Bradley Johnson Productions Posts

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A few years ago I wrote a post with a formula for creating great content that seemed to help a lot of people. Today you have no choice but to work in news ways on content that stands out!

It’s a formula I’ve used in my college classes for many years but I’ve had to update the model recently to adjust to our current marketing environment.

Fair warning, this post also contains commentary about my balls.

So here we go.

First, let’s review the original formula. It still works …

The RITE method for content that stands out

A proven method to consistently create effective content is “RITE.”

RITE is an acronym that stands for Relevant, Interesting, Timely, and Entertaining. If you create content that consistently hits at least three out of these four angles, you’ll be spinning content gold.

1. Relevant

What if you have multiple interests like books, pets, and cars? Can you create content about everything you’re interested in?

The answer is … kind of.

You don’t want to confuse people. If you started a video series about woodworking and then did a commentary on the history of poodles, your readers would think “What’s going on here? I came here for the woodworking tips!” You’re no longer relevant.

Now, that’s not to say you can’t bring your hobbies and interests into your content.

I’ve used inspirations from history, art, travel, literature and other areas of interest to enliven my blog posts, but the lessons are always relevant to my core topic.

Here’s a post I wrote after visiting a barbecue restaurant, for example.

I love barbecue, by the way. I’m probably eating some right now.

2. Interesting

The “I” in RITE is Interesting. Publishing your content isn’t a creative writing contest. It’s a war for attention.

Every single piece of content you produce must be interesting. If you can’t do that consistently, you’ll assuredly lose your audience to competitors who can hold their attention.

How do you stay consistently interesting?

When I create content that’s particularly provocative, somebody in the comment section will typically write “How did you know this was on my mind?” or, “How did you know we were just talking about this at work?”

I suppose the difference is, I don’t just think about things that interest me — I write about them and open a public discussion. This week on LinkedIn, somebody wrote, “you’re the only person out there with the balls to say this stuff.”

I don’t think I have unique cojones. And if I did, I would not tell you.

But it takes some guts to put yourself out there, especially when a view is incomplete or controversial, but that’s the key to remaining interesting, isn’t it?

You don’t need all the answers to be interesting. You simply have to ask the right questions.

3. Timely

Research shows that people love sharing ideas that are new — research, breakthroughs, data.

So incorporating something new and provocative into your content is a great way to light up an audience.

Here are opportunities to create content that stands out based on changes going on in your environment:

• WOW news — In every industry, there’s somebody producing a newsletter that curates the latest news (If there isn’t, go do that!). Read this news every day. If there’s a news item that makes you go “wow!” it’s probable that others are going “wow,” too. Open up your laptop at that moment and write a post about the implications of that news from your point of view. Publish that same day and your readers will love you.
• Comment on a commentary. Let’s say your passion is fire-fighting. If there’s an event that affects your industry like a budget cut, a new regulation, or a technological breakthrough, there are news stories already out there about it. Do a web search to find others commenting on the issue and then 1) summarize their points 2) provide a link to the original source with attribution, and 3) add your own perspective to the original view.
• Round-up post – If there’s a breakthrough in your area of sustainable interest, ask thought leaders to send you a paragraph, video clip, or soundbite of their views and present a round-up of opinions. You’ll be creating great content with the secondary benefit of quoting industry leaders who may share your post. Here’s an example from my own work.

4. Entertaining

The final factor in the original RITE formula is “Entertaining” … but perhaps it’s the most important aspect of content creation today.

Why do you share a piece of content? Because it’s entertaining in some way. Maybe the video, podcast, or blog post makes you laugh, inspires you, or amazes you.

Thinking in terms of “entertainment” may create a point of differentiation for you. Most people aren’t putting their content through the “entertainment” filter … they’re just reporting. Could you stand out from the crowd and become known because of your entertaining style?

This is a big challenge for the typical corporate content creator because most companies don’t sit around thinking, “how can we be more entertaining today?”

And yet … they should.

Content that stands out also needs this …

So that’s the RITE formula, I taught that idea in my classes for years until I realized that it’s not enough.

In this world of overwhelming information density — content shock — you can publish wonderful content that is relevant, interesting, timely, and entertaining and still not create content that stands out.

