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Welcome to another episode of seven-minute marketing with Pam. My name is Pam Didner and I am all about B2B, digital and content marketing. That’s what I do. And thank you for listening.

Every week, I’ll pick one marketing question and attempt to address it with actionable takeaways in 7 minutes or less.  So send me your questions. I want to help you take on your marketing challenges.

Let’s start with this week’s content marketing lessons.

What is E.I.E.I.U.

I was speaking at the Social Media Strategies Summit recently and decided to pop into my friend Mike Brown’s workshop to say “hi”. While there I learned a new term from Mike that day (via Kodi Foster at Viacom): E.I.E.I.U. He said that the content we create should fit in the EIEIU categories: Entertainment, Inspiration, Education, Information, Utility.

He is very clever to coin the term EIEIU.

Your content needs to make your customers feel that they receive tangible or intangible value. By classifying your content in this way, you’re able to understand what kind of value your audience might get out of it – tangible or intangible.  It doesn’t mean that every piece of content needs to be Entertaining, Inspirational, Educational and Informational all at once. If you look at all of the content you create, chances are you have a mix of content pieces that fit into one or more of these categories, though.

Let me share some great examples of EIEIU in action

  • Entertainment: “Dear Kitten” produced by Buzzfeed for Friskies Cat food.  If you haven’t seen it yet, click on the link or search for “Dear Kitten Friskies video” online.  The writing is hilarious.
  • Inspiration: The best inspirational content usually comes from Athletics brands such as Nike or Under Armor.  They inspire us to be the best we can. Under Armor’s video features ballet soloist Misty Copeland dancing as a young girl while reading a rejection letter, she received when first starting out. It’s about empowering girls and not taking “no” for an answer. It conveys that everything is possible and encourages us not to give up.
  • Education: Explain a new technology, trend or complex concept such as what is Blockchain?  Cloud computing 101.
  • Information: This can be about your product’s features and user-benefits.  Share with them what your products can do for your customers.
  • Most of the content we generate tends to fit into Education and Information categories.
  • Utility: How-to content.  Check out REI.comLowesHome Depot or BirchBox DIY content.  This type of content typically includes tips and tricks on how to do things better.

What is C.E.B.I.E.I.U?

I created similar categories when I led my own content marketing workshop. My categories were: entertainment, help, challenge, education and buy. I’d add “Challenge” and “Buy” to the EIEIU categories.

  • Examples for a “Challenge” content piece would be quizzes or other forms of interactive content that engages customers.
  • Finally, “Buy” content focuses on promotion and discount offers.

If we add two more letters to EIEIU, the term can be CEBIEIU. Ha!

In general, most of our content tends to fit into the Education, Information, Utility and Buy categories.  Entertaining and inspiring content is much harder to create. It requires time, effort and budget to get it right.

Final notes

At the end of the day, there is no right answer for the right mix of content.  It’s not about 10% entertainment content, 20% inspiration content, 50% utility content, or whatnot.

It’s about answering the question, “Are you providing value to your customers?” Is your content helpful, useful or beneficial? Does it help customers solve their problems and, at the same time, facilitate their buying process?

Do good for your customers and good will come to you.

It was great to see Mike again before the year-end.

That is this week’s 7-minute Marketing with Pam.  If you have a question for me, you can schedule a call or reach out to me on social media.

Thank you for listening, until next week.

What can Pam Didner do for you?

Being in the corporate world for 20+ years and having held various positions from accounting and supply chain management, and marketing to sales enablement, she knows how corporations work. She can make you and your team a rock star by identifying areas to shine and do better. She does that through private coaching, keynote speaking, workshop training, and hands-on consulting. Contact her or find her on LinkedIn and Twitter. A quick note: Check out her new 90-Day Revenue Reboot, if you are struggling with marketing.