Original Website and Blog Content: The Art of Being Unique

I don't know if this happens to you, but I see it all the time. I'll be looking up some topic of interest or other, and I'll find myself saying, "Wait a minute. Didn't I just read this blog article or web page on another site?" And sure enough, I did. So which organization came up with the original website or blog content, and which one simply did a copy-and-paste? I have no idea -- and if your site is the one I'm looking at, that's a problem for you.

Now, of course you can't comb the Internet constantly searching for any competitors who might decide to steal your content and pass it off as their own. But you can make sure that you're creating your own original content, content that helps you stand out by expressing your individual brand image, voice and values.

It should go without saying that Google doesn't think highly of duplicate content. Contrary to what some people think, the search engine doesn't usually slap any major penalties on companies that post the occasional copy of someone else's (or even their own) written content. That's partly because it's accepted that accidental duplication will happen to the best of us; it really can't be helped in the immense digital cosmos of the Information Superhighway. But you can forget about that duplicate content helping you to rank more highly. It confuses the search engines so that they don't know which site's version to index, re-index, or rank for query results.

But the problem of duplicate content doesn't begin and end with Google's reactions. How will visitors to your site react when they see an article or web page that they just read on someone else's site? If you don't assume that you're simply a thief, they'll at least get the impression that you have nothing original to offer compared to your competitors. Your brand will appear generic, and you'll become just another possible choice, as good as any other, in a crowded field of options.

That's the real reason you need to populate your digital marketing content with original material. Original content helps you stand out so that your message "pops" in comparison with all the other pages and posts your prospective customers are viewing as they seek solutions. There's no denying that you'll have to cover much of the same ground, topic-wise, as everyone else. But by putting your brand's unique spin on the subject, you can demonstrate that you've got something special to offer -- and isn't that what marketing is all about?

Don't fall into the comfortable trap of "borrowing" content from around the Web. Take the time to custom-craft your own original material, or bring a professional copywriter on board to help you. You're already one of a kind, so make sure that your target audience knows it!

Marketing Content for Events: Do You Know What You Need?

Here in Central Texas, events abound at this time of year. Over the next several months, Austin will be bustling with such notable public gatherings as SXSW, the Pecan Street Festival and Eeyore's Birthday, while San Antonio hosts Fiesta San Antonio and a variety of other very visible celebrations. These events all represent opportunities for getting your brand out there and promoting your products and services. But do you have the necessary marketing content to take full advantage of the gold mine that lies before you? Let's run through some of the different marketing pieces you'll want to add to your to-do list.

Blog articles - If you want to catch prospective attendees' attention well ahead of the event in question, why not post some blog articles that specifically reference that event in the context of what you offer? Make sure they know that you'll have a presence at the event, and invite them to visit your booth and chat with you.

Direct mail - "We'll Be at [Such-and-So Event]!" screams the header on those direct mail postcards filling your prospective customers' mailboxes. Better yet, you're including a special coupon or discount that they can claim if they come visit your booth or table. Make it a sufficiently mouth-watering deal, and they'll be there.

Brochures or catalogs - Once you've got people coming to see you at a given event, you'd better have a proper "leave-behind" to hand them. A well-written brochure could be all you need to help you stand out inside that swag bag. If you really want to offer comprehensive information to your event visitors, take the time to craft (or update) a full-color catalog featuring professional content describing your company's history, mission, values, and full range of offerings.

Promotional videos - Will you be occupying a table or booth at an event such as SXSW Interactive?If so, you may find it hard to get attendee's attention amidst the sprawl of noise, banners, and sign-up tables. That's when you need to set up a giant-sized monitor displaying an exciting, funny, startling, or dramatic promotional video. But keep in mind that a video isn't just as series of images -- it's a structured presentation built on a rock-solid script that tells your story.

You see where I'm going with this. It's time to plan your event marketing strategies and tactics across multiple channels. Contact me today so you can get the top-quality print, blog, or video writing you need to turn yourself into the biggest event of them all!

Hiring a Copywriter: What Are Your Options?

