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[prolificcontentmarketing]

Proven Tips to Write Creative YouTube Video Scripts

You don’t simply hit the fast lane to becoming a six-figure YouTuber. 

It takes dedication, hundreds of quality videos, and a fantastic scriptwriter. 

The more creative your YouTube scripts, the better the chances that you’ll find an audience for your content because people who watch YouTube videos are looking for entertainment, entertainment, and more entertainment—also infotainment. 

They’re looking for new and unique stories, facts they don’t know. 

In this post, let’s learn about how you can write creative YouTube scripts that have the potential to go viral. 

The Benefits of Writing a YouTube Script

Many of you may feel that a script is an unnecessary part of creating a YouTube video.

But that’s not true. 

Why do you need a script for your YouTube video?

Putting together a good script puts you at ease while recording the video because you already know what you’ll be saying. Hence, you can focus on your camera presence and make sure you do not fumble while speaking.

A script forms the blueprint for your video. Hence, it’s a critical step in creating a winning video.

The more engaging your YouTube video, the higher the chances it will rank on Google’s search results. 

So whether you're a vlogger or marketer, creating a unique script for your video content should be on your agenda. 

Brainstorm Ideas

One of the things that plays a significant role in making your YouTube video go viral is the idea. So, how do you find a brilliant idea for your YouTube video?

Remember that a unique idea is about giving an interesting spin to a topic. 

For instance, you can create an opinion video on a topic for which other creators have published listicle-type videos. 

Or the other way around. 

Your goal should be to look at a topic from an entirely new perspective.

But before you do that, you must think of a video topic. 

There are a bunch of tools that can help you find trending YouTube topic ideas. 

Use the Explore feature on YouTube.

Pop your ideas in YouTube suggestions.

Validate your ideas in Google Trends or vidIQ

Look for trending topics on niche social media communities 

Think about your target audience and the problem you’re solving. 

Brainstorm with your team to find ideas that have the potential to get the highest views and engagement. Now, choose your video type:

A personal story

Comparison

Fun facts about a topic

Listicles

Comedy

How-to guides 

Product reviews and unboxing videos

Product explainer videos

Come Up With an Interesting Video Title

An attention-grabbing title is something that gets viewers to watch your video. 

At the same time, a headline allows you to tell your audience what’s in it for them. A good way is to not beat around the bush. Instead, keep your headline authentic. 

You’re out there to build a loyal content audience with your video content.

Write a descriptive and concise title.

Make it different from other video titles on the topic.

Offer a tangible solution to an audience-specific problem.

A creative video title is an integral part of a winning video script. You need to devote time to creating many versions of it before finalizing one. 

Elements of a Winning YouTube Video Script

Let’s now look at some essential elements of a YouTube video script:

Voice-over: The voice-over includes what the presenter or the speaker says in the video. 

Visual: A typical YouTube video is a combination of audio and visuals. Visuals can take various forms — screenshots, stock images, stock footage, live action, or animation. A script writer must communicate what’s happening on the screen while the actor says the dialogue. 

B-Roll: When creating a video with a person talking into the camera, you can include images and footage that make the narrative lifelike. These are called B-Roll shots. 

Start with the Hook

YouTube is a platform where you must surprise the audience from the word go. 

According to YouTube, you have 15 seconds to grab your audience’s attention. 

What are some possible hooks for your YouTube video script?

Ask a question: “Are you struggling with the quality of your blog content?”

Share a personal story: When I started as an entrepreneur, I had no money in my bank account. All I had was a mission statement—to help people lose weight and live a healthier life.

Include a famous quote: Aristotle once said, Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.

Share a mind-boggling statistic: Did you know “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” ― Aristotle.

Make them laugh with a joke: What do you call a can opener that doesn’t work? A can’t opener.

Talk about a burning issue: What is climate change? Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. Such shifts can be natural due to changes in the sun’s activity or large volcanic eruptions. 

Remember that you can sell your idea in your video's first 10 to 15 seconds. It’s when the audience either decides to stay or leave. 

So, make sure you write a powerful hook for your YouTube video. 

Research, Research, Research

Before you start finding information about your video topic, you need to answer a foundational question:

What is the length of my YouTube video?

Research by Wistia shows that if there ever were a sweet spot, it would be between six and 12 minutes.

Are you looking for exciting stuff around your video topic? The best way to create a winning script is to go deep into a problem and offer tangible solutions. 

Search for the topic on Reddit and Quora

See if you find something interesting on Wikipedia

Browse through other videos to find content gaps

Try to come up with a fascinating story 

Find facts and stats that your audience would love to learn about

Researching is the most exciting part of writing a script. It allows you to explore as much about a topic as possible.

Craft the Outline

A simple and evergreen format of any video script is that you must have a definite beginning, middle, and end. 

Start by talking about a common problem

Then, offer a valid solution

Sign off with the takeaway of your video

The meat of a video will always be the second part. In this part, you must give examples, points, and real-life examples to inspire your viewers. 

Write the Body of Your Script

Once you’re ready with the outline, it’s time to flesh out your script.  

The body of the script should align with your brand voice. Make sure you follow a consistent tone in every script.

A conversational style works best for YouTube videos.

Avoid using jargon or complicated words. On the contrary, you must break down complex topics and offer more straightforward explanations.

Share exciting events and examples. Try to use shorter sentences as they make the outcome more consumable. 

A good way is to divide your video script into unique ideas. Make sure to devote a paragraph each for every such idea. Different ideas make your video engaging at every step of the way. 

Write your script in the active voice and the present tense. 

Have fun while brainstorming and writing—it’s the best way to let your creative juices flow. 

Finally, read and edit your script a few times to avoid the fluff and superficial details.

Conclude with the CTA

The call-to-action of your video script depends on the objective of your video content. For instance, if it’s an explainer video about a product, you can offer your readers to try a product/service for free. You can even invite your viewers to take a free product demo. 

Ask your viewers to subscribe to your YouTube channel. Plus, you can tell them about your upcoming video. A good strategy is to ask your audience for feedback on your YouTube content. This way, you’ll have an opportunity to improve content quality. 

Final Thoughts

Creating a killer script is the lifeline of a successful YouTube video. The one thing that you must keep in mind is that you need to empathize with the audience every step of the way. As a YouTuber, your intent should be to build a relationship with your audience—not simply to use clickbaity tactics to get clicks and views.

#youtuber #scriptwriting #video content #how to write a YouTube video script #video script #scriptwriter

[prolificcontentmarketing]

Non-Fiction Book Editing: The Basics

Writing without revising is the literary equivalent of waltzing gaily out of the house in your underwear. - Patricia Fuller

Precise editing results in compelling writing that conveys what the author intends to say to her readers. That’s why editing is an integral part of writing and publishing a non-fiction book. 

A consistent, well-edited manuscript suffuses the reader with gratification and a feeling of accomplishment. And therefore, editing is the gut and soul of a successful non-fiction book. 

In this article, let’s look at some non-fiction book editing essentials. 

Why is Non-Fiction Book Editing Essential?

If you ignore editing your manuscript, you’re playing with your personal brand. 

Editing helps to deliver a suitable takeaway to the readers. 

It helps fill content gaps in the text.

Professional book editing helps in polishing a manuscript.

It allows an author to offer only the relevant information to the readers.  

Let’s now understand the three elements of professional non-fiction book editing. 

Developmental Editing

Developmental editing is about managing a book manuscript’s structure. 

In this process, the editor works to arrange the different chapters and give them a logical structure. Speaking of logical structure, it’s about presenting the most important information first. 

For instance, if you’re communicating your brand story, you must start by talking about how you started off. Next, you tell them how you acquired your first customers.

Hence, the goal of developmental editing is to fix the flow of the manuscript. The editor has to go deep into each chapter and paragraph to ensure they’re in a natural and sensible flow.

During this phase, a developmental editor needs to review the bigger picture. She works on making the story arc as engaging to the readers as possible.  

Does the book have a definite beginning, middle, and end? 

Is the manuscript taking the readers from problems to solutions?

Are there unique and enticing incidents and anecdotes that will inspire the readers? 

Does the manuscript align with the author’s point of view? 

Developmental editing starts once the writer has finished working on the first draft. Next, it goes to the line editor.

Line Editing 

Slow reading your favorite novel is beautiful, right? The sensory process of experiencing and underlining sentences, phrases, and words is divine.

Line editing is a similar but opposite process. And that’s why it’s often painful. 

In this phase, a line editor works on aligning the text with the author’s personal brand voice. 

An author’s personal style may have a dash of humor or a tinge of authoritativeness—a line editor needs to take care that she infuses those emotions in the text. It’s the line editor’s responsibility to make sure that each sentence conveys what the author intends to say. 

Line editing is also about managing the pace and flow of the writing.

Next, streamlining a manuscript’s sentence structure is an integral part of the line editing process. It’s when a line editor works on removing sentences that are confusing or do not fit the manuscript. 

She must also work on cleaning up the sentences by removing redundant words and phrases. 

A line editor has to pull out the crutch words that make the text dry and dull. At the same time, she has to engage with the reader by using descriptive language. Finally, she works on the following tasks to make every sentence in your book manuscript sound great:

Replace passive voice with active voice wherever possible. 

Pull out clichés and replace them with unique phrases. 

Cut or invert sentences to make the text free-flowing. 

Flesh out flat sentences to pack them with emotion and insights.

The ultimate goal of line editing is to make the prose smooth and creamy—almost like a Wodehouse novel. 

The next step is to send the manuscript to a copyeditor. 

Copyediting 

Copyediting is about perfecting a manuscript’s language and readability. This is the final stage of the book editing process. A copyeditor ensures that the book manuscript is clean as a whistle. 

It’s the copyeditor’s job to correct all the grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors. She needs to be meticulous about re-checking factual inaccuracies. 

During this phase, the editor needs to work on aligning the text with a specific style guideline. She keeps a relevant style cheat sheet handy and applies the correct text formatting.

Over to You

Editing a manuscript takes time and patience. But if you’re working with an experienced editor, it’s all worth the wait because the book's readability improves many times over and offers the readers a gift of knowledge they can preserve and cherish.

Once the editing process is complete, you’re ready for publishing!

#writing #editingtips #editing #bookwriting #personalbranding #thoughtleadership

[prolificcontentmarketing]

Why Should CEOs and Founders Write a Book?

For every business leader, there comes a stage in their career when they feel the need to share their knowledge and experience. For a CEO, writing a book is a simple way to inspire others to learn from the systems you have developed. 

In today’s world, penning a non-fiction book establishes you as an industry thought leader. At the same time, it helps you grow your business. 

Let’s look at why you shouldn’t resist the urge to put yourself out there in a book.

It’s Your Responsibility 

When running and managing a company, you’re obligated to give back to your team, the business community, and the public. 

Writing a book creates a pathway to fulfilling the moral duty of sharing your unique ideas with fellow professionals. It’s about giving away precious secrets about the processes and ideologies that helped you overcome some of the most excruciating professional challenges. 

