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Traditional interruption marketing no longer works in isolation. When your marketer approaches you with a marketing campaign that includes spending $100,000 on television advertising – it may be time to consider WHAT ELSE you could get for the same amount of money. Enter the new kind of B2B marketing called Content Marketing.

Content Marketing is about playing to your specific strengths, encouraging engagement and adding value to the sales conversation right from the word go. Experienced content marketers have seen content marketing working for their own businesses. They have waded through statistics in the wee hours of the morning – trying to figure out WHY it works.

It boils down to the simple fact that traditional marketing is a monologue – whereas content marketing is a dialogue. Content Marketing is all about turning your insight and advice into campaigns that encourage conversations with people – before they become your client. Engaging with a prospective customer before or during the decision making purchasing process, means that you have the ability to change people’s minds and provoke action.

Having said that, of course, you do need to know what you are talking about. Don’t claim anything to be true when it’s not. Content marketing is also about building relationships where you are seen as a TRUSTED expert in your industry.

What content marketing means for your business:

• You are seen as an expert in your industry: You understand the important issues that customers face
• You raise awareness about yourself and your business: You become the first link in people’s mind when they need your services
• You improve your search engine performance: Relevant and compelling content does wonders for SEO

Get some articles written and update your site often, ideally every day. However, please bear a thought for your customers if you plan to outsource your content to “cheap” providers from developing countries. You will inevitably end up with duplicated content from your competitors and poorly written English.

Do you really want that to be your organisation’s first impression? If you can’t do it yourself, get a copywriter or journalist to do it for you. It’s an investment that will last.

What do you want your readers to remember once they have finished reading your blog? Chances are they are not going to remember the 10 benefits of why your product is the best. They'll remember one point (if you're lucky). Stick to your key message. 

Key message

Think of the one key message that needs to stick in the minds of your readers after they have finished your blog. Got it? Now, stick to it throughout your blog. Rephrase it, reference it and provide examples for it.

Supporting messages

Add plenty of other reasons to why your product or service is best, supporting your key message. Often, there are many benefits to a single product or service, but one benefit stands out. The other benefits take a subservient role to your key message.

Key message and benefit

Ensure that your key message is linked to a compelling benefit. Repeat your key message by choosing an appropriate image and aligning your title to your key benefit.

Wordy thought for today:

Being a poet is one of the unhealthier jobs-no regular hours, so many temptations! - Elizabeth Bishop

Spotted Wombat is a comprehensive copywriting and content marketing service in Brisbane, Australia. We provide writing for brochures, newsletters, websites, articles, white papers, press or media releases, blogs and anything else that you may need a writer for.

Writing your newsletter is often a task that gets left at the bottom of the pile. Small business owners in particular are too busy working in their business during the day - Read more >>

Are we talking down to people? Are we dumbing down society?

Our readers

As journalists, one of the first things we learn is to write for a 12-year-old audience. But is this always appropriate? I think we need to look at our audience first. If we need to write for a society where a large percentage of people do not have English as their native tongue, then we need to ensure that our writing is clear and concise. 

If we are to write a white paper aimed at Chief Executives - then our language obviously needs to adapt to a different level. I'm not suggesting that we fill our writing with technical jargon that we think, as writers, make us look clever. No. What I am suggesting is we still write in plain English, allowing our writing to reflect our readers.

Plain English

In 1978, President Carter signed an order requiring regulations be written in plain English. In 1998, President Clinton sent out a memo calling for "plain language in Government Writing."

Research shows that documents written in plain English improve readers' understanding. A US study showed a 91% increase in the comprehension of medical consent forms - after the documents had been rewritten in plain English. 

Plain English will always be the best method of clear copy. Creative snippets within the copy, where appropriate, will make the copy dazzle BUT the message needs to remain clear.

Ref: Cutts, M. 2004. Oxford Guide to Plain English.

Thought for today:

Spotted Wombat is a comprehensive copywriting and content marketing service in Brisbane, Australia. We write for brochures, newsletters, websites, articles, white papers, press or media releases, blogs and anything else that you may need a writer for.