Most people have a mobile device nowadays. They carry phones, tablets, and e-readers everywhere with them and are constantly checking their email and social sites. This huge phase of mobile users is an incredible opportunity for marketers. Making copy for mobile marketing is integral nowadays. This blog is going to discuss a few handy tips on how to create successful copy for your mobile marketing campaign.
1. Mobile Tech Makes Email Vital
If you have a smartphone or tablet, you most likely have your email linked up to it. You check it constantly and may even have it push through messages every five minutes. You’re not the only one who does this! (Which is why email marketing is vital to the success of every business.) Make a campaign that is concise and has a specific call to action, as most mobile users want to be able to read through things quickly. There are many other things that are needed in an email copywriting campaign, but let’s focus on mobile for this article. Time to settle down and start being serious about your email campaign strategy…especially if you thought email was singing along with ‘N Sync, saying “Bye, bye, bye.”
2. Visuals Are Important To Mobile Copywriting
One of the best ways to ensure people will check out your content while on their smartphones or tablets is to make visual content such as infographics available. This gives readers the ability to read through your content and get the important information out of it, without having to wade through a lot of text content. When it comes to mobile marketing, your web copy must be easily translated into a visual context. You may not find that many people will read an infographic when on the computer, but they sure will when they are viewing it on their phones.
3. Keep Your Content Short
Whether you are using text copy or visuals like infographics or videos, always keep it short. People who view things on their mobile device are usually on the go and want to be able to view things quickly. If they notice a video or article is too long, they’ll skip right over it. It is possible to write short, powerful content and you may find that you reach more people if you concentrate on writing a few short pieces every week. Find someone who is talented at writing shorter pieces, and give them a chance to write for you if you do not believe you are qualified for this type of writing.
4. Get Your Point Across Quickly
You know what you want to say when you are crafting your content and when it comes to mobile content you need to say it quickly. When you write a blog post, you know that the opening line and paragraph are absolutely integral to attracting readers. This is true of mobile, but when you write your opening paragraph, you need to keep it simple. The more you wax eloquent about something for mobile readers, the quicker you lose them. Write a great opening sentence or two and then write down the information you want people to read. This will ensure that they read what you want them to and that they won’t close out of your site. Write the key features of your product, interesting tidbits, and any details about your product or service. Short and concise is the way to go with mobile marketing.
5. Bullet Points Encourage People To Read More
Bullet points are great for all forms of content, especially mobile marketing. This gives readers the ability to look through your information quickly, without having to wade through tons of text. This is a chance for you to give the information we discussed in point four without all the fuss of an 800+ word blog. Bullet points allow people to scan the page easily, which encourages them to read some of your writing if not all. This can also help keep you, the writer, from writing long prose. Bullet points help everyone when it comes to mobile marketing.
Always make sure your bullet points go together and don’t seem to be mashed up in order to get certain points across. For example, if you are writing content that involves both cat food and cat grooming, make sure you only use the information for the cat food in one set of bullet points and the information for cat grooming in another set. Bullet points will help your mobile marketing campaign soar and you will see that you have many readers staying on your site longer, and you may even start converting these mobile readers into customers.
Until Next Time
Now that you have a few handy tips to help you write successful copy for mobile marketing, take some time to craft some excellent mobile copy. You will find that this is a great opportunity to reach a wide variety of individuals and you will start bringing in more revenue by reaching these audiences. Mobile is the way of the future; don’t get left behind!
Do you have a lot of visitors to your site? Do you do a happy dance every time the number increases or you see someone from a faraway country stop in?
It is really exciting to see all of those numbers and all of those people, but eventually it becomes exhausting and overwhelming when those visitors leave and never become customers. Turning them into customers is important and now is the time to do just that; but how does one go about that? This blog is going to discuss five ways to use web copywriting to convert visitors into paying customers.
