More than words

“See I’m all about them words/

Over numbers, unencumbered numbered words/

Pages and pages for words and/

More words than I have ever heard and I/

Feel so alive”

– “You and I both” by Jason Mraz

Words are unbelievably powerful tools. The pen truly can be mightier than the sword.

Words can make you laugh, and they can make you cry. They can make you fall in love, and they can make you fall into a rage.

Most of all words have the power to make you take notice, and they have the power to make you take action. That is one of the key components of any marketing.

In your digital marketing, words matter. You never know who might read your website, or any of the other marketing tools that you might be putting online. Aside from having great imagery, great content still attracts eyeballs for a number of reasons.

Great written content educates, informs, and engages an audience. Attention spans may be shorter, but it’s still possible to put out well-written content that catches the eye for those precious few minutes. Moreover, when it’s attached to great visuals, the two quickly become a winning combination.

Words matter for your business. Potential clients will read a great blog post, or a piece of thought leadership and think “hey, I’ve got to call this person!” They’ll read about the time that you helped another client and think “hey, that sounds like me, maybe I should reach out.” Some clients will read deeper, familiarizing themselves with your bio, your service offerings, and anything else that they can get their hands on in order to build that trust relationship.

Words matter, but make no mistake – they don’t exist in a vacuum, nor are they the only way to tell a story.

One great blog post isn’t going to suddenly flood your inbox. A well-written bio won’t have your phone automatically ringing off the hook.

Establishing great written content that builds your brand is not an overnight process, and it should never happen alone. There are multiple ways to tell your story, and here are just a few of them.

Design

Have you ever seen a well-written website with a ghastly layout and terrible images?

No matter how great the content is, your eyes immediately want to cut and run, and with good reason. Your visuals can be just as important in catching eyeballs and attention spans, and together with great written content the two can make for an unstoppable combination.

Website DIY templates are getting better, and even the newest site designed by a novice looks better than it might have 5, 10, or 20 years ago. Yet poor use of colour and space, bad imagery only weaken whatever you have to say.

Great design is easy and affordable with the help of the right professional. A web designer or a graphic designer (or both depending on your budget) can help assist with improving the overall layout of your website. This means better pictures (even if it’s better stock photography), better colour choices, a fresher logo, and really a new overall look.

Have you ever seen a freshly painted room, or even a freshly painted house? It looks great even if the furniture stays the same, and looks even better if the furniture gets an upgrade as well.

Imagine being able to do that for your website.

Social Media

There’s still a popular misconception that anyone can handle social media. Throw up a simple Facebook page, start an Instagram account, post two or three times, and business will start flooding in. Right?

WRONG

There’s another misconception that any high school student could run your social media for you. Think about that one for a second. Would you really want to turn over your marketing budget to a teenager just because they spend all day on their phones?

When a business has bad social media, either nobody notices (unhelpful), or even worse everybody notices (detrimental). Think back to the old days. You wouldn’t hand out a flyer that looked like garbage, so why are you running substandard marketing just because it’s online?

A trained social media professional can help you get your social right. There’s so much more to it than just throwing up a post and hoping that people notice. The social media platforms are changing their rules and structures constantly, and these professionals always stay one step ahead of the curve.

They take the time to learn what you do, and do the research to figure out who’s seeking your services and where. They will then structure a campaign that puts your business not only into the best light, but that helps guide those searching exactly in your direction.

Social does not need to be static either, and nor should it! As a spoiler alert, I shot an amazing video for the website earlier this week that I cannot wait to see come to life. Just as video killed the radio star once upon a time, today it makes your digital marketing campaign that much stronger.

Your current clients are likely already looking for you on social media, and your next generation of clients certainly will be.

Get the right help to not only find them to make sure that they can find you.

Podcasts

I’ve posted recently about my adventures in podcasting, and while many are shocked that I had not dipped my toe into the water first, truthfully it also feels like something of a crowded pool.

Except that’s not necessarily a bad thing! Most podcasters dip their toe in the water once or twice and then walk away when they don’t suddenly blow up overnight.

That’s not how any great content development works.

Putting out a great podcast is a learning curve. The first few episodes may be a bit rocky (ours certainly have been!) but if you stick with it, things will get better and they will get easier.

The beauty of using a podcast as a content medium is that if you have stories worth telling, you automatically have an audience that’s hungry to listen. Podcasts today are much like radio dramas of 80 and 90 years ago – everything old really is new again.

If your stories are best told aurally, then consider launching a podcast as an accompaniment to your other marketing initiatives. There are plenty of free or low-cost software tools that will help you get things off the ground if you’re brave enough to DIY, or fantastic agencies that can work with your budget to produce a more professional, polished sound.

Podcasting can be a long journey, but it can also be a tremendous amount of fun, and a great way to get your message out there.

Next Steps

If you’re ready to step up your marketing game, let’s talk! Let’s have a conversation about where you want to take your brand, if you even know where that is! If not that’s okay too – there are phenomenal brand strategists available who can help paint a much clearer picture to give you an idea of where you’re headed next.

Content really is King, but there are multiple ways to reach the throne. Better yet, combining several of them together will only serve to make your business that much more powerful.

I’m lucky enough to work with some amazing people in all of these areas who do truly incredible work, and there is no greater thrill than when we all work together to help a client shine.

Ready to connect? Let’s set up a call.