This document provides 10 tips for creating compelling content for brands selling practical or "boring" products. It discusses focusing content on consumers rather than products, using humor, storytelling, visuals and being a "people brand". The tips are from a marketing agency that helps brands enhance visibility through custom content campaigns.

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About this guide
Written by:
Jane Hunt, Marketing Director
Research by:
Lauren Harrison, Content Specialist
Design by:
Megan Amirghiasvand, Graphic Designer
About JBH
The content marketing agency reimagining
diverse brands all over the world through
bespoke campaigns.
We enhance brand visibility for our clients by
planning, creating, managing and distributing
out of this world content. Pioneering leaders in
bespoke interactive infographics and masters of all
kinds of killer content, we help brands of all sizes
and verticals channel the very best in design and
digital trends.
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TOUCH
If you need help creating content for your brand contact hello@jbh.co.uk
For more information visit jbh.co.uk or call (+44)1604 211 227

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We can’t all work for Nike and
Apple, but with the help of
our 10 clever content tips any
product can shine.
Brands aren’t boring - only boring content is
boring. Coming up with something memorable
and original when you are representing a “cool”
brand can be difficult enough, but when the brand
or product you are selling is more practical than
pretty, the challenge becomes even greater.
Some brands were born to steal the spotlight
and sell products that practically sell themselves.
Others require a spoonful of imagination. Create a
marketing masterpiece for a wallflower brand and
the sense of accomplishment will be even sweeter.

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“If people aren’t talking about you,
they’re not talking about you for a
reason. And the reason isn’t that they
dislike you. They’re not talking about
you because you’re boring.”
- Seth Godin

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How We Use the Internet
Facebook now drives 25% of all
web traffic (Shareaholic) with 2.46
million pieces of content being
shared across the network every
minute. (Jeff Bullas)
277,000 tweets hit the Twittersphere
every minute. (Jeff Bullas)
2014 saw the use of video content
increase by 8% to 58%, while
infographic usage increased by
9% to 52%. (DemandGen Report)

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Which Content Works Best?
Facebook posts earn 340%
more shares than each of the
other four major social networks
- except for food content, which
performs best on Pinterest.
(Contently)
70% of people prefer to learn
about products through
content as opposed to through
traditional advertising. (Inc)
Case studies (73%) overtook
webinars (67%) as the second
most popular form of B2B
content in 2014. (Demand Gen Report)
LinkedIn accounts for 21% of
shares of high-engagement
publications in the business
vertical. (Buffer)
92% of consumers say they
trust earned media while only
half trust paid ads. (Digital Stats)

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Social media is clearly uniquely powerful in terms
of reach. With so much being said online, it’s
imperative that you select the right content to
make your brand a part of the conversation. Teach
yourself to pitch less and entertain more.
“There are no dull products,
only dull writers.”
- David Ogilvy

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Masterful content is
anything but boring.
Many brands sell products and services which serve
a legitimate purpose without being particularly
attractive or inspiring. These products need inventive
and effective marketing just as much (if not more)
than smartphones and brightly-coloured smoothies.
When you started your career in marketing, an
unimaginative interviewer might have turned to
you and said, “Sell me this pen.” To get the job, your
answer would have had to stand out, or at least
come across as slightly more creative than those
given by everyone else interviewed that day.

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Would you have been excited by the pen?
Probably not. But if you wanted the job you would
have done whatever you could to make it seem
interesting.
A well-executed strategy ensures that you’ll only
ever be boring to those outside of your target
market. With a little imagination any product can
be showcased in an interesting or surprising way.
“SELL ME
THIS PEN!”
Dull brands need love too. Take a look at our 10 tips, unleash
your imagination and get creating the sort of killer content
that could sell a two-wheeled bike to a unicyclist.

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TIP
ALWAYS BE YOURSELF

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“Good stories give big voices
to small ventures”
- Neil Patel Rikita Puri, Quicksprout

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While whisky probably isn’t what can be called a
“boring” product, the lesson is there. Using brand
storytelling to give potential consumers a real and
direct experience of your values is key in establishing
human-to-human connections. Create something
authentic and your story could be inspiring or at
least interesting to certain groups, earning their
respect (and with any luck, recommendation).
You could use your content to tell the story of your
people; what motivates your team, what attracts
your customers. You could place your product
or brand in historical context. Whatever you do,
choose something which marks you out as unique
and, more importantly, as human.
Selling an everyday product doesn’t mean that
there’s nothing cool about your brand. Every
company has a unique story to tell about its
origins, its people and its own way of doing
things. Products and services are only one part
of that story.
Megabrand Jack Daniels stepped outside of a
crowded marketplace by concentrating its marketing
on heritage and tradition; think black and white
imagery, Frank Sinatra and a focus on JD’s romantic
charcoal-filtered Tennessee backstory.
What’s your name and
where do you come from?

