If you’re thinking about starting a blog, but not sure where you’ll get your ideas, how you’ll find the time, or how you’ll get the legal team on your side, you’re in luck. I wrote a three-part series for the Content Marketeer:
Common Blogging Roadblocks: Finding the Time
Common Blogging Roadblocks: Generating Ideas
Common Blogging Roadblocks: Legal Concerns
Looking for some content talent? Not sure where to find your next great writer? Wondering what to ask of your candidates? Here are some ideas:
How to Hire a Great Editorial Director
How to Hire a Great Content Manager
How to Hire a Great Web Writer, Copywriter, or Blogger
Content is a delicate thing. Use the wrong tone, the wrong words, the wrong format…and you could lose your user’s interest, trust or (even worse) respect. Sell too hard and people will be suspicious of you. Write a too-lengthy page and we all go into skimming mode–even if your most important point is buried in the middle of the page. And if you talk down to your users? Expect them to go find another company that will give them some dignity.
So, how do we make sure we have the right words? The right tone? The right approach to our content? How do we avoid offending or scaring off the users we so desperately want on our websites, our blogs, our social media channels?
I’m glad you asked.
When I work on any content project (be it strategy, execution, consulting or maintenance), I have a set of rules that must always, always be followed. Today, I thought I’d share:
1. Know thy audience.
Don’t go into a project trying to please everyone. It just doesn’t work.
I, for example, am not an ideal audience for, say, Rush Limbaugh. And if he tries to target me, he’s going to lose his current audience. If he tries to keep his current audience, he’s going to alienate me.
You might have more than one audience. I get that. So prioritize your audiences (who are you after first, second and third). And ask yourself for every page on your website, every blog, every social media channel: who am I after here? Which of my audiences is going to click on this button, visit this page, read this blog? That’s who you are creating content for.
2. Put communication before smarts.
Studies like this one show that bigger words and more complicated sentences do not make you sound smarter. So, when you’re tempted to say “handset” instead of “phone” or “pulchritudinous” instead of “beautiful,” don’t. Communicating clearly is much more important than demonstrating your varied vocabulary or technical prowess.
3. Treat people like they’re smart.
State your ideas clearly. Only say things once. Explain things, but don’t talk down to your audience. Assume that, with clear communication, they can pick up what you’re putting down.
4. Don’t say it if you aren’t going to back it up.
If you want to claim that your company is environmentally friendly or your team is the most creative team in the city, you’re gonna have to prove it. Because just saying you’re awesome doesn’t make it so.
It’s kind of like going on a first date and listening to the person across the table bragging about what a great lover he is. Bragging makes people wary.
So, instead of “we have the best creative team in the city,” how about “we’ve won the city’s best website award five times in a row?” Or instead of just “we’re environmentally friendly,” let’s add “all of our properties are equipped with recycle bins.”
In summary: you want us to think you’re great? Prove it.
5. Be approachable.
Whatever your goals are, whatever your company stands for, however professional your tone need be…you should still be approachable. Your user should feel like you’re there to help them—whether by providing additional information on your website, emailing them, tweeting with them or just answering your phone. No one wants to talk to (let alone buy from) someone who talks down to them or is constantly tooting his or her own horn.
Please join us for our March content meet up in central Denver!
This Month’s Topic & Leader:
For the better part of her professional life, Vanessa Martinez has worked for startups. After studying foreign languages and literature at Colorado State University, she co-founded an alternative newsmagazine that became an award-winning member of the Association of Alternative Newsmedia (formerly “Newsweeklies”). Before helping to launch another altweekly in 2006, she opened the first field office operation in southwest Weld County for the John Kerry presidential campaign, served as the managing editor of the Colorado Springs Independent, and was a member of AAN’s editorial and diversity committees. In 2008 she became the first digital editor of 5280 magazine, where she managed online editorial operations for three years.
After attending Confab in 2011, startup life beckoned once again, and she made the leap to independent contracting. She is currently editor of The Content Marketeer, a website dedicated to content marketing (published by Kapost), and is an editorial strategist for The Humor Code, a research project that travels the world in search of what, exactly, makes things funny. She’ll discuss strategic and editorial variations of both upstarts during the March content strategy meetup. She’d also love for you to check out the Denver Diatribe, a weekly podcast she produces and hosts with an ornery bunch of journalist types.
When: March 28, 6:30 p.m.
Where: Panera Bread @ Capitol Heights, 1330 Grant Street
Please RSVP via email, Twitter or phone (303.952.0842).
This month’s content meet up is about how content works together with design. Creative Director, Peter Brown, will be leading the discussion–talking about what a Creative Director with a design focus needs from his content pros, what content folks need from designers and how everything works together in a fast-paced agency setting.
When: November 30, 6:00 p.m.
Where: Panera Bread @ Capitol Heights, 1330 Grant Street
Please RSVP via email, Twitter or phone (303.656.5020).