So you need to hire a copywriter to bolster your blog, whip your website into shape or perfect your print marketing. Let's assume your business actually has a marketing budget, and that you actually have allocated some funding toward this solution. The next question is: How will your hire your copywriter? You can engage this essential marketing content creation specialist under whatever kind of working arrangement both of you find workable. Let's take a look at some common copywriter hiring options.

Per Project

I've almost always offered this setup. Most of the people who have contacted my for writing work express relief over the fact that they know exactly what they're getting a for a flat fee. It's just like making a purchase at a shop: Product X costs Y dollars, and that's that. Companies with skimpy marketing budgets can't commit to a vague estimate, so knowing exactly what they're getting for their money allows them to breathe easier. It's also a recommended method when you're hiring a writer for the first time. Is he a fast writer, or is he a pokey one? Are his estimates accurate, or will you receive an ugly surprise at the end of the job? flat per-project rates eliminate that uncertainty. They also eliminate some uncertainty on the writer's part -- if I know what I'll be earning on this project, I can plug that number into my earnings without having to adjust it (possibly to my regret) later.

Hourly

Some projects and working arrangements can benefit from hiring a writer by the hour. If your writer has a track record of accurate estimates, or if he's willing to eat the extra hours on an underestimated job, then the client has nothing to lose. Large or ongoing writing needs are particularly suitable for hourly billing

Retainer

A monthly retainer is a type of contract that "retains" your copywriter of choice for a specified amount of work or number of hours. For instance, you might retain my services for $600 a month. That $600 could buy you X number of writing hours, or it could pre-pay for X number of blog articles or web pages or whatever. Retainer contracts make sense if your business needs a steady stream of writing work and you don't feel like bouncing from writer to writer to get it. They're also handy if you're trying to reduce your administrative paperwork, because you're processing one invoice a month instead of a new invoice for every single project. Marketing firms and web development companies can really benefit from putting writers on retainer.

Permanent Hire

If you're a big marketing or advertising agency, it may be worth the investment of time, money and energy to hire one or more copywriters as full-time permanent staff. Or maybe not. The business world has moved away from the massive, megalithic corporate model of the past. "Nimble" is the new normal as businesses rely increasingly on outsourcing to minimize their payroll, overhead and HR headaches. Many companies, even the ones with a bottomless need for written content, find that a reliable bullpen of contractors can get the job done just fine.

Which option is right for you? I can't answer that question without learning more about your business, your marketing efforts and your writing needs. But if you'd like to talk about it, you know where to find me!

Don't Just Create Marketing Content -- Create Your Audience!

Ever think of starting a media juggernaut that exists solely to support your business? In the past, that idea would have been dismissed as vain, over-ambitious, or just plain laughable. These days, it's considered Smart Marketing 101.

Steve Jobs famously said, "People don't know what they want until you show it to them." In other words, it's up to you to create the demand for a product or service by introducing it to your target audience within the larger context of how this product or service can enhance their lives. Proctor & Gamble demonstrated this concept by creating a whole new form of entertainment as a marketing tool. The soap company (and that's pretty much all it was, back in the 1930s) needed a way to present its products to a specific audience -- homemakers. It did so by inventing the soap opera.

Daytime drama reached into millions of households via radio and eventually television, giving the lady of the house a daily feast of "stories" accompanied by, of course, commercials for detergent products. Proctor & Gamble had become more than a product manufacturer -- it was now a media producer. If you spent your afternoon doing the laundry, chances were you were also caught up in the latest brain tumor diagnosis, adulterous affair or discovery of an evil twin. Meanwhile, you'd hear about how and why a particular detergent got the job better than Brand X, more often than not from the characters themselves. If your favorite radio or TV character is singing the praises of a new dandruff shampoo day in and day out, eventually you're going to buy some just to see what all the fuss is about.

This same approach is alive and well today. We call it content marketing -- a combined delivery of advertising and other information that a specific audience genuinely needs or enjoys. An effective modern marketing campaign might achieve this in the form of drip marketing, a series of direct-mail or email "touches" that collectively build the reader's trust in your company until the urge to buy or at least contact you for more information becomes overpowering. And just as soap opera audiences come to think of the characters they see as living, breathing people, your target market comes to rely on you as the trusted resource for your industry of field of expertise.

