Using the Curiosity Gap to Make Them Want MORE!

Get them to lean in, engage with your content, and want more of what you've got with the magic of the curiosity gap.

How we can create sparks of curiosity in our content? How do we get our readers and listeners to lean in and want MORE? What is a curiosity gap and how can we bring it into our marketing? 

In this episode of She Built This, we’ll answer these questions and more about creating a curiosity gap in your content and keeping your audience interested and engaged! 

Curiosity is what helps us to stay open, and propels us forward to take action. It’s an inner magnetization to something, a pull, an excitement. 

I bet if you’re like me, you probably want that SAME thing for your clients too. 

You want them to land on your website and say,

“Hmmmmmm…. I’m drawn to this person very much!” 

“I don’t know what it is, but I LIKE them!” 

“This intrigues me enough to take action.” 

You want them to read your social media post or your email newsletter and want to learn MORE! Or hear your podcast and feel delighted by the new thoughts and ideas flooding into their minds. 

Just like YOUR curiosity begins with desire and excitement and leads you to follow it, you can do that with your content and create that feeling in others too.

Do you know what the curiosity gap is? I didn’t! 

The curiosity gap is the space between what we know and what we want to (or need to) know. Your job as the writer, podcaster, or business owner is to create just enough of a curiosity gap, without it getting weird. You don’t want to make it uncomfortable or confusing for the one engaging in the content, but you want their interest to stay piqued. 

It’s a gift to those engaging in our content, especially written content, when we create a curiosity gap and pique their interest just enough. 

BUT how much is too much when it comes to creating curiosity in our content? 

Can you ever have TOO much of a curiosity gap? 

There’s a balance to be struck. 

Our content should spark an interest, and a sense of excitement, and leave them wanting to know more, but not feeling confused and misunderstood.

In this She Built This podcast episode, we get into the five questions to ask yourself about the content you’re creating to help you create more of a curiosity gap and excitement for those consuming your content. 

I cover how to use the curiosity gap in our content creation and make them want MORE: 

  • What is the “curiosity gap” and why it matters in our content creation 

  • Whether or not we can create too much curiosity? 

  • The four types of curious people and how to consider them in your marketing

  • Five questions to ask yourself about your own content to create a curiosity gap in your marketing 

  • Why trying to create for everyone ultimately ends up with something for no one 

  • How to infuse more of YOU into your content 

  • Why not to include too much jargon in your copy and content 

  • And why to avoid leading the witness with your content when trying to create a curiosity gap 

Quick Takeaways from Today’s Episode on Creating a Curiosity Gap:

  1. The questions we ask others can actually spark curiosity and create interest, or sort of stop the conversation and stress the person out before it gets started. 

  2. Which of the four types of curious are YOU? What type are your ideal clients?

    • The Fascinated” – If you tend to have a broad range of interests, feel you probably read more than your peers, and have your hands in lots of different things, this description probably captures your day-to-day life well.

    • “The Problem Solver” – A problem solver tends to have fewer, deeper interests. They are the type that may lay awake in bed at night thinking about a nagging problem and have a love of figuring out puzzles.

    • “The Empathizer” – An empathizer is a people person or socially curious. Data shows that these people were most likely to use social media, both to project having it all themselves and to observe the behavior of others.

    • “The Avoider” – An avoider has generally lower curiosity and both reads less and reports more stress in their day-to-day lives.

  3. Cultivating curiosity in your life has huge benefits for you, your relationships, and your business. It starts with a DESIRE or SPARK to know, solve, learn, and experience more of the world around you.

  4. The things that make you “weird” or “boring” in your mind are the very things people reading will relate to! And you can use the sharing of these things to ask your audience and readers questions about them too! 

  5. Let them come to their own conclusions and discoveries. You don’t have to solve the problem or give the answer in its entirety, but you give them a REALLY good starting point of how they can explore it more for themselves. 

  6. Keep it simple, utilize storytelling, and don’t get too jargony. You can talk jargon to them once they become clients (if you have to).

If you want to keep learning along this vein, stick with me because I have some stuff up my sleeve for the She Built This podcast that you’re going to want to be in the know about. 

Links Mentioned in Today’s Curiosity Gap Episode: 

Mignon Fogarty’s “Six Steps to Get Your Guests to Promote Your Podcast” blog 

Jasmin Haley and my conversation on the Legacy Speaker Show on “How to Turn a Speaking Engagement into More Content for Your Business” 

Karen Kenney’s appearance on the She Built This podcast

Mignon Fogarty’s appearance on the She Built This podcast

Keep Learning on the Blog! “Curiosity Marketing: How to Get People to Consume Your Content” Examples of curiosity marketing and creating the curiosity gap in your emails, blogs, website, copy, and more! 

About the Host, Emily Aborn Content Writer, Podcaster, and Founder of She Built This 

Emily Aborn is a Content Writer for women entrepreneurs, Podcast Host of Content with Character, Podcast Host of the TOP Women Entrepreneur podcast She Built This, and Founder of She Built This, a community for women entrepreneurs and professionals. She’s been an entrepreneur since 2014 and has experience in running brick-and-mortar as well as online businesses. She’s worked with over 92 different industries and loves helping those with a big mission increase their visibility, connect with their clients, and bring their dreams and visions to life. For fun, Emily enjoys nerdy word games and puzzles, reading, listening to podcasts like they’re going outta’ style, and tromping about in the woods with her husband, Jason, and their dog, Clyde. 

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