I was recently talking to a new content creator who was complaining about how it was difficult to make their content stand out in a crowded space. They were looking to move out of their core domain and carve out a new micro niche with lower competition.
I discouraged them from doing so. If a niche has lower competition, it is probably for good reason. It is likely something that very few people are interested in.
On the other hand, if your core area of expertise has high competition, I would recommend treating it as good news. People are interested in the expertise you have to offer. But, the problem of standing out from the crowd still remains.
We, at QuoDeck, use the 4Fs to differentiate our content marketing efforts:
Focus:
Choose a particular user group and write for them.
For this strategy, you need to have a clear understanding of your audience and their segmentation. You have to first identify exactly what each of these segments is looking for. And then, based on your expertise and comfort, choose one of these and figure out what you’re going to write for them.
For example, if you are a food blogger, what if you write about athletes and the food habits that they should follow?
https://www.eatright.org/fitness/sports-and-performance/tips-for-athletes
Function:
Choose a specific problem and write on solving it.
Speak to your audience to understand their pain points. Then target a specific use case or a problem that needs solutions and build yourself as an authority on that. Do primary and secondary research and publish your findings. Work with other experts and collaborate with them. Join communities that focus on the pain point and contribute to them. And write copiously on the problem and the possible solutions.
For example, if you are a e-learning content creator, what if you write about all the things one can do to increase completion rates of courses?
Form:
Choose a unique form to create content in.
Not all blogs need to be long form writing. Explore using alternative content forms. You can create infographics, quizzes, recommendations, videos, podcasts, etc. There are easy content creation tools (Canva, Audacity, Construct, Amplayfy, Powtoon, etc.) that allow you to create content in these formats free of cost.
For example, if you are a travel blogger, what if you created quizzes about different travel destinations and what you can do there. And then, maybe stitch those quizzes together into a game like “Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?”
Format:
Choose an unusual format to present your content in.
You can set up your blog as an interview, a story, a debate, a play, etc. Any format that is unusual to the domain. This requires a lot of imagination to put together, but yields spectacular results, if successful.
For example, if you are a movie reviewer, what if you wrote your reviews as tongue-in-cheek cartoon strips?
Content audiences care about inspiration, information, knowledge, assistance and above all, entertainment. So good content, done well, typically always finds its market. All the 4Fs really do is help you to create a differentiation strategy that makes your voice unique and memorable. If done regularly, with discipline and on-brand, this can help create a engaged and loyal audience for your content marketing efforts.
Do let us know your opinion on the 4Fs approach and whether you see this being useful for your content marketing campaigns. And if you are looking for an easy to use tool to create interactive content for such campaigns, do consider giving Amplayfy a spin…
P.S. This article was first published on LinkedIn. Click here to View
