No one likes vegetables. Or facts.

Here's a lesson I learned the hard way at 22: Everybody lies. Specifically: Everybody lies about content. 

The year was 2008. I was in journalism school. We were in the thick of the Iraq war. The Obama/Clinton showdown + the Sarah Palin veep nod... things were about as spicy as they got back then. Everyone I knew said they wanted unbiased news coverage of the world.

Then they all turned their TVs to Fox News, MSNBC or something Kardashian.

Below, two interviews from the 2008 RNC—one with legendary republican strategist Dick Armey, the other with country music star John Rich fresh off Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy. Want to guess which interview got more attention?

It's the same lesson Netflix learned when they started ignoring the watch lists we make for ourselves (someday I'll watch Frances Ha I swear) and started recommending things based on what we ACTUALLY watch.
 

You can use this to your advantage

There are lessons here when it comes to marketing, especially financial marketing. Often times, the content that you want to discuss with clients (that you NEED to discuss with clients) is... boring.

It's the content equivalent of "eat your vegetables." But does it have to be? Can you find a way to deep fry the vegetables, so people actually crave your content?
 

Deep fried content: A recipe

Step 1: Know your clients. You need to know them so well that you know what will grab their attention. To stick with vegetables for a second: You have to know your clients well enough to know they'll eat an entire vegan chocolate cake before touching a fried pickle. In other words: What is going to entice them? For some people, it's the allure of goals. For others, it's fear of making a mistake. Still others want to think they gamed the system. What makes YOUR clients tick?

Step 2: Prepare the deep fryer. Or the vegan cake mix. Or whatever it is. Now that you know what motivates your clients to engage—to get really invested—you need to infuse it into every piece of content you create. No more serving a salad and saying you didn't know any better.

Step 3: Sometimes, you do just need to serve vegetables. This tends to be the case for headlines or big factual things (versus explanations or education). For instance: Hurricane Fiona in Puerto Rico matters because it matters. Period. There's no peg needed. Student loan forgiveness matters because it's $10,000. These things don't need to be dressed up.

Step 4: Embrace dessert. Your clients know you're human. Chances are, it's one of the things they like about you. If you have a hard time infusing personality into your content, find other ways to grab attention and engage your clients. After all, the most popular shows on television tend to be the ones that happen AFTER a big sporting event, when there's a built-in captive audience. So share updates about your family, or hold an event... tell a dad joke! Whatever feels authentic to you. 

Wanna try deep fried veggies the Content 151 way?

We've got explainers on bear markets, what does (and does not) make a recession, backdoor Roth explainers and more... all ready to be infused with your specific brand of spicy batter.

Bear Markets
Recession
Roth conversions

If you're interested in learning more about what people SAY they want versus what they ACTUALLY want, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. (I missed my bus stop several times when reading it...)