Content Marketing Company

Serve Up Great Content as a Content Copywriter

Tuesday, March 20, 2012 by Sharon Long

Can one say enough about the importance of great content? As a content copywriter, I say, "no way!" Plenty of plain prose exists in websites, brochures, email marketing...obviously we still need reminders that great content is the content that engages!

With that in mind, I offer up this article on the importance of great content--an idea that's not new, but an idea that still needs propagating.

Would you serve company a boring meal that no one liked but you? I don't think so. Nor would you serve up the same meal day after day, even to your own family.

Nope, you'd search through your cookbooks or the plethora of recipe websites in search of tasty ideas you'd be sure your guests would enjoy.

Think of your content the same way, as a feast you want to serve with relish, not plain bread and water that simply gets the job done...or doesn't.

Love 'Em or Hate 'Em, Freelance Copywriter Praises Netflix' Authenticity

Tuesday, September 20, 2011 by Sharon Long

Authenticity. You can't fake it. You can't beat it.

Reed Hastings, Co-Founder and CEO of Netflix gets huge kudos from this freelance copywriter for his blog post on the changes at his company.

Did they mess up? Yes. Did they fess up? Yes. And that makes for a lot of forgiveness among customers. That blog post has 22,000 likes.

One look at the comments indicates not everyone is happy with the splitting up of the company. But as far as how he (or his content writer?) worded the apology post I don't think anyone is complaining.

Authenticity works, whether apologizing or marketing.

Content Made Easy! How to Make Content Creation a Piece of Cake

Tuesday, September 13, 2011 by Sharon Long

creative content marketing is a piece of cake

After the amazing success of Content Marketing World last week, with over 600 people in attendance, I wonder if some marketers are heading back to their desks full of new ideas and energized to take their content marketing programs to a whole new level...but are still stymied by the content creation itself.

As a freelance copywriter, I have run into this situation with clients years before content marketing ever became a term, let alone a mainstream one. It would usually come up in conversation when I was encouraging clients to consider using e-newsletters for marketing. "But what would we write about?" I was repeatedly asked.

Then when blogging as marketing tools became an effective SEO strategy (remember, this is before we were talking about content marketing), I was repeatedly asked the same question: "But what would we write about?"

Marketers had an easy time figuring out what they would say in a brochure or on a website. No problem creating content for those marketing pieces! Those would be produced once then maybe modified later. With the e-newsletters and blogging, I was suggesting they commit to creating content--new content, mind you--over and over and over again. Even when they knew they could use We Know Words to supply the copywriting and content, they would be fearful of running out of ideas, and fearful of their own in-house ability to write.

Well, the obvious answer to the first fear is to outsource content creation. :-)

But the answer to the second fear is just as easy. And this is when I'm going to tell you how to make content creation a piece of cake. Seriously. In fact, it will be easier than baking a cake. Ready?

Tell stories.

That is it. That is all I am suggesting you do. Tell stories.

When you go to a cocktail party, a networking event or a family gathering, people talk, right? And a lot of times, that talking is story telling. Stories about pets or kids or bosses or clients or vacations of the mechanic who tried to cheat you or the hairdresser who got your color just right...stories, stories, stories.

Do you have to sit around tapping your pencil on your desktop struggling to determine what you'll talk about when you get to that party, event or gathering? Of course not! You're just talking and telling stories and entertaining.

So tackle your content marketing the same way. It's a creative content marketing approach that will require only the effort of typing and spell checking. Tell a story about a new client, an old client, a favorite client, a troublesome client (and maybe make that one anonymous). Talk about how your business started or why. Tell a story about an employee or a company tradition or picnic. Talk about the industry, maybe how it used to be or what you see now.

If you were talking to me right now at a networking event, both of us holding a glass of wine and getting to know each other's businesses, what would we talk about? What stories would you tell me, the freelance copywriter, about your business so I'd know it better?

Write those stories down. Don't worry about anything else except the story. Now spell check them. Now put them in blog posts and/or newsletter articles. Plug in your keywords as needed. Then publish these stories and share them via your social networks.

Now do it again. You, me, glasses of wine, you're talking and telling me stories...

There. Content creation without the agony, without wondering what you'll talk about.

Finessing your content marketing strategy can come later. For now, I only suggest you get the content creation part down.

Does it sound too simple? It's easier than baking a cake!

Smile! Content Marketing as the Coming of Age of Copywriting

Monday, September 12, 2011 by Sharon Long

It's enough to make you smile...

