In Demand Content: 5 Hints From Rachel McAdams

Morning Glory is a movie about an upstart television producer, Becky Fuller (Rachel McAdams), who accepts the challenge of reviving a struggling morning show program with warring co-hosts.

The show’s ratings put it at 4th place behind the other morning shows, an embarrassment to the network, and Becky is tasked with getting the ratings up. Just as she gets the right people on board and begins to establish some progress, she gets hit with a 6 week ultimatum, “Get the ratings up or the show is over.”

Already a workaholic, Becky takes it to another level as she gets the weatherman to broadcast while riding the most dangerous roller coaster in the area. Soon, one of the co-hosts wants in on the fun and takes on some sticky and controversial interviews. Then, the two co-hosts air some of their tension against each other on air. The ratings start going up and more craziness ensues.

Here are some characteristics of Becky that might benefit small businesses who are trying to build their online audience and ratings:
• Even when she realized there was way more to being an executive producer than she expected, she never lost the winners attitude
• Hungry to find good news, stories and even create them if necessary
• Creativity – she found ways to hire great talent and do great things even while poorly funded
• Leadership – she got rid of bad people and coaxed mediocre people to produce great stuff
• Energetic – she would not take no for an answer, when people got tough, she got even tougher

One of the movie’s reviewers had this to say:
“One of that show’s hosts, Diane Keaton, has seen it all and thinks Ms. McAdams will be another of her bosses who ‘comes and goes’ but Rachel makes a decision that eventually changes the show’s direction-hires former news anchor Harrison Ford as her new co-host. I’ll stop there and just say this was quite funny in an intelligent and believable way and there were many instances where one cares what happens to the characters especially to McAdams and Ford when they’re on screen together. Overall, Morning Glory is a fine comedy about the way daytime morning shows work in this modern ratings-driven era (it helps when many real-life celebs appear in cameos).”

Are you picking up any hints that will revolutionize your online content? If your job, in any way involves getting the most out of your content, you will be inspired by watching this movie. And you might sense a swift kick in the butt to do what you can to take your content to another level – as Becky did because her job (and everyone else’s job) was on the line if she didn’t. There’s nothing like a sense of urgency to take things up a notch.

In today’s fast-changing new media environment, businesses must learn how to stay in control by listening to their audience, taking appropriate action to engage and, in effect, compel them to join your marketing team.

Does your web content pass the “in-demand” sniff test? Stop expecting your staff to know what’s hot and go right to your customers. Do they like it? That’s fine, but do they love it? If you don’t hear your extroverted customers say something like, “I’ve got to tell Beulah about this right now!” you could be working on placeholder content. It could mean you need to listen more intuitively – forget about what customers need – what do they want? Cut the fluff and get right to the good stuff.

Tom Shivers is an SEO consultant who is always finding ways to inspire his clients to take their business up a notch. Get his free whitepaper: Link Building Strategy Brief – tactics and strategies that will work best for you and your team, based on how you are marketing.