Staring at a Blank Screen? Remember These Content Creation Tips

Few sights can strike terror into the hearts of marketing content creators more quickly and brutally than a blank screen. You've probably been there; I certainly have. You sit there, mentally sweating bullets, wondering how you're supposed to turn all that nothing into something that sells. I've written about ideation before, and I doubtless will again, because it presents an ongoing challenge even for experienced writers. Then once you have the idea -- where do you allow that idea to take your content? When you're struggling to get your creative gears turning, keep the following helpful tips in mind.

Your Potential Buyer Has a Real-World Problem to Solve

Sometimes the sheer number of a business's available products and services can muddy the waters when it comes to marketing content creation. Where do you start? Well, you take a lot of the confusion out of the ideation stage by focusing on specific, individual challenges of pain points that you know your prospective buyers have. Let's say you're a roofer, for example. What worries keep your target audience members awake at night? Do they know that their roof is nearing the end of its projected lifespan? Do they see spots that might indicate damaging leaks? Do they have loose shingles littering the lawn after a storm?Do they need to spruce up their home's asking price by refurbishing the roof? These pain points give you a handle on which to hang your creative hat.

The Buyer's Problem Prompts Your Solution

Once you've described your prospective customer's needs in vivid detail, you've got that person saying, "Yes, you understand exactly what I'm dealing with! So, how can you help me?" This is your cue to segue directly into the solutions you offer. Describe in clear, simple, powerful terms exactly how you can relieve that person's pain through your products and services. Don't drown the reader in details; you can always provide details on individual web pages or (better yet) in a conversation that closes the sale. For now, focus on conveying a sense of emotional reassurance and excitement about the solution to a nagging problem.

The Bottom-Line Benefit Sells the Product or Service

When in doubt, rally your creative message around the bottom-line benefit of your product or service. Remember, your customers don't care how they get to the goal line -- they just want to make that big score. What bottom-line benefit do you provide? Well, at the end of the road, you make your customers happy. Maybe you achieve that goal by making them more physically comfortable or emotionally secure. Maybe you help them enjoy greater business efficiency or productivity, with an even deeper bottom line of helping them earn more money, which raises their quality of life and (guess what?) increases their happiness.

As you might imagine, hurdling these creative obstacles takes a certain amount of time, effort, and patience no matter how many mental triggers you employ. The more urgently you need to come up with that marketing content, and the more time your many other business activities demand, the more stress and pressure you may feel when you sit down to confront that blank screen (which, of course, doesn't exactly help you set your imagination free). If that's the problem you face, here's another helpful tip -- ask a professional marketing content writer to do the creative work for you!

Writing and Organizing Your Website Content: What Goes Where?

You see some funny things when you're enlisted to write or rewrite content for various companies' websites. I've encountered Home pages that launched right into a lengthy account of the company's services or a bio of the company owner, without so much as an introduction to the company itself. I've also seen About pages that weren't about the company or its team players, Services pages that would more properly serve as Contact pages, and the list goes on and on. 

It's important to remember that even the most highly-polished and compelling website content may make zero impact if it doesn't belong on the site, or if it sits on the wrong page. So whether you need to put a new website together from scratch or redo an old, ineffective website, you may create the right kind of content for each of your most critical web pages. Let's take a look at some standard examples.

Home - Many organizations don't seem to know exactly what to do with this page. Some of them simply use it to welcome the visitor, others drop the wrong content into it in an effort to fill it out, and still others don't put any written content in it at all (which gives Google's bots a lot less content to evaluate when ranking your site among its competitors). Ideally, this page starts with a really compelling question, pain point, or other marketing hook. It then shifts smoothly into a brief introduction of your company as the answer to the visitor's needs, directing the visitor to other pages to send them through the conversion journey.

Solutions - Okay, so you've stated that you can solve your visitor's particular problem. But what solutions do you offer that can make that happen? Many sites skip this page altogether, but you may feel it important to describe the processes and strategies that go into your solutions to customer's concerns and challenges. This isn't usually the place to break down your services or products; instead, you'll want to give those services or products their due on a separate page.

Services or Products - Your services or products are the actual tools that solve your visitors' problems and restore happiness to their home or business lives. If you provide professional services, write a clear, simple blurb for each service. If you can group multiple services into categories, give it a whirl and see whether it improves the reading experience for site visitors. If you sell products, make sure that each product gets its own tightly-written blurb. Preface your Services or Products page with an exciting, keyword-rich introduction that whets the visitor's appetite for the goodies to come.

