Ever go to a dinner party where your friend shocked your socks off with an unanticipated spectacular meal? How do you dish out awesomeness when you are seeking to snatch people’s attention? How do you invite the stay-and-click versus the dine-and-dash crowd? Keep it short and sweet. Here are five tips I’ll dish on awesome content marketing that could round out any well-composed gourmet meal:
Amuse-Bouche: Tell It With A Smile
No one wants to read a lifeless bit of information. Start with an attention grabber, something that screams pizzazz, the way a chef whips up an amuse-bouche to start a meal. It’s a calling card of sorts that makes your mouth say wow. How do you start off your communication by saying wow?
- Start with a joke
- Use a turn of phrase
- Turn an axiom upside down
- Be real (a real event that happened personally)
Appetizer: Tell It In Bite Sized Chunks
Bringing out lists of bullets may make you think of PowerPoint, but it’s a great way to pass along bite-sized information that people get instantly (if you word it correctly). Serve up:
- Do's and don'ts
- What's in and what's out
- A checklist
- Any punchy laundry list of items
Main Course: Be Clear On Your Main Point
What’s the meat in the sandwich? How do we avoid filler? What is the single most important idea and how do we back it up? Every main course needs a centerpiece bolstered with veggies and a starch, so make sure that you support your main point through statistics and proofs.
What makes something awesome is variety, substance and a subtle secret spice. Know your audience, don’t be stuck serving beef to vegetarians. There’s one cardinal rule: Don’t be bland. Here’s how to let your audience know you’re serving Kung Pau chicken or wasabi salmon:
- Use call outs and bold text to hit your point home
- Make your point part of the title (Five Ways to Achieve Content Marketing Awesomeness)
- Make it the key benefit to the reader
- A checklist
- Convince the reader (bite after bite) to persuade them to take your side
Dessert: Wrap It Up
Put the finishing touches on your article or content. What is the sweetener that you close with? Dessert is meant to stay in theme, so end a meal with an enunciated ‘yum’. Here are a few ways (media) to make your content more burnt marshmallow topped brownies instead of just plain Jane vanilla ice cream:
- Add a TikTok video
- Include an infographic
- Provide a bar graph (or pie chart, it is dessert after all)
- A series of links to content that fits the category (so that they will linger longer)
Discussion Over Dinner
The whole point of the creating the wow factor and plating it with finesse and pizzazz is to cause that awesomeness to be shared. Sure, the beauty of the offering is important, but you also want to have the guests, your readers, excited enough to like, share or chat about it (don’t forget to include social sharing links so they can do so). Make the experience an anecdote worth sharing and one day you’ll find just the right combination that will make a hit and that discussion will go viral.
Bon appétit!