Take, for instance, Jack Welch’s autobiographical account, Jack: Straight From The Gut. It’s a classic example of a book that shakes you up and gives you a peek into what goes into taking on the ‘big job’ at one of the biggest global corporations. 

Likewise, you can create an impact by developing a memorable manuscript that can work as a guide for upcoming CEOs and entrepreneurs. 

Get People to Notice Your Business

In this attention-economy era, it’s vital to speak to specific audience groups and build deeper relationships with them. Hence authoring a book is about building loyal fans and followers—people who believe in your vision. 

By building a massive content asset such as a book, you can get your prospects to learn more about your company. A successful book helps elevate your personal brand and business reputation. 

Fetches Press Coverage 

A book helps you to attract priceless press coverage at practically no additional cost to your company. That’s because most journalists look forward to interviewing and quoting executives who have done something remarkable. Writing a book counts as one of them. 

Moreover, creating value for your target audience puts the limelight on you. A book encourages meaningful dialogue around a topic that generates natural word of mouth for you and your company. Also, When you tell your story to the world, people talk about it. 

Attracts Speaking Engagements

According to a recent study by SurveyMonkey Audience on what makes someone a thought leader, 32 percent of respondents said authors count as thought leaders. 

Writing a book helps you attract speaking engagements at prominent industry events. Speaking engagements further snowball your company’s reputation and coverts into precious media mentions and brand equity. 

Revenue Growth

Being in business means you need your revenue and profit figures to find new highs constantly. To meet that end, you must work towards building a tribe of loyalists who believe in your core values. 

For instance, in his memoir, Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business, Danny Mayer, a well-known restaurateur and the Founder & Executive Chairman of the Union Square Hospitality Group, conveys his philosophy behind running a successful service business:

“In the end, what’s most meaningful is creating positive, uplifting outcomes for human experiences and human relationships. Business, like life, is all about how you make people feel. It’s that simple, and it’s that hard.” 

A book offers a communication platform to relay your company’s narrative to prospective customers and stakeholders. By putting forth your opinion in a book, you’re able to attract the right people to your company’s ecosystem—including employees and investors. 

Furthermore, a book helps you break through the content noise and generate qualified business leads.

It’s a Process of Self Discovery  

More than the fame and the glitz, writing a book is a process of self-discovery. You travel back in time to start journaling what you have achieved. It allows you to cherish your wins and the brevity with which you dealt with overwhelming challenges and failures. 

Retrospecting can make you feel nostalgic and relive your professional life all over again. 

So, while the process gives you a peek into who you are as a person, it helps you to put forth your depth as a leader. It re-instills the faith that your team and company stakeholders have in you. 

Are You Ready?

The ideal way is to take time to prepare and plan your manuscript. You can hire a ghostwriter to help you ideate, structure, create, and edit the book text. 

Getting professional help, on the one hand, saves precious time, and on the other, ensures that your book becomes a memorable experience for the readers. A smart strategy is to look for a writer who can become your voice in the book. 

You must not forget that authoring a book isn’t just fulfilling a dream. It’s about taking on the sweet duty of giving back to those who look up to you as a mentor. 

#thoughtleadership #ceo #entreprenuership #contentmarketing

[prolificcontentmarketing]

Content Editing is Fun. But Why Should You Take it Seriously?

To write is human. To edit is divine. - Stephen King

When your target audience is reading your content, they’re thinking about your brand. It’s in their subconscious brain. They’re judging your business like they judge actors and politicians.

With branded content, you’re putting your business and your brand persona out there for criticism or appreciation.

Writing crappy first drafts is forgivable. We’re content creators, not content gods. 

But the sacred responsibility of editing a content piece rests on the nimble brains of talented content writers/editors.

Why Edit Branded Content?

Content editing is an inevitable pillar of branded content marketing.

Content editing helps you offer your readers easy-to-comprehend material. It allows a content marketer to make branded content reader-friendly and professional.

Content editing brings sanity and surety to content creation, which often starts with misgivings and fear.

Editing is the life and soul of executing a flawless and remarkable content piece.

It’s what makes content worth consuming and sharing.

Solid content editing helps you build thought leadership. 

So in this article, let’s learn some essential content editing techniques.

Structural Editing

Have you ever seen a river flow from the plains to the mountains? Unnatural, right?

As a content editor, you need to organize your writing so it feels coherent and sensible.

For instance, you may need to replace or remove a paragraph.

Or you may feel reorganizing a few sentences within a paragraph will make it sound more meaningful.

Give a content piece a definite beginning, middle, and end.

Work on giving a logical flow to information, quotes, statistics, and images in your article.

In each paragraph of your content piece, you must offer readers a definite takeaway. The same holds for the whole article.

Ensure that your readers understand what you’re trying to say. Your goal is to stay focused on the core message of your article and not distract your readers with unimportant information.

Keep the audience in mind while restructuring a content piece, as it gives readers clarity into what you’re communicating.

Structural editing helps you to manage the flow of your writing and make it as natural as possible.

Making Your Piece Reader-Centric

Your audience wants to read everything but fluff. Besides creating diversity in sentence structure, you need to scan for and remove redundancies in your writing.

Shorten phrases and remove words that add no meaning to your sentences. Take a look at this example:

Instead of: My charger pin is large in size.

Write: My charger pin is large.

Hunt down and remove generalized statements like the following:

Content marketing is good for your business.

Everybody’s doing content marketing.

Replace sweeping generalizations with specifics like:

Content marketing helps businesses generate qualified leads cost-effectively.

Better: back this statement with relevant research or survey findings.

To start appealing to an informed reader, you need to become specific.  

What’s next?

The world is full of clichéd words and phrases. Such phrases make your content piece sound similar to existing content.

As an editor, you must remove or modify commonly used clichés like thinking outside of the box or taking it to the next level. So instead of saying paradigm shift, you can simply say significant change.

Trashcan repetitive words and phrases. 

As a content editor, you must ensure your readers are engaged and happy.

Instead of giving your readers a wall of text, use bullets and pointers to keep your writing concise.

Use verbs to make your writing action-oriented. For instance, instead of saying, focus on improving your website's navigation, say work on making your site easy to navigate.

Adverbs slacken the pace of your writing. Hence it's best to axe words like basically, hastily, and rashly.

Reader-friendly writing feels smooth as butter. And that’s why it gets your audience gorge on to it like it’s a shiny croissant. 

SEO Optimization

Although the best way to search-optimise your content is to make it audience-centric, technical SEO optimization matters too.

Run your content in a tool like MarketMuse to see if you have a decent keyword density in your article.

Make sure your meta title and description include the relevant keywords.

You can optimize your headline and sub-headings for the keywords you’re targeting. But many editors and marketers prefer purely creative and voice-driven headlines, as opposed to search-optimized ones.

Add valuable external sources to your article. External linking allows you to add to the credibility of your content piece.

Add the relevant internal links to your content piece. Internal linking creates additional value for your readers and gets them to stay on your website for longer.

Editing your content for SEO is essential for helping attract relevant site visitors before you can turn them into loyal customers. 

Style and Brand Voice Infusion

Most companies have a content style guideline document; use it as a reckoner for this phase of content editing. Here are some common issues to fix:

Align your language and vocabulary to American, British, or Canadian English, as the case may be. The ideal way is to learn about the key differences between American and British English.

Read through your article’s mood to see if it blends with your brand's core emotional values.

Does your brand voice guideline tell you to use a light-hearted and friendly tone? Or does it tell you to be authoritative, formal, and straightforward? 

Ensure you're not using words and phrases that mismatch your brand vocabulary and tone.

Brand voice alignment adds a distinct flavor and personality to branded content and attracts the right people to your business. 

Copyediting and Proofreading

Last, you must proofread your draft for punctuation and spelling issues. The easiest way is to run your content piece in a tool like Grammarly.

Replace passive voice with active voice. 

Now’s also the time to check the article for facts. Recheck the names of people and places. Make sure you’ve added data and images from credible third-party sources. Ensure that you've added correct and original source links in your article.  

Final Thoughts

Taking your content from average to extraordinary doesn’t just require rigorous research. It requires you to work hard towards trimming the piece so it best fits your audience’s needs. Pay attention to making your content piece to the point, and you’ll realize that editing is fun. I hope you enjoyed reading this article. 

If you need help with creating well-edited and voice-driven blog posts, e-books, and social media content for your business, feel free to get in touch with me.

#writing #Business Writing #content editing #contentmarketing

[prolificcontentmarketing]

Sentence Structure in Business Writing: Why it Matters and How Should You Use it Effectively?

Sentences are the veins of your writing. They travel through the body of your content.

Use them creatively to enhance your audience’s experience, whether you're writing a blog post or a business book.

What is sentence structure? How can you use sentence structure variations to make your business writing shine?

Let’s learn from this article.

Sentence Structure Basics

Sentences can be long or short. They can be simple sentences or compound sentences. Sentence structure is a technique to organize your writing.

To know how to use the correct sentence structure variation, you must learn about the various sentence types.

Simple Sentences

A simple sentence is, well, simple.

When you write a sentence with just one independent clause, it’s a simple sentence. Simple sentences have a verb and a subject.

Here’s an example of a simple sentence:

She is happy.

Compound Sentences

A sentence with two independent clauses is a compound sentence.

Combine the clauses by using a relevant coordinating conjunction, such as for or and or but, to write a compound sentence. 

Take a look at this example of a compound sentence:

She hasn’t got a boyfriend, but she is happy.

A compound sentence uses two clauses and produces one sentence. These two clauses can easily be two separate sentences as well. 

Complex Sentences 

Complex sentences use a dependent and an independent clause to produce one sentence.

If she had a boyfriend, she would have been happier.  

The comma separates the two conjoining clauses. In the above example, do you observe the dependence of the second clause on the first one?

Complex-Compound Sentences

Add another layer of complexity to your sentence, and see the magic of a compound-complex sentence.

She hasn’t got a boyfriend, but she is pleased because she loves the freedom of being single.

Can you spot the two independent clauses and one dependent clause in this sentence?

Interrogative Sentences

There can be various types of interrogative sentences, but to be called an interrogative sentence, it must have a question mark at the end.

Take a look at this example of a simple interrogative sentence:

Do you speak Spanish?

Here’s an example of a tagged interrogative sentence:

You’ve had your breakfast, haven’t you?

The question, in this sentence, is tagged at the end of an announcement.

Now take a look at this example of a compound interrogative sentence:

Where is this place, and how would you find it?

Here are some examples types of the complex varieties of interrogative sentences:

Complex interrogative sentence: Did you visit the monastery because you were upset?

Complex-compound interrogative sentence: 

Where is Tom, and how is he doing, because there are secrets only he knows?

Other Sentence Types

Besides these sentence types, business writers can use exclamatory sentences, rhetorical sentences, and even poetic sentences in their writing. Let’s look at these examples:

Exclamatory sentences express intense emotions.

