When I suggest that businesses should think about creating some content I’m frequently met with objections like -
“But my niche is boring – no one cares!”
Actually I don’t think that there’s such a thing as a ‘boring’ niche, but I do understand where they’re coming from. It’s definitely the case that coming up with ideas for great content is tougher in some than others – but there are companies out there doing it already. As such I wanted to put together this post highlighting some companies who are already doing great things in tough markets. Undoubtedly some of them you’ll have seen or heard of before, but I’ve deliberately tried to come up with some other examples that hopefully you won’t already have heard of.
I hope this will serve as inspiration or food for thought if you will.
Got your tea / coffee / gin and tonic at the ready? Let’s do this.
Companies Enriching / Leveraging Existing Online Communities
Reader Sheds
Garden sheds – that’s a tough niche at first glance. Except of course that people are really passionate about their humble sheds and some people’s sheds are pretty damn amazing. With this is mind, to appeal to all the sheddies out there Reader Sheds run an annual competition to find the shed of the year – they have over 1800 entries this year.
Here’s my favourite:
Plus this gets absolutely amazing coverage – e.g. Guardian and Daily Mail - plus they have celebrities decorating their own sheds too.
Fiskars
Fiskars started out way back in 1649 and originally produced iron. In 1967 they were the first company to produce plastic handled scissors. Today they’ve diversified somewhat but their mainstays are still scissors and other paper cutting tools and they also do gardening equipment.
In terms of content Fiskars have elected to tap into the community of people who use their products – namely those interested in arts and crafts. The Fiskarettes blog contains loads of art and craft ideas and readers are also encourage to submit their own projects – in Fiskar’s own words: “We want to offer you an environment where you will be able to exchange your love of crafting with others, to share your passion, showcase your creativity and share your expertise.”
What can we learn from these companies?
I think the key message here is - go big or go home. If you want to get the attention of an existing community of people you’ll need to spend significant time and resource creating awesome content or in Reader Shed’s case – running their annual competition. You’ll also need to work hard in terms of outreaching to that existing community to get them involved. Plus of course in order for this to work there needs to already be an active community out there. Whilst it’s certainly not for the faint-hearted, or those who are light on resources the potential benefits are huge.
Companies with Customer-Led Content Strategies
Simply Business
Simply Business are an insurance broker in the UK. Rather than creating content exclusively around insurance, instead they’ve taken the approach of creating content and resources which small business owners will find useful. In addition to creating short-form blog post content they’ve also created guides for social media, PPC and productivity –
Click image to open interactive version.
Landlord Law
Tessa Shepperson is a landlord and property solicitor in the UK. She started blogging back in 2006 and uses her blog to comment on legal developments, new regulations, answer reader’s problems, and discuss relevant reports and consultation papers issued by government and relevant organisations. She also runs a school for landlords and creates resource content like this questionnaire that explains which sort of tenancy agreement you ought to use
Salesforce – Social Success
Salesforce have created some fantastic content around how businesses can harness the power of social media including expert interviews, how to guides and case studies. Kieran has already published a post explaining their strategy and how it worked for them.
What can we learn from these companies?
I’m a huge fan of content strategies focused around a particular business’s customers – creating content your customers need or want; or will just plain love – it’s a no-brainer, right? What’s interesting to me is that you don’t need to see your own product or service offering as a limitation in terms of what you can create. Just because you sell insurance doesn’t mean that all your content needs to be about insurance.
Landlord Law is an interesting example as the content seems to have led the business in different directions – what started out as a single solicitor’s blog is now a business in its own right – three different sites, some subscription content, training, tools etc.
Companies using Content Tactically
Kogan
Australian online electronics store Kogan has launched an IE7 ‘tax’ – use a crappy browser? Get charged more when you checkout :)
MahiFX
Forex is definitely a tough niche, and their You vs. John Paulson infographic was immensely popular and successful – read more about it in Sam’s post.
Iscars
Iscars make cutting tools for metalwork. This video of theirs recently went hot on Reddit -
Mind = Blown
Hippobag
These guys offer an alternative to skip hire – skip-sized bags... How strong are they? They tested them out with a SMART car... Nice use of video to demonstrate the product.
AirConCo
Air conditioning might not be sexy, but this company definitely has a great sense of humour. Way back in 2009 they published a post about a woman who saw the Virgin Mary on her air conditioning unit - pictured above. Ashton Kutcher tweeted their post and it went hot on a whole bunch of social networks.
Dollar Shave Club
These guys definitely are owed an honourable mention for shaking up the shaving market with *that* video :) I’ve elected to put them in the ‘using content as a tactic’ bracket as to date they’ve only done the one video – albeit a very successful one.
What can we learn from these companies?
I think that the examples above highlight that even in tough niches you can create great one-off pieces of content without breaking the bank.
And then there’s BlendTec – Will it Blend
I’ve struggled to categorise BlendTec. Some might disagree, but I think BlendTec create those videos for the YouTube community rather than their key customer base. Are the people who watch those videos in the market for a blender right now? Probably not. But one day they might be, and when they are they’ll probably remember BlendTec.
What can you learn from them? Think outside the box and have fun.
Bonus! Great content; but arguably not a tough niche...
Uke Hunt
I’m not sure if ukuleles really count as a ‘tough’ niche or not; but either way Al Wood has created an amazing resource. Rand’s dubbed it the SEOmoz of ukulele playing.
Hopefully you’ve found this useful, I’ve certainly had fun pulling it together. Got some more examples? Do let me know via the comments.
Need some content ideas? Leave a comment explaining your product / service & your target market - myself and the awesome Moz community will try and come up with some ideas for you.
YES! I've been waiting for a post like this.
The most obvious example I can think of is this old school company that sells soap. I think they took the ad world by storm with this little video last year. :)
*swoon* And they done good. :)
"Don't smell like sunsets and baby powder, smell like jet fighters and punching."
Best. Line. Ever.
I am still not sure anyone actually buys old spice though... maybe to wear for a 70s party?
