Last updated on March 3rd, 2021
Effective content writing plays a key role in marketing success and lead generation for any company. Good Writing leads to better communication and drives search engine results, increase in traffic and also leads to establishing brand authority.
Matt from IBM sheds light on the importance of effective content writing for your business. Before proceeding ahead to the insights by Matt, here’s a little read about Matt and IBM.
About Matt
Matt Alexander has been working in the capacity of a marketing professional over 7 years handling different roles, and he is currently working as a Content Marketer for IBM Hybrid Cloud for the North America market.
About IBM
IBM is a wonderful company to work for – strong in values and people oriented. IBMers strive to change how the world works by building smarter businesses.
How important is content marketing to your brand?
Content marketing is vital to help influence conversions. Customized content helps in building good relationships with your customers and improves brand reputation.
What role does effective writing play in content marketing?
Written communication is an integral part of communication. Ability to tell a story in fewer words is the norm of the day. Quality over quantity matters. The language must be simple and enticing flowing in the form of a story. Hence all brands must ensure that their teams have good writing skills.
What are the important factors for effective writing?
Writing should always be done with the ability to consume the audience’s interest. It should be short and crisp. The words should be simple and the tone should be refreshing. I feel the Headline is the most important part of the article given individual’s short attention span. If the headlines capture the attention of your audience, they will be more likely to read the article. The content needs to have a clear Call To Action.
You can check out WittyPen’s blog on how to craft catchy headlines here.
In what ways can you use effective writing to convey your brand’s message?
3 values of the IBM Brand are :
- Dedication to every client’s success
- Trust and personal responsibility in every relationship
- Innovation that matters for the company the world
Overall, we need to make sure our marketing efforts resonate these values in whatever product we market. I am responsible for marketing IBM Hybrid Cloud solutions for our clients. We should firstly understand that our messaging should be uniform across all platforms. We have positioned IBM Cloud as The Cloud for the enterprise, built for all applications, Artificial Intelligence ready and Secure to the core. Everyone who markets IBM Cloud, should convey this overall message.
Content can be made in the form of blogs, whitepapers, case studies, client references, videos, video blogs, webinars, infographics emailers, etc depending on each buyer’s stage in the buyer journey. Discover, Learn, Try, Buy, Adopt and Advocate are the 6 stages in the buyer journey.
Each of these content needs to educate the audience about the product in a simple manner and entice them to take action.
Is it important to just write effectively or are there other factors also involved that lead to brand awareness?
Writing effectively is only half the mission accomplished. Promotion and distribution is a very important factor too. We need to first understand our target audience, their industry, pain points and their stage in the buyer journey before we pitch our content to them. While pitching content, we need to be aware of the social media platforms they are most active in. A one size fits all approach doesn’t work. A tailored approach is most effective in making sure people consume our content.
Please share some campaigns by IBM that demonstrate the success of effective writing.
- Watson on Jeopardy
- Smarter Planet
- The Cognitive Era ( A new era in technology, a new era in business)
Any tips for effective content writing to the marketers?
Yes, there are a few content writing tips that I personally also follow.
Research says that 88% of people who read a headline will most likely be read the entire article. So start by writing an effective Headline that captures the audience’s attention. Keep it short and crisp. Include numbers or ask it in the form of a question which will rouse the audience’s interest. Example – How to save 10 Lakhs each year on storage solutions?
Make sure the content in the body is told in the form of a story. Avoid unnecessary jargons. Use simple language. Lastly, include a compelling Call to Action which entices the audience to take action.
Effective writing also helps you with search engine optimization. So if you are looking at ranking high on search engine pages, you must ensure that you provide the best marketing content that’s relevant to your audience.
Conclusion
We heartily thank Matt for taking out the time to talk to us about the importance of effective content writing. We now understand that effective content writing can help in boosting one’s content strategy and enhancing the brand’s engagement with the users
