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Copywriting and content writing are both necessary in your marketing.
“What’s the difference?” I hear you ask.
Put simply, copywriting sells and content writing informs. I described the differences in more detail in a previous post that you can read here.
Understanding the difference between the two is important when you’re considering what your copywriting and content writing goals should be to achieve your marketing objectives. They could be growth, more brand recognition, or simply more clients and increased profits. Your pot, or nest, of gold!
G is also for grammar. Get your grammar wrong and you’re at risk of not looking as professional as you could be. An occasional slip is forgivable – after all, we’re only human. But in general, checking that your grammar and punctuation are correct in all your written marketing is essential.
Being a bit of a grammar nerd, I could go on here ad infinitum. But I’ll resist! It’s hard – I’m biting my nails – but I’ll do it to spare you the pain. Instead, if you want a light-hearted read of why on earth young people are intimidated by a full stop and the inappropriate use of apostrophes, you’ll find that blog here.
Content and Copywriting Goals
Copywriting sells, content writing informs – the first basic rule of thumb to remember when writing your marketing elements
Copywriting goals – work towards creating:
Clear, succinct, attention-grabbing copy
Emotional, emotive copy to get those hearts wanting what you’re selling
Less on the features, more on the benefits and how it feels to own it
Short and sweet copy is best. Remember KISS – Keep It Simple, Stupid!
Not forgetting AIDA – Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action
Tempting, unmissable CTAs (Call to Action)
Ultimate goal – to increase sales or whatever your ‘Gold’ is
Content writing goals – your content should:
Align with your marketing strategy – there’s no point in churning out content without knowing what it’s supposed to do and where it’s leading your prospective customers
Your content needs to help, inform, entertain and educate
Regular content builds trust with your brand
Your content should highlight problems and then solve them
Attract new prospects through powerful storytelling
Answer questions that you know your target audience asks. For your content to be found in online searches, use the question in your headlines
Ultimate goal – to move the customer through the sales funnel or whatever your ‘Gold’ is
Regularly check your marketing analytics to see how your online content performs and where you need to improve, as this recent HubSpot article clearly shows.
I was quite surprised to see that in the marketing industry, top-performing articles are over 5,700 words in length! Depending on the topic, I usually recommend 2,000+ words, so this information could change my advice. It can also depend on who your target audience is.
Now for the Glittery Gold Bits
When you’re writing either copy or content, scatter some gold throughout to help it sparkle and glitter, capturing your readers’ attention and appealing to their emotions.
But it’s more than just writing creatively. The gold comes from asking and answering the right questions.
As you write, remember 5W1H. This is what good journalists use to tell their stories, so this approach is particularly useful in your content writing:
5W1H – what, who, where, when, how and why
This technique helps your readers understand that you know who they are, what their pain points are, and what you’re selling them. It applies to the product as well as to how it makes them feel. And most importantly, why they should buy it.
Simon Sinek, the British/American author and inspirational speaker, wrote the famous book ‘Start With Why’. In one of his TED talks, he illustrated how the Golden Circle can be used to improve leadership, culture, product development, and even sales and marketing.
The Golden Circle uses three of the questions in the 5W1H approach – ‘what’, ‘how’ and ‘why’, with ‘why’ being right in the centre.
When you succinctly and powerfully answer the question: “Why? Why is this product different? Why should I buy it?”, it helps to create desire and promote action.
So, we’ve gone from Content Goals to Glittery Golden Words to the Golden Circle. Keep all this in mind as you write to help you win those Golden clients and customers!
Need some help to mine that gold for your business? Then please get in touch. I’m here to help. Email me at jen@jennyhaken.co.uk or telephone 07799 648321.