Actually sales doubled - https://mashable.com/2010/07/27/old-spice-sales/ :)
Just realized that the favicon of Moz and Mashable are so similar!
What a fun post, Hannah! These are some really great examples of people actually making an effort to create great content. I may need to start referring people to this post when they claim that content creation isn't a good fit for their site!
Hannah - what about this Dutch department store? Something a little different and sure to have been passed around the net a fair bit!
https://producten.hema.nl/
(Just open and leave for a few seconds - don't click any of the products)
Awesome! Buying from this store is not compulsory but sharing this is necessary. Everyone think how we can convert sales page into link and click worthy content this is the true example.
I love that - great shout :)
Great post Hannah, and not simply because of the great example, but of the concept behind them.
I usually consider that it is not the niche that is boring, but the people who have to promote something in those niches.
Surely, reinforced concrete is not as sexy as - let say - adventure travel.
But if we open our view just a little bit. and think about how reinforced concrete was and is actually used by great architects all over the world. Talk about those architects and their creation.
Talk about how reinforced concrete was at the base of the skyscapers revolution in the '30s, or how it was "trademark" of the German architecture school of the first half of the XIX century.
Or about all the investigations done about it...
WIth that example what I want to make understand is that in order to create compelling content which can become relatively popular, surely useful and linked, you need to open your view, to not stay fixed into focusing your product/service, but to everything related. Doing that you will widen also the sites you may try to outreach.
I love those funny examples of companies where you can choose a picture of yourself/a friend etc. and getting involved in the scene itself - like e.g. https://teekanne.at/du-bist-die-teekanne.php (though this is written in German).
Btw - that Iscars video isn't working for me (private issues...).
Hey Petra,
Loving that dancing teapot guy :)
Yep, looks like they've now made that Iscars video private - really don't know why *sigh*
<3 this.
One of my favorite "boring" sites is the UW Surplus Store. Best descriptions ever.
It's really boring website but, they have done excellent work on product description. You have suggested me this blog post and nice reading about boring niches. I can conclude one thing after reading. Why should I not create some romance on website via awesome blog posts, videos, design or pictures. What you think about it?
Home decor definitely isn't boring - there are loads of people out there who love interior design :)
Quick ideas:
a) Makeovers for $XX - do mini-makeovers for rooms / gardens at various price points
b) Run a competition to encourage people who've purchased products from your store to send in their photos of whatever they've bought in situ in their homes
c) What can you create to help your customers? MyDeco made this - https://mydeco.com/3d-planner/ & a moodboard tool - https://mydeco.com/rooms/moodboard/ (although arguably Pinterest is nicer)
d) Interview interior designers / product designers / interior design writers & bloggers
e) Share amazing / aspirational interior design stuff (don't just stick to the products which you sell)
Hope this helps
Hannah
Choose an item from your store and give it a personal story and a personality - follow it across the country; see it in places and at events people will recognize (especially places you wouldn't expect to see it).
An example - take a lamp or a coffee table and create an interactive map graphic showing its progress as it travels across the USA.
Allow users to click different locations and see photos of it: in the Nevada Desert; on the beach in Miami; on Sunset Boulevard at night; on the starting grid at Daytona; on the red carpet at the Oscars...Invite users to suggest locations for the item to visit and maybe even give one person each month the opportunity to "host" it.
Create a buzz around the whole thing - call it "Lamp on the loose" or "Coffee Table come home".Get users to "spot" the item and report its whereabouts on the site
or maybe get some help with the cost and logistics by launching a "help us get it to ..." campaign. This could get particular towns and regions talking about your site because you are talking about them.
LOL...that was fun!! :)
Sha
Thanks for mentioning my Landlord Law site. But I refuse to accept that residential landlord and tenant law in the UK is boring!!
If you are a UK landlord it is very important. Very. Incidentally I am not a landlord myself, just a lawyer who works with them. So I can take a step back and be more objective about it all.
Residential landlord and tenant law sounds like a very small and narrow (maybe boring) niche but you would not believe how much there is to write about! I manage a post a weekday on the blog and sometimes two.
The blog repays me for this work by giving me a high profile in the industry and bringing in lots of lovely customers ...
Hi Tessa,
Thanks so much for coming by and commenting, it's great to hear firsthand how well your blog works for you.
Apologies if you felt I was inferring that your niche was boring, that wasn't my intention and certainly isn't what I think :)
Hannah
No problem, I am not offended - after all you did say it was great content!
You compiled some great examples… I love the idea of simply business, very smart, simple and to the point!
I do believe that if you are creative enough to think out of the box you can always come up with something interesting and mind blowing even in the boring niche. While working with some boring niches the only problem that I face is the budget and restrictions from the client end…
I mean sometimes great content ask for a good budget and information required from the client side but many small businesses are not really ready to invest time and money in content especially when they are in the boring niche. I think client should understand the importance that exciting content possess init self and invest more in it to acquire new business.
Love the Kogan example! When I first read their blog last week I had to have a laugh at their idea.
But hey - now they are getting links from the SEOmoz blog!
I agree. I almost spilled my coffee, I was laughing so hard when I saw it.
Nice collection they will surely help to generating inspiring ideas of content. Oops you forget to add a link of Dollar Shave Club video that gone crazy on social web and mention by @Rand more than once on his many presentations. Here is the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUG9qYTJMsI
i love the landlord survey concept - something useful and easy to use in an area that most people will be quite clueless about.
I work for a company that sells mulch. Boring. Thats why none of our comp. has a blog. I'm like Shaq in 8th grade in this industry.
You should go dump a huge dumptruck of mulch on the lawn of your town's City Hall. That'll get attention and links.
I agree that thinking outside the box is hard, but man, that's what marketing is all about - telling a compelling story to encourage people to buy something.
Any niche can work you just need to be smart,
Think about offering free mulch to charitys and local schools/ sporting associations.
Pick 10 in a draw film it and then boom you have 10 happy assiciations who will probably link back to your and the campaing video may work too..
Or Take the dump the mulch on the city lawn approach.
Some ideas for content for mulch:
A before and after picture of a landscape that got quality mulch.
