The One Question You Must Answer for Content Marketing Success

We met Amy Parmenter at BlueGlass LA and had plenty of questions after learning she’s both a member of the media and a blogger. The conversation continued after LA, so we invited her to write a guest post for our blog sharing her perspective on content marketing…

A recent blogpost on the NMX/BlogWorld site asks “Are Bloggers Different Than Journalists?”

In a relatively young industry it’s already an age-old question. But, it’s the wrong question.

As both a blogger AND a journalist , I can tell you there is much greater benefit to focusing on what the two have in common — the challenge of telling a story in such a way that it will reach the greatest audience.

Or, put another way, the challenge of content marketing.

And Now The News…

Almost all news programs within a given segment – local, weather, sports – are going to be delivering the same information:

“This is what happened…”

“This is how hot it will be…”

“This is who won…”

So, as a reporter, how do I market my content to capture your attention?

In that same vein, when I am crafting a blog post, I want it to be read. And I want it to be shared.

So, same challenge. How do I frame the facts so people will take notice?

Ask Yourself One Question

Every day, in newsrooms across the country, producers, editors, reporters and managers meet to discuss what they should cover that day. I have been in hundreds of these meetings. And there’s one question we ask first about any story…

“Who cares?”

That’s it. That’s the most important question you need to answer when creating content that you want people to notice. I’ll get to a great example in a minute.

Who Cares?

Content marketing is figuring out who your market is and telling them a story they will care about.

If you’ve got a story that doesn’t seem to relate to your audience, either drop the story or – if you’re really good – you will be able to tell the story so they can relate – so they care.

Tell The Right Story

I’m going to use epilepsy medication as an example.

You don’t care about epilepsy medication, do you?

So, when I was in one of those morning meetings and a story about epilepsy medications came up, we almost passed on it.

Who cares, right? Not enough people, not our audience.

But, it just so happens that my brother had epilepsy so I was partial to the story which was about trying to make it illegal for pharmacists to replace branded epilepsy meds with generics.

Boring…

Except that I know from personal experience that even the slightest imbalance in epilepsy medications can leave an otherwise clear person heavily sedated and severely impaired.

Answer The Question

There are 60,000 people in Connecticut with epilepsy and most of them drive.

Would you be comfortable sharing the road with someone whose medication is ‘off’? Someone ‘under the influence’ of a generic drug?

Do you see what I did there?? I gave a broad audience reason to care.

Maybe that’s just the journalist in me. Or is it the blogger?

Who cares?

When it comes to content marketing, we’re one and the same.

Amy Parmenter is an award-winning journalist, blogger , speaker, author and consultant who teaches her clients how to use the media – and social media – to get attention.

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