About - An effective About page will always include a bio of the organization itself, from its origins to its present status after X number of years serving its clientele. Think of your organization as an individual in its own right, worthy of the same "ink" you'd devote to your senior team members. You should also include a paragraph about each of your senior players, from the owner and CEO to your various department heads. That's "paragraph," not "book." If you solicit biographies from your various employees, cut them down to a more-or-less equal length so that they'll look good together on the page. (It's also your opportunity to chop out a lot of deadwood that might matter to the employee, but not to your target audience.)

FAQ - A Frequently Asked Questions page often makes good sense as a means of tackling potential objections, possibly even before they pop into the visitor's head. Just remember the proper format for this page: a series of questions, each addressed with a short, clear answer. I've seen FAQ pages that just sort of rambled in an effort to shove multiple rebuttals into a single answer (or too few answers). Keep each point short and sweet. If you don't have an easy answer to a question, explain why and invite visitors to contact you for clarification.

If you're still uncertain about what web content goes where on your site, or if you just don't feel like wading through all this mess yourself, it's time to contact a professional marketing copywriter. We love making bad content good and good content better!

Blowing Your Own Horn: How to Write About Yourself

I recently had a chat with a client in the transportation industry about dressing up his website, which had languished for many years as a do-it-yourself effort and was ripe for refurbishing. The client that he needed a more professional online presence, but getting him to talk about his accomplishments, or his company's advantages over its competitors, was like pulling some seriously impacted molars with a pair of eyebrow tweezers. I did finally manage to extract some good nuggets of information that would help me sell his services, but only after hearing him say several variations of, "We don't really like to go around bragging on ourselves."

Um, you don't? Because that's pretty much what marketing is all about.

If you're not going to tell the world about your company's virtues, who will? Word of mouth will only take you so far, partly because you have so little control over it. You can ask for testimonials right and left, but guess what -- you still have put those testimonials up for public view, and that means including them in your marketing materials. If you want your business to succeed, you can't be a shrinking violet; you have to talk it up. And if, like so many entrepreneurs and small business owners, you're the heart and soul of your enterprise, then you have to be willing to talk yourself up as well.

Granted, nobody wants to come across as an egotistical braggart, but like the old saying goes, "It ain't bragging if it's true." One of my clients is a business coach based here in Austin who works with sales teams both in person and via phones conferences. This means that he helps the occasional client in Canada and the UK. So does he market himself as an "internationally known business consultant?" Absolutely -- because that's exactly what he is! It's not pretentious or self-aggrandizing to state a compelling fact that demonstrates your experience, success and popularity. Even so, I know plenty of folks who would hesitate to use such a phrase in their own marketing: "Oh, that sounds like I'm blowing my own horn." Well, sure you are. If you've got the legitimate chops, then go, Satchmo, go!

Sometimes business owners don't actually understand just what makes them so special, so they simply neglect to broadcast it in their marketing. I worked with an industrial equipment client once, and once again the metaphor the frustrated dentist reared its ugly head as I tried desperately to obtain some juicy tidbits that might reveal the client's UVP (unique value proposition). The conversation just went on and on...

Me: What makes your products superior to your competitors' products?

Client: Oh, we all really use the same industry-standard stuff in this industry.

Me: Well, do you offer better or longer warranty protection?

Client: Not really. It's all the same.

Me: Are your prices more competitive?

Client: No, everybody charges about the same.

Me: Are you faster? Harder working? More skilled at installation?

Client: Well, there's only a few ways to install these things.

...and on. Finally I asked, "Look, is there anything that sets you apart from the other guys?" The client replied, "Well....we actually sort of invented this industry about 30 years ago. We were the first to introduce any of these products."

Self-promotion isn't bragging; it's selling. Do you want to sell? Then get out there and blow your own horn!

Is Your Marketing Content Offering Too Much Information?

If you ever see "TMI" posted on an online message board, you may know that it stands for "Too Much Information." It's usually a warning, or a complaint, that you're telling us more than we want or need to know. (Example post title: "Personal Hygiene Question (possibly TMI).") 

