When you envision yourself as a writer, you probably see yourself typing away at a keyboard. You’re completely in the zone. Words are falling onto paper just like leaves in autumn.
Unfortunately, that is usually hardly the case. Just like marketing, writing is part art and part science. It is hardly a skill you’re born with but it is a craft you can master
You can be an expert in literature or know multiple languages.You can churn out a whole paragraph in a matter of minutes. Still, that does not mean you’re a good writer.
Mastering writing is challenging. But good writing is the only way for you to get the attention you deserve.
Why should you want to become a better writer?
First and foremost, it is the foundation for a career in marketing. As a marketer, everything hinges on words. A majority of your work will incorporate writing.
Here’s a list of formats marketers should master:
- Blog posts
- Articles
- Ad copy
- Website copy
- Social media posts
- Press releases
- Email marketing
- Video scripts
- LinkedIn organic posts
- Product marketing…
Let’s just say, the list is never ending.
Fundamentally, you want to convince people to do things – perhaps subscribe to a service you provide, buy your product, attend your event, offer referrals, leave a good review on your website, amongst many others.
With good writing you showcase good thinking. When your thoughts are coherent, your writing becomes clear. Your audience will then understand what you’re communicating.
Your goal should be to create content with a purpose. It has to be both informational and actionable. You want to inspire your readers to take action right after reading your work.
The Art of War’ by Sun Tzu is the perfect example of brilliant writing.
Here’s why:
It’s the epitome of timelessness
This book may be over two millennia old but the principles outlined are evergreen. In this day and age, you’re not about to go fight real-life battles in the way that Sun Tzu intended. Instead, as a marketer, the battle you’ll be fighting is writing content that will be broadly relevant today, tomorrow, and in two decades.
Concise and straight to the point
Sun Tzu probably didn’t know what the word fluff meant. And for good measure. The Art of War is a book you can read in one sitting. Yet, it offers a strong, clear call to action. As a marketer, you want your writing to offer a clear set of instructions that drives your target audience to call to action. With each sentence you pen, you want them to gain new insight.
Piques curiosity
You want your audience to ask questions as they’re reading your piece. But you also don’t want to leave them hanging. Give them the answers eventually but make sure they understand the intention behind your writing. Just like ‘ The Art of War’, your writing should offer both practical guidance and spark introspection.
Offers the opportunity for reflection
You may have finished writing but you don’t want your reader to ever stop thinking. You’re only as good as your last. The words you pen are a weapon for your reader to utilize in the real world. Leave them with wisdom that will guide them into making choices that fulfill their desires.
Now that we’ve established why you need to become a better writer, here are some top tips to help you out.
Know who you’re writing for
Who are you trying to appeal to? What is the demographic makeup of your target audience? Factors such as…
- Age
- Gender
- Location
- Occupation
- Interests
- Income
…matter significantly. Do your research beforehand so you know exactly what content and messages your readers care about.
If you have Google Analytics installed, these demographics details are easily available. You can browse to Reports > User Attributes > Overview
It is key for you to focus on them. Just like what I’m doing here, avoid using words like ‘we’. You want the focus to be on the reader. Make it about them and use the word ‘you’ throughout your piece. You want your writing to feel personalized. And the only way you can do that is by making it your mission to understand their psyche.
The ‘you’ view creates a sense of connection between you and your reader. It creates a sense of understanding and inclusivity between you and your audience. Not only is the communication increasingly targeted but the benefits and solutions you’re offering to your audience will come across a lot more directed.
Consider these popular examples:
- Nike: ‘Just Do It’ Campaign
‘You Can Do It. Just Do It’ – the usage of the word ‘you’ in this campaign encourages individuals who read it to capitalize on their potential. It encourages taking action to advance your goals.
- Apple: ‘Shot on iPhone’ Campaign
‘See What You Can Capture’ – the ‘you’ here inspires iPhone users to explore the capabilities of their device’s camera. It prompts users to envision the never-ending creative possibilities they can unleash just from the palm of their hand.
- L’Oreal: ‘Because You’re Worth It’ Campaign
‘You’re Worth It’ – this famous tagline speaks directly to the targeted audience by empowering their self-worth. The word ‘you’ in this context resonates with individuals as they feel valued and understood by the brand.
These messages are simple yet the usage of the word ‘you’ immediately creates a direct connection between the brand and its intended audience. There’s a reason why these brands pioneer the respective industries they’re a part of.
Their user-centric approach focuses on what the targeted audience can gain from them. It’s beyond the product features but instead, the value that is achieved.
Your audience wants to feel understood and by shifting the narrative to revolve around their needs and wants, you automatically appeal to them. And only then can you summon them to the solution.
This leads me to my next point, never ever write to just a generalized someone.
Have you ever received an email that felt like it had been sent to a hundred other people before it reached you? Did you immediately hit unsubscribe from all further marketing initiatives offered by that organization? If you did, then this is your sign to connect with your audience.
