Disclaimer: The views expressed on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employers. :) – Manning Krull

Content and audience

This is a hugely important topic! In our industry — digial media/advertising, or specifically healthcare advertising, where I've spent a lot of my career — we often make the mistake of repackaging basically the same content for every digital piece we make. We have all this great, exciting, persuasive stuff we want to say — let's throw it all in the website, in the email, in the banner ad, etc. This is not the best approach! We should carefully consider our audience — how they got to our piece, and why they're there.

Different types of digital tactics have very different kinds of audiences, with different needs. On top of that, our goals for the various types of digital tactics should be different. Using the same exact content in all of these pieces is not likely to hook all these different kinds of users, nor to meet the goals of the different kinds of digital tactics. We should write and structure our content differently to achieve the greatest chance of success. This means considering how the user got here, how much time they're likely to have, what will probably grab their attention, etc.

Let's take a look...

Website

— These users are here on purpose. They Googled, or clicked on a link; they're here to learn, or look for something; they're ready to read. Don't ask youself, "What do we want to say?" Ask youself, "What are they most likely to be looking for, and how can we help them find it? How can we keep them engaged and wanting more information?"

Email

— These users weren't expecting to see our content today, but we succeeded in getting them to open our email. They will scroll and skim and scan until a section grabs their eye — or they might bounce if the email is hard to read or looks uninteresting! Bite-sized, skimmable content works best, driving to a clear CTA. Less is more. Ask yourself, "Have I ever read a marketing email this long?" Let's make sure we're not setting ourselves up with for failure by including too much. Also, remember, all of our content is already on the website, and the goal of this email is to get them there! Hook them with something brief and bold and provocative, and then they can spend all the time in the world reading the website. Remember, with an email, success is measured with the tap/click.

Banner ad

— We're competing with the primary content on screen, which is (sorry to say) very likely to be of higher value to the user. Grab their attention quickly with eye-catching animation and a big, bold, provocative message! Do not try to educate the user; just pique their interest so they have to tap/click. Less is definitely more. Once they engage, they'll have access to all of your content on your website. Remember, with a banner, success is measured with the tap/click.

These last two are more specific to healthcare advertising...

IVA

(interactive visual aid) — The "user" here, the HCP, is a captive audience (for a few minutes); they're really more of a viewer than a user. How should this situation inform what content we're including? We can have the sales rep tell the HCP what we want to tell them, and we can control the narrative and the sequence of content — but we need to support the rep for any other curveball questions that might come up as well. Unlike with a website, where the user is free to roam, we can focus on a short list of key topics that we want to lead with. Knock those out in rapid succession, and then we can set up the rep to be able to focus on whatever the HCP is most interested in and continue discussing that. We can then have the rep follow up afterward with a relevant Veeva Approved Email containing a clear CTA to get the HCP to our website, where they can explore as much of our content as they want.

Touchscreen

— Number one, we need to catch the user's attention from across the room with animation and/or big, bold messaging. Two, once we've got them in our booth, we must offer clear, intriguing topics they can browse quickly. So, that's two very different strategies with two different kinds of content that need to share one screen; an interesting challenge! Don't assume the user will give us a lot of their time. Let's intrigue them and give them an easy way to follow up — this could be something as simple as a QR code or a printed handout.

Five very different kinds of pieces

As you can probably imagine, five different manuscripts for these five different kinds digital pieces should read very differently; they'll be different lengths, they'll be arranged differently, and they'll speak to the user differently. In theory, we should be able to take these five manuscripts and be able to determine which is which just by reading them and considering all of the above points. If it's hard to tell which is which, there's a good chance we haven't focused on the right things to most effectively connect with each audience.

As always, all of this is something we should educate our clients about! It's very possible they've never considered this idea of different content for different audiences, and it may be really eye-opening for them. They'll appreciate understanding how we're making informed choices in the ways we leverage all of their great content for all of their various digital materials.

– Manning

Questions/comments? Feel free to contact me at manning@manningkrull.com. I update these articles pretty frequently — best practices evolve over time as the world of digital quickly changes, and I always welcome insights from others.