3 Unusual Ways To Create Exclusive Content That Attracts A Crowd

3 Unusual Ways To Create Exclusive Content That Attracts A Crowd While it might not be nice to exclude people, it can sure be handy in content marketing. Exclusive content is a strange beast. It goes against our natural inclination to make as much available to as many people all the time. Yet, if done right, exclusive content can be incredibly effective at getting your audience to take action. Why Exclusive Content Works How do you make people want something? Use exclusivity.  Only make a few available. Ask people to sign up and wait for an invite (like  Simple). Exclusivity works because, frankly, people like to be in on the secret.  Exclusivity makes people want something. If they cant have it, they want it all the more. If people cant have it, they want it all the more. #ExclusiveContentSome of us take a bit of pleasure when others are excluded (though wed rather not admit that). Wed rather be in the group than out of it, and if its a small group that not everyone can join even though they want to, we feel pretty good about ourselves when we get in. We feel special. Exclusivity also works for companies who offer their product to any customer who wants it, but on very specific terms. In this realm (think of Netflix and their show House of Cards, which they distribute exclusively), the product has to be excellent, people have to be able to find it, and you have to be able to keep people from spreading it beyond what you control (keep it exclusive). Exclusivity makes people want something, and it works in two ways: Not everyone gets in. This requires a product that is so good, so clever, so desirable, such a status symbol, that people are frantic to get in on it. Everyone gets in, but only through our channels. This requires a product that is excellent, people have to be able to find it easily enough, and you have to have a method for keeping control of how it spreads (think DRM). Exclusivity doesnt work if you only make 50 available and only one person wants it, anyway. There has be be demand for your product, whether its a real demand or one you conjure up through clever marketing and pushing the psychological buttons of your audience. Applying Exclusivity To Content Marketing The language you use in your copy can be exclusive, even if the item itself actually isnt exclusive. QuickSprout does an excellent job describing how exclusive language is a powerful way to convince people to do something in their (fantastic) Definitive Guide To Copywriting. Some of the phrases that motivate people to sign up are: exclusive offers become an insider be one of the few get it before everybody else be the first to hear about it only available to subscribers You get the idea. The words you use can instigate a little bit of panic, greed, or curiosity in a person so that they feel compelled to sign up. Though youre not actually limiting access (everyone who signs up gets it), the language you use to prompt people to sign up hints at feelings of exclusivity. But what about taking exclusivity beyond just the language we use in our copy? Could we create actual exclusive content? Should we try something like that? Heck yes. While your blog and social media are your content foundations, exclusivity is like a window that lets your audience feel like they got a peek at something special. 1. Limit The Availability Exclusivity often has a partner in crime, and thats scarcity. Scarcity uses words such as: limited offer supplies running out get them while they last sale ends soon today only only 10 available only 3 left only available here double the offer in the next hour only When there are fewer opportunities available, it necessarily creates exclusivity: the group that got a rare item are an exclusive group indeed. Buy it while you still can. Get it before its gone. Creating scarcity is a terrifying gamble. Content marketers are programmed to think that we need to get our content out as much as possible to as many as possible. Bigger audience! More traffic! More shares! Making our content scarce doesnt seem to fit that playbook. Can we make scarce content work? If we limit the amount available, wont we be shooting ourselves in the foot? Scarcity will work if: People actually want it. Youve either met a real need that no one has bothered to meet before, or you sold it well and convinced your audience they gotta have it. Maybe youve hinted and teased and tortured your customer, leading up to the product release where thousands of people line up to buy it (iPhone, anyone?) out of fear there wouldnt be enough. People actually know about it. Scarcity isnt scarce until there seem to be more people who want it than can have it. Enough people have to know about it to build the numbers. Its just scarce enough. You have to have enough maintain hope in those who want it that they will, eventually, have it. But you still must keep it scarce. This could be a slow drip in products offering a few at a time, or tantalizing build-ups to a product release. In the end, most people will get the item, but over time and in a way that makes it feel as if they were lucky to get it. True exclusivity is difficult with digital goods; you might only email out 100 newsletters, but anyone can forward them. Tying them to something tangible (everyone who signs up gets a free pony) has a certain appeal (Id skip the pony). But is the point that youre trying to limit who has access, or to make access seem special? It should be the latter.  Its about creating exclusivity in that moment when someone is deciding on whether or not to sign up for your email list. What might that look like? Be one of the few! Maybe you have an email newsletter where you only allow new subscriptions twice a year for short period of time. You dont care if people forward it (youd love them to do so). Youre just creating a forced scarcity.  There is a writers forum that opens up to a few new members only once a year for a day. Its a paid membership. I watch for the announcement every year, and I have yet to get in. Im obsessed with it, but probably wouldnt be as interested if I could join any time. For a limited time only! Make your ebook or autoresponder course available only for a limited time. Then its gone. Limited availability  supersedes  the need to carefully consider. Just do it now and decide later. Thats how we approach limited time. The bonus in all of this? Scarcity and exclusivity allow you to create events around availability. You can promote them on your blog, social media, the whole nine yards. Instead of sign up for our email list all the time, its for a limited time, were opening the doors for new subscribers! Promote it, hype it. Because its a bona fide event.