How do you get your content to be follow-worthy? It’s not enough to just dare to be first (though that helps).
If you write a blog post, is it enough on its own? You make a tutorial to show what your favorite software (Close.IO) does right – or write an epic post about how to scale a small business into a Gazelle. Are those hours well spent?
Sometimes it’s hard to tell. You can’t guarantee results.
But I do know how you can maximize your odds.
Make sure your readers CHOKE on everything you publish.
Choke? Yes. Every video (CHOKE). Every blog post (CHOKE). Every Instagram share. All of your business content (CHOKE.)
We want to MAXIMIZE our impact. Make sure what we write spreads, and make sure what we do also goes forward and has the most positive impact possible.
This is the advice for both longform and shortform content, and it applies to almost anything a business will make.
Oh, can’t you smell the acronym baking?
Yup.
So before we publish anything we make sure that our readers will CHOKE on it by following our B2B content marketing checklist:
Clear: Clarity is the soul of content. Make sure that what you write is understandable. Clear. You are saying something to someone, and you’re doing it clearly.
Helpful: Be helpful to others, and goodness follows
Whatever you make can’t just be a promotional post and a “pat on your own back.” To get traction content must be helpful to some people that read it. Note: it almost certainly won’t be helpful to everyone who might read it. But it should be helpful to at least some people. Our friend Jay Baer’s book (ooh, we made the trailer) was all about this.
John Jantsch does a great job with this; his blog is defines helpful.
Opinionated: Ever read one of those clickhole-style blog posts that says “Who’s better: Katy Perry or Taylor Swift?” and then it somehow winds up with an unsatisfying tie?
Yeah, us too. That is unsatisfying. Not meaty.
Scott Stratten – and Jason Falls do a fantastic job of being very opinionated.
Kind: You might have an opinion about a piece of art, a piece of software, or anything really. And you could be right. But you must be kind about it. There were thousands of engineers and really smart people working on Windows 8, yet it still wasn’t Microsoft’s most highly-regarded moment. You can be opinionated, clear, and helpful and still remain kind.
My friend Chris Lema does a very good job with this on his blog. He tells the truth, but he’s kind. Especially if you’re well-intended.
Finally, your content should be Evergreen: Something that will last more than a season is a good topic for a blog post. Evergreen is the hardest part of content marketing. The way that we’d view it is principles, not platform. If we’re talking about Facebook marketing, for example, we might talk about what why we’re doing what we do, and then leave the how later.
Ryan Holiday does a fantastic job on his blog and sites of being evergreen.
Download the CHOKE Content Marketing Method infographic here
Get a free CHOKE checklist for your business (right-click above to download – 510 KB).