While "TMI" usually refers to unpleasant subject matter, it can also be applied to cases of epic rambling or brain-crushing detail. I even think of it in terms of spilling the beans unnecessarily. I recently watched a rotten old B-movie where a guy was being beaten up by a lynch mob for a murder he didn't commit. Meanwhile, the guy's friend spots the real murderer in the crowd, grabs him, and starts slapping him around. The culprit immediately falls to his knees and starts yelling, "I didn't mean it! I didn't mean to kill her!" Um, okay. Thanks for sharing. You might consider not representing yourself in court.

We sometimes offer too much in our marketing copy. It's tempting to spew out all the facts and figures, reams of testimonials, or volumes of microscopic detail about what we do. It's hard to resist posting every single conceivable question and answer on our FAQ page until it resembles an FAQ book. (Be honest, are all those questions "frequently asked?") We want to stagger our readers with our comprehensive knowledge and solutions -- but who wants to be staggered?

If you throw information at a reader until steam comes out of his ears, he can't focus on the key points that piqued his interest in the first place. Worse, you've allowed no space for the reader's imagination to roam. It takes two to communicate, and if you've created an impenetrable brick wall of information that fills every single crack, answers every question, anticipates every thought the reader might have, then your reader has no room to insert his own imagination -- which means he can't envision your product or service making his life or business better. You've blinded his mind's eye.

Too much information will also cause you to lose queries. Once you've told the prospective client everything he needs to know, you've drastically reduced the chances of having a future conversation with that person. Sure, your prospect might call you right away to order something, but he's more likely to just file the pages away for future reference -- and keep shopping around. 

The real point of effective marketing is to get folks excited enough to want more -- and they get that by talking to you. Once you've got that conversation, you then have the opportunity to build trust, set up meetings, or point out additional products or services that lead to a bigger sale or future business. Give prospects a reason to contact you!

Just remember: TMI (Too Much Information) = NEB (Not Enough Business).

Honest Copywriting: Accentuate the Positive -- but Don't Eliminate the Negative

Fans of Futurama will remember Professor Farnsworth hobbling into the room and proclaiming "Good news, everybody!" before informing the Planet Express team that were going to go deliver toxic waste or some other lovely task. To this day, I hear that voice in my head when I hear or read suspiciously optimistic announcements. For instance, my apartment management company recently posted a cheerful little note on my door, to the effect of, "Good news! [Can't you just hear him? Me too.] Our complex has arranged to install fiber-optic cable for all buildings. This will provide our tenants with faster online speeds than ever before!" The announcement then goes to make an oblique mention of certain construction activities that may require our patience and cooperation....

Yes, it's nice to be getting speedier Internet service. But us non-technical types are bound to wonder how much digging and installing will have to be performed, what sort of glitches may occur during installation, and whether this project will even be completed while many of the current tenants are still living here. These are all legitimate questions -- but hey, speedier Internet!

I applaud this example of putting one's best foot forward. Let's face it, there are upsides and downsides to just about any transition, venture, product, or service. In your marketing content, you obviously want to push the positive and downplay the negative. But it really is possible to offer too much of a good thing.

Your target audience may be understandably skeptical if you offer the greatest thing since sliced bread with absolutely no qualifications whatsoever. For instance, if you read an ad for a used car which includes nothing but positivity, your first question is likely to be "What's wrong with it?" What are you not being told? By contrast, a used-car ad that includes little qualifiers such as "Some minor hail damage but mechanically perfect" explains why the vehicle's price is so good, reassures you that it will get you from Point A to Point B, prepares you to encounter some imperfections, and adds a touch of transparency that encourages trust.

Providing a balanced, detailed, honest mix of content can actually help you nip specific objections in the bud. Let's say your prospective buyer reads about the efficiency of your new ultra-lightweight vacuum cleaner and is about to scoff, "I'll bet it can't handle ground-in dirt or deep pile." Fortunately, you've already added an FAQ section or a little disclaimer in your content saying, "This lightweight vacuum cleaner is specifically designed for light jobs, reducing the need to lug your heavy vacuum cleaner around." You've now clarified that your little cleaner isn't meant to be a full-time replacement for that 40-pound monster, just a welcome relief for casual cleaning applications.

A little self-effacement can work in your favor. "We may not be your ideal solution, but we'd happy to discuss your needs and tell you what we can do for you." "No weight loss plan is effort-free or equally effective for everybody, but if you're serious about shedding the pounds, this system could be just what you need." "Are we the right dental clinic for your needs? We can't answer that question for you. There's only one way to find out -- visit us." Tempering your promises and admitting your limitations doesn't just present an honest picture; it also presents you as an honest brand.

