In the modern era, the first stop for any potential purchaser looking for a product or service will be to search online. Strategic content writing has become an indispensable tool in this marketplace. Businesses are looking to stand out from what can be, in many cases, worldwide competition. High-quality content not only increases your business’s visibility but also places you as an authoritative source in your niche. It also builds trust with those looking for guidance and drives engagement with your brand in the long term. Furthermore, it gives you the potential for an instant sale.
For many business owners, however, especially those using limited resources, creating content can seem like something of an extravagance. It might seem like your budget might be better spent on something like PPC advertising, where the results are more direct. If you currently hold this mindset, consider these points before dismissing the idea of content writing altogether.
Table of Contents
1. Develop a Unique TOV for Your Brand
TOV stands for tone of voice, and developing one is key to your overall brand strategy. The TOV you use in your brand content can be what makes your business uniquely identifiable against a background of copycat competition. It would be no exaggeration to say that this is every bit as important as your logo in establishing who you are to your customers. A distinctive brand voice will resonate with potential customers. In turn, it builds a relationship that could last for years, providing the tone aligns with what they are looking for.
The tone of voice should match your brand, so a nutritional supplements company might want to have a more scientific approach than an online bingo or games website. Getting this right is key, so you should experiment to find what works best.
2. Add Value to Your Visitor Experience
Strategic content writing, which answers potential customers’ questions and addresses their needs, can raise your profile in their eyes. In times when people used to shop at brick-and-mortar establishments, they would converse with a salesperson who would answer their questions and establish themselves as an authority figure in this scenario.
In a nutshell, your informative content serves the same purpose in an online situation. This makes them more likely to opt for what you have to offer. If not now, then at some point in the future when they come to make a purchase. This content should include how-to guides, niche news, and also the benefits of whatever product or service you happen to offer. It’s essential to strike the right balance with this content, similar to social media, to avoid customers feeling constantly pitched to.
3. Improve Your Position on Search Engines
While PPC advertising can give you instant results, you have to keep paying to keep the customers coming in. On the other hand, optimized content can figure at the top of online searches for relevant keywords over the longer term. By using the right keywords in your content and having the right backlinking structure in place, you can achieve much higher visibility. In turn, this drives more traffic to your website. This is not a task you should approach with no experience, regardless of your level of enthusiasm. Instead, you should engage the services of a proven agency like Click Intelligence, which can build you a strategy designed to get the best results.
4. Give Potential Customers an Insight into Your Business
Use content writing to give potential customers a look behind the scenes so they can see what makes everything tick. Your business is unlikely to be the only one in your niche, so you can build on your identity by letting your potential customers know more about you. You might not want to tackle the subject head-on, but through content, you can make your views known on key factors like sustainability and inclusivity, as customers are more likely to purchase from companies that share their views.
This can be done via storytelling. Take the reader on a tour around your business. Include some backstory about yourself and key members of your team. Doing this will differentiate you from the rest as they will see you as a group of people rather than just some sort of corporate entity.
5. Create Interactive Content
As well as informing customers about your business and trends in your niche, you can also get them to interact with your content. As they are active rather than passive in this process, they are more likely to engage with the content. If they enjoy it, they share it with others. You could use your content to create competitions in which customers could provide feedback on your products. Alternatively, they can share stories of how they used them. This type of social proof is an important part of your marketing campaign and helps establish trust.
Another tactic is to use polls. Customers can make their feelings known with a single click or press on their phone screen. Polls are eminently sharable and can go viral if they are about a potentially contentious subject. For example, polls on whether David Lee Roth or Sammy Hagar was the better singer in Van Halen still get huge amounts of interaction years after the event.
Continue Reading: The Best Content Marketing Tools For Streamlining Your Strategy
In conclusion
If you don’t see the value of content writing in making your business stand out from the rest, then you are missing a trick. While results are unlikely to be instant, developing a brand tone of voice will establish trust and build a relationship with customers over time. Especially if that content gives them an insight into what you do.
Informative content also has a place, establishing authority and proving that you know what you are doing. When you back this with interactive content and work to a strategy designed to make that content appear high in search engine results, you have created an incredible tool to carry your business forward.
