3 Ways Storytelling Makes Evergreen Content Timely & Relevant
As a subject matter expert, you no doubt have a lot of great information to share.
But knowing how to share it in a way your audience finds interesting?
Well, that’s a different story.
This week my client is hitting the proverbial road, starting a podcast tour to promote her new book.
She’s got stories for days. Insights for miles.
So what seems to be the problem here?
In her words:
“I have lots of stories—personal examples, client wins, teaching moments—but I struggle with choosing the right one for the right context.”
The right context accounts a lot when people are choosing whether or not to pay attention to what you’re saying.
Experts are always bumping into the context problem because their advice errors on the side of timelessness.
Often the information they’re sharing is what is called “evergreen.”
Like a pine tree that stays green all year, evergreen information is just as relevant today as it will be in a year.
A message like "Protein helps you stay fuller longer" is a classic example. A health coach could even have an interesting, relevant story that illustrates the truth of that information, but if it lacks the must-read quality of “why should I care about this now?” people are inclined to scroll past or save it for later, and never return.
Timely Hooks make People Pay Attention—Right Now
When I was a journalist, “Why does this matter now?” was the ultimate filter if a story should be published—or not.
In the newsroom, timeliness is a hook—a reason why people would care to pay attention to a topic now.
Timely hooks are just as relevant to your content creation because our brains are wired to filter information overload by scanning for what’s relevant right now.
When something is new or timely, our brain flags it as worth paying attention to.
It gets us curious about how the information will impact how we live life in the near future.
That’s why we notice news alerts, changing seasons, or cultural conversation that speak what we’re already thinking about.
Using timeliness as context does a few important things to make your message (and you as the messenger) memorable:
It Catches and Holds Attention: It provides the immediate "Why now?" that turns an important and interesting message they could listen to anytime into something they must stick around to hear today.
You’ll Always Know What Story To Tell: Timeliness is a decision-making tool forthe oft-asked question: “What story should I tell?” Instead of asking, "Which of my ten stories is the best?,” you can narrow it down by asking, "Which story best illustrates a solution to the current situation?"
It Prevents Rambling: If you’re like me, you’re inclined to give away alllll the information in the name of being thorough, but—as I’ve learned the hard way—this isn’t being comprehensive, it’s information overload. A big part of our jobs is to take mounts of info and streamline so it’s easy to understand and consume. Using timeless as a frame gives your message focus.
It Positions You As "In The Know": Anchoring advice to timely situations shows your expertise is applicable today—not just nice in theory. One of my favorite examples of this on the whole is The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday, who translates ancient advice into a modern day field guide for perennial problems like procrastination.
Big takeaway: If you want more people to pay attention to your message, show them why it matters now.
So how do you do that exactly?
Here are three ways to layer in timely context to make your evergreen content or advice interesting to readers today.
How To Make Evergreen Content Timely & Relevant
A timely hook connects your message to a current event, new information, or top-of-mind cultural conversation/trend.
Even if your topic doesn’t have a “breaking news” quality, zooming out gives context to why your evergreen message is worth paying attention to now.
Here are three ways to layer in context to make your message a must-read:
Data/Studies/Articles/Research
If your goal is to use storytelling to show people why they need your ideas now, you need contrast.
Specifically, you’ll need to illustrate the difference between your way and the status quo, or how the problem exists today.
Recent research, data, articles, and studies help you paint the picture of the status quo by zooming out.
Think of it like a movie: before the action starts, the director opens with a wide shot to establish the scene.
You’re doing the same thing with data—using it to show the current landscape so the audience understands why the topic is relevant, urgent, or meaningful to address right now.
Using recent data to support your evergreen messages not only makes what you’re saying more timely, it validates your audience’s emotional experience with the problem.
Here’s an example from my client:
“Every parent says they want to be present, but most of us are spending our "quality time" in search-and-rescue mode. We're hunting for the permission slip, the other shoe, the water bottle that was "right here yesterday." The real problem isn't that our kids are messy - it's what clutter does to our bodies. A UCLA study found that women who describe their homes as messy or cluttered have higher levels of cortisol - the stress hormone - throughout the day. That elevated cortisol triggers a constant low-grade fight-or-flight response. We're not choosing to be stressed when we walk in the door - our brains perceive the clutter as a threat, and our bodies respond accordingly, making it nearly impossible to stay calm and patient with our children.”
Here my client illustrates the status quo, starting with how the problem feels in day-to-day life, and anchoring it to a UCLA study that explains why the problem is happening on a larger scale. By citing the research, she suggests that the tension the reader is feeling is a symptom of a widespread problem, happening in living rooms across the country.
This empathy establishes an emotional connection to her message. Moreover, using data, tells us why this problem is happening now, and sets her up to contrast this status quo with her solution in the next paragraph. Her introduction (above) begs the question—what do we do about this problem? Which she answers later in that piece of content.
Newly released data, research, and studies can also give you a reason to bring your message up again in content. For example, if a new study comes out that finds “89% of parents report being more stressed than ever*” she could use that statics as a hook to talk about the hidden cost of clutter and how it imperceptively adds to stress levels.
How do you find relevant data, research, articles, and studies?
The easiest way I’ve found is to set up Google News alerts for your topic to get them right to your inbox.
*I made this stat up for the example.
2. Current Events/Seasonality
You may not work in a field with “breaking news,” but you can still make your stories feel current by connecting them to what’s already happening in the world.
Current events give your message a natural timestamp. They remind the audience that your topic doesn’t exist in a vacuum — it’s part of a larger conversation unfolding right now.
That might mean aligning your message with seasonality (a new year, graduation season, the start of summer), or tying it to cultural moments everyone is aware of (elections, major sporting events, etc.).
The goal is to meet people where their attention already is.
When you connect your story to something they’re already thinking about, you make it easier for them to see its relevance.
Needs some inspo? Here are 20+ Content Ideas For November.
3. Cultural Trends/Conversations
Maybe you’ve seen Instagram posts that you don’t need to follow every trend. That’s true, but how do you know what trends to follow? This is an important decision that will save you time in your content creation process. So, I want to take a moment to briefly explain the difference between a fleeting trend and cultural trends.
Take, for instance, the Barbie-themed memes that went viral in summer 2023.
These are typical internet trends: spontaneous, viral, but short-lived, thriving on immediate social media buzz and public interest in current pop culture.
In contrast, cultural trends are found in patterns that reveal a shift in consumer’s mindset. They provide insights into what people are searching for and how their preferences are changing.
For instance, many current cultural conversations revolve around themes like sustainability, mental health, tech, or the pursuit of work/life balance—for example, the ethical and emotional impact of AI or the shift to the four-day work week.
Cultural conversations are not necessarily dictated by what’s happening on the calendar or in the headlines, but what’s shifting in our shared values, priorities, or beliefs.
It’s more of a mood than an event.
Using your message as a lens to explores one of those moods, is a natural way to talk about your unique perspective so it’s relevant to others.
In practice, this is what creates thought leadership. You’re not just reacting to the world; you’re making sense of it. And when people feel that your perspective helps them see the world more clearly, they start turning to you — not for information, but for insightful meaning making.
Think Like A Journalist For Interesting Expert Content
Evergreen content builds trust.
And when you add relevance—when you connect your timeless ideas to what’s happening —you give your audience a reason to pay attention now and not save your posts for later.
Data shows the scope of the problem.
Current events bring your message into the moment.
Cultural conversations reveal your unique perspective.
Using these elements to frame your message is the same way a journalist frames a story: through context, timing, and meaning.
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