There are no clever hacks or magic spells to transform someone into an expert content writer overnight. In fact, it takes a lot of perseverance, practice and ultimately patience to develop into an authority figure or a specialist in the art of content writing. However, there are certain tools that one can leverage to ensure their content ticks all the right boxes.
To help nudge you in the right direction, Word Hatter has created a simple guide to achieving superlative results. While our previous blog, The A-Z of Great Content Writing, delves into the foundation of a quality content marketing campaign, this blog focuses on the golden rules of producing creative, strategic and engaging content. Our bank of experience ensures you have access to the best insights.
Let’s take a look at each one, together.
Aim of The Game
By defining what the objective of your content is, you can successfully trigger a measurable response in your target audience. So, begin by asking yourself the right questions.
Are you writing a blog post to generate buzz about a new product?
Are you releasing an infographic to communicate important statistics?
Are you sending out an emailer to increase employee motivation?
By understanding your content aims, you’re publishing material that adds value and meets the expectation of not just the readers, but also the writers. This in turn, leads to higher efficiency and productivity. Additionally, it allows content writers to utilise resources, styles and formats that work best for each type of content.
A Friend in Need
Who is your content speaking to?
Are you addressing an individual or a business?
Is your product/service solving a problem for the end user or the intermediary?
By understanding your target audience, you’re not only influencing desired outcomes, but also building fruitful relationships over the long run. Remember, you are delivering value to the consumer in the form of problem solutions, tips to improve their lives, answers to a variety of questions and entertainment. So, it’s imperative for you to be aware of their likes, dislikes, frustration, pain points, dreams and desires. And then, adapt your tonality and voice to best strike up a conversation. Because, a one-size-fits-all approach rarely works.
Once Upon a Time
Some of the most engaging and impactful content is built upon the premise of storytelling. Whether it’s an article, newsletter, brochure or white paper, make sure you’re presenting the facts in an interesting manner.
Infuse emotion into the piece.
Add in elements of surprise, drama and intrigue.
Support your narrative with appropriate keywords.
Tie this all in together with powerful graphics.
This helps build a deeper and stronger connection with the target audience. What’s more, it adds a human element to the content which further trickles down to the brand. Yes, storytelling goes beyond the purview of advertising; it makes people trust and resonate with a brand more easily. Furthermore, it allows businesses to interact with customers in a highly fragmented media world.
Consistency is Key
If you try and do too many things with your content, it will only land up confusing the audience. So, don’t let your readers be frazzled and frustrated by a lack of lucid writing. That’s right, vagueness or ambivalence is rarely engaging. Information should be presented in a way that is clear and easy to comprehend, without room for ambiguity. How might you achieve this?
Keep content short and sweet.
Use informative subheadings.
Additionally, proof read and edit your work thoroughly.
Maintain consistency in your writing styles and genre of content.
Readers will be more motivated and inspired to read your blog if they know you’re posting regularly and relevantly. Hence, you might find it useful to set up a strict posting schedule.
Power of The Source
As content writers, you have a certain responsibility to your audience. The information you put out there needs to be up to date, accurate and error free.
If you’re providing solutions and tips, it has to be backed up with some sort of statistics or research.
Whether you’re conducting primary research to pick up fresh insights, or turning to secondary sources of literature from the internet or library, make sure to use quality sources.
We can’t stress this enough. There’s a lot of data floating around. It’s imperative for you to sift through it and pluck out what’s most beneficial for your readers.
It’s Now or Never
While it’s important to create content that resonates, ultimately it needs to guide users to take certain action. Every piece of content you create, should have some sort of call to action at the end.
Add in a short sentence or a paragraph at the closing of each post, expressing to readers what you’d like them to do next.
Are you trying to encourage sign ups to a particular contest?
Or perhaps, reminding them to renew a subscription? You will need to provide them with the appropriate tools to do so.
Use internal links to direct the audience to the next chapter or phase in your communication.
Simple, yet effective. When put together, these insights go a long way in ensuring your content meets its goals. Given the current climate, it’s even more necessary for brands to release valuable, up-to-date and relevant content. Not just to keep readers interested in the brand’s offering, but also to reaffirm trust and reliability.
Do you agree? We’d love to hear your thoughts!
