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How To Write Better Marketing Content

Marketing messaging should communicate who you are and the value you provide in a way that is easily understood by those you want to reach. This is how you can make your message stick, regardless of your industry.

1) Talk to them about what drives them.

Effective communication requires that you understand your audience and their needs. What are their needs? Wants? Fears? What can your brand do to solve their problems and improve their lives? These core emotional drivers will guide your messaging. You can either use them to lead (e.g. “eliminate clutter”), or with an ideal state (e.g. “transform your vacation experience”).

Use language that is emotionally charged (e.g., save and organize, clean, prevent and secure, erase, transform or makeover), This will help you grab attention.

Tip: Our guide can help you create your marketing personas. This is a valuable tool that can inform your messaging. You can learn more about your audience by calling, emailing, surveying, and talking to your customers. Ask your customers about their goals, pain points, frustrations, and aspirations. You will find common themes and phrases among these customer responses that you can use to craft your marketing copy. Remember to speak in the language of your customers.

Example: Slack does an amazing job of customizing brand messaging to different peopleas using emotional copy that speaks directly to their core desire or pain point.

2 Share a frightening or surprising statistic.

Data can be an extremely powerful tool, especially when it uncovers something alarming like a worrying trend or forewarning. Fear and concern can elicit strong emotions, which almost always leads to a desire to know more. The same applies to shock and intrigue. To find the attention-grabbing bits that will grab your attention for headlines, advertising and social posts, you can dig into any data.

Tip For those who don’t know where to look or how to make a compelling mess of it, here are 9 great resources of internal data and 100+ public data sources. Our handy guide will help you find the most fascinating stories in that data.

Example: Ogilvy, Wavemaker, World Afro Day teamed up to create the brilliantly named “Change the Facts, Not the Fro”. The series included surprising statistics that were visualized with hair, a campaign that was a scroll stopper and conveyed a powerful message in a single glance.

3 Use the second-person voice

This may seem like an insignificant thing, but it is one of the most common errors we see in marketing messaging. It may also be one that your competitors may be making. Writing in second person voice, especially if it has been awhile since you last studied English, means that you speak directly to the reader (using the “you” and not “they”)

Remember: Talk to people and not at, or about.

A second-person voice is more personal and engaging, which helps to foster intimacy. This is an important step to take if you want people feel connected to your brand.

Tip Always speak to people like they are human. This area is where your brand voice and copy can have a significant impact on how people feel about you. If you aren’t sure what your brand voice is, here are 5 methods to identify it. Avoid buzzwords and insider jargon. They can make people feel excluded or intimidated if they aren’t in the know.

Ellevest, an app that invests in women’s money, is an example of how women can take control over their finances. They take a more casual (and frankly, slightly sassy!) approach to their content for a Millennial audience. They could have called their article “Why Women Should Save for the Future”, but they chose to make it more personal and provocative by calling it “Why You Need a Fund.” This makes an otherwise informative article a must-read.

4) Use language to build trust.

You want to stand out among your competitors by quickly grabbing attention and communicating that you are the brand people want to work for. People will trust you if they use words or language that makes them feel comfortable.

Trust-building words: secure, safe, reliable, dependable, sturdy, quality, expert, innovative, unique, proven, successful, efficient, transformative, skilled, etc.

Tip – Data can also be used to build trust and encourage others to join the group. To convince people to sign-up for our newsletter we tell them to join the 14,500 marketers already doing so.

Example: Gusto, a payroll platform, makes it simple to manage payroll on time. Their value proposition is made even more appealing by two simple words: “Award-winning”. This simple phrase conveys credibility and fosters trust while simultaneously capturing attention.

5) Be brief–but impactful.

Your message is already competing for attention so don’t waste your time with lengthy paragraphs or flowery language. Simple, concise copy grabs attention, and guides people along the buyer’s journey. It is important to use emotive language, or language that instantly paints a picture. This is our favorite form of brand storytelling.

Tip Never forget to make a second pass at tightening your marketing copy.

Is it concise and clear?
Is there an intriguing hook?
Do you think it’s possible to simplify or use a stronger word?

Example: Although this Target pharmacy billboard was created a while ago, it’s a perfect example of impactful storytelling. It uses as few words as possible. A combination of clear messaging and a creative presentation almost immediately embeds the marketing message in the brain of the viewer. This is another way to promote data-driven leadership.

How to fine-tune your marketing messaging

You want to be confident that your brand messaging is working for you. A/B testing can be your best friend. When it comes to copy, you can no longer rely on intuition, hunches, or personal preferences.

Simple, but insightful testing is what we prefer. Facebook ads are our favorite tool for A/B copy testing. These ads are especially useful because they are easy to use, cost-effective, and can be tailored to the audience you want to reach. Facebook ads are great for helping you see which messaging is working, no matter what it may be, regardless of whether it’s a new tagline or value prop or a CTA.

This is a simple test to see if you are experimenting with different types of marketing messaging:

To test different copy, create separate landing pages. You can use the same design but change only the copy.
For a week, run a targeted FB ad for your customers. A highly targeted ad will usually generate less traffic. Remember that your goal is to limit your search criteria but still get enough traffic to allow statistical significance for test results.
Check out which landing pages got the most conversions.

It’s really that simple. Depending on your requirements, you may need to run deeper A/B tests. You have a lot of resources and tools to help you do this.

Validate your sample with Optimizely’s calculator
Neil Patel’s A/B Testing Calculator can help you to calculate conversions.
All you need to know about A/B Testing with Optimizely’s optimization glossaryspan styling=”font-weight 400 ;”>.
You can find The Beginner’s Guide by CXL to Conversion Rate Optimization.

Your A/B testing should give you a better understanding of what works and what can be improved.

Research and revision are essential to finding the right message. There are always ways to improve. We recommend that you test your copy at least every six months, if your budget allows. Also, whenever your brand strategy span or marketing direction changes, we recommend testing it.

Explore More Ways to Tell Your Brand Story

Consistency is key if your brand produces a lot or has many content creators. Make sure everyone in your team knows your messaging framework and where it is located. Check out these resources to help you tell your brand story well.

Learn how you can create compelling CTAs to convert.
Take a look at our collection of 100+ resources and tools to help you write better copy.
These brands have transformed their brand stories into original content.
Learn how to place your brand’s values front-and-center in messaging
These tips will help you tell your brand’s story at every touchpoint.

If you need help with your brand messaging, or any other part of your brand identity, can be reachedspan type=”font-weight 400 ;”>. We would love to bring your story to life.

Column Five published the post 5 Tips for Writing Marketing Messaging That Hooks Your Audience.

Author: Katy French

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