How Web Copywriting Helps Convert
1. Get the Blog Going. We say this time and time again, but it is crucial when you are trying to convert visitors into customers. “How does blogging do this?” Blogging gives you the opportunity to become an authority in your field with Google, helping you rank higher on the search engine results page (SERP). The higher you rank, the more visitors will come. Once the visitors get to your site, they’ll begin reading through your posts and deciding whether or not your company is worth their hard-earned money.
If the visitors like what they see, they could just add you to their RSS feeds and keep up with your blog. This is where hyperlinks become important in your blog. If you add them throughout your blog posts, you have a higher likelihood of getting visitors to other parts of your site and to your products.
Did you mention a service or product similar to yours such as dog grooming and gourmet food? Hyperlink those terms to your specific service or product, showing readers you do exactly what they are reading about. This will help convert those casual readers into consumers quickly. Never underestimate the power of the written word, especially on the Internet!
2. Publish Yourself. Getting your content published in various formats around the web will also help convert visitors to customers. You can publish Whitepapers, which can give potential clients detailed information about your company or you can publish press releases to make people aware you exist. These are great ways to create interest in your product all while giving potential clients the information they all want. These forms of web copywriting can help act as an FAQ of sorts.
3. Email Is Not Dead Yet. An important part of web copywriting is email. Many seem to think email marketing is going away, but that is simply not the case. We all check our email first thing in the morning and the last thing before we go to bed. We are all hopelessly addicted to the Internet and email, which gives you a perfect opportunity to market your company. Encourage visitors to sign up for your newsletter when they stop by to read your blog. You’ll be surprised at the amount of people who will sign up if given the choice. Don’t force people to because this tends to scare people off. Give them a choice and then send out weekly or bi-weekly emails about services or new blog posts to keep interest alive in readers.
4. Research Your Audience and Keep Researching. Research is the name of the game when it comes to converting visitors into customers. The more you research, the more likely you will hit the target perfectly. Business2Community says that by providing information regarding your services and industry, visitors will already know if you meet their needs. This gives potential clients enough information about your products and shows that you are worthwhile.
Another excellent way to research your visitors and industry is to formulate case studies. A case study will tell an interesting story filled with facts about your current clientele and success rate, which will encourage those reading it that you are a company that is trustworthy. A case study will help you beat your competition and can also help you see any changes that need to be made for your company.
5. Landing Pages Are Crucial To Creating Customers. A crucial way to use web copywriting to convert visitors to customers is having an incredible landing page. Landing pages are great for taking visitors to the location you want, instead of them going to the overwhelming front page. You may think that customers want to see that front page, but the reality is most people find the main site to be confusing no matter how organized it is. Do you have a specific product you wish to sell to your visitors? Send them to that landing page. This is a great way to generate leads for your company.
Let’s take a quick look at a few handy tips for your landing page:
Make sure it is simple and only has the basic information you want your visitors to see. Don’t overwhelm them with tons of images and other information about your services; stick to a specific product. This will cut down on any confusion your visitors may have, helping to make them into paying customers.
Make sure people can navigate around your site easily. The harder it is, the less likely visitors will want to pay you for any service or product.
As with all web copywriting make sure you are friendly with visitors. If you site is hyper professional, this will come across as snooty and arrogant. However, if you are friendly or down-to-earth, this will come across as someone people will want to work with in the future.
In Closing
Converting visitors into customers isn’t very difficult if you follow the above steps. The more you cater to your visitors, the more they will realize your company is a great one to work with. Don’t be too upset if this doesn’t happen over night. Sometimes it takes a little while for visitors to realize that they want to purchase items from you, but soon you will start watching your customer base grow to meet your website’s visitor rates and that will be a good day, indeed.
Awesome content is involved in writing a great press release: from the newsy headline to the text body that gets read, quoted and shared by interested news audiences. All too often, businesses and brands have neglected these useful tools.
In The Power of the New Press Release, we recently discussed what exactly a press release is, what an amazing PR includes and why you should invest in well written releases. This blog delves a little deeper with the current rules involved in today’s successful press releases, and how to come out on top if your goal is writing a great press release.