A graphic detailing how much water you can save by using mulch.
Information about when to mulch what types of plants, and what type of mulch to use.
Go to Yahoo Answers and search for mulch and other keywords, and see what questions people have. Write content that answers those questions in detail, so you show up in search instead of Yahoo Answers.
If your mulch at all comes from the greenwaste containers people put at the curb, emphasize how much landfill space is being saved.
I like this post, but I think it begs a pretty obvious question- are any of these 'clever' approaches driving measurable metrics of success?
Take BlendTec for example; everyone has heard of their videos over the course of the years, but how compelling are those videos when Alton Brown or Rachel Ray using a competing blender on their show? When its time to get a blender, are you going to go for the BlendTec or the Vitamix?
I can't speak for BlendTec specifically unfortunately, but here are links to more in depth posts here on Moz which contain more detailed metrics on specific campaigns which you might find interesting if you're looking for more detail -
https://www.seomoz.org/blog/creating-a-buzz-prelaunch
https://www.seomoz.org/blog/socialsuccess-an-inbound-marketing-case-study-for-b2b
I was planning to create a list like that for ages - just to have something to show to the people who think they are in boring niches and thus don't event try to be creative. Thanks for beating me to it - now I have that list to share :)
I have an example. I my client provides a service where he ships cars overseas. Right now we are heavily reliant on Google/Yahoo/Bing. In order to become less reliant, I decided that we needed more repeat business. So I decided to teach people in other countries how to buy a car over the internet for cheap (has nothing to do with car shipping yet). Then I teach them how to get the lowest rates by buying near one of the departure shipping ports. Then I tell them how to sell their car once it gets to their country.
So while our service is strictly International Car Shipping, there are other steps (niches) before shipping the car.
This is great example - thanks for sharing :)
Another two great examples from concrete supplier and maker of stand-up pouches:
Owen Blevins of Mid-Atlantic Concrete www.maconcrete.com - Sells concrete supplies to manufacturers of concrete. Has created a TV show called "Concrete Answers" and everyone who watches is a Crete HeadDavid Marinac - Stand Up Pouches - David markets stand up pouches for use in packing foods, medicines and pet food. Great videos.
"Just because you sell insurance doesn't mean that all your content needs to be about insurance."
That right there is an excellent way to explain how powerful content marketing can be.
Always surprises me when a prospective client gives the "but my niche is boring" defense. If you love the niche, doesn't that mean it's your job to make it fun? Someone who needs your niche product *right now* certainly doesn't think it's boring!
Our past clients have included realtors, plumbing parts manufacturers and a medical device maker. It's actually pretty fun to develop good content for little niches.
Next time someone complains about their 'boring' niche, I'm showing them this post.
GREAT post - we spend a huge amount of time in our agency trying to create unique, noteworthy content for companies in niches not known for it (working on one at the moment for a client who specialises in vegetable grading equipment, not easy!). Some fantastic inspiration here and it gives me something else to link to when I'm trying to convince clients to let us loose on some 'out-of-the-box' content creation ideas.
Also, love the IE7 tax, bet some of the less tech-savvy visitors to that website didn't like it but it certainly made me laugh : )
Ooooooooh!!!
I see talking vegetables trying to wriggle themselves into the wrong size holes without success - like loud "brassy" women trying to wriggle themselves into impossibly tight clothes!
;)
Sha
Your business is only as boring as you think it is! And if you think it's boring it might be time to find a new niche for yourself. I think the biggest problem most businesses have is they over think it. Sometimes you don't have to go that outside of the box to come up with something really great and attention getting.
Great comment Nick and I agree with you. I had someone tell me his niche was boring and nobody links to each other. I told him even easier to get links that way. If nobody is doing interesting stuff somebody should.
Those that think they're in a boring niche will have competitors that think likewise.
So the subject matter may be tougher but the competition may be softer.
What an opportunity to stand out from the (even 'boringer') crowd!
I remember reading this recent example on this blog.
https://www.seomoz.org/blog/a-small-success-story-inspired-by-seomoz-and-its-contributors
Imagination costs nothing.
I wish I had more.
Nice post, australian companies such as Kogan have really been pushing out some great viral content and promotions recently, I think you really hit the pinical for a viral campaign when it gets onto some big news websites like BBC,
Queensland tourisn did a great competition a while back "Best Job in the World", Travel is not really a boring niche but its an example of the type of campaing you can use in many niches -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5Smi3TuY5Lg
What about Tourism Australia's campaign - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/So_where_the_bloody_hell_are_you (that also unearthed Lara Bingle...)
Gained a HUGE amount of coverage both home and abroad (although was later deemed to be a failure). Just goes to show that controversial content can work as well.
Well, without a doubt that is a great example, but we cannot say that Tourism is a boring niche, can we?
No, no of course not. I was merely stating that 'controversial' content can work too.
It helps when you've got a bikini-clad model to convey your product :P
Hi brad
Well im not so sure if i would call it boring but it gets very bland very quickly, if u remember karl pilkington and his show "An idiot Abroad" he has single handedly brought back my love and passion for travelling.
Heres here if your not familer with him " https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Idiot_Abroad "Although it is a bit satirical towards carl from the host Ricky Gervais but its a fantastic travel show at the core of it, and his book is on the book shelves as we speak..
To note that its the only travel releated book in the top 100 Best Seller list so its reinvigorating people to read about travel locations rather than use an application on mobilesRob
I don't think the "Where the Bloody hell are you" campaign was that great, but it did seem to increase the level of spend in australia but I didnt feel it had the best stigma. that been said it has made Lara into a popular Sydney selb she now has her own show which is shocking to say the least.
“But my niche is not boring – and everyone cares!”
thanks for the mention of readersheds.co.uk and Shed of the year
You're welcome - I think you are doing an amazing job!
Hey - the Ukulele is not a boring niche :P
Great example of a good website though - is no1 resource for ukulele players, and has a great name.
I think a lot of the time ideas are not the problem, its usually lack of budget or client approval.
Or the biggest one to get past with small clients - great marketing content is almost never sales copy.
