Letter "C" of the Marketing Communications Alphabet

Last post I started talking about the first couple of marketing communications basics with letters "A" and "B." Let’s keep it going with "C":

Copywriting
Here’s another true basic like advertising. But sometimes, especially for small business owners, the term “copywriting” is misleading. When it is misunderstood, probably the No. 1 response I get is “Oh, I have been wanting to copyright my (fill in the blank here). You can help me with that?” Ehhhh, no.

Technically speaking, according to Wikipedia, copywriting is the use of words to promote a person, business, opinion or idea. In my words, copy (as it’s commonly called) is the writing used for your business communications, including brochures , ads, articles, newsletters, websites and more. (Check out my portfolio to see some of my copywriting work.) In other words, copywriting is your marketing communications.

But writing is writing….right? Again…ehhhh, no. In your business writing, consider whom you’re writing for, and in which medium.

You’re not writing for you. What you care about or think is important (maybe… your widget’s new technology, the bottom line, projected sales, number of conversions, etc.) likely isn’t at all what your audience cares about or thinks is important (benefits, solutions, etc.). Even writing about the same subject matter will differ depending on for whom you’re writing. So say your company is launching a new product. Your sales staff would need all the details, while your suppliers would want to know how it’s going to change how they do business with you, while your customers would want to know how it will help them. Different audiences equal different content, and none of the audiences is you.

In addition to audience, consider the medium in which you’re writing and create content accordingly.  Yes, you can and should have an overall “voice” that reflects your brand throughout all your marketing efforts. But the content shouldn’t be exactly the same from piece-to-piece or place-to-place. Just think about it. You’re passing out a tri-fold brochure at a trade show. It piques the interest of your prospects, so they go looking for more at your website and…. it’s the same copy, word-for-word, from your brochure. Uh oh, you probably lost them because you didn’t give them more. This is not to mention that your website really should be written with search engine optimization (SEO) in mind, while SEO wouldn’t at all be a consideration for a printed piece. Copy for most mediums should be written differently to serve different purposes. So, a letter should be written differently than a more casual blog post than an email than a traditional press release than a direct-to-consumer press release.

And overall, clean it up! Your grammar and spelling, that is. I recently got an e-newsletter that read “…asses the damage…” Um, did you mean assess? I also received a request to help an organization restock its food panty. Hmmm, sounds like the poor food pantry is really going to miss out on a good time. Cleaning up errors like these says you care enough about your business and audience to take those extra couple of steps to make it right. After all, if you don’t pay attention to details like this, how do people know the same isn’t the case for your product or service? So don’t rely on spell check. Make sure to run everything past someone with a keen eye for these things. You could even hire someone to edit for you. Copywriters often offer copyediting (there’s another “c” word!) as a service in addition to writing content from scratch (and some of us love it!).

So what about a copyright? That’s legal mumbo-jumbo having to do with intellectual property and exclusive rights. Trust me, you’ll want to leave that to your attorneys and not me or likely any other professional copywriter.

Let’s stay on the “C” theme with….

Content
There’s that word I used a lot in the previous paragraphs. It’s easy enough to guess that content is another way of saying copy. I’ll refer to Wikipedia again with content is “… information and experiences that may provide value for an end-user/audience…” But it’s also much more than just words or information. Think about the popular real estate mantra of location, location, location. Well, in today’s marketing climate the mantra is content, content, content. Yes, it’s that important.

Sure you’ve used your corporate content before to inform customers and prospects. But creating and disseminating more and better content is even more crucial these days in order to also connect with your customers and prospects. And it’s easier than ever before to spread your message with the Internet and many social media tools out there like Twitter and Facebook. (That’s why when you hear the term “content” it’s often associated with web content. Although, I believe it can apply to any content you create.) It has to be great, though. And honest and engaging and meaningful. The result is you’ll make an impression on those you’re trying to communicate with while at the same time establishing yourself as a true expert in your industry. And you can easily see what will come next.

So, what’s your “C” in the “alphabet” of marketing communications?? Feel free to add your comments. D and E are coming soon!!