Imagine you have a damn good idea about how you can make someone’s life better. You’ve thought about it over and over, asked a few friends, developed a wireframe, maybe even talked to a few investors. Although your friends love and support you(some of them anyway), they aren't making the connection to your ideas brilliance.

It either sounds crazy to them or they’ll say “I think I heard of that before”, words no creator likes to hear. If it sounds crazy, you’re probably having trouble telling the story of your idea in a way that’s clear and concise. Losing them in the technical jargon or just simply failing to relate the idea to their reality. If it sounds crazy to them, it will definitely confuse your target audience if it’s not presented correctly. 

Most entrepreneurs write this critique off as “they just don’t understand me”. That’s the wrong way to take this type of critique. Listen, if you can’t communicate your idea simply then your great amazing idea that you stayed up all night for will get ignored by your attention-deficit, target audience. They get bombarded with new stuff every day. 

They literally don’t have the attention span to make sense of your product for you. If they begin to try to interpret what you're communicating on their own, a little voice in their head is gonna go “THREAT! AVOID!” and they will continue scrolling.

Which leads me to my point about content. Content is simply telling the story of your idea, ideally effectively. It spreads across multiple channels like your homepage, blog, advertising, social media, emails, etc.. 

As a copywriter, I see the mistakes and wins startups make when using Facebook advertising to attract new users. They could have a beautiful looking website but sometimes their advertising copy is failing to convert their target audience. 

Or their website's homepage is explaining too many features and not relating the product to the target audience. This is all done in the content. Most readers today are scanning, not reading. So if what you're saying doesn't relate to them, there is a high likelihood that they will ignore it.

HOW TO MASTER THE CONTENT MINDSET

The roots of marketing lie in human psychology and how our world influences it. It’s said that everyone’s favorite subject is themselves. In my experience, I’ve found this to reign mostly true. This natural drive for narcissism and status approval must be reflected in our content strategies when writing copy on any platform.

Content comes in many formats (text, graphic, video) and is used to tell your idea’s story in different fashions. Some people like to eat with a spoon and some with a fork. Same goes with content. Most people aren’t readers, so using images and video will give you the opportunity to reach a wider target audience. 

Although, some formats are best used depending on the project being created so use your better judgment. We all know the video format is skyrocketing in engagement so consider how you can tell your story through motion visuals or graphics. No matter what you create, your content should follow at least one of these principles.

• Educate (teach or provide useful practical information)
• Entertain (make your content fun and easy to attend)
• Encourage (Inspire users to take action)

Focusing on these principles while creating gives you a means to an end when it comes to getting your content to stick with your target audience. Whether a blog article or Instagram post, this ensures that you are always providing value to your audience no matter which principle you choose to create from. 

It also gives you flexibility in what you decide to post day to day. I’ve created content for over 4 years now so I plan ahead and create content in bulk when I can. I have blog articles for the next 8 weeks currently and I’m writing more as we speak.

I hope you apply the strategies given in this article. I’d love to hear your feedback and results. This is your jumpstart to create content that makes sense to your audience and attract new users to your product. If you’d like to know more about content marketing, I created a 20-page guide to help you and your team brainstorm and deliver content that’s relevant to your brand and audience.

FEEDBACK

How are you relating your idea to your market in the content you write? How do you use storytelling to communicate with your audience on social media? Share this with a marketer you know.