WRITING THAT SELLSCreating Digital Content That Converts

By Mary Foster

What Is Good Writing?

The basis of content marketing is good writing. So what is good writing?

Good writing is clear, concise, and precise. It is a word well chosen, a correctly turned phrase. It tells stories, conveys information, and states facts. Above all, good writing is intentional. It suits the purpose at hand.

Good writing actively provides a solution to a problem.

In business, this means two things: first, to respond to a problem, you have to know your target market; second, and this is the flip side of the first, is that you have to anticipate the “what’s-in-it-for-me?” your clients bring to the table and makes them interested in reading what you have to say.

What’s In It For Me?

Facts and figures are not enough.

People want to know how interest rates, statistics, and scientific research applies to them. They are looking for a light-bulb moment that makes them say, “This applies to me.”

Target market

Customer profile

Position on the buying

cycleContent

Structure Your Content: First Things First

Brand recognition: The first thing you need is brand recognition. A great tag line that summarizes who you are, say. A proverb with a punchline. Something that gets you in and keeps you in your prospective customer’s mind.

Understanding: Make it plain what your company does or produces and how that product or service is different from (and better than) your competitors’.

Discussion: Help your prospects predict how your product or service can help solve their problems.

Debate: Help your prospects weigh all options, including whether your solution is cost-effective and timely and even whether it fits their company image.

Decision: Be clear about what you have to offer, including bonuses, coupons, time-limited/quantity-limited deals.

Why Storytelling?

A story is the place where facts and feelings meet. A good story highlights the main issue, puts it in context, and makes it easy to relate to. A story also conveys values.

Buyers want to know who you are and why you do what you do as well as what you do. That way, you build familiarity, likability, and trust.

Buyers also want to know where they fit into the story, whether you’re a good fit for what they need and want, and whether there are shared values. Then, satisfied customers go on to tell your story on your behalf. Word-of-mouth is the most effective form of advertising there is according to a recent report by Nielsen with branded website content coming in second.

Tell A Story

How do you tell a story?

Peter Guber in his best-selling book, Tell to Win: Connect, Persuade, and Triumph with the Hidden Power of Story, (New York: Crown Business, a division of Random House, Inc., 2011) 20–21, says “the building blocks of all compelling stories… are challenge, struggle, and resolution.”

That way, he says, “…when [you] use authentic drama to reveal the hidden truth about a problem in business, … the audience feels as if they’re uncovering the truth themselves.”

This needs to be done authentically. Be real.

Build A Story

First, grab attention with an unexpected problem.

Then… create emotion by describing the struggle to overcome that challenge.

Finally… reveal a breakthrough solution that results in a call to action.

Build Identity

Stories told in the right way make your brand memorable, and, if told well, result in a call to action that brings results. Include the unexpected.

Add some humor. The point is to engage so that your prospects stay interested.

Stories anchor facts and figures, which might otherwise be obscured, in something memorable. They make clear and applicable otherwise confusing information.

Stories shouldn’t offer outright solutions. They lead your customers to come to their own conclusions.

Brick-and-mortar stores may have given ground to online marketing, but the need for connection and trusted advisers is still there.

Build Trust

Storytelling is effective because it helps your target market know who you are, relate to you, and trust you.

Stories have always been used to fortify values, pass along shared histories, and give meaning to the individual and culture. You want to make your customers feel like part of your family.

Go Ahead and Write!

Attention-grabbing headlines are good for SEO and good for telling the story. Let them promise a benefit, present an offer, deliver information, or resolve a problem.

Include the five W’s (who/what/where/when/why (or how)) in the body of your content, starting with the most important facts.

Make sure the most important information comes first. Journalists call this the inverted pyramid.

Clarify what the core of the story is in order to make meaning out of the information.

Emphasize what’s unique and different.

Then Write Some More!

Write a close that inspires, like a breakthrough resolution or an unexpected discovery. Restate your offer, give options, and guarantee satisfaction.

Write with a sense of urgency if there are time-sensitive offers.

Write in active voice, present tense to infuse your content with energy.

Use first and second person if you want your copy to be more conversational. Most people read at a junior-high level.

Write like you mean it!

Foster Media Group specializes in Digital Content. For a no-obligation consultation, see www.fostermediagroup.com.

© Mary Foster 2015 – All Rights Reserved.