I admit, my writing may not be the best; in fact, I’m pretty sure I sucked at writing just until recently. I dare say this – I don’t start by being awesomely good. It’s a journey to perfection and what I did was I kept writing and writing and writing and slowly but surely, I got better. Writing is not that bad. I promise.
Writing and content marketing, in general, requires a lot of writing and I mean it, like a lot lot. To some extent, I can say it’s horrifying and probably why many people find writing terrifying especially if the word article or blogging come into place. They will freak out! But what if I say I can help minimise that fear in your content marketing, yeah? Here goes:
Write, read, edit. Well, don’t think too hard when you’re writing your first draft. Your brain will get exhausted and that’s where that nasty thing that I hate most come knocking – writer’s block or should I say it’s most writers feared enemy. Take my advice. Keep it cool, your ideas will generally flow and once it flows out smoothly, read what you have written. Anything that sounds off, start editing then. Do not let simple things like thinking too hard paralyse you while you write.
Your key idea is your heart. Always remember to focus on one key idea to grab your readers’ attention. I mean you can have many points as part of that one idea, and honestly, it’s actually kinda normal to sorta stray off from your key point but always have a clear idea of what you want to write. At least when you’re done with your draft, you don’t have to edit a lot of things.
What in the name of jargon is that? I bet many of you love to use jargon because it makes you sound cool and all but you need to determine which audience you will address. Yeah, you can use jargon to educate others who are not familiar with your industry but using too much will definitely make you look like you’re trying too hard. I mean, come on dude not everyone knows the meaning of floccinaucinihilipilification! It’s valueless by the way if you’re wondering what it means.
Your first sentence is key. In content marketing, attention grabber is your soul. You need to get your readers onboard from the get-go. So please please, I beg you to avoid starting with phrases like:
Last weekend I had the pleasure to interview…
In my previous article, I have…
Here at company A, we are…
It’s okay if it’s your second or third sentence but try and avoid such… Dude, you’re not writing the news – no offence!
That call to action part. Now, CTA is where you want to convert your viewers, visitors, and/or readers into a lead for the sales team. Think about it – you want something and you shall get it. So how to get it? Here comes: subscription, sign up, join us and my personal favourite, try for free. But beware. Don’t go and direct your customers to straightaway contact the sales team – ‘I also run like this, you know…’
Do you need a Grammar Nazi? Let’s admit, you, me, us – we are all human and mistakes are bound to happen from time to time especially when you’re doing content marketing. But, hey, you can minimise your error and if there are days you feel that your English is way too “out of the world,” head on over to any grammar apps that can check and correct your grammar and comprehension because they are your very own Grammar Nazi.
Don’t forget to have fun. Yes, peeps, go and have fun writing! Put some sense of humour into your content marketing. Forget about people thinking of you differently. Life is colourful and that does not mean your writing needs to be boring and old fashioned. Be the trendsetter once in a while, no harm done. Even our disciplined teachers laugh sometimes, right?
Geogy Ross is a content creator at Marketing In Asia. Connect with her on LinkedIn.
