Why VRIN Scoring Will Drive Successful Businesses In 2020
In a survey published by Deloitte in 2018, businesses identify the ability to ‘brand build’ as a growing challenge for their marketing department.
Improving your engagement and following is dependent upon your strategic communication. Namely a killer content marketing strategy. A process of planning, executing and measuring your copy, images and interaction that contributes to your overall social proof.
“VRIN” scoring is a method to evaluate and optimise the performance of your content marketing strategy. This acronym has proven itself time and time again as a valuable tool to improve the positioning of clients – by auditing your content based on these four key principles:
- Value
- Rarity
- Inimitable
- Non-substitutable
How To Apply VRIN Metrics
Each of these four “VRIN” score metrics is measured from 1 to 10. With the objective of achieving 8 or above. And anything less than 5 per post, or 25 in total, can be seen as detracting from your brand. In fact you should probably stop, pour yourself a caffeinated beverage and re-evaluate.
Your “VRIN” score self-assessment is an excellent way to evaluate your own performance or that of a competitor. To apply the power of this acronym you need to consider each of the “VRIN” score categories independently.
Value
What is it that people will value from your content?
When creating a new blog post or a newsletter for example, always think about what your audience will gain from it. Be it emotional or intellectual; consider how they will be better off for stumbling upon your content.
Rarity
What makes my business different?
With so much information available to your market, it is critical to find a new angle that your competitors can’t replicate. The objective is to score a high rarity rating to position yourself as a thought leader within your niche. It is also a measurement of the perceived value of your product or service. If you score highly in this area you can be considered as having a compelling offer for your target market.
Inimitable
How hard is it for competitors to publish similar content?
This metric is all about identifying your unique sales proposition – that is what separates you from your competitors. If you have been in business for over 100 years or your delivery times are the fastest in your region this is the information you want to be promoting. By scoring highly with this metric it would indicate that the content is fresh, novel and highly innovative and that makes it difficult for somebody to replicate.
Non-substitutable
Can your customers simply not live without it?
Within your content marketing strategy you should define messaging that cajoles customers into thinking their world would be improved with your product or service. Incorporate authentic trust signals such as testimonials and reviews that prove your worth is vital. If you are to score highly in this category your business must deliver transformative experiences that differentiate your offer from that of your competition.
Significance Of Your VRIN Score
Content cut through can be excruciatingly slow if you don’t know what you are doing. And now that your competitors all have social media accounts, websites and a SEO strategy there can often be very little separating yourself from the herd to establish the social proof you need for the future.
By focusing on a content marketing strategy that ticks all the VRIN boxes: Value, rarity, inimitable and non-substitutable you will be well-placed for carving out a niche within your market and owning it.
