As a small business owner, the concept of content marketing makes you raise an eyebrow and ask yourself lots of questions that might include:
Do I really need a content strategy to speak my mind and bond with my clients? Couldn’t I just let the words flow freely?
Don’t let your upcoming experiences provide the answers to these questions.
Trying to convey your messages without a well-researched, documented content marketing strategy would be like trying to steer a ship without a helm. In this case you would probably drown in a sea of disparate content pieces that do not actually add value to your audience and don’t do a great job at representing your business.
6 Reasons Why Content Marketing Is Here to Stay
The good news is that it’s never too late to see what successful content marketing is all about. According to a Forbes article, the content marketing industry was worth no less than $44 billion dollars in 2013. Aren’t you curious to find out what’s behind the strategies that have filled the pockets of so many individuals and corporations? Some see content marketing as an elaborated soft-sell advertising tactic, while others interpret it as a method of telling a company’s story in a unique manner. Regardless of your take on this matter, we give you six reasons why content marketing won’t be going anywhere in the near future.
Give The Man Premium Content, and He Will Come Back for More. Addictive content enables you and your readers to become close. Original, palatable and relevant writing with a substance always triggers feedback from one’s audience. Naturally, in this case the key to success is consistency. Those who like to consume your stellar food for thought on a regular basis will always be hungry for your fresh topics. They will land on your page repeatedly and advise their friends, colleagues, parents and grandparents to do the same. On top of that, a constant flow of content allows you to build and maintain a solid community around your brand, product or service. According to an article published by Search Engine Journal, exceptional content facilitates a stimulating conversation between you and your public, while a strong community amplifies the message that you are trying to send through your writing.
Having a Solid Content Strategy Is Like Having Money in the Bank. Some inexperienced business owners who are not familiar with the mechanism of online markets may tend to think that crafting and implementing a content strategy is a tiresome process that doesn’t actually deliver major benefits. The numbers reflected by recent stats debunk this misconception, proving that content marketing is one of the most powerful moneymaking tools that all companies can and should rely on, regardless of their size and goals, in order to increase their revenues. The fact that 90% of B2C brands rely on content marketing to inform and educate their consumers definitely proves a point in this context.
Content Marketers Sharpen Their Pens and Broaden Their Horizons. According to a white paper entitled 2015 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends- North America, published by Content Marketing Institute, this year 35% of all B2B marketers affirm that they count on a documented content marketing strategy, while 48% say that they have a content marketing strategy set in place, but in this case we are talking about an undocumented version. The same source reveals other interesting aspects, including the following ones:
Content marketers now use separate content marketing strategies to target 4 audiences, on average
42% of all surveyed marketers publish fresh content daily or “multiple times per week” to fuel their content marketing program
In 2015, marketers are currently working on 13 content marketing initiatives, on average
The new trends identified by this source indicate that content marketing has evolved a great deal throughout time, expanding its influence and its inherent series of benefit. At this point, skilled marketers can develop, test, revise and monitor not one but four (or more) distinctive content marketing strategies designed according to the particularities of their segments of public. Another important aspect underlined by this white paper is that 70% of the B2B marketers employed by companies of all sizes are creating more content than they did one year ago. They use on average six channels to distribute their pieces of content and are always keeping an eye open for new opportunities that may take their content marketing program to a whole new level. The increased enthusiasm and determination manifested by marketers show that content is a mighty king that will never be dethroned and also suggests that a little bit of strategic thinking and in-depth research can take you a long way.
All the Big Players Are Investing Big Bucks in Content Marketing. If you want to keep up with the Joneses in any field of activity, you have to identify your own role models and follow in the footsteps of the most successful giants. This doesn’t mean that you have to turn yourself into a copycat; chances are that you don’t have the resources that a major corporation relies on anyway. In this case, the key is to borrow, steal and reinterpret in a clever manner, while adapting every single idea that inspires you to your own strategy, developed according to your budget, audience and goals. Brands that we all know and love show us that content marketing is the key to reaching audiences, creating communities and achieving bigger goals on a daily basis.
Let’s take a quick look at some awesome examples:
Colgate has made a name for itself as an expert in its field not necessarily by talking like one, but by keeping its prospects close through its Oral and Dental Health Resource This online resource provides useful, punctual tips on a great variety of topics, all related to the mission, vision and purpose in business of this giant company that has established itself as a promoter of a correct oral hygiene. Here one could stumble across more than 400 instructional articles, interactive guides and videos that address all your questions and concerns. Written in a friendly tone, these pieces of content are easy to digest and provide valuable pieces of advice that may just get the Tooth Fairy out of business.
