There are only two types of content — and you’re missing out on one of them

I bet you produce all kinds of content — blog posts, ebooks, case studies, and white papers. But rather than categorizing content in these ways, I find it’s more helpful to recognize that there are only two types of content:

• Content that delivers an argument

• Content that delivers an experience

Your problem is that you’re almost certainly only producing content that delivers an argument, even though your argument content comes in many forms (blog articles, case studies, etc.).

I know this because nearly all of the content I see on company websites delivers carefully reasoned, point-by-point arguments. Articles like “How to future-proof your data privacy policy” or “How to improve your healthcare outcomes collection” are making arguments on exactly how to accomplish specific goals, just as an article on “Why content marketing Is important” is making an argument about why you need to do content marketing.

Most so-called customer stories (aka case studies) are in fact arguments as well, although implicit ones. These case studies present a before-and-after portrait of a company and in effect make this argument: if you want results like these, you should work with us too.

Likewise, ebooks such as “Five trends to watch out for in data analytics in 2022” are really just arguing that you better pay attention to certain things if you want to succeed.

The problem with content that delivers an argument is that it provokes push-back. If you make an argument, your prospect’s analytical mind is engaged, and they start looking for weaknesses in your position. Do you really want your prospects in that state of mind?

Of course not. You want to disarm them. Get them to drop their defenses. And content that delivers an experience does that best. With this kind of content, the reader is not outside of the content, judging it; instead, they live the experience the content delivers. How do you create this kind of content?

It’s simple: you need to tell a story — one that involves specific people tackling specific challenges to achieve a specific happy ending. Moreover, you have to tell the story well. Starting with background information on a company “T-Mobile is a national telecommunications company with . . .” is not the way to open a story. Do you know any novel or movie that begins in such a dull way?

Every sentence needs to earn the reader’s interest in the next. When you start with such a boring sentence, you create the risk that the reader will click off the page.

Instead, imagine a story that began like this: “By the time local authorities began their search for the missing seven-year-old boy, he had already spent six hours lost in the freezing cold of the forest. With each passing minute, the boy’s chances of surviving went down. That’s why Utah State Forest Ranger Emily Davis knew that an ordinary search party would be an inadequate response. So, she . . .”

I bet this kind of opening not only engaged your emotions but left you wanting to know this information with the next sentence: so what did Emily do?

When you tell a story well, you enable your prospects to vicariously experience the protagonist’s challenges as well as how your solution helped them overcome those obstacles.

Content that delivers an experience helps your prospects actually feel what it’s like to work with you — and that is going to be far more powerful than even the strongest arguments.

Want a better idea of what experience content looks like? Take a look at this post to see how to craft a vicarious experience for your readers.