How Storytelling Can Future-Proof Your Content

Which content creation skills will you need to succeed in the future?

There's so much content on the internet.?

And the number grows each day. Exponentially.

For your brand to stand out NOW—and in the future—the biggest challenge will be making sure that you become the go-to resource amongst a sea of brands.

So, I've been creating content for several years now.??

It started as a byproduct of working in various digital marketing roles:

• When I was running digital ads, I developed the ad copy for the campaigns.
• When I was helping brands with their email marketing strategy, I'd develop content for them.
• When I was building out marketing and sales funnels, I'd create the copy for the various landing pages.?
• And when brands needed social media or blog content, I'd piece together something aligned with their brand.

My initial impression was that content creation just came with the digital marketing territory.

As I continued developing my skills, I would specifically get positive feedback on my content.??

And I genuinely enjoyed it.

So I naturally decided to double-down on content marketing.

When making that shift, I became obsessed with figuring out how to make great content.?

Very obsessed.

My experience in engineering marketing campaigns and creating copy taught me the following: education is the best marketing.?

Educating an audience is one of the best ways to build trust and convert leads into customers.

So to build on this foundation, I wanted to figure out how to create content that ensured someone could walk away with an insight.

I obsessively explored various psychological, developmental, and learning models so my content could facilitate a higher-quality learning experience.

Anything I could get my hands on.

My point is, I took an education-focused approach to developing content.? Everything was intended to provide some "learning insight."??

And as a consequence, my writing style became very "to-the-point."

But one day… I received a piece of feedback from a friend that changed everything for me.?

After reading one of my newsletters, he says to me:

"It's good… but it's a lot to process."

Huh... a lot to process??

After hearing this, I took a moment to reflect.?

I began looking through my content archives and noticed a pattern...

Admittedly, my content was "cerebral." Due to my education-focused approach, I naturally shared ideas, concepts, and models.??

Readers would learn something. But sometimes, it was almost like reading an academic paper (not as boring, I hope).

Imagine being a professor struggling to read through complex and mentally taxing content.?

I doubt my professors even fully read my essays...

Anyways.

I realized that the key to creating great content was to make it more entertaining.? And this would make it satisfying enough for someone to come back and continue to consume.

I thought to myself...

"How do you make something both entertaining and educational?"

The answer seemed obvious.

Great stories.

But storytelling has always eluded me.

Having learned copywriting and marketing, I knew scripts and different approaches for creating a story that sells stuff.??

But I was more curious about creating stories in a more versatile way, for a couple of reasons:?

1. If you're creating a lot of content, building a story "on-demand" becomes helpful.??
2. And knowing how to generate stories for various content marketing needs—short-form, long-form, sales copy, case studies, lead magnets, etc.—is a powerful tool in your proverbial marketing toolkit.

So, throughout 2021, I've explored this and began experimenting.

After trial and error, I began getting responses like this:

I had that lightbulb moment.

"Ahh. So this is how you craft a story."

Now, I don't consider myself to be a magnificent storyteller. And that's an important point...

Anyone can create a great story. It just requires knowing an effective story structure and some practice.

Now, whenever I create content, I'm always looking for ways of blending education and entertainment.???

Getting Someone To Form A Habit Around Consuming Your Content

If someone continues to consume your content again and again… then they've developed a habit around it.??

We typically look at habit formation with the intent of creating habits for ourselves.? But how do you create an environment that encourages another person to form a habit???

This is challenging. But it's the sign of a great content creator.??

James Clear's book Atomic Habits shares "4 Laws Of Behavior Change" that everybody moves through when forming a habit.

Though each law is valuable, one of them ensures that a habit gets repeated—the last law.

The 4th Law of Behavior change is to make the desired habit satisfying.

In other words, if you want to develop a habit, then you'll want there to be a "reward" that reinforces the desired outcome.?

For instance, if you wanted to develop a habit of going to bed earlier, perhaps you'd put your favorite book by your nightstand.? The reward for getting some much-needed sleep is a great story—if you're into that reading stuff.

So what does this mean if you want people to consume your content habitually?

It means you'll want to make it satisfying to consume!?

To future-proof your content, it's crucial to figure out how to get someone to look forward to your next article or video.?

And as you can guess, creating a great story can accomplish this.

Entertainment, in general, is satisfying. And if you can weave in a learning insight, then your audiences' brains will be drowning in dopamine.?

The entertainment value of your content will distinguish you as a more vibrant brand—versus a dull one.

And this is the magic behind great storytelling.