
I got an email today with a subject line that said, How To Create Awesome Content In Boring Niches. “Ever doubted that you could create interesting content for your niche?” it asked.
The message offered to show me a number of easy ways to make content work for me. I clicked on the big red button. The article led with two challenging questions:
- What do you do if you’re in a boring niche?
- Does content work for boring industries?
You might feel insulted by this if you operate in a niche market. We can’t all live in an Insta-glam world. The product or service we offer could be a solution for something embarrassing. Or, it could be something so specific that it’s interesting to only a few people. A niche product.
What Boeing knows about living in a niche
That’s the case for aircraft manufacturer Boeing. The list price for its new 787 Dreamliner is $239 million – and that’s before you put anything in it.
Boeing’s customer universe is limited. And since most of us aren’t going to buy one of the company’s aircraft, we’d likely find it boring to read about this niche industry.
That’s okay with Boeing.
Like any supposedly boring niche industry manufacturer, Boeing isn’t concerned about being interesting to people who aren’t prospects. They instead focus on being absolutely fascinating to their target market.
This target market doesn’t think the subject is boring at all. These prospects are hungry for information, education, and perspective. They want it delivered using the industry-specific language they speak – which might be nearly unintelligible to outsiders. Beyond boring.
You have permission
If you operate in a niche market, the only audience you should care about is the limited number of prospects who need to be infected by the idea of inserting your product or service into their worldview. You have permission to bore the hell out of everybody else.
Do you care about everybody else? Of course you do. Which is why your storytelling for those outside of your target market must be written free of all industry-specific jargon and buzzwords. This type of content is icing on the cake, by the way. Most organizations have limited time and resources, so storytelling has to stay focused on powering the engine of inbound marketing.
This storytelling has to demonstrate confidence. It must be unashamed to get right to the subject – free of blather like, “Content creation for a niche product can be difficult to produce.” Do you need to read this as a lead sentence if you’re responsible for niche product content production? That’s boring.
Boring is encouraged
There is no such thing as a boring industry. There are, however, plenty of boring stories – which are usually told by people who don’t understand or care about the audience, or the problem the product/service solves.
Here’s the thing about storytelling. It’s hardly ever boring if it’s relevant. Einstein was not concerned that people might find his Theory of Relativity boring. He was definitely writing for a niche audience.
Revel in the probability that your storytelling is a total yawn to people who aren’t and will never be a customer. It’s not your responsibility to be interesting to these people.
Focus instead on telling stories that delight the specific group of people you know to be prospects. Show them you’re not embarrassed to wallow in the nitty gritty of the niche. There’s no such thing as a boring subject if it’s discussed with passion and confidence – and shared with the right audience.
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