6 PR Writing Do’s for 2014
According to PR News Channel, “for businesses looking for a different way to utilize the Internet and create an online profile, a press release can be a great way to spread news about your company, business, product or service.” Sounds great, right? The problem is that all too often people go about writing a great press release incorrectly. Somehow they miss the Do’s and do the Don’ts.
Do write for people, not search engines. We’ve seen a lot of articles talk about writing PRs for search engines, but this tactic changed in 2014. You see, in 2014 the world of SEO evolved. The focus is now on quality content written for people, not search engine crawlers or robots. If you write with your audience in mind, crafting a piece of copy people will want to read and share, search engine indexing will come naturally without any fuss.
Dooptimize for keywords without optimizing. Wait, what? I know, it sounds redundant. But it works! It’s fine to have a keyword or two (even a keyword phrase) in mind. Imbed it in your copy by inserting it where it naturally (and logically) belongs. Never, ever force a keyword or keyword phrase. If it doesn’t read smoothly and logically, it will hurt versus help.
Dolink to relevant web spots. You’ve no doubt heard of backlinking. Linking to relevant web spots (blogs, articles and content) by using words that accurately describe your company’s product or service will cause search engines to associate those words with your website.
Dolink to social media. Use your press release as a window to social media. Link it to your Facebook and LinkedIn pages. Ask your audience to follow you and like your posts, including your press release. Don’t be afraid to ask them to share it as well.
Doinclude quotes. Writing a great press release involves personalization. It’s important to give the reader something memorable that they can connect to. Quotes are perfect for achieving this, and they even build relevancy and credibility.
Doembed a little extra value. PR News Channel recommends imbedding a complementary YouTube video in a press release, but they note that not everyone can (or will) apply this tip. Instead of pigeonholing a video, we think you should instead add a little extra value that fits your brand, such as a free gift or limited time offer.
Extra, Extra! 3 More Tips
Copyblogger made an awesome statement about the modern press release: “Stop writing press releases, and start writing news stories.” In other words, when you sit down to brainstorm or write a press release, a key to success is thinking of it as a news story.
Ever notice how news stories go viral? Why is that? News stories cover a story, use a hook or two, and cover an angle. They make people care. Likewise, your brand’s press releases should hook the reader and cover the story from an angle that makes them care. Here’s how you do this:
Do tell a story. Everyone loves a good story. Tackle your press releases from the perspective of a storyteller. Understand why the reader should care and stay focused on the why throughout the copy.
Do present value. Telling a story is not in and of itself good enough. Readers want value. They want a reason to delve into your copy. Use your PR to present value by pointing them to your blog, requesting information or encouraging a purchase. In other words, slip in a call to action with attached value.
Do tart a discussion. People love social media. They love discussions. They love to get involved. Use a press release to encourage all of this. Link to your social media, encourage comments and jump right into the discussion.
Persuasive Tactics Are Key
Copyblogger published a copywriting 101 blog about the structure of persuasive copy. The accepted structure of persuasive copy is one of the best structures to utilize when writing a great press release for online (and even offline) publication. The epic thing about modern PRs is that they are published online “as is.” Therefore, the more care you put into structure and style, the better the resulting PR will be since standard publishing formats don’t apply. Modern PRs are savvy tools limited only by your creativity. As you write, consider the following:
Do be specific. Avoid vagueness at all costs. Vague information serves no valuable purpose. It wastes the reader’s time and detracts from your reputation and credibility. Your assertions, facts and statistics should be ultra-specific. Avoid general statements or unsupported information.
Do demonstrate credibility. Press releases are seen as excellent opportunities to build credibility, especially when treated like a news story or bulletin. Your can assert your credibility through statistics, studies, expert reference and appropriate testimonials.
Do assert authority. Writing a great press release involves asserting your authority on the subject. You accomplish this by being specific and demonstrating your credibility. If you aren’t already a recognized authority on the topic, you had better do your research. Ensure every aspect of your press release is based in provable and clearly supported fact.