Every day I get a Google alert for "content marketing" and every day I am more and more convinced of one thing: content marketing is the coming of age of copywriting.

Lee Odden started an article on content marketing published today with these words:

"Companies are jumping on the content marketing bandwagon in increasing numbers, investing in new content for articles, newsletters, whitepapers, blogs, and video to better attract and engage customers." (Emphasis mine.)

I've been heading up the copywriter firm We Know Words for 11 years now. During that decade plus, we have created more of this type of content described by Lee than any other (i.e. ads, brochures and other content not considered "content marketing"). We've written articles for national publication. We've written countless newsletters for everyone ranging from staid government organizations to go-getter dotcoms. We've written whitepapers ranging from extremely technical to almost pedestrian. We ghost blog for several companies sometimes for thought leadership and sometimes for SEO. And we've written scripts for video too.

Yes, the bulk of the work we have done all these years as freelance copywriters is now in the spotlight as content marketing.

That makes the heart of this content provider very, very happy and puts a big smile on my face! It's as if finally our work, our laboring, our writing is now finally something everyone sees the value in...not just the consumer but the client too. We've always argued for compelling, customer-centric content that engages by talking to customers, not at them. Now we can stop arguing for that approach. Now that approach is mainstream.

So bring it on, marketers! Let's keep this content marketing train a chugging along! And these copywriters smiling! :-)

New Site Showcases Our Client and Our Web Writing Prowess Both!

Thursday, July 28, 2011 by Sharon Long

Watching a project go live is often like waiting for the birth of a baby, especially because content is usually first. That means us freelance copywriters and content providers are done with a project and moved on to something new before our content is ever laid out in print or html. And then we're busy and forget to find out later how everything turned out!

So it's a treat when a client comes back and says, "Hey, check it out, it's done!" because it reminds me to go take a look and see our copywriting prowess in action.

Today's treat came from Graphic Solutions. Graphic Solutions is an integrated marketing company with a lot to say. We had a blast as the website copywriter helping them hone their message and making all of their integrated solutions make sense.

Still for us, it's just words, and we're not sure how much sense we've made until we see a website go live, start clicking through, and realize, yes! We did a good job! :-)

Take a look at their site. It's a great example of making a variety of services easy to access and understand.

And if you need a website copywriter, you know where to go!

Getting Words Right vs. Getting Words Wrong: A Compelling Contrast

Tuesday, April 26, 2011 by Sharon Long

I have a love/hate relationship with the long drive to Seattle. When I make the trek for meetings, I dread the length of the drive. That's the hate. On the other hand, it's a chance to see all kinds of do's and don'ts in action all within a two-hour time span.

During this week's drive, I witnessed a great contrast that illustrates the importance of talking to, not at, your customer. It doesn't matter if you're a freelance copywriter or you're providing content marketing services. If you're in the business of words, your words must be customer-centric.

Driving north in the morning, I passed an electrician's van branded with Mister Sparky, America's On-Time Electrician. The tagline below the logo guaranteed they'd be on time. This is brilliant.

Talk to anyone about their frustrations with service providers like electricians, plumbers, the cable guy and others, and you'll hear the same thing: You have to wait. And wait. You're given a window of 4 to 8 hours and you have to stay home and wait for that person to show up to make the necessary repair. That's a pain point, one this electrician services company is addressing with the company name and tagline. They are addressing it and talking to the customer. Their company name says, "Hey, we know you don't want to sit around and wait. So we're going to be the electrician you don't have to wait for." Kudos!!

On the way south that afternoon, I saw a billboard advertising a home builder. Their slogan was "the fastest growing home builder." I thought long and hard while driving and couldn't come up with a single pain point around that. Who wants to know their home builder is the fastest growing? Do people sit around wishing they could find the fastest growing home builder, really? For me, that's not only talking at me, not to me, as a potential customer, but it's a little scary too. If you're so focused on growth, I wonder, what are you sacrificing in quality?

This home builder must have some idea of their customers' pain points, wishes and concerns. Maybe it's quality. Or price. Maybe it's a certain style of home, or a certain size or layout. But the fastest growing builder? I doubt it. Maybe they are so busy building, they're not listening to their customers!

The electrician is talking to customers. They are talking about the customer's concerns.

The home builder is talking at customers. They are talking about themselves.

One is doing words right. The other is doing words wrong.

