Creating Addictive Marketing Content

January 18, 2012 by

One of the distinguishing qualities of successful marketers is they are passionate students of human behavior – more specifically, buying behavior.

Human beings have innate tendencies that lead to actions – some favorable, and others not.

Addictions are unfavorable behaviors that can develop very innocently. For example, exercise is a positive action that people take to improve or sustain their vitality.

Yet, even exercise can become an obsessive and unhealthy addiction, one that can lead to fatigue and a number of other imbalances.

What you are really interested in is not addiction, but desirable actions – attracting prospects and customers in a way that is healthy, and therefore, sustainable.

The Addiction Cycle

Human beings are driven by desires. These desires encourage actions that lead to results that are favorable, and therefore, memorable.

Many of us would say that we are addicted to content. We seek out all kinds of information that feeds our desire to be current with our industry and profession, and it all starts with memories.

The addiction cycle is one of memories, actions, and desires.

When you consume anything that creates a favorable response, such as the confidence of being in-the-know, you create memories. Those memories propel your desires. You seek out more of the same to recreate that feeling of confidence.

So, you return to the source. If you are greeted with new information that is congruent with what you previously experienced, you are likely to come back for more.

But what happens if the information is unsatisfactory?

You still have the desire, so you will come back again to recreate that feeling – but it soon becomes one of desperation.

Create Congruent Experiences with Fresh Content

True addictions are the result of trying to create a remembered experience with the same circumstances and conditions.

When conditions are unchanged, the addict seeks to recreate the memorable experience by reaching for more. Eventually, the realization dawns that more and more of the same will not achieve the desired result.

That’s addiction.

As content marketers, you want to create desirable experiences. This is only possible by introducing fresh information that is congruent with the original experience.

Thus, you have to first know you audience – their needs and desires. Then you have to work to give them a reason to keep coming back, and that is only possible if your content is both fresh and congruent with what previously worked well here.

The headline of this article was written for purposes of search engine optimization. The word addiction is edgy – it attracts attention.

Notwithstanding that, desires are what you should focus on. Desires work because they are fresh and contain an element of the unknown.

Desire is attractive because it is healthy – leading to new experiences that create new memories and new desires.

That is your goal as a content marketer.

And it explains why Google is placing a premium on fresh and original content.

Leave a comment below.

And please share this with your community and encourage them to join the conversation.

Until next time, Jeff

Is There Friction in Your Marketing?

October 16, 2011 by

Friction is becoming one of the new buzz words in the tech marketing space.

It’s one that happens to resonate with me, and for good reason.

Friction gives you a tangible mental picture with which to manage the customer experience associated with your marketing – allowing you to enhance it for everyone concerned.

Frictionless Content Consumption and Sharing

When it comes to online content marketing, the name of the game is consumption. You want your content to be readily consumed, first and foremost, by your core audience.

This means you have to write good headlines, respect your audience by keeping your writing clean and concise – and deliver it in a way that is educational, inspirational, or entertaining – and preferably all three.

When you do this, your content is likely to get shared. This is how you grow your audience and your business. The best content on the web will always be freely shared.

All you have to do is remove the friction that gets in the way of that happening. This could include such things as unnecessary jargon, profanity, complexity, or objectionable images.

Of course, some of these things may actually encourage the spreading of your message – but only be for entertainment or shock value that isn’t likely to lead to more business.

Friction Leads to Action

Frictionless marketing is all about the prospect or customer.

As a marketer, frictionless marketing is taking your audience on a journey.

The destination of that journey is a commercial transaction with your business. So, if you want your business to be profitable, you have to occasionally introduce some friction into your marketing.

Friction Creates One of Two Results:

1.  Grinding to halt –  the cessation of action.

2.  Effort or action that leads to new actions.

Think of marketing friction as pop-up boxes on websites, or television and radio commercials.

When used excessively, marketing friction can result in the most undesirable action – interested prospects abandoning your your online marketing.

Used appropriately, it can help you build your list and sell more products and services.

Friction as a marketing tool is indeed a slippery slope.

Be aware of it and use it well to strategically grow your business.

Leave a comment below or share this with your community on with any of the share buttons below – or on the little red bar at the bottom of this page.  

Until tomorrow,  Jeff

Photos Credit: Sixth Lie