For digital marketing, content writing and copywriting are both essential. That’s why businesses both large and small spend such a large portion of their resources on improving the content they put out for their audience.
But on a more focused level, it’s all about how good those companies’ marketers are at writing texts. With these fifteen simple tips, you will be able to improve the results of every marketing piece you write.
#1 Simplify Your Wording
The first and one of the most important tips you should always stick to is simplifying your wording. How you word your texts will influence their flow and readability. Consequently, if you use complicated wording, many of your readers might end up feeling alienated. If they feel alienated, they might not finish reading your text till the end. Even worse, they might not even start reading it properly. Moreover, when you use complicated wording, you risk confusing your readers instead of educating or entertaining them (depending on your text).
If you already write with simple wording in mind but aren’t sure whether your finished text is actually good, you can use one of the many writing tools that measure readability. The most popular one of these is Hemingway Editor which gives you a readability score that corresponds to different grade levels. The tool is named after the famous writer Ernest Hemingway who was known for his direct and easy-to-understand language. Likewise, Hemingway Editor aims to help you write precisely in this kind of way.
To put it simply, the tool highlights any parts of your text that might be too complicated (and make your readability worse), including adverbs, passive voice, complicated words, and hard-to-read sentences. Then, you are asked to change these parts. Remember that a readability score higher or lower doesn’t make your text better or worse. In fact, Hemingway’s own writing sometimes scores Grade 5. A lower readability score simply means that it’s easier to read your text and that more readers will understand it.
#2 Use Jargon and Cliches Sparingly
This next tip is directly related to the previous one as using jargon and cliches sparingly can help you improve the readability and flow of your text. Much like using complicated words and phrases, using too much jargon (or different industry-specific terms) can lead to a lot of confusion among your readers. You should always remember that not every audience member you have will know about the latest niche trends, innovations, and so on. In fact, many of your readers might be absolute newbies to the topics you want to cover.
This is exactly why you should use jargon sparingly. Don’t assume that your audience is completely stupid – they probably do know quite a few things about your niche. However, you should still stick to the assumption that they probably don’t know a lot about these topics on a more advanced level. In addition to that, using too many industry-specific terms might have the opposite of the intended effect – you will start sounding like you don’t know what you are talking about rather than appearing as an expert.
Interestingly, almost the same is true for using cliches. Every industry has its own buzzwords that have become cliches just because so many people are using them. Likewise, scammers and amateurs are using them too in hopes that they can look like experts. This is why using buzzwords and cliches could make you look like you aren’t actually in the know but rather trying to ride the hype train. Consequently, the best thing you can do is use them sparingly only when you truly need them.
#3 Stick to Your Brand Voice
Having a distinctive brand voice is not just a way for you to stand out from the crowd. It’s also a way to define your brand image and create a certain “personality” for your company. Even if you are an independent entrepreneur who mostly works as a freelancer, you still need to develop your own brand voice and stick to it throughout your writing. It’s a way to be consistent with your content, to attract exactly the kind of audience you are looking for, and to build a reputation for yourself or your brand.
If you don’t have a brand voice yet, this is the perfect moment for you to start developing one. Here are some questions to ask yourself when defining your brand voice:
- What are your company values, vision, and mission?
- What is your company slogan or motto?
- What is your niche or industry and what products and/or services do you offer?
- What kind of key traits do you want to be associated with? (e.g. professionalism, friendliness, confidence)
- What is your visual branding already like?
- What is your target audience most attracted to in terms of interests, values, etc.?
#4 Add CTAs Throughout Your Text
A call to action or a CTA is an essential part of any piece of marketing content. After all, a CTA is what makes your audience perform a particular action after viewing your content (e.g. visit your website, follow you on social media, subscribe to your newsletter, make an online purchase). But while most marketers opt to only include CTAs at the end of their texts, it might be a good idea to use them throughout your text as well, especially when working with long-form content.