When we're in the business of words, we must be customer-centric. Content marketing is nothing if it's not engaging and customer-centric. Then it's only empty words, a bunch of filler on a page or a screen. People might claim there's a difference between what a copywriter does and what content marketing services provide. I disagree. The only difference is in the types of content produced. Both have to be focused on the customer's concerns. Both have to be engaging and meaningful. I don't care if you're writing an ad (copywriting) or a whitepaper (content marketing). Your content lives and dies by your choice of words.

Make yours about the customer and your words will work.

Choose GOOD Content Over "Any" Content...Even if Your Budget Is $150/Month

Tuesday, April 19, 2011 by Sharon Long

This morning I moderated a panel on SEO and organic search at the eMarketing conference in San Francisco. Content was the over-riding theme of our SEO panel. Which is music to my copywriter and content marketing services ears, right?

There was plenty of talk about Panda too, again, getting us to look at content. Here's the thing about content and content marketing: You can create all kinds of content, but it must be good content. As the panelists said, the content must educate, entertain and enlighten (the three Es).

After the panel, I checked my email and read the following (with specific company names removed to protect the sender).

"In thinking about blogging, content, link building etc.

"Blogging...awhile back you asked about a budget to get blogging and content going. Budgets are going to be real tight at least until I can start seeing results of some type. But I understand it is going to be a critical part of our success.

"With that said I have tried to go out and pull together some ideas of what is available and at what cost.

"Things I have found are mostly from my current partners or industry resources, organizations I belong to.

"Example 1 ABC case study. They will compile these for free with my complete input and approvals. However they get the rights to use them at any time for there own purposes. which obviously has some down sides but also gives me direct links to to some very authoritative folks.

"Example 2 Content site from XYZ. This is a content site; they will update monthly with new articles and the like. This is a pay for service for $150 per month. I get complete access to all content I can use as just a link on our site branded to our look or take content and incorporate directly into our site which is probably what I would do. By the way the new site will have a pretty easy to use CMS for just this type of thing.

"Down side it is not my original content. Will we be penalized by the gods of Google? Sounds like we might as this same content will be sold to others."

I smiled when I read this because of all the discussion about Panda that happened during the panel. Here's my reply to him:

"I would be a lot less worried about duplicating content and a lot more concerned about offering content of value! Plus you won't get SEO if you don't have keywords...

"If someone finds your blog because you've repurposed content from somewhere else, you've won only one part of the battle: You've been found in the search engine. If they click on the search result and end up at your blog, you've won the second part: They are at your site. But you're going to probably lose the third part: They aren't going to stay. If they go to your site and see content that's not yours, or that's crap, what are they going to learn about your company, your brand, your product, your service?

"Plus there's no guarantee your keywords will be used, so you're not really going to get any SEO benefit from doing so.

"For $150/month, original blog content can be created. We'll set you up with a writer for that. If you can pay that money towards blogging creation, plus commit 20 minutes of your day every day to blogging and get the free case studies, you will get better SEO results, and you will have happier site visitors. When they land at your blog, they are going to know that they have come across a real company and a real person...not a company regurgitating what someone else said.

"That's my opinion. :-) Remember too that any content you create is potential blog content: press releases, case studies, emails to customers even."

Honestly, $150 per month spent on good content is going to do this small business more good than all the free repurposed content he's going to grab from other places. Because it's not just having the content. It's about having good content. Period.

Does Your Business Have a Sales or a Marketing Mentality? Please Say Marketing!

Friday, April 15, 2011 by Sharon Long

Does your business have a sales or a marketing mentality?

I’m asking because it’s heavy on my mind and, although I think I sensed there was a difference, it wasn’t until this week that I realized how different the two mentalities are. And don't think I'm going to say the sales one is better. I'm not.

This thinking was prompted by an eye-opening conversation with the marketing person for a company I’ve worked for in the past. I was their website copywriter for a much-needed website revamp. I was happy with what we accomplished, and I expected more online marketing to follow suit after this initial project.

But none did.

I kind of pushed them with occasional emails hinting at and asking about potential online content marketing they could be doing. Now when I say “pushed,” that’s a relative term. I’m not a pushy person. :-) So my suggestions to them were likely easy to ignore.

After leading a highly successful panel on content marketing at a Seattle marketing conference, I thought enough is enough. It’s time to get these folks doing some online content marketing. “It’s a perfect fit for them,” I thought. “Surely they’ll see the need for this and the ease of it.”

Alas, I had overlooked one critical factor, one that hadn’t even occurred to me before. This company has a sales mentality, not a marketing mentality. You might be asking, “So what? I mean, the point is sales, right? So what’s wrong with a sales mentality?”

