At this time of year, we’re up to our armpits in New Year’s resolutions; some are our own, but mostly they belong to the businesses we help. It seems January and February are the months when MDs and Directors get serious about how they market their business. And, quality content copywriting is top of the agenda.
So, for those new to copywriting for business here’s how to write content the smart way:
Writing an informative blog, click worthy email or concise web page. Can’t be that hard, can it? Surely, all it takes is to talk about how great you are and detail out a long list of services?
Mmmmmm. If only it was so easy.
Here at Attract & Engage we’re proud to have spent many happy hours writing words for clients’. In fact, we’ll take blogs, emails, on-page web content and raise you social media posts, glossy brochures and annual reports. So, with January deadlines looming, we thought it made sense to share a little of our insider knowledge.
Anyone can put pen to paper, but what does it take to write for your business the smart way?
From our experience, it generally pays to start by asking yourself the following…
Knock your audience dead with words (metaphorically, of course)
1) What? What are you creating? Is it a downloadable A4 PDF guide? An email? A lengthy report?
2) Who? Who will read it? New clients who have never heard of you? Warm leads who you hope to convert? Existing clients who may be interested in learning about the other services you offer?
3) When? Set a deadline. Consider the other deadlines that play a role too. Design, print, dispatch?
4) Tone? This reflects your brand. What does your business stand for, who is the target audience, what style should you adopt that fits?
5) Call to action? What do you want your audience / readers to do after they’ve read your content? Click a link, telephone a number, visit an event? How will you measure the success of this?
6) Special offer? Is there a promotion, free consultation, introductory service you want to mention?
7) Must include? What’s your ABC difference. The 2 or 3 things that set you apart and will be the tangible, rational and compelling reason the audience / readers do the thing you want them to do.
8) Check, check, triple check. Now we know you value honest advice, so we’ll be frank. Your first draft is not good enough. Chances are you’d be on the fast track to wince-ville. At Jill Willis Marketing, we value quality above all else. We don’t do rush jobs. We avoid jargon, and do all in our professional power to avoid typos.
So we have a three step proofing process, and then maybe (when the green light shines brightly), we publish.
[Editor’s note: Of course, the evil copywriting god will now mock us. Please don’t judge if you find she’s inserted a naughty typo or two in this blog post!]
Tick, tick, tick…
Ready to get started? Bear in mind that research from Buffer Social’s recent study found that blogs of around 1,600-2,300 words got the best engagement from readers, and Google search ranking results*. So, if yours is going to be any good, you should block out a reasonable length of time.
If you have any questions about this blog post, or could do with a little help meeting your deadline get in touch.
*Attract & Engage cannot guarantee that your 1,600-2,300 word, carefully written blog post will engage readers and rank position 1 in Google. Of course. But, you have our thanks and esteem for reading this far! Thanks.
