Are you creating content that isn’t attracting attention? Perhaps this tale of an unconventional job hunter in the US can help

Meet Lukas Yla. He wanted a marketing job in San Francisco’s tech industry and had even identified his dream employers. But it’s a tough market. LinkedIn is full of bright young things ready to set the digital world alight.

To get a job, especially when there’s no vacancy advertised, takes some doing. Essentially you need to get your content (CV) noticed by your target market (the marketing director).

Analyse your market’s needs

A LinkedIn story reported how Lukas had tried the conventional routes but wasn’t getting anywhere. His content simply wasn’t attracting enough attention. So he thought long and hard about what his target marketed wanted or needed the most. His answer… doughnuts.

In a death-or-glory bid for a new job, Lukas bought himself a cycle courier’s t-shirt and several boxes of doughnuts. Dressed as a dispatch rider and claiming he needed the signature of the marketing director’s assistant at the very least, he apparently blagged his way past reception desks and found a suitable spot near his target’s office. He’d then open the box of doughnuts with a printed note declaring: ‘Most CVs end up in the trash. Mine – in your belly’. The note went on to explain how Lukas had used his ingenuity to carry out his plan and how such problem solving and drive made him worthy of an interview.

LinkedIn states that Lukas’s approach worked and was contacted by several of his target employers to discuss career opportunities. (This story actually broke last autumn, so why LinkedIn are reporting it as news now is a different issue that this blog may return to.)

Consider an indirect content route

What can content marketers learn from this unusual tale? That in a market crowded with content, it takes something exceptional to stand out. That if you’ve done everything you can to make your content compelling and easy to engage with (like this CV from Yahoo CEO, Marissa Mayer) you may need to attract your audience by offering them something that might not be directly relevant to their business, but meets one of their needs or desires.

Offering a free doughnut with every download of your latest industry whitepaper may be overdoing it. But considering what is really going to make your audience sit up and take notice isn’t such a bad idea.

The most-read story on this blog in 2016 was about the Mayer CV. Did readers click on it to learn how to create better marketing campaigns or because they wanted to improve their chances of a better next job? Hmmm…

And is this article an attempt to make the most of this insight into visitors’ wants and needs? Of course. Does it prove that Content Cloud is staffed by creative and insightful marketing gods? That would be nice.

The message is simple. Find out what makes your audience tick, and you can start to make them click.