By all means, give your clients the good news first, wrap it up in a pretty bow, and let enthusiasm carry the day. Just remember that first-time buyers become repeat buyers only when their initial expectations are met. If you want to build customer relationships, make sure your marketing content sets a trustworthy tone.

Selling Is Educating (and Vice Versa)

Are you a teacher? If you're in sales (and who isn't, really, when you think about it), then the answer is yes.

Think of it this way: Would you buy something -- anything -- when you didn't know what it was, what it was for, or how it could benefit you? If so, then you've probably purchased enough swamp land over the years to start your own mosquito ranch. Most of us would just stare blankly at the item in question, and then redirect our attention to something more recognizably useful. Your business has to educate its prospective customers on its products and services, and that's where skillful, focused, specific content marketing comes in.

Writers know that "doing" verbs (runs, creates, proves, energizes) make more of an impact than "being" verbs (am, are, is, has). Well, that goes for marketing content as well. Joe Client cares less about what a thing is than what that thing does. Specifically, he wants to know what it does for him. This is just another way of thinking about the tired old rule, "Push the benefits, not the features," but it works. When you shift your marketing focus from "What It Is" to "What It Does," the product's attractiveness suddenly leaps out at the average person who couldn't care less about its technical specifications. 

One of my favorite examples of this is the blogging I did for a company that specialized in metric screws, bolts and other fasteners. Fascinating stuff, right? But as I learned more about the various fasteners, I began to see that they each had different (and interesting) real-world applications:

• Building a boat? You'll want zinc-tipped or silicon bronze screws for corrosion resistance. 
• Preparing a commercial construction project? You need a ready source for sturdy bolts and rivets in a wide range of sizes. 
• Assembling electronic components? Let's talk about non-conductive fasteners. 

Et cetera. So I created a series of blog articles along those lines, conjuring up images of construction crews enjoying greater productivity, manufacturing floors purring away productively, boat enthusiasts enjoying summer on the lake and so on. Now we had something exciting to talk about -- the bottom-line benefits of purchasing those metric fasteners.

As you can see, educating your customer involves more than just throwing a bunch of numbers at them. Unless that person understands how those numbers translate into benefits, you're wasting your time. Instead, focus on explaining how your product or service solves a specific need. That's educating to sell -- so make your curriculum compelling (with the aid of a professional copywriter), and aim for a graduating class of A-plus clients!

4 Things Your Marketing Content Should Stop Doing

You probably know the old joke about the patient who complains, "Doctor, it hurts when I do this." To which the doctor replies, "Then don't do that." Stopping bad habits can benefit your physical health just as powerfully as taking up new, better habits. The same holds true for the health of your business -- and your marketing content is the pump that keeps the things flowing in your business pipeline. In my years as a freelance copywriter in Central Texas, I've seen (and corrected) plenty of missteps in various enterprises' written marketing content. Here are four common yet harmful goofs that you should stop making from this day forward.

1. Over-Explaining

I can't tell you how many times I've been asked to rewrite web pages and other marketing pieces that read like user guides or industry manuals. I ended up hacking away paragraph after paragraph of detail that held more potential to confuse or intimidate than to build excitement or sell. If you had to study a wiring diagram to turn your lights on, you'd probably elect to spend a lot of time in the dark. Don't give us that diagram; show us the switch, describe the wonderful light we'll enjoy, and let the perceived benefit do the rest.

2. Under-Explaining

Even though brevity is a must in copywriting (especially for online consumption), saying too little can be just as self-sabotaging as saying too much. Are you assuming industry or product knowledge that your target audience isn't likely to have? If so, you may skip from one point to the next while your reader is still stuck on "I wonder what they meant by that?" Your prospective customers can't get excited over what they don't understand. Make sure the basic bottom-line benefit statements are all in place, and invite your audience to contact you with any questions. (More on that in a moment.)

3. Writing to Impress

Trying too hard in your marketing content can backfire on you. One of the most common mistakes I've encountered is lathering the text with impressive-sounding buzzwords and industry-speak. Many of these terms either reek of cliche due to overuse or simply don't mean much to Joe Q. Public. Showing off your vocabulary with lots of five-dollar words is another surefire way to turn off your audience; even if they know what you're talking about, they'll dismiss you as pretentious. Last but not least, avoid phony enthusiasm. Dozens of exclamation marks don't make your content more exciting -- they just paint you as excitable.