What a great book this is!

A rhetorical sentence, often a literary device, is a question that seeks an obvious answer.

What’s this life if not a puzzle?

A poetic sentence sounds like you’re reading it from a poem.

“To be or not to be: that is the question.” - William Shakespeare (from Hamlet)

As you can notice, there are many sentence types, that you can use in your content. However, using the right ones at the right time is a distinct art.

How Does Sentence Structure Impact Your Writing?

Using the appropriate sentence structure helps make your writing reader-friendly and engaging. 

Well-organized sentences make a piece of writing smooth and sexy.

It doesn’t just make you an effective communicator; people want to read you more.

Sentence Structure Diversity in Business Writing

A decent variety in sentence structure allows writers to manage the pace of their writing.

It keeps the readers from getting bored.

You can keep your sentences short. Or take your audience on a cruise to a scenic island where they can enjoy delectable orange juice with a plate full of greens.

Shorter sentences convey more in less time.

The best business writing is pacy. That’s because readers prefer to absorb information quickly. Take a look at this example of a simple and short sentence from Atomic Habits by James Clear:

"Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement."

Longer sentences give writers the joy of using sensory and descriptive language.

They help you to add a feeling of therapy to your writing. Such sentences help make your writing intense and authoritative.

And makes it enjoyable.

Now take a look at another sentence from the same book:

"A single decision is easy to dismiss, but when we repeat 1% errors day after day by replicating poor decisions, duplicating tiny mistakes, and rationalizing little excuses, our small choices compound into toxic results."

A long, complex-compound sentence.

Interrogative and rhetorical sentences help you hook the audience. Here’s a simple example: “Can the world do without email marketing?”

Speaking of voice in sentences, the active voice is most suitable. However, it's fine if you occasionally end up with passive voice.

Here’s an example:

“Jannet was abducted by a close relative, and this is what worried Phil the most.”

Final Thoughts

So, whether you’re writing a blog post or an e-book, or a business book, you can infuse sentence structure variety and keep the readers hooked and happy.

And it’s the best way to enjoy the creative process and build a lasting relationship with your readers.

I hope you found this article useful. If you’re looking for a professional ghostwriter for your business or your writing project, you can get in touch with me.

#sentence structure #business writing #business communication

[prolificcontentmarketing]

From Self-Serving to Customer-Centric Content Marketing

According to a recent study by Edelman, most people in America do not believe the information in a piece of advertising to be accurate. Only 8% of the respondents said they did not require further evidence to believe the information presented in an ad.

Today’s ever-discerning customers don’t easily believe in promotional brand messages.

According to Harris Poll and Ad Age Survey, 45% of adults say they have a friend or a family member influenced by misinformation.

Is customer-centric content marketing the answer to your brand marketing woes? Let’s learn more about it in this article.

What is Customer-Centric Content Marketing?

Customer-centric content marketing puts the customer at the heart of business communication. It uses data to create educational brand messages that customers value.

Such branded content aims to entertain potential customers so they can be fans and followers before becoming loyal customers.

With audience-centric content, a marketer’s primary goal isn’t to sell. Instead, it is to craft narratives that generate user interest and build trust.

Get A Deeper Sense of Audience Problems

The foundation of exceptional marketing lies in how much you understand prospective customers.

Work on collecting in-depth information about their problems.

Research their goals and aspirations.

Know what a day is like in your ideal customers' lives?

Work on learning about their content and platform preferences.

Studying the traits of customers can work wonders in creating narratives that matter.

Meet User-Intent With Branded Content

Getting branded content to rank for search engines isn’t simply about optimizing it for the right keywords. Audience-driven storytelling is about creating content for prospects, not for search engines.

Content marketers must build a direct relationship with online searchers by learning about their search intent.

Delve deeper into a search query to learn if the user intent is informational, transactional, or commercial.

Understanding user intent helps you meet prospective customers’ real-time content needs.  

Have a Distinct Purpose

According to 2019 Porter Novelli/Cone Gen Z Purpose Study, 90%  of  Gen Zers believe companies must act to help social and environmental issues, and 75% will research to see if a company is being honest when it takes a stand on issues.

Successful storytelling is about aligning brand communication with a  distinct purpose. Remember that customers are not interested in your products, services, or content.

They wish to know the why of a business. Here’s an excellent example of brand purpose from Starbucks:

“From the beginning, Starbucks set out to be a different kind of company. One that celebrated not only coffee but also connection. We’re a neighborhood gathering place, a part of your daily routine. Get to know us, and you’ll see: we are so much more than what we brew. We call our employees partners because we are all partners in shared success. We make sure everything we do is through the lens of humanity—from our commitment to the highest-quality coffee in the world to how we engage with our customers and communities to do business responsibly.”

The ideal way is to communicate how you intend to make a real difference in their lives.

Share behind the scenes of your company.

Create an introductory video to talk about your vision and mission.

Purpose in communication is the key to attracting the right people to a business.

Think Like a Journalist

Wearing a journalist’s hat makes a content marketer empathetic and honest. Media companies constantly investigate everything interesting about a topic before offering freshness in each content piece.

Moreover, becoming a brand journalist helps you commit yourself to use reliable data sources and industry expertise to create truly insightful content.

Companies like Red Bull, American Express, and GoPro have consciously built content brands around this philosophy.

Journalists have a way of giving every story a unique angle. Similarly, content marketers should be able to effortlessly produce eye-grabbing headlines, exciting listicles, and expert round-up pieces.

Offer a Sense of Community

Most marketers make the mistake of believing that content marketing is one-way communication. Instead, with branded content, marketers need to make an effort to facilitate user-brand interaction. Building a community provides prospects with a safe zone to start expressing themselves.

57% of B2B marketers expect investment in social media/community building during 2023, up from 37% the previous year.

Branded content is much more relatable when marketers put customers in the limelight. The process helps to gauge a lot about customer sentiments and customer preferences. An online community puts across the voices of customers and high-intent audiences in branded content marketing.

For example, Forks Over Knives, a brand that promotes plant-based eating, created a Facebook community to offer an online social hotspot to its prospects. The group now has over 340,000 members!

Use Visual Writing

Visual storytelling helps transport the reader to another time and place. It’s an effective way to give customers entertainment, the type one experiences when watching a movie or reading a novel.

Use writing devices such as metaphors and similes to describe a relatable situation. Look at this hook line: “You’re not a salesman; you’re a race car driver.”

Such writing evokes emotions and makes the audience feel deeply connected.

Over to You

Run-of-the-mill content that reeks of agenda and lacks originality is everywhere. That’s why publishing audience-driven content makes it stand out as the winner. It’s the sure-shot way to build content assets that attract fans and customers.

#contentmarketing #storytelling #content writing

[prolificcontentmarketing]

Are You Creating True-Blue Thought Leadership Content?

In one Edelman and LinkedIn survey, almost 60% of respondents claimed that they found a brand’s thought leadership content more trustworthy than its traditional marketing materials.

Thought leadership content works to help you win customers.

But how do you create honest thought leadership content?

Many thought leaders may think that using jargon in their writing can impress their readers. But your prospects won’t like you if you burden them will complex terms and phrases. 

Here’s a simple piece of truth:

If you’re Michael Jackson, dance; if you’re a thought leader, you should work on  displaying your expertise. Offer them a cake you baked. Offer them a peek into the strategies that worked for you. Offer them naked truths about your failures and what you learned from them. 

That’s the perfect way to earn fans and followers.

How do you create thought-leadership content that creates a spark and attracts readers?

Let’s learn more about it in this article.

Write From Experience

As a business leader, your experience is unique. Your leadership style is naturally different from others.

Your industry exposure has helped you learn a lot. Sharing what you’ve learned offers valuable insights to those who matter to your business.

You have an in-depth understanding of the problems that you’re audience is facing. And you have seen your industry transform over the years.

Creating thought leadership content is about unbundling all you’ve done so far and giving it away.

Thought leadership content includes a taste of your brand values and leadership style.

It uses real-world examples and case studies.

It has your brand’s flavor and how you wish to drive change in your customers' lives.

In short, thought leadership content is about creating true-to-life narratives from your professional and personal life—content your audience can relate to on a deeper emotional level. 

Real Thought Leaders Take a Stand

When you know your industry well, it’s easy to share your viewpoint. Whether you have an uncommon opinion doesn't matter. What matters is that you take a stand on the real-time issues facing your industry.

Understand the current trends and share why you think they’re flowing in a specific direction.

Think like a media person to share your commentary on the latest industry news and updates.

Such thought leadership content gives your prospects an idea of your personality and how you think. It tells them who you are as a person. It gives them a glimpse of your personal brand. 

Create Value

According to a study conducted by Semrush, creating thought leadership content is about inspiring your audience through research-driven, educational content.

As a thought leader, your intent isn’t simply to toot your horn. You’re on a pedestal of authority where you need to be mindful of what you say. Check if it truly matters to your prospects. There are strategies that can help you educate your audience. 

For instance, you can embrace in-depth content formats such as e-books, white papers, webinars, and original research.

When you’ve been publishing such helpful content regularly, you can go one step further and write a book. 

The goal is to dedicate yourself to creating valuable content consistently.

Gear it for Conversations

Great leaders inspire and listen. They get their prospects to share their opinion. 

Ask questions and make your content a two-way street.

Use interactive content formats like LinkedIn polls to make your content a two-way interaction.

Work on gathering feedback on your content and tailoring it to your target audience.

Talk about social issues that matter to you and your audience. For instance, you can discuss topics like diversity and equality in the workplace. Think about ways to create inclusive discussions that would be valuable to the community at large. Meaningful debates are helpful in driving change and earning respect from your followers. 

Inspire and Innovate

Creating thought leadership content is about displaying your commitment to innovation. It’s about showcasing how you’re different from other thought leaders in the industry.

The ideal way is to make learning a habit and disseminate your knowledge to your followers and your peers. 

You must constantly work on improving your products, services, and content. 

Entertain your audience in the most human way possible. 

Remember to be more purpose-driven with your content marketing. 

Lastly, leaders who inspire have the habit of staying inspired. They are visionaries who know how to create something new and narrate it as a first-hand story. Isn’t that marvelous?

Be Persistent—Have The Right Mindset

Thought leaders have a natural ability to help their target audience. They do not shy away from doing it consistently. Influencers like Seth Godin, Joe Pulizzi, and Ann Handley probably did not even set out to become influencers in their niche. Instead, they simply worked on creating content assets for their audience. They focused on the one task of sharing practical knowledge. 

What followed resulted from their dedicated efforts—millions of people recognize and respect them as global thought leaders.

Final Thoughts

Thought leadership is a result of a million significant actions. As a thought leader, you need to perform those actions. And you need to tell the story of the things you did. 

The good news is that you can hire a ghostwriter to help you discover your brand persona and tell your stories in your voice.

#thought leaders #thoughtleadership #ghostwriting #contentmarketing

[prolificcontentmarketing]

How to Write an About Us Page and Give Your Site Visitors a Peek into Your Brand

I’m writing my story so that others might see fragments of themselves.