It leaves out an entire potential market.

Here’s what it looks like: A company with a sales mentality has a sales staff, not a marketing staff. They zero in on certain companies and individuals. They wear blinders as they work to get the attention of these highly desirable prospects…who aren’t really prospects, meaning they haven’t expressed any interest. At all. A company with a sales mentality invests all their time, effort and therefore financial resources into the manual labor of pursuing these elite businesses they want to woo and convert to customers.

Here’s why this is a problem: While the company with the sales mentality has a laser focus on say the 100 ideal customers they’d love to win, another 100, nay 1,000, potential customers are actively seeking a solution to a problem…a problem this company could solve. But they don’t find out about this company. They use a search engine and get a page of results and this company isn’t one of them. So they spend their money with someone else, one of the someone elses that did show up in the search results.

And the company with the marketing mentality? They are making themselves known to everyone out there looking by using content marketing such as keyword-rich websites, blogs and other content they create and share online. When someone goes looking for a solution to their problem, this company shows up in the search results. And when the possible prospect clicks on the link and goes to this company’s website or blog, they find engaging, relevant content that says to them, “Yes, we can help you solve your problem.” The company with the marketing mentality invests time, effort and therefore financial resources in content that will continue working for them day after day after day. They create it once, and reap the benefits of it repeatedly. They expose themselves to a whole big audience of potential customers. And the sales staff? Their time is spent closing, not pursuing.

What kind of mentality does your company have?

Let's Not Lose Sight of the Real Value of Compelling Content, OK?

Monday, April 11, 2011 by Sharon Long

Last week I was asked to write a press release.

For $100.

At the last minute.

For a business I've never worked for before.

And this press release was going to be a critical piece in getting word out about a big move on the part of this company. It was meant to be the one means by which this company is going to get all kinds of free publicity for their expansion. No other marketing effort, only this press release.

All that for $100.

Offered by a CEO who should know better.

Let's not lose sight of the real value of compelling content, OK? A few dozen quickie blog posts used for SEO might cost you just $100, but a critical press release? That requires skill and experience and insight to craft in a way that will do you any good? And when everything is riding on that one communication? What is the real value of that, I ask?

To do that right would take me several hours, and even then, I don't know if it's possible to write a compelling enough press release, one that would do the standalone, heavy lifting this company is hoping for.

Just because we've entered the age of content marketing, and content all over...so much content we now need content curation, for goodness' sakes...just because all eyes are focused on creating content (if not on reading it), let's not forget that there are still pieces of content, copywriting if you will, that require a level of experience and expertise that is not a cheap commodity.

I'm sure this company was able to find a flunkie or newbie to work for peanuts as their press release writer. I'm equally sure they'll be disappointed with their results.

I love words. I know words. My whole business is based on words! But I know the true value of words too, as written and verbal communications meant to drive action as opposed to empty words on a page.

$100 for a press release? No thank you.

Be Careful to Be Timely When Re-Using Content for Content Marketing

Friday, April 1, 2011 by Sharon Long

I've always been a huge proponent of repurposing and re-using content as a freelance copywriter, long before the dawn of content marketing. But I just saw an "oops" that prompted this content marketing blog on being careful to be timely.

I opened an email newsletter from a company I trust, and scrolled down to see a headline I thought I'd better click on. It was on a topic that was hot back in the fall and one I need to stay on top of as the copywriting and content marketing coordinator for one of We Know Words' clients. "What is this new information?" I wondered. "I'd better read this article right now!"

So I clicked...and then clucked...my tongue, that is. In disgust.

The article wasn't new information. It was an article from last September when these industry changes were new. In fact, I probably read that very same article back then when researching the then timely topic.

I think I know why the company repurposed the article: as part of their content marketing program. And I don't have a problem with that except they didn't alter the article in any way to make it timely. In my opinion, the intro should have been changed to something like, "We reported on these industry changes when they first came to light back in September 2010 when this article was published. Because we are still finding out clients don't yet understand these changes and the ramifications, we are re-publishing the article."

One reason I'm so happy that such a thing as content marketing exists is because many pundits call for authentic content, something I've wanted to see become widespread for a decade. But simply linking to a six-month-old article in your newest newsletter isn't authentic if you don't give it context and make the reader aware that it is six months old.

It would have taken all of five minutes to do so. And that would have been better content marketing.

I'm just sayin'.

(Need a little help making sure your own re-use of content is up to snuff with the new rules of content marketing? Start here: We Know Words.)

