Content marketing: Some call it a “revolution, ” an antidote to pushy, pricey, traditional advertising. A cheaper, easier and more humanistic way to promote your business and build sales.
Others see content marketing as a twist on tried-and-true promotional methods, as old as the marketplace itself.
No matter what your opinion on its origins, one point about content marketing is inarguable: To make it work, you need a lot of content. And not just generic copy. You need quality, customer-relevant blog posts, articles, white papers, tips sheets and other content marketing tools. And you must produce it regularly and frequently.
Where will you get all that terrific, targeted content? Can you create it yourself? Hand off writing to staff? Or will you need a professional copywriter?
As a copywriter, I admit I’m prejudiced. So you would expect me to say, run—don’t walk—to the nearest expert, reliable copywriter.
But I’m not going to. Because I don’t believe pro copywriting is always necessary for content marketing success. To my shock surprise, I’ve seen a number of entrepreneurs market effectively with their own content while competently running their businesses.
Are you one of these one-man shows? Let’s find out.
The good news: No more budget-busting media buys
Back in the day, effective marketing meant pushing out messaging to reach as many people as possible. You paid dearly for a 30-second spot or page in The New York Times—and not just for the channel. A chunk of your fee went to the team that pulled it all together: the media buyers, account managers, creative directors, designers and advertising copywriters.
Today marketers increasingly use pull, rather than push marketing. Instead of reaching massive numbers of people, they’re keen on reaching the right people. And their channels—blogging, article publishing, social media—don’t require a huge advertising team and bloated budget.
Pull marketing proponents tell us that content marketing is not only cheaper, it’s better. Great content lets you and your customers meet, embrace and “build relationship” in what promises to be mutual, multimedia-fueled bliss.
But a cloud hovers over the marketing love-in. Because quality content doesn’t spontaneously generate.
The bad news: You have to get into the publishing business.
Digital marketing requires a shift in thinking and strategy. Content marketing pundits put it bluntly: today business owners have to be publishers.
So, let’s say you’re a restaurant owner. You’ll want to publish posts on locally sourced food. Lists of 10 Best Wine and Food Pairings. Video tours of your eatery’s kitchen. Your chef’s favorite recipe.
You’ll whip up this quality content in between cajoling vendors, training wait staff, managing payroll, overseeing site renovations and clearing tables when the busboy calls in sick.
Not a problem, right?
Blogging is easy, isn’t it?
Digital info product marketers are quick to tell you content marketing is easy. Slap up a blog—it’s cheap!—and start publishing. You don’t need Mad Man copywriting talent: Blog posts don’t demand the same skill as television commercials, print ads, direct mail or collateral.
While grossly misleading, there’s a kernel of truth in this logic.
The blogosphere’s dirty little secret: Content standards are low.
Most bloggers don’t have the same meticulous standards as professional journalists and advertising teams. Click over to your favorite digital marketing blog and very likely you’ll find:
- Rambling, tangential posts
- Opinion, hearsay and unsourced content
- Grammar gaffes and typos
- Awkward and incorrect usage
But let’s say, you’re willing to settle for inconsistent usage and a few typos. Can you handle your businesses’ content creation—and forget about a professional copywriter?
When to skip hiring a pro copywriter
Before you leap into content creation, take a long, hard look at the skills and time you bring to content marketing. Ask yourself if you can…
- Commit to a regular publishing schedule. Will you be able to produce fresh, valuable content at least once a week?
- Get inside your customer’s head and heart. How well do you know your customers, clients and prospects? What can you say about their goals, dreams, yearnings, pain points and challenges? Can you write chatty conversational copy that talks like they talk?
- Discover how your customers find you. Is it through search? Through Twitter, Facebook, Quora or other social communities? Or do customers want to find you on a static website? Or—be honest—are they digital skeptics? Do they prefer to meet you at conferences, networking events, through direct mail or even traditional advertising?
- Create strong content in a variety of media. Do you know the difference between copy for a blog post and content for an eBook? How to write both a white paper and a status update? Have you figured out how to target your messages? Have you thought through ways to integrate media?
- Partner with key marketing professionals: graphic designers, website developers, coders, printers, SEO strategists, videographers and other pros you need to help you publish quality, shareable content. Even if you’re a whiz content creator, you still need help publishing and sharing your message.
- Feel at home in social communities that enable you to leverage and make the most of your content.
- Make time for content creation, strategic planning, coming up to speed in all copy formats, finding good, reliable partners and creating community in social networks while running your business.
One last thing: You still need traditional media.