However, you risk rubbing your audience the wrong way. Consider a few important key factors:
- Cultural sensitivities: Are you writing for an audience abroad? What are the race and gender dynamics at play? How much does tone and language style matter? Are there particular needs you can speak to?
- Business or a personal context: What are the company’s dynamics? Are they experiencing a loss in market shares at the moment? Is it a flat structure? Who are their top investors?
If it’s a personal context, at what stage of the buyer’s journey is your target audience? How often are they visiting your page and what content are they looking at most? Use Google Analytics to track visitor behavior on your site. By tracking, collecting, and monitoring user behavior, you can rest assured that your writing will not get lost in translation.
Write from experience
Write with your heart. Know exactly what you’re trying to convey and do so meaningfully. You may be writing a business blog but incorporating personal experiences can add an element of humanness to writing. In the age of AI, you definitely don’t want to be perceived as a soulless machine.
Perfect, professional writing is simply boring. Take off the mask of a perfect professional. Write about both your ups and downs. Only then will you become more visible to your audience. No one wants to read a 5000-word piece on your perfect business strategy. Instead, they want to hear about the struggles you faced, the setbacks you experienced, and most importantly, the steps you undertook to overcome these challenges.
This way, you communicate authenticity and sincerity. Your audience will understand that your content seeks to actually address their concerns and interests. You might not be the best writer, just yet, but at least now you’re credible. Because realistically, even the most hardworking person has probably experienced some level of hardship that they had to navigate around.
We all know what Nike is but do we know the story behind its former CEO, Phil Knight? In his memoir ‘Shoe Dog’, Knight provides an intimate account of Nike’s early years, from its humble beginnings to sacrifices he made for the sake of his business. The moments of doubt and uncertainty that he shares in his memoir give a human-face to his entrepreneurial journey.
Despite the book having been primarily a memoir and not a marketing tool, its publication did directly improve Nike’s overall brand image and reputation. The positive reception the book received can very clearly be boiled down to one key factor:
It was written from experience
As a marketer, you want your writing to be a testament to your lived experiences. In a world filled with fake news, information overload, and clickbait content, your audience craves a human connection. So, write what matters to you. Don’t focus on your achievements but instead prioritize the steps taken to get there. Who were the people involved behind the success? What strategies were utilized? Were there setbacks?
You may have a big advertising budget, but if you don’t excel in writing from experience, your work will fail to stand out.
Storytelling should be the backbone of your marketing strategy. You have mere seconds to grab your audience’s attention so don’t pretend to be someone else. People relate to like minded people and as a writer, you want that to be you.
KISS – keep it simple and succinct
Always avoid unnecessary complexity. Your goal as a writer is to deliver a clear, concise message.
- Clear messaging: What is the value proposition of your product or service? Are there any unique-selling points (USPs) you can highlight? How will it benefit your targeted audience?
- Call to Action (CTA): Are there any calls to action? Is it making a purchase, signing up to your newsletter, or contacting your company? If so, make it easy for them to take the next step.
- Simplify the design: The focus may be on your writing but if you want that to shine, you need to limit your visuals. Prioritize clean and straightforward design elements. User’s have short attention spans so you want the focus to be on your writing and not the irrelevant design elements.
- Succinctness: Write in short paragraphs. Practice writing shorter sentences. Not only will this improve the readability of your content but it creates a greater impact. By keeping your language simple and straightforward, your work will be accessible to a wider audience.
Now that we’ve established how to effectively apply the KISS strategy in your writing, it’s crucial to take note of the length of your content. It is a well known fact among all SEO specialists that long-form content, typically ranging from 1000 to 2500+ words or more is favored.
It enables you to dive deeply into a topic and provide comprehensive information that is both authoritative and valuable to your audience. A longer piece attracts more backlinks and social shares. This in turn will improve your search rankings.
Now, why does this matter?
First and foremost, it showcases the level of engagement users have with your content. Are users clicking on your page and barely skimming through it before clicking out? Or are they engaging with your content? Your goal as marketer is to have them read your piece and feel inclined to navigate to other elements on your site.
This however will only be the case if your content is considered high-quality. If you fail to capture your visitor’s interest from the get-go, they will be discouraged to explore further. Always be aware of the content you create. Make sure it incorporates a sufficient level of depth, relevance, and originality.
- Bounce rate: This is the percentage of users who navigate to your site to then immediately navigate away from it. A rising bounce rate is a bad sign for you. It means that users find your content boring and/or irrelevant.
As a general guideline, a bounce rate of 40% or lower is considered desirable. Anything higher than that is a call for improvements.
- Click data: This is basically the information Google collects about users’ interactions on your site. It includes data about actions a user takes such as the links they click on, images they view, and a variety of other interactive options offered on your site.
Using Google Analytics, analyze your click data to gain insight into users’ behaviors. You will gain a greater understanding of their preferences and patterns of engagement. With this information, you can optimize not only your website layout but also the content you put out.