Coca-Cola has already explored the tremendous power of content marketing. Its Content 2020 marketing strategy revolves around the idea that all marketers require an increased amount of relevant, original and pertinent content to maintain a strong bond with clients and prospects. These days, marketers are no longer distributing content every once in a while, hoping to close a sale with just one piece of content. The 24/7 connectivity has changed the rules of the game, and now marketers feel stimulated to work around the clock to craft and distribute world-class content. According to Marketing Week, this huge corporation has decided to ditch traditional ad agencies that used to provide their creative ideas and focus mostly on a new, collaborative and extremely ingenious approach to content creation and storytelling. More specifically, as this suggestive and entertaining video reveals, Coca Cola is determined to evolve from creative excellence to content excellence, while provoking conversations through the stories it tells. This content marketing strategy has everything it takes to deliver exceptional results: after all, we all love good stories that we can relate to, and we all love a certain type of carbonated soft drink, don’t we?
RedBull. RedBull is another respectable brand that hardly makes any compromises when it comes to rolling out its unique content marketing strategy. Designed to keep the brand on the same page with adrenaline junkies and extreme sports fans, the content marketing strategy employed by RedBull gravitates around videos that are fun and engaging. The creative minds that are behind RedBull’s content marketing strategy know that its fans want excitement, adrenaline and a certain unique cool factor- and this is exactly what they deliver. The energy drink that gives us wings may or may not be a mix of coolness and adrenaline in a can; however, one thing’s certain: RedBull has managed to capture the attention of a worldwide audience, counting more than 3.7 million subscribers on YouTube. RedBull definitely knows how to stay into the spotlight by organizing and promoting unique, jaw-dropping events and building a solid content marketing strategy around them. The Stratos Jump performed by Felix Baumgartner was watched by no less than 8 million people. Naturally, the incredible event went mainstream in a matter of a few seconds, as the “death-defying” experience was instantly explored by some of the most reputable media outlets worldwide. For those seeking a maximum level of exposure, it can’t get better than this. Multiple videos were posted on YouTube, on RedBull’s official channel, while its website was teeming with blog updates and other exciting fresh pieces of content that celebrated Felix Baumgartner’s extreme initiative.
GoPro provides powerful video cameras and accessories that are basically suitable for any activity that you could image. This is what we all know. But what exactly is its content marketing secret? GoPro explores our need of validation. We could all use five minutes of glory, couldn’t we? GoPro stimulates its prospect to become real-life heroes. Moreover, clients are encouraged to capture incredible moments and share them with the whole world. By turning customers into brand evangelists, GoPro manages to achieve its marketing goals with minimal effort, while letting its fans do most of the heavy lifting. According to Business 2 Community, GoPro sells big and succeeds in increasing its brand awareness by tapping its fan’s love and appreciation for its product. Its team of marketing specialists is constantly surfing the Internet looking for videos produced using a GoPro camera. Naturally, they gather and use the ones with an elevated emotional and aesthetic value, in an attempt to cater shareable content. Moreover, as a great storyteller, GoPro brings all these experienced together and turns them into the nucleus of a solid community. With a content strategy that is always ready to tap the overwhelming potential of social media platforms, GoPro counts more than 7.9 million fans on Facebook and more than 3.2 million followers on Instagram, proving that sustained marketing efforts are always rewarded.
Content Marketing Is the Miracle Maker That Even the Budget-Minded Businesses Can Afford. It’s always so easy to abandon a great idea before actually thinking about the easiest methods in which you could apply it. Yes, competition can be quite intimidating, especially when you’re counterparts are sitting on the pile of gold, while you’re pinching pennies. But this doesn’t mean that content marketing is the magic wand that was designed exclusively for the (already) rich and famous. On the contrary, any type of business can profit from the benefits that a solid content marketing strategy has to offer, as long as it focuses on the following aspects:
Short-term and long-term goals
Strategy
Production
Content atomization (the process of deriving multiple small execution methods from one big idea, according to Convince&Convert)
Amplification (the process of marketing the marketing- in other words, this step encompasses all the integration tactics that you employ to make your message heard on a larger scale)
Tests and Measurements
Good Content Never Goes on Vacation. Here’s another reason why you should rely on content marketing to take your business to a whole new level: a good content strategy will work even when you won’t. Quality web content will always be read, commented upon and shared 24/7, even when you’re in a meeting or on a vacation. These days, content is treated like a first-class product. Used wisely, this type of writing can open the doors to countless opportunities to drive revenue via your other sellable services or products that define your business.
