Content marketing is one of the more popular methods used to promote a business these days. Not only does it help with your SEO efforts, but it puts your business in front of other people by sharing valuable information with them.

If you have decided to learn how to write copy for your business, here are the steps to take to begin planning.

Research Topics

First, you need to figure out what you’re going to write about. What are other people in your industry discussing? What are some of the latest trends and news going on?

What articles have gotten a lot of traffic for other websites? Take some time to scout out the competition, then make a list of 10 article titles to start.

Come Up With A Schedule

Next, you need to decide how often you’re going to publish these articles. Do you want to publish one every day, every week, or every month? When deciding on a schedule, consider your budget and the time it will take to produce an article.

You want to find a balance between something that is easy to maintain but also provides you with a steady stream of content.

A Social Media Plan

Once your articles are written, you’ll need a way to get them out into the world. Social media is great for this, so make sure you have systems in place to share your new content across all of your social media platforms.

Determine Writer Guidelines

Finally, you need to think about the guidelines you want in place for your writers. How long should posts be? How many outbound and inbound links do you want per article?

How do you want the article formatted? Take some time to think about how you want your articles to look and function, and then turn these into a solid list of guidelines.

There’s a lot that goes into a content strategy, but with the list above you’ll be off to a good start. For more advice, you can contact us at any time.

Types of Sales Copy

Did you know that digital marketing content is not solely for the purpose of generating leads? The truth shall make you free.

Sales copy should not only secure viable leads but educate your sales teams in the process. Before creating digital and inbound marketing content, it is important to know which teams are best suited for the task.

Team Responsibility

As a business owner, consider these types of sales copy and the best team for the task:

Blog Posts

What do customers ask about?

Target web content and blog posts towards the questions consumers are asking.
Where can these questions be found?

Find consumer questions through your sales representatives.

Whitepapers

Who are your viable leads?

Consult with your sales rep team in order to tailor whitepapers that procure viable leads.

Case Studies: Remind the Sales Team of Good References

Sales teams prosper through open opportunities where they can provide consumers reference points. Remind your teams that those case studies exist and where these resources are located.

Sales Scripts: A Good Talking Point of Reference

Scripts provide reps with the information needed without requiring them to memorise phrases and lines like a stage actor.

Competitor Comparisons: Awareness is Key

Every team should be confident in knowing why the brand is the best. Summarising comparison data in a simple way will increase the sales team’s odds in competitive circumstances.

Delivery through the sales team, as opposed to the marketing team in this instance, is most influential.

Template Every Scenario

Responding to social messages timely brings a great advantage. As an example, provide sales and marketing teams with template tweets. Equally, there should be a default template for every type of email that is dispersed to clients. These include:

  • Follow-up emails
  • Outreach emails
  • Check-in emails

Your Content Needs to Be Original

It can be hard to come up with content on a regular basis. The truth is that, when doing your research, it is easy to just copy someone else’s blog.

Even if you just summarise it, you could still be accused of publishing content that is not original.

Though you might not see the problem, it is important that you publish original content every time.

Here are some reasons why you should only use original content on your website.

The Search Engines Are Catching On

If you are not publishing original content, they will be less likely to bring your blogs up during searches. If the search engines are not recommending you, your website is not going to be found as often!

Make a Difference to Finding New Customers

Readers are more likely to view blogs that are original and high quality. If your readers are quickly moving away, your website will lose some of its credibility.

Your readers and their actions will show search engines whether or not they should recommend your blogs.

Also, if readers are not impressed, they are less likely to share your blogs and content, meaning that you won’t be able to reach as many people.

While most people know that plagiarism is unethical, they don’t know that there are serious legal consequences too. In fact, it is illegal. You will be forced to remove your blogs.

Content Marketing Mistakes You Need To Avoid

Content marketing, as a strategy, has the potential to make huge gains in terms of your audience and to make sure you are getting a steady stream of new followers (if not outright customers).

However, it’s important to avoid making mistakes in your content marketing, otherwise, you might be shooting your marketing strategy in the foot.

Here are five, basic mistakes you need to make sure you’re not making.

Don’t Pitch Yourself Too Soon

You know when you’re at a casual get-together, and you met someone you’re kind of interested in, but you don’t want to ask them out too soon and look desperate or turn them off?

Same thing with your content marketing. Give your audience a reason to like you before you try to give them the hard sell.

A Lack of Substance

When it comes to your content, make sure it isn’t just empty calories. If you’re pouring on the buzzwords to hide your lack of meat, rethink your strategy.

Your content needs to have something useful, or at least entertaining, to offer consumers. If it doesn’t, they’ll go graze somewhere else.

Your Content Doesn’t Have A Goal

Every piece of content you produce needs to have a specific goal. And, if your strategy is really advanced, several goals. For example, your latest gardening advice blog might be meant to help readers grow better rose bushes.

But it’s also meant to help sell a particular kind of fertiliser, and it’s trying to draw attention to your ongoing, practical gardening feature. Keep your goals in mind, or you’ll have no way of knowing if a piece is a success.

Not Understanding Your Audience

Personas are key when it comes to your content marketing, which is a fancy way of saying that you need to know who you’re creating this content for.

Is it aimed at adolescents? Single mothers? A particular political party? You need to know who your content is for in order to figure out what will appeal to them.

Always Include A Call To Action

Even if you’ve never heard the term before, you know what a call to action is. It’s that part of the commercial where they tell you to Call Today! or Visit Us Online!

And while you might think that sounds bossy, or unnecessary, but a call to action is the best way to actually get your audience to do something.

Because if that call isn’t there, you’ve spent a whole lot of time and effort getting someone’s attention and interest, then hoping they’ll do what you want on their own.

Instead of just hoping for the best, though, make it clear what you want your audience to do. If you want them to like and share your video, tell them to do that instead of hoping they’ll take that action on their own.

If you want them to check out your content archive, tell them that’s what you want to do, and give them the link so they don’t have to go hunting for it.

If you want them to follow your social media pages, or even go to your digital storefront, don’t leave that up to chance! Tell your audience (in a nice way, of course) what you’d like them to do.

Because if you have earned their good will, it will feel more like doing a favor for a friend. Which is precisely what you want to capitalise on to help grow your following, and spread your content as far and wide as you possibly can.

Learn How To Write Copy

Knowing how to write copy, as a strategy, has the potential to make huge gains in terms of your audience, and to make sure you are getting a steady stream of new followers (if not outright customers).

However, it’s important to avoid making mistakes in your content marketing, otherwise, you might be shooting your marketing strategy in the foot.

For more information on great content, contact us.

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