Blogging can prove especially valuable for building an audience that relies on your expert point of view on the subject at hand. Say you're a tax attorney trying to establish your credibility and convert prospects who need what you have to offer. By posting authoritative, genuinely helpful articles on a wide range of topics related to taxes, the people searching for that information online -- who obviously need and want such information -- come to rely on you as their own personal guru on the subject. And who better to work on their taxes than someone they already trust? That's content marketing.

Now it's your turn to create your own business's media channels. Build your own buzz through the power of content marketing. Who knows? With the aid of a skilled professional copywriter, your product or service could become the hottest show in town -- with your target market serving as the town.

3 Copywriting "Improvements" That Can Actually Hurt Your Marketing Content

Professional copywriters and marketing experts have spilled countless ink (or pixels, or whatever) recommending tips, techniques, and best practices for creating more effective marketing content. I myself have shared plenty of advice on the subject in my years as a freelance copywriter, including a number of previous blog posts on smart strategies for choosing those words wisely and arranging them in the strongest possible way. But did you know that some of the techniques we writers constantly harp on can actually backfire on you if you overdo them? Here are three examples of how "too much of a good thing" can be a very bad thing indeed for your copywriting.

1. Too Much White Space

I've said over and over again that nobody wants to try and read a massive, undifferentiated wall of text -- especially online, where we tend to scan a page for a few seconds and the move on if we don't see what we're looking for. Breaking up your content into digestible paragraphs, lists, and sidebars gives the eyes a break and makes it much easier to read the text quickly. It also enhances the overall design of the web page or print piece by allowing plenty of room for images.

But I've seen examples of this smart practice taken to extremes. In fact, I've been asked to rewrite such examples because the page looked like nothing but one bullet point after another. Endless lists and one-sentence paragraphs may open up that coveted white space, but they also give the impression of random notes as opposed to a polished message. Bring those disconnected sentences together into short but worthwhile paragraphs. Beef out some of those bullet points with benefit statements that explain why you're making those points in the first place.

2. Too Much Enthusiasm

Selling is persuading; the more energy your copywriting contains, the more excitement you can generate in your audience. After all, if you're not enthusiastic about your product or service, why should anyone else be? But it's all too easy to take the "caffeinated approach" a little too far -- right over the edge of Hyperbole Cliff. Before you know it, you're coming across more as a breathless schoolgirl or crazed fanboy than as a professional representative of your profession or industry. You may also start to exhibit the oily sheen of the snake-oil salesman who will say anything to make a sale.

How do you reign yourself in just enough to express that energy without shooting down your credibility? First of all, be careful about using exclamation points. I had one web designer tell me that she never accepted exclamation points in her copywriting. While that viewpoint might sound extreme, I understood what she meant. If your content is compelling enough, it shouldn't need much of that kind of help. In particular, never use multiple exclamation points ("!!!!") or question marks ("?????"). We got the message the first time, thanks.

3. Too Soft a Sell

Nobody likes a pushy salesperson, either in person or on the page. There are certainly situations where you might need aggressive copywriting, such as a landing page where you have to make your entire pitch and then get that response right then and there. Generally, however, it's sound advice to back off a little and give your audience room to meet you halfway. Making intelligent points, backing them up, and wrapping them in the right emotions can result in many a "soft sell."

But there's such as thing as too soft a sell -- namely, the sell that doesn't sell. I've seen marketing content that was so passive as to be ineffectual, focusing so hard on not harassing the reader or appearing too forward that it failed to make its pitch. The biggest danger here is failing to state a clear call to action in an imperative voice. No matter how gently you choose to sell to your reader, at the end you must tell them exactly what they need to do right now, even if it's only signing up for your newsletter or emailing you with any questions.

You can make all three of these copywriting "improvements" work to your advantage, as long as you don't go overboard with them. Need help walking that fine line? Contact me and let a professional freelance copywriter walk it for you.

