If someone asked you to come up with a list of boring industries, what would you include? Lighting fixtures? Plumbing? Electronics manufacturing? Housecleaning?<\/p>\n
We get it. Writing meaningful content about plumbing issues can seem like a near-impossibility. And when you\u2019re the one tasked with writing that content, it can lead to an uncomfortable number of hours spent staring at a blank computer screen.<\/p>\n
However, it can be done! We\u2019re including lots of tips on how to do this below, but first, you have to embrace this one, basic truth: no industry is truly boring<\/b>.<\/p>\n
How do you write engaging content for a boring industry? Remember: no industry is truly boring. <\/a><\/span>Share on X<\/a><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n So how do you get at this intriguing, non-boring side of the industry you\u2019re writing about? The tips below should help you out.<\/p>\n Research the industry (or product, if that\u2019s what you\u2019re writing about) until you have a good idea of how it works, the trending issues related to it, and what customers seem to love or hate about it. <\/b><\/p>\n If you\u2019re someone who works in the industry you\u2019re writing about, you already have a strong grasp on all kinds of topics that would make great blog posts.<\/p>\n But that doesn\u2019t mean you can\u2019t learn more. In this case, it might be helpful to look at your industry from a different angle – maybe interview someone at your company whom you don\u2019t work with on a regular basis, or talk to a few loyal customers about what they like about your product.<\/p>\n Now, if you\u2019re a content writer who writes about all different types of industries, doing research is a no-brainer. How else are you going to write decent content?<\/p>\n With a so-called \u201cboring\u201d industry, however, it can take a lot more effort to make yourself dig in and gain more than a superficial understanding of the industry. Yet that\u2019s where all the interesting information lies.<\/p>\n Take something like commercial real estate law. Researching the ins and outs of buying, selling, and leasing commercial buildings sounds exhausting (unless you\u2019re a real estate agent, of course), but that\u2019s the only way you\u2019ll find out that in some states, sellers must disclose suspected hauntings to potential buyers. And there\u2019s nothing boring about a haunted building.<\/p>\n Check your brand voice.<\/b><\/p>\n No matter how complex, dry, or uninteresting your industry may be to the internet masses, you can always inject life into your material by creating an engaging brand voice.<\/p>\n This is true of literally any industry. Even if your target audience is Ph.Ds, there\u2019s no value in having a pedantic, inaccessible brand voice – all it will do is make people stop reading.<\/p>\n One of the best examples of a company that\u2019s created a strong (and funny) brand voice is the Dollar Shave Club. Their online commercial from 2012 caught the eye of more than 23 million people with its outlandish title, \u201cOur Blades are F***ing Great,\u201d and the irreverent absurdity of its founder and star. And I don\u2019t know about you, but razors aren\u2019t exactly thrilling.<\/p>\n Instead, establish a voice that\u2019s friendly, knowledgeable, and jargon-free. This will allow you to maintain authority on your subject matter, without boring readers to death. If you\u2019re still working on defining your brand voice, read our post \u201c5 Steps to Developing an Outstanding Brand Voice on Social Media<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Be specific, instead of vague.<\/b><\/p>\n Specificity is always preferable in writing, but this is especially true when you\u2019re writing about a difficult industry. A topic like \u201cNew Lighting Fixtures from Europe\u201d will get you a few clicks – but \u201cThe Latest European Lighting Fixture Styles from 4 Parisian Showrooms\u201d will earn you a whole lot more.<\/p>\n That\u2019s because vague topics are almost always boring, even if you\u2019re writing about an inherently interesting industry like fashion design or moviemaking. Think of it like gossip: when you\u2019re talking with your friend about the date they went on last night, and they were only giving you a general outline of their evening, what would you say? \u201cDetails! Give me details!\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s the details that we want, whether we\u2019re discussing a potential new flame or developments in the manufacturing industry. Without them, we just tune out.