Stop Talking About Yourself. Now. Pleeeeaaase. (And please make it stop raining...)

Thursday, March 31, 2011 by Sharon Long

When one blogs as a means to market onself and/or one's business, one should not blog:

a) After 9:00 at night.
b) After drinking.
c) When in a pissy mood because it has been raining nonstop since who knows when and one is sick of the rain, mud and wet.

Please realize that you are reading a blog written under condition "c." Yes, I am violating my own, self-imposed rule. But I have been a freelance copywriter for over 10 years and I am tired of seeing the following mindset be so pervasive among marketers. CEOs, yes. Sales teams, sure. But marketers need to know better!

What prompted my pissy reaction? I just responded to a question on a message board. The question was about what types of content to produce to market to a B2B audience. Fair enough. But the poster said the goal is to "provide thought leadership on key issues affecting business leaders by helping them understand the role that our technology and services can provide." (Emphasis mine.)

This, my marketing friends (and fellow pissy mood people, if you're in western Washington), is what is wrong with marketing today. Still. This is why I talk about marketing is like dating. The problem for this company isn't the kinds of content they are producing. The problem is they are focused on what they are selling, not on what the customer is buying.

They shouldn't be trying to help business leaders understand the role of "our" technology and services. They should be addressing the problems of the B2B audience they are trying to reach!! (Excuse the exclamation points. The more it rains, the more I punctuate.)

If marketing is like dating, this is akin to the guy going out to a bar to meet women...and only talking about himself. Which plenty of guys do.

One reason I love content marketing is because I am so hopeful that it will finally make marketers switch their mindsets from talking at customers to talking to them. You talk to someone when you make it about them, when you relate and listen. Do you know how many dates I've been on where the guy told his stories, talked incessantly about himself and/or talked the whole time period? Plenty. Those are the worst dates to be on. And that's your typical marketer, folks. As the post I just responded to implies.

Oh, please, content marketing gods, let the dawn of content marketing truly result in engaging, useful content and no more ego-centric "all about me" copy!

And please, content marketing gods, can you make it stop raining too?

Yep, the Blodder for Your Online Content Marketing Is There! Tap Into It!

Saturday, March 26, 2011 by Sharon Long

In response to an earlier content marketing blog post on what I call "blodder," and trying to capture what employees say in their emails as blog fodder for your online content marketing, I got the following comment:

"This is so true - if I could get my hands on the emails that one of my company's employees writes on a daily basis, I would have so much blodder to work with, I would hardly have time to plan."

I'm sure your work situation is at least somewhat similar, with your employees writing thoughtful, detailed responses to customers or prospects. They are creating content for your content marketing program without even meaning to!

But how do you capture that content? Compendium just added a very cool email to post feature, where an email can be sent directly into a blog post. That's one way. But I think you also have to change mindsets. We've thought of these one-to-one communications as just that: me writing to you. That might be a big shift in thinking to start thinking of the emails one writes throughout the course of the day as resources for online content marketing!

I'm working on that right now with a long time client of our content marketing agency. My question to them is, how do we tap into the emails your employees are writing? Or the experiences they're having? Compendium CEO Chris Baggott advises people to start a blog post with "I just got off the phone with..." and simply write about that conversation.

Content marketing doesn't have to mean generating lots and lots and lots of content (although that kind of need makes content marketing agencies like mine very happy!). Plenty of content exists or is generating each and every day at your company.

You just need to get people thinking that way so you can tap into it. We can help.

You Don't Have to Look Too Far to Find the Content for Your Content Marketing!

Friday, March 25, 2011 by Sharon Long

I have a friend. Well, he's a client, really. OK, he's an employee of a client company of ours. But he has become a dear friend, and he's a super smart guy who is constantly talking circles around me any time I need to interview him for a project for this client company. And he's top of mind as I write this blog post intended to get you thinking how easy content can be to come by when you're implementing a content marketing program.

You see, this friend, Michael, he writes these amazing emails that are full--and I mean full--of content that is perfect for the blog we write for the company. In fact, he and I coined a new term because of his emails: blodder. It started out blog fodder but we condensed it to blodder.

He doesn't agonize over these emails or research them or anything else. He simply types what he knows. And he knows a lot! He writes detail rich, expert emails in response to client questions and he writes emails to prospects and I swear, if I had access to his email account, I could probably post 2 or 3 blog posts per week for their company based only on those emails.