Content Marketing Is Seen as The New Conversation Between Brands and Their Public
So there you have it: a personalized content marketing strategy is the fundamental aspect that differentiates you from your competitors, making you unique, channeling your ambitions in the right direction and creating a stronger tie with your audience.
An article published by Forbes defines content marketing as “the new conversation.” Indeed, successful, result-oriented content marketing is all about the ways in which a brand’s culture get mirrored and reinforced in its daily actions. The companies that nail content marketing are the ones that make a difference in their customers’ lives, provide value (inform, entertain and educate) without asking for anything in return and prove their realness every single step of the way. All in all, the fact that savvy corporations make millions by simply rolling out clever strategies based on premium web writing proves that the future of content marketing is as bright as the sun in July.
Today, I’m choosing to talk all about great content curation tools. I think there are awesome ways you can find and curate great content for your business, website, blog, and readers. Tools make life so much easier—right?
Lets Curate It
#1. Scoop.It. If you’re not on this awesome platform already, you should be. To start curating, just sign up, create your topic of interest, and scoop to your topic from what’s already out there on Scoop.it or what you’ve created yourself. Check out the FAQ for some initial guidance.
#2. Quora. Your questions, from your audience, are waiting for you to discover on this awesome platform. I look up copywriting, and I see people asking for the top resources on copywriting, or a specific way of how to write headlines. So I go create blogs that answer their questions, using my expertise.
And, to step beyond and to talk a little about creating awesome content.
Creating Great Headlines: 2 Awesome Resources
With some of our content orders, many times our writers will create the blog / article piece and the headline. Some clients will provide their own, but most of the time, we create an original headline.
For inspiration, we utilize two awesome tools out there that are great for helping writers come up with headlines that stand out, using all the right adjectives, grabbing your attention, etc.:
Basically, if you plugin a keyword or a couple words, the generators give you full topic ideas. (Disclaimer: Remember, they’re machines not humans. So, a couple times their results may be way off. Use with judgment!)
Lastly, if you haven’t seen our Content Strategy services (that include content curation), it’s time to look into them!
You! Yes, you over there, searching Google for inspiration to create an epic content marketing plan. I know it’s easy to get stumped with all of the information available or you might simply need a few examples of different successful endeavors from some epic companies. Heck, as a content marketer, even I get stumped (once every few million minutes).
In this blog, I am going to do an in-depth case study of the most epic of the epic to inspire your content marketing. More specifically, I’ll take a look two content marketing pillars who have created the foundations of what a great content marketing strategy is all about! This should give you some basic inspiration that you will be able to take with you to your next content marketing meeting.
Let’s take a look at the company that gives you wings, and the company you use to film when you get those wings.
Red Bull’s Stellar Content Marketing: 7 Key Features
If you aren’t a big fan of energy drinks, chances are you still know about Red Bull and can recite their slogan from memory, “Red Bull gives you wings!” Regardless of lawsuits stating the drink does not, in fact, give one wings, Red Bull’s slogan is a great example of just how this company wins at content marketing. Let’s look at a few other ways they’re a content marketing juggernaut.
1. World Records Were Broken. Can We Ever Forget the Parachute from Space? I was one of the millions that tuned in for Red Bull’s Stratos jump from the edge of space in October 2012. It was an incredible thing to watch and what a feeling of realizing you’re watching history in the making! If you weren’t one who watched or happen to know nothing about it, Felix Baumgartner did a free fall from the very edge of space and represented Red Bull. While it happened over two years ago, Red Bull is still using this highly successful campaign over at their Stratos Team website. It was a great way to not only advance the energy drink, but to also promote science and space travel.
Just how effective was this jump, in sales and marketing results? An Econsultancy report said they had 900,000 Facebook interactions on jump day, and sales of Red Bull rose an entire 7% to a figure in the billions within six months.
Now, I understand that not everyone can break a world record in their content marketing, but this company went to the extreme and did that—and it got them somewhere! If you have a crazy, record-breaking idea for your marketing: well, who’s stopping you from doing it?
