When my wife and I were in the process of potty training our toddler; CORRECTION: When my wife was in the process of potty training our toddler (I liked to think of myself as the fan that cheered him on from the bleachers), we tried a million different “strategies” to get the idea of going potty to stick in his head.

After every successful potty-going experience, my wife rewarded him with a treat of his choosing. We’d clap and cheer for him to express our excitement and show him that he was doing the right thing.

After a while, successful “potty-going” was the norm. We gave him enough treats and positive reinforcement to the point that he began to believe that going potty was his idea all along. After all, he liked the treats and trusted that we would provide the right treat to meet his needs, and now continues to go potty because it’s in his best interest to do so.

You’ve made it this far, keep going with me on this one.

Relevant Content

Relevant content works in a similar way doesn’t it? It’s the “right treat to meet the needs” of those consumers that are searching for it. It gets their attention and trains them to keep opening or seeking out the information that you provide. It essentially rewards them for accomplishing what you want them to and with strategically placed calls-to-action, they’ll be following through how you want them to because it’s in their best interest to do so - it will become the norm.

Content isn’t meant to be a covert operation either. The content you provide needs to be thought out and should provide real valuable information. Have you ever clicked on a link that you thought was relevant to your search only to find out that it was an ad infused cocktail of useless information? Don’t do that.

Provide Real Value

Once you provide value, you’re in a position to ask people to do something that you want them to. It’s the law of reciprocity. You give something of value, and you’ll get something of value in return; in this case, the click-through or download or task that you want the consumer to accomplish after engaging with your content.

On the flip side, if no real value is delivered to the consumer, you’re better off wasting your time filming Harlem Shake videos for YouTube.

What treats are you providing for online vehicle consumers? Let’s get the conversation started below.