Top 6 Writing Tips For Content Marketing

Dan Kaufman

3 years ago

To become a better writer, you need to develop two key skills.

First, you need to know how to write tight, snappy copy – which is not something we learnt at school.

Second, you need to have a sense of what would interest the reader – and to put their needs ahead of your own, which is challenging when content marketing is supposed to promote, even indirectly, your organisation.

Here are some tips that will help you develop these skills:

1. Make Your Sentences Short

The shorter your sentences are, the easier they are to read. It’s just the way the mind is wired – when we see a long sentence, we get bogged down. The trick is to only have one key point per sentence. That’s why Winston Churchill once said that when he saw a comma, he saw a bad writer – because commas often indicate there’s too much going on within a sentence.

Count the number of words – and if there’s more than 30 in a sentence, it’s probably too long. Having said that, it is important to vary the length of your sentences so that your writing has a nice rhythm and doesn’t feel jarring. For example, a good writer might have a 20-word sentence, then a five-word one, then a 14-word sentence – but never a 60-word one.

2. Write In The Active Voice

A sentence only needs a subject, a verb and to complete a thought – preferably in that order. Active voice is all about making sure that the subject is driving the verb.

For example, rather than writing:

The ad campaign was launched by Company X in June

Write

Company X launched the ad campaign in June

Look out for the word was, which often indicates passive voice. You should also watch out for the word by.

Instead of writing:

Animated videos are created by Company X to boost sales

Write

Company X creates animations to boost sales.

3. Write With The Reader In Mind – And Make It Conversational

Writing in the active voice is important – but you can improve your copy further by then putting the reader first and writing in a conversational manner.

For example, rather than writing:

Company X creates animations to boost sales.

Write

Boost your sales with our animated videos

If you use the words we, I or your company name too much, it probably means you’re writing about yourself – and not the reader.

4. Frontload Your Articles

Frontloading is a fancy term that basically means you need to think about what’s most interesting and then put that at the top of the article. In journalism, they refer to as this as not burying the lead.

One way to do this is to avoid happy talk. Happy talk is a usability term that refers to the pointless introductions you so often see in features. When people are struggling to think of how to start an article, they’ll often state something obvious – because that’s the easy way out. For example, if they’re writing about motivating people to get to bed early, they might start with a rhetorical question such as “Do you hate waking up feeling exhausted?”.

The reader’s time is valuable – don’t waste it with pointless happy talk such as rhetorical questions. You’re much better off just launching straight into what the reader needs to know.

Another issue is when writers start with what’s interesting to them – and not what’s interesting to the reader.

For example, a lot of people get hung up on pushing a key message – but to get a key message out there, you’re often better off leading with what’s most interesting and only then connecting that to your key message. This is a common problem with stories: they often start off with what the client wants to announce, rather than with what’s actually newsworthy.

5. Knowing What’s Newsworthy

What makes a story newsworthy is usually something new or unheard of – such as a trend, a newly released study, or an event. Note that you don’t have to break news yourself – instead, you can hook into it by offering expert analysis of it.

If you’re writing about something timeless, then think about what the benefit is to the reader – that is, what they’ll learn or get out of it – or by stating something they might not already know.

Most importantly, remember that writing is not about typing: it’s about thinking. Before you even touch a keyboard, stop and think about the reader. Put yourself in their shoes – and only then should you start writing.

A popular piece of writing advice is that you should just start writing, and only then worry about reworking and structuring it. This might make people feel more comfortable and help them with writer’s block but it’s not the best approach. After all, once people start writing they tend to get wedded to the structure they’ve created.

It’s always harder to restructure a story after it’s begun than it is to take the time to think about what should go where before you start writing. Don’t get me wrong – you will still need to rework and edit your copy. However, the better your first draft is, the better all subsequent drafts will be as well.

6. Use Storytelling Techniques

There are exceptions to every rule – and an exception to the rule about not starting with the lead is if you can entice the reader with a great anecdote or story.

Stories are often more persuasive and memorable than facts – but they need to be genuinely engaging, snappy and short. If you want to start a feature with an anecdote, then try to do so within a few paragraphs at most before launching into the key part of your story.

For example, let’s say you’re writing a story about the benefits of organic milk. You could begin it by stating a research statistic – or you could start with an anecdote about how a certain farmer was worried about his cows, who had been sick for months. Desperate, he finally put them on an organic diet and watched as they quickly became healthier – which made him realise their milk must also now be healthier for humans.

This type of anecdote is short but sticks with the reader. If the story isn’t engaging, however – if it doesn’t surprise, or inform, or make someone care – you’re better off ditching it and just cutting to the chase.

For more ideas on content and copywriting check out these recent Marketing.com.au articles: