This week on the Unscripted SEO Podcast, I sat down with Rai Hyde Cornell from Cornell Content Marketing to discuss how psychology principles can revolutionize your content marketing strategy. If you missed the episode, here’s what we covered! 🎙️
Explore the more in-depth episode recap here
The ELITE Method: Where Psychology Meets Marketing 🔄
Rai brings a unique perspective to content marketing, with eight years of experience in psychology and criminology. She’s taken principles from behavioral health sciences and applied them to help companies change buyer behavior without increasing ad spend. 💰
The cornerstone of her approach is the ELITE method:
- E – Examine your current assets and position 🔍
- L – Learn about your ideal buyer’s internal experience 🧐
- I – Implement content for every stage of the journey 📝
- T – Transform your strategy based on market feedback 🔄
- E – Enhance through cross-team feedback loops 🤝
The CBT Triangle: Beyond Basic Marketing 🔺
One of my favorite parts of our conversation was when Rai explained how she uses the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) triangle in marketing.
“Most marketers just focus on, ‘I want to get them to buy. I want to get them to opt in.’ They focus on the behavior,” Rai explained. But this ignores how thoughts and emotions drive those behaviors in a continuous cycle. ♻️
By understanding this psychological framework, marketers can develop content that addresses the complete internal experience of potential customers, not just push for conversions. 💡
The Stages of Change Matrix 📊
Traditional marketing funnels are too simplistic, according to Rai. Instead, she uses the “stages of change matrix” from psychology to dive deeper into customer mindsets:
“When we’re learning about our ideal audience, it’s not enough to just say they’re in the brand awareness stage. You have to look at the internal experience that’s going on for them.” 🔎
This approach asks nuanced questions: Are prospects aware they have a problem you can solve? Are they actively looking for solutions? Are they even trying to solve the problem? Do they have other priorities? 🤔
I admitted how SEO pros (myself included) often miss this human element: “We jump right to the keywords and research and forget there’s humans behind those keyboards.” This aligns with conversations I’ve had with Michael McDougald about understanding who we’re really trying to reach. 👥
Content as a Living Organism 🌱
Rai emphasized that content strategy must continuously evolve: “Too many companies think, we’ve got our website done, we’ve got two or three dozen blog posts, we’re done. That’s not enough.”
I shared my experience with Save Fry Oil about how websites need to “breathe” and grow organically. We discussed how SaaS companies often create content to reach new audiences while neglecting existing users—despite recurring revenue being the holy grail. 💸
As Rai put it: “With SaaS in particular, a big reason for churn is poor user adoption… If you’re forgetting to create content for the people you’ve already sold, your churn rate is going to be through the roof.” 📈
Breaking Down Silos Between Teams 🧩
The “Enhance” phase creates feedback loops between departments that typically work in isolation. Rai recommends monthly meetings between marketing and sales, with quarterly meetings with customer support.
I related this to businesses like Classic City CPR: “If you’re running CPR classes, you want a connection between your marketing team and instructors because you know they have questions all the time… what’s the top five things you always get asked?” These insights become immediate content opportunities! 💯
Human Content in an AI World 🤖❤️
When I asked if content marketing is dead due to AI, Rai strongly disagreed:
“That’s a fatalistic perspective… And that’s a huge mistake because if everyone else is taking that approach but you actually put in the effort, then you’re gonna be the one that ranks.” 🏆
She emphasized that quality still matters: “Google is prioritizing human created high quality content with the EEAT model. So cater to what Google and the humans want and you will rank.” 📊
The 15-Minute Empathy Exercise ⏱️
Rai left us with a powerful exercise that embodies her approach:
“Sit in your desk chair, turn off your email notifications, turn off your monitor, turn off your cell phone, and just sit there for 15 minutes and think, the people that I want to connect with, what is their day-to-day life like? When they come from the weekend into work on a Monday, what are they stressed about?” 🧘♀️
“If you can practice that empathy exercise… you’re going to be ahead of the curve because you are going to be tapping into those internal experiences and providing content and messaging that resonates on a level that AI never can.” 🎯
Key Takeaways 🗝️
- Psychology principles can transform content marketing strategy
- Understanding the internal experience of buyers is crucial
- Content strategy must evolve continuously based on feedback
- Creating feedback loops between teams amplifies marketing knowledge
- Human empathy remains the ultimate differentiator in an AI world
What aspect of the ELITE method do you think could have the biggest impact on your content strategy? Let me know in the comments! 💬
Connect with Rai Hyde Cornell on LinkedIn or visit Cornell Content Marketing to learn more about the ELITE method.
Subscribe to the Unscripted SEO Podcast for more insights on SEO and content marketing. 🎧