4. Neglecting the Final Action Items

You might be surprised at how many marketing content pieces lay out their pain statement, features and benefits, then simply come to a stop. If they do include a call to action, the call to action is too vague to really compel. ("Discover our product's benefits for yourself!") Give your audience concrete, specific action items such as "Call us at this phone number today," or "Fill out the online appointment maker on this page." You've brought your readers this far, so why not take them the rest of the way?

It's easy to fall into old habits in your marketing content creation, even once you know better. Contact me for professional copywriting services if you want to make sure your content is doing all the right things -- and none of the wrong ones.

Technically Speaking: Marketing Content for Technical Products and Services

I've mentioned before how I once walked into a manufacturing company where the owner greeted me with, "Ah, you're here to rescue us!" This company boasted some truly remarkable new processes and systems, but their target audience received those technical explanations as if they were being gifted with a dead fish. Why? Because the manufacturing people were writing technical content instead of marketing content, and then aiming that content at the non-technical people who actually needed their services. Not a recipe for successful promotion, is it?

But you're facing a dilemma if you sell highly-technical products and services. The very aspects of your offerings that make you stand out may also be the ones least understandable to your target market. So how do you craft marketing content that makes your point with your intended audience?

My first suggestion? Ditch the five-dollar words, starting with your industry's standard buzzwords. If it's a word or phrase you don't hear outside of your industry or workplace, use it with care and/or be ready to explain it in simple terms. This not only prevents confusion among the rank-and-file businesspeople or consumers who view your marketing content; it also streamlines and energizes that content. Sleek, simple, and direct is the way to go when you want to grab human emotions and imaginations -- especially on the Internet, where a few extra seconds of head-scratching can kill whatever impact you'd hoped to make.

Talking to the right person matters just as much as using the right language. Who will actually make the decision to order your product or service? What position does that person hold? What daily tasks and challenges does that person confront, and what background or training is that person likely to have? You're probably not aiming your message at a fellow technician or inventor. The rank-and-file manager or purchasing officer who needs your super-sophisticated device may have no clue, or interest, in how that device actually works -- they only want to know that it does work.

Which leads us to the next major point, which is selling the end result instead of the process. Call me a barbarian, but I don't really care how electrons move through specific circuits, wires, sockets, bulbs and filaments. All I care about is having light at the flick of a switch. So don't sell me an electrical diagram or a list of voltage and current statistics; sell me a bright, cheerful environment that enhances my quality of life. If your technology does things that make me happier or more productive or healthier or wealthier or whatever, place that rosy end result front and center in your marketing message. You can can always create more detailed supporting material to back up your promises --but it's the promises that excite me into action.

These strategies aren't about "dumbing down" your content. There's nothing dumb about communicating simply, clearly, and directly, with a focus on what you do instead of how you do it. So play it smart, get whatever professional copywriting help you may need, and start selling instead of explaining!

This Is Your (Target Audience's) Brain on Copywriting

Do you recall the old TV ad that showed a frying egg with a voiceover proclaiming, "This is your brain on drugs?" As dumb as the analogy may seem, that ad was remembered, quoted and even parodied for years. Why? Because it used certain psychological hooks for engraving itself on the minds of viewers. Let's face it, marketing is largely the art of psychological manipulation. So let's look at how your marketing content can employ specific techniques to place your target audience "under the influence."

The Bizarreness Effect

The Bizarreness Effect holds that creating bizarre images out of otherwise-mundane ones can help lodge those images in the memory. Let's go back to our opening example -- an image of an egg in a frying pan, paired to the idea of a brain on drugs. These two incompatible, less-than-memorable notions form an unforgettable metaphor when you put them together.

Appealing to Both Sides of the Brain

You probably know that the left side of the brain is considered the more rational of the two hemispheres. It's one that responds to facts, reasons and logic -- but it's not the one that makes your target customer buy. That impulse comes from the right side of the brain, which is commonly associated with creativity, emotion and intuitive thought. Ideally, your marketing content appeals to both hemispheres. Your feature statements pile on fact after fact in support of your products or services, while your benefit statements hit readers where they live emotionally by helping them envision how their lives will be improved by those products or services.