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TIP
TURN YOUR CONTENT
INTO A BIG, SHINY MIRROR

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74% of online consumers
get frustrated with websites
when content appears that
has nothing to do with their
interests. (Janrain)
86% of consumers say
personalisation plays a role
in their purchasing decisions.
(Infosys)

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While using software and tokens (such as calling
your users by name) is a great start, reaching
audiences on a deeper level requires showing that
you know them through the very nature of your
content. Focus your content on the consumer -
not the product. Showcase your readers’ interests,
lifestyle and passions and create results that
resonate in your community.
In the past, digital marketing required little more
than wide-cast-nets, one-size-fits-all messages
and generic actions. Today’s content requires
relevance and context. There are a complex
spectrum of users out there, with different needs,
using a range of devices. Showing your customers
that you recognise their needs as individuals is a
highly significant gesture - and it doesn’t have to
be complicated.
Coca-Cola mastered personalisation back in 2013
with the Share a Coke campaign - by replacing its
usual branding with 150 of the UK’s most popular
names the brand became a continuous presence
on social media.

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TIP
CELEBRATE WHATEVER UNIQUENESS
MEANS TO YOUR BRAND

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“No business, particularly a
small one, can be all things
to all people.”
- How to Start Your Own Business, The Staff of Entrepreneur
Media, Inc.

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iconic design and continued attention to unique
patented innovation means that the brand
continues to dominate its own high-end corner of
the market.
Your unique selling proposition will lead the way
to an understanding of your niche. Dyson aims its
products and content at consumers with a little
more to spend looking for a high-quality, durable
and trusted product. It is far easier to develop and
pitch content at a clearly defined market - the
people most likely to be interested in your unique
strengths and features.
The first rule of business tells us that if you’re
not cheaper than your competitors, you need to
be better. Identifying and promoting what sets
your brand or product apart is key in effective
marketing. It could be a small screw that makes
a big difference - make sure your customers and
potential customers know about it.
In the late 1970s, James Dyson deduced that
incorporating cyclonic separation would allow for
a vacuum cleaner that didn’t lose suction. While
it’s true that vacuum cleaners aren’t particularly
sexy, Dyson’s combination of playful marketing,
Is there anything unique about
your product? How it is made?
What can you do with it?

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TIP
THE IMPORTANCE OF
BEING HILARIOUS

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A great tip is to work using opposites. If you are
selling something dull and useful, silliness can
work brilliantly. If you are selling something fun, a
deadpan serious advertising campaign often goes
down a storm.
The effectiveness of a lighthearted approach has
been proven across a wide variety of industries,
from flat-pack furniture to politics. Humour doesn’t
have to be particularly elegant, silliness works too
- just look at funny, memorable and manly brand
Old Spice. Selling refrigerators? Think outside (or
inside) the box and conduct an experiment to see
how many people you can fit in a fridge.
Be playful, but be careful. Unfortunately, in the
wrong hands, humour is easy to get wrong.
Random is fine, bizarre is good and witty is
better but there’s a fine line between funny
and awkwardness which must be observed
at all times if you want to avoid damaging your
brand’s reputation.
Comedy is the most-watched
type of YouTube content,
with 58% of adults watching
humorous videos online.
Why so serious?

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TIP
IF IT’S USEFUL, IT’S NOT BORING

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Of the millions of websites
in existence, WikiHow ranks
at a very respectable 206 in
terms of traffic. (Alexa)
How-to guides are the
second most watched type
of content on YouTube.
(Pew Research)

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on Method’s Soap Dish blog underline the brand
philosophy of natural cleanliness, organisation and
comfort within the home.
To appeal to those actually in need of your content,
jazzing it up will amount to no more than depth,
design and presentation. Give your consumers the
information they need, delivered in an attractive,
friendly package that makes it easy to digest.
If you can’t make your content exciting, make
it as educational as possible. “Boring” or not,
whitepapers remain extremely effective in terms
of influencing buying decisions.
Eco-friendly household cleaning product company
Method have nailed compelling, useful content
for a typically “boring” niche. With colourful design,
beautiful photography and rich instructional
content, the tips, tricks and how-to guides featured
People love instructional content -
it’s practically what the internet
was invented for.

