The Secret To Captivating Content Strategy

Did you know that we’re all ruled by a super-powerful hormone? It’s true. This hormone dominates decision-making, especially split-second choices like the ones digital users are making every day. Decisions like “click,” “like,” “retweet,” and more importantly, “buy” and “subscribe” are all significantly affected by this hormone. Savvy marketing strategists have been triggering this hormone for years, some knowingly, some stumbling upon it.

You’ve undoubtedly heard of this hormone. You’ve heard about it in the context of drugs, sex, and even food. But what does this hormone do for marketers? I’ll get to that in a minute.

First, a little more about this hormone: dopamine. See? I told you you’ve heard of it. Dopamine is best known as the “pleasure hormone.” It’s the hormone that creates the surge of euphoria that we feel after a particularly satisfying (insert pleasure here).

But the surge of satisfaction is not actually the most powerful tool in a communicator’s arsenal.

The most powerful tool for the content communicator is anticipation.

And it turns out that dopamine is actually more aptly described as the “wanting and seeking” hormone. Ah. Now you get it, right? It turns out that the “wanting and seeking” trigger is MORE powerful than satisfaction. This means we’re hard-wired to keep looking, keep seeking until we satisfy our wanting and seeking—and then we’re hard-wired to do it all again.

Think for just a moment about the advantage to your content and overall marketing strategy if you can trigger this motivation. Images can trigger our wanting and seeking. Ever seen a really great close-up shot of your favorite food and searched for how to have it delivered at lunch that very day?

Images of just about anything we want can trigger our “wanting and seeking” hormone. This means you really need to think about the images you’re using in marketing and advertising, because images are incredibly key to the top of the funnel.

While we see food and sex all the time in marketing, it might be that those images aren’t appropriate for your brand. Good news for you. Because there’s more.

Guess what else fuels our anticipation?

Just guess. This is super important because not all businesses and campaigns are suitable for triggering food, sex, and drug urges. Curiosity.

The brain experiences dopamine rushes when we’re curious for more information. Think about the last Google search you did. Ever been sucked down the rabbit hole of Google and found yourself coming out of the other side 45 minutes later? That’s your insatiable, hormone-driven seeking and wanting trigger.

Our quest for information is basically never-ending. We’re hard-wired that way, and from an evolutionary standpoint, this is a splendid thing. Now WHAT information triggers this is the key.

This is where we circle back around to audience identification and personalization. We’re inundated with information, so we have to be very clear on our audience so we understand WHAT kind of information or curiosity triggers them.

Motivational triggers work on all people, but what activates them is where your marketing research and strategy comes in.

Another thing that triggers our wanting and seeking hormone is unexpected prompts that are auditory or visual. You know what does this exceptionally well? Your phone.

It beeps, vibrates, or a message pops up—and you almost always stop what you are doing to look at it, don’t you? If you don’t, it takes an active and conscious effort on your part.

This is why my most hated and dreaded marketing tactic, pop-up messaging, is so powerful. I personally drop right out of a page when I get a pop-up because I feel like it’s insensitive to the reader, but the truth is, it works on the vast majority of people because the surprise triggers the wanting and seeking.

Novelty and unpredictability also trigger our seeking behavior. This is why “New and Improved” works.

The Counter Intuitive Path

You’ve probably heard over and over again to simplify. The message is too long. The funnel is too long. Overall, this is good advice.

However, once you really understand the “seeking and wanting” hormone, your path can actually be quite long—so long as it keeps triggering curiosity and gives information in small bits and pieces, even if it withholds the full solution until the end.

Ever seen an ugly landing page that was all text that you ended up reading despite yourself? Really awesome copywriters understand how to use this tactic to move you through the process.

Interestingly enough, the more time you spend on something, the more committed you are. So long copy and long funnels have a purpose—and in the right situation, with the right audience, they work.

In A Nutshell:

Here it is in a nutshell: trigger the wanting and seeking hormone. Make your audience curious. Lead them down a path that satisfies in bits and pieces.

Experiment with what triggers curiosity in your audience and test the strength of that curiosity with funnel length. Triggering the “wanting and seeking” hormone is the very premise behind free information in content marketing and the internet in general.