And Michael's not unusual in this. You probably have employees creating content all throughout your company every single day but don't realize it. And that content can become blog posts or newsletter articles, or maybe it's the start of a beginner's guide or ebook.

The point is, content exists! It exists in your employees' minds, their email accounts and their phone conversations. And employees are only one resource for you to consider.

As I think on this idea of all the content you have easy access to for your online content marketing program, all kinds of ideas pop into my head. So look for more easy content sources in this content marketing blog in the coming days.

Stop Worrying About Content, Marketers: Outsource It Instead!

Monday, March 21, 2011 by Sharon Long

outsourcing content marketing takes away worries about content creation

According to a recent MarketingProfs article on B2B email marketing, these marketers are primarily concerned with improving the relevancy of the content in their emails.

In fact, it's so important to them, 66% of B2B marketers surveyed cited improving content as a goal for the next 12 months. The next highest goal was list hygiene at only 42%.

In the interest of being self serving, may I point out that it's interesting that content is such a huge concern at the time when content marketing is coming into its own as a marketing strategy and tactic?

And if two-thirds of B2B marketers want to make their content more relevant, then copywriting and content marketing services providers like We Know Words should plan to get really busy. Because the best content, the most relevant content these marketers will create will come from tapping into a customer-centric approach to content creation, the intellectual property known as their employees, the seasoned and skilled input of professional writers and editors, and a content coordination approach that ties it all together.

Which is a really long-winded way of saying the answer lies in outsourcing content marketing to a reputable, experienced content marketing agency...like We Know Words.

Really, why is this a concern for so many B2B marketers when there are companies like We Know Words who can make it all happen?

Outsource the content marketing, marketers, and move to the next item: list hygiene.

I can't help you there. But I sure can help you with the content!

Does Fear Keep Marketers From Content Marketing?

Wednesday, March 16, 2011 by Sharon Long

I'm in love with the whole idea of content marketing because the premise is something I've pushed for for years. As a freelance copywriter, I have pushed people to be real and tell stories. I have pushed clients to get testimonials and find out their customers' stories. I have pushed for repurposing (now called reimagining) of content.

And why didn't clients listen to me before this whole notion of content marketing came along? I don't know. Maybe I'm simply not pushy enough. Maybe I wasn't secure enough because no one else was saying it so maybe my ideas weren't so great after all (or so said the little voice inside my copywriter head). Maybe I didn't explain it very well!

Today listening to a webinar on content marketing starring Chris Baggott, Ann Handley and C.C. Chapman...three of the biggest names in content marketing...I had a thought. What if it was fear?

I admit, it has been a battle at times to get the We Know Words copywriter clients to be real, to tell stories. "But what we do is proprietary." "But we need to sound like everyone else." "But we need to tell people about our widgets and gadgets." "But we can't sound that different." Those are the kinds of excuses I heard when clients wanted their freelance copywriter to create what I call "me too" copy rather than anything compelling and unique.

(And there was the time the landscaping firm had paid the PR firm tens of thousands of dollars and by golly, that was the messaging they were going to use, no matter how irrelevant it was to their target market!)

As We Know Words morphs from copywriting agency to content marketing agency (which, of course, includes copywriting as a core offering), I sense I will still run into the same kinds of "buts" as before. And this idea of fear makes it all make sense.

Ever since the publication of Seth Godin's "Purple Cow," we've been called upon to be different, to stand out. As Seth said in his book, the risk isn't in being different, it's in being the same. And yet, maybe 20% of We Know Words clients over the past 10 years have embraced that concept.

It's scary to be real! It's scary to be different! It's scary to stand out! Not just for me and you as individuals, but for companies too. What if you're wrong? What if you fail? What if no one likes you?

That's why we all dress pretty much the same and wear our hear pretty much the same and all that. And that's what most companies and brands do as well.

So as we move into thinking of what we do as content marketing, and we are called about to create, coordinate and distribute content that is real and engaging, as we work to convince those clients who hire us for content marketing services that yes, they do need customers telling stories and employees blogging, I suspect we will run into that same fear factor and bunch of "buts" that I've come up against before.

My job as the woman offering the content marketing services? Be more convincing.

It's a good thing I know words...

Content Marketing Will Make Waves for Seafood Company

Friday, March 11, 2011 by Sharon Long

Content Marketing Will Make Waves for Seafood Company Below is an email I sent to a seafood company looking to build a new B2C website as well as a Facebook presence. During my talk with the web designer, several things came up, so I emailed these thoughts to the client. They were so well received by him, I thought I'd share them here...