There is or thing more. You need to be:

You may be wondering, “What does Batman have to do with this?”

The answer is nothing. I’ve loved Batman since I was six-years-old and it’s my blog so I can do anything I want. Batman has the cojones.

And when it comes to superheroes, he is SUPERIOR and you have to be SUPERIOR to the competition in the content space, too. And so I added an “S” — RITES.

Here’s the deal. Today, being great isn’t enough. You have to be the greatest in your niche because if you’re not, people will switch away. You would, too. Your readers will “switch the channel.”

This is an important idea. Your content approach needs to be evolving. You need to keep raising the bar to keep competitors at bay with content that is insanely great.

This is why some sort of continuous innovation process should be part of every content initiative, especially in highly competitive niches. Fight, fight, fight to stay at the top.

RITES. I swear by this method. if you use this filter with your content every week, you’ll be on a path to success.

Drop me a note in the content section and let me know if this was helpful.

Mark Schaefer is the chief blogger for this site, executive director of Schaefer Marketing Solutions, and the author of several best-selling digital marketing books. He is an acclaimed keynote speaker, college educator, and business consultant.  The Marketing Companion podcast is among the top business podcasts in the world. Contact Mark to have him speak to your company event or conference soon.

Illustration courtesy of Unsplash.com

The post An updated formula for creating content that stands out appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

https://www.rohitbhargava.com/2020/04/how-to-present-a-virtual-keynote.html

Six weeks ago every event got cancelled, postponed or moved to virtual. Like many professional speakers, I started delivering my talks virtually. But taking a 45 minute talk and doing it over Zoom doesn’t work. It’s too long, tech gets in the way and it just feels boring.

I knew I had to get better at this.

So I started researching. At first it was YouTube videos. I watched a 34 minute overview on selecting the right cardioid microphone. I took notes from a masterclass from a Hollywood lighting pro on techniques like loop and butterfly lighting. I consumed hours of videos on acting techniques, professional studio setups, and product demos. I also asked for advice from some professionals in the entertainment business from my network and read what my friends and fellow speakers were sharing on social media.

And I started writing a book all about everything I was learning when it came to presenting virtually, working more effectively while remote and building trust with people without being in the same room (or perhaps without ever having met in real life. This week, I’m launching that book as a free download (get it here!) and throughout the process of writing and researching it, I kept presenting and experimenting.

Over the last three weeks I have learned a lot and gotten better. Though I’m continuing to do presentations and getting better at virtual storytelling, I thought I’d share some of the biggest things that I have learned which will help you get better faster, and perhaps skip watching hours of YouTube videos in order to do it.

1. Don’t fear the tech.

I realized over the past month that I have been completely spoiled at events by working with a professional AV crew. At home, it’s just me. And when faced with complex technology, my tendency has too often been to claim ignorance. I was, after all, an English major. But in a professional setting, when you are on your own without an IT department, technical problems just end up making YOU look bad. There’s no one else to blame. So skip the excuses, watch some YouTube videos yourself and conquer your fear of getting technical. This isn’t like programming the Mars rover. You can do this.

2. Get dressed.

It’s a beautiful thing that we can now present in our pajamas. But I don’t. In fact, I usually dress the same way I would if I were presenting from the stage. For me, it helps me to bring more energy in an artificial environment where I don’t get the benefit of audience feedback. So I don’t look the same in every video, I also try to wear something different for each talk.

3. Embrace the unperfection.

Most of us don’t have a professional studio at home. It’s ok. In fact, it might be better. When we see each other’s homes in the background, or some of our personality – we feel more connected. So let it be a little bit unperfect and focus on being authentic instead of perfect.

4. Face the window.

All of the light tutorials I watched on YouTube were great, but complicated. You can buy ring lights or hook up web-enabled dimmers to your phone – but the real secret to how I’m getting pretty good light on all my calls comes down to three words: face a window. When your face is to the window, you avoid backlighting (the biggest lighting problem most people have) and odd shadows too. The picture below is me in my home office with NO additional lighting. I literally just turned around to face the window instead of putting it behind me. Of course, this won’t work if you’re in a room with no windows (or at night) – so if that’s the case, get good lighting from the front (a ring light works for this) and start with that.

