How to Make Words Read Good
Content marketing’s bad (and better) practices
I once fancied myself something of an adventurer. Every year throughout my early twenties I would withdraw from the dwindling pot nominally labelled ‘life savings’ — kindly deposited by my stepdad and now deceased grandfather—before splurging it all on flights and ill-conceived assortments of equipment (think: saddles, horses and ex-military life-rafts). I’d then head off on an expedition somewhere out there in the wilder reaches of the world. As a result, I had a lot of exciting escapades: from running eight marathons in eight days through an uncrossed desert (and former Soviet weapons testing ground) in Kazakhstan; undertaking an 800 mile horse ride through the same country in homage to the centenary of a British explorer’s route through the region; living with local nomads in the high mountains overlooking Afghanistan; interviewing environmental protestors in the occupied building sites of a snowy Yerevan, Armenia’s capital; or existing in isolation climbing rocks in South Africa’s Cederberg back-county.
Every trip was wildly different to the last, but the process by which I justified them remained pretty constant throughout: do the journey, write the article, pitch, get published, get paid (eventually; thanks exploitative and incompetent print publishers), reinvest said money into next year’s adventure, repeat. As a result, I got to be pretty good at separating the wheat of exciting daring-do from the chaff of monotonous slogging and day-to-day enduring—shaping a finished product that would resonate with readers and actually get me paid. Now, several years and lifestyle changes later, I’m still shaping and changing content to fit audience’s minds just right, attempting to make even the most convoluted of topics exciting and interesting for the average reader to engage with. Here’s five bad—and five better—practices of content creation based on everything I’ve learned along the road so far.
THE BAD
#1. The Overly Detailed
When confronted with a mountain of information, this is important, don’t try to cram every single last bit of it into your copy. There is nothing worse than an overly detailed account, where the constant barrage of facts, figures and numbers get in the way of conveying the most important aspect of all, the content’s point. Better to keep copy short and sweet: if it’s a news item, 400–500 words is fine; a basic feature, 1000–1200. I would only go above 2000 words if you have something super special to say, you have a breadth of different, interesting (and clear) themes of information in which to impart, or you’re a very skilled writer. It’s always better to err on the short side than bore a reader to death.
#2. The Self Explanatory
Knowledge is power. Unfortunately most people relinquish that power within the first 30 words. Articles that are overeager to share the core kernel of truth within a piece’s first par (as per traditional newsprint’s inverted pyramid)—or worse, in the title—are quickly clicked, consumed, and moved on from. If you have something to say, at least wait until the second par to get it our (or even better, tease, then circle back on the vital information towards the last third of the piece). Hopefully by that time your readers will be hooked on what you have to say.
#3. The Sales Pitch
Why are you creating a given piece of content? If it’s to explicitly flog a product then you better be a darn good writer, because as soon as that pitch lands the vast majority of people will click off. Readers simply don’t like being tricked into reading sales copy. So don’t write sales copy. Content is there to be read, digested and appreciated in the first instance, then to drive a specific action in the second. If you try to get an audience to do something first without the necessary verbal foreplay it’s never going to end well, so always be willing to give more in words than you’re likely to receive in click-throughs.
#4. The Socially Unaligned
Good content marketing doesn’t just look at how well the ladder has been made, but whether it’s up against the right wall. There is nothing worse than writing an insightful and thoroughly-researched piece you’re really proud of, only to watch it wither on the vine with nothing more than a handful of views and absolutely no engagement. Consequently you need to put just as much planning into how you’re going to get the piece out there. What channels and avenues can you use to support your content? Social media is obviously a great starting place (as well as ads and promoted posts to0 if you have the budget for them) but always look one step further too. Seed the piece on Reddit, flame the trolls, stoke the fires and work your influencer network as well so that your content may reach their audiences also. The aim is to create a firestorm of interest, and with it, traction.
#5. The Unoptimised
Who read your article? Where are they based? How many readers bounced? What was the content’s average read time? How many people went on to undertake whatever your desired action was (like, did they click through to a product page?). Bad articles have little thought behind them—they’re written on a hunch and the results are generally never measured or tracked. Like a mercantile ship floating in the sea with no mast or navigation, these sorts of article have no idea where they’re going or where they’ve been. As you’d imagine, the chances of their cargos making land are slim indeed. So brush up on your analytics, look past the pitfalls of vanity metrics, and start using real numbers to inform what sort of writing is proving successful, then write more of it.
THE BETTER
#1. Lifecycle & Funnel Focused
A good article is tightly focused and sets out from the very outset to prove a hypothesis or accomplish a specific objective. Potential customers go through a lifecycle; from complete unawareness of your brand, to consideration of your product, acquisition, onto—ultimately—retention, advocacy or abandonment. Effective content strategy identifies what each stage of the customer lifecycle is for the business in question, then works out how content can be used to serve these specific stages, the aim being to move the reader down the line and into the next stage of the funnel.
#2. Creating Knowledge Gaps
If bad content is overly explanatory, better content creates a knowledge gaps in the reader’s mind. Think a seductive teasing of an answer to an issue people never knew existed, only to then keep the grand reveal back as long as possible, without frustrating the audience in the process. By not rushing straight in with what you really want to say, you’ll be surprised at how strong an incentive is created within consumer’s minds to try and close that knowledge gap. You only have to look at how well clickbait entraps you—in a cycle of endlessly page-refreshing galleries before you finally get to the item that the flashy social media post has drawn you in with—to know that this works.
#3. Aspirations Rule the Roost
When I was an adventurer I wanted nothing more than to win the Lawrence of Arabia Award from the Royal Society of Asian Affairs. Why? Because I had the grandiose ambition of being recognised as a peer of the great man himself. Aspiration is a powerful motivator whatever form it may take, whether it’s business, money, sport, culture, anything. It spurred me on into the harsh wilds of Central Asia and many others the world over to do similar mad things in the name of ambition and aligning one’s dreams with the drudgery of real life. If you can write to inspire, people will aspire to whatever ideology your business projects. Tap into a theme related to your chosen ethos and ideology and then own that space. Make others want to join you on a ride upwards to becoming a better versions of themselves.
#4. Includes Calls To Action (CTAs)
Your article has been read by a heck of a lot of people. Great—but now what? Better content knows when to ask its audience a return on what’s been provided. If you’ve just written the funniest, cleverest quiz in the world, why not ask for an email address before the scores are unveiled (to add to that ongoing lead generation campaign). The more you give, the more right you have to ask for something in return. Just be careful not to overstep the mark; basic content should only ever by for brand awareness, so keep the CTAs discrete and to a minimum, such as directing to similar stories on your website, or the Twitter handle of the writer in question.
#5. Pushing Passion Not Product
Human stories are more powerful than you can ever imagine. Make your content personal and relate it to real life — preferably the life of its creators—and just watch as your words makes connections right across the web, weighing in with more force than an outright sales pitch could ever muster. Humanity is the most inspiring theme of all, so flaunt it, write real and just watch what happens.
Questions? Message me on Twitter @Bunchuk
