I’m watching a debate on CNN 360 Bulletins about Cain’s “electric” comments and jokes, and one sentence stroke me as a key:
“From all the polished, or over-polished candidates, Cain’s bluntness stands aside”, and I may add, appealing.
What can Content Developers (ok, SEO and LPO conscious writers of web text) take home from this observation?
Let’s deconstruct this a bit. No, this will not be a political deconstruction.
It seems that the norm is being politically correct to such a point that people lose humanness in communication. Cain, it seems, recognized a niche market, and occupied it: a politically blunt presidential candidate with a twist of humor and gospel music.
Either way, he’s thrown off the gloves and is a people-person, something that others seem not to have to that extent. He’s got a slogan too: America should get a sense of humor.
What can content developers get out from this unusual approach?
- Scan the market and find a niche
- Choose a voice and stick with it
- Be natural in what you say and do
- Use humor in your message
- Be understandable to your audience
As I mentioned, this is not a political analysis. It’s mainly deconstructing a presidential strategy Cain’s team uses. So, to keep things short, I’ll stick with only five points.
The key, step by step is this:
- Do a solid SWOT analysis of your immediate competitors and how they develop content. Find a way to set your website aside from the competition. Ideally, build a solid positioning to such an extent that your website may become the niche-setter.
- Build a solid Brand Persona and stick with it. There’s little that’s worse than sounding “over-polished” and Boring.
- Address your audience in a natural way. Your content should offer value in a personable way. Let your reader know you two are having a conversation, not a lecture.
- Break things up with humor if you want to spend more time analyzing/addressing a complicated issue. Your text may be hugely informative, but if it’s boring and “over-polished” you’ll lose readers.
- Whatever you do, make absolutely sure that your target audience will understand you: the main points, the slang, jokes etc.
In summary, I guess from Cain’s approach we can derive a nice short list of things to watch out for while creating content online, which is quite helpful.
I’d love to hear your comments and thoughts, so, feel free. No political comments, please.
Need help with your website?
Contact
