It’s writing Jim, but not as we know it (or is it?)

• Reddoordesigner

Good old-fashioned copywriting seems to have been elevated to a near mystical status. Everywhere you go there are words extolling the power of words – engagement, trust, relationship, revenue, personality, transparency. It’s easy to see why words seem to have taken on magical powers that suggest your business or brand will be transformed simply with a Twitter account or Facebook page. But strong communication that resonates with your audience has always driven business success – it’s no mystery, it’s marketing.

Let’s start with the easy bit – content generation

Whether you call your wordsmith a brand journalist, copywriter, content marketer or message coordinator – they all have to write something. However survey after survey  tells us that content generation is the biggest challenge marketers face. But finding something to say is the easy bit. Content comes in all shapes and sizes and we are surrounded by content opportunities every day. It is not necessary to sit and wait for that ‘light bulb’ moment when an idea strikes. At its simplest, providing high-quality content is not much different from sharing your views about current industry trends, developments or issues with a colleague or a client. You have an opinion about what is important to your business and market – it is this opinion that forms the basis of your content. For those with relevant and informed thoughts and opinions, finding something meaningful to say should be no big deal.

Put content where your clients will see it

Yes, it’s that simple. We don’t agree with the ‘saturation’ approach where content is scattered far and wide in the hope someone will see it. A speaker once said that trying to identify where to distribute your content is like trying to identify what route your clients take to work – bus, tube, car, bike, train, feet. His response was to place your content at every available station along every possible route. But surely this simply identifies you as a company that doesn’t know what route your audience takes to access your corporate information? If you know your clients journey then you know where to place your content.

Marketing communications has never been about ‘one size fits all’ so be discerning in your choice of communication channels. In the B2B marketing environment some communication channels have emerged as essential components in the social media landscape. LinkedIn has shown itself to be the most effective tool for professional debate and discussion. Blogging is the cornerstone of thought leadership while email communication has delivered consistently the highest ROI among all the digital channels. Twitter is a great tool for signposting and sharing your new content – but if your audience doesn’t stop at a Twitter station they’ll miss your content directions. Likewise, if your clients don’t ‘like’ Facebook, why would you post anything there?

Know your audience – wise words

Content marketing can be as simple or as complex as you want. If your goal is to share relevant and valuable content with your audience that helps them make informed choices and gain a greater understanding of your organisation then you already know how, where and what to say. If you see content marketing simply as a stage to shout your message out there to anyone who may, or may not be listening, then you don’t have an audience. And that’s where it all gets a bit tricky. Good content marketing is built on the oldest principle in the book – know your audience.