Do you hear that sound? ??

"I know", I said to my team, back in 2014. "Let's put together a weekly email newsletter in the form of Gogglebox, where we collate the great and the good of social media that week and add witty, pithy commentary. It will be great. Better than great".

So off we went to come up with droll witticisms, selecting every word judiciously and ensuring every single opportunity for a pun was explored, which is a harder pun-dertaking than one might first imagine.

We thought these digests were the absolute dogs. Let me share what happened when they landed.

Absolutely nothing.

And the reason for that tumbleweed? We hadn't solved one single problem for our prospect client. We'd written for our needs, not theirs, and if I'm being honest, we'd written for our egos.

We changed things round pretty quickly, and focused on less witty, more useful content that actually provided something of practical value, rather than a wry, fleeting smile that made us, not our prospects, feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Next time you're putting something together for your intended audience, take a minute to sense-check - who am I actually writing this for? Who am I helping here? Is it me or is it them?

PS If anyone wants to see our real-life example of this, DM me so you can avoid the vanity trap. It's a very quiet and lonely place...

#contentmarketing #content #audience #engagement #marketing