Dear Client,
You want traffic and rankings? Just one thing to learn:
You're now in the entertainment business!
Get used to it.
Sha
Too true!
I am trying to put together a half page magazine article for a company that sells envelopes to businesses. We sell plain and printed envelopes in hundreds of sizes... I would love some feedback. I want to create an eyecatching advertisement. THANKS!!!
Hi Jennifer,
To be honest it's been an awful long time since I did any advertorial, but I think the key is to ensure that it's right for the audience (i.e. the magazine readers).
You've not mentioned which magazine you're placing the advertorial in, but I'd suggest it's worth going back through some old issues of the magazine and reading some of the articles in there. In order to appeal to their readership you'll need to emulate the tone and style of the writing therein.
In my experience (albeit some time ago) the advertorials which looked more like articles and less like adverts worked best - so rather than thinking eye-catching I'd probably be thinking about going copy-heavy and using a similar layout to the rest of the magazine so that it looks like a short article rather than an advert.
If you can I'd probably be inclined to go down the route of sharing a case study where a particularly creative mail pack had a great impact / generated ROI versus the control mail pack - this will enable you to (hopefully) showcase what you guys do best without looking overly promotional.
I hope this helps,
Hannah
Hi Jennifer,
How about this:
First, start with the smallest envelope you sell and place it inside a slightly larger envelope, inside another, inside another, inside another ...etc ...etc until you end up with a suitably stuffed large envelope.
Get a great photo of it and use as the central image for your advertisement posing a question like "How many companies could fit their advertising message in this envelope?"
Then give the answer - say it was 37
and the explanation: Inside this 14" x 11" envelope we placed 1 x size...., 1 x size.... etc etc
Then wrap the whole thing up with a reminder that in fact this is only a small sample of all the different sizes of envelopes you produce etc etc.
If you think it out and do it well you can capture people's attention with the unexpected idea of how many you can fit in there while serving as a practical demonstration of your product diversity.
...and you get to spend a half a day playing with the envelopes to make it happen ;)
Sha
P.S. You could actually use this to also create content for a website if you video the action as envelope after envelope is removed from inside another.
Thanks for those Videos.
Fun stuff, but isn't the challenge for 'boring' companies to invent interesting 'reality' instead of entertaining 'content?' I wonder how much better off any of your examples would have been had they come up with some useful, easy, and entertaining activity that actually related to the operational experience of their businesses? Marketing that relies of made-up stuff, no matter how creative, is really, really Old School and we already know that it doesn't work beyond the nanosecond of pleasure it delivers to people who don't pay for it (or to the agencies that GET paid for dreaming it up).
"Marketing that relies of made-up stuff, no matter how creative, is really, really Old School and we already know that it doesn't work beyond the nanosecond of pleasure it delivers to people who don't pay for it (or to the agencies that GET paid for dreaming it up)."
I can think of plenty of examples where 'made up stuff' as you put it worked really well for companies - e.g. Old Spice, and Compare the Meerkat.
Do companies *have* to take that route?
No. I'm not advocating that at all. I tried to offer up examples of various tactics within the post - for example I'd argue that Dollar Shave Club have focused on inventing 'an interesting reality' and have done really well as a result.
awesome, makes niche markerters sexy again. with so much media eyeballs looking for interesting contents, it's amazing how one viral piggibacking is enough to make average things look great. 'Ridiculously Photogenic Guy' was a great example how an unrelated break was actually helpful for the 10K race in the end.
The Iscar video was actually made by a customer of Iscar not for marketing purposes, but just to be creative! If you think you have a boring Niche, hold a contest and ask your users to make content.
Awesome article Hanna. I added the above comments from my other account on accident so just wanted to make sure I got all the updates to my right email. Keep articles like this coming PLEASE!
Hope you guys can help me out here! I am trying to come up with some great content ideas for these two boring niches:
First one is a company, that sells second hand injection moulding machines.
The second one is a ink cartridge reseller?
I am very greatful for any ideas content ideas!
Thanks in advance. :)
For the first case... well, cannot have an idea right now.
But the second? What do people do with ink cartridge? Think about that and you will find gazillion topics to talk about.
Yay!
I love a challenge.
Hand injection moulding machines
I had to Google it as I had no idea what they were. I now have half an idea (I think). So there are probably a couple of approaches.
a) Industry-specific - there are various trade magazines like Plastics Today (which incidentally has a decent DA). Got something news-worthy? Create a press release and reach out directly to those who write / edit for these sorts of publications.
b) What can you create with a hand injection moulding machine? Are there some silly 'don't try this at home' experiments you can do? Video them, get them on YouTube, seed to social networks.
c) Are there more serious videos you can do? Stuff which will be of interest to the guys and girls using these machines - think more 'how to' than 'Will it Blend'.
d) What do the people who are using these machines care about? Are they arts and crafts people? Or are they inventors making initial prototypes? Either way there's likely tons of content you could create for either niche. Arts and crafts people love sharing ideas. I'm guessing inventors don't - but they will be interested in guides to trademarks and patents, advice on how to get their product to market and how to get VC / Angel funding etc.
Ink Cartridge Resellers
Here's a few ideas:
a) Do these guys recycle ink cartridges too? There potentially tons of 'green' themed content you could do.
b)Who's buying? Small businesses? What sort of content could you create which would appeal to them? Take a look at See Jane Work (who also sell office supplies) - https://www.seejanework.com/blog/
c) Something a little more fun? What can you make / build with a load of old ink cartridges?
I hope this helps :)
Hi Hannah,
Your post actually inspired to me to ring my client and have a chat with him about content creation. I sent him the link and he suddenly became very animated. He sells door mats (a bit like the garden shed scenario). Anyway, he also sells personalised door mats, where people can have their image, printed on a mat and he is running a competition for people to send in their own funny or quirky door mats and get 50% of their next order.
