From the smallest start-up to the largest, global company, every business needs to establish and build its brand. In order to do this, each must communicate clearly about its products and services. Whether written or spoken, words are core to all communication.
Crafting and delivering a marketing plan
What’s trickier to find is the ability to craft those words into a brand’s story and amplify that message so that it resonates with the target audience. A comprehensive marketing plan will incorporate cohesive materials that reinforce the brand’s livery and tone of voice in every communication, from a tweet to a white paper, or an in-depth interview to a how-to video.
Companies that don’t value content
Whatever content a company needs, someone has to write it. Unfortunately, a lot of companies do not appreciate the value that a trained writer can bring them. They use someone in-house to write the text for their website or blog, often as a sideline to their main job. This can result in a website that comes across as confusing and unprofessional to a new site visitor, with text littered with basic spelling errors and careless typos. The brand’s message is diluted and trust in the company erodes.
What do people want?
A quick trawl of websites and social media posts shows how low the bar has fallen for useful and informative content online. Crazy headlines lead you to click on an ‘article’ that has been thrown together with the sole aim of forcing you to view loads of adverts as you try to reach the point of the story. Often there is nothing of any worth below a headline. On social media, so many posts lead to a sales pitch or want you to sign up to this or that before you can read something that may or may not be worth the effort. All this does is annoy readers and lower the value of the brand in their eyes.
Great words work
So imagine the relief of a customer who finds a well-written, genuine, interesting article or blog online amid this mire of depressing content. Think how pleased they must be to read something good. Great writing can elevate your brand and show you care – about what you present and what you do. If you take the trouble to provide content they want, customers will reward you. They will stay on your website to read more about your company and spend time reading your blogs. They may sign up for your newsletter, demonstrating their willingness to hear more from you – a brand they are beginning to trust. People buy from people they trust. If you provide content that is useful to them, and not shouting a sales message, you are building a relationship that will develop into loyalty to your brand and products. Beyond this, if they have a great experience they will share that with friends and colleagues. A recommendation from someone you know always carries more weight.
In addition, search engines favour useful and informative content, promoting it to the top of the search rankings, again improving your reach to the clients you want.
Using the services of a copywriter who can write fluently – and provide error-free content – is a worthwhile investment for the future of your brand and reputation.