By implementing the KISS strategy and consequently monitoring the bounce rate and click data, you can monitor the level of engagement your content is receiving. A low bounce rate is a good indicator of more engagement on your page. This in turn positively impacts your search engine rankings. And as a marketer, that is crucial. The better you rank, the more opportunities come your way.
Take a moment to do a quick Google search. Look up your favorite movie. Almost always the first or the second link to pop up is Wikipedia.com. Now why is that?
First, Wikipedia is known to create long form content. Their articles are thousands of words long and the content consists of hundreds of links and references that users can navigate to. You look up one topic and can immediately navigate easily to other relevant searches just by clicking on specific keywords. This inherently increases user retention on your site.
Second, Wikipedia offers a comprehensive coverage of a vast array of topics. The depth of content offers users the ability to look up valuable information and gain relevant knowledge from a single site. The content is also frequently updated.This provides users with the most up-to-date advancements of their search result.
Third and most importantly, the content on Wikipedia is simple and straightforward. It explains the most complex of concepts in the simplest of terms. The range of examples and analogies utilized relate abstract ideas to concrete examples that readers can relate to, thus getting a better grasp of the significance of the message being conveyed.
Just like Wikipedia, you want to improve your site’s visibility as well. This way, it will improve your search rankings and contribute to a rise in your content engagement rates.
Add humor
Have a favorite TV show you’d like reference? By all means, go ahead BUT make sure it’s relevant to what you’re writing about.
To illustrate, remember when Samsung created traction around the release of its Galaxy S22 smartphone in 2022 by creating a Bridgerton-themed ad? The ad showcased Queen Charlotte getting a sneak peek of Samsung’s latest smartphone a mere 200 years early.
It was hilarious. It took a dig at Samsung’s most prominent competitor Apple with a fictional ‘Lord Mackintosh’ presenting a disappointing invention (a raincoat) to the Queen. Not only did it downplay Apple’s achievements but to fans of Bridgerton, the ad felt like a natural extension of the show.
Since the ad was released prior to the latest season of Bridgerton in 2022, it meant that it remained at the very forefront of everyone’s mind. Here, Samsung successfully leveraged the popularity of the Netflix series to showcase the outstanding features of its latest smartphone.
Like Samsung, you can do this too.
Create content that effectively targets fans of popular series. Not only will this increase traction to your site but it creates an emotional connection between your targeted audience and the series story line. But also, remember to not be too serious. You don’t want any negative emotions to be associated with your content.
We’re called Mojo Dojo so of course we’re going to leverage on the biggest blockbuster hit of 2023, the Barbie movie. The Mojo Dojo Casa House is one of the highest searched terms of 2023. This presents us with the opportunity to capitalize on the popularity of the Barbie movie.
But the goal is to just use it as an example to enunciate a point we’re trying to make. If you’ve watched the Barbie movie, you’ll know that we’re nothing like it.
Hence, remember to not entirely align your content with the popular reference you choose. Use it as a mechanism for inspiration. Participate in the latest cultural conversations and draw on compelling narratives to capture your audience’s imagination. But do not lose sight of the core message and values your writing intends to communicate.
Your goal is to increase audience reach, engagement, and brand association. So remember to be both relevant and authentic in your writing. Don’t lose sight of who you are and the audience you’re communicating to. The biggest marketing blunder you can make is appearing too opportunistic or inauthentic.
Write in a conversational tone
With whatever you put out, you want to feel like you’re having a one-on-one conversation with your audience. There should be some kind of intimacy between you and your audience. You want them to engage on a deeper level and so, writing in a conversational tone makes it easier to process the content you put out.
- Apply patterns: Perhaps you could develop a theme or a motif that runs throughout your piece. It could be a symbol or an image that ties to elements of your writing. You could also experiment with parallelism. Create a rhythmic flow in your writing similar to the cadence of spoken language.
- Create texture: Juxtapose your sentences. Vary their lengths. Use imagery and descriptive language to appeal to your audience’s senses. Employ repetition to create emphasis on specific points. Use contractions to soften the formality of written text. Incorporate colloquialisms and everyday expressions to make it even more conversational.
- Include a buzzword or two: Demonstrate your relevance and expertise in the subject matter by utilizing terms and phrases that are widely recognized within a particular context. Engage with your audience by speaking their language whilst also offering a unique, playful quality to your writing.
However, remember to be conversational judiciously. You still want your writing to come off as professional. While writing in a conversational tone can increase engagement, it should not compromise the seriousness and authority of the content.
Strike a balance between being informal and professional to maintain credibility and respect with the writing you put out.
It’s your turn to shine
Now that you’ve made it to the tail-end of this piece, you should have some key insights on how to be a better writer.
Break some traditional writing rules and be authentic. Focus on your audience and engage them with your unique content and conversational tone.
With just a little tweaking, you can make a lasting impression with your writing.
So, don’t overthink it. Just start writing.