2. Red Bull Uses Excellent Sports Action YouTube Videos. While most of Red Bull’s customers are not those who participate in extreme sports or high action events, they do know that it is a great marketing scheme. The company utilizes YouTube to provide videos to their over 3 million subscribers using different extreme sports in a video series. They have a series about racing in Seattle, as well as featuring individual sports such as mountain biking, parachute jumps, and extreme truck racing (in snowy conditions!). You can catch all of their videos by heading to their YouTube account. Prepare for some major action-packed adventures!
In addition to Red Bull’s extreme sports videos, Red Bull also live-streamed events such as Lollapalooza. Those who couldn’t get to the music festival were able to watch it live on Red Bull TV, which was another great marketing scheme from this awesome company.
3. They Put Their Customers First. One of the major ways Red Bull wins in content marketing is that they always put their customers first. This is a great way to interact with their client base and make people feel welcome. While their customers might not necessarily participate in extreme sports or the other events Red Bull sponsors, their client base still enjoys watching them. The company states that the product is completely secondary. What comes first is what the customer wants and how the company can deliver and meet those wants and needs.
4. Red Bull Uses Multiple Formats for Content. Red Bull understands the need for multiple content formats because they understand people consume it differently. Because of this, the company not only uses their awesome digital marketing skills, but they also utilize a magazine, social media, images, and blogs (depending on the campaign). This is a great way to reach out to their audience in enough ways to keep reaching a significantly wider audience. You can find more about their overarching content at their awesome website, Red Bull Media House.
5. They Make Marketing More Than Just a Department. Their media house states they are not the only ones responsible for coming up with these stellar content ideas. Red Bull believes that they can get some of the best, most effective campaigns by involving their entire company. This is a great way to make sure they are not only engaging their customers, but their employees as well. Happy, engaged employees can mean major success for any business! Consider asking your employees to help come up with some awesome marketing campaign ideas or things they’d like to see from your company. Your employees are housing a wealth of information and if you neglect it, you can miss out on some pretty epic inspiration!
6. Red Bull Has a Strong Slogan. As I mentioned earlier, the incredibly memorable slogan did bring about a lawsuit (people sure can get lawsuit happy, can’t they?). Regardless, you cannot deny that Red Bull has created one of the best slogans. Why is it one of the best? Because whether you consume Red Bull or not, you know the slogan already. How many of us have it memorized? Let’s see; recite the slogan with me now! “Red Bull gives you wings!” This is a great example of creating a memorable slogan that helps people remember your company quickly and easily!
7. Let’s Not Forget Those Awesome TV Spots. Along with their memorable slogan, something no one can forget about is Red Bull’s amazing TV spots. They’ve been around for quite some time, and we all know what they look like. Those odd little cartoons with silly, overdramatized voices in hilarious situations are something that have made and are currently making a huge impact. Check out a few of their 2014 TV spots!
GoPro and Their Epic Marketing Strategy: Looking at 7 Memorable Features
GoPro hasn’t quite gone to the extreme of the Stratos jump, but their product may have recorded even more extreme activity.
This company is another great pillar in the content marketing world. Their strategy is quite similar to Red Bull’s by focusing on a lot of extreme sports and awesome adventures. However, they do aim to reach out to everyone, trying to include those who don’t participate in racing trucks through and over snowdrifts. In short, pretty much anyone can pick up a GoPro and record what they’re doing!
If you’re interested in extreme sports and hilarious things animals do, then GoPro’s video campaigns are perfect. Let’s take a look at their content campaigns and how the company is so successful with them.
1. Capturing Epic Moments from Fans for Fans. There are many fans of GoPro whether they are cattle farmers in Missouri who want to check up on their cows in the back of their 50-acre land or are athletes catching hair-raising stunts. GoPro likes to feature videos and content from their fans on their YouTube account, which is a great way to ensure that their clients get content that interests them. While they might not feature every video that is submitted, it still gives a great chance for their fans to provide content for other fans. Such a cool way to promote engagement while getting content you know clients want to see!
2. Teaming Up with Another Powerful Team – Red Bull. One thing GoPro knows is that a successful partnership can make for an even more successful product. Just how did Red Bull capture some of their more amazing stunts? How did GoPro get the funding to sponsor well-known athletes? The two companies joined teams and have created some incredible content together. If you’re unsure about partnerships working in your favor, just take a look at GoPro and Red Bull’s successful pairing! Remember, you can always team up with someone who can benefit from your company such as Red Bull benefiting from GoPro. This works amazingly for both companies!
