Weekly Alert: Don’t Think About Creating Content

Industry-specific content - we have you covered! [View Message](54648/ct0_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdDyis0wZJ) in Browser / [Add Us](54648/ct1_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdDyis0wZJ) to Safe Sender List [] 54648/ct2_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdDyis0wZJ [] [Forward to a Friend](54648/ct3_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdDyis0wZJ) Weekly News 6.21.19 Connect with CMI 54648/ct4_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdDyis0wZJ 54648/ct5_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdDyis0wZJ 54648/ct6_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdDyis0wZJ 54648/ct7_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdDyis0wZJ [] Agencies See Growth in Content Marketing Business [New Research] [] 54648/ct8_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdDyis0wZJ Agencies are banking on content marketing. At least half their business comes from those services. That finding, along with fresh agency opportunities and more, can be found in the new CMI 2019 Agency Survey. [Read more](54648/ct8_1/1?sid=TV2%3AdDyis0wZJ)by Cathy McPhillips [Trends and Research] Some more of this week's best stuff: - [Tell Better AR/VR Stories With These 4 Principles](54648/ct9_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdDyis0wZJ) by Dennis Shiao [Content Creation] - [5 Tips for Recruitment Marketing to Get Great Hires [Examples]](54648/ct10_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdDyis0wZJ) by Jodi Harris [Editorial Process and Teams] - [Think Micro if You Want to Do Influencer Marketing Right](54648/ct11_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdDyis0wZJ) by Ann Gynn [Distribution and Promotion] - [10 Tips From Best-Selling Authors That Will Polish Your Content](54648/ct12_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdDyis0wZJ) by Kathy Edens [Content Creation] [] [] A Note From Robert Rose Don’t Think About Creating Content I have a challenge for you: Don’t think about a pizza. Avoid all thoughts of delicious pizza. You especially should not think about a deep-dish pizza. I’m sorry, you lost. You definitely thought about some kind of pizza. And chances are, unless you’ve never seen a deep-dish pizza, your mind went there as well. This is an example of what researchers call ironic process theory, in which the deliberate attempt to suppress an unwanted thought makes it more likely to surface. One fascinating experiment with this theory showed how trying to suppress thoughts affects behavior. Three groups of participants received different instructions before they were asked to taste and compare two brands of chocolate. The first group was asked not to think of eating chocolate. The second was asked specifically to think about eating chocolate. The third group wasn’t given any specific instructions. Interestingly, each group rated the chocolates similarly, but people who were told to suppress their thoughts about chocolate actually ate more chocolate. You’ve seen examples of this in your own life. You stand on the golf course and repeat in your head, “Don’t slice it, don’t slice it, don’t slice it.” What happens? You slice it. At breakfast, your significant other puts that 80s pop song in your head and you immediately think, “Dammit, don’t think about Everybody Wants To Rule The World.” What happens? By lunch, you’re singing “Welcome to your life… there’s no turning back.” But the attempt to suppress thoughts works well as a technique for creating great content. And, no I don’t mean peppering your copy with the words, “Don’t think about my brand.” One of the more difficult things to do in business storytelling is to introduce a hero’s flaws to create dramatic tension. For example, I’m helping a large software company structure their customer stories to make them more meaningful than just “problem meets solution.” One of our goals is to illustrate the emotional and psychological transformations customers go through that allow them to grow or advance. The key is to do that without making the customer seem weak. We discovered that depicting our hero (in this case the customer) actively trying to avoid thinking about a certain topic helped. For example, in a customer story where Jane is our hero we might write: “Jane knew the CIO was correct. Staying with on-premises software and hardware would be challenging for so many reasons. But when she thought about it more, the wrongness was even more evident. It wasn’t the cost that kept her up at night – that was a challenge that could be solved. No, it was the thought of the anger and frustration of customers trying to visit their websites but finding they were temporarily down. That’s something she’d have to deal with personally. She pushed that thought away and quickly opened up her laptop. It was time to get to work.” In storytelling, showing a character trying to avoid thinking about something lets you demonstrate the pain point (while avoiding blaming them for the problem) and sets the suppressed thought in readers’ minds. Soon, they begin to see it everywhere. Psychologists will tell you that the way to overcome the effects of thought suppression is to let go of them. If you don’t want to think about deep dish pizza, just acknowledge the thought when it appears and then think about something else. It’s not the thinking about pizza that leads you to eat more pizza. It’s trying to suppress the thought of pizza that leads to more pizza. Perhaps you can incorporate the power of telling someone not to think of something into the next story you create. Just don’t think about how hard it is to create great content. No, really, I’m serious, don’t do it. Just think about great content. That’s the better thought. It’s your story. Tell it well. Robert Rose Chief Strategy Advisor Content Marketing Institute This article from Robert is available only in this newsletter for you, the newsletter subscriber. If you have friends that would see value in Robert's weekly updates, please have them [subscribe](54648/ct13_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdDyis0wZJ). 54648/ct14_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdDyis0wZJTune in to the Weekly Wrap You know how when you try not to think of pizza, you suddenly can’t think of anything else? Robert Rose explains how you can use that phenomena, called “ironic process theory,” as a technique for creating great content. Plus he offers a fresh take on [Mary Meeker’s yearly list](54648/ct15_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdDyis0wZJ) of important tech trends and points you to an article on how to improve your [recruitment marketing](54648/ct16_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdDyis0wZJ) so you can find great hires. Get your 10 minutes of inspiration and insight [right here](54648/ct14_1/1?sid=TV2%3AdDyis0wZJ) or subscribe below. [Subscribe on iTunes](54648/ct17_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdDyis0wZJ) or [subscribe on Stitcher](54648/ct18_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdDyis0wZJ) [] [] More From CMI 54648/ct19_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdDyis0wZJ Whether you're in manufacturing, healthcare, retail, financial services, technology, nonprofit or more, Content Marketing World has sessions and industry forums created for you. We explain the whys and hows for content marketing, then industry leaders dive into how this affects YOU and YOUR INDUSTRY. Don't miss it! [Code EM100 saves $100.](54648/ct19_1/1?sid=TV2%3AdDyis0wZJ) [] [] A Word From One of Our Content VIPs: The State of ABM 2019 Trend Report Account Based Marketing (ABM) is alive, well, and thriving in 2019, according to surveys. But for many companies, ABM is not without concerns and risks. How do your ABM results compare to other companies? How can you improve? Learn more in “The State of ABM 2019 Trend Report.” [Download now.](54648/ct20_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdDyis0wZJ) 54648/ct20_1/1?sid=TV2%3AdDyis0wZJ [] CMI Video 54648/ct21_0/1?sid=TV2%3AdDyis0wZJ Ever feel perplexed why a YouTube channel with low-quality videos has millions of passionate fans? What most marketers don't realize is that there are certain elements every YouTube channel must possess to make it easy for a viewer to love the content and become a loyal fan. At CMWorld 2018, Tim Schmoyer shares insights on how to grow your channel and reach the people you intend to reach. 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