- Lena Waithe, screenwriter for Bones and Master of None.

When building a website, you must know how to use each page to inspire visitors and get them glued and in love. In this article, let’s learn how you can write a fascinating About page for your business.

What is an About Us Page?

If your website’s Home page is its face, then the About page is the heart.

The About page communicates the human side of your business. It’s a place to display who you are as a company and why you matter to prospective customers.

Of course, you can have different names for such a page: Who We Are or Our Story, etc. 

Let’s now look at some of the critical elements of an About page.

Tell Your Story

Start by sharing a little anecdote of how you started the business. The About page is your real estate to discuss the itch to tackle a burning issue.

Be candid, and don’t be fearful of talking about your failures and pitfalls. You can either write this section of the page as a paragraph telling people precisely how you began and what it has been like to be running this business. 

Complement this section with a few photographs of your journey as an entrepreneur.

You can also create a short introductory video and give wings to your band story section.

Here’s an excellent example from paperlessParts, an estimating and quoting software for manufacturing:

Talk About Your Vision

The About page paves the way for you to write about what you wish to do in the future. What’s your vision as an entrepreneur? A vision statement is a crisp and concise statement of your goals and aspirations.

Explain Your Brand Purpose

Consumers connect with your brand because of a sense of shared purpose. 

In his brilliant speech, Simon Senek explains the importance of communicating your ‘why’.

The strategy helps you to be honest with your audience and attract the right customers to your business. 

People who understand your belief system will likely become loyal customers and brand ambassadors.

Take a look at this example of brand purpose from Cliff Bar & Company.

Iterate Your Core Values

What are your core brand values and philosophies? Create a section on your values to tell your customers and stakeholders how you conduct your business. Talk about the emotional values and drivers that bind your actions.

(Source)

Introduce Your Team

When you write an About Us website page, you wish to showcase your team's strength. Letting your target audience know about the people behind your business is a crucial confidence-building measure.

Start with a unique team introduction and the common thread that brings you all together.

Add photos of your core team and write a brief bio of each. Highlight their strengths and also give a peek into their hobbies and interests.

Take a look at this example from Hunter.io:

Display Your Achievements

Are you ready to talk about your accolades?

Yes, it’s time to feel good about your company's achievements over the past years and put them up with pride.

Add logos and details of the awards your company got.  

Showcase your press mentions. You can add logos of publications that wrote about your business. An exciting way is to flaunt screenshots of press pieces that talk exclusively about your company.

You must also showcase positive reviews by your existing customers.

Converting visitors into fans and followers is about creating the right impression. That’s why exhibiting what your company has accomplished is a critical success factor.

Showcase Your Life and Culture

The About page is your sweet spot to offer a glimpse of your brand to potential customers and prospective employees. The behind-the-scenes of your company help you add humanity to your website.

In this section, you can add snapshots of your office space and how people work and celebrate.

If you have a manufacturing unit or a cafe, you can showcase your production process. Put pictures and text to explain your quality standards and what goes into producing it.

Final Thoughts

An About Us page is an exercise in discovering your brand and presenting it to prospective customers, investors, and employees. It’s a crucial pillar of your website’s efficacy. 

The right way is to hire a professional copywriter and strategist who can immerse herself in your brand and produce exceptional writing that connects with your target audience.

#webcopy #websitecopywriting #copywriting #branding

[prolificcontentmarketing]

The 4 Types of Writing Styles You Need to Know

Ok, so you may be a sensitive and profound human being like me, poetic and creative. Or you may be somebody very pragmatic and strong-hearted; I wouldn’t say shallow;) Just kidding.

These aspects of your personality influence your natural way of writing or speaking. 

But when you’re writing a blog post or a landing page, or an ebook, you can mold your writing style according to what works best for your target audience and your brand.

So let’s learn about the four major writing styles that you can use in your content marketing. Plus, how you can use these styles to make branded content more interesting and engaging.

Feeling chirpy? Let’s go. 

1. Vivid or Descriptive

Have you ever used real-life examples to convey a critical message to your target audience? 

The following snippet from the famous poet Robert Frost is an excellent example of visual style in writing:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Visual imagery makes writing entertaining to the audience. It transports them to a new world. The best part is that as a writer, you enjoy creating content that describes a situation that’s lifelike and human. It’s what makes business writing personal and relatable.

When creating a visual experience for your audience, you’re offering something emotional and yet real. This form of descriptive writing style is most common in poems and lyrics. Use the descriptive style to break the monotony and make your writing juicier.

2. Educational or Expository

This writing style works well when you wish to explain a concept to your readers. Educational content decodes a topic for the audience to learn and use the knowledge to solve a problem or to achieve a goal.

Most B2B companies use this writing style to communicate complex topics in a simple way. B2B marketers use this style to create tutorials and guides to offer in-depth information to the readers.

Educational writing styles can come across as bland. That’s why, to make your content interesting to the readers, it’s vital to use it in combination with other writing styles.

3. Persuasive

Persuasive writing helps you sell products, services, and ideas. Why do businesses need persuasive writing? Because they need to communicate why their products and services are better than the competition.

You can use persuasive writing on website landing pages and social media advertisements, product video scripts, and crafting attention-grabbing call-to-actions. Take a look at this example of intelligent use of persuasive writing by Slack, a popular team communication tool:

In this world with many online platforms and content consumption choices, persuasive writing can help marketers to convince prospects to buy. Isn’t that cool?

4. Anecdotal or Narrative

This type of writing is more about sharing an experience. For instance, you can share a story about how you achieved your goals. In your anecdote, you can talk about your struggles and some of the major obstacles you had to face in your journey. The narrative writing style makes use of characters and a plot to convey a strong message. 

Many business owners use this writing style to inspire and educate their prospects. 

(Source)

The narrative writing style is commonly used for writing novels and short stories. However, it’s an effective style for writing story-driven blog posts or video scripts. 

Applying Writing Styles to Branded Content

Whether you’re writing a blog post or a LinkedIn update, or a video script, the knowledge of different writing styles can create magic for your content piece. The best way is to start by documenting your content objective and audience personas. 

The strategy will give you a clear idea of where and when to use these various writing styles.

Over to You

Writing styles give you a deeper understanding of the impact you will create in the target audience's minds.

I hope you enjoyed reading this article. 

Looking to hire a ghostwriter for your business? Do get in touch with me!

#writingstyles #contentmarketing

[prolificcontentmarketing]

Website Copywriting Tips: Because Site Visitors are Frogs

As a marketer, you can cringe that your website pages aren’t converting visitors into leads or customers. Or, you have the option to pull yourself together and concentrate on how to improve your web copy.

What makes web copywriting work? Let’s learn more about it in this article.

Empathize With Your Audience

Delve deep into who your ideal customers are and what they want.

For instance, is your target audience looking to buy a new home? Or are they business managers who need productivity software?

What do these two sets of buyers want?

The first set of customers will look to add to their sense of pride, achievement, and respect in the community.

However, the second set of prospects will be looking for software that can improve and reduce the cost of a workflow.

Likewise, the messaging will vary in each case.

Here’s an excellent example of copy that sells to project managers and leaders looking to improve team management and team productivity:

(Source)

Can you observe the difference in the needs, goals, and challenges of these two audience sets? Just remember that every group of buyers has unique aspirations. Therefore, your website copy must promise to fulfil individual needs.

Offer Emotional Benefits

Here’s a simple truth: most human decisions are emotional. For instance, car buyers don’t simply buy a piece of technology that takes them from one place to another. Instead, they purchase comfort, style, and a sense of joy.

When researching your target audience, you must learn about their personality and psychological needs. Use Emotional words to build a relationship with your target audience. Here’s a fantastic example from Cadillac Lyriq:

(Source)

By using the right words and visuals, you can transport your audience into a mind space where they can experience what it is like to own a product. That’s when they feel a deep sense of connection and a need to buy your products and services.

Tell a Story

State the problem and why it’s a cause of concern to your audience. And then communicate the solution quite like this example below.

(Source)

Another exciting way to tell a story is to talk about your mission and why you’re doing what you’re doing. For example, write about how you wish to bring about change and create value for your customers.

If your prospects resonate with your story, they’ll want to buy from you.

Social Proof

There is yet another way to storify your home page copy. Offer social proof; why? Because it tells your audience that products or services indeed work.

Tell the story of your happy customers and how it worked for them. Showcase prestigious clients and how your company helped them.

(Source)

Use Writing Techniques to Hook The Audience

To grab attention, you can use popular writing devices like metaphors, similes, alliteration, and repetitions.

Sample these headlines for a website page of a hypothetical sales software:

Selling is like brewing a cup of coffee.

Or

Imagine yourself as a race car driver.

A metaphor makes your writing visual and relatable.

Now take a look at this example of repetition that works well for an imaginary Beatles-themed cafe:

All You Need is Love. All You Need is Love. All You Need is Love.

Do you notice how repeating a simple phrase can make your headline three times more impactful? Repetition is a writing technique that can reinforce your message and improve the persuasive power of your message.

Picking up a film, a song title, or a well-known concept that says what you want to say is a creative technique to get your audience to take notice and remember your message.

Using puns, questions, and numbers, can all be instrumental techniques to make your web copy quirky and catchy.

Encourage Your Prospects

Writing web copy is about getting site visitors to take action, like signing up for a newsletter, downloading an e-book, or making a purchase.

Therefore, you should write in a positive tone. It works. Your goal is to solve a problem, not to wail about it.

Do you see the point?

Use words that make your audience feel enthusiastic about your offer.

For instance, you can use words like jaw-dropping or sexy to make your audience feel energetic about taking action. But, on the other hand, expressions like time-tested and authentic create a sense of security.

Here’s an interesting example from Saleshacker:

(Source)

Make The Process Uncomplicated

The ideal way is to make it easy for prospects to decide and act. For instance, if you’re asking them to fill out a form, you need not include too many fields. Or offer visitors a free sample or a product trial.

Free replacements and money-back guarantees are fantastic techniques to put your buyers at ease. Take a look at this example of copy that guarantees customer satisfaction.

(Source)

Present A Comprehensive Case

So here’s the thing. Copywriting is about selling. It’s about showing why people should buy.

Display how you have helped your existing customers.

Showcase your client profiles or logos on your landing page.

You can even put up testimonials of happy customers.

Use language that displays professionalism.

(Source)

Fabricate Urgency

This technique works very well when you’re running an offer or giving away a content upgrade. You can use words that suggest that your offer is short-lived. For example, look at these words: Hurry, Now, Today.

Another powerful technique is to communicate the offer duration. You can also tell your audience that stocks are running out, and they’ll be inclined to make a quick purchase.

Make it Irresistible

Is your offer too hard to let go off? When creating sales copy, you need to work on highlighting how much value your products can bring to your customers.

For instance, you can bundle your products and display significant savings to prospective customers.