A Marketing Carol

"Bah, humbug!" If you're looking at your year-end figures and voicing that sentiment, you may have given up on the power of a cohesive, congruent marketing strategy and implementation for bringing about that happy holiday -- or you may have been stingy about feeding that marketing machine, starving your future in an obsessive effort to hang onto the here and now. Maybe what you need is a visitation from three spirits:

The Ghost of Marketing Past

This spirit forces you to take a long, perhaps painful look back at your previous marketing efforts from Day One of your company's launch. You made plenty of mistakes, didn't you? We all do. Of course you also had your share of successes. But for the most part, you probably stumbled from discovery to discovery, embracing what worked and paring away what didn't. Pay special attention to those things you should've done. Did you invest the right amount of time, effort and money into your marketing? Did you draw up an official marketing budget (as opposed to stealing from your grocery money)? Did you seek professional guidance from people who could smooth your way and help you produce better results more quickly?

The Ghost of Marketing Present

This figure stands before right now, saying, "Here you are." He compels you to view the current state of your website, social media presence, print marketing, networking partnerships and client relationships. As you stand on the cusp of a new year, what are your marketing resolutions? Are you enjoying the fruits of your current labor, or are you wishing that Christmas goose could have a little more meat on it? Well, you've learned from the past, but the past is gone -- it no longer exists, and you cannot act in it. You can only take action NOW. So take stock, make some decisions, and move on them. There's literally no time like the present.

The Ghost of Marketing Future

Finally, you take a stroll with this mysterious character down Maybe Lane. Where do your current business decisions and marketing campaigns leading you? Do you see yourself spinning your wheels year after frustrating year, or do you see yourself breaking through to the big time? The nifty thing about this vision is that it hasn't actually taken shape yet, which means you can still fashion it into whatever you want it to be. Try picturing your ideal business in terms of industry status, revenues, reputation and so on. Are you on track to make it happen? If not, you may want to start by reworking your brand messaging and marketing content to reflect the organization you want to become. Hiring a freelance copywriter to help you create this fresh content could turn out to be the best leap forward you could possibly make.

And that's no humbug!

Does Your Blog Need Freshening Up?

Do you hate blogging? Well, don't feel bad -- from time to time, we all do.

I hang on to favorite old blog posts from sites like ProBlogger, and I recently re-read a fascinating article by guest blogger Ryan Barton entitled "9 Steps to Take When You Loathe Your Own Blog." While I have to admit that I'm not at the loathing stage yet, I still found the information highly illuminating. Barton discusses issues that plague all bloggers from time -- a sense of stagnation, a lack of fresh content or new ideas, that nagging feel of obligation as opposed to inspiration. It's all too easy for a regular blog to become an annoying chore instead of an exciting opportunity. And yes, I've certainly had my moments where the thought suddenly hit me: "Oh crap, it's already time to blog AGAIN?" And I do this stuff for a living, so I can only imagine how intimidating that thought must be to a non-writer or occasional writer.

One theme that seems to permeate Barton's post is the need to change things up, from trying a new writing venue or posting schedule to varying your blog-reading habits to get a fresh perspective on things. In my (biased) opinion, this in one of the biggest advantages of hiring a ghost-blogger. Adding that extra brain to the think tank automatically helps generate new, unusual, mold-breaking ideas and topics. Hiring a generalist instead of a specialist in your industry is even better, because you're getting the outsider's point of view. 

Another suggestion of Bryan's is to re-focus on your target audience. Who is your ideal reader, and how specifically can you envision that person in your mind? We marketing folks use terms such as "target market" or "demographic," but target markets and demographics don't read articles -- people do. Not groups of people clustered around a monitor, either, but individuals. The more clearly you can aim your writing at a specific person, the easier it is to ask yourself, "What kind of article would really benefit John Doe right about now?" Talking to an individual is always easier than figuring out what kind of speech to give to a crowd, so try this technique to grease the wheels on your personal blogging engine.

Hey, you know what? I enjoyed writing this article. I bet Barton enjoyed writing his, too. (You can read it here.) Now go enjoy writing yours -- or just hire me to write it for you and go enjoy doing anything else!