05 Jan How to write informative and engaging content

The basis of any successful marketing campaign, website, publication or promotion is nearly always a combination of copy and creative artwork.

You may have the greatest product of all time, along with the most creative designs, but neither mean anything without engaging copy to support them and give true meaning to what you have to offer.

Informative, engaging content can be the difference between gaining or losing a customer.

So what makes content informative, let alone engaging?

To begin, we must first define the purpose of the content – your message.

• What is it you’re trying to sell?
• Who are you trying to sell it to?
• When are you trying to sell it to them?

Once we have established answers to these questions, we then define our product or service offering. To make your content efficient, it must be targeted and relevant. Pinpoint exactly who it is that you need to be talking to. Who do you want to sell your product/service to? An excellent way to achieve this is to write a brief description of the ideal person you’d like to read your content. Draw a stick man diagram and add notes about what their likes and interests are, what problems do they have, what is their ideal age, gender or location. This way, you build up a really informative picture of your ideal customer while crafting your persuasive copy. It will help you to remain focused and retain a consistent tone.

Next, decide at what stage in your business relationship your customer will start to read your message.

• Are they an existing customer or a brand new one?
• Have they found the article through social media or are they being sent an email after supplying their email address?

Defining the stage at which your customer will be introduced to your product/service can help to define the style of your content, as well as what information you will be imparting. For example, if they are an existing customer, then they probably won’t want to read about something they’re already aware of. This will only bore them and make them less receptive to your message.

On the other hand, if you know that your reader was a brand new customer, then you may want to familiarise them with a few finer details. A bit of background, a gentle dangle of the carrot if you will.

Now it’s time to do a little digging and take a look at what other articles are out there to see how your proposition could differ. Why should your reader choose to read something you’ve written, and not a competitor? And we all know that this ultimately should lead to a decision. A sign up for more information, a phone call, a social media share, and ultimately, a purchase!

Try to define an element of competitive advantage.

• What are you offering that’s of unique value or added value?
• Why are you different to your competitors?

This message should stand out within your copy.

The next stage is perhaps the most difficult – the actual writing and perfecting of your message. As all things tend to be, writing gets easier with practice. A great way of making things easier is to plan and define a good system that works for you. It may seem a little juvenile but nevertheless, an effective practice to utilise.

• Decide how you are going to introduce your subject – what’s the start, middle and end
• How will you break up your message?
• How will it conclude – think of a call to action?

Make your content engaging by adopting a slightly informal tone. This is especially useful to create a good rapport between your company and a potential customer. They are engaging with you because they want to learn more about the topic of discussion. So, make it worth their while. Making the information easy to digest not only makes it engaging but will also help the reader to feel like they have learnt something after they navigate away from your page, thus prompting them to hopefully share your content.

Make the information easy to digest. This will help the reader to feel like they have learnt something useful and thus prompt them to hopefully share your content.

What’s next?

After your masterpiece has been written and you’re happy that the message hits the mark, turn your attention to formatting. Take care to format headings, paragraphs and source appropriate pictures to accompany the copy. By doing this, you help to make the article less intimidating and more appealing to the eye of the reader. No one wants to read a daunting block of black text alone. Instead, intervene paragraphs with subtly suggestive pictures that relate to the context of what’s being said.

Leave a few hours, or a day or two and then re-read and proofread your copy.

We can’t stress how important this final element its. And once you’ve proofread the copy, give it to someone else to read. It’s important to get an outside perspective on how the copy reads and if the intended message comes across. Plus, you almost always miss something when it’s your own work. Your minds eye has a habit of making sense of something for you even if there’s a minuscule typo! After spending so much time researching, planning, writing and formatting, another viewpoint is undoubtedly needed.

Then you’re ready.

Gain some traction to the visibility of your message and encourage people to read it by posting links on social media, include it in your email newsletters or printed literature. The more an article is shared, the more it will be visible online, and the more it will direct traffic to your website.

Not sure where to start to craft the perfect message to appeal to your ideal customer? We’re here to help. Call today on 01543 897121.