You can also run a promotional discount, or a buy one get one free offer.

Take a look at this example from Harry’s:

(Source)

Say More With Less

Let’s face it; most website visitors are in a hurry. So they usually scan website pages to learn if something’s worth their time and attention.

Here are some ways to write concise landing page copy:

Use bulleted text to highlight your products’ key features. Icons and pictures help highlight product benefits

Use easy-to-understand language. Instead of jargon, try to break-down complex concepts.

Here’s an excellent example of how to keep product-related copy clear and concise.

(Source)

Optimize Your Copywriting for Search

Writing website copy isn’t about conversions alone. You also need to get more visitors to find your pages. So how do you make your website pages rank for popular niche search terms?

Start by doing keyword research and knowing your main keywords. Then work on fulfilling the user intent of those keywords. Finally, ensure you optimize the headline, meta title, meta description, and page URL for your target keyphrase.

(Source)

Remember that website copywriting is about connecting with people. It’s about making your communication empathetic, concise, and straightforward. You also need to remember that you’re catering to specific needs. Hence, it’s best to infuse a strong collaborative sense into your copywriting. Also, focus on catching your audience’s attention and putting them at ease.

I hope you found this post helpful.

If you’re looking for a professional copywriter, please feel free to get in touch with me.

#copywriting #webcopy #websitecopywriting #copywriter #saas

[prolificcontentmarketing]

How to Create a Structure For Your Non-Fiction Book

Writing a non-fiction book is about diving into deeper waters. Have a structure in place, and it doesn’t feel scary.

Before you begin writing your dream book, you must start planning it. Structuring is the perfect way to create a foundation for your manuscript. In this article, let’s learn about some steps to develop a beautiful book architecture that inspires you to get going.

Start with the Takeaway

As a business leader, you’re out there to create value for your readers. Every page they read in your book is going to remind them of you. That’s why you want to have them feeling good and replete with knowledge.  

So, like for any other content piece, you need to write what your book will give them. Here are some questions to answer:

Who are my ideal readers?

What do I want my readers to learn from the book?

How will my personality reflect in the text?

What should be the dominant writing style?

What will be the dominant voice and tone?

Writing down how you wish to convert your book into an experience for your readers will give you an inception point for structuring the manuscript.

Discover your Topics

Believe it or not, the best writing starts with pondering. Sit down in your garden with a cup of warm tea and start daydreaming. Trust me, that’s a fantastic way to let ideas start plopping.

Use this moment to consider the things you have achieved so far and your primary areas of expertise.

Think of topics you’ll cover in your book and start putting them in your diary. As an expert, you need to cover everything you know. Have a call with your ghostwriter to discuss these topics. A professional writer will come up with interesting angles for each topic you have on your mind. Let’s look at some useful ways to jot down ideas.

Write your ideas in a notebook or use sticky notes.

You can use a tool like Evernote or Trello to save your thoughts and access them from anywhere.

The idea-collection stage is always a non-linear process. In the subsequent stages, you can give the topics a linear and logical flow.

Choose a Structure

Just like in a pottery class where you can choose to create your favorite shapes, from candle holders to coffee mugs, you can structure your book the way you like it.

Let’s now look at some basic structure types that you can use.

a. The Problem-Solution Approach

This approach lets you start writing the book by presenting a problem to your readers. The next step is to explain the common causes of those challenges.

And lastly, you need to give a concrete solution to the issues you conveyed in the initial few chapters.

A clear advantage of this approach is that it aligns the book with the definite purpose of helping the audience to learn about certain issues and their best antidotes.

b. Extracts From The Past, Predictions About the Future

An interesting way to engage with your readers is to storify the changes that have taken place in your industry over the years.

For instance, certain trends were prevalent in the past, and they don’t exist anymore. And likewise, the things that work in the present won’t stay relevant in the future.

Let’s say you were to write a book in the email marketing niche. You can start with what email marketing was like back in 2005 before explaining what it was like in 2015, and so on.

You can write about your viewpoint on the inherent shifts and also share future predictions.

It’s an exciting and unique way to structure your book and offer a host of interesting insights to your readers.

c. The Chronicle You must have read some non-fiction books that sound bland. Well, it’s hard to write a book in a boring niche and still give the readers the experience of a fable. But it’s not impossible for sure.

As a thought leader, you have the option to share your unique experiences with your target customers.

For instance, you can narrate the story of how you started your journey and what you achieved. Plus, you can talk about your failures and what you learned from them.

Such a story structure works best when writing a memoir, but you can use the format to create a non-fiction book that’s full of examples from real-life events.

Give the Topics a Logical Order

When you have a topic list, and you’ve finalized a structure type, it’s time to give your ideas a linear flow. The ideal way is to go with basic topics at the beginning and slowly take your readers to learn about the advanced ones.

Reading through the topics is the best way to help you analyze the best order. Remember to find a valid reason for putting one topic before the other. You can simply follow your gut and find a flow that works.

The next step is to put all the topics into groups so each group will be a separate chapter. For instance, a book about Living a Healthy Lifestyle can have about seven chapters that include six topics each. That means your book would cover a total of 42 topics or subsections.

Be Flexible

Don’t forget that once you have a book structure, you can always shuffle topics and chapters. Flexibility offers room for creativity and helps improve the flow of your manuscript.

Write a Catchy Title

Once you have everything in place, you’re in a position to give your book a title.

The title gives you a chance to give your readers a peek into your book. Be as authentic as possible.

Make sure you write a catchy title—words that make it stand out from other thought leaders.

The ideal title is easy to recall and offers a tangible solution to prospective readers. It helps you sell your book to your readers. Plus, it’s something that stays with you alongside your bio.

It’s essential, therefore, to think through the book title and finalize something that makes you feel proud and excited.

Has Something Been Nudging you?

Structuring your book helps you move from procrastination to actual writing. That’s why a framework is such a vital part of the book-writing process. I hope you found this article helpful. If you are planning to write a non-fiction book and need professional help, please feel free to contact me.

#ghostwriting #ghostwriter #bookwriting #thoughtleadership #contentmarketing

[prolificcontentmarketing]

5 Ways A Ghostwriter Can Help You Become A Thought Leader

Whether you're a small business owner, a health coach, or an agency owner, an excellent way to get more clients and customers is to display yourself as an industry thought leader. A thought leader is someone who has deep expertise in a specific niche, someone who people look upto and trust. Thought leaders usually have a large following. 

Displaying thought leadership in your field of expertise is no piece of cake. You need to consistently create, publish, and distribute content that helps you become a trusted personality in your industry. And for that, you can take the help of a professional ghostwriter. 

Here are five ways in which an experienced ghostwriter can help you become an industry thought leader.

1. Save Time in Creating Content

A ghostwriter can save you precious time in creating content for your business. There's a lot on your plate already, and it's hard for you to take out the time to write articles, guest posts, or books. 

A professional ghostwriter works on understanding your business goals and helps in creating written content that goes with your brand's core values. 

As an experienced professional, he/she would be better equipped to produce high-quality content in a relatively lesser amount of time. 

Hiring a ghostwriter can help you focus your core business activities.

2. Communication Expertise

A ghostwriter comes with valuable communication skills that are essential to put together content in a professional way. 

A writer helps you to put forth the central message of a content piece more effectively. 

A ghostwriter edits the content and produces a clean copy, something that's fit for final publishing.

They're able to give a definite and comprehensive structure to written content. 

You may be an expert in your field, but you need a professional writer to help solidify your vision and put it across in an impressive way

3. Get Access to New Ideas

A writer often comes with multiple additional skills such as creativity and research. 

A ghostwriter would continually develop exciting story angles for the content pieces you wish to publish on your business blog or other platforms. 

You can get him or her to research, ideate, and come back with the most exciting and audience-centric content ideas for your business. 

Once you provide the primary research material and brief to a writer, she can do her research while fleshing out a content piece.

4. Produce Search-Friendly Content

The ghostwriters of today can help you create search-friendly content. Becoming a thought leader has got a lot to do with your online visibility. 

If your content can rank on Google's SERPs, it receives a higher number of views and engagement. Hence, SEO is an essential strategy to stay ahead of the competition and get your voice heard. 

Thankfully, most experienced ghostwriters have an excellent working knowledge of SEO content, backlinks, and keywords.

That's why a ghostwriter is a priceless resource in helping you become an influential figure in your industry.

5. Build an Online Brand

Most small businesses find it an uphill task to build a brand for their business. Hiring a digital agency requires quite a bit of investment. 

An experienced ghostwriter is a cost-effective alternative to tell your brand story effectively. He or she works with you closely to understand your business’s larger purpose and its core values. 

He or she then translates these into high-quality content that you can publish on many online platforms. 

Whether it's writing for top-notch media outlets or churning out answers for Quora, a dedicated writer can help you amplify your brand voice and create an impeccable online reputation.

Final Thoughts

Can a ghostwriter help you grow your business? Yes, absolutely. An expert writing resource can help create content for various content formats, including eBooks, blog posts, guest posts, Quora answers, LinkedIn updates, etc. Whether you're a real estate agent, a lawyer, an architect, or an agency business owner, a ghostwriter is a one-stop solution for all your content-related woes. Are you ready to hire a ghostwriter for your business?

#why hire a ghostwriter #why use ghostwriting #should I hire a ghostwriter

[prolificcontentmarketing]

Headline-Writing Made Simple: 5 Tips to Evoke the Right Emotion

By Laura Dolan, Senior Copywriter, Keap

If you’re an entrepreneur, you know that owning your own business requires wearing many hats. You’re the accountant, product manager, social media promoter, and in some cases, copywriter.

If you don’t have a writer on hand, now’s the time to learn some headline-writing tricks that will get your content noticed and attract customers to your business.

Headlines that catch the customers’ attention can enhance your email marketing, improve your landing page conversion rates, and boost post-metrics.

Your end goal is to garner relationships with your customers for years and years, so this is your chance to make a great first impression. Leverage your website, landing pages, blog posts, and emails so your customers can become more familiar with your brand.

It all starts with a headline that reflects valuable content. Check out these five attention-grabbing headline tips to entice customers to devote themselves to your business:

1. Use Emotional Words

The fundamental strategy here is to evoke emotion, so you must be aware of what constitutes emotional words and how they can be used in headlines. There’s no shortage of adjectives that you can use to describe what your audience can expect just by reading your headline.

Here are some adjectives appropriate for emotional headlines:

Best – not only is it good for SEO but when people buy something, they won’t settle for less than the best version.

Discover – people like to try new things and if your company offers that opportunity to either improve their skill set or try something new, it will motivate them to want to explore further

Easy – people always want the path of least resistance–if your product promises no stress, they will take a chance on you.

Everything you need – make them feel like they only have to come to one place–be their one-stop-shop

Free – people love free stuff, this goes without saying, as long as there’s no catch.

Guaranteed – helps people feel they can trust your business and feel secure in their purchasing decision.

