Writing For An Audience That Has Better Things To Do
By Nicole Emmerich
You only have about seven seconds to capture the attention of readers when they open your blog post before they move on to something else. That’s a lot of pressure to put on your content.
The importance of being a skilled writer is often overlooked in the marketing world. The reality is, writing is extremely important in your marketing campaigns; not just for things like press releases and blogs, but for social media and advertising copy, too. If you do any kind of marketing, you need to be a skilled writer.
I’d like to clarify that I’m not just talking about being technically good at writing. You need to be able to write well, yes, but you also need to be able to write for your audience in ways that they will respond to, and this varies between platforms. Social media writing is different from blog writing, which is different from press release writing. So yes, the ability to string together a sentence that’s so beautiful it makes people cry might be a useful skill, but only if you know how to apply it to different platforms.
Readers Want Excellent Content
We live in a society where our audience demands good content. And if your company’s content isn’t good enough, then something better is available to consumers at the push of a button. People want reliable, interesting and useful content. Side note: if you’re writing blogs, readers want 750 to 1500 words of INTERESTING content that readers can use (and share), not just information about your company. I know, it’s a lot of words.
This doesn’t just apply to blog posts, it applies to everything you write for your company: social media posts, advertisements, press releases. As marketers, we need to be able to convey information in a way that is interesting and relevant to our audiences.
If you can write something, even on Facebook, that’s truly interesting, funny or relevant to your consumer, you will get more traction and more engagement. Today’s consumers don’t want gimmicky, salesy, content. They want real, interesting topics that they can relate to and that solve their problems.
Grab the Reader’s Attention
Writing today also means that you have less time to convince a consumer to read your content. The attention of a reader must be captured within seconds. If your blog post lead isn’t interesting enough, then the reader won’t make it past the first paragraph. Now, more than ever, it’s important to make sure you’re writing is something people will actually want to read.
Social media posts can no long say “Check out our newsletter” or “take a look at this link.” There must be and INCENTIVE for the consumer to click on the link you posted. They need to be thought out, carefully crafted and posted at the right time (but that’s a different blog post for a different time) to get your audience’s attention.
The Importance of Tone
Knowing how to write in different tones is extremely important in marketing. Like a conversation, you need to know how to mirror the tone of the people we’re talking to. Obviously, if your audience is medical professionals, that tone is very different than if your audience is women ages 25 to 40.
Knowing how to convey your company’s messaging and branding to your audience in a way that they will understand, will give them new, useful information and will inspire them to take action/buy something/sign up for something is extremely important.
Know Your Audience
The first step to being successful in all the ways we just talked about is to know your audience. This is extremely important. You can’t figure out how to write about subjects your consumers would find interesting without researching who they are and what they like.
If your audience is younger, then it’s important to write with the fact that most of them will be reading your content from their mobile devices. Actually, you should always be thinking about that. No matter what kind of company you have, about half the people are probably reading your content from a mobile device instead of a laptop.
There is a LOT that goes into a strategic marketing campaign. But brainstorming killer strategies and coming up with fun tactics is just half the battle. You must be able to implement everything successfully to get results and being a skilled writer is a huge part of that.
Nicole Emmerich is the communications manager at 120 West Strategic Communications. She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Nevada, Reno in Journalism and Public Relations with a minor in dance. She has a background in the medical, non-profit and special events industries.
About 120 West Strategic Communications
120 West specializes in client business growth fueled by strategy, marketing and communications. 120 West works with both public and private entities, with emphasis on delivering measurable results aligned with a company’s goals and objectives. More information is available at www.120West.biz. The agency was named one of the top Reno PR agencies for 2017 and 2018 by Expertise.com, “Most Innovative Strategic Marketing Agency” in Nevada by Acquisition International Magazine for 2018 and the top agency in the Western US by Corporate Vision Magazine for 2017.
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