However, like most competitions, he hasn't actually got anyone entering. So here's what I plan to do:-1)I have already Googled "quirky doormats" and come across some great blog posts from bloggers featuring some pictures of funny and original door mats. I am going to contact the site owner, and see if there is a way to either :- find out how they found people to feature and see if they would be willing to mention our competition2)Use the power of social media to attract attention
Does anyone have any good ideas, or have any comment on my plan of action?
Kind RegardsNeil
Hey,
I really like your idea but as you say ultimately the success or failure of it will depend on who you seed it to, and who you can get involved.
I'm thinking you might need to do a little more :)
Might be better to go ahead and make some custom doormats and just send them out... I'm guessing it wouldn't actually cost that much right?
For example, you might send Oatmeal a doormat with Charles Carreon's face on it - would be pretty satisfying to wipe your feet on that face huh? There are probably lots more bloggers you could target in a similar fashion too.
Sure they may not all blog about you, but some will, some will share via social media etc...
Hope this helps,
Hannah
Wow!! SO as well as SEO's we actually need to become PR firms too!!!.
Sometimes I wish we had the days back of submitting 50 or Directory Submissions, half a dozen Social bookmarks and 1 article to 100 directories to get rankings!....hmmm then again!
Obviously some people are a lot more creative than others. So I guess this might be a good place to get content ideas;) I've got a few.
Asphalt paving - was thinking about having an interactive map where people could report pothole sightings and then we would send the list to the city. Like it? Any other suggestions.
Hazmat shipping supplies - haven't come up with any great ideas besides maybe a in depth resource of all the info you would need to ship by air, sea, ground.
Invention design company - this one is probably a little easier but still looking for some creative ideas.
Industrial Painting Contractor - nothing has sparked an idea yet.
Would greatly appreciate any help. Thanks in advance.
Some people absolutely are more creative than others, but I think most of it actually comes down to hard graft and practice. The more you experiment and try things out, the better you become at picking out ideas that may work and noticing the possible gems in the niches and knowledge bases of the companies you're working with. To be a good SEO, in addition to understanding data, user engagement and technical implementation - you need to be a smart creative thinker.
A few more ideas:
Hazmat
Like your resource idea, not least because it's likely to be helpful to your customers. Other similar FAQ content might work well too. It might also be worth exploring more general interest stuff too - how does this stuff actually work?
Can these guys run a Hazmat conference? Interview safety experts?
Invention Design Company
There's tons of content you could do here (some of which I mentioned in a previous comment): e.g. guides to trademarks and patents, advice on how to get their product to market and how to get VC / Angel funding etc.
Thinking bigger - could they run a competition for inventors and provide some funding to the winner?
Industrial Painting Contractor
Can you work something into their portfolio? Have the painted any big landmarks? Tough / dangerous jobs? Videos / photos of their work? E.G. - https://vimeo.com/29841219 or https://www.flickr.com/photos/48612927@N08/6767519987/
Hazmat Shipping Supplies:
Wacky or Innovative Alternative uses for Hazmat Shipping Supplies - Use sealed containers as storage lockers in a survivalist's bunker; Hand paint standard paint can shippers as a cool decorative holder for ice buckets at an outdoor party or wedding; 15 gallon drums converted to dog kennel for a little friend... maybe ask users to send images and stories of the alternative uses they have come up with?
Commercial Painting Contractors:
Stop motion video of a big painting job from beginning to end?
Paint quantity calculator - enter room & wall sizes to see how much paint it will take to do the job?
Sha
Great ideas Sha. I like the ideas you have for hazmat supplies, but wouldn't doing something like that completely skip their target audience - logistics companies, shipping companies, etc. Although I do agree that it could gain virality and exposure.
Also Hanna I think you should write another post on "how to come up with great content ideas" maybe some steps you take to get the juices flowing, where you look for ideas, etc. I think content is a huge topic right now and people need help. Would probably be a great example of great content lol.
Good shout - will add it to the list.
Although to be honest, most of it starts with go search Reddit :)
Actually, writing is an art and not every one like anything else is a master of it. But those who know what actually it is can create not only one or two but any number of great post on even same given topic. For the great writers no industry is boring and they have proved it by giving great contents.
Really great examples and it just goes to show that creativity can be found everywhere and that there is no such thing as a boring niche. Great post Hannah
What great fun examples - simply business is a fab idea.
Best ideas usually come from the customers themselves. Memes are also a great low cost strategy, you just need the social presence to make them work and spread the word.
IMO Video will open up so many more angles for businesses with less than interesting content.
Hi Hannah
I know this is an old post but came across it whilst trying to find some tips for writing content for our "boring niche"!! You say you love a challenge! Can you help us with some good content ideas for a site that sells office machines? It is very B2B, so we are finding it quite difficult to come up with some fun, interesting stuff.
Thanks!
This shows there really is no excuse for bad content. Get creative!!
No offense to anyone commenting here but I find it both humorous and frustrating at the same time. This whole thread is about #1 how to get clever to manipulate Google into ranking you high and #2 how to drive traffic to your web site for increased exposure and for #1. What is frustrating is that a) Google specifically declares that doing things with the intent of getting highly ranked on Google is considered black hat by them, b) it is very expensive to create many of the things discussed here for a company with a local focus (take for example a lawn mower repair shop) and c) most of the activities discussed here are gimmicks to drive traffic but are often off target for what the company is about.
Take your comment
"I’m a huge fan of content strategies focused around a particular business’s customers – creating content your customers need or want; or will just plain love – it’s a no-brainer, right? What’s interesting to me is that you don’t need to see your own product or service offering as a limitation in terms of what you can create. Just because you sell insurance doesn’t mean that all your content needs to be about insurance."
So now this insurance company is going to use content not about insurance to drive traffic to the site. Undoubtedly content that could be found a hundred other places and try to get Google to rank them high on the other content and hope it rubs off on the rankings for the content they really want traffic for. If this isn't trying to manipulate Google ranking nothing is.
I understand this game. I even understand that driving visitors in order to educate people about your product or service is a worthy goal. What is a shame is that Google has created this environment and continues to perpetuate it by having a search engine that is very poor indeed at ranking "boring businesses" in a way that actually gets searchers the best results.
