Business in contemporary time has taken a digital direction. Firms are quickly loosening their grip on traditional modes of marketing such as billboards. They are rapidly embracing the opportunities in the online space. It is no wonder that some have been branded names such as “tweeting firms.”
There are various platforms for marketing on the digital front. The most popular are websites. Blogs too are fast being turned into viable platforms. In recent times, social media platforms have been turned into B2B lead-generation sites.
Every digital platform, be it a website, blog or social media page, needs content. This means that businesses have to embark on digital content writing to create marketing material. Let’s consider some secrets of digital content writing from professional marketers.
1. Define Your Goals and Objectives
Before you embark on any writing, you should first deliberate on the type of content you want to create. A significant part of this deliberation will entail defining the goals and objectives that you want to achieve in the organization.
Perhaps your organization wants to inform prospects about a specific product. Your team may be trying to promote a particular product or service to increase volumes of sales. Your organization may also want to educate on their product or service. It may want to generate more leads. All these are objectives and goals that may guide your content.
The premise here is to write with specific objectives in mind. Also, the subject of your writing should be closely aligned with the objectives and goals that you’re trying to achieve. This way, you will not struggle with coming up with content. In extension, you will write targeted material that will appeal to your audience.
2. Complete Extensive Research
Professional writers are good researchers by default. They understand that one cannot come up with any relevant content without undertaking research. As a business, you have to do extensive research before writing. You ought to know the subject matter of your writing. You ought to have a deep understanding of the type of audience that you’re targeting, and in extension, their persona.
By undertaking extensive research, you are bound to know the tone that is required for your content: casual, conversational, professional, academic, formal or something that has a bit of everything, etc. The tone can have a significant impact on the perception that your prospects have on your brand. In some circles, how you communicate is equally important as what you intend to communicate.
3. Your Headline Counts
The headline is what everyone sees first. If your headline is engaging and captivating, it arouses your audience’s curiosity, which ultimately culminates in them reading your content.
The following guidelines can help you develop headlines that spark the interests of readers:
- Make it short. Long headlines repel readers.
- Make it captivating. You can use controversial, popular or unconventional topics to captivate your readers.
- Use keywords that are relevant to your content in your headline. This gives the reader an idea of what is in the article.
- Use power words. These include words or phrases that convey a strong or compelling assertion. For instance: “The best tools for managing your inventory” or “The ultimate guide to increasing your customer base.”
The words “best” and “ultimate” convey some power and authoritativeness. Many readers are drawn to content that bears these words, especially on their headlines.
4. Use Relevant Keywords
The secret to success with digital content is using keywords. By using relevant and well-crafted keywords, you are in essence making it easy for businesses to find your content on the digital front. It increases the views of your content which ultimately translates into a better marketing outcome.
This is well connected to search engine optimization (SEO). It’s a technique of using keywords and their close variations while writing content to improve the content’s rankings on search engine result pages. These keywords ought to be placed organically in the text in a well-spread out manner.
5. Use Visual Content
Professional marketers have always held the position that the eyes are the gateway to the mind. If one can appeal to the eyes of someone, chances are they can appeal to their mind too. In this respect, your aim should be to appeal to the eyes and in extension, the mind of the reader of your digital content. You can do this flawlessly by adding images and visual content to your write-up. Readers are drawn to such pieces and tend to spend more time on the site. The secret to digital marketing success with visual content is to use relevant supporting images. Unless you are writing for academic purposes, your content should always have supporting images. They reinforce the message that you’re putting across and add to the general appeal of the whole content.
6. Personalize Your Content
Have you ever received a letter, text, Facebook message or email from your best friend telling you about your favorite moments together? We’re sure that you have! The content of these messages is always friendly, targeted at you and evokes strong feelings and emotions. We all end up smiling, giggling, or even shedding tears. We also contemplate replying instantly to the message.
The same should apply to your digital content. It should evoke such feelings in others that may want your product or service. The thoughts that should linger in their minds could be, “This firm knows us so well!” or “I feel as if the company is talking to us directly!”
The only way that you can achieve this is by personalizing your content. It simply means that you write as if you’re talking to the reader on a personal level. Use expressions that are used in daily conversations. Create an audience persona that you can use when personalizing content.
7. Offer Benefits and Solutions
The key to selling a successful pitch in your content is by highlighting the benefits. Every feature in your writing should embody a benefit. Businesses are mostly after these benefits so you would do great by offering them.
Solutions should closely follow the benefits. Businesses are not always yearning to know more about your company as much as they want answers and real solutions to their problems. It is best to quickly provide these solutions in the form of calls to action or plans of action.
Christina Battons is a creative writer and content strategist who helps people and students succeed at self-education, writing, motivation, professional development and more. She writes blog posts at EliteEssayWriters and also is an active guest writer on many websites. Follow her on Facebook to ask questions or see more of her work.