"They are for the most part what is now called Content Marketing, which means a more strategic use of the content you create or capture.

"And content is golden. Content is how you get found online by search engines. Content is what people share. Content is how you engage and build relationships. Content is a valuable commodity. The more good content you have, the better off you are.

"With a B2C company that is selling food—something consumers can really get into—you have some great opportunities to get your customers creating content for you. A possible scenario is this: You have a website, a blog, and a Facebook page, and maybe you’re doing email marketing too. Your blog content can come from anywhere. It’s not like you need some English major hidden away cranking out content about your seafood. Your blog content can be written by a freelancer or two, and/or by employees, and/or by customers. Every time you get a testimonial, that’s a blog post. A recipe is a blog post. A new product is a blog post. An employee talking about quality control and another talking about types of seafood and things to know…blog content. Talking about what’s going on elsewhere, like maybe on Chopped they had frozen shrimp as one of their ingredients…proper storing advice, party advice, side dish advice, busy family dinners advice… the possibilities for blog content are literally endless.

"Then it’s really easy to share blog posts with Facebook and Twitter. You simply click on a link and voila, it’s shared. So you’ve taken the same content, but made that many more people aware of it and given them a chance to comment on it, like it or share it.

"It goes the other way too. I just heard about a company that makes gluten-free baked goods posted a request for favorite gluten-free Thanksgiving recipes on their Facebook page and got over 200 recipes. If the company puts all those recipes into blog posts, guess what? That’s over 200 blog posts…that are naturally keyword rich. Plus they will be permanent content, unlike Facebook content that has a very short lifespan.

"Which is the other side of this: All online content has the potential for helping your search rankings. And organic search is still the way to go. Just this morning, I read eMarketer’s article on how organic search still trounces paid search. People trust the organic results. And if you can “organically” create that kind of keyword-rich content…and have people sharing it and spreading the word for you, you’ll get a lot more bang for your marketing buck. Or should I say Content Marketing buck?

"You can add in email marketing, with links to pages on your Facebook page…and those email messages can be repurposed as blog posts. You also can have recipe contests or even a food photo contest. If you wanted, you could pull together recipes and make an ebook…promote it by email, in the blog on Facebook…I hope I’m painting a picture here for you."

That was the bulk of the email I sent the client. I hope that gets your brain churning the way it did mine...and the client's!

Copywriter vs. Content Marketing: What's the Difference?

Monday, January 31, 2011 by Sharon Long

This whole Content Marketing thing has admittedly caught me a little off guard. As a freelance copywriter, I work with words every single day. Marketing through content is what I do. It's my passion, my livelihood.

As a freelance copywriter, at first I thought, "Well, content marketing is what I already do." But as the articles keep popping up in the email newsletters I read, and eMarketer, and other places, I am trying to sort this out. And here's what I think...

Yes, as a freelance copywriter, content marketing is what I do. But in a way it's also what I've always wanted to do, and that is to be involved in the strategic planning of the content. I tried making a list of what I would consider copywriting vs. what I would consider content marketing...as a way to sort things out on the We Know Words website. But having two lists was disingenuous. From web content to banner ads to SEO to ghost blogging to writing articles, it's all copywriting.

But maybe what's happening here is an evolution. For two years now, I have been the freelance copywriter for a Bay Area company, integrating the ghost blogging, email newsletters and other content. I have from the start tried to tie all together, repurpose content, and link between different channels. And you know what that is? Content marketing.

I can see some distinctions, that I'm working to address at our We Know Words copywriter agency as I type this. If you need to generate 100 blog posts per month for online content marketing, you're not going to pay a typical freelance copywriter rate for that kind of volume. That's where I stop thinking of it as copywriting and start thinking of it as content generation.

Ditto if you want to generate weekly articles as web content, or weekly press releases.

Working on that here in our Seattle copywriter office...stay tuned.

Content Marketing Best Practices: We Know Words Was Ahead of the Game!

Monday, January 24, 2011 by Sharon Long

I admit it: I haven't blogged for six months. Why? Watching and waiting...

Things are changing for us freelance copywriters. The demand is different. There's still some demand for the kind of qualified freelance copywriter who can whip out a dynamic ad or compelling brochure. But now we have Content Marketing. And it's not the same as freelance copywriting. Where a copywriter might be hired to provide quality, Content Marketing has a bit more to do with quantity...but one must not ever lose sight of the quality, no matter how much content you're charged with creating for your company's Content Marketing program!

