A Sustainable Content Approach

Photo by Nathan Hulsey on Unsplash

Imagine for a moment that you are the owner of an apple orchard. You want to raise your profile with the community of people who buy apples or know people who buy lots of apples, and so you’ve decided to start a blog. What can you talk about?

Well, of course, you can talk about what apples are. Red, green, they have seeds, nutritious, grow on trees, etc.

You can talk about how you can use apples, too. You can make apple sauce. Or apple cider. They can be used daily to keep the doctor away. And with a bit of polish, to get teachers to like you.

In talking about what apples are, however, you probably can write about the different varieties on your website and then that’s about it. It’s one-dimensional.

Talking about how to use apples is better (two-dimensional) but still, chances are you will exhaust those examples in about three months and then what?

The answer is to talk about why. Why do apples matter? What purpose do apples serve? When you do that, watch what happens.

1. Apple Trees and LEDs – This is a project in which a photographer takes over an abandoned orchard and wires apples and trees to power lights and then photographs it.

2.  Green Apple Scent Eases Migraines – Cutting a green apple open and sniffing (or eating) it has been known to ease migraine pain.

3. Apple as Fruit Ripening Agent – If you have unripe fruit you can put it in a bag with an apple, which releases ethylene gas.

4. Johnny Appleseed – The American nurseryman who introduced apple trees to parts of the Midwest.

5. Apple Computer Logo – Globally known corporate mark.

6. Adam and Eve – The apple of temptation.

Rather than talking about the features and benefits what you’re selling (the apple) talk about why apples matter to the people who might buy them. Talk about apples in the context of alternative energy and art, health and well-being, chemistry, history, and marketing/graphics, and more.

You can do this with anything. And really, if you are committed to content marketing, you must. Or you will run out of things to say or say the same things over and over, which will not just bore your readers, it will bore you and you’ll eventually find a way to avoid doing it.

Better to rescue yourself from this most certain fate by leading with why, instead.