3. GoPro Utilizes an Epic YouTube Strategy for Their Brand. GoPro also has an incredible YouTube strategy that any company, large or small, needs to take into consideration. Many businesses might spend a significant sum of money for getting some awesome, professional quality videos, but they forget something very important – YouTube is a social media channel! What do you need to do on a social media channel? Well, you need to be social, obviously. GoPro makes sure to engage with their fans on their YouTube channel by responding to comments. While this seems rather small, it is really a huge step that helps promote the company further and bring in even more engagement on their videos.
4. They Promote Engagement by Providing Content their Clients Want. Another way that GoPro promotes engagement is by giving their clients what they want to see. Most of their client base probably wouldn’t be too interested in seeing a cattle farm from a GoPro camera. However, they are interested in seeing epic content such as extreme sports and cool moments from firefighters and other professionals. They provide this to their client base and get a high amount of engagement, which helps promote the brand further. This is important to all content marketing schemes because you need to make sure your audience gets what interests them.
5. They Focus On Telling Stories in Their Content. As I’ve stated a number of times, storytelling is a great way to connect with your audience and drive engagement. This is exactly what GoPro does, and it has proven to be amazing for the company. They provide stories through video or they will share a video and later share the story surrounding it. This helps to make the content relatable to the audience, and bring about more social shares, engagement, and interest. This is actually a great way to become viral since people simply love stories. We all love stories because they give us the chance to relate and feel something whether warm fuzzy feelings or awe.
6. GoPro Doesn’t Just Promote Extreme Sports, but Regular Life. It seems like GoPro could lose a big chunk of their audience if they only focused on extreme sports. The company seems agree with that thought because they not only share extreme sports videos, but they also share videos of regular life or things that aren’t necessarily someone skydiving. They have videos ranging from a firefighter administering oxygen to a cat to a dad videoing his baby slowly falling asleep, according to NYdailynews.com. They want to sell their product to people who live regular lives and don’t frequently do death-defying stunts. This has provided a plethora of videos of silly things and a few sad videos like what a dog does when its owner leaves.
7. They Know Which Social Channel is Perfect for Them. When it comes to social media, we all want to use as many channels as possible to have the best reach. However, this doesn’t work with every company and you need to know which platform will work for you. This is exactly what GoPro does. While they have Facebook and Twitter, the company knows that there is one particular platform that is absolutely perfect for them – YouTube. They make sure to market their YouTube channel frequently, which is helping them build more and more subscribers. This is a great example of finding the channel that will work for you. It might not be as obvious for your company as it is for a camera company, but you can find out through analytics and seeing where you get the most engagement.
Ready? Set, Get Your Extreme On
You don’t have to go the way of Red Bull and GoPro, but now is the time to get to some extreme content marketing and copywriting. You can easily modify the inspiration taken from these two companies and morph them into something that will make your business highly successful! What are some things you’ve learned from this blog?
I hope you are able to take away the importance of storytelling, social media, and client engagement along with many other ideas from these particularly epic companies.
Let me know some of YOUR favorites in the comments!
Inexperienced copywriters tend to think that creativity is the gift from above that automatically determines the quality and effectiveness of their content pieces. In reality, efficient, target-oriented copy that actually works is a complex 1,000 piece-puzzle requiring multiple skills, time, talent, passion and lessons learned over the course of a few days, months of years. Novices may also tend to think that what’s been done before (with excellent results) should always be stolen, borrowed, reinterpreted or recycled to come up with new meanings.
The Valuable Lessons Provided by the 10 Most Inspiring Pioneers of Copywriting
In reality, the basic principles of advertising highlighted by the biggest names in this industry haven’t changed much.
Here are 10 authorities on copywriting offering valuable lessons that can inspire and enable you to squeeze more out of your web content.
Victor Schwab. Victor Schwab ((1898 – 1980) started in this business as the secretary of Maxwell Sackheim, who was employed by Rathrauff & Ryan. After improving Sackheim’s copy in a radical manner, he got promoted to copywriter. In this position, he became known as the very best direct mail-order copywriter in history. His excellent results were influenced by in-depth research and ample testing. He tested virtually every single aspect related to his copy, including layouts and calls to action. Schwab was also the genius who advanced the idea that first-hand copy should illustrate the promoted product in action, to allow the prospect to understand its benefits and crave for it.
Eugene Schwartz. Eugene Schwartz (1927-1995) follows a similar approach, explaining that copywriters could achieve their daily goals by exploring and exploiting the overwhelming desires manifested by consumers. Headlines such as“Give Me 15 Minutes and I’ll Give You a Super-Power Memory” reflect the honest, transparent trade established between buyers and sellers, based on the principle “you give me what I want and I’ll give you what you need,” which is still applicable today.
