I may be a copywriter, but I understand the power of a great photo. Grabbing our attention and instantly connecting with our emotions; you can create an entire story in one great shot. This builds the tone and sets the stage for a reader and gets them engaging with content.
I’m bringing this up to hopefully inspire people to take a long hard look at their marketing...
Marketing, and in particular content writing, always seems like an unpredictable path. Customer’s change their minds, people go on holidays, unexpected additions creep in; and before you know it you’re a month past due and people are screaming.
It’s not like you’re slacking off, so why are people so upset?
I don’t think it’s a revelation to most people that sponsored content exists. We’ve seen it in media, games and promotions for generations. So what’s different now? Now we’re seeing sponsored content inserting itself into mainstream journalism with any skepticism being met with shrugging shoulders.
What is the foundation for success online marketing? AdWords? Organic SEO? Content? Well, I lean towards content but even that is superseded by having a solid strategy in place. It’s not as simple as just rankings or writing anymore, it’s about having a plan that attracts people, compels them to look further and engage with your business.
I wouldn’t say I’m cornered, but there are definitely elements that help the flow of content production. Most of it comes down to focus, because we’re all creative, it’s just how we channel it into something important and stay on task. Writing is one of those interesting professions that requires a constant mental effort. The moment you go into autopilot, your content becomes mushy and uninspiring.
There always seems to be confusion about what makes good content for the web. The audience is more fickle, quicker to move on when something doesn’t jump out - but they’re also cunning, knowing when something has misled them.
So what really matters in online content?
Every business is different, but there are patterns to how people read and search on the web. When producing content, there are a few things that you need to keep in mind about your reader:
Why should this bother me? Why should it bother anybody? Maybe it’s because no matter how I look at the statement, ‘Find God’s match for you’ it only serves to anger me. It’s disgusting to play on such corruptible heartstrings as religious bias, and serve it up like an undisputed truth. A perfect happiness like only God could provide! What a pile of crap.
A little shy and very much conscious of the people around the office, my friend whispered “It looks like a uterus.” He shared in the popular consensus that the new Airbnb logo does in fact resemble certain body parts. Genitals in fact; junk, vagina, whatever your mind leaned towards.
“To you marketers, the greatest burden of your generation will be the Old Spice ads.”
This was proclaimed at a lunch and learn some time ago, with some guy I’ve forgotten, but I will remember his words. The brilliant idea propelling sales and reinvigorating the old man brand into a modern essential of the iconic bro culture was a catastrophe because of its success.
It wasn’t a dramatic discovery, but a disappointing one. Seeing a rudimentary debit system in Monopoly to assist kids by removing the almost desperately basic math required.
This has dug under my skin as I see more young workers unable to mentally compute basic change when I order a friggin coffee. Take $3.68 (because coffee is stupidly over priced) from $5.00 and what do you get?