By Shanon Roberts, on 18 October 2021
If you're in content marketing, you know how hard it can be to stand out from the crowd. At times it can seem like everything has been done already.
But, we know that marketing personalization is essential to get results. Your content should reflect the unique essence of your brand and be able to connect in a personal way with visitors to your site. Sound complicated? Take note of these 15 tips to make your content marketing more personalized than ever!
15 Tips to Personalize Your Content Marketing
1. Have Something Different to Say
It's hard to give your content personality if you're saying the same thing as everyone else. Think about how you can use your brand's story and your expertise to tell people something new or different. Having a unique perspective gets attention much faster. You don't have to reinvent the wheel every time, but consider what you can do to make your content distinct.
2. Offer Different Content to Each Visitor
One of the latest trends in personalization and content marketing is to tailor your website experience to user interactions. For example, you can have your visitors see introductory content the first time they enter your site and, from the second visit, offer them something different. You can also adapt the content displayed to their interests. For example, you can display products from categories they have interacted with before. There are plenty of possibilities to create a unique experience!
3. Be Interested in the Subject You Talk About
For your content not to be "more of the same," the first person who needs to be interested in it is you. If you don't put passion into what you do, you won't be able to transmit it.
It is true that not all topics are fascinating at first glance, but if you care about them you can present them in a way that shows what's special about them. For inspiration, look for online communities of fans of the topic you are going to create content on. They will surely be able to transmit their enthusiasm!
4. Read Original Content
Speaking of inspiration, if you want to get ideas for unique content, don't just read the same old blogs. Look for content on your brand's topics of interest that has a unique style and think about how you can get ideas for your own content. Better yet, when you read something that inspires you (an article, a novel, whatever) consider why you like it and how you could replicate that effect in your own content.
5. Elicit Emotional Responses
The ancient Greeks already understood that emotion convinces more than reason. Content with a strong emotional impact is more likely to be remembered and generate a response from the people who consume it.
In fact, a study that analyzed 7,000 articles from The New York Times found that stories that elicit an emotional response are shared more than neutral ones, even if the emotions in question are negative ones such as anger, frustration, or anxiety. Now that you know this, make sure your content doesn't leave anyone indifferent.
6. Write the Way You Speak
Naturalness is a very important component of personalization. Sometimes when people sit down to write, they alter their personality to sound more serious or professional. But if you want to connect with people, try writing in the same tone as if you were telling a story to a friend.
It is true that some topics and brands are not suited to a colloquial tone, but you can always think about how to adapt your texts to sound more relaxed and natural. This way, you will be able to fill your texts with personality and make them reach your target audience.
7. Tell Stories
One of the timeless characteristics of human beings is that we love stories, from tribal origin myths to the latest episode of our favorite Netflix series.
Because of this, one of the most useful tips to personalize your content marketing is to tell stories. If you don't know where to start, you can use examples, anecdotes, and case studies to give a more human touch to your content and make readers identify with it.
8. Evolve from Storytelling to Storydoing
Storytelling is one of the oldest techniques in marketing, but in recent times there have been a couple of interesting shifts. One of them is storydoing.
Storydoing is the evolution of storytelling adapted to online media. You no longer just want to tell a story, but to get people involved and have experiences with your brand. The consumer is no longer a passive listener, but becomes the protagonist of the action.
9. Bet on Storyexperience
The storyexperience is yet another twist on the storytelling aspect of content marketing. In the storyexperience, the aim is to tell the story behind your philosophy, products and services, in a way that provokes emotions and builds connection with customers. One of the most important characteristics of a story is that it must offer a promise to the customer, since promising something and delivering on it is a very effective way of gaining their trust.
10. Broaden Your Vocabulary
You don't need to sound like a thesaurus, but the truth is that making an effort to go a bit outside the more conventional terms can contribute a lot to the personalization of your brand.
As always, it's all about finding the right tone for your brand. Some can afford to sound more pedantic, some will resort to new and technological terms, others want to reflect the language of a specific region. Whatever your brand's personality, vocabulary is a great way to get it noticed.
11. Rethink the Format
Today, content marketing can go beyond articles, videos and infographics. New interactive formats or augmented reality open up a world of possibilities to tell your brand's message.
You don't need to use too many resources to achieve a positive effect. A simple blog post can change radically thanks to the format. Here are some ideas:
- Divide the text into different sections and subheadings to facilitate reading.
- Use lists whenever necessary.
- Use bold or italics to highlight words and concepts.
- Use emoticons and emojis to give a fun, original touch to your content. Sometimes, a well-chosen icon is worth a thousand words.
12. Ask Rhetorical Questions
A rhetorical question is a good way to make the reader stop for a moment and think about what he or she is reading, rather than just skimming over the content.
When writing, try to generate a conversation with the audience. Asking them questions, whether rhetorical or with the intention of getting them to respond (for example, in the comments) breaks this monologue and makes your content more interactive.
13. Create Suspense
Series scriptwriters know it: the cliffhanger is a very effective way to keep the audience hooked.
But your content does not need to be fictional to generate suspense. This feature is based on posing a question and making the reader or viewer have to wait for the answer. Reveal the details little by little to keep your audience hooked until the end. This technique combines very well with that of asking questions, since from the moment you raise them, the user will want to know the answer.
14. Include Interesting Facts
There are two main motivations that drive users to consume content: learning something and being entertained. In the best case scenario, you can achieve both at the same time.
A resource that works very well to attract attention to a topic is to share curiosities such as "Did you know that...". This type of content manages to attract interest, surprise people, and encourage them to continue reading.
15. Speak to Your Audience
The basis of marketing personalization lies in identifying your audience and addressing them directly. To achieve this effect, you need to find out how your ideal customers express themselves and address them in a similar tone.
When you create content that speaks the language of your audience, they identify with your brand and that can provoke much more powerful reactions. If you don't know where to start, find out who your target audience really is. You can even interview some of them and ask them questions related to your future content to see how they respond.
