Friday, December 23, 2011

Content Marketing

I've been a copywriter for the last 15 years, creating ads, radio spots, newsletters, advertorial, articles, tv commercials, power points, web sites, blogs, brochures, white papers and even annual reports. I just found out there's now a term for everything I've written in the past: Content Marketing.
According to Wikipedia:

Content marketing is an umbrella term encompassing all marketing formats that involve the creation or sharing of content for the purpose of engaging current and potential consumer bases. Content marketing subscribes to the notion that delivering high-quality, relevant and valuable information to prospects and customers drives profitable consumer action. Content marketing has benefits in terms of retaining reader attention and improving brand loyalty.[1]
So, here's 5 rules that I've had for "Content Marketing" even before there was a Content Marketing.
1. Keep writing. Even if you can't think of anything. Keep writing until something comes.
2. Speak in the voice of the Brand. When I taught copywriting at The Portfolio Center and Creative Circus, the first mistake beginners had to learn to avoid was only writing in one voice.
3. You get points off for gammer, I mean grammer, and spelling. I hate it, but it's true.
4. Even if your audience are only tax attorney's, try to make it understandable for everyone. It widens your audience and even the tax attorney's appreciate it. Trust me.
5. Rewrite. You may think it's brilliant after you've stopped typing, but give it a second or day and then reread it. You'll end up rewriting as well.