The reason why you’d want to opt for multiple CTAs within a single piece of content is that it will help your readers keep this action at the back of their heads the entire time while they read your content. However, you should still remember not to overstuff your text with CTAs and to make sure that you don’t state the CTA the same way every time. This way, you will be able to use the CTAs in a more subtle way and avoid sounding too much like you are trying to sell something or make the reader perform a particular action (even though you are).
At the same time, it’s a good idea to try to make your CTAs more personalized. According to HubSpot, personalized CTAs increase conversions by 202%. The only problem is that it’s not always possible to personalize CTAs, especially when you are writing a text that is meant for a very large audience. However, you can still personalize CTAs when you write marketing texts for individualized channels (e.g. emails sent out to separate subscribers or segments from your mailing list).
#5 Reveal One Thing at a Time
One big mistake you could be making as a marketer or content creator is revealing too much too soon. While your title does have to reflect the gist of your entire text, there are still many details you will be expanding on as you write. However, this doesn’t mean that you need to dump everything in the first few paragraphs you write. Instead, try to maintain a sense of mystery, so to say, and keep revealing one crucial piece of information after another. Make it a gradual rather than an instant process.
Wade Rush, an expert from the writing services reviews site Best Writers Online, explains, “When you reveal one thing at a time, it’s easier to keep your audience reading. It’s one thing to hook them at the beginning, but it’s a completely different thing to make them keep reading. To do that, you need to lead them on and use their curiosity to your advantage. Don’t just let them know all the secrets and exclusive insights you possess. Give them out such information bit by bit.”
This kind of approach works both for separate texts and for your entire content strategy. For example, when you cover a particular topic in a blog post, don’t discuss every single detail about it. After all, you probably won’t be able to cover everything anyway. Instead, add some valuable links to other relevant pieces of content on the topic that you created and maybe even offer another source to follow (e.g. your webinar, your podcast, or your e-book that discusses the topic in more detail).
#6 Have Consistent Messaging
As mentioned earlier, you need to have consistency in your writing. But having consistency doesn’t only mean sticking to a particular brand voice. You should also have consistent messaging throughout your texts, both across your separate pieces of content and throughout the pieces themselves. Messaging is all about the argument you are making the case for, or the values you are trying to communicate to your audience or any other kind of message you want to be sending to your readers.
Keep in mind that having consistent messaging involves a continuous process rather than a one-time event. In other words, you can’t just attempt to communicate your message once and forget about it right away. You need to be trying to get it through again and again. For example, when you write a piece of text, you need to maintain your messaging throughout it and keep reminding readers about your main point in different ways (e.g. with different examples, by paraphrasing your message, etc.)
The same goes for your content strategy. The social media posts you publish need to promote the same kind of message your blog posts have. In a way, this kind of consistency in messaging ties back to your branding strategy. For instance, if your main message is that your services are meant to help educate pregnant women about childbirth, then you need to be using this message across all the marketing channels you use and in all the types of content you work with.
#7 Avoid Keyword Stuffing
Just like it’s possible to overstuff your text with CTAs, it’s also possible to overstuff it with keywords. This is why you need to always keep this in mind and avoid keyword overstuffing at all costs. Otherwise, your writing might start sounding awkward, your readers might become too bored with your texts that have more keywords than actual value, and so on. That being said, you should still find the right balance in your keyword selection and make sure to use enough long-tail and short-tail keywords of different types.
Keyword selection happens before you start writing anything. These tips will help you compile the best keyword list for your content during the stage of keyword research and analysis:
- Combine long-tail and short-tail keywords instead of only sticking to one of the two.
- Use general keywords while also using branded keywords and industry-specific keywords.
- When writing for social media, use hashtags (in combination with keywords).
- Avoid misspelling keywords and never use keywords in a way that will make them sound awkward.
- Consider using even longer keywords (entire sentences) for voice search optimization.
