If you saw two posts in your feed, one that said, “Let’s talk about your brand values,” and another one that said, “How to get more leads from social media,” which one would you stop and read?
…Yeah, me too.
Which is a bit awkward for me, because I am very much in the broccoli business.
I know that probably sounds like I’ve wandered off into nutrition advice, but stick with me, because chocolate and broccoli is one of the simplest ways I’ve found to explain why some of your content gets read or scrolled past, and how to write engaging content that people actually stop for.
What people want vs what you know people need
I came across this analogy a few years ago and it’s really stuck with me, because when it comes to marketing, we need to draw people in with what they want, which is the chocolate, rather than the thing you know they need, which is the broccoli.
And when you sit down and think about it, a lot of the work you do is the broccoli, right?
But if you were in your client’s shoes, looking at things from where you’re standing in your world, you might not know that’s what you need yet.
So if you think about the people I work with, for example, the chocolate is getting more leads from content wherever they post it, or clients finding you without having to post every single day. That’s what people are craving.
But to get there, I know what’s needed is being really clear on your values, who your sweet spot client is, the language your client uses (your messaging), and then creating a content strategy that makes sense in a way that’s engaging and doesn’t feel icky.
Now that’s the broccoli. It’s really good for you, and it’s going to make all the difference to your business.
But not a lot of people are going to wake up on a Monday morning and think, “Ah, I really fancy sorting out my brand values today.” Unless you’re one of my clients, of course, then you probably do, because you’ve seen what a difference it makes. But what I’m trying to say is, if you don’t know you need something, you’re probably not going to be interested in reading a post about it, right?
Whereas if I write something about getting more leads from social media, I’m guessing you’ll want to know.
Why introverts are naturally drawn to the broccoli
Now as introverts, I think we’re naturally drawn to the broccoli. We love depth, right? We can see the real reason something’s not working, and we know that the surface-level fix isn’t going to last.
So when we sit down to create content, naturally we’re going to talk about the thing that actually matters, because that feels more honest and more valuable. Leading with the chocolate can feel a bit shallow or a bit salesy, or like we’re dumbing down what we do, and I’ll hold my hands up, because I’ve felt that too.
What really happens when we do that is that we end up writing really useful posts about the broccoli, and the people who need to read them most just keep scrolling, because nobody realises it’s for them yet.
The person I’m trying to reach isn’t thinking about values. That person is thinking, “Why is no one booking a call with me?” or, “Why am I not standing out from the coach who’s doing the same thing as me?”
Chocolate in the hook, broccoli in the post
I’m not saying you should stop talking about the broccoli altogether. The broccoli is your expertise, and you need to talk about it. What I’m saying is that the chocolate is how you get someone to stop and look at your stuff in the first place.
So think of it like this. The chocolate is what goes into your hook. It’s the first line, the title, the bit that’s going to make someone stop scrolling and think, “Oh, that’s for me”, and then the broccoli is what you serve up once someone’s there.
And this works for whatever you do. Say you’re a bookkeeper. The broccoli is something like getting your receipts organised and reconciling every month, which no one’s going to be excited about. The chocolate could be something like knowing exactly how much you can pay yourself this month, or not having that horrible panic as to whether you can pay for something.
Or if you’re someone like a menopause nutritionist, well, the broccoli might literally be broccoli! but the chocolate is sleeping through the night and feeling like yourself again.
So when you’re writing a piece of content, you lead with the chocolate in your hook or your title, and then inside the post, you serve up the broccoli.
It’s the same thing, you’ve just made it a bit more tempting.
If the chocolate is genuinely what someone wants, that person is going to stop and read, and then get served the broccoli, which is how to get to the thing they wanted in the first place.
You’re just meeting people where they’re at and walking them to where they need to go, which, if you think about it, is exactly what good marketing does.
I’m not going to pretend I always get this right, by the way. If you have a scroll through my podcast episodes, you’ll probably find plenty of broccoli titles in there, and that’s fine, because some people are ready for the broccoli and actively go looking for it. But if I’m trying to reach someone new, someone who doesn’t know me yet and doesn’t know what they need, the chocolate is what’s going to get their attention.
How to work out what your chocolate is
I’d start by thinking about what your sweet spot client says they want, in their words, not yours.
- What kind of questions are being typed into Google?
- What does your sweet spot client moan about to friends?
- What are people saying when they jump on a discovery call with you?
That’s usually the chocolate, and then the broccoli is everything you know is needed to get there, which is probably your offer and the thing that you could talk about for hours.
Once you’ve got those two things side by side, writing content gets so much easier, because you’re basically joining the dots between them, and every post becomes a little bridge from what people want to what people need.
And the lovely thing is that once someone reads a few of your posts, that person sees that you get what they’re craving, and also that you know how to get them to where they want to be. And that’s when people start to think, “Oh, she’s the one I want to work with.” And people become much more open to the broccoli too, having seen it working.
A simple exercise: chocolate on one side, broccoli on the other
This is something I do in my messaging programme, Silent Storm, and you can try it for yourself. Grab a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle.
On one side, write down all of your chocolate, so everything your sweet spot client says they want, in their words. And on the other side, write down all of your broccoli, so everything you know is needed to get there that your client doesn’t know yet.
Just seeing them side by side is usually a bit of a light bulb moment, and also a load of content ideas.
How to write engaging content: start with one simple question
Next time you sit down to write a piece of content, I want you to ask yourself one simple question: am I selling the chocolate or the broccoli?
Lead with the chocolate in your hook, serve up the broccoli once someone’s there.
If you fancy working on this together, come and join me inside Silent Storm, because this is a big part of the work we do in there when writing our content. To be honest, I’m usually most of my clients’ sweet spot client, and I also love chocolate, so my head is always full of ideas for you! You can find out more about Silent Storm here.
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