Posted by Tom Leto in Uncategorized

“Content is the catalyst to make everything happen.”  – Mark Schaefer

I have not come across a truer statement in today’s world full of blogs and content. Here at LinkedSelling, content is a topic we discuss daily.

This podcast showcases Mark Schaefer, who is a speaker, marketing consultant and author of the new book The Content Code: Six Essential Strategies for Igniting Your Content, Your Marketing and Your Business. In this episode from Duct Tape Marketing, Mark examines and explains what it takes to create good content.

To the consumer, there are so many blogs, case studies, and newsletters, that it’s hard for the consumer to digest. It’s up to you to craft pieces that speak to your intended audience.

Get Your Content Shared

Content marketing continues to evolve, and as it evolves, the task of getting your pieces shared can seem daunting.

This is an issue that Mark touches on often because it is crucial to having all this content marketing stuff work for you. Businesses want people to share blogs for economic reasons (i.e. sales), but that’s clearly not the reason people share.

Mark is adamant and right in saying that, “the main reason people share content is for intrinsic and emotional reasons”. While creating content, we must remember this as marketers in order to generate the most effective content we can.

Connect with Your Audience

We’ve established that the NUMBER ONE reason why people share content is because the reader feels some sort of emotional connection to it.  There are a few variables you will need to include in the pieces you publish in order to achieve that connection.

1. Before anyone even reads your content, they are reading your headline! The headline has to be catchy, thought provoking, and enticing to the reader.
2. Adding graphics will help spruce up your content. You know the saying…”A picture is worth a thousand words.” Pictures can go a long way to connect you to your audience, but make sure the image fits the theme of your blog.
3. The topic of your content must be useful and interesting to your audience. If you publish a finance blog, don’t expect your audience to go crazy about a Christmas puppet tutorial.
4. Finally, use strong language! Get rid of the wishy washy “maybe”, “might”, “sometimes” language. State your argument or solution confidently. Make your audience FEEL something, whether they’re in agreement or not.

Cracking the Content Code

I do not want to give away too much here as this is one of the shorter and better episodes, but Mark nicely breaks down the various forms of content. He dives into how each form of content, whether visual or text content, can be effective and how you can utilize the various forms of content to reach and speak to your intended audience.

A few brief points on what you will learn when you listen to this podcast:

• How content marketing has changed over the years
• Why engagement is so important in content marketing
• How new technology will change how we engage with content in the future

This is definitely a podcast any marketer will enjoy. Click here to learn how you can crack the content code.