How to write killer content your audience will devour

Are you even reading this?

Whether you create content for a regular newsletter, for your webpage, or even just for emails to answer customer questions, every writer’s greatest fear is to have their work go unread...or snakes...one of the two.

So how do you know if your customers will read what you put out? Are they interested or bored? If you want to produce hard-hitting materials every time, here are 5 ways to create content that your audience will be running to go read.

The first step to content that your audience will devour is understanding who you are trying to reach. Who do you want to buy your products or attend your events?

The more specific you are, the easier it will be to understand how to speak to your audience. To build a picture of who you’re talking to, consider these questions:

If you’re not writing with your customers in mind, they will quickly disconnect and leave partway through reading, unsatisfied. To find more questions you can ask to identify your target audience, read our article about Building a Storybrand.

Customers aren’t looking for you because they think you’re awesome (even though you might be). They’re looking for you because they have an issue to solve, and they want to know how you can solve it.

But your customers don’t want to be smacked in the face with a solution and told that everything will turn out fine. First, they want to feel like their needs are heard and understood (make a note of that; that’s good advice for ANY relationship). So when you create content, you can certainly share the solutions you have to offer, but don’t forget to address the problem too.

As the old expression goes, “people don’t buy the drill, they buy the hole.” Now that might sound a bit odd, but it’s an important idea, because it completely changes the way you write. Here’s one way to put it:

Your customers don’t want to buy your product.

They want to buy the benefits of your product, and that’s a big difference. 

People are not interested in what you can do, but in what you can do for them.

When you write, your goal is not to share about how amazing your product is, how it’s the latest financial technology or the most comfortable mattress. Share about how your customer will get the best sleep of their life. Share about how they’ll save hours on everyday tasks. Share about how their life will improve, because that’s a message people want to hear (and a story they’ll keep coming back to).

What makes you trust someone? Is it when they look really shiny? When they sound confident? Or is it when they consistently and accurately demonstrate transparency? The short version is this: find out what your customers want to know—the costs, benefits, ratings, features, and the comparisons—and then share honest answers with them.

If you just put on a “sales” face, you might attract more people initially, but they’re not coming for the real you, and they’ll leave at the slightest resistance. By proactively addressing questions, you build credibility and trust. Before you know it, you’ll have customers seeking you out to learn more (and doesn’t that sound like a nice change!).

Marketing isn’t a monologue—it’s a two-way street. As you go, customers will leave you reviews, both good and bad. When your customers have complaints, use that as an opportunity to make changes to your products and how you present them. Feedback means constant opportunities to serve your customer better!

And when your customers love what you do, promote those stories! Don’t just show off 5 shiny stars on a little badge; share the testimonies of real people who have interacted with you and come out the other side better. Nothing engages someone more than a compelling tale of overcoming obstacles.