Just like in a competitive sport, it will be the content creators who aim to distinguish their brands with sensitivity to the current climate and standout creativity who will be best positioned for the next stage. It’s a doozy of a challenge, but I believe it’s doable, so I’ve decided to take up the gauntlet myself with this very post, and hopefully to inspire others to turbo-boost their creativity.
Oh, and there might be something about an umbrella. (Seriously. Read on).

But a channel is just the conduit for delivering your message, and it’s a playing field that’s common to all marketers. What makes one marketer’s message resonate more effectively than another’s, isn’t the channel the message appears in, but how well the message is executed to distinguish it from other messages (or content) competing for attention from the same audience, and to achieve your desired response. So how do you convert people once you’ve convinced them to give you a moment of their time to check out whatever it is you’re promoting? By engaging them with content that’s clearly superior.
Without standout, relevant and compelling content, you may get people through the door, but you won’t be able to get them to stick around so you can successfully deliver your intended message, or encourage them to become actual followers or customers.

The internet is so overcrowded with mediocre, unoriginal and repetitive content – audiences are now more fickle than ever before, and super-discerning about WHAT content they’re willing to consume, WHICH brands they’re willing to consume it from, and HOW LONG they’re willing to spend engaging with it – and that goes for both B2C and B2B.
So given people’s predisposition to ignore anything that isn’t instantly appealing – it’s not always easy to ensure that each new piece of content we create will be an extravaganza of delight unlike anything that’s come before it. But sometimes all it takes to get someone to appreciate a piece of content isn’t your entire bag of tricks, but simply a genuine, demonstrable effort at originality either in the concept, writing or visual presentation.
Sometimes all it takes to get someone to appreciate a piece of content isn’t your entire bag of tricks, but simply a genuine, demonstrable effort at originality either in the concept, writing or visual presentation.

A point of difference.
If you’re okay with creating something that’s just mediocre or too similar to existing content about the same topic, then you better also be okay with the likelihood that people will be inclined to skip it. Or maybe they’ll read some of it, but only to the point where they realize it’s a waste of time.

I’m not saying that every single post must be accompanied by visuals to be deemed “successful” (although it’s been proven that posts with images get more views), but posts that include visuals can enhance the story or message, and make for an entirely different user experience that I personally appreciate, so I usually make an effort to add visuals to my own posts that convey the emotions I’m hoping to inspire as you read it, and I often customize them to inject some of my personality into the post.
Sometimes you can even use photos of yourself or your team to create a more personal connection with your audience. That personal connection – if you can create it successfully – is part of the secret sauce that makes people prefer your offering to that of your competitors.



The aim isn’t to be “typical”; It’s to think of ways to make our content MEMORABLE, to boost the viewers’ curiosity, make them ‘connect’ with the brand on a more emotional level, ‘wow’ them enough to convert them into customers, or at the very least move them further down the sales or engagement funnel.
Now, let’s see what type of content you could create around a new line of umbrellas that people would find interesting or enjoyable.
And remember, you can replace ‘umbrellas’ with any product or service, and it doesn’t even matter if it has loads of unique selling points or not. The ideas I’m about to list are examples of how to approach content creation creatively for ANY product.
INTRODUCING… THE NO-RAINER!

9 Content ideas to get people excited about the No-Rainer umbrella
Who created it and why were they compelled to create it? Create a piece of content – or even a series of pieces – providing the backstory of how this particular product was conceived and the people behind it. And if it’s already an established brand with an interesting history, you can also talk about how it evolved over the years. If you give people a chance to get to know the people who created the product, they will have an entirely new perspective of the product itself.
Create some content about the history of your niche: Who invented the umbrella? Where was it first used? What did the first umbrellas look like? How have they developed over the years? Etc. By demonstrating knowledge of the history of your product, it implies that the product YOU created – in this case the No-Rainer umbrella – must be a quality product and help boost your audience’s trust in your brand because it’s made by people who obviously know what they’re talking about when it comes to umbrellas

Create content that talks about the genesis of your brand’s design: Who came up with the name or the design of the No-Rainer umbrella line? Does the design of the logo have any special meaning? The story behind the evolution of the brand and design can add an element of interest and appreciation for the product that people might not have in the absence of this backstory.
Create content that talks about the genesis of your brand’s design: Who came up with the name or the design of the No-Rainer umbrella line? Does the design of the logo have any special meaning? The story behind the evolution of the brand and design can add an element of interest and appreciation for the product that people might not have in the absence of this backstory.
You could pay an influencer (if you can afford it) or simply reach out to your own satisfied customers who would be willing to provide a testimonial about why they love the No-Rainer so much, preferably with a photo or video of them using the product for extra credibility (and to give yourself a wider variety of promotional options). Use your social channels and mailing list to invite your existing customers to participate, or even take a bunch of No-Rainers out to the street on a rainy day, offer them to random passers-by to try out, and ask them for a testimonial on the spot (and their permission to be used for testimonial purposes). This could make for a great video with possible viral potential!
You could pay an influencer (if you can afford it) or simply reach out to your own satisfied customers who would be willing to provide a testimonial about why they love the No-Rainer so much, preferably with a photo or video of them using the product for extra credibility (and to give yourself a wider variety of promotional options). Use your social channels and mailing list to invite your existing customers to participate, or even take a bunch of No-Rainers out to the street on a rainy day, offer them to random passers-by to try out, and ask them for a testimonial on the spot (and their permission to be used for testimonial purposes). This could make for a great video with possible viral potential!
Create a fun campaign based on a playlist of songs that include the word “umbrella” or connotations of “rain” (Rihanna’s Umbrella, Gene Kelly’ Singing in the Rain, Prince’s Purple Rain, etc.), and make sure the No-Rainer brand is prominent in the design of the campaign so that your audience associates it with the No-Rainer next time they need to go out and buy an umbrella!

The feature image you choose for a blog post is generally the one that’s automatically displayed when you promote it on social media, so it’s essentially part of an ‘ad’ for your content – and it could make all the difference between someone choosing to click on it or not. So don’t just use a typical product shot or a boring stock photo: Think about how you can showcase the product in the most beautiful, eye-catching way – or maybe even an artistic interpretation, or photographed in an awesome location, etc. Think outside the box to create a visual that will be as inviting and as memorable as possible.

People love reading (and sharing) quirky facts about all sorts of things, so you could create a fun trivia-based campaign using interesting tid-bits about your industry or your product. I would also add to the mix a cool piece of trivia about the No-Rainer to make sure the piece is associated with MY product (and not just any umbrella). And you never know – if you execute this type of campaign well, it might even go viral!