How Curiosity Drives Successful Branding and Content Creation with Emily Aborn

Branded

Welcome back to Branded: your comprehensive guide to creative branding.

In today’s episode, we dive into the fascinating world of curiosity and how it can shape brand messaging. With us is Emily Aborn, a seasoned copywriter, speaker, and host of the "Content with Character" podcast. Emily brings her unique insights on infusing personality into content and the strategic role of curiosity in engaging audiences.

We kick off with a light-hearted discussion between us (Sara and Larry) about the nostalgic 80s TV show "Magnum PI" and the amusing confusion around Tom Selleck’s roles. From there, we delve into Emily's love for word games like Scrabble, crosswords, and Wordle, segueing into a profound conversation on maintaining curiosity, effective content hooks, and the fine line between being genuinely engaging and overtly clickbaity.

We explore different approaches to providing advice, debating the merits of step-by-step guides versus maintaining a philosophical, open-ended approach to spark curiosity. Our discussion also touches on the challenges of teaching inherent creative skills, using curiosity for effective brand messaging, and personal anecdotes about navigating social media notifications.

Key takeaways:

1. Maintaining Curiosity in Branding: Emily emphasizes the importance of using curiosity to engage audiences without overwhelming them. She discusses various tactics, such as asking questions, incorporating surprises, and avoiding overly vague content that might confuse rather than intrigue.
2. Adapting Advice Delivery: We explore contrasting advice delivery methods. While Emily supports providing enough information to engage but not fully implement, Sara advocates for step-by-step instructions to demonstrate expertise. We agree that both methods have their place depending on the audience and context.
3. Skill Teachability: Dividing opinions arise on whether creative skills like writing and graphic design can be fully taught. Sara believes some elements are inherent and difficult to teach, whereas Emily maintains a broader perspective on skill development, emphasizing technical aspects.
4. Effective Pitching Strategies: Emily and the hosts share insights on crafting effective podcast pitches, avoiding industry jargon, and ensuring clarity and engagement. We discuss the importance of personalizing pitches to resonate more with recipients.
5. Humanizing Content through Vulnerability: Larry's anecdote about authentic moments at a business summit highlights the power of vulnerability. Emily underscores that sharing personal stories and making mistakes can make content creators more relatable and human.

Join us as we navigate these insightful discussions on curiosity, branding, and content creation, and don't forget to subscribe for more episodes of Branded. Until next week, stay curious and keep building your brand with personality and purpose!