If you’re in a “boring” industry, you may have struggled to market your business in a more compelling way, one that would bring in customers and ramp up revenue, as well as increase engagement. So what can companies in industries seen as “boring” do to become more interesting online?
1. Give them a Solution
No such thing as boring! Every industry solves a problem that has probably arisen at least once in your life. Creating relevant content that gives visitors something to think about and relate to can go a long way. Something that makes them think, “Wow, I can see how I would be able to use this product or service” is all the lead-gen you need. Offering up a fun quiz may help them realize that. – Jared Brown, Hubstaff Talent
2. Simplify the Complicated With How-to Guides
Boring industries are often dull because they are overcomplicated. Instead of using jargon that people won’t understand, create simple how-to guides that your audience will understand and appreciate. Bonus points if you include cartoon images to help you simplify the process. – Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner
3. Show the Journey
Every customer goes on a journey from discovering a problem to solving a problem. At the beginning of the journey, the path is unclear and usually scary. Creating an e-book — showing that journey, the possible pitfalls, what they can expect, and how the company is uniquely positioned to help them — is very compelling because it provides education, clarity and a call to action for using the company. – Monica Snyder, Birdsong
4. Offer Free PDF Downloads
For one of our clients in a very boring industry (medical device distribution), we have helped them create an informative 20 page PDF that provides some important insight into their industry and helps companies who are looking for those products. We then did a remarketing campaign to retarget all website visitors who didn’t take any action to offer them the free PDF. The result was 10,000+ leads! – Amine Rahal, IronMonk
5. Use Illustrations
Illustrations are a great way to make the boring fun. There are a number of tools that you can use to find free or less expensive illustrations, such as Canva and Freepik, or you can always hire an illustrator to create a custom character for your brand. – Jared Atchison, WPForms
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6. Create Semi-Gated Explainer Videos
Giving away whitepapers is a staple of the lead-gen world, but I think the next step lies in gated explainer videos. Offer videos gated by an email address field, but let users start the video before requiring an email address. Try displaying the watch rate as well (i.e. “Provide your email address to watch the rest of this video, which 80% of viewers watched all the way to the end”). – Ryan D Matzner, Fueled
7. Get Creative
Come up with some creative giveaways where you tie your product to something not so related to your industry, and ask for videos to be posted to your website or social media account. A whiteout company recently launched a giveaway based on a video between a hunter and a bear as one example. The tie-in doesn’t have to be direct, but if it’s engaging and compelling, it’s possible to achieve success. – Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers Personal Finance
8. Use Compelling Language
With the right approach, you can make any topic interesting — especially when you’re targeting the right audience. Make sure your landing pages, reports and e-books are written in an engaging way. It also helps to make them visually interesting — infographics are good for compressing lots of facts into a single image. You can accomplish this with whiteboard and animation videos as well. – Shawn Porat, Scorely
9. Be Casual
Nothing is more boring than a boring company that takes itself too seriously. Write casually, focusing on words that are easy to understand to make your blog and website more relatable. Customers will appreciate the casual language and how easily you break down difficult information. – John Turner, https://www.seedprod.com/
10. Understand Your Customers’ Needs
The first thing any company — let alone companies in industries that can be seen as boring — needs to do to in order to understand how to drive customer interest is to understand their customers’ needs and wants. By deeply getting to know your customers — understanding who they are, what their points are, what excites them, what scares them — you will know how to best compel them. – Adam Mendler, The Veloz Group