5. Invest in sound.

If you are going to spend money on anything to improve your virtual presentation, make it a high quality microphone. Headsets generally are a great way to get good sound and avoid background noise. The problem is you end up looking like a call center operator. The alternative is a good cardioid microphone (a microphone that mainly picks up sound from the front). The microphones to avoid are omnidirectional (they pick up ambient sound from around the room).

6. Play with the tech.

Whenever my boys encounter something new, they want to press all the buttons. As they get older, they still do that. We can use some of that same mentality when it comes to using videoconferencing platforms. Do you know what all the buttons do? Try them out. On a Zoom call, using the space bar is a shortcut to go off mute. Skype has similar keyboard shortcuts. The best way to get better at using the tools is by playing with it … and pressing all the buttons.

7. Skip the apology.

We all know that virtual meetings aren’t seamless. Sometimes people are hard to hear. And your WiFi may be slow. It’s tempting to always be apologizing for this, or even worse, apologizing before anything even goes wrong! Instead, go with the flow and adapt to the difficulties. If they persist, be decisive in what to do about it – whether it’s asking everyone to log out and then back in, or the worst case scenario of rescheduling the meeting. People may not like it, but they will definitely appreciate it more if you didn’t waste 30 minutes trying to get everything working before finally canceling.

8. Speak to the camera.

When you are on a video call where multiple people are sharing screens, you will want to look at them. The problem is, doing this appears as if you’re looking sideways. The only way to offer the appearance of eye contact is to speak to your webcam instead of to the images of the people. This is logical, but very hard to consistently do because it feels unnatural. To be honest, I haven’t found an easy way to do this, apart from asking everyone else to turn off their video screens. So I’ve just been practicing ignoring their videos and speaking to the camera instead.

9. Use props.

One of the nicest things about presenting from my home office is that I can have all the tools I usually use right next to me. So while I used to share a picture of a stack of books that I read from the stage, now I can actually SHOW people the stack. Props are a great way to break up the monotony of a talk and bring your personality too.

10. Update your website/profile.

Everything is changing, but a lot of what we see online seems to have been created before Covid-19. As a speaker, I wanted to be sure to let event planners and potential clients know that I’ve adjusted what I do, so I changed my homepage and my speaking page to focus on virtual events. If you want to show potential customers or even your colleagues that you’re adjusting too, consider updating your site (if you have one) or your professional profiles too.

Want to see all of my best insights as well as learn from the experiences of more than 50 experts who have contributed to share their best tips with you?

Download a free copy of my latest guide and ebook, The Non-Obvious Guide to Virtual Meetings & Remote Work.

Download here >>

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/markgrow/~3/lXvry5NaEls/

A few years ago I wrote a post with a formula for creating great content that seemed to help a lot of people. Today you have no choice but to work in news ways on content that stands out!

It’s a formula I’ve used in my college classes for many years but I’ve had to update the model recently to adjust to our current marketing environment.

Fair warning, this post also contains commentary about my balls.

So here we go.

First, let’s review the original formula. It still works …

The RITE method for content that stands out

A proven method to consistently create effective content is “RITE.”

RITE is an acronym that stands for Relevant, Interesting, Timely, and Entertaining. If you create content that consistently hits at least three out of these four angles, you’ll be spinning content gold.

1. Relevant

What if you have multiple interests like books, pets, and cars? Can you create content about everything you’re interested in?

The answer is … kind of.

You don’t want to confuse people. If you started a video series about woodworking and then did a commentary on the history of poodles, your readers would think “What’s going on here? I came here for the woodworking tips!” You’re no longer relevant.

Now, that’s not to say you can’t bring your hobbies and interests into your content.

I’ve used inspirations from history, art, travel, literature and other areas of interest to enliven my blog posts, but the lessons are always relevant to my core topic.

Here’s a post I wrote after visiting a barbecue restaurant, for example.

I love barbecue, by the way. I’m probably eating some right now.

2. Interesting

The “I” in RITE is Interesting. Publishing your content isn’t a creative writing contest. It’s a war for attention.

