Writing compelling content is so important for growing your business.
Too many business owners don’t nail their content wording, which ultimately impacts their sales.
Having engaging content that speaks directly to your ideal client is more important than having lavish design.
80% of the time when your content isn’t engaging and attracting new leads, it’s because of the wording.
Content is anywhere you post online – such as blog posts, Facebook live videos, social media posts and articles.
There are 3 things you need to make sure your content is effective.
* The Market
Before you dive into creating content, it’s important that you know your market, that you know exactly who you want to attract and that’s all about nailing your niche, which is a separate topic.
It’s really important to make sure that you know exactly who you’re creating content for.
I always survey people before I offer anything because I want to make sure that what I’m offering is matching and meeting their pain-point.
* The Method
If your method of delivery doesn’t hit the mark – for example if you’re writing a blog and people want to see you on video, or if you have an in-person workshop and people want something online, then you are not providing what your ideal client needs or wants.
Or if you are running a six-month program and people want an intense six-week program, it’s not going to work.
* The Message
If you have the wrong message, meaning you’re the things you’re saying aren’t landing with people, or you’re saying the right things to the wrong people, your message is not going to match the market.
Imagine these 3 things like the legs on a stool – you need all 3 for it to stand up and be solid.
Writing compelling content is so important, especially because we’ve got such low attention spans these days.
If we don’t grab people fast, people will scroll past. We need to be able to not only capture attention but engage, connect with and help inspire people to want to take action.
Here are 5 keys to writing compelling content…
1 – Be Emotive
Being emotive means that we evoke emotion in the person who’s reading our writing. And so that means we need to be evoking curiosity. We need our readers to be thinking they want more.
Another thing to do is to open loops inside your readers’ minds. You know when you’re watching a program and there are ads that come on and they announce what’s coming up next? These are teasers and we’ve got to be doing this with our writing.
Next time you write a piece of content whether it’s a blog post, social media posts or an article think about if you’re opening up curiosity and bringing sizzle. We want to make sure people feel moved. And the way that we move someone is enabling them to imagine something.
Making people use big picture descriptions and these are abstract and hard for people to grasp. Asking people if they want to reach their potential or have success in their lives can be hard for people to visualise.
We need to use what I call visual verbs. Visual verbs help you actually picture something in your mind. An example is, if you’re a coach who helps people to find their purpose, get on track and change their career, don’t say, ‘Do you want to fulfil your purpose?’ or ‘Do you want to find your passion?’
A visual way of wording this, is to say, ‘Do you want to wake up in the morning eager to set your feet on the floor, because you know there are people waiting for you to make a significant difference to their family and community?’
People want things to be simple. They want things to be fun and don’t always want things to be formal. Make sure the words you use are emotional and are also everyday language. Formality is not always helpful.
2 – Speak Your Ideal Client’s Language
Speaking your ideal client’s language means using their key words when you describe their problems. How do they describe their problem? How do they describe the result and benefit that they want?
Your ideal client may word things differently to you. What is their industry language? Learn your ideal client’s language. How do they describe their problems? Speak to them how they will hear and connect with it.
If you’re getting stuck for content ideas, something that can be really helpful is to write down five of the most common questions you get asked about your topic.
I always get asked how I run a webinar, how to set up Facebook ads, how to get more engagement on my social media. I write the questions down and then start creating resources for them.
I’ve got hundreds of resources now, but they’re all based on having real-life conversations with my clients, and with potential clients. These conversations form my content.
I remember a client years ago saying to me they wanted a resource that was like a social media plan and map so they could see the types of posts they should be doing. I created one for them that I now use with other clients.
Think about the questions people ask you socially about what you do. Create a resource out of the answers to the questions. Then put that on your social media and blog and link to the resource on your website. This way you are also building your email list.
3 – Use the word ‘You’
This one is simple, but I look back on my early blogs from 2007 when I was a personal trainer and my content was terrible. I didn’t know what I was doing. It’s taken me years to hone the skill of copywriting.
Copywriting is basically writing to influence in any kind of sales or marketing content. You don’t want to write content for content sake. You want your content to influence people to take action.
Make sure that in your content, you use the word ‘you’ as much as possible especially at the start. Write ‘Do you feel like this?’ Would you like this?’ ‘Would you like to feel…?’ Use ‘you’ instead of saying, ‘I’ve created this freebie’, or ‘I’ve discovered…’
A good thing to do is to go through all of your content with a fine-tooth comb before you post. It does not have to be perfect, but take out the word ‘I’ and flip it to ‘you’. Insert the word ‘you’ as much as you can. People will never get sick of hearing the word of you, I promise you!
4 – Use Benefit-Rich Language
Benefit-rich language is always talking about the outcome and not the features of your program. Far too many people talk about their coaching program, their method, their modality or intervention methods.
What’s most important to the person reading is what’s in it for them.
It’s good to start with some credibility initially.
You could say something like…
“Over the last six years over working as an NLP practitioner, I’ve discovered that the patterns formed in your brain in childhood can still affect you as an adult. I help people uncover these patterns, and clean them up so they can move forward. What this means for you is you’re not only improving your relationships, but you can become a master communicator.”
There’s three little one-syllable words that I use all the time in my content. And they are three words that work! Want to know what they are? ‘So you can’.
You want to use the words ‘so you can’ a lot in your copywriting.
An example is,
‘Are you ready to learn the best content creation strategies, so you can attract your ideal clients and get fully booked up as a coach?’
‘So you can’ is like a bridge where you talk about your method, your offer or your topic and you bridge it ‘so you can’ to show what it means for them.
5 – Focus On One Outcome
You always have to have in the back of your mind the purpose, before you create any piece of content.
I see people get muddled in their posts. They’re giving lots of value, great tips and advice, but they’re talking about too many things.
We want to have one main idea per piece of content.
You might give 3 tips or 5 tips, but it’s all around ONE compelling outcome.
Don’t underestimate the importance of this.
Keep it simple and organised.
My one outcome for you reading this is for you to be able to write more compelling content. I give 5 keys, but there’s one outcome.
The purpose of your content is to get someone to take action, not to just give them more information or to inspire people.
Whenever you write a piece of content, you always want to be thinking about the action that you want someone to take at the end of reading it.
Some people wonder whether they should include more than one call to action in a piece of content.
My recommendation is to focus on one clear call to action per piece of content.
When you have too many outcomes people get confused, so keep your focus on one outcome per piece of content.
Again, keep it simple.
Now you may be wondering, surely it can’t be that simple?
With the amount of information coming at us on a daily basis, keeping it simple is actually one of the most important things to remember in your content.
No one likes feeling overwhelmed when they consume content. They want to be educated, informed and inspired.
If you’re wondering whether you will ever have what it takes to write compelling content, let me encourage you.
No one is born with this skill. It’s developed through consistent practice.
With the use of technology like grammarly and spell check, you can create super compelling and engaging content, no matter how inexperienced a write you feel you are.
So to recap these 5 keys to writing compelling content…
1 – Be Emotive
2 – Speak Your Ideal Client’s Language
3 – Use the word ‘You’
4 – Use Benefit-Rich Language
5 – Focus On One Outcome
Want some help writing compelling content?
Click here to book a 15-minute call to help you make your content pop!
Kat
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