The #1 Secret For Engaging Content

Even in the simplest of funnels, you’re going to need a collection of content that engages and endears people to your brand.

With all your many talents and your depth of knowledge, how do you decide what content is worth creating?

Most brands assume, guess or simply create so much content that they’re bound to get lucky with some of it.

Let me spare you the guesswork by sharing what’s worked, even though I’ll be revealing the secret that has me looking like a superhero for my clients.

Clients are happy with the content pieces, lures and communications I write for them because they convert significantly better than what they were putting out before I came along. While it’s sweet that they think I’ve got some magical power to intuit what will work, the truth is much simpler!

My secret to showing up as a badass copywriter is to limit my client list to brands willing to invest in the Avatar And Empathy Map Interview Process (Pick a time to talk if you want this done for your brand.) But, my friend, since you’re here I’m going to reveal the key part of the process that empowers me to “predict” (tee hee) what content and overall tone will give brands the widest reach and highest conversion.

The trick to figuring out which lures, content pieces and promotions will attract an audience at any given stage in the funnel is to conduct interviews with about twenty people. Ideally, the majority of those have experienced the exact offer which you will be writing about, but even if they’ve had a similar experience, you can get what you need.

SIDE NOTE:
I also suggest interviewing a few people who have the challenge your brand solves, but are unfamiliar with its offers. This exposes the hurdles and objections total newbies to the brand may have. You’ll need that intel for when you’re ready to run cold traffic (the term for buying ads that target people with no previous exposure to your brand).

Start with questions that get the interviewees talking about themselves BEFORE they start talking about their experience with the brand.

This is where artful communication is required. You want to get the story of the particular challenge they were facing and the emotions it brought on WITHOUT getting their whole life story. (That’s a useless time suck!)

Start by harvesting the juicy stuff about their issue and what it felt like to be dealing with it.

Find out how their experience impacted their day-to-day life, their relationships, etc. This line of questioning gives you the seeds for the top of funnel (a.k.a. TOFU) copy crop. This is a BIG portion of the overall copy, so dig deep. The best way I’ve found to expose the emotions of their journey is to PROVIDE MASSIVE EMPATHY!

Next, inquire about discovery.

How did they first encounter the brand? What differentiated the brand such that they decided to engage and what was the first way they engaged? What triggered them to make the initial purchase? What did they FEEL while they were making their buying decision?

Move on to inquire about their experience of the purchase, implementation, and usage.

Ask if and when they got results and how those results compared to their expectations. Did they get support, directions? Get their views on the level of engagement with the brand after the initial sale and what could have been done better.

Ask how their daily life changed because of their purchase and what emotional responses they had due to this change.

Depending on what’s in development with the brand, questioning can continue quite a bit more. But no matter what’s going on, I always inquire about who else they follow OUTSIDE THE NICHE OF THE BRAND. This can reveal powerful intel for buying similar audience traffic.

Just one example of this is when I found a common theme among women with autoimmune conditions following GOOP (Gwyneth Paltrow’s online magazine brand). This might not be an obvious audience for competitors in that space, but upon investigation I found that the brand provides emotionally compelling shares from MD.s, ND.s and specialists. For an audience of women who’s nervous systems are overloaded, it makes sense that they respond better to heart-centered delivery of content on GOOP than on more clinical options that directly address their condition. Cheaper ads. Bigger wins. YAY!

By now, you’re probably wondering what all the answers you collect will do to help you create content and copy. Would it be worth all the effort? HELL YES! Here’s how.

I guarantee that you’ll see patterns emerge from what initially looks like chaos!

Certain words, phrases or, at the very least, sentiments will stand out in each category. Word combinations will be repeated verbatim or said in slightly varying ways.

The language, concepts and struggles that show up prior to finding the brand – that’s the stuff new audience members will need to hear first. You’d be wise to use the language and address the concepts they need help with in ads that lead to beneficial, introductory content like posts and videos.

Use what’s different about your approach or product to guide them to your list or social media community by incentivizing them with the next level of content.

Support them with initial communications that address the challenges your interviews revealed. Acknowledge what will be difficult and show up as a trusted advisor for the journey. Again, use the same words, phrases and sentiments your interviewees used at this stage.

Based on engagement (or lack thereof) with those communications, tailor the offers you make to them so you’re putting the product or service most likely to solve their problem in front of them. Use the FEELINGS they’ll have when they get the results they want to get them to the offer page.

Once on the sales page, it’s time to take them through the emotional journey of being seen and understood where they are now, show them what’s different about your offer, and invite them to cross a very solid bridge enforced with social proof, sound sense and logic to experience what life is like when they take your offer.

Can you see how the interviews would help you create content that attracts new audience members by resonating with where they’re at now? How you can welcome them in by providing them with a sense of understanding? Do you see how addressing their fears and revealing what’s unique about your offer or approach engages them, and based on their responses (click thrus, likes, direct inquiries, etc.) you can sort them to make customized offers best suited to their needs? The only thing left to do to complete this and turn it into a well-optimized funnel is to measure the efficacy and evaluate to make improvements.

That’s the A.W.E.S.O.M.E. marketing we stand for around here! And it all starts with ASKING.

In summary, use interviews to decide what content is worth creating instead of guessing.

Ask about life before, life while deciding, life during usage or implementation, and the happily ever after. Use that info to refine what you offer the world, making the ride from brand discovery to raving fan a more efficient and rewarding journey for you and those who need you.

Want more confirmation on the content your audience wants? Avatar Interviews are our number one tool for guiding content creation. AND… we confirm that we’re on track by using what we call Content Telepathy. It’s a decent ‘cheat’ for brands unwilling or unable to perform the interviews as described above.