Rosser Reeves. Do you really think that brand uniqueness is an innovative concept guiding the strategies of modern online marketers? Sorry to disappoint, but it isn’t. Rosser Reeves (1910-1984) coined and perfect it before it was cool. As an inquisitive man with multiple interests, Reeves reached the conclusion that advertising should depend strictly on hard-sell strategies. Known as the “Prince of Hard Sell” according to Copyblogger, Reeves has promoted quite a few brands that we still know and love today, such as Viceroy or Colgate. He firmly believed that copywriters could make any product recognizable and increasingly popular by highlighting its unique selling proposition.
Robert Collier. Some people speak just to hear the sound of their voice, while others write for the sake of writing. Both tactics are equally dangerous and inefficient. According to Robert Collier (1885-1950), one must come up with a string of ideas based on the effect that they want to trigger in their readers. In his masterpiece entitled The Robert Collier Letter Book, this copywriting authority unveils the key to writing direct-mail letters that actually reach their target. According to this source, before putting pen to paper, you should identify the ideal emotion (pride, anxiety, flattery or envy are excellent choices!) that you wish to awaken in your readers and act accordingly.
Leo Burnett. Why waste time and money researching and buying products that are plain boring? Wouldn’t you rather focus on finding the real gems that make your life just a bit more interesting and enjoyable? This is one of the ideas highlighted by Leo Burnett (1891-1871), who advises fellow copywriters to accentuate the drama associated with the product or service that they’re representing in order to make it more desirable. This gifted and highly successful American advertising executive and founder of the prestigious Leo Burnett Company, Inc. has provided a simple piece of advice that may just represent the Bible of modern copywriting: “Make it simple. Make it memorable. Make it inviting to look at. Make it fun to read.” According to Business 2 Community, Burnett also highlighted the importance of authenticity and believability in this industry, indicating that the truly successful copywriters are the ones that are able to think like a potential client. According to another important lesson offered by Burnett, creativity is the end result of curiosity about life in all its forms. Unlike the Prince of Hard Sell, Burnett affirmed that there is no such thing as “soft sell” and “hard sell”, specifying that there are only two approaches that one should ever factor in: “stupid sell” and “smart sell.”
Mel Martin. You may be tempted to think that some of the best-selling products represent the success of marketing tactics associated solely with positive emotions. In this case, what do you think about anxiety? Anxiety is not necessarily a negative feeling. As long as it can fuel your boldest aspirations and stimulate you to perfect yourself, this emotion actually has strong positive connotations that Mel Martin knew how to explore. What happens if you’re not the best golfer? Or the best chef? Or the best teacher on the Planet? You work harder and buy the products that support your rapid ascension. In short, you basically use the clever technique of exploring an old anxiety to advertise your product, patented by Mel Martin. Martin wrote headlines such as “For golfers who are almost (but not quite) satisfied with their game — and can’t figure out what they’re doing wrong,” unleashing the power of audience referencing and making its readers believe that his copy was actually crafted to solve their unique problems.
David Ogilvy. Known as the Father of Advertising, David Ogilvy was the well-respected wizard of words. Promoting the idea that the best concepts come from a well-informed subconscious, Ogilvy took this thought a step further. He underlined the importance of the testing phase, suggesting that there is no such thing as a safe bet in advertising. He also provided useful guidelines on how to write magnetic headlines, indicating that irrelevant and/or tricky constructions will automatically be ignored by people who are often landing on random pages just to find quick answers to their most pressing questions.
Claude C. Hopkins. Recognized as one of the most potent pioneers of advertising, Claude C. Hopkins (1866-1932) was an expert in human psychology and knew every single trick in the book meant to consolidate his relationship with his targeted audience. Hopkins is the author of the bestselling book entitled Scientific Advertising, published in 1923, who was bold enough to state that “please buy me” type of sales pitches do not work. Ever. In his opinion, one could achieve copywriting success by simply abandoning this counterproductive strategy and putting the customer first. What does your client actually want? Discover the most concise answer to this question and let your product or service do all the talking, while keeping in mind that coupons and other perks can only make your prospects become more receptive to what you may have to say about your brand. According to Todaymade.com, Hopkins also affirms that selling uphill is an incorrect tactic. Instead of wasting time and money trying to convert new prospects, one should try to rely on the experiences of existing customers to build credibility and trust. These are only a few of the most significant lessons offered by the promoter of Scientific Advertising, who was also a firm supporter of continuous testing, an essential phase that shaped the face of digital marketing as we know it.