Help – people like to know they’re not alone and that your business is either an email or a phone call away should customers have questions or concerns.

Huge – huge sale, huge discount, huge deal—will pique a customers’ curiosity.

Instant – not only does it create a sense of urgency, but it also fulfills the need for immediate gratification.

More – people always want more for their money as in additional products, but more in this sense could also be used in the context of comparing items, i.e., which one is more valuable?

Never – ensure customers that they’ll never have to deal with undesirable scenarios ever again

Powerful/Effective – these are robust words, as customers know what they’re about to read will evoke a certain amount of confidence in your company.

People – customers like to know that what they’re reading is relatable to others and what their opinion is on a specific topic or what their experience with a particular product was

Proven – this instills a sense of credibility; customers like to know if something they’re about to invest in actually works.

Quality – this suggests the idea that the product or service customers receive will be high-end or unique, which is a great way to attract business.

Save – people are always looking for bargains–lean into their quest for saving money but still offer a superior product.

2. Tell Your Story

This is essentially what your headline is, a summary of what’s to come. Reducing your entire landing page, article, email subject line, what have you, into one sentence should reflect your business’ mission. Ultimately, your message should express how your customers’ satisfaction is your number one priority.

Don’t be afraid to troubleshoot. Writing the perfect headline is rarely a one-and-done type of task. It can take as many times as you need to yield your content’s most ideal summary while packing a punch, compelling your audience to read beyond the title.

For example, the headline “Keap helps business owners stay organized” uses the company name in the title and evokes a sense of security for readers, demonstrating its mission and how customers’ lives will improve. It’s simple, to the point and depicts what the readers can expect.

Side note: Avoid clickbait at all costs. Teasing customers or using false advertising is a surefire way to lose business and credibility. For example, don’t say “Top 10 Tips for Upselling–You Won’t Believe #3.”

3. Keywords are Key

Speaking from a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) perspective, you always want to leverage trending keywords because the end goal is to rank as high as you can in a Google search.

One thing that will inspire ideas is a keyword resource such as the Google Ads Keyword Planner tool. Find the top-performing keywords in your industry and generate the perfect title out of those, further optimizing your content and ranking higher in an organic search. Remember always to include your business name as much as you can in your headlines, if applicable.  

4. Strength in Numbers

Numbers are desirable in a headline. Statistically, odd numbers fewer than 10 or top 10 lists perform better in terms of SEO. Numbers in headlines can apply to emails, blog posts, or any other type of marketing.

If your content includes a list, steps or tips, definitely consider adding a number to your title reflecting that quantity.

Attention-grabbing headline examples with lists include:

9 ways to improve business relationships

25 effective website audit tools

5. Keep it Short and Sweet

When writing your headline, less is always more. Google recommends 70 characters or fewer. If you prefer to think of it in terms of word count, 10 to 12 words have been demonstrated to perform the best per SEO experts.

For a fun way to guarantee your titles are within the recommended parameters, use a word counting tool such as wordcounter.io or wordcounter.net to play around with headlines’ length

For the record, the title of this article has 10 words and 63 characters. Sometimes you have to prioritize word count over character count. Will more words get the point across or fewer characters? It’s another troubleshooting opportunity. Move some words around, condense your statement, while trying to cater to what you think your target audience would want to hear to get them to explore your brand a bit more.

Refresh your Content

It’s never too late to improve your content. Go back to your blog history, as writing an emotional headline doesn’t just have to be applied to future content. Take this opportunity to refresh some preexisting articles on your site with some enhanced titles and subheads if necessary, to see if they perform any better.

A/B testing is also a great strategy to see what works and what doesn’t. Try it on some email subject lines and see which ones demonstrate a more successful open rate.

Keeping these emotionally evoking headline tips in mind, you may see improvement in the content’s performance and drive more traffic to your site and your business.

Laura Dolan is the Senior Copywriter for SEO at Keap. She has been a writer and editor for over 14 years publishing pieces in B2B and B2C industries including food and drink, energy, construction, supply chain, education, technology, retail, pet products, mental health, real estate, and engineering. She has also written and edited for international publications in the U.K., Canada, Australia, and India. When she’s not writing, she loves to spend time with her husband, Jeff, four stepchildren, dog, Sparky and cat, Piper.

#how to write headlines #emotional headline words #emotional headlines examples

[prolificcontentmarketing]

How to Market Your Business on a Small or Zero Budget

By: Laura Dolan, Senior Copywriter, Keap  

If you’re a small business owner trying to establish your priorities and allocate money where it’s needed most, marketing may not be first on your list. Other things may be taking precedence such as inventory, hiring a sufficient amount of people and renting a business space.

Even though you don’t have the funds to hire a marketing team just yet, you can still get the word out about your business’ existence. So, what’s the best way to go about attracting customers to your store without a proper marketing strategy?  

Check out the following ways you can still market your small business on a modest or lacking budget:

Post Valuable Content on Your Site for Generating Leads

The first place to start is announcing to the world that you have a website. Your website’s homepage is where you’ll make your first impression, think of it as your storefront. Speaking of which, post your website’s URL everywhere, including the windows of your store, your business card, on your products’ packaging, etc.

Your website should be easy to navigate and distinctly designed with your business branding in mind so that customers know they’ve come to the right place.

You also want to make sure your business’ contact information is accurate and easy to find on the site. Do a spot check every so often to see if images and links are relevant and directing customers to the correct place.

Ensure that your business’ content is compelling enough to capture the attention of your target audience with the following valuable tools:

Product videos with demos and tutorials

Product descriptions with purchase links

Podcasts (see below)

Webinars (see below)

Infographics

Guides

Virtual conferences/events

White-papers

Ebooks

Surveys/quizzes

Blog posts

Next, entice your leads into accessing your content. You want to format it as an exchange; for them to watch a video, for example, generate a gated form that they’ll have to populate every time a new customer requests to download it.

Then, assuming the form doesn’t discourage the lead from clicking away, they will fill it out. From there, you’ll have everything you need to follow up with them while your business is top of mind. Reach out via email and simply ask what they thought of the video and if you could be of any further assistance, creating the beginning of a friendly dialogue that will gradually (hopefully) grow into a stable business relationship that you can nurture for years to come.  

You can also repurpose your content. For example, you could turn a case study into an infographic or a series of blog posts into an extensive guide, or a podcast you recorded could be uploaded as a YouTube video. Then you can start promoting it as fresh content all over again to stay relevant to your customers.

Visit Networking Events

As an entrepreneur, you learn to network like a boss. It’s one of the most effective ways to build robust relationships that can help grow your business. You can do this in many ways. First, start by joining face-to-face networking groups in your community, such as:

The local Chamber of Commerce

Business Networking International

The Young Entrepreneur's Council

The Entrepreneur’s Organization

SCORE, or the Service Corps of Retired Executives, which is a non-profit organization that provides free consultation services and advice to entrepreneurs

Joining these types of organizations will open the door to local business events that will grant you the opportunity to go out and present your sales pitch in a conducive setting.

Industry trade shows are also fantastic networking events. You don’t necessarily need the budget to set up a booth, just simply register, attend and make sure you take plenty of business cards to distribute with all of your company’s contact information. Walk around the conference floor and speak with other organizations that can either supplement your business or become potential customers depending on your product or service.

If you’d instead build up from a smaller level, consider becoming more involved in your community. You can sponsor a local marathon or little league team, or volunteer at your local charity or non-profit. Ask to participate in a street fair or farmers market where you can give away free swag with your company’s logo on it such as magnets or pens so you can stay top of mind.

Offer to speak at any of these events or, simply create your speaking venue.

Organize an event or host a class at your local library, college or co-working space to talk about your business. Promote your speaking event by printing out flyers and placing them on community bulletin boards in your local library or coffee shop. You can also promote it on your social media channels.

Offer Discounts and Giveaways

Consider offering a discount on your buyers’ first purchase such as 50% off their first month’s subscription or a free trial.

The intent is to build awareness and introduce your business to potential customers to see if they like what you’re offering, hoping they’re so impressed that they come back for more.

You can also join forces with a complementary business in your industry and suggest hosting a contest together as a way to cross-promote your businesses.

Promote your contest or giveaway as the chance to win a discounted membership to your service or one free recently released product.

Use social media to promote your contest and remind your followers of the deadline. When the contest is over, announce the winner on all of your social platforms.

Use HARO

If your business publishes a regular blog, use a platform such as HARO (Help A Reporter Out) to build a backlink network that will increase your website’s exposure on other platforms.

Leverage your blogs to create a narrative revolving around some of the products and services you provide–if you don’t have a writer on your team, HARO is a great networking tool for those in the blogging industry. It helps reporters find an abundance of resources for upcoming stories and media coverage daily.

It also helps connect writers who want to generate high-quality backlinks from various authority sites.

The key to achieving links from your HARO efforts is to focus on providing high-quality info such as actionable strategies and resources, on the requests.

Reach out to HARO or recruit a graduate student as an intern, preferably one with SEO knowledge, to help flesh out your website’s content.

You can also reach out to other publications and offer to contribute an article. It’s free, and many magazines accept guest contributions that allow you to promote your business in your bio.

Become a renowned industry expert by answering questions on platforms like Quora, Reddit or participating in online forums that are relevant to your industry. Not only is it cost-effective, but it can also expose you to an entirely new audience.  

Host Podcasts and Webinars

Podcasting is an excellent way to build brand awareness and educate your listeners about topics associated with your company that will further deepen your audience’s understanding of your products and services.

Start by purchasing a quality microphone and headset; it’ll be worth the small investment. Then, gather other people in your company who are experts in their field to educate your customers on how to best use your product to improve their lives. Invite other business owners and experts to join your podcast as guests so that they can promote their businesses as well.

Make sure to market your podcasts appropriately on your website, social media posts and digital newsletters.

To efficiently distribute your podcasts, consider subscribing to a service like Libsyn, which ranges from $5 to $40 a month depending on your storage plan. Or Buzzsprout, which is free if you’re only uploading two hours per month, or it ranges from $12 to $24 per month depending on how many hours of upload. This way, your podcasts will show up on different networks including iTunes, Google Play, iHeartRadio and Spotify, to name a few.

You should also consider hosting webinars to further educate and engage with your customers. You may argue that webinars can be expensive to operate, but not always. You just have to get resourceful and know where to find free or low-cost options for small business owners.

Some affordable options include:

Webinars OnAir (starting at $19.97/month)

MeetCheap (starting at $9.97/month)

Google Meet (100% free)

Create accounts on Google My Business and Yelp

Create a Google My Business account to not only ensure your business always shows up in a local search, but you will be visible on Google Maps and Google Reviews as well.

Speaking of reviews, you should also consider adding your local business to Yelp as a great way to generate positive reviews and feedback from customers. You can also engage with customers in the comments whenever they have questions or express any concerns. Customers love to see when businesses interact with consumers to either thank them for their great reviews or remedy any negative situations they may have encountered.

