Most people who have done some content marketing for a living have encountered a situation where they have to write about boring stuff. Perhaps you run a small business in a very boring industry but still want to reap the benefits of doing some content marketing?
Perhaps you are a content marketing expert who has worked for dozens of clients and you think you have finally discovered the most boring one possible?
It does not matter. Some industries are simply considered boring. Luckily, with a bit of imagination and a lot of hard work, it is possible to make the even most boring niche pop with some interesting content.
Research the Niche
If you run a certain business yourself and you also create content for yourself, then great, you will already know a ton about the industry and the niche. If you work for someone, however, you will need some time to find out what is happening in the industry, what the experts are talking about and so on.
Even more importantly than that, you will need to know who the customers are, who the consumers, the users and the clients are.
What kind of questions do they ask about the niche? What are the things they care about that have to do with this niche?
Quora and similar Q&A websites are a great place to start.
You can also ask your friends and family and see what they would like to learn about this particular, “boring” niche. People will surprise you. The directions that people’s minds go will blow your own (mind, that is).
Be Current
Sure, there are certain niches where it can be difficult to stay current. If you are doing content marketing for a piano tuning business, not much has changed in the last few hundred years.
Or perhaps it just looks that way?
You can always research something on new technological advances in digital pianos. Perhaps there is an interesting wider story that involves piano tuners. Perhaps there are only five piano tuners left in your country and you could do an interview with them.
Perhaps you could do a piece about 5 best piano players of today.
There is so much stuff happening in the world today and there are so many sources of all kinds of news and interesting events that you would really have to be lazy not to find something interesting to write about.
The important thing is not to stay boxed in within your niche and to think outside the box.
Make Connections
The world is interconnected. Since the web became an integral part of world’s shared culture, the connections are even more imaginative and numerous. When it comes to coming up with interesting content, this can be of immense help.
This is perhaps explained on a specific example.
For example, did you know that the concept of big data is connected to the history of urology as a medical field? Well, their connection dates back to the 19th century, when a French urologist used it to prove that his method of getting rid of bladder stones is superior to the existing one.
This piece of medical history brings together two seemingly separate subjects (big data being hugely popular these days) and niches that are not particularly interesting on their own.
One of the ways in which content creators use this is when they make parallels between popular culture phenomena and their particular niche.
While this can be a nice way to make boring content seem more interesting, it is important not to overdo it and reduce everything to clickbait without any meaningful backing.
Brush Up on Your Writing
Having a great idea is not enough, though. If having a unique and exciting idea was enough, there would be many more literary classics. One very important aspect of content creation is the actual realization of it, the act of writing.
Most people who do content marketing for a living have already honed their writing skills to a certain extent, but there is always room for improvement.
There is always a danger of getting set in your ways – using the same sentence constructions and the same elements over and over again. This happens to the best of writers. It is a perfectly natural continuation of having your own style. Because of this, it is important to read other people’s writing and see what others are doing.
It is also a good idea to read up on the more traditional literature every now and then, just to remind yourself how the best writers of all time do it (or did it). Classics are classics for a reason. Study them.
Study the sentences. Study how ideas are expressed. Perfect your craft.
This will enable you to create content that will captivate people’s minds even when your subject matter is limited.
Closing Word
It is definitely possible to write interesting content in a boring niche. It may take some extra effort and some time spent thinking laterally, but it is definitely doable.
Good luck!
