You enviously watch how your fellow entrepreneurs seize the day with yet another viral post. They are publishing amazing case studies of acquiring a ton of new customers with one single post or doubling their email list with juicy content bait.You desperately want to be like them, but you think your niche is just too boring for content marketing.
Sorry, but it’s a flat-out excuse. No niche is boring unless you define it as such. Simply take advantage of the following content marketing ideas that work the same miracles for funny and boring industries.
1. Solve Problems
Do you know what’s not boring? A helpful post. The one that solves the exact problem a person is struggling with (even if it’s written not in the most exciting manner). People now search for all sorts of things in Google from “how to unclog a toilet” to “how to negotiate a lower insurance payment plan.”
If you offer a solution, you’ll capture the attention. Even if your writing lacks the wits, you can create the most educational piece ever.
2. Piggyback on Popular Trends
What’s everyone are talking about right now? Take advantage of the trending topic and tweak it to suit your industry. The idea isn’t new and the term “newsjacking” was first introduced by David Meerman Scott back in 2011. What you do is – take a popular news (in your niche or not), offer additional commentary or opinion on the matter; piggyback ride on its popularity wave.
Let’s take the notorious Starbucks red cup case. For instance, you’re SaaS startup is offering a consumer behavior analytics tool. You can add the following topics to your content marketing plan:
- “What Starbucks’ Red Cup Tells Us About Consumer Behavior”
- “Starbucks’ Red Cup Controversy Explained: Details Data Analysis”
- “Big Data: How Starbucks’ Red Cup Controversy Increased The Company Sales”
Now, that’s the headline you would click, right?
3. Take Advantage of Big Data
Data is beautiful and unless it’s a lengthy and twister Gantt chart, it’s also pretty thrilling. The data your “boring” business has can be turned into a spectacular visualization.
“So we are in the pipeline industry. Sounds like no fun, right? Well, we used to think the same till our new content marketer suggested creating a few heat maps visualizing the pipes we have pigged during the last year in Dallas area. A graphic designer did the job in just a day using our work plans and the image went kind of viral with a few thousands of people getting referred to our website in the first two days. We are now working on a series of images for other areas!” – comments Gary Smith from Inline Services.
Remember, your business already has an entirely free database of information. You just need to add an appealing wrapping.
4. Spice Up Your Writing with Relatable Analogies
“Boring” can often stand for “confusing”. The statement is particularly true for business offering very niche and techy solutions. Yet, it doesn’t mean writing anything funny and thrilling is a mission impossible. Stephen Hawking’s scientific books have gone mainstream, and your content can, too!
If your business is in a complex industry and your target audience are not necessarily subject matter experts, think about introducing new, simpler concepts to explain everything to your readers in terms they can understand and relate to.
HubSpot, in this case, does an amazing job explaining complex inbound marketing terms in plain English e.g. ” Inbound marketing is like dating … You don’t ask someone to marry you on the first date. People get kind of freaked out when you do that. You get to know each other first, then introduce the friends, then the family, and then, once you know the whole package looks good, you put a ring on it.”
5. Borrow Ideas from Niche Publishers
Now any niche “boring” or not has a few popular magazines and journals regularly covering related topics. These are the people how constantly need to produce relevant content and come up with ideas. Take advantage of this.
Step 1: Identify the most popular industry publishers. A quick Google search with [your niche] + “magazine”, “news”, “website” should do the trick.
Step 2: Analyze the headlines and identify the posts getting most of shares and comments. Think of the ways how you can upgrade them. Also try to identify some gaps in their content. Which subjects they haven’t covered yet.
Step 3: Get in touch with one of the writers. Ask if they are currently looking for new ideas and accept freelance submissions? If you have something new to say on the subject, high chances are they would be glad to publish your piece.