Inevitably, we are all aware of the fierce competition in pretty much every sphere of life. From digital marketing to sales, we are always confronted by competitors who are keen to take our business or, at least, beat us at our own game.
However, when it comes to marketing and sales copywriting, we encounter a different beast. While there is fierce competition in every other part of the marketing mix, in the area of copywriting, we see incredibly high levels of cooperation between brands. Every other area of marketing, digital marketing included, is driven by performance. We have established metrics such as traffic, leads, and conversions which marketing managers use to track the performance of their campaigns. In contrast, when it comes to copywriting, we have a different set of performance metrics which are all based around the quality and consistency of the content produced.
What is the quality of the content? Is it catchy, compelling, and easy to understand?
What is the consistency of the content? Do we see the same voice, tone, and approach across all of the written material produced by the brand?
If you want to stand out from the competition, these are the metrics which you should be focusing on.
Attracting An Audience
While the competition is fierce in every other sphere of marketing, when it comes to attracting an audience, the brands which stand out above the rest are the brands which grasp the notion of entertaining as well as educating their audience. As a copywriter for a financial services brand, I see this all the time. When we looked at our competition, we saw that most of the brands out there were heavily focused on educating the consumer. In contrast, we saw fewer brands who were actually providing amusing entertainment value to their audience.
The trick, as always, is to find a way to provide value while entertaining the reader. To achieve this, we have to ensure that we offer something special to the consumer. In the case of the financial services brand, we saw that the competition was often light hearted and somewhat dull. At the same time, we wanted to provide our audience with content which would be both informative and entertaining. So, we looked to the comedy stylings of Chris Rock to help us write entertaining content.
Creating Awareness
The next step in the process was to increase consumer awareness of the product or service. In the case of the financial services brand, we wanted to increase consumer awareness of the savings account product which we promote. To drive interest in the product, we need to ensure that the audience is aware of its existence, and the benefits which it can offer.
The competition in this area is also incredibly high. However, even in this highly competitive space, we have some distinct competition which stands out above the rest. One brand in particular which consistently produces memorable content is Headline News. Every piece of content which they produce is carefully crafted to grab the attention of the reader and hold it for the entirety of the article. This is a crucial component of any good news story, particularly when the news is bad. Bad news needs to be told in a way that the reader feels it directly affects them and that they can take action to correct the situation. With Headline News, this is effectively done through the use of compelling characters and detailed descriptions of the events which transpired. In our case, we wanted to achieve the same effect by encouraging our audience to sign up to our savings account scheme. So, we used the style and formula of a crime drama to tell the story of a con artist who swindles an opera singer out of her life savings. In doing so, we ensured that the audience learns the importance of being wary of unscrupulous individuals and financial services which may appear too good to be true. We also want the consumer to remember the brand, so we include unique branding elements in each of our articles, from the characters’ names to the type of music which is played during the piece. This is why, when the news is good, we often see Headline News’ articles, particularly when they are covering serious issues which affect a large number of people. In this case, their storytelling ensures that we are remembered, and that our message to beware of scammers is heard by as many people as possible.
Sharing With Your Social Media Followers
Once you’ve captured the attention of the reader with your compelling content, the last step of the process is to encourage them to share the content with their social media followers. To do this, we have to ensure that our content is shareable and worth sharing. When done right, sharing is an effective form of social media marketing which can greatly improve the reach of your content. In the case of our financial services brand, we saw that our content was frequently shared on social media, particularly on platforms like Twitter. This was largely because our content was engaging and entertaining, and as a result, people felt that it was worth sharing.
However, not all content is made equal when it comes to sharing. In order to increase the odds of our content being shared, we have to ensure that it is done so securely. One way we can do this is by using a reputable platform like Twitter to distribute our content. By doing so, we ensure that our content is only shared with followers who have opted in to receive our tweets. This means that our financial services brand is only sharing content which they consider to be of value, ensuring that their valuable followers see only valuable content. This form of targeted sharing is worth considering if you are looking to improve the reach of your content.
Generating Leads
The last step of the process is to generate leads. We need to attract audiences to our brands, persuade them to take action, and, with luck, convert them into paying customers. In the case of our financial services brand, we want to generate leads by encouraging our audience to sign up to our service. To draw in audiences who have never heard of us, we will use multiple techniques, from attracting potential customers with compelling content, to encouraging them to sign up with offers, discounts, and a money-back guarantee. The last step is to follow up with the potential customer and turn them into a lead. To ensure that we follow up with the right people, we use lead scoring which assigns a financial value to each lead. This allows us to target our cold, hard cash towards the most promising leads, and move on to the next step in the process.
While all of this might seem like a laborious process, the key to success is to keep things fresh, interesting, and, above all, unique. After all, as long as you keep producing compelling content, you will keep attracting audiences and, consequently, keep generating leads. As long as you keep generating leads, you are fulfilling your function as a marketing department and, at the very least, not hurting your wallet too much.