Irresistible is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as: Too attractive and tempting to be resisted and too powerful or convincing to be resisted.*
Let’s try a quick exercise.
What types of content grab your attention and force you to stop what you are doing and check them out?
For me, it’s things like “What you didn’t know,” “How-tos,” “20 statistics about marketing,” and “Failures: What doesn’t work.” Why? Because these help me to do my job as a content marketer better.
This should be the underlying value and the driver of all your content creation. The foundation of crafting irresistible content is content that provides significant value – helps your prospects to do their jobs better.
What Types of Content Are Irresistible?
You can turn any piece of content into a tempting lure for prospects, however, several types of content tend to perform well for attracting readers or viewers.
How-To Guides
A How-To Guide that provides a clear step-by-step process for completing a task or process is innately alluring for prospects. Create a clear, actionable guide that will teach your prospects and customers how to do something related to their job.
Lists
Lists are popular B2B content marketing pieces because they are organized, easy to scan, and typically offer quick tips. Top 10s, 5 Ways to, 3 Things you need to know, etc., are all great ways to communicate a lot of information in a succinct way.
FAQs
Every product or service will have a short list of frequently asked questions. Create a list of 5 or 10 common questions and straightforward answers to those questions.
Case Study
Not only do case studies demonstrate the value of your product or services, as a content marketing piece, they tell a potential prospect what they can expect in terms of results and how the whole process works.
Statistics
In the B2B space, a sale isn’t just a sale, it’s the beginning of a partnership. A list of useful, relevant, recent statistics about your products or services makes a case for your products or services and provides your prospects with real metrics so they can internally make the case for partnering with your firm.
6 Tips to Create Irresistible Content
1. Know Your Audience – create content from your audience’s perspective. Make sure whatever B2B content you create matters to them. You’ll find this isn’t always what matters to you internally.
2. Fill a Need – answer a question, teach a prospect how to do something, make them look good to their boss, and/or make their lives easier.
3. Create an Enticing Headline – get prospects and clients to check out your B2B content by drawing them in. Headlines that appeal to emotions, are inflammatory, are negative, or discuss a benefit all provide a significant draw.
4. Make It Accessible – remove all references to industry jargon or overly technical language (unless your audience is technical).
5. Review and Revise – internally vet your content to make sure it’s a great piece of content and delivers the right information.
6. Post and Promote – Don’t just post it and wait for traffic. Promote it on the right channels – social media, emails, ads, etc.
As a B2B content marketing agency and web design firm, it’s become our mission to help firms create and publish the right kind of content. Content for content’s sake is a huge waste of time and resources (and money!). By focusing on quality over quantity, you can create the right kind of content or content that your prospects will find irresistible.
*Source: Oxford Dictionary Online