Well, about three paragraphs ago I started rambling. Unfortunately I could go on for a long time and that would not be good. If you get this far, thanks for reading it!
I've just been directed to this article, as I was asking how to get some interest for The Leather Briefcase Company.
THANK YOU ALL for wonderful inspiration, and to Hannah especially.
Jocelyn Ollett.
Great examples, but I think the real struggle isn't making boring content interesting, but doing so without completely steering away from your target audience. I think a few of these examples accomplished that (the scissor company tapping into the crafting community) but others that went viral, may have still missed the mark completely with their target markets. For example - the metal cutting videos, how effective was that at reaching people who actually buy that product... do you think people in a line of business that requires specialty metal tools would actually sit down and watch a 5 minute video? I don't.
Provided the content is relevant and not damaging, a viral video does wonders for SEO. Not every piece of content needs to reach all of the target market.
I love the red bull video and shared it as did millions. I'm never going to buy it, but the content was good and it was relevant and so their brand was boosted.
Hannah -
Great article, and kudos to the community it's created! I'm a content creator/editor and also a music writer, so the last example stood out for me right away, but it hooked me for an entirely different reason. And, as I showed my co-workers my concern, they all confirmed for me that I'm not (as I feared) merely twisted in my view, and (admittedly) in my minor shock at the name of the site as it's presented in the banner on the home page, and in your image and title.
Yet - I'm somewhat surprised that there's no discussion of the title here in this community? Forgive me for possibly appearing small-minded, but it does seem at least a little shocking that the title would garner no mention. If you need more explanation, simply try saying the title in the front page banner aloud, in the middle of your office, with other co-workers present to see what I mean.
Great article, and wonderful guidance and examples!
I was kinda wondering when someone would clock that... Probably best not to read it aloud in the presence of others :)
I am really starting to think I need a video camera for the office! Time to go smashing cars and dropping stuff off buildings. It would be perfect for our business... unfortunately I do not have a budget for all that.
Another great example of this is Sussex Solicitors who keep people up-to-date with regular news on Wills and Property.
I've been waiting for my team and I to create something worthy of mentioning here, as we work with home security systems (boring). We just published our own <a href="https://yourlocalsecurity.com/resources/adt-timeline">ADT Timeline: The History of ADT</a>
CSS3 + jQuery Parallax scrolling awesomeness.
Hi Noah,
I realize you posted this a long time ago. I thought you might enjoy seeing this SEO friendly parallax scrolling website https://www.seobuzzinternetmarketing.com/blog/how-to-create-a-parallax-scrolling-website-with-seo/
Nice collection they will surely help to generating inspiring ideas of content.
Great post Hannah. I hear too many clients say their products or boring or that their customers won't take time to read content. Examples like this prove them wrong. B2B businesses must still deal with human beings and if the person on the other end is interested in what you develop, it can only help to get their attention or strengthen your bond with your company. This will be a good article to bookmark and then go back later to look in-depth at each of the examples you've given. They should be a good source of inspiration for content for other types of businesses.
I think the issue is clients still consider SEO, getting as many links as possible and get higher rankings. It is all about education. Trying to tell clients to get exposure and therefore links we need to be more creative with content and share worthy material which in turn will get more links and exposure is hard. Especially when a client only has a small budget.
I agree that intresting content can always be thought up even in a boring niche, because there will always be people who don't think it's boring. What are your thoughts on niches that may not be boring but that don't have a large audience--not a lot of people interested? Is there any hope for them?
Oh, and is that Kogan thing really true or is it some kind of joke?
I think in some ways it's easier to come up with things which will appeal to a very specific, targeted niche - coming up with something which has broad appeal is arguably harder.
Re Kogan - it's a joke... Or at least I hope so :)
The Virgin Mary on an air con unit? Looks more like the Grim Reaper to me....
Great article btw :)
Any good marketer can come up with a great content idea for their niche, the difficult part is selling the idea to your company and getting the budget.
That's a great idea for another post for another day :)
Some quick things which I found helpful when selling in content ideas:
a) Sell benefits, not features - it's less about selling in a content strategy and more about selling in what the content strategy will do for the business - e.g. links, social shares (which will ultimately influence rankings), increased visits, repeat visits, time on site, sales, sign ups etc.
b) Link the content strategy to the brand strategy. This is useful when selling in to marketing teams - i.e. how can the content strategy you're proposing support the brand's position? Can it form part of what differentiates the brand from their competitors?
c) Know your audience. The way you'll sell to the marketing team will likely be different to the way you'll sell to the management team. Set metrics which you'll be measured against that will appeal to both parties.
I have an account that is dealing with deadth insurance. Any ideas onteh content side ? (beside articles that will cover crematorium costs ) :)
Aside from guides to buying life insurance / accidental death cover etc which I'm guessing you've already got covered off I'd be inclined to have a think about the sort of newsworthy content you can create around this.
Does your client have access to interesting data - e.g. has the age that people are taking out this sort of insurance changed over time? What about gender differences? Are more women taking out this insurance than before?
Can you create regular content around surveying your customers? Saga do this really well with their quality of life index - https://www.saga.co.uk/newsroom/press-releases/2012/saga-launches-new-smile-index-in-saga-quarterly-report.aspx
Interestingly enough that I must say that I am glad to have read this post, am currently under a certain dilemna right now of thinking what type of content should we write about for prospective clientele... and needless to say that I am not the only one thinking that being that content is currently really hot right now, it is but industry specific.
All I can say is that we can always think of the next out of the box thing for our niche, but it is also good that whatever it maybe, as long as we have a content presence online - it will always appear positively in our niche eg. authority or brand as long as it connotes positivity in itself.
Great content marketing is not as easy as everyone thinks but is also not impossible to make great content over boring niches.
Some creative ideas! We always suggest that our clients should ask their target market what content they want.. can't go wrong with that! Memes are also a great low cost strategy, you just need the social presence to make them work.
Thanks, I loved the post! I work with realtors and I would love your help with content ideas! I'd like agents to stop limiting the content they create to be what they sell and start focusing on community based content. Any ideas for me? I really appreciate it!