Repetition, Rhythm and Rhyme

Just as the major search engines take notice of repeated, relevant keywords in your marketing content, the brains of your target audience will respond to repetition. The more you repeat a statement, the more convincing it becomes--simply because it's being constantly reinforced in the brain. Rhythm and rhyme can then make that statement more memorable, just as they tend to make song lyrics stick in your head. Think about all the great catchphrases you've heard over the years. Still thinking about them? Exactly.

Reticular Activation

If familiarity breeds recognition, then specificity breeds familiarity. If you try to appeal to everybody in the world, in every possible scenario, your message is probably so generic that it has no strong psychological effect on any individual. But if you paint a specific "How many times has this happened to you?" kind of picture, your ideal customer may think, "Wow, I'm having that exact problem right now. These people are talking to me!" That reaction is coming from a bundle of neural fibers called the reticular network, which acts as a kind of high-level "lookout" that waits for stimuli it recognizes as something we need to pay attention to right now, as opposed to the mass of more generic information the brain doesn't have time to bother with. Target your message as precisely as possible, and you'll be targeting that reticular network.

Persuasive copywriting is as much about psychology as it is about sheer writing skill. An experienced marketing copywriter can help you apply both for maximum effect. Contact me today and let's talk about how we can influence your target market!

4 Misconceptions About Marketing Content Creation

The quality, quantity and frequency of your marketing content creation can make all the difference in your organization's growth and success -- but it isn't always easy to know whether you're going about it the right way, especially when there are so many opportunities to mislead yourself. Here are 4 common misconceptions about marketing content creation you'll want to sidestep.

1. Your content should be about you. 

I sometimes see what I call "This Little Piggy Marketing," so named because it goes "We We We" all the way home. While it's important to provide a unique and compelling description of your organization's, history, mission and solutions, nobody's going to buy from a company that only talks about itself. The bulk of your marketing content shouldn't be about you; it should be about your audience -- the person perusing your content right this minute in search of a specific answer to a burning need.

2. Longer is better.

You may encounter so-called rules about how long a landing page or blog article should be, with longer typically portrayed as automatically being better. Take these with a few cellars of salt. Don't assume that because a web page or blog article is twice as long, it's automatically twice as good. Compact, meaningful verbiage usually carries more of a punch and makes a more memorable impression. It's true that the bigger an investment you're asking for, the more depth, detail and persuasive arguments you need to provide. But as a general rule, write only until you've made your point. Then stop.

3. SEO is everything.

I've addressed this point before, but it's all too easy to fall into the habit of writing "for SEO purposes." Yes, search engine optimization is important, and yes, regular, relevant content can help you boost yours. But keep in mind that SEO can only put your audience in front of your products and services; it can't inspire them to buy. The real power of your marketing content lies in its ability to hit your prospects and clients where they live once you've gotten their initial attention. As critical as it is to get visitors through the door, it's even more critical to convert those visitors into customers. 

4. Once you've created "enough content," you're done. 

Unfortunately, the tale told by your marketing must be a never-ending one, for the simple reason that your clientele, the business world and your own offerings are constantly changing. If you create a big pile of content and then simply stop generating more, that pile will eventually grow stale, no matter how brilliant it may be. To make matters worse, your clients may get the impression that your business has gone similarly stagnant. You must keep re-engaging your audience with fresh, relevant content that holds their attention and inspires new purchases.

Steer clear of these misconceptions, and you'll find it much easier to keep your marketing ROI on course toward your goals. Do it right -- and watch it work!

Creating a Need With Your Marketing Content

Here's a pretty funny Bloomberg article about how some companies try to put a gender spin on some puzzlingly genderless products. Check out that first item, for example, the Bic Pens "For Her." I don't know what's inherently feminine about these pens,  but apparently they're scoring with their target market. Oh, and check out the "Tools for Women" toolbox (You guessed it -- a pink hammer, a pink drill, a pink level...) You'll also see "manly" products such as Slim Jim beef jerky and Just for Men hair color (which offers what appears to be the exact same product under a different name for women).

I'm not going after the gender angle here. I'm marveling at advertisers' ability to create the need for a product out of thin air, even when that product already existed. Here Jane doe's been buying pens all her life, and then suddenly she sees Pens for Her and thinks, "Finally, a product aimed at my sensibilities and style." Um, they're pens. Or the guy buys Slim Jims because the"Menergy" they provide unleashes his inner Macho Man. In these cases a niche appeal has been invented from whole cloth.