Raymond Rubicam. Rubicam (1892-1978) was one of co-founders of the Young & Rubicam advertising firm and a respectable pioneer with a new vision, the highest dosage of creativity and proven leadership skills. He always insisted on the idea that one should “resist the usual” in an attempt to highlight his very own uniqueness and fresh, individualized copywriting approach. At the same time, according to Investors.com, Rubicam was the visionary who made the first decisive steps towards bringing solid market research in the ad business, revealing that ads should be written by writers with a broad knowledge database and even broader “human sympathies,” which would enable them to stay in sync with their audiences.
Tom McElligott. Arguably one of the greatest and most inspiring copywriters of all times, Tom McElligott gave a valuable piece of advice that is still valid in any context: do not underestimate the intelligence of your readers. Aside from its unique perspective on copywriting, McElligott also gave us the key to handling one of the hardest challenges in today’s markets- a tiny budget-after facing it himself. In the 80s, Tom McElligott had to promote a brand of whiskey. Not the toughest assignment that you could think of, right? The problem was that this project counted on an almost negligible financial support. According to Vice, even in this particular situation, this legendary copywriter proved that you don’t necessarily need a lot of zeros to create memorable masterpieces. By relying on stock photos (the ones that every modern advertising book will tell you to avoid), and a clever message (“Fortunately, every day comes with an evening,” Tom McElligott managed to illustrate the concepts of tediousness and awkward daily events to perfection, while also presenting the perfect “remedy” for this problem: a little bit of whiskey served in a cool-looking “rocks” glass.
Do the Lessons of Established Copywriters Have an Expiration Date?
You may wonder: can we still rely on the words of wisdom spoken or written by an established copywriter who made in history in the 20s, 50s or early 90s? Times have changed, but the basic rules of the game are still the same.
There are two notable differences worth mentioning. First of all, modern consumers are constantly bombarded with a wider range of messages developed to promote a more generous selection of goods and services. Secondly, both online marketers and prospects count on online and offline channels and a plethora of gadgets and tools to promote and respectively, research and purchase goods. But even in this context, people still read articles that address their anxieties, just like Mel Martin underlined; they talk about content pieces that explore their most ardent passions and desires just like Eugene Schwartz said they would, and yes, they still tend to favor brands that do a great job at underlining their unique selling proposition just like they did when Rosser Reeves was still in business. At the end of the day, you don’t necessarily have to sink into a pool of frustration while trying (and failing) to reinvent the wheel in copywriting. Just learn the best lessons served by your predecessors on a silver platter, do your homework, explore different media (and social media) channels and work hard to maintain a solid connection with your clients and audiences to stay on top of your game.
We have always been taught not to judge a book by its cover. But if looks are deceiving, what are the actual factors worth considering when it comes to selecting the next written masterpiece that you enjoy so much you’ll take it to bed with you?
You are looking for real substance, an interesting topic that incites and a fresh perspective on all the things that have been done, said and written before. You can determine whether or not a book, or any other content piece for that matter, has what it takes to make it on your shortest “to read” list by simply examining the title.
A great headline is the promise that a content piece won’t make you yawn repeatedly hours before your bedtime. Yes, first impressions matter a great deal, and the best titles reflect the ideal balance between form and (structure, ideal length) and function.
Can Your Content Headlines Really Influence Your Readers’ Mindset?
A good headline gives you a clue to what the author has in store for you. Moreover, according to an article published by The New Yorker, headlines frame the overall reading experience, enabling you, as a reader, to understand what kind of content piece of content you are getting ready to analyze. At the same time, they set the tone and general approach for the topics that are being brought to your attention.
You can say or write the same thing in countless different ways. One approach might make your readers bounce off your page thinking that you’re truly boring and unremarkable, while another one may convince them to subscribe to your newsletter and read your content religiously, before taking the first sip of their morning coffee. Exceptional headline enables you to shift away from the first method and make all the right steps towards the latter one.
Should you strive for perfection when it comes to writing headlines? You’d better, especially if you want to stay relevant in your niche. According to an interesting statistic cited by Copyblogger, 8 out of 10 people only read the headline copy. How can you put a spell on the other 2 out of 10 individuals who are actually willing to scan, skim and/or digest the rest of your information, in order to make them respond to your calls to action? You can start by writing better headlines.
