How to write digital marketing content that converts

Whether you think content is king, queen or an alien concept, there’s a simple way of turning words into a profit in your digital marketing efforts…

Think of content as your heart, pumping an endless supply of words around to create blogs, emails, PPC ads, social media posts and so on.

Without blood, your body wouldn’t be able to function in the same way any digital marketing campaign wouldn’t without words.

While it might be a rather basic comparison, it’s worth remembering that content is quite a simple thing. Everyone can write. It isn’t some bamboozling topic that leaves the brightest University Challenge contestants “umming and ahhing”.

However, content is only an effective marketing tool if you focus on quality and strategy.

How to develop an effective content marketing strategy

You can spend hours crafting a thought-provoking blog or email campaign, but if you send it out as a standalone piece riddled with errors, it’s essentially like farting in the wind.

Placing greater importance on your content marketing strategy, and the quality of its execution will give your digital marketing campaigns direction and purpose. Just like your heart does when it pumps blood to the rest of your body, if you want your PPC, social media campaigns and organic website traffic to function efficiently, you must take the necessary steps to address your content marketing strategy.

If you abandon it altogether or create subpar copy, you’re jeopardising the very livelihood of your business.

Content should be used as a tool for helping existing and prospective customers during every stage of their journey.

Have you got email content in place to nurture prospects at every stage of the buying cycle? No, I’m not talking about generic, impersonal copy which reeks of automation. Instead, does the content have an element of realism which prospects can actually resonate with?

After crafting enticing copy for a PPC campaign, do the words on your landing page or website provide value and a sense of clarity which stops them from relentlessly bashing the back button in a frenzy like they would in a game of Street Fighter on the Sega Master System? (Granted, I’m showing my age there.)

As well as addressing the content journey and writing itself, it’s essential to think about your target audience too. Think of it this way, I think everyone can appreciate the written quality of Charles Dickens’ work, but that doesn’t mean his messages resonate with me or I necessarily enjoy reading it.

Instead, you need to:

Define your goals – establish what the goal your content marketing strategy is and the purpose of each content-led campaign.

Create a customer persona – every content marketing strategy requires a deeper understanding of the business’ target audience. Don’t just think about top-level stuff like age, gender and so on. Break this down further and think about their interests, online habits, frustrations and goals.

Brainstorm ideas – whether you want to write a blog, white paper or email, as I mentioned earlier, if you can’t link them together to make a fluent journey from prospect to customer, you’ll produce ‘content islands’. Having isolated/one-off pieces of copy makes it impossible to tell a brand story and sell consistently. So, use your understanding of your target audience to brainstorm ideas which would appeal to their habits, interests, frustrations and goals. Once you have a set of topics that interlink with each other, writing fantastic content will come naturally to you.

Final thoughts

At the end of the day, every step of the content journey in your digital marketing efforts needs to be accounted for – starting with the process, the aim of the copy, the buyer persona and the way you deliver it. If it isn’t, your copy will continue drowning in a bottomless pit of online drivel, as the rest of your competitors shape the voice of your industry and thrive.

It doesn’t matter how amazing, topical or valuable your content is, if there’s no strategy behind it and a clear journey guiding prospects to take action, you have no chance of turning words into money.

Place content at the heart of what you do and your target audience will love every campaign you run.

If you need help with your content marketing strategy and producing quality copywriting, get in touch with us today. Our expert team can give you guidance on how to turn your words into more profits in 2020.

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