Marketing Copy Makes It Cool

Even a buzzword can be sufficient to snap up that segment of the population who melts at the sound of it. One of my favorite examples of this sort of thing is my old pair of computer headphones, the Sony MDR-V6. This model has gone unchanged for decades and has made a forever home in many a recording studio and TV production house, mainly because of its ability to reproduce fine audio detail. But I think there's another reason they caught on with home listeners as well as professionals -- namely, the sticker on each ear pad proudly proclaiming, "FOR DIGITAL." Digital what? Beats me. Digital equipment, presumably, or maybe digitally-recorded music, which was the hot new thing back in the'80s when the MDR-V6 first came out. Never mind what it means -- these are obviously extraordinary headphones and I must have them right now because they're FOR DIGITAL.

Put Creative Copywriting to Work for You

Steve Jobs famously opined that people don't know what they want until you show it to them. Henry Ford once said, "Before the automobile existed, if I'd asked what people wanted, they'd have said faster horses." So my question to you is: Do you have a product or service that might appeal to a niche audience you never considered even remotely reachable? Does your new toy have uses for the heavy equipment industry? Does your scientific tool do things that kids would love? Is there some sexy tag line or compelling copy out there that might gain you a whole new customer demographic? In other words, what's your "FOR DIGITAL" sticker? Contact me and let's talk about creating that need through the right marketing content -- creating new profits for your business as a result!

Generally Speaking: The Copywriting Generalist

Sometimes prospective clients will ask me if I specialize in their particular industry: "Do you have experience writing for the automated-widget industry?" Many times I can truthfully answer, "Yes." Other times I can just as truthfully say, "No, and here's why it doesn't matter."

So here's why it doesn't matter.

Most of us copywriters consider ourselves generalists -- professionals adept at the art of absorbing and understanding whatever information we need to write on the widest possible range of subject matter.

Specializing in a particular industry or subject has its points, of course, both for clients and for writers. Specialists usually require less intake on the subject from the client, eliminating much of the learning curve on the front end of the project. From the writer's perspective, a more specialized niche is easier to market to because that target market makes up a more cohesive group -- people who tend to belong to the same organizations and speak the same lingo.

As a generalist myself, I think general-subject writers have the edge in some notable ways. For one thing, the sheer cross-pollination of concepts, information and resources that we generalists sift through on a daily basis, year after year, enables us to see the broad view of how your particular industry relates to others. If you work in the "green" industry, for instance, your product or service may impact the manufacturing, real estate, health and wellness, energy, electronics and other industries. Well, guess what? I've written for all of those industries and many others, so I can see the connections between them -- which means that I can help your audience see them as well.

At the same time, the outsider's perspective counts for much. People who live and think in one field 24/7 start to assume that the rest of us know as much about it as they do, and they start speaking in buzzwords and technobabble without even realizing it. A writer who can step in as Joe Q. Public and say, "What's the bottom line on this stuff?" can see your products or services from a mainstream audience's point of view.

Of course, everyone specializes in some way or other. Even though I write on every topic under the sun, for instance, I focus on marketing pieces, or as I like to call it, "writing for short attention spans." The work I do has a specific mission -- to grab and hold someone who's ready to flit off to some other distraction, and then nail a point home quickly and engagingly enough that the reader makes a purchase or requests more information. But as a general-subject writer, I can do that for any industry, product or service. Generally speaking.

The FAQ Page: Content Marketing's Neglected Gem

Many times when a client and I are discussing content creation for a new website, the client will list many of the "must haves" such as the home page, the "About Us" page and various product or service pages. At some point or other I'll ask them, "What about an FAQ page?" And they'll mumble something along the lines of "Well, maybe later, I don't know, possibly, if it turns out we need one, sometime down the road...." blah blah. The notion seems to be that the only reason to build and populate an FAQ page on a website is to straighten out hopelessly confused buyers and prospective buyers. Okay, that's a good reason -- but it's hardly the only one.

Your FAQ page isn't just an online troubleshooting guide or information kiosk; it can also serve a powerful piece of marketing content in its own right. Here are some specific actions your FAQ page can perform to help you sell.