Hello there,
I think it might be interesting to look at the sort of content that might be useful to those looking to buy or rent some examples below:
a) Some sort of data-driven index around what places are selling / renting for in a given location over time. How is the market changing? Which areas are up and coming?
b) Guides to locations - if I'm thinking about moving into a certain area what do I need to know? Think transport links, how good are the schools (here in the UK we rank schools in league tables - do you guys do the same in the US?), employment rates, industry growth, leisure / shopping facilities etc.
c) Can you mash up a load of data sources and figure out where the best place to live in the US is (or whichever State(s) you cover if your client doesn't cover the whole of the US)? Look at employment rates, house prices, crime rates etc?
d) Content for people who are looking to sell / rent their homes? What do potential buyers look for? Could be survey-led.
e) Offer up resources for those looking to sell / rent - legal stuff they need to know.
Hope this helps,
Hannah
Awesome! Thanks for your help!
Great post (as usual) and very relevant to what we are working on with our site at my company.
As the ecommerce manager I could really use some ideas for content! We are in the process of revamping our site https://www.industrialcontrolsonline.com/ and fresh content will be soon to follow.
This might a tough one: HVAC equipments, valves and thermostats are about as "boring" as you can get!
Any ideas would be GREATLY appreciated! Thanks again.
OK so I had to Google 'HVAC controls' - am seriously learning tons today :)
So just an FYI I *love* what you're doing already with training etc. However, I'd love it even more if you could get some of this content online - I recognise that you guys want to charge for access to some content, but having some online for free would be great too. Right now it looks like there's quite a lot of content but it's not particularly accessible / easy to find.
In terms of other content I think there's probably a few routes you could go down:
a) So training is kind of covered but what else do your customers need help with? Can you go down a similar route to Simply Business and offer up content that might help with other areas of their business? EG sales, marketing, legal?
b) Can you do something fun / beautiful / unexpected with this stuff? Ford built an orchestra out of Ford Focus car parts - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4y272NI7J8&feature=related there are flickr groups devoted to hidden faces - bet you could find a few in the stuff you stock - https://www.flickr.com/groups/hiddenfaces/pool/
c) So I found this forum - https://hvac-talk.com/ - looks pretty active - what are the most popular topics there? Can you create content for this community?
Hope this helps,
Hannah
My husband (a mechanical engineer) wasn't too enthralled by HVAC either in school, and does find RC battleships much more interseting. However, there were plenty of ME students who did take that specialization. Along with what Hannah said about opening up the training, is there any training or reference material you could make available to students at the AS and BS level? This would be more for links and brand recognition rather than creating new content. Any resources you could provide for instructors? Either material where you get your name in front of students, or material where you're getting links from instructors. You could also contact those instructors and find out what content they need that just isn't out there, and see if you could provide that.
Can you do a neat case study of how engineers took into account x y and z factors when designing the building and it reduced the need for HVAC by this many tons, simply because they turned the building by 20 degrees and didn't have direct sun on windows?
Could you do an infographic on the Mall of America and its controls? I saw a show on Discovery or Science about it, and despite being in cold country, it has no heat at all, only AC. The number of people in the building, combined with the way the building is designed, means that there is always enough warmth. I bet that would be a big surprise to many people and something well-designed could go viral.
I'm a bail bondsman. Talk about compelling content problems! Thanks for the excellent examples. if anybody needs them, I do.
I have to agree that when one finds your own nivhe boring, you might need to re-evaluate your "why" for being in the niche in the first place.
I think choosing a niche you're interested in (surely it shouldn't be boring at all) before even entering it is vital as you might just end up wasting your own time as well as those of others you involve.
Thanks for the excellent share!
Brilliant post, Hannah! I'll be sending this link to every single person who has ever told me they can't create good content cos their niche is boring!
Love Blendtec!! I think that and Dollar Shave Club are awesome.
Interesting post Hannah Smith. I am agree that creating niches content is such a diffcult Job.Companines which provide same types of services they just hired well expert content writter for creating niche content with unqieness.
Hi Hannah,
Great post - and apposite for us as we're always trying to create content about our - well, I don't want to give them the "boring" label - maybe just difficult to promote :-) data recovery companies. A lot of the data recovery blogs out there are very techy and hard to read, so my husband tries to be more creative, see https://www.dataclinic.co.uk/blog/may-4th-be-with-you.htm
Any ideas you have for us would be gratefully received!!!
Sue
Here goes:
Aside from technical content - i.e. how do you recover data? Here's some more fun ideas which might sit better with your style of writing:
a) Can we Recover it? Kind of like will it blend. The most messed up thing you can still recover data from - e.g. if you deep fry a hard drive can you still recover the data? Shoot a hard drive? Immerse a hard drive in sea water?
b) CSI special - forensic data recovery spoof video
c) If you want to get a terabyte from London to Seattle - what's the quickest way - transfer it or send it by ship?
d) Visualise the difference between the gigabyte and terabyte
e) People talk about bacon on the internet a *lot* - can you calculate how many gigabytes (or whatever) on the internet are devoted to bacon? Or even how much space on particular sites - e.g reddit...
Hope this helps,
Hannah
Hi Hannah,
Inspired!! Thanks so much for these great ideas (hope Rand realises what a great employee he has in you - surely time for a pay rise ;-)
Thanks againSue
Sites like Uke Hunt are very original and unique so they're not really boring.
There's so many sites which use a standard template that don't make thier site into thier brand and look boring regardless of their content.
Copyblogger published a great article about 11 ways to bore the boots of your readers https://www.copyblogger.com/boring-writing/
That's true - it's very easy to make your site boring irrespective of the niche and i think that's half the problem. Many companies think they're in a boring niche, whereas actually they just have a terrible website.
Excellent ideas to really get the creative juices flowing. :) That ukulele site is awesome and I quite fancy getting one - even though I've never played an instrument in my life!
What about markets that are not "boring" per se, but are very dry and difficult to make fun or interesting content out of? For example: debt consolidation. How would you go about content marketing for debt?