#8 Structure Your Text
Structuring your text might sound like one of those simple tips that everyone recommends, but it can actually be surprising just how many marketers and content creators don’t really know how to structure texts correctly. And yet, it’s a fairly simple thing to do that will help you organize your thoughts, improve you’re the readability and flow of your text, and even position yourself as a reliable and reputable brand by showing your mastery of the language.
At the most basic level, you need to make sure that all your sentences make sense. Don’t make them too long, especially if you aren’t sure how to make all the different clauses work together. Likewise, you should also pay attention to the way you structure your text with paragraphs. There are five types of logical ordering when it comes to paragraphs:
- Chronological: When the points you want to cover come one after another according to time.
- Comparison/Contrast: When you want to compare different points in consecutive paragraphs.
- Logical Division of Ideas: When you have some kind of logical way to divide or categorize the ideas or points you want to cover (e.g. by theme).
- Order of Importance: When you want to start with the most important points and end with the least important ones.
- Cause and Effect: When you want to cover the cause and/or effect of something in the next paragraph.
#9 Format Your Text
In addition to structuring your text, always make sure to format it as well. Formatting is not only important for organizing your ideas but also for making your text look more visually appealing. Eye-tracking research has found that online users skim rather than read. In other words, your audience wants to quickly run over your content and get the main ideas from it that way. To do so, your writing needs to be broken up into paragraphs, but it’s also a good idea to use other elements like subheadings, bullet-point and numbered lists, quotes, etc.
Speaking of lists, you can make your entire article a list by making your subheadings numbered. Listicles get 80% more page views than other types of articles, so you will definitely be able to attract many readers to pieces of content that are written as lists. Besides, listicles don’t require any kind of complex structuring or formatting. This means that making an outline for your text before you start writing it will be a piece of cake. You only need your heading and subheadings (or different points you want to cover).
Another way you can format your text further is by using bold, italics, and underlining. All three of these can help you bring more attention to separate words and phrases and to emphasize a particular point you are making. Likewise, adding links to the said words and phrases could also be a way to bring more attention to them as the anchored text will be different from the main text to show that it has a link.
#10 Steal from Your Competitors
Stealing from your competitors might not sound like the best tip but it actually is. There is a popular quote (often credited to Pablo Picasso) that goes, “Good artists copy, great artists steal.” That is exactly what this tip is about. You aren’t supposed to actually steal from your competitors. You need to look at what they do and learn from their successes and failures. After all, that’s exactly what competitor analysis is all about when you think about it.
Simona Woodard, an expert from the custom writing reviews site Writing Judge, says, “There’s so much you can do with competitor analysis. You aren’t just assessing the strengths and weaknesses of other companies. You are also seeing what they excel in and how they do it. So why not apply these findings to your own strategy? Maybe it’s the marketing technique they are using or a trend they have reimagined – whatever it is, it could work for you as well.”
The same thing goes for the mistakes your competitors make. If they tried to follow a popular trend and failed miserably at it, the best thing you can do is not repeat their mistakes. You might still find success with that particular trend, but now you know how you definitely shouldn’t approach it. Remember that stealing from your competitors is about improving your own strategy and not just copying whatever you want to copy.
#11 Appeal to Emotions
Storytelling is by far one of the most effective writing tools at your disposal. But what you might realize is that the reason why storytelling works so well is that it appeals to emotions. In other words, you don’t necessarily need to use storytelling to benefit from its most valuable aspect – you just need to appeal to emotions throughout your writing.
According to research, emotional ad campaigns perform better (31%) than emotional and rational ad campaigns (26%) that also perform better than purely rational ad campaigns (16%). To put it simply, customers seem to respond much better when they are given emotional arguments rather than purely rational ones. You may use statistics to support the claims you make, but research shows that appealing to emotions might give you much better results. Likewise, combining emotions with rational arguments is also quite effective.
What this means in practice is that you should find a balance between making your marketing content centered on emotions vs making your marketing content centered on facts. There’s a reason why so many people make impulsive purchases instead of thinking everything through first. Some may already have such products while others might not consider them essential, and yet they purchase the said products just because they felt like making the purchase – they listened to their emotions.