I admit I’m a content marketing True Believer. I’ve seen it work—for me and for others. But I’m not so arrogant as to proclaim that traditional marketing is dead. It just ain’t.
Radio didn’t wack word-of-mouth. Television didn’t replace radio. And blogging and content marketing aren’t hammering a stake in the heart of 30-second spots and print marketing.
The truth? You need to pick and choose the media mix that’s right for your product, customers and budget.
Traditional media requires professional copywriting.
And while you may be able to wing-it with blog posts and tweets, a traditional marketing tool is another animal. You want and need a pro who understands persuasion architecture in general and various traditional copy formats in particular.
Pro copywriting: It doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg.
For business owners, there’s never been a better time to work with a professional copywriter. The advertising and journalism industries continue to implode, flooding the market with an incredible pool of talented writers willing to work for reasonable, living-wage prices.
No, a seasoned copywriter won’t write for content mill, slave wages. But most copywriting pros are glad to work within your budget by:
Prioritizing content needs. An experienced copywriter can help you decide on the most crucial copy needed now—and plan for additional content as your budget allows.
Editing existing content. Give a pro copywriter your first draft and let her tighten and target copy, rewrite heads and revise content for easier scanning, skimming and conversion. At a fraction of from-scratch copy creation.
Copywriting training. If you or your staff have writing talent and time, you may be able to manage your content needs with good copywriting training and mentorship.
Can I get a witness? Copywriting colleagues, please weigh in.
No one is better qualified to sound off on copywriting than professional copywriters. What do my fellow copywriters have to say? Do businesses and bootstrappers always need a professional copywriter? What are some options for small businesses with tight budgets? Please share your expertise.
Think your business could benefit from having 100% of your attention? Like to look into professional copywriting, editing or content marketing training? Contact me.
I’ll give you an “amen,” Lorraine.
Content Marketing works, but it usually has to be paired with something else, either traditional media or some other traffic driving strategy.
Also, paying a higher-powered persuasive copywriting to write content may or may not be the best idea in the world. I’ve flat out told clients not to hire me for their content marketing – that I wasn’t a good price value for anything but a few cornerstone content pieces and perhaps a white paper or e-mail drip.
I’ve also seen owners do an outstanding job in creating great content for their current and prospective customers. Often, they’re merely writing down conversations they’ve had several hundreds of times with those people, so they already know the best angles of approach, the best analogies, objections, pitfalls, etc. It works out well.
– Jeff
@Jeff: Thanks for your valuable insights. I very much agree about pairing content marketing with a traditional “something else.” Reach marketing gets a bum rap, but careful placement, e.g., in local or trade papers, combined with content marketing, can be very powerful and not all that expensive. Yes, business owners can do a fantastic job of creating content marketing tools, provided they enjoy writing (and rewriting!) and they go into the whole endeavor with eyes open re: the sustained effort involved.
Absolutely! Better to hire a pro and get it done right than go into it and do a halfway job of it. The business owner just needs to carefully balance the value of their time against the expected demands of content creation to feel out whether or not it makes sense to outsource it, and your checklist is a goldmine on that front.
Oh, and I forgot to say it earlier, but great post!
Yep, everyone’s gotta get into publishing business if they want competitive edge. I know so many business owners who don’t realize this. Time will eat them.
Many business owners can churn out a competent blog post, and those who infuse it with passion can certainly build relationships and ignite sales. However…these pieces are often filled with spelling and grammar mistakes that reflect poorly on the writer and his/her product or service. If someone doesn’t know how to use an apostrophe, can we trust them to make a widget? More importantly, some of the stuff they contain is just plain wrong because there is no fact checking. I favor a collaboration: Tell me what you want to say, and I’ll help you tell your story.
@ Jennifer: Thanks for weighing in. I hear you: It drives me around the bend (more than it should) to see a typo in The NY Times–probably because I’m infuriated that they laid off so many from copy desks. But I don’t cringe quite as much anymore when I see blog typos . I like your suggestion for collaboration–that’s why it works so well to hire a pro to edit and shape existing copy.
Lorraine,
I have to agree with Jennifer. I actually work with clients on a great deal of content marketing efforts alongside traditional media elements. If a business owner is putting out compelling content but it lacks focus and professionalism, there is a need for a good editor/writer relationship.
The key I find with almost any business owner is the time factor. Using your example of a restaurant owner, I write a blog directed specifically to these owners so I spend a lot of time talking with them. Their number one reason for not engaging with customers in social media or e-mail marketing is that they don’t have the time. And, when they do, it’s disconnected.
