How to create authentic human content your buyers will love (Content Lab, Ep. 35)

The Content Lab podcast is back from hiatus!

Yesterday morning, I received an email that absolutely warmed my heart, but also made me chuckle in its fortuitous timing:

Hi Liz,

I hope you are having a fabulous day (or actually it would be nighttime where you are seeing as I’m based in Australia!).

This email is simply because I have watched all your Content Lab podcasts which I am a HUGE fan off and there hasn’t been a new one since June! Please tell me your Podcast is still going and you are just taking a break from it?!

I know you are a busy person and I definitely don’t want to increase your work load but I seriously love that podcast – it’s my favourite on IMPACT. Even my 6 and 8 year old boys like listening to you when I play it in the car!

...

Best Regards, 

Kristy

Well, I've got some great news for you, Kristy, and everyone else! 

Today marks the official and permanent return of the Content Lab podcast. 

What's new with the Content Lab

The focus of Content Lab will still be candid, tactical conversations about the proverbial content sausage gets made in digital marketing. Quite frankly, we don't do a great job as an industry of talking about the nuts and bolts of actually creating content.

With that said, I'm not just returning with the same ol' same ol' routine I had before. In fact, I've made some pretty big changes...

First and foremost, I'm not returning by myself. I will now be joined every week by IMPACT Editorial Content Associate John Becker! 

Here's John in action on the left, extracting some HubSpot-y goodness from fellow IMPACTer Nick Bennett.

To say John is an absolute whiz at writing, interviewing subject matter experts, storytelling, coaching folks on how to create content, and so forth, would be a gross understatement of his capabilities. 

In fact, you might remember him from the last episode of this podcast about interviewing subject matter experts. 

He's also really funny and fun, so I am so happy he said yes when I asked him to join me on the podcast. 

We've also added some new recurring features, including a learning corner (with a new strategic tip or content lesson each week), as well as what we're reading that's inspiring us.

Now, let's talk about today's episode! 

How to be an authentic human (and be funny) in your content, so your buyers will love you

I touched upon this a little bit in a recent episode of Film School for Marketers, but getting personal and being an honest-to-goodness human being in your marketing content is:

• A strategy that gets results. 
• Something that content creators in any industry can do. (Seriously.)

What gets tricky, however, is how you do it. 

I know this from experience, as I'm the author of IMPACT's thrice-weekly email newsletter, THE LATEST.

If you're a subscriber, you know how personal I get in an email that's supposed to be a digest of everything digital marketers and business leaders need to know, all in under five minutes.

If you're not a subscriber yet — sob 😢 — here are a few examples to show you what I mean:

• My temper tantrum about how my Apple Watch likes to shame me
• The existential crisis I experienced when HubSpot email wasn't working
• My weird habits to get the creative juices flowing during projects
• One time I amused myself by mocking up t-shirts (and I wish they were real)
• I even talked about my weight loss journey (and it's unhappy beginning)

Does this work? Well, according to ye olde HubSpot, this newsletter has almost $1.5 million in influenced revenue associated with it. So yes, being a human is memorable and fun, but also (most of all) profitable.

I also try to weave my personality into my articles for IMPACT, because I want people to connect with me and have fun while learning, as appropriate:

• My vendetta against pineapples appeared in this article about not using passive words in content.
• My story of being the editor on the second edition of They Ask, You Answer was very, very personal, and I loved sharing it.
• I also doled out some pretty candid "tough love" in this article about why you need a content manager for your company.

But how do you do this effectively? There are a lot of fears I hear from folks who want to embrace being more human:

• "I'm not funny, and I don't know how to be funny."
• "My industry doesn't allow me to be personal or open."
• "I'm not sure my bosses will go for it."
• "How do I know how personal I can get?"
• "Does this approach actually work, or are us marketers just getting bored?"

In this episode, John puts me in the hot seat to address each of those fears.

And by the end of this episode you'll have the tactics, tips, and strategies dumped into your brain about how to be an authentic (and funny, if you desire) human being whom your audience will love enough to give you money in exchange for goods and services.

Listen to the episode

🚨Subscribe to Content Lab on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher.🚨 

The resources we mentioned

• THE LATEST email newsletter 
• The secret to success is failure, although I guess not failing would also work (New Yorker)

Until next week! 👋