Tips to Write Creative Content for 4 “Dull” Industries

Let’s admit it. Specific industries can be more glamorous than others, but that doesn’t mean you can’t create engaging content. Read this article to add zing to creative content for some of the “dullest” industries. 

Stepping out of the traditional marketing bubble and into the digital multiverse can be daunting for legacy industries that have little in common with Instagram-ready, shiny consumer brands. But if you are not among the 77% of businesses with content marketing strategies, you can rest assured that you are missing a sharp arrow from your quiver. 

Need proof? Here’s the current score on the Super Bowl of marketing.

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Why Your Industry Needs Content Marketing

Let’s admit it; your industry isn’t going to turn suave overnight like one of those typical “Ugly Betty” makeover stories. That may be why 45% of companies don’t have a solid plan to switch from traditional to digital. 

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But before you dismiss the digital plan altogether, consider this – your industry may not go from Not to Hot in seconds, but your content marketing strategy can.

With traditional marketing avenues like print or POS, your canvas is limited to catering to a general audience, hoping that the right buyers come along. You have no say in who reads your message in the mass media. But with digital, your broader audience profile can be broken down to the last T. You can specifically target the person who doesn’t find your industry boring! 

Trade shows may be the one exception to this general audience rule for visually demanding or demonstrable industries, like heavy industrial equipment manufacturers. People who come to trade shows are there to seek solutions to their problems. 

But, think about it – an hour-long seminar and miles of back-breaking walks at a trade show or a five-piece blog that a potential lead can go through in digestible chunks spread over a few weeks? What’s more effective? 

Think of your digital marketing strategy as an evolving canvas that helps you keep a constant tab on highly motivated leads. Conversions don’t come with just one copy – you need to churn out content regularly so that your leads find you appealing when they’re ready to drop the cheque. 

Now, let’s move on to the crux of this article. 

Tips to Write Creative Content for 4 “Dull” Industries

1. Finance

Regarding content on finance, you must know that Google considers author expertise and authority as essential ranking factors. As a result, the first thing your financial brand needs is someone with expertise in writing the content. For Google, this is the E-A-T part of the algorithm where it considers Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness. 

• So how do you ensure Google recognizes your content? 
  • Start writing thought leadership content – create a niche for your brand. 
  • When working with SEO, Google doesn’t allow finance brands to rank well based on a broad topic. It needs something more specific. So work with long-tail keywords. 
  • Use videos or podcasts to generate awareness. 
  • Get significant finance professionals to write for your website or blog. 

• Comply with your financial authority’s rules and regulations
  • Ensure your content has disclaimers 
  • Have a legal review process in place
  • Build a team of content creators with expertise in finance 
  • Write on topics you are confident about and have no legal implications. 

• Use time to your advantage
  • Financial news can be pretty dynamic, so ensure you have a process to report or create content around breaking news in compliance with legal implications.

Case study: CRED

When the world is hell-bent on grab-and-go coupon codes, CRED has to go that extra mile of going after credit card users to ensure savings. The company’s bold, to-the-point creatives and barely-there content on their site appeal to the same millennials who simply want to “install a plugin” to get huge savings while shopping online. 

But what makes CRED successful despite the extra steps to register? It understands that financial literacy is poor among its target demographic. Hence, it offers to-the-point solutions with its copies.

The clear, concise text immediately showcases the benefits. Not to mention a prominent CTA and a visible blog section for those who want to know more about CRED. 

The blog section is about the credit card club, with several articles sprinkled with fun quizzes and surveys. With CRED, consistent write-ups on financial literacy have won the hearts of millennials who are just about to see the fruits of their labor and are at the early stages of their financial journeys.

2. Telecom 

Telecommunication has a plethora of sub-sectors that focus on various aspects, including hardware, software, transmission, data aggregation, cloud data, etc. And each of these subsectors is growing dynamically and rapidly. As a result, writing creative content for the telecom industry has become challenging. More so in a competitive climate. 

Some tips for telecom companies to create interesting marketing content include: 

• Every telecom brand must show through their content that they are up to date with the latest advancements in their industry. As a result, thought leadership content is a must-have. Once you have thought-leadership content, you will be considered an authority figure in the industry.
• Talk about the future. Even the layperson consuming your content knows that the technology they are using today will not be the same tomorrow. So be open about it and be unafraid to talk about the future of telecom. 
• Create specific material on various hard-to-understand concepts in the industry. The content must change for your B2B clients vs. your B2C clients. You can create white papers for the former and emailer content for the latter. 

Case study: Mint Mobile

We are straying from the norm here by using Hollywood glam with Ryan Reynolds-backed Mint Mobile, but it takes more than just a pretty face to make “data” appealing, right? 

Mint’s blog section makes full use of catchy titles like “Hacks to do…” or “How to get data for free.” The author is always the quirky character “Mint Fox.” Mint Fox also makes frequent appearances on their YouTube channel and other video-friendly social media channels for quick explainers.

3. Manufacturing 

The manufacturing industry has a huge challenge ahead of it. For one, it is technical, and secondly, it is difficult to educate clients on technical aspects of the industry. As a result, creating more comprehensive content around the industry is a key solution. 

• Start with 101 e-books. Basic e-books are the best way to educate the customer and get leads every time the customer downloads the book. No customer can avoid downloading an e-book on, say, “Printers for Dummies.”

• Create videos. You can make videos on the manufacturing process, or a tour of the factory, or showcase the human side of manufacturing by focusing on the workers in the factory. 
• Most manufacturing companies will have different models of their products. Offering your customer a comparative analysis of your products in your marketing materials helps them make a more informed decision. Create digital material around this. 

Case study: Canon

It will be a long journey if you want to look for words more boring than “office supplies.” “The printer is jammed” probably comes close though. 

Canon’s very professional website makes a clear demarcation between its business and consumer pages, for their home printers (B2C) and office supplies (B2B) channels. 

What’s interesting is that they use their LinkedIn page to appeal to both markets. How? They simply address common areas where printers might come in handy. In the above example, you would want posters for that apartment get-together or the office party. The post also captures attention by providing solutions to a common problem, i.e. designing the poster.

4. Healthcare

Healthcare websites are potentially one of the most used websites by customers. Each of us has checked out our medical symptoms on the web and come back with diseases ranging from a regular headaches to cancer! 

As a result, a huge responsibility rests on the shoulders of healthcare companies to ensure that their customers have the best possible information. 

• Create expert content with the help of doctors and other professionals. Invite them to write guest posts on your blog. This is how to create blog content that moves beyond your regular posts. 
• Create guides on various illnesses and outline clearly the symptoms, diagnosis, and prognosis.
• Ensure you have disclaimers in each and every piece of content. 
• While selling your services, focus on local SEO. Long-tail keywords are also beneficial in this aspect. 
• Video marketing is preferable for customers. Have doctors or specialists from your brand directly talk about off-beat topics that will instantly attract the reader. 
• Use social media to your advantage. This is especially effective when targeting B2C customers. 

Case study: Mayo Clinic 

Mayo Clinic is the first brand that appears anytime you research an ailment on Google. Their blogs are direct and on-point. The brand focuses on its customers and considers them a big community. Through their blog, they build themselves up as the foremost source of information regarding healthcare. 

The Final Word 

It is not difficult to create content for any industry. However, what gets challenging is reaching the right audience and offering them the right content at the right time. While this article focuses on how to create content for “boring” industries, it is more about understanding your pain points as a brand and filling a gap that the audience finds in more technical topics. 

Once you know what the audience wants to learn from your industry, creating creative content will be a much easier exercise.