So I've been watching and waiting the Content Marketing discussion evolve, and determining how to keep We Know Words relevant with this hugely fundamental shift from copywriting to content creation.

As part of that, I've been reviewing the We Know Words website and was pleasantly surprised to realize I have been ahead of my time! Below is content drawn from our Approach page, written several years ago. It describes how we approach messaging (my preferred word over copywriting) and you can apply these exact same principles and standards to Content Marketing best practices!

Being customer-centric (putting your customer first, not you)
Giving your business a distinct voice
Telling your story: What makes you remarkable?
Speaking directly to your target market(s)
Developing messages and marketing methods that are sustainable
Considering all three types of customers: potential, present and past
Knowing when to integrate different marketing methods
Being consistent in all messaging across every channel
Delivering the message in a form appropriate for your audience

A clearcut definition of Content Marketing is yet to be agreed upon as I write this blog. But certainly the best practices We Know Words has adhered to since its founding in 2000 ring true as Content Marketing best practices too!

So maybe I didn't need to spend so much time watching and waiting. Maybe We Know Words never stopped being relevant...maybe we were really ahead of the game!

Even on Facebook, Content Is King, So Hire a Professional Copywriter to Set You up Right

Saturday, April 24, 2010 by Sharon Long

Reading a SilverPop whitepaper on social media, I as the professional copywriter was drawn to section 4, called Create Content That Connects. It starts off:

"The foundation of effective marketing remains the same: content is king. For example, a company with 50,000 social media followers disseminating highly relevant, engaging content that users feel motivated to share can be more effective than a competitor with content that is not deemed valuable and is rarely shared by its fan base of 100,000." (Emphasis mine.)

Again, I see my role switching from Copy Writer to Copy Coach. In the social media marketing age, yes, customers will create content, as they use wikis, comment on blogs, post on your wall...or blog or tweet about you! But, you will set the stage for that content. Or you'd better, anyway, by getting a professional content copywriter in there to set it for you. If you don't set the stage, you won't have any say over the direction it goes.

I believe this so strongly, I'm now officially acting as a sometimes Copy Coach, helping small businesses and big companies figure out how to harness social media through great content...after figuring out if it even makes sense to do so.

Want a Copy Coach to guide your business onto the right path for social media marketing? Email me at sharon@weknowwords.com.

When Wondering How Often to Blog, Start With Your Goal

Tuesday, March 30, 2010 by Sharon Long

In an SEO newsletter the other day, I read the Twitter question of the week regarding how often should one blog. The answers were all over the place because...

It's the wrong question!

How often one should blog depends on one's blogging goals. Even as a professional copywriter who ghost blogs for clients, I blog with different frequency depending on their goals.

Below are some of the blogging goals I've come across as a freelance copywriter. Figure out which ones applies to your blog, then you'll know how frequently to blog:

Blog Goal #1--Internet marketing via SEO: If you're blogging to get found in search engines, then first off I'm assuming you have a great list of targeted keywords picked out. But that's not what this copywriter blog is about, so we'll just leave it at that. As far as frequency, you must blog frequently to win searches. You want to be found in Google? You'd better be blogging at least once a day, preferably more often. The more general (and popular) your keywords, the more often you must blog. For some companies this will even mean hundreds of (very short) blog posts PER WEEK. I'm not kidding. This is not simply blogging. It is Internet marketing, and like all types of marketing, you have to put something in to get something out. In this case, your time.

Blog Goal #2--Thought leadership: You're probably doing this to market yourself, not your company. If you want to build a reputation among your peers, your customers, your friends, you don't have to blog as often, and your blogs will be longer and more meaningful than those of the person pounding them out for SEO. You can blog as frequently or infrequently as you want, because it will be the content that matters, not the keyword usage.

Blog Goal #3--Meaningful blogs that also work for SEO: This is my favorite kind of goal as a ghost blogger, because the content should have real value but it also includes keywords for SEO. If this is your goal, you're less concerned with search engine results, so you don't need the frequency of hundreds of posts per week...but you still need some frequency. As a professional copywriter who ghost blogs for clients, I do one post per day for this goal, as keyword rich as I can make it and as meaningful too.

Obviously if you're using blogs as marketing tools your goals might be a mix of all these. And if you're blogging for other reasons, like to write a book, and not to blog, this copywriter blog post is irrelevant. :-) But I hope this helps you realize that when asking how often to blog, that's the wrong question to ask first. The question to ask first is, "What do I want to accomplish by blogging?"