<\/p>\nVague topics are always boring. Give your reader specificity and details. #contentmarketing <\/a><\/span>Share on X<\/a><\/span>\n Include stories or real-life examples.<\/b><\/p>\n You\u2019re probably tired of hearing how absolutely crucial storytelling is to writing engaging content, so all we\u2019ll say is: It\u2019s 100 percent true.<\/p>\n And when it comes to boring industries especially, stories and real-life examples are your lifelines. This goes hand-in-hand with being specific. You want to give your reader something concrete that they can anchor onto, something that makes them think, \u201cOh, maybe I can<\/i> relate to this topic.\u201d<\/p>\n You don\u2019t have to be a master of fiction in order to craft a good story, and the story you tell doesn\u2019t have to be life-changing or epic, either. All it has to do is give the reader a specific individual or situation to focus on.<\/p>\n This has been a mainstay of journalism for decades because it makes for a much more compelling read. When you\u2019re scrolling through the news, which of these first sentences would make you continue reading the article:<\/p>\n \u201cAshlyn is one of the first people I meet at Meeting Street Academy, a charter school serving underprivileged children in Charleston, S.C.\u201d<\/p>\n Or:<\/p>\n \u201cMeeting Street Academy is a charter school serving underprivileged children in Charleston, S.C.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t know about you, but I\u2019d really want to know who Ashlyn is.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t just think outside the box, tear the box apart.<\/b><\/p>\n When you know the industry you\u2019re writing about, you can find all sorts of different angles to use in your content. But how do you find an angle that no one has covered, that no one has even thought of?<\/p>\n What you do is give yourself some time for totally uncensored brainstorming<\/a>. Let yourself go way outside the boundaries of your industry and even of the form you\u2019re using – I\u2019d be willing to be that\u2019s how whoever invented the vlog made the jump from written blogs to video blogs.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a real-life example of that (see what I did there?). One of my favorite podcasts is Science Vs., which is published by the podcasting company Gimlet Media<\/a>. Now, Science Vs. is a fascinating podcast, but that\u2019s not why I brought it up here. I brought it up to talk about the ads.<\/p>\n Gimlet Media runs ads from their sponsors on all their podcasts, but they\u2019re unlike nearly any ad you\u2019ve heard before (or they used to be before other companies began copying the approach).<\/p>\n Instead of talking about the product that the sponsor offers, they zoom way, way out to find the most interesting thing about the company that they can – then, they make a kind of ultra-mini-podcast about that thing.<\/p>\n For example, one of their sponsors is a small business insurance company, Hiscox Insurance. One of the ads Gimlet made for Hiscox involved an interview with one of Hiscox\u2019 customers, a former convict named Coss Marte who created a fitness business offering customers prison-style boot camp workouts with other ex-cons as trainers. It\u2019s called ConBody. (To give credit where credit is due, Hiscox also has a write-up about ConBody on their site. It\u2019s another great example of engaging content in a boring industry.)<\/p>\n Now, if I\u2019d heard a typical ad that just promoted Hiscox\u2019 insurance offerings, I\u2019m almost positive I would have tuned out as soon as I heard the word \u201cinsurance.\u201d But I heard this particular ad months ago, and I still remember it.<\/p>\n That\u2019s what you want your content to do: stick in the reader\u2019s mind because it\u2019s just too interesting to forget.<\/p>\n Use visuals whenever possible.<\/b><\/p>\n Just like those visual aids you used to incorporate into your middle school presentations, visual elements in your blog posts can help pique a reader\u2019s interest – even if they\u2019re not particularly interested in the topic you\u2019re writing about.<\/p>\n Source<\/a><\/p>\n Visuals can also help break up a lengthy piece of text, which is especially important when the topic you\u2019re covering is complex (which, by the way, is often what people mean when they say something is boring – it\u2019s boring because it\u2019s difficult to understand).<\/p>\n Write efficiently.<\/b><\/p>\n Writing efficiently simply means using the fewest words you need to get across the idea you want to convey. In other words: get to the point.<\/p>\n