Creating both of these accounts is free and are very effective ways to increase your visibility in search results.

Ask For Referrals

To guarantee repeat business, encourage referrals by creating incentives for customers to grow your client base.

Set up a customer referral program in the following ways:

Know what type of referral you’re looking for–there are different levels of referral systems, gauge which one is most appropriate for your business:

Ask a customer for contact information of someone who might be interested in doing business with you

Ask a customer who discusses your business with the potential referral and can attest if they’re interested in learning more

Develop a system–either request a referral on an invoice or send a referral link in a confirmation email.

Time it right–figure out the best time to ask for a referral and make it part of your sales and customer service process.

Pick a reward for customers that matter–understand what motivates your customers to give you a referral, and then design your program to provide rewards addressing their motivation. Don’t just send a generic gift card; make it personal. Leverage upsell or cross-sell items as rewards and incentives for referring a friend.

Create a referral landing page–make it simple for your customers to find where they can leave reviews, testimonials and referrals. Include a link to the landing page on the purchase confirmation or send it in a survey a few days after the product was delivered.

Bring the program to your customers’ attention–your customers may not even be aware this program exists. Direct them to it with a call-to-action in your next email campaign or add it to the main navigation bar on the homepage of your website.

Follow up in a timely fashion–build a timeline or set up alerts in your customer referral program, so you know exactly when to follow up on a referral.

Leverage Social Media

In our current digital era, it’s imperative to have a social media presence, whether that includes Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, YouTube, LinkedIn or all of the above.

They are great ways to build brand awareness, tell your brand’s story and engage with your followers. Joining social media is always free and as long as you have all the apps connected to your phone, just simply use your camera to upload pictures, videos and post status updates.

Some robust ways to engage on social media include:

Increase engagement by posting content your audience will find helpful or interesting

Use hashtags on a trending topic

Find an influencer who will speak highly of your brand

Be consistent with posting content

Go live to keep your audience engaged and invested

Be authentic

Keep promotions and sales posts to a maximum of 20% of your content mix

Join or create groups on Facebook and LinkedIn to offer valuable advice and information to build trust in your brand and garner credibility. Make it topical, so it doesn’t seem so promotional; your followers will find it more valuable, and it will motivate them to find out more about you and what you offer.

LinkedIn is considered one of the more professional social media platforms, so leverage it wisely by leaving thoughtful and constructive comments on your contacts’ status updates. LinkedIn calls attention to your activity on the feed so you will get noticed by more industry experts even if they’re not connected to you, yet.

You can upload videos on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, allowing you to live stream events such as a behind-the-scenes sneak peek of a new product. Try posting how-to videos or capturing footage of an event such as a trade show or demonstrating your business’ positive culture by posting videos of your fun office environment and staff members.

Guerrilla Marketing

Finally, let your imagination run wild with guerrilla marketing; there are no limits as to what you can do, except ensure that you comply with the law. As long as you don’t put your company’s reputation at risk, it’s a unique way to capture your leads’ attention in the most fun and cost-effective way possible.

Some quick ideas to spread your business’ awareness include:

Sticking a magnetic sign, bumper sticker or window decal to your car with your business name and contact info on it; you can also give them away as free swag next time you’re attending a networking event

Leverage your email signature by adding a call-to-action to visit your website whenever you send out an email

Graffiti your company’s logo or slogan somewhere in the community, but make sure you get permission to mark up a piece of property first

Use stencils to create street art

Place stickers with your logo around the city

Do a flash mob

Generate pop-up stores

Some more inspiring guerrilla marketing ideas can be found here. This is your chance to leverage guerrilla marketing to stay on brand and create a robust image of your company and your products that will leave a lasting impression on your potential buyers.

Laura Dolan is the Senior Copywriter for SEO at Keap. She has been a writer and editor for over 14 years publishing pieces in B2B and B2C industries including food and drink, energy, construction, supply chain, education, technology, retail, pet products, mental health, real estate, and engineering. She has also written and edited for international publications in the U.K., Canada, Australia, and India. When she’s not writing, she loves to spend time with her husband, Jeff, four stepchildren, dog, Sparky and cat, Piper.

[prolificcontentmarketing]

7 Key Digital Content Trends for 2020

By: Laura Dolan, Senior Copywriter, Keap  

By now, we’re all aware that the year 2020 has entered an era all of its own. How digital content trends are defined now are not where they were, say, 10 years ago.

Many companies have leveraged digital content in the way of blogs, case studies, white papers, how-to guides, infographics and newsletters. While all these forms of content are still effective and relevant for lead capture and sustaining a robust foundation for businesses by offering valuable material to their customers, digital content has taken on a whole new meaning in this new decade.

Here are seven essential digital content trends that many online companies and eCommerce sites have adopted in 2020 in an effort to attract leads, impress their customers and perpetuate brand loyalty:

1. Personalization

This is a great way to solidify the bond between your business and your visitors and ensure that you are meeting their demands. People who shop online find it valuable when eCommerce sites offer valid product recommendations, for example, helping them find the products they need as soon as they click over to their homepage.

Obviously this is more effective among returning customers, where the algorithm can retrieve their previous buying patterns, but in the case of a lead, it’s all the more reason for businesses to know their target audience by creating customer personas to become more familiar with buying behaviors in their industries.

Image Source: Getty Images

2. Video Content

Video marketing is a critical part of every stage in the buyer’s journey. Product demos, live streams and short informational videos on websites and social media have become more powerful marketing tools within the last few years. Consumers prefer video content to reading, especially if they’re looking for something instructional. So you’re much more likely to target, attract and capture leads through the use of creative videos that provide beneficial information.

If your company is striving for an “infotainment” concept, make sure your videos aren’t too silly or disjointed. You want to maintain credibility while also providing valuable content and keeping your audience’s interest at the same time. It’s a delicate balance, but if done correctly, it will increase the likeliness of your videos getting shared, going viral and upholding a reputation for a consistent and reliable tool on which your viewers can depend.  

Image Source: Keap

3. Email Marketing

While email marketing isn’t a new concept by any means, it has become a robust lead magnet for companies looking to expand their clientele. Let’s start out by making this simple: code a data-gathering interstitial to collect your leads’ email addresses on your website. That’s step one. Don’t assume that just because someone signs up for your email list that your job is done.

Next, you want to ensure that lead eventually transitions into a customer through being a nurtured subscriber to your emails. This entails including them in email campaigns that you periodically send out to prospects (a little goes a long way, don’t overwhelm your contacts by sending out daily emails, you want to be top of mind, but not to the point where they want to put you in the junk folder or unsubscribe altogether).

Send emails that ensure engagement with calls-to-action (CTAs) that direct customers to complete conversions on your site such as signing up for webinars, downloading podcasts or completing purchases.

You also want to provide them with valuable content in drip sequences and regular email blasts. Valuable content can include but isn’t limited to, case studies, white papers or ebooks that enrich their experience, educate them on your product and increase the probability of brand loyalty.

Image Source: Keap 

4. Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality (AR) has become a major game-changer when it comes to digital content and eCommerce. It helps online shoppers visualize the products that they are browsing, whether it’s a clothing item or a piece of furniture. Shoppers can now see how they would look while wearing a certain item or how nice their home would look with a certain hue of paint, all in a digital fashion, making it less intimidating to hit the “Buy Now” button. This helps online shoppers overcome the hurdle of not being able to see the product firsthand, upping the ante on comparison shopping.

If that blue couch doesn’t quite harmonize with the ambiance of your living room, no problem, simply select another color. How about lavender or aqua? Are you shopping for a new pair of glasses? You can have hours of fun selecting different frames that best complement your face.

AR enhances product perception to ensure what customers are buying is, in fact, the best fit for them. AR will provide online businesses a competitive edge by allowing shoppers the ability to test and explore products the same way they would during an in-person shopping excursion.  

Image Source: Getty Images

5. Chatbots

Chatbots are a form of artificial intelligence that interact with customers upon entering your website or social media profile.

Chatbots greet visitors with automated questions that can provide quick responses in real-time and are a great resource in gathering lead data, including email addresses, names, phone numbers, product preferences, feedback, etc. All conversations with your chatbot can be saved and used later for future lead scoring in your CRM.

Set up messenger chatbots on your business’ Facebook page to test out its effectiveness. They’re free, require very little coding and help customers feel more at ease since they’re customized to their preferences.

You also want to ensure your chatbots don’t spam your visitors with notifications when entering your site, impeding their experience. Instead, boost your lead gathering potential while also engaging in an informative manner.

Image Source: Keap

6. Podcasts

Podcasting is an excellent way to keep your brand front and center with your audience. People treat podcasts like audio-books–they can listen to them at the most convenient times, whether it’s while driving to work, sitting at their desks, exercising, cleaning, etc.

Leverage your podcasts to discuss topics associated with your company that will further deepen your audience’s interest and understanding of the product and the brand. Don’t just sit around a bunch of microphones and have a casual conversation. Offer substance to your listeners by bringing on guest speakers who are experts in their fields. Set up an editorial calendar on a monthly basis so you can plan out your topics and schedule guests so you can give them an appropriate amount of notice to prepare.

Make sure to market your podcasts appropriately by calling attention to their existence on your website, social media posts and digital newsletters. Create an icon link with your company logo at the bottom of every blog post and email campaign to offer easy access and build familiarity.

Image Source: Keap

7. Voice Content

Shopper: “Hey Alexa, order more laundry detergent and trash bags. Also, what deals do you have right now?”

Alexa: “I have several deals, including a Sees Chocolate Deluxe Gift Box, would you like to buy it?”

Shopper: “Yes, please.”

Image Source: Getty Images

Offering accessible voice-activated content to consumers creates an entirely new opportunity for engagement.

Shopping has never been easier or more convenient than with voice command. It saves time on browsing, having to enter your payment and shipping information, and the device remembers past purchases, making it very easy to submit a repeated order.

Enabling your business to be available on voice command devices will increase the likelihood of direct sales, as shoppers will have already decided on what they want to purchase rather than using the voice search as a browsing tool to figure out what they need to buy.  

The Takeaway

When it comes to digital content trends, there is definitely quite a variety of options that content teams can apply to their marketing strategies, and these areas are great places to start. Thinking outside the box when it comes to attracting leads and impressing existing clientele with valuable content will help your organization stand out and maintain its competitive edge.

Laura Dolan is the Senior Copywriter for SEO at Keap. She has been a writer and editor for over 14 years publishing pieces in B2B and B2C industries including food and drink, energy, construction, supply chain, education, technology, retail, pet products, mental health, real estate, and engineering. She has also written and edited for international publications in the U.K., Canada, Australia, and India. When she’s not writing, she loves to spend time with her husband, Jeff, four stepchildren, dog, Sparky and cat, Piper.

#digital content trends 2020 #trend content marketing 2020 #future of content marketing #what is content marketing in 2020 #viral content 2020

[prolificcontentmarketing]

The Intent Behind Content Marketing

How do you understand the true agenda behind content marketing? How to set achievable goals? How to make content marketing work?

