A marker’s job isn’t limited to distribution and planning and outsourcing isn’t always a viable option. At some point you’ll need to update your status, respond to comments or create infographics. As a marketer, you’re good at those things, but any good marketer must also be a good writer. Use these simple steps to help you get there quickly and professionally.
The Process of Creating Content Made Easy
Before you get started, it’s important to understand the creative writing process. Ask yourself what your target audience wants to see and how you can be better and different than your competitors. You aren’t wring an infographic, post or article for the fun of it. You’re writing it to help further your success and promote your campaign. Use following steps to get there. These five simple steps are all it takes to be successful. Let’s look at each one in depth.
Step 1: Planning the Approach
Pretend for a moment that you’re trying to promote a website that sells fitness products. With an idea that you can do so by encouraging healthy eating and exercise, you have a plan to help people live better lives. The truth is that every marketer in the business is doing the same so you’re going to have to get more specific and bring things down to actions. That means making your content interesting, easy to apply to real life and engaging enough to keep the reader wanting more. Here are some tips for getting that done right.
Consider the project outlined in your marketing plan by reading through it and formulating an idea of how to implement it. You can do this mentally or write it down. Then try to come up with a concept that hasn’t been done before. Think about what others have done and try to create a new and exciting angle on that. Keep the goals you want to achieve in mind as you go forward. This plan should be about the general ideal, which you can expand on and get more specific with as you progress.Now you need to narrow down your focus. The main reason for this is because trying to hold on too much information at one time can be overwhelming and get in the way of the creative process. Choose one aspect of your general idea to focus on. Then decide on one question that your post will answer and you have the foundation for a topic right at your fingertips.If you’re still struggling, go to the Internet and try to suss out where there might be a gap in the information that’s available. That could be exactly the topic you need to write about. Try to get into the head of your audience and ask yourself what answers you’d be looking for if you were the average reader. Avoid trying to rephrase topics from your competitors. Your readers have likely already read that and won’t want to do it again. Your content should be totally new and original and should aim to guide your audience exactly where you want them to go – straight to you.
Step 2: Choose Your Best Idea and Research
Going online will give you a load of research you can use. The trick is finding reliable and reputable sites to guide you in composing your marketing information. In general, you can trust sites that end in .pub or .edu or .gov. These are often written by top researchers in the field, such as those who work for universities, medical institutions or government entities. Use these sites to gather quotes, statistics, case studies, news stories and articles from the most authoritative sources on the Internet. They should each support your main point. Google Scholar is a great place to go for backup when it comes to scientific studies that back up your claims. Be sure you reference and give credit where it’s due when you complete your writing. You can do this in the text itself or collectively at the end of your article, post or etc.
Step 3: Organizing the Format
Now that you have ideas and sources that back them up, it’s time to create the format of your piece of writing. This can vary depending on the type. For example, an article is going to be different than a social media post so keep that in mind because your audience is bound to be very different as well. Overall, you need to organize your ideas and sources into a format that is clean, readable and outstanding enough to get your reader’s attention. Like all pieces of writing, you will need and introduction, a body and a conclusion, though they will differ in length based on the type of post you’re creating. Using multiple subheadings is always a good idea because it breaks up large chunks of text and makes it more appealing to the reader. You will need to have a call to action at the end. This encourages the reader to take advantage of the services or products you have to offer by giving them an easy opportunity to do so. Phrase your call to action in such a way that it tells the reader what to do in a way that imparts a sense of urgency so they are more likely to do it now, rather than waiting until later or completely forgetting about it.
Step 4: Writing the First Draft
Now it’s time to write an outline, which is the foundation of the post. Create it and then follow it, but let yourself be a little bit flexible. If you come up with a better idea as you go, there’s no reason not to go with it. Simply update your outline and then keep going. You can cross out what you had before and write above it rather than making an entirely new outline, which will slow you down. The main thing to do is to stick to the main ideas you have in your outline. If you find yourself stuck as you work on your first draft, take a break to allow your brain to recharge and refresh, then come back to it later. Find something to do that is relaxing and that has nothing to do with the post. Call a friend, walk your dog, watch a movie or have a cup of tea. Other ways to step back include reading a book, cooking a meal or working on another project you have going. You might find that you get a new source of inspiration while you’re doing other things. That might be all it takes to go back to your post and finish it up. If you are still stuck, you can now consider outsourcing the work. The Assignment Masters writing service is a top notch tool that can help you finish the project. You will be matched to writers who have experience and expertise in the topic you need a piece written on.
Step 5: Make It Perfect
Do not ever publish your first draft! Go ahead and do a spelling and grammar check. After all, you lose a bit of credibility if your writing is filled with mistakes. However, it’s also important to read the piece and see it from the eyes of your audience. Pretend you know nothing about the topic and look for gaps in the information or areas where you state the obvious or repeat yourself. Now you know exactly where to add material or to cut it out. Do those things before you even think about publishing your writing. Use Hemingway Editor, a tool that helps you with the editing process. It will help you create a perfectly readable post by marking certain sentences in red that you should get rid of. Of course, you can also ask other people to read the material and offer you tips and suggestions about what can be changed to create a perfect post.
Congratulations! You are Ready to Publish
If you followed these easy steps, you likely have a piece that is ready for publishing. Once it’s published online, be sure to spend some time promoting. You can do this via social media or your personal website or blog. Then make time to respond to comments and stay engaged with your audience. Since you’re a marketer, that’s something you already know how to do.