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TIP
THE WEIRDER, THE BETTER

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“We appeal to human
beings, not Googlebots.”
Luke Lewis, Editor of Buzzfeed UK

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The seemingly random approach has been working
since before Compare the Market took insurance
quotes from mundane to meerkat and shows no
sign of slowing down any time soon.
Using strange facts, concepts, images and ideas is
particularly effective when creating content with a
hook for journalist outreach.
Just ask niche masters Buzzfeed UK. Relevant,
different and shareable - strange content is a
great way to engage and entertain audiences.
In 2012, Melbourne’s Metro Trains enjoyed
phenomenal success with its cutesy yet controversial
public services announcement video, “Dumb Ways
to Die”. The video went viral and is still popular more
than 3 years later.
Weird works.

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TIP
SHOCK VALUE

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“Truth makes many appeals,
not least of which is its
power to shock.”
- Jules Renard

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Shock value can be particularly useful when
creating content for appeals and charities. Save
the Congo shocked us in 2013 with Unwatchable
- a film which awakens the reader to the violence
involved in the Congo’s minerals trade by bringing
it home to the leafy Cotswolds.
While that particular stat may have been invented
for the sake of irony, there’s no doubt that credible
facts and numbers can be incredibly persuasive.
Surprising readers and journalists with hard-hitting
stats is a great way to get them to sit up and
pay attention. Present some stats that represent
a problem and then show how your brand or
product can offer the solution.
Did you know that 73.6% of all
statistics are made up?

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TIP
SHOW AND NO TELL

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While retaining naked information can be difficult,
a story told visually or through the use of different
mediums can have a much greater impact.
Working in this way might mean a greater focus
on things like concept and design or making use
of different types of content in order to make your
data pop.
We are visual creatures.
While only 10% of people
remember what they hear,
80% of people remember
what they see and do. (Hubspot)

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“A good piece of content should
be like a good skirt...long enough
to cover what’s important, short
enough to keep it interesting.”
Infographics are a great way of showing complex
data in a creative and concise way. Ideally, you
want to create something memorable and
distinctive - beautiful, considered design goes a
long way.
Good presentation doesn’t just refer to the way
things hit the eye. Using relatable analogies to
explain complex problems shows your human side
and makes your data easier to digest.

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TIP
BE A PEOPLE BRAND

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In a world where technology and automation have
become increasingly more adept at replacing human
work, demonstrating your humanity has become one
of the best ways of setting yourself apart.
No matter what brand you work for, your greatest
resource is your people - your staff and your
customers. Find out how they use your product,
then ask them to show others. Asking your
customers to share their experiences of your brand
on social media can be extremely effective - and
means that your customers and potential customers
will be doing a lot of the heavy lifting for you.
With B2C customers (and more often than not with
B2B customers), business babble can be both dull
and alienating. Be human - eliminate shoptalk and
write like you speak.
82% of buyers say they trust a
company more when its CEO
and senior leadership team
are active on social media.
(GroSocial)

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“Cats are better than dogs.
Discuss.”
Another approach is starting another conversation
altogether. Like shock tactics, polarising people is
a simple concept, but one that works. Encouraging
people to talk about a subject - even if it’s not
about the product itself, makes your brand a part
of the conversation.
DEFINITELY
NOT TRUE

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TIP
USE YOUR WHITEBOARD

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If your staff feel that they are more creative when
working independently then encourage them,
but make sure there is regular time allotted for
collaborating with the rest of the office.
According to The New York Times, the “new
groupthink” is taking the business world by storm.
Introduce “Whiteboard Wednesdays” (other
weekdays are available) and have a good brainstorm.
There are no wrong answers and the process
will give you and your team the opportunity to
get everyone on the same page, screen or board
regarding the direction the brand is going in.
Don’t shy away from expressing half-baked ideas,
that’s often where the magic happens! One person’s
offhand remark might just be the seed that grows
into a successful campaign.
Choose the work dynamic that fits
your brand and your people.

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A Final Word of Warning...
Breaking away from your comfort zone can
be risky and you may leave yourself open to
criticism.
If you are open to taking on an entirely new
aesthetic - make sure above all else that it makes
sense as a chapter in your brand’s ongoing story.
These days, the world of marketing moves quickly
. If something hasn’t been as successful as you
might have hoped, try to learn from the experience
without dwelling on it too much. Ask yourself why
it didn’t work, breathe and move on.

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READING!
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