Every single piece of content you produce must be interesting. If you can’t do that consistently, you’ll assuredly lose your audience to competitors who can hold their attention.

How do you stay consistently interesting?

When I create content that’s particularly provocative, somebody in the comment section will typically write “How did you know this was on my mind?” or, “How did you know we were just talking about this at work?”

I suppose the difference is, I don’t just think about things that interest me — I write about them and open a public discussion. This week on LinkedIn, somebody wrote, “you’re the only person out there with the balls to say this stuff.”

I don’t think I have unique cojones. And if I did, I would not tell you.

But it takes some guts to put yourself out there, especially when a view is incomplete or controversial, but that’s the key to remaining interesting, isn’t it?

You don’t need all the answers to be interesting. You simply have to ask the right questions.

3. Timely

Research shows that people love sharing ideas that are new — research, breakthroughs, data.

So incorporating something new and provocative into your content is a great way to light up an audience.

Here are opportunities to create content that stands out based on changes going on in your environment:

• WOW news — In every industry, there’s somebody producing a newsletter that curates the latest news (If there isn’t, go do that!). Read this news every day. If there’s a news item that makes you go “wow!” it’s probable that others are going “wow,” too. Open up your laptop at that moment and write a post about the implications of that news from your point of view. Publish that same day and your readers will love you.
• Comment on a commentary. Let’s say your passion is fire-fighting. If there’s an event that affects your industry like a budget cut, a new regulation, or a technological breakthrough, there are news stories already out there about it. Do a web search to find others commenting on the issue and then 1) summarize their points 2) provide a link to the original source with attribution, and 3) add your own perspective to the original view.
• Round-up post – If there’s a breakthrough in your area of sustainable interest, ask thought leaders to send you a paragraph, video clip, or soundbite of their views and present a round-up of opinions. You’ll be creating great content with the secondary benefit of quoting industry leaders who may share your post. Here’s an example from my own work.

4. Entertaining

The final factor in the original RITE formula is “Entertaining” … but perhaps it’s the most important aspect of content creation today.

Why do you share a piece of content? Because it’s entertaining in some way. Maybe the video, podcast, or blog post makes you laugh, inspires you, or amazes you.

Thinking in terms of “entertainment” may create a point of differentiation for you. Most people aren’t putting their content through the “entertainment” filter … they’re just reporting. Could you stand out from the crowd and become known because of your entertaining style?

This is a big challenge for the typical corporate content creator because most companies don’t sit around thinking, “how can we be more entertaining today?”

And yet … they should.

Content that stands out also needs this …

So that’s the RITE formula, I taught that idea in my classes for years until I realized that it’s not enough.

In this world of overwhelming information density — content shock — you can publish wonderful content that is relevant, interesting, timely, and entertaining and still not create content that stands out.

There is or thing more. You need to be:

You may be wondering, “What does Batman have to do with this?”

The answer is nothing. I’ve loved Batman since I was six-years-old and it’s my blog so I can do anything I want. Batman has the cojones.

And when it comes to superheroes, he is SUPERIOR and you have to be SUPERIOR to the competition in the content space, too. And so I added an “S” — RITES.

Here’s the deal. Today, being great isn’t enough. You have to be the greatest in your niche because if you’re not, people will switch away. You would, too. Your readers will “switch the channel.”

This is an important idea. Your content approach needs to be evolving. You need to keep raising the bar to keep competitors at bay with content that is insanely great.

This is why some sort of continuous innovation process should be part of every content initiative, especially in highly competitive niches. Fight, fight, fight to stay at the top.

RITES. I swear by this method. if you use this filter with your content every week, you’ll be on a path to success.

Drop me a note in the content section and let me know if this was helpful.

Mark Schaefer is the chief blogger for this site, executive director of Schaefer Marketing Solutions, and the author of several best-selling digital marketing books. He is an acclaimed keynote speaker, college educator, and business consultant.  The Marketing Companion podcast is among the top business podcasts in the world. Contact Mark to have him speak to your company event or conference soon.

Illustration courtesy of Unsplash.com

The post An updated formula for creating content that stands out appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.