Headlines Point towards the Shortest Path to Your Reader’s Heart and Mind
What does a great headline actually do, aside from consolidating your position as a successful copywriter? It gives you the power to seduce your readers.
For instance-“A Beauty Ritual That Can Prevent Premature Aging?” and “5 Ways to Look 10 Years Younger in 10 Weeks” basically offer the same kind of food for thought: some insight into the beauty sector, allowing you to maintain your youthful appearance for a longer period of time. If you were to stumble across these two headline versions, you would probably ignore article the represented by the first title and read the second one, while taking notes and learning certain fragments by heart. In this case, readers automatically correlate these numbers with certainties. After reading the second title, you would probably say to yourself: “Sure, I can do that for ten weeks to look ten years younger!” This is the type of reaction that you should expect from your readers after deciphering the code of writing killer headlines.
What Kind of Alchemy Could Help You Turn Your Headlines into Solid Gold?
Now that you have found out everything you need to know about the function of a good headline, what should you remember about its form? According to Copyblogger, there are certain foolproof patterns that you can apply to mould your ideas into fine pieces of gold, which basically work in any context.
Direct headlines (These headlines introduce the selling proposition without any attempts at unnecessary cleverness)
Indirect headlines (These headlines often rely on double meanings and other aces up the copywriter’s sleeve to create an aura of mystery and raise the readers’ curiosity and interest)
News headlines. (If they’re fresh and catchy, they’ll want to hear the whole story from you first)
“How to” headlines. (Nothing channels your proud do-it-yourselfer quite like a succinct “how to” headline)
Question headlines (Curiosity may have killed the cat, but in this case a catchy, on-point question headline may just convince your readers to ignore this potentially dangerous precedent and read your body copy, searching for answers)
Command headlines (Yes, your readers appreciate precise instructions and love being told what to do!)
“Reasons Why” headlines (We all need a few extra reasons to give a new product or service a try, don’t we?)
Testimonial headlines (We’ll say this much: nobody wants to be the first to pay a fee to try a new product or a service)
How Do You Get People to Care about Your Headlines?
There’s one thing that you should never forget about your readers: they have the power to label your content at a first glance. They can take your masterpiece from “fabulous and on-point” to “redundant, annoying or plain boring” in 1.5 seconds, before you’ll know what hit you. So how can you convince your audience that your headlines are awesome and your body copy is even better? According to Moz, the recipe for success is simple: you just have to make your headline (and implicitly, the ideas and emotions that it brings to life) resonate with your readers on a higher level.
To Optimize or Not to Optimize Your Headlines?
Here’s one more headline-related question that may be on your mind: should you write for people or for machines? Could you do it for both categories? In a world driven by emerging SEO trends, should you leave your headlines unpolished or should you actually optimize them for search engines? According to Search Engine Land, headlines should be descriptive and succinct, reflecting the core of what people actually want to read online and offline. At the same time, it should contain valuable information presented in a concise, exciting manner and not just a mere string of keywords in an attempt to help its source rank higher in search engine results.
The Best Tools to Rely on When Your Pen Is Not Your Sharpest Weapon
Now that you know how to write and optimize your headlines like a pro, allow us to ask you a delicate question: who’s your provider of daily inspiration? Let’s face it: every once in a while, we all get hit by a serious case of writer’s block. You may be able to identify the “who”, “what”, “when”, “where” and “why” of your content piece, but what if you can’t actually summarize all these crucial elements to come up with a high-impact headline? Not to worry, these days a few new cool tools can become your handy little helpers. Portent’s Content Idea Generator and Hubspot’s Blog Topic Generator are only two of the excellent headline tools that can help you find and develop relevant blog topics that could interest your targeted audience.
Let Your Killer Copywriting Skills Shape the Results Returned by Headline Tools
Both alternatives are useful and easy to use: you just have to enter your subject and let the tools do their magic. When using Portent’s Content Idea Generator it is advisable to use the singular version of your keywords and avoid capitalizing them. Here’s one last recommendation that you should keep in mind: don’t trust these aids blindly and don’t forget that you are writing for actual human beings, not for machines. In order to obtain stellar, grammatically correct headlines, you should always double-check the end results provided by your headline tools of choice.
These helpers, correlated with a deeper understanding of the needs and demands of your readers and of the topic that you’re getting ready to expand on will bring you closer to mastering the technique of writing magnetic headlines, which is based on a combination of art, science and blood, sweat and tears.