Do make an offer. Explicitly presenting your product or service to your audience is vital. You need to be bold and firm. Address and relieve the reader’s risk of acceptance. Stand by what you say. Explain or illustrate why the reader needs to act on your offer.
Do cover 5 basic questions of copy. One of the first things covered is ensuring your PR covers the 5 basic questions of all copy: who, what, where, when and why. If you fail to provide the answers to just one of these questions in your press release, you risk losing your audience—or worse, damaging your credibility and reputation.
Do sum it up. As you conclude your press release, it’s important to sum up the key points. According to Copyblogger, “returning full circle to your original promise” is vital. It’s just as important to also demonstrate how you’ve fulfilled your original promise.
Bonus Tips for Writing a Great Press Release
Creating a great PR takes time and effort. A lot of big businesses (and even mid-sized to smaller businesses and brands) enlist the help of an experienced copywriting agency or copywriter when creating a PR. The writing behind amazing PRs is just as much a trade skill as it is an art. If you’re up for the challenge of creating your own PR, then we want to leave you with a few more awesome tips.
How do you feel about homework? Well, if you hated homework in school, we promise we’re handing you something you’ll enjoy. If you’ve found this blog informative and entertaining, you’re sure to love what else we have to offer. We’ve taken the time to prep 16 more helpful tips for writing a great press release in the following blogs:
5 Ways in Press Release Writing to Get Your PR More Publicity: a brief discussion designed to help you increase and gain the maximum amount of publicity out of every press release you publish. This is a must read, especially if you have trouble reaching a large audience or want to expand your reach.
6 Tactics for Getting More from Your Press Release Campaigns: even the most well intentioned PR campaign can fall short of expectations. Whether you’re campaign is handled by a content marketing agency or your personal expertise, learning how to squeeze every drop of awesome from your campaigns is important. Our tactics are designed to help you do just this.
Press Releases: 5 Best Ways to Optimize for Google and SEO: although SEO changed in 2014, it’s still important to ensure you know how to best optimize your PR for Google. In this blog we cover 5 of the best ways to optimize while linking you to extra material that backs up our strategies while also giving you some extra reading chalked full of educational information.
What are you waiting for? It’s time to utilize the sexy savviness that is the modern press release!
Grumpy Cat, also known as Tardar Sauce, is one of the longest lasting memes the Internet has ever seen. She took us all by storm with her adorable glare and imposing, “NO” response to everything. We have all, at one point or another, shared a Grumpy Cat meme and many of us probably shared the original because it was just too darn cute not to share. On September 22, 2012, the owners of the adorable Tardar Sauce saw their cat skyrocket to stardom and she has been going strong ever since.
How A Meme Stole the Internet’s Heart
We can all thank Reddit for Grumpy Cat, because that is where one of her human’s posted her photo in a thread. He, nor Grumpy’s family, expected this little adorable cat to get so famous, but they are taking this opportunity to make sales and do some incredible content marketing. Grumpy’s family began using this as an opportunity to teach people about feline dwarfism and it also showed the world that a funny looking cat still deserves love. In fact, there are more people rescuing and adopting strange looking animals simply because of Grumpy. Grumpy’s owners are using this as a great marketing ploy to pay for her medical bills and to donate to worthwhile charities (which we will discuss later on in this blog).
This is a great example of pulling on the Internet’s heartstrings when crafting content. You don’t want to overdo it and make people upset by feeling manipulated, but you can follow Grumpy’s path of using something adorable or funny to highlight a serious need. One or two powerful statements at the end of a funny or interesting story can change a person’s mind quickly and can bring in a lot of business you didn’t have previously.
Grumpy and the Grouch and Grumpy
Instead of just letting this meme run is course or focusing solely on the meme generators, Grumpy Cat has been crafting content with several outside sources. Her content is in different formats, which are all still easily shared. A popular Grump experience was when she met up with Oscar the Grouch, having the ultimate throw-down “Grump vs. Grouch” in an adorable Mashable video.
