It’s a hard thing to come by these days – original content that actually stands out. But it’s oh so important. The stats don’t lie –nearly a third of companies with a content strategy get 27.1% higher win rates than those without one.
It’s a hard thing to come by these days – original content that actually stands out. But it’s oh so important. The stats don’t lie –nearly a third of companies with a content strategy get 27.1% higher win rates than those without one.
Writing and posting regular blogs is all very well but how do you make sure, that after all that effort, they’ll deliver the results you need? Ideally, reaching a bigger target audience and driving more traffic to your site? Luckily, it’s not magic.
Here’s how to create content that will help your marketing stand out from the crowd.
Like with all writing, you need to get very clear with your point before you dive into the full story. What exactly do you want out of this piece? Do you want your audience to buy something after they’ve read your article? Or perhaps you want to entice them with useful information, so they read more of your articles and build trust in your brand? Whatever the reason, doing this pre-thinking will shape your piece and give it more meaning for the reader.
There is zero point in writing something when you don’t know who you’re writing to. Spend some time developing your target persona – that is, the one person your post is directed at. Who is that person? Thinking of your ideal customer is a good place to start. Content that is personable and speaks to an actual human on things that might solve problems or be of interest to them is much more original and captivating than something that’s shouting into the wind.
As well as knowing who you’re writing for, it’s equally important to understand who you’re writing as – who is your brand personality? Having a clear personality that you embody as you’re writing will help give your brand its unique tone of voice. Writing on behalf of a personality gives you another creative parameter to ensure your writing is always consistent, authentic and original. The result? It feels more like one person speaking to another, not a robot speaking in keywords.
It’s easy to be tempted to upsell your product or business – we get it, you’re here to bring in the cash. Don’t do that. Selling through content is all about giving. Advice, laughs, useful information and an interesting read. That’s what will make you stand out, build trust and respect with your audience and only then can you start closing the deal.
Readers tend to skim over a page. You need to ensure that each section has a strong headline – assume your readers won’t read anything else. And what makes a strong headline? It meaningfully and specifically describes the content and tells your readers why they should care.
Make your blog more personal and memorable by incorporating a story or two. People are enchanted by stories – they don’t have to be once-upon-a-timey. They can take the form of fast analogies, anecdotes or link back to interesting statistics or articles. All of this helps to bring ideas to life.
A blog can be attractive looking in so many ways – add intriguing visuals, an infographic or simply format your writing with good headers and nicely crafted bullet points. Try using interesting fonts, colours and photos where possible to make it more interesting looking.
This is an easy way to mix it up – invite someone else to write a piece for your website or blog. It’s a way to keep things interesting and original and add a bit of variety to your work – just make sure that it’s clear who’s writing what.
It’s important to keep in mind what Google might like, but when you write well for your audience, you’ll also be writing well for Google and SEO. In a far-too-simple nutshell, write something that has value for your audience. Make it clear, descriptive and comprehensive, with great headers and subheads. That’ll get you most of the way there. Then, go back and check that you’ve used the keywords authentically throughout your page – that should be easy. Just write about the topic clearly and those keywords will place themselves. Once your page gains more traction, Google will also recognise your site as a more trusted platform and push you higher in the searches.
In an age where everyone and everything is online, finding your flair can feel hard – the internet is flooded with the same ideas on rotation. So, stand out content? It’s created by the three sisters of originality, relevance, and usefulness.
Need more advice on your content writing? Check out our other blog posts.
The lead copywriter and creative director at Words for Breakfast. She spends much of her time working with the copy writing team across a variety of projects.