De-Cluttering Other Pages

Countless organizations pack their websites hip-deep in details, turning critical top-level pages like the home page into dense, unreadable, uninteresting messes. That's not to say that the details don't matter -- in fact, the right detail presented at the right time can help clinch a sale. The home page just isn't the place for it, but the FAQ page frequently is. By breaking these important specific into paragraph-sized chunks preceded by fairly open-ended questions ("What other chronic ailments can this therapy treat successfully?" etc.), you can lay out these details in manner that makes them easy to spot and absorb while freeing up other pages to do their work more effectively.

Spinning Your Side of the Story

At some point or other you may need to defend your products, your services, your company or even your entire industry against negative press or rumors. Even when all is generally well, there will be instances where you need to relieve prospective buyer's concerns over particular aspects of your offerings or processes. Hence the need for FAQs such as "Why does your product cost more than competing brands?" or "Is it true that some people have had allergic reactions to this item?" Your FAQ page can double as both a natural place to address any lingering concerns and as a positive-spin zone for shooting down false accusations and getting the best possible face on genuine shortcomings.

Guiding the Reader From Pain Point to Final Pitch

An FAQ page can act just like a landing page if you arrange the questions in the right sequence. Start with general introductory questions that include pain points (a literal example would be "What is sciatica?" "What symptoms does it cause?" "How debilitating can this problem become?"). Then go into questions and answers directly related to resolving that pain ("How fast does this therapy yield results?" or "Can this technique eliminate the need for surgery?"). Finally, wrap up the FAQ with a section that compels a call to action ("Why do you recommend that I schedule my first treatment as soon as possible?" and so on).

An FAQ page can do a lot for your online content marketing, no matter how knowledgeable your target market might seem to be. Ask the questions you want to provide the answers to -- and aim those answers right at your audience's sales triggers.

Any questions?

Features and Benefits: Your Marketing Content's One-Two Punch

You may have heard the following phrase, or some variation on it, over and over again: "Sell the sizzle, not the steak." In other words, emphasize the benefits of your products and services in your marketing copy instead of simply trotting out a laundry list of features and expecting those features to get your target audience excited enough to buy from you. I've made similar statements myself from time to time, and the basic principle is a sound one. But there's more it to than that, because features and benefits actually make a great tag team when they're used in the service of each other.

Common marketing wisdom holds that no matter how much compelling data people receive, their decision to buy is ultimately an emotional one. As impressed as they might be by a lengthy set of features, their purchase is fueled by a desire to experience some great end result that replaces their current distress or frustration and with a feeling of satisfaction and happiness. If you're just going on and on about all the things your product or service can do instead of describing the benefits of those actions, you're likely to slam up against what I call the So-What Factor. Readers are scanning your marketing content with the overriding thought, "What's in it for me -- how will this make my life better?" Answer that question with the right benefit statements, and you've got genuine sales content (and hopefully sales) instead of just information.

So are features unimportant? Hardly! Obviously you wouldn't have a business without features, since they represent the specific things you provide and the specific tasks those things perform. If you claim to provide a bunch of benefits without illustrating how you can make those benefits happen, you've got no credibility. So features are definitely important for lending legitimacy to your marketing content -- but they're not what you're really selling. What you're really selling is the promise those features provide, from a fresher-smelling home to a more productive workplace. The features are a means to an end for the buyer; the benefits are that end.

How do you make these two great tastes taste great together? Wherever possible in your marketing content, a feature should be tied to a benefit. For example: "Our new mop has [feature] nano-tubular microfiber static-cling head strands for [benefit] quicker, easier cleaning." Whenever you spout out a feature, be quick to follow up with an explanation of what that feature really means in terms of making your target audience's life better. By addressing the So-What Factor right away, you're keeping your readers' eyes on the prize and helping them envision the final result of owning that product or using that service in everyday life. This approach is especially critical if you offer jargon-heavy features such as legal services, high-tech equipment or medical procedures that require clarification foe the average Joe.

Can you introduce the benefits first and then tie them to features? Of course you can -- and in fact, that's probably the most effective order in which to proceed. Start with the emotional hook of "How much better would your life be if...." or "Imagine solving X problem more easily than ever before" or "Wouldn't you love to have...." This whets the reader's appetite to find out just how such a Shangri-La is possible, at which point you back up your promises with the features that turn them into a reality.

Anyway, don't think in terms of features vs. benefits. Think features and benefits -- because with the aid of this dynamic duo, your marketing content will pack a powerful one-two-punch!