That’s the role of a new type of writer – someone to lead the efforts and pull the stories into the communications.
@Amanda: Yes, small business owners are often short on both time and money. So they face a real content marketing quandary–because content creation isn’t free: You either spend time learning how to write excellent copy–10,000 hours anyone? Or you spend money getting a pro to help you prioritize copy projects, edit and/or train staff.
I’d like to chime in and agree with Amanda. I’ve encouraged clients and businesses to engage in content marketing on some level, but consistency, connectedness, and correctness are three major issues.
Part of this is a time factor, but it’s also a misunderstanding of how the process works and what’s effective. I don’t believe you can leave pieces out; e.g., if you have no SEO, a blog or site with load problems and bad design, and poorly-written copy, you’re potentially doing more harm than good.
Since we do a little of all of this–design, SEO, development, and copy–we’ve seen some egregious mistakes in this arena, and it’s more often than not from clients who try to do it all themselves or try to bootstrap things that count. Boostrapping your web dev is not a good idea; you’re better off tossing out a free WordPress theme, which has already been developed by someone else, than bidding some nominal hourly fee to a “developer” who will sacrifice your site’s speed and integrity. Because even if your content is great, I can’t find it, or read it, or muck through to find what I want. Etc., etc.
I think it’s important to not cut corners in the beginning. Identify a priority list: you need a website? A blog? A logo? OK. Next: you need copy–just the basics, maybe even hard-coded. Messaging and branding–get that first. What’s next? If you’re going the content marketing route, it’s time to look for a part-time editor who’s active. This is where I like what Amanda says: there are writers out there (and I’m one of them) who will leap at the opportunity to help lead you, rather than simply producing what you ask for. They can help you generate ideas and massage finished copy instead of writing it all themselves, for example. They can lead direction for a monthly retainer.
Business leaders who succeed will recognize that content marketing is an enormous commitment of their energies. Finding the right person to partner with you to get it done well is the real challenge.
Well said, Lindsey. I like to think that as writers, the strategy behind content is just as important as the words themselves. Our words have to not only promote, but educate. That education starts with our clients. And, I think you’ve seen this happening with our industry. The pros are all out there using content marketing to educate writers or business owners. But, what’s really needed is that partnership and collaboration.
@Lindsey: Thanks for the excellent and comprehensive pointers. I agree that biz owners set themselves back by cutting corners with web dev at the beginning. And I speak from experience: My first (extremely ugly and almost unnavigable) website was coded by my 13 year-old son. But “finding the right person to partner with”–someone you can trust and afford–is a huge challenge. Businesses would do well choosing the quality, one-stop services at Well Versed Creative. : >
Hi Lorraine,
I think the critical point you’ve made in your article is a content marketing strategy means publishing. It’s been my experience most businesses – and especially small businesses – don’t have time to dedicate to a full-blown publishing project. They don’t usually enjoy it much, either. I’m a cringer, too, and many non-writers working at producing content aren’t usually representing their business and brand in the most professional manner.
I’m a big proponent of outsourcing content to a professional writer, journalist or copywriter. (No surprise there.) The most effective programs are tailored to the client and are flexible with content mix and budget. It’s critical for the content provider to understand the business then construct a strategy. Blogs won’t work for everyone. Some businesses thrive on newsletters. Other organisations get the most benefit from scripted videos. I can’t think of any business – even online retailers – that couldn’t benefit from some print marketing or direct response marketing, as well.
The thing concerning me about content marketing is the idea that it’s something new with new rules. It’s not. It’s still just marketing and content providers need to remember that, too.
Thanks for the thoughtful post. I’m putting it on my Facebook page.
I thought you might like this one, Sarah! 🙂
@Sarah: Thanks for your excellent insights. You make an important point when you note that “blogs won’t work for everyone.” Rather than taking a “ready, fire, aim” entry into content marketing, businesses benefit far more from a thoughtful, strategic approach. To your point, it helps tremendously to have a pro provide options and support. Thanks much for the Facebook mention.
@Paul: Thanks for the mention, Paul. You know all the right people. : >
GREAT post!
I suppose not all businesses need a copywriter–but if they are so involved in running their business, it makes sense to leave the copywriting to a pro. Also, some people can write, but they can’t tailor a message the way someone devoted to marketing copy will.
There are affordable copywriters out there that won’t charge an arm and a leg.
My tip? Not all copywriters are journalists, so if a client needs help with press releases and blogging, make sure to choose someone with a journalism–not just marketing–background.