This episode of AmyTV looks at 3 simple tips to remember if you want to woo your customer with tutorial content.

If you’re a plumber and become known as the go-to guy on the web for fixing baths and general plumbing maintenance expertise, you’re going to raise your profile and in turn increase exposure of your business to your ideal customer.

It’s a no-brainer really, not only does it increase visibility but this is one of the easiest pieces of content to create for a business because it’s based on your own knowledge.

1: Aim it at the correct skill level

You don’t have to dumb down your advice, but understand that your ideal customer may even be a complete beginner in your area of expertise.

A lot of the businesses I work with are surprised at how popular some of their simplest posts are in attracting prospects and being shared. If you are a web designer You might be more interested in the subtle nuances of design psychology, but your business own customer might just be looking for help picking colours to brand their business.

I did an interview recently about my decision to launch a completely free online sales page resource.  I explained that the content was aimed at beginners to sales pages, but not beginners in business. My ideal customers are those who are well-established in their businesses but are brand new to the ideas of writing sales pages, copywriting or creating content for content marketing.

Assess the skill and knowledge level of your ideal customer within your area of expertise and match the skill level of your tutorial accordingly.

2. Use illustrations to make the message clear

A famous study in persuasion saw an increase of visits from students to the campus asthma medical centre simply by adding a visual map.

Images can greatly increase the effectiveness of your tutorial when it comes to making the message stick. Ronnie Bincer has established himself as THE person to help businesses with their Google+ Hangouts. The content he creates and shares to get businesses up to speed isn’t just high-quality, it’s also highly visual:

Screenshots, photos, even hand drawn doodles can all help to increase the stickability of your message.

3.  break it down step by step

Using a recipe analogy in the video wasn’t the best as I am terrible at following recipes. I can follow them word for word and still be better off making a microwave meal.

But they’ve got the right idea when it comes to creating tutorials. When I teach content workshops I break down the process of writing content into bite size pieces. Prepping materials is intensive, but it’s worth it when attendees can follow the instructions, apply the knowledge that day and improve their writing skills.

When you’re mapping out your content tutorial, break it down as though you were writing a sworn statement of the actual events to be used in a court of law. Skip out nothing. This may seem laborious but it can make the difference between your advice being used to get results, or your advice being misinterpreted and causing frustration.

Again, remember that your customer may be a complete beginner in the subject of your tutorial so make it as easy as possible to follow. Even a simple task such as soft-boiling an egg can cause some serious questions:

• How much water do you need? 
• Do you boil the egg from cold water, or put the egg in when it’s boiling? 
• How long do you boil it for? How fiercely should the water be boiling?

I know because I am still in pursuit of the perfect soft-boiled egg (any tips in the comments would be appreciated).

So there you go, 3 simple tips to making memorable tutorials your customers will love. How did you get on? Let me know in the comments below!