Most content marketers go through this dilemma - I go through it myself. 

It’s natural to be in doubt and be confused about the content you have produced. 

A piece of content does nothing concrete - or it may. It’s critical to work on the intent of your content.

Why are you creating a piece of content? Do you have signups at the back of your head? Are you looking to get sales from your next blog post? Are you wondering how to get rankings for that post?

Let’s understand this better. The role of content marketing is to build solid relationships - those relationships are built on trust.

You can’t build trust with an agenda.

You don’t tell your girlfriend that you love her because she’s filthy rich - you tell her because you truly love her - your intent is pure.

It’s the same with content marketing. If you’re honest and authentic - if your larger purpose is to educate and entertain - if your content reflects your brand persona - you’ll attract the right audience. 

All that matters is that you’re passionate about representing your brand through consistent publishing. 

Everything else then takes a backseat. 

#Contentmarketing #brandedcontent

[prolificcontentmarketing]

100 Tips to Create Rockstar Branded Content

Content is the pillar on which a content marketing strategy pivots. Creating avant-garde and audience-centric content is the best way to earn worth and leadership in a niche.

Let’s find out how to avoid creating fluff that no one cares about and create content that’s close to being revolutionary:

Strategic Tips

1. Share your personal experience. A narrative about what you have learned or achieved helps put across a unique perspective about a topic.

2. Fix a goal for content creation before starting – the strategy helps prevent thin content. Decide if you want to create awareness, drive engagement or get conversions.

3. Draw a clear picture of the ideal customer you wish to reach. Use research, case studies, and direct interactions to delve deep into their aspirations.

4. Depending on the user persona, focus on one content format – blog posts, podcasts, videos, or infographics, etc. Use the format your audience loves most.

5. Keep researching for new content ideas.

6. Have a good knowledge of your niche. The more you know, the higher will be the output quality.

7. Focus on audience pain points. Provide them with answers to common problems. Do a quick keyword-research and don’t forget to get behind the user-intent of popular queries.

8. Create a community to get your audience to connect over common choices and preferences.

9. Publish content like a media company. Think about posting content that the audience will enjoy.

10. Give your content a unique voice. For example, it could be playful, humorous, and quirky or formal, authoritative, and helpful. The content marketing voice often flows from the brand personality.

11. Create content that excites and entertains the audience. Ideate something that’s around their interests.

12. Add a dash of humour. Some content marketers play smart and make use of memes and GIFs to give the audience a good laugh.

13. Feature your customers and tell their story – who they are? What do they do? Customer stories can be a great way to engage with the audience.

14. Be creative with your headlines. Write headlines that are punchy and honest, you don’t need clickbait. You can make use of an online headline analyzer to improve their effectiveness.

15. Create educational content to connect with your audience and help them get to know and trust your brand.

16. Use the explainer strategy to make sense of a complex topic or an issue. Use your explanatory skills to simplify a concept.

17. Explore unusual or odd angles that invoke an instant shock and awe among the readers.

18. Share content that is actionable. Use plenty of examples, references, and help materials to answer the ‘How to’ for readers. Help the users to learn how to use the software, for instance.

19. Follow Google’s Quality Rater Guidelines in all forms of content. The recent Google Algorithm update focuses on EAT: Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness.

20. Probe the readers by sharing interactive content like contests, games or videos with clickable tags. You can make use of tools such as Quizzr for Quizzes, Survey Monkey for interactive polls & surveys.

21. Send regular content to your readers through e-newsletters to build brand recall and engagement.

22. Analyze niche data to share predictive insights.

23. Be persistent with your content creation efforts.

Blog Content Creation

24. Ideate different types of blog posts like listicles, how-to guides, opinion pieces, comparative posts, and product reviews, etc.

25. Make your narrative stronger by including stats, quotes, and visuals.

26. Create expert roundups to help the audience gain new insights about a topic.

27. Write short and meaningful sentences. Don’t add fluff to your content – add value, so the readers enjoy it till the very end.

28. Re-edit your blog posts many times before hitting publish.

29. Make it easy for readers by dividing the content into short paragraphs.

30. Avoid jargon and cut down to simpler and shorter sentences to make blog content more fluid.

31. Link to one or two authority sources in your niche. External linking helps blog writers to add more value to the readers.

32. Strengthen relationships by responding to comments on each of the posts.

33. Hook your readers by adding a powerful opening.

34. Write blog posts about current news and trends in your niche.

35. Use the topic cluster model for blog content – helps the audience learn everything about a topic. Create a pillar page that contains an overarching topic. Then build multiple topic clusters or subtopics around it.

36. Capitalize your strongest piece of content by recycling it. For example, elaborate a post and convert it into an e-book. See if you can summarize to write an answer on Quora or re-purpose as a video.

37. Turn some of the blog text into visuals. Pull out quotes or important points from the content and create an image on Canva.

38. Do not crowd a single article with abundant information. Publish articles in series with two to three parts. Let each part contain in-depth information on a particular idea.

Infographic Content Creation

39. Go for laser targeted topics for infographics instead of generic ones. For example, an infographic on ‘Tips to Write Content on Event Management’ is more targeted than that on ‘Tips to Write Amazing Content’.

40. Most infographics look similar – make your design stand out by backing it with a creative concept or a theme.

41. Use the latest and reliable data.

42. Maintain a natural data hierarchy. The design shouldn’t look like a bunch of directionless statistics compiled together.

43. Avoid repeating visual and textual content duplicity – avoid mentioning the same points in the supporting text.

44. Cut down on the unnecessary text. Give more breathing space to visual components like illustrations, tables, and graphs, etc.

45. Highlight important phrases in the infographic to grab the audience attention.

Video Content Creation

46. Create video content that raises awareness on social issues with the help of short films, features, or documentaries. Take a look at this example from HubSpot.

47. Strengthen the bond between your brand and viewers by giving them a glimpse of behind the scenes of your company.

48. Play on the emotional aspect of the video – what do you want the audience to feel after watching the video?

49. Engage the audience with a giveaway. Tools like Vizia help create quizzes and polls for videos.

50. Capture your take on exclusive, trending or controversial topics.

51. Explain quick hacks to solve common pain points.

52. Host interviews to debate and discuss burning questions – you can even cover popular industry events.

53. Create branching video content that enables the viewer to control what happens in the video.

54. Attract and engage your audience by showcasing comparisons.

55. Use a conversational writing style in your video script – talk to your audience.

Website Content Creation

56. Follow the cone principle of information. Place crucial information at the top of the web page, drilling down to supporting information.

57. Use active voice and make it easy for visitors to understand the offering.

58. According to a study, only 16% of the web page visitors read word for word. Add generous amounts of paragraph space to make content easy to skim.

59. Include a strong call-to-action to direct the page visitors. Take a look at this example: 

60. Use care-words to help visitors navigate through the content and assure them that they have landed on the right page. Carewords are different from keywords. Unlike keywords, the care-words function only when the visitor lands on the web page. For example, when a hotel booking page has a bold scannable care-word like ‘Special Offers’, the visitor responds by booking a room.

61. Think of the visitor as a lazy person who wants to find the answer to his problem. Write short, jargon-free, and useful copy.

Podcast Content Creation

62. Before penning down the podcast content, take inspiration from niche forums, popular publications, previous podcasts, and social media comments.

63. Pick topics that you’re passionate about so it reflects in your content.

64. Begin the podcast content with a sticky story. Storytelling compels the listeners to stay on.

65. Make the podcast content a two-way street where you ask questions from the listeners and make them think.

66. Transcribe the podcasts for people with hearing impairment – the strategy also benefits in getting search rankings.

67. Offer your listeners expert content by inviting industry magnates. Research the experts’ background and plan a thought-provoking session.

68. Include information about credible sources like books, magazines, and government agencies.

69. Become a guest on someone else’s podcast, making your content valuable to a new set of audience.

E-Book Content Creation

70. Establish thought leadership in your niche by conducting an experiment or survey. Share the experiment, your experience and the inferences in the e-book.

71. Write an exclusive product demo content for people who have either recently purchased your product or are in the sales funnel.

72. Meet popular influencers from your niche and host an interview with them.

73. Create a cheat sheet full of insider tricks.

74. Stitch together a series of blog posts into an e-book with each article as a chapter.

75. Ideate a topic that’s intriguing and fresh.

76. Think of and give it a catchy title and a subtitle. It may happen that your title is not able to convey the entire message. Take a look at this example:

White Paper Content Creation

77. Unlike e-books, white-papers defend a specific solution and prove why a solution is better than the others. Choose to talk about a solution that you can connect back to your products and services.

78. Before beginning to write content for the white paper, brainstorm the following three points to finalize the angle:

The authority area of your product to tie to the title

A subject that’s a relevant and high priority in the niche

The area of expertise you wish to display

79. Write the executive summary of the white-paper like a pitch to the audience. Tell the audience why they should read it.

80. Use authentic research reports from organizations like Forrester to create robust data-driven content.

81. Perform original research and include the inferences.

82. Include a clear conclusion at the end of the white-paper to give readers the final verdict.

Social Media Content Creation

83. Do not meander from the purpose of the post. For example, when targeting ebook downloads, the copy should talk about the benefits of the e-book.

84. Use exclamation marks and standard punctuations in a measured way and not overdo them.

85. Write social media content using the Pomodoro Technique. Use timer apps to increase your content writing productivity.

86. Proofread social media posts before publishing – you can use tools like After the Deadline.

87. Run festive and thematic campaigns to keep the audience coming back for more.

88. Use copyright-free media in your posts – else provide the relevant credits in the post captions.

89. For social media posts that are in pure text, use the visual version of the text – for example you can put a quote on an image.

90. Make use of trending content formats such as live videos. Get more visibility by posting native videos on each of the social media channels.

91. For Facebook posts,120 words length works the best. Make use of 2-3 relevant hashtags to benefit from social search.

92. For Instagram, break up long content using bullets or emojis to highlight the main points of the content.

93. Replace weasel words and phrases for more affirmative and promising words like ‘expert’, ‘guarantee’, ‘sure’,

94. Cut short wordy sentences for deals and offers – write to the point. For example, instead of writing ‘We promise to give you a competitive price on our product’, write ‘Get competitive prices today’.

95. Get a real-time opinion by adding a gripping call-to-action like ‘agree-disagree’, ‘like-dislike’, ‘Product A vs Product B’

96. Make it interactive by organizing contests and giveaways.

97. Include power words as they trigger emotions and help build stronger connections.

98. Make the reader the hero. Use words and sentences that depict a reader’s point of view.

99. Create a social media content guideline to help maintain consistency in communication and improve brand recall.

100. Add user-generated content to boost credibility and dependability.

Clarity and simplicity are the primary elements of exceptional content. With the above tips, you can create engaging, and shareable content, irrespective of the niche.

Are you ready to create some path-breaking content for your business?

#how to create content #how to create content for your brand #contentmarketing