Original content differentiates your B2B brand in a saturated market.
Even better, your valuable, unique content builds trust with your audience, so they see you as their go-to resource. They evolve from casual content consumers to repeat visitors, subscribers, and possibly customers.
But how do they know it’s original?
Well, you publish novel ideas and use fresh angles. You use a consistent voice in the content. And you drop clues into your content.
Let’s explore five signals that show the reader, viewer, or listener that your brand is committed to originating the work, not leaving it to AI or a curation of others’ content.
1. Talk to people in real life
People are unique. No person has the exact same thoughts, phrasing, or insight as another. So, incorporating people into your content tells the audience it’s original:
You identify which people are most helpful and relevant to the content.
You come up with the questions to ask them.
You listen to their answers and ask follow-up questions.
All that work leads to content that no other brand could publish.
You can interview subject matter experts — internal and external, customers, partners, etc. While you can do it by email, I prefer doing interviews in real-time, virtually, or in person. (And if you record them, you have the video and audio files to package into multiple formats for several channels.)
The back-and-forth conversation typically elicits better responses than an email interview, where the responder can edit and polish their answers (and sometimes use AI to generate the reply).
TIP: Observe your interview subjects in their surroundings. Describing their environment can sometimes be helpful in setting the scene for the audience — showing them you and the subject were face-to-face. What do the titles on their bookshelf indicate? What about the tchotchkes on their desk or what’s hanging on their walls? You can also use these things as conversation starters to build a rapport with your subject.
2. Use first person
OK, my old journalist-trained eyes twitch when I write this tip: Insert first-person pronouns into your content to let the audience know that you are a part of the story.
Here’s how you could do it with an interview: “‘The results were good,’ the expert tells me about their recent marketing campaign."
Or you could use a phrase like, “based on my experience ...”
To incorporate first person successfully, make sure content creators and editors are on the same page. Otherwise, expect the editor to get rid of those phrases as they’re unnecessary to understanding the message. However, they are necessary to indicate that the content is original.
Update your brand style guide, too. Specify whether the author should use “me” or “I” — or if they’re speaking on behalf of the brand, “us” and “we.”
3. Publish byline and bios
Many brands don’t publish bylines or give credit to their employees who created the content. That’s a mistake. It signals to the audience that the humans who created it aren’t worthy of recognition. And content without a face is often interpreted as AI-generated or generic at best.
Bylines bring authenticity and credibility; bios do that even better. Publish a short bio of the author at the end of the content. Include their credentials as proof of their expertise and add a personal insight or two to help the audience relate to them. Add a link to their LinkedIn profile, too.
4. Split the screens
Video and audio content can benefit from originality clues, too. Sure, if someone listens to your company’s podcast, they can hear or see the back-and-forth between the interviewer and interviewee. However, when that audio or video file gets cut into sound bites, the fact that someone from your brand elicited the comment gets lost. So, use a split screen to show your involvement, or at least mention it in the caption on social media.
You can also show originality without having a human in the picture. Instead of showing a talking head explaining a concept, play the audio and show a graphic to illustrate what they're saying and brand it with your logo.
And don’t forget to maximize the description on your videos. YouTube allows 5,000 characters, so after all your keywords and messaging, add all the names involved in the production with their titles.
5. Go behind the scenes
This tip is an oldie but a goodie. It’s more than a clue to originality; it reveals the mystery. Let your audience go behind the scenes. You or an influencer partner could do a product demo. Perhaps your content can take the audience onto the factory floor. Or just show them how you created the content they’re now consuming. Those are stories only your brand can tell.
TIP: Maximize your behind-the-scenes content by repackaging it into multiple formats for multiple distribution channels.
Drop all the breadcrumbs
Originality clues come in all sizes, from first-person pronouns and bylines to interviews and behind-the-scenes stories. Your audience will pick up on them, though sometimes unconsciously, and come to see that your content not only deserves their repeated attention but that your brand should earn their business.
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