Are you driven by the “content is king” notion? That cliché is getting so boring that we all start to yawn when we hear it. However, brand owners and content marketers stick to it because they know it’s true. The quality, relevance, and frequency of your published content determines the success of your online marketing campaign.
But many brand owners take that “content is king” too literally. They feel like they should produce more content more frequently.
They make serious mistakes along the way. They practically undermine the success of their brand. They negatively affect its reputation through the bad content they publish.
Are you doing the same thing?
It’s time to reevaluate your content marketing campaign. We’ll give you 6 important writing tips to take it to the next level and improve your overall content strategy.
Table of Contents
6 Tips to Make Your Content Marketing Campaign More Effective
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Write Long-Form Content
Neil Patel might as well be the king of long-form content. Whenever you search for tips on online marketing, you’ll run into his website. And you’ll probably find a really long article explaining things in depth.
Do you know why his website is so successful? – Because long content works.
It’s a fact that Google confirmed. Here’s what Google webmasters say about it: “Users often turn to Google to answer a quick question, but research suggests that up to 10% of users’ daily information needs involve learning about a broad topic. That’s why today we’re introducing new search results to help users find in-depth articles.”
That announcement came out back in 2013, but long-form content is still going strong.
So what do you do?
- Instead of writing several brief articles for the needs of your marketing campaign, start focusing on in-depth content that really informs the reader about an issue and provides a solution.
- How long should long-form content be? Well, it’s safe to set 1000 words as your minimum.
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But Keep the Paragraphs Short
So it’s clear: Internet users prefer finding one in-depth article than browsing through several shorter articles to get informed.
But let’s not neglect the fact that the attention span of the online audience is not impressive. They will give you a few seconds before they decide if your content is good enough for their time. If they see chunks of text that’s not properly structured, they will bounce off.
Long-form articles impose an ever greater need for proper formatting.
- Break the content down into sections with subheadings.
- Make the paragraphs and sentences short.
- Use bullet points and numbered lists. They make the article “easier” on the eye.
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Use a Conversational Tone
Did you notice I was addressing you directly in this article? That’s one of the main rules in content marketing: make a connection with the reader! When the tone is too official, the reader can’t make that connection. They feel like they are reading a textbook.
But when you talk to them like you would speak to a friend in real life, it’s possible for them to relate to you. They will feel like they are getting advice from someone who understands them. That gives you a greater chance for them to go through the entire article and take the action you recommend.
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Recommend an Action
Speaking of action, what’s the purpose of your content marketing campaign?
Do you want the reader to install and use particular software? Are you promoting products or services? Or are you simply writing for the pleasure of maintaining a blog?
Whatever the case is, you need to have the desired action in mind. Then, you’ll call the readers to action.
If you’re writing a holiday present guide, for example, you’ll lead your readers towards the recommended products. If you’re just writing a blog post without the intention to sell anything, invite them to comment, like and share.
The success of your content marketing campaign is measured by engagement. So get people engaged, will you?
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Always Stick to the Point
Are you writing outlines for your articles?
“Oh; but outlines take time and I don’t have time to waste!”
If that’s what you’re thinking, you’re wrong. An outline may take 15 minutes of your time. However, it will save you a lot of time while writing the content, since it gives you a direction. When you have this format, you already know what you’ll write about. You’ll just fill in the gaps.
Without an outline, you risk going into digressions. One thought will lead to another, and you’ll soon lose the point.
The readers won’t appreciate that, so your brand ends up losing points in their eyes.
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Edit to Perfection
Finally, it’s the tip you expected but hoped not to find. Editing is important. Editing is crucial!
Skipping this step means you’re publishing an incomplete draft. A single grammar mistake may affect your brand’s reputation in a very negative way. You don’t want to see parts of this content in a funny meme, do you?
Start by using effective editing tools, such as Writer’s free grammar checker.
But remember: that’s just software and you still have to be mindful about the recommendations you follow.
Over to You
Is your content getting you the results you want? Does it contribute to the branding process?
Even if the answer is yes, you still need to keep working on it. That’s the fun part of content marketing: there are always improvements to make.
Author Bio
Warren Fowler is a marketing enthusiast and blogger at BestEssays.com, who loves music. If he doesn’t have a guitar in his hands, he’s probably embracing new technologies and marketing techniques online!