Getting the grumps out of the way – and then starting again

24th June 2020 | Posted in Blogging

I spent ages writing a blog yesterday that I’m not going to publish.

Why?

Because it broke umpteen of my rules of good marketing communications:

• It was grouchy
• It was very long
• It meandered
• It was all about me

Now, I believe I have very good grounds for getting frustrated with a certain sector of the business community. But there is a time and a place, and that is not here. Because publishing my complaints in that format not going to help any of us.

The truth is it is often much easier to zip off a piece of writing when you’re frustrated by a situation, or people, than to create a positive piece (especially if you’re naturally grumpy like me). Sadly, while readers might be entertained or even agree, they may also be scared off from making contact.

It’s much better if every blog we create builds our profile as well-balanced experts in our field who want to help.

That means my blog posts as a copywriter and editor should be:

• Insights in the business of marketing communications from a long-time copywriter
• Written with my audience in mind – and that’s specialised marketing and content people in companies and agencies, as well as those who have multiple roles in smaller businesses
• To the point

What about your business posts?

It’s worth asking yourself a few questions about your blog posts – both for your site and for any other sites where you’re trying to place content:

• Are they positive? One of the first rules of marketing is not to knock the competition. And in blogging that means also leaving your customers, suppliers, partners and everyone else in your world feeling good about you
• Are they relevant to your audience? Do they address the needs and aspirations of the people who want to reach? Are they written in a tone and style that’s easy to understand? Will your readers feel that you empathise with them?
•  Are they expert? Are you building on the wisdom and knowledge of the people in your business to create something that really adds value for your readers – or are you asking writers to put together something without speaking to your experts, that adds very little to the conversation?
• Are you writing for SEO or people? These two audiences can be at odds with each other. The best answer is valuable content that includes, but naturally, specific elements content that will appeal to search engines.

My message then is that any marketing writing works best if it’s positive, focused and only as long as it really needs to be.

However, if you do like to read a really good moan occasionally, please get in touch and I’ll send you my thoughts on the trials of being the editor of a reasonably ranking website.