I have been asked over and over again, how do you fit all those stories in your head? Is there a formula to tell a client’s story? Honestly, if you ask me now? I would not know the answer; I just kept doing it until it becomes something that I enjoy doing that I hardly pay attention how I do it.
But in this post, I will take you through 4 layers of an engaging content and how you can do it yourself, I will be using a mock case study (though I wish to tell a similar story, if you are a chef looking for something like this, get in touch with us – seriously, give us a call)
1. Asking the right questions
Every good story starts with an intriguing but inspiring question, “will the hero save the poor people from the oppression of the evil rulers?”, “will the cool girl next door fall in love with the geek but a handsome footballer who is the most arrogant person in class?”. But of course, unless you are writing a script for a Hollywood movie, you will not have these type of questions. The point is, you should ask the right questions so that your audience will stick with you. Are you a chef who runs a new restaurant business? Try this; “What will you do with a small budget, on a tight schedule, with only a small grocery across your house?” People can relate to this, and when they do, they stick to your content.
2. A compelling but entertaining story
Ok, let’s just proceed to build our content from our friendly chef. How do you build a compelling and entertaining story out of this?
A mom was walking pass her kid’s rooms, walks the kitchen, they are about to leave school, mom reminds them to finish breakfast. Everything is a mess. Dad has to rush out for a meeting, door closes. Mom looks’s at the wall clock. The door opens, dad shouts “Honey, mom and dad will be here earlier than expected for our lunch, in case you forgot.” Mom forgot! The in-laws are coming over for lunch.
3. Colorful visuals
I’m just talking out of my head here, how about a photo of a mom dressed as a chef with a caption that says; “Home cooking has never been this easy!”
You can use a lot of imagery to add that extra layer of “wow” to your content because you have to remember, your users are trapped in an endless loop of scrolling down a screen, make sure your image is enough to release the user’s thumb from the scroll bar and click your link.
4. Helpful call to action
So you have a good story to tell, your visuals rock. But make sure you don’t leave your audience hanging, give them something to do. And while you give them something to do, give them better reasons why they should do it. How do you do it? Before you end your story, lead your audience to helpful tips and insights, in the case of our chef this is his spotlight, this is how he shares how to put up an awesome dish with the limited resources that the mom has. That is his brand proposition (I can not come up with an exact content on how to write this because – I don’t know how to cook!)
But the point is, you need not talk about how great your brand is – show it! And as you show it, lead your audience how they can do it, that way you added value to them. And when you have a call to action that says, “To find out more recipes like this, download our e-book, or sign up for our event.” Would you think they would have second thoughts?
So are you willing to take the jump? If you are, be prepared to have the best time of your life creating content for your audience.