different angles. I bet at some point you will find an angle that really works for you, and that makes your blogpost much more engaging.

Use humour

By using a bit of humor here and there in your content piece, you can bring it to life. Serious topics become a bit lighter with humor, and will therefore be easier and more interesting for your target audience. Plus it’s more fun for you to create. Don’t scare away from writing funny stories. But beware: make sure your buyer persona will appreciate your kind of humor, or the amount you plan on using. Again, don’t overdo it, and use your buyer persona’s to decide what is right.

Insert visuals

You can make long and heavy blogpost so much lighter with a few visual interventions. For example, provide some white space between paragraphs and titles. This automatically makes it more appealing for your reader’s eye. It will allow them to scan your blogpost easily, thus increasing the readability. That is always positive.

Also, use images to back up your claims and your arguments. If you have a lot of numbers in your content, consider adding graphs. If you’re talking about processes and complex systems, use diagrams to help your reader out visually. These all contribute to making your content easier to understand, and to actually gain something from it. That’s what it’s all about in the end.

Make bold statements

Make your claim right from the start. Us Belgians are very polite and modest people, we should sometimes be a bit more daring. A title like ‘get more online leads’ is quite soft. A bolder title could be something like ‘10X your lead generation with these tips’. It immediately becomes more interesting. Find a piece of information in your content that stands out and build your story around it. Your readers will love it.

You should consider other things than only big numbers. For example, you can defend an extreme opinion or be very controversial on a particular subject. Don’t be afraid of any reactions, that’s a good sign: it means people read your content and they are interacting with you. And that’s exactly what content marketing is for. Make sure you know your facts and you know the other angles as well.

Interview interesting people

You can also interview interesting people. You could look for someone with authority and experience in your industry, perhaps even a big name. Then even if you talk about a serious topic, readers will still be interested to learn someone else’s take on the subject. If it’s a good public speaker, consider making a video of the interview. Video content scores a lot better. Other opinions will make your content richer and therefor more interesting. Look for experts on your subject. They will be happy to help you, and them and their fans will become part of your target audience too as an added bonus, increasing your content reach.

Rewrite and shorten your content

Your first version is often a messy one. Blog pots only get better as the writer eliminates, rewrites, restructures and shortens. This is how you turn a long boring content piece into a short, engaging and insightful piece that people really like to read. You’ll also want to spend some time on correcting any wrong spelling or grammar. These things are very annoying and it makes people focus on details instead of your story.

In our experience, every topic has an audience. The trick is to make your topic interesting to the readers you have in mind. We hope this blogpost has inspired you to make your own content more interesting and engaging. But be patient: Rome wasn’t built in a day either. Just get started, test different things, and keep on honing your skills. The results will follow. And if you need some extra inspiration, or content marketing support, you know where to find us.