She also met up with the first Grumpy to steal the hearts of people all over the world. That’s right; Grumpy Cat met Grumpy the Dwarf. She has done several TV spots for Friskies, Purina, and other cat products, which is a win for those products as well as for Grumpy.
The lesson to learn from this is that multiple content formats are important in reaching everyone. Some people only like the Grumpy memes, while others enjoy following her on Facebook and seeing her “Daily Grump” photographs. Several of us really enjoy watching the various videos starring little miss Grumpy and we will all watch whichever video is newly released.
Word of Mouth Helped Grumpy
Memes all rely on “word of mouth” actions online. They are required to be shared by hundreds to thousands of people in order to become well known. Had Grumpy not relied on word of mouth, she wouldn’t have gained this popularity or success. This is crucial for all copywriters and content marketers. You need to utilize word of mouth to help skyrocket your content into a successful endeavor. You’ll be amazed by how much business you get simply from people talking about your company and sharing your content online. Grumpy utilized the popular, game changing aspect of the Internet – viral content. Crafting viral content is not difficult and the word of mouth system is greatly going to benefit your content when attempting to go viral.
Nothing Goes With A Good Book Quite Like Coffee
We all enjoy a cup of coffee with the current book we are reading and Grumpy Cat knows this. She’s spied on enough humans to know our habits and, therefore, has learned some excellent marketing strategies. These strategies involve the ever-popular Grumpuccino and official Grumpy Cat books. She also has a plethora of shirts, coffee cups, and other adorable merchandising that many people are scooping up as soon as they can. Grumpy is a great seller for other companies too because most people will buy a Grumpy piece of merchandise on impulse while shopping for other items. That cat is one crafty individual, making money for herself and others!
This is a great example of researching the client market and appealing to them. Use Grumpy as an example and start researching your client base to market effectively to them and make several wonderful sales.
Donating To Wonderful Charities
The one thing that helps many people feel fine with making Grumpy Cat purchases is that the majority of the proceeds go to charities. Some of the proceeds do go to the family, but they have stated that it was a lifesaver for them. Grumpy’s humans will offer merchandise where all the proceeds go to a charity and they always make sure buyers know which ones. For example, their Christmas merchandising went to a charity and many people really enjoyed buying cute Grumpy Christmas items while feeling they were helping a good cause. We all love feeling charitable and Grumpy and her humans know this.
While you might not be donating to charities as often as Grumpy, this is a great way to help your community and encourage your readers to help, as well. Not only will this benefit the charity and community but it will also benefit your business because people like working and shopping with companies who are charitable.
Take A Copywriting Lesson From the Ultimate Grump
The main lesson to learn from Grumpy Cat is that people enjoy laughing and having fun. She hasn’t overstayed her welcome and has grown through different formats and channels. She reaches a wide audience and makes tons of money while doing so. She is the perfect, or should we say purrfect, example of content marketing and copywriting. Take a gander at her website or follow her on Facebook to learn some daily content marketing tips and tricks that made this one little meme a huge success.
There you are, sitting behind your computer screen wondering what in the world to write next. You want it to sound new, exciting, and original all while bringing people in and making them want more. Currently, you might be feeling stuck because you just don’t know how to go about crafting this creative content and all of the standard blog posts you’re writing just aren’t cutting it. This blog is going to explore a few tips that will help you start crafting unique content and help you stand out in crowded Internet-land.
1. Craft Perfect Headlines
A huge part of creative content is your headline and sub-headers. Finding the right ones for your blog will help make it pop and stand out from all others. Headlines are what draw people in, so you want it to reflect your blog while also being unique and interesting. Sometimes, it is easier for you to come up with the perfect headline after you have finished writing your blog because you will be able to pick the best headline possible for it. Other times you will need to have a headline chosen in order to know how to write on the topic. You can go to popular websites and see how they formulate their headlines to give you ideas and inspiration for future ones.