In a niche like Debt Consolidation I agree you have to be careful about 'fun' content as you don't want to be construed as untrustworthy or unsympathetic by your consumers.
I'd encourage you to think about the sort of content you can create that would be useful for consumers worried about Debt - e.g. a better version of this - https://www.bankrate.com/calculators/managing-debt/annual-percentage-rate-calculator.aspx with options so people can insert the details of multiple loans / credit cards etc.
You might also consider some sort of illustration of the cost of payday loans.
Aside from that it occurs to me that it might be nice to go down the money saving route for content -also see my response to Alex Leigh below.
Hey Hannah,
Thanks for your reply. I've actually done all of the things you suggest already, but still finding it hard to get people to link to them willingly. Any chance I could ping you over an email?
:)
Sure - just emailed you :)
Hannah,
Really good post - I've been looking for a good article on this for a while. I love how SimplyBusiness have created a blog that is relevant but not based directly on their product. Naturally as you build your business online, you're bound to pick up knowledge on this topic so it makes perfect sense to share it. I'm pretty sure I'll be taking this idea to one of our sites :-)
We've been trying to create a blog aimed at "Money Saving" on another of our finance sites https://www.guarantorloanscompany.co.uk/blog/ - hopefully it provides a good relevant resource for people who might be seeking finance.
I think we need to create some more sharable conent, but do you think we're going in the right direction with this?
Thanks - Alex
In short, yes I do think that you're creating some useful content here - although like you say it would be nice to think about doing something more shareable.
a) These sort of calculators are useful - https://www.bankrate.com/calculators/credit-cards/credit-card-payoff-calculator.aspx - and I'm sure you could make something prettier - perhaps more like the MahiFX example - with additional functionality around if you increase your monthly payment by xx you reduce the amount you pay by xx and the time taken to pay off the total debt by xx.
b) Could you do some sort of competition with bloggers and encourage them to share their best money saving tips in exchange for a prize?
c) Could you do some sort of challenge - e.g. excluding rent / bills etc try and live on say a few pounds / dollars per day and blog about the experience?
Thanks for your feedback.
Yes, definitely need to put some work in on the shareable front :) ! Great ideas. I'd thought about doing a blogging competition, but hadn't given it much more thought - I like the idea of getting others to share their knowledge.
The important part of all of these websites is not just did they make creative websites out of their business, but they created websites that people wanted to link to.
I love that Kogan example. Awesome. Awesome marketing.
Your article shows how interesting and engaging content makes a boring niche to an interesting one. Thanks for sharing. Though I do not like Kogan approach for charging customer to use old version of IE. I think that customer does not care much that website should be look alike in every browser as long as they can perform their task. Every version of every browser will be unique.
I think Kogan are joking... Or at least I hope they are :)
That hippo bag carried a car! Woah. Juices me up to create some cool content. Loved the post.
I agree that no niche is fundamentally boring or intellectually primitive but lack of industry insight on your part or your client can seriously hamper your creative juice. It is easier to create great contents in some niches with less research work than others. Also some niches have a very limited use for fantastic content driven approach to link building. But in any case you need to develop or hire subject matter expertise if you wish to develop contents which set you apart from the competition, attract links and impact the bottomline.
Companies which are passionate about their niches usually have developed or hired subject matter expertise which help them in creating unique and useful contents. Great contents are generally the byproducts of client' efforts and passion with some input from the SEO consultant /agency and not the other way round. If the client is not passionate about his niche, care less, lack subject matter expertise, refuse to invest resources (time, money, man power) in developing contents then you are going to have tough time creating great contents for him.
If a client is not "passionate" about his niche... maybe that it is a sign that he should rethink everything, starting from doing that business :)
That is the case I have faced. Client expects all things from us; they are ready to give bucks. They tell us hire content writer who knows their industry. But it’s not performing as expected. Actually client is the only person who can create great content but they excuses about time. It's really sad for them as well as for us. But it is actual scenario.
A few thoughts come to mind:
The content need not always be just plain ol' text. Make it interseting and engaging towards your target audience.
Target buckets of people that would be interested in your product - even if that time isn't RIGHT now. i.e. BlendTec will be top of mind for many someday. But you'll need to ensure your content focuses on people at each stage of the buying process.
To do these types of things from an agency/consultant perspective client buy-in is huge! You must be able to pitch them the value/benefits of doing something like this as many clients will solely be concerned with how many links they are getting and the immediate effect on the SERPs.
This really is a terrific article. As an employee at a SEO company, we often find ourselves struggling with these problems. It seems to me like you really just have to have fun with it. Take that "boring" company and make it fun (while staying on topic though).
www.jtehlert.com www.globerunnerseo.com
Great job Hannah!
Post likes these are always inspirational and I always save them for the days where my creative side seems to get into a rut!
As well I love sharing them with members of other communities to show that no matter how hard the niche that your in is, there is absolutely no reason to ever turn to the dark side. If a moving company can create a video picking up a smart car and make it go viral, then I am sure any niche can get one or two pieces of quality out on the net!
Thanks Again!
These examples don't prove anything unfortunately.
You highlighted a few creative tactics but completely ignored - as do most "content is awesome!" articles - ROI.
Your article would be useful if each example showed ROI and the number of shares per major social media network.
And even then your examples would still be merely anecdotal.
A better, more credible approach for your article would be to state, "Here are some examples of creative content in boring niches" and be done with it, rather than try to prove a larger more global point.
Not trying to be contrary, but I wasn't setting out to do anything other than share examples of companies in tough niches creating interesting content.
Within the article there are links to more in depth posts here on Moz which contain more detailed metrics on specific campaigns which you might find interesting if you're looking for more detail / success metrics etc -
https://www.seomoz.org/blog/creating-a-buzz-prelaunch
https://www.seomoz.org/blog/socialsuccess-an-inbound-marketing-case-study-for-b2b
Why don't you put the pages into Open site explorer and have a look at the social shares? It's quite easy to get that data. Or, on this page - it actually has the information at the top https://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/microsites/guide-to-social-media-success/