Kristine
The symbolic beginning of a new year always feels like a fresh start, motivating millions to set goals, create lofty resolutions, and convince themselves that this will finally be the year they succeed. However, as most of us have either noticed or personally experienced, it’s all too easy to give up on these dreams once the initial excitement wears off. One of the main reasons why motivation dissipates is because people fail to identify clear guidelines or targets. As French author, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry famously penned, “A goal without a plan is just a wish.”
Whether your goal in 2021 is to finish writing that book, create more engaging content, or boost your social media presence, it’s essential to create an action plan. Although the writing process can’t be fully explained and outlined (alas, some practice is required), this guide provides a good starting point to help you improve your content marketing efforts in the new year.
1. Know your audience.
Before you can effectively write engaging content, you need to understand who you’re writing for. Identifying your target audience and which channels they prefer to use are two keys to improving your brand’s visibility, but to truly make an impact, you have to dig deeper to recognize the market’s interests, wants, and needs. Along with keyword research, competitor analysis, and SEO tactics, you should cultivate a solid understanding of your target market’s general persona to create high-quality, relevant content. Try to answer these questions about your target consumer before you begin crafting your brand voice:
- What do they look like (age range, gender, etc.)?
- What are they passionate about (sustainability, animal welfare, affordability, etc.)?
- Where do they work?
- What do they enjoy doing in their free time?
- What do they want or expect from your brand?
2. Define your brand voice.
Just like every individual has their own unique voice or writing style, so does your business! Defining a persona for your brand can take some trial and error, but a good place to start is thinking about how you want your audience to perceive your brand. Ask yourself what adjectives you’d use to describe your ideal brand personality. For example, do you want to be seen as bizarre and funny like Denny’s Twitter persona, or would you prefer your brand to be more polished and poised like LinkedIn’s blog?
To begin crafting the best voice for your company, start by sitting down with your team and going through the following questions:
- What words would you use to describe our current brand voice?
- What core values should our brand voice embody and emphasize?
- How do you want customers to perceive your messages?
- How does the brand solve common problems for consumers?
- What kind of persona will our target audience resonate with the most?
- What emotional or social benefits does the company offer (such as the commitment to using sustainable materials)?
3. Practice consistency.
If you’re managing multiple online channels for your brand, it’s safe to say that you won’t always be solely responsible for uploading every single Twitter post, YouTube video, or blog post as your business expands. Even if you don’t have the resources to hire a full-time social media manager, you can benefit from setting some general guidelines for your employees whenever they create or upload content for your brand. Your brand voice should remain consistent across all media outlets, regardless of who actually composes the post. Determine specific guidelines for your desired brand voice, such as:
- The average length of words and sentences.
- The way you talk to and engage with followers.
- How you refer to the company (some brands say “we,” whereas others refer to their company in the third person).
- Specific spelling and grammar preferences; small differences (like “email” vs. “e-mail”) can signify a disconnect in communication within your company, which can be distracting to potential customers.
- What kind of informal language is acceptable (abbreviations, hashtags, jargon, etc.).
4. Do adequate research (and cite your sources).
Marketing expert Neil Patel emphasizes that accuracy is crucial whenever you share content online. “Your blog is a reflection of your company,” writes Patel. “It’s important that any statistic you state can be verified.” If something you report on turns out to be false, you run the risk of losing the trust of your customer base or even ruining your company’s reputation altogether. Before you link to other sources in your own articles or social media posts, refer to these guidelines to determine if they’re credible or trustworthy:
- What kind of source is this information from? Does the information come from an authoritative, well-known source, or is it an opinion piece from a personal blog you stumbled upon?
- How many other sources verify that the information shared is accurate?
- How relevant is the source to your specific industry niche or blog topic?
If you later find out additional information about a topic you’ve written about, you can retain credibility by updating the facts as needed and citing the dates when these changes occurred.
5. Share original thoughts.
Anyone can rattle off statistics or mindlessly echo the sentiments of other bloggers, but neither of these tactics will drive traffic to your content. Even if someone is primarily interested in factual information, they’ll be more likely to read a blog post that has a humorous anecdote or an engaging personal story over a bland article with nothing to offer but hard data. Engaging content should leave your audience feeling entertained, informed, and inspired from a healthy mix of wittiness, factual information, and actionable advice. As you write your next piece of content, consider this question: would you enjoy reading what you’ve written so far? If you don’t personally like what you’ve written, chances are that it won’t resonate with your audience much, either.
If you need a little help with your content marketing strategy or are thinking about outsourcing your writing projects, Content Cucumber is here for you! With professional writers dedicated to improving your brand voice and creating engaging content for your specific audience, we can help you grow your business throughout 2021 and beyond. You can order a sample of our work here.