#12 Keep Your Readers in Mind
Another simple but very important tip to stick to is to always keep your readers in mind when writing your texts. There is a reason why target audience research plays such a big role in digital marketing. You are doing all of that research to understand who your reader is, so naturally, you now need to be using this newfound knowledge as you write your content. Here are some tips on how you can do this:
- Stick to your brand voice, maintain your brand image, and be faithful to your values, vision, and mission.
- Maintain consistent messaging throughout all of your types of content and marketing channels.
- Speak the same language your audience speaks (avoid using too much jargon, cliches, and buzzwords).
- Personalize your writing when you can (by individual reader, by segment, by platform, etc.)
- Make it easy for readers to follow (format and structure your text but also work on its readability and flow).
- Add links to valuable resources for readers to find out more about the topic if they need to.
#13 Back Up Controversial Claims
As mentioned earlier, statistics and other factual information can still be used in your content even if you mostly appeal to emotions. However, you can take it even further than that and make controversial claims in your writing. But if you do so, you should always back up your claims with relevant research such as case studies, surveys, experiments, expert quotes, etc. If you don’t do so, you might end up getting into a situation where your company will be presented in an unfavorable light and your brand’s reputation will spoil.
But why would you want to make controversial claims in the first place? Of course, many businesses (especially larger multinational corporations) try to steer away from controversies as much as they can. However, getting into one could actually be great PR for you. Moreover, your controversial claims might only be controversial because they go against what most people in your niche believe in. In this case, your claims could even turn out to be revolutionary as long as they are backed up by data.
At the same time, making controversial claims can help you increase engagement. People love giving their opinions about different topics, even when they aren’t actually asked for these opinions. So if they feel strongly about a particular topic, they will make sure to write a comment under your post. You can then reply to these comments and start conversations that could potentially lead to a closer relationship between you and these users (customers).
#14 Utilize Social Proof
When writing content, many marketers assume that they are the only ones who can create the said content. However, this isn’t entirely true. It’s a good idea to include user-generated content in your strategy and utilize social proof. To put it simply, social proof is a way to prove to your audience that your company has a good reputation and that your products and/or services are worth their price. But instead of saying all these things yourself, you let your past customers speak for you.
Allegedly, 92% of customers are more likely to believe unpaid recommendations than any other type of advertising. This means that all those reviews your customers leave can be the perfect method for persuading potential customers to go ahead and make the purchase. You can feature social proof on your website or blog, on social media, in email newsletters, in e-books, and so on. Virtually, wherever you want to as long as it’s relevant.
If you want to incorporate pieces of social proof and UGC within your texts, you can use quotes from past customers. You can even link to customer reviews of your products and/or services on other sites. Consider running a survey to collect feedback directly from your customers and then use your findings as statistical data or as quotes from the said survey.
#15 Visualize Your Data
Last but not least, visualize your data. All those statistics you use may be helpful to some extent, but it’s obvious that appealing to emotions works better. Yet, there is a way to make your statistical data more engaging and impactful – through visualization. There are several types of visual content you can use, but there are also certain formats for the said visualization that are commonly utilized, including:
- Infographics, Maps, Heat Maps
- Pie Charts, Column Charts, Area Charts, Bubble Charts, Funnel Charts
- Bar Graphs, Line Graphs, Bullet Graphs
- Histograms, Diagrams, Scatter Plot Charts
This isn’t a complete list, so there are definitely some other formats you can use. However, these are a great starting point for visualizing your data and presenting it to your audience in a more coherent and comprehensive way. Remember that your aim is to make your text easier to understand, but the same goes for the visuals you use with it.
Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, there’s a lot of nuance when it comes to creating the best marketing texts. As a marketer or content creator, you need to consider the different factors that can influence how effective your writing will ultimately be. Use the tips in this article to help you improve your marketing writing skills and start creating better content for your campaigns.
