How to Use Non-Obvious Thinking to Create Better Content

How to Use Non-Obvious Thinking to Create Better Content

“We’re in the middle of a believability crisis.” On the surface, author Rohit Bhargava’s observation in the keynote talk of CMI’s virtual ContentTECH this year doesn’t bode well for content marketing. After all, to attract and retain an audience, we need people to believe the content we’re creating. But don’t be discouraged by Rohit’s pronouncement. Instead, get inspired by the deeper meaning uncovered (true to form for the CEO of the Non-Obvious Company) in this crisis and other trends. Rohit’s done much of the work for you, offering up a “stealable idea” for each trend he shared in the 2018 edition of his best-selling book series Non-Obvious: How to Predict Trends and Win the Future . Here are three trends (and suggestions for what to do about them) Rohit predicts will have a big impact on content marketing this year and possibly in years to come. Non-Obvious trend: Manipulated outrage Media, algorithms, and advertising combine to create a perpetual stream of noise often intended to incite rage and illicit reactionary anger usually shared through social media. Sometimes outrage is reasonable and justified. Sometimes it’s packaged and sold to generate clicks and views. Cable news, Rohit points out, is having a banner year because it’s selling outrage. What’s the problem? “When you think of yourself as a person who is outraged, you don’t give yourself permission not to be outraged because it doesn’t feel like you,” Rohit says. He shares the example of Steven Crowley, who coped with his baby […]