In addition, sub-headers are important. These are the mini-headlines people will read when they click the link to your page. We all do this. We open a page, scroll down, read the sub-headers and decide if we need to read it. The best thing to do here is craft some very interesting sounding sub-headers that give just enough information to tease readers, but not enough to make them feel they don’t need to read your blog. Sub-headers are also handy for you because they create an outline for you, keeping you on track and on topic.
2. Marvel Has Visuals Down To A Science
Whether we are fans of Marvel or not, we enjoy the gorgeous quality of all Marvel films. It is because of this quality that many people are gearing up to go see a film based on a band of heroes that aren’t very well known (Guardians of the Galaxy), but consumers know that Marvel means quality and enjoyment.
You will want this type of quality in your writing to keep people coming back. Utilize visuals with your content and create stunning looking formats for your blogs, utilize great stock photos for a blog photo, or craft an engaging infographic that is visually appealing. Visuals appeal to the masses and the more visually appealing your site and blogs are, the better.
3. Geek Is The New Sexy
We aren’t sure if you’ve noticed or not, but geek (or nerd) is the new sexy. People love to learn about things and they want content that makes them feel knowledgeable while teaching them something new. They don’t want something that continually talks down to them nor do they want something filled with information that was “so yesterday.” “How does this pertain to creativity?” Simple. The more you teach someone something in an easy to understand way, the more likely you are to be creative with your writing. Just try it and watch the creative juices begin to flow. You’ll find new ways to write sentences and your descriptions will help paint an excellent picture in readers’ minds.
4. Take A Lesson From The Doctor: Focus On Your Fans
A huge thing Doctor Who has done with the reboot is doing things for the fans. Sure, you’ll hear angry comments here or there, but most of the time everything is done with the fans in mind. On the DVD commentary, you even learn that the producers and director shied away from a big re-introduction scene of the Doctor and opted for a more personal touch; same with viewing the inside if the T.A.R.D.I.S for the first time in years. Do this with your writing. Focus on your readers instead of the search engines, and you’ll find it much easier to be super creative and come up with some great, unique web content. Write what you know they’ll be interested in hearing or what they’ll be interested in learning. This puts you on a personal level with your readers and makes you not seem like some unknown entity within the Internet.
5. Netflix and Barnes and Noble Are Great Resources
We aren’t referring to their content campaigns, but those could be helpful too! We are talking about what they sell and what their business is; books, television shows, and films. These are chockfull of information ready to inspire you and get your creative mind pumping at full power. Many people say these are timewasters, but when you just can’t think of a creative way to write your content these forms of media might just be the best thing for you. It gives you a chance to turn your mind off and just rest, while enjoying a show or book that stimulates your brain. You’ll notice as you take these breaks, that all of the sudden ideas spring up out of nowhere. Make sure you have a pen and notepad nearby to write down all of your ideas or head on over to your computer to write from great unique content!
6. Use Stories To Make Your Content Unique
Storytelling is something that has been around since the dawn of humanity. We haven’t been able to go through our lives without stories and we all enjoy them, no matter what they are about. Use this as a great way to start writing creative and unique content that will be shared multiple times. You may not publish all of your storytelling content, but it will get your brain thinking about many different topics and ideas. Even just writing a creative story for you can do this. You can write a story about your brand for your upcoming company anniversary or you can write a story about helping at a local charity or farmers market. People love these stories and will eat them up quickly.
When In Doubt, Rest
If you are still having a hard time crafting unique content, don’t stress out! It is OK. This is something all copywriters go through and we can all understand the real struggle of crafting unique content. One of the best things you can do if none of these tips are working is take some time to rest your mind and enjoy life. Go for a walk, grab some ice cream, or get out of your house to see a movie. This will help your brain shift from focusing on your content and, just like with point number five, you will notice that ideas start coming to you out of the blue. So go grab some Starbucks, enjoy life, and get back to writing. You’ll be pleasantly surprised with all of the unique content you come up with!
