Andrea LehrContent marketing has become the most efficient and effective way for businesses to increase their online presence. Between January 2008 and November 2014, Google searches for content marketing grew 700 percent, a testament to just how popular the digital strategy has become.
In our social media-driven world, having a website is not enough. Digital publishers have provided brands with an entirely new way to connect and engage with their target audience. By offering editors interesting data through a dynamic visual, your brand can reach an entirely new audience via engaging content with high social traction.
As long as you’re producing high-quality content, getting your campaign published should be easy, right? Actually, that’s not always the case.
Promotion is an important part of the campaign outreach process, but even a highly-targeted outreach strategy can have minimal results. Depending on the vertical, some editors receive upwards of 300 pitches a day, so the question is: What causes an editor to show interest? The answer can be found in psychology.
A variety of conscious and subconscious stimuli affect the decisions we make every day, and that applies to publishers and their pitch choices, too. Fractl recently collaborated with BuzzStream to apply psychological theories to the campaign outreach process. The results provide promotion teams a more persuasive edge to help increase the reach of their content. Here we’ll walk you through five key concepts to keep in mind during your next outreach process.
1. Offer editors choices
We are offered endless options every day; even something as simple as a cup of coffee comes in small, medium, and large, with additional options for cream, sugar and syrup. Researchers at Columbia and Stanford Universities found that 40 to 60 percent of participants’ attention was caught when they had a variety of options versus only one. This same principle can be applied during the outreach process. Some helpful tips:
- Offer multiple assets: Offer your content in multiple formats so that an editor has more than one option (examples include static infographics and dynamic visualizations, such as animated .gifs or videos).
- Encourage flexibility by providing raw data and including two or three suggestions for a story angle (this is best when you have an existing relationship with an editor and want to offer that person the “exclusive”).
- If you have multiple campaigns in production, include a brief description of any that would be relevant to an editor’s beat to encourage collaboration (this is best left for syndication).
2. Overcome communication barriers
During the outreach process, the majority of communication is done via email. Researchers at Northwestern Law found that online communication has a limiting effect on persuasion. But understanding the theory of confirmation bias can increase the chances of your content getting placed by reaffirming an editor or publisher’s existing ideas.
In a study on confirmatory bias, researchers at New York University found that when presented with information that confirmed their own beliefs, participants were more likely to agree with and positively review material. This same principle can be applied when pitching: Make sure you research an editor before pitching; you want to be sure your content reaffirms his or her audience’s ideas.
3. Tap into emotions
Possibly the most important factor in content going viral is whether or not readers can make an emotional connection to it. In a study on viral emotions, Fractl looked at 30 of the top 100 images of the year from Imgur as voted on Reddit to determine which emotions each image activated for them. Using Robert Plutchik’s comprehensive Wheel of Emotion as our categorization, we were able to understand which emotional drivers to use in the content we create.
Emotions that fit into the surprise and anticipation segments of Plutchik’s wheel were overwhelmingly represented. Specifically:
- Curiosity
- Amazement
- Interest
- Astonishment
- Uncertainty
The results revealed that positive emotions, as opposed to negative emotions, are found more consistently in highly viral campaigns, although viral success was still possible when negative emotion ignited a sense of anticipation and surprise.
This same idea can be applied within your pitch. When offering content, expand on an emotional response a reader might have. For instance, the data could reaffirm something an editor already believes – an easy positive connection – or the data could go against a norm, likely leading to a negative response that includes the necessary “shock” value.
4. Choose your color palette wisely before offering an asset
A researcher at the University of Winnipeg studied the impact of color on marketing to determine what effects it can have on mood and perception. Anywhere from 62 to 90 percent of someone’s impression of a person or product is based on color alone. Yellow, orange, and blue ignited feelings of happiness while red, black, and brown signaled feelings of sadness. There were also noticeable differences in color preferences between the genders. While men preferred white, gray and black, women tended to prefer combinations of blue and red. Here’s how to apply these concepts to content:
- Determine the audience you’re targeting and choose colors appropriately.
- Figure out what emotion you want from your audience and decide on a color scheme that will elicit this reaction.
- Test your content using two different color schemes before promoting an asset.
5. “Sell” content with conviction
Look at editors as if they are potential consumers of a product – in this case, your content. A quick lesson in AIDA can help you figure out the best way to maximize your placement rate.
AIDA is an acronym commonly used to describe the linear progression of persuasive techniques in sales. Here’s how you can apply them during the campaign outreach process:
- Attention – Gain an editor’s attention through an intriguing but brief subject line at 35 characters or less.
- Interest – Attract interest through original data and unique visuals.
- Desire – Trigger a desire by including emotional content that most closely reaffirms their audience’s existing beliefs.
- Action – Be sure the end of your pitch includes an explicit call-to-action, whether it’s to publish your content or provide feedback if it’s not something that fits the audience.
The biggest takeaway from our research? When applied to pitches, basic psychology theories can help your promotion team optimize placement rates. Numerous conscious and subconscious thoughts affect our daily decisions, and by understanding these psychological theories, you can ensure editors will be interested in your content and reach higher numbers during the campaign outreach process.
Study by Fractl and BuzzStream