The thing to keep in mind with value based marketing is that your content should always be:
- Relevant to both your patients and your practice
- Resonate with your audience
- Be in sync with your services
- Be clear and concise
Here are nine communications executives from Forbes Communications Council offering their best tips, as seen in Forbes.
Clockwise from left: Andrew Caravella, Kim Gebbia Chappell, Lisa Covey, Dave Heinzinger, Nadja Blagojevic, Jennifer Mellon, Dallea Caldwell, Krystal Covington, Jenna Hilzenrath. All photos courtesy of the individual members.
1. Always Have An Editor
So often PR and communications professionals are the ones to edit, revise and finalize copy for others within the organization. Yet we too need editors of our own. Be sure to enlist someone, either from your team or a freelancer, to edit and polish materials you write. Even if you’re a copywriting pro, every piece of work benefits from a second set of eyes. – Andrew Caravella, Sprout Social
2. Read It Out Loud
People love to hammer out prose on their keyboard, but so often forget to pause and actually read it to themselves, not in their heads, but out loud! This is a tip I used in my former career as an anchor/reporter. We read every script out loud before the show to help simplify the story and remove any language that made us stumble. I read press releases, landing page copy and even emails out loud at my desk. – Kim Gebbia Chappell, Weebly
3. Know Your Audience
Dynamic content is king, and it starts with knowing your audience. Being able to adjust every word of your copy, including the subject line, is crucial to garnering appropriate awareness. The media knows a mass pitch when they see one, especially one with a generic subject line. So get personal with your copy and get crafty with words to create a tangible, withstanding relationship that will last. – Lisa Covey, HALL Wines Napa Valley & WALT Wines Sonoma
4. Tighten Up
We live in the age of short attention spans, where a 50-character subject line could be the difference between a positive connection and radio silence. Treat writing the same way you should pack for a trip: Lay out everything you think you need, and then take a third of it. Ensure that every word does something useful and drives your point home. – Dave Heinzinger, inMarket
5. Explain From Your Audience’s Point Of View
Whether it’s a contributed article, blog post, press release or tweet, make sure to keep your audience in mind. Think about what will be the most compelling part of your news for them, present it clearly and explain why they should care. Explain things from their point of view; instead of focusing on what you are doing as a company, focus on what they will be able to do because of your changes. – Nadja Blagojevic, Reserve
6. Be Clear But Casual
Write clearly, concisely and casually. People often write in a stiff, formal manner that’s nearly robotic. You can be relatable while still being professional. Avoid industry jargon and marketing-heavy messaging for PR (“innovative” and “curated” are overused and have become meaningless). Think about how you would explain it to your mom and use that straightforward, simple language. – Jenna Hilzenrath, Birchbox
7. Test On Social Media
One of the best ways to learn how to write effective copy is to practice short-form writing on social media. You’ll know right away if what you’ve written was compelling enough to encourage engagement; that’s the best indication for writing success. Twitter is a great platform for testing headlines and Facebook is great for testing new ideas and longer forms of copy. – Krystal Covington, Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage
8. Draw Inspiration From Sales
You may have the data analytics and buyer personas at your fingertips, but no one knows your audience better than sales and customer service reps because they speak to members of your audience every day. Be sure to get their input on your overall content strategy and tone. Your customer-facing colleagues may even be able to pass along some content ideas inspired by customer interactions. – Dallea Caldwell, TalkLocal
9. Polish Up Your Skills
Too many times we have the potential for beautiful copy, but it has been so poorly written that it becomes ineffective. Ensure that your copy is free of typos, grammatical mistakes and passive voice. Creative copywriters often forgo excellent writing because of a belief that they need to “dumb down” their work for the audience. I could not disagree more. Beautiful writing is as important as beautiful ideas. – Jennifer Mellon, Trustify
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Many of these tips seem pretty natural or obvious but you would be surprised at how many of these are violated on a regular basis by a great many people online. The thing to keep in mind is that any of these will negate the interest of your prospective client, decrease opinions about yourself or your reputation and relegate your copy to the delete file.
After writing your copy, use spell check to make sure that both spelling and grammar is correct. Then read your copy slowly out loud to ensure that it makes sense and is easy to understand.
After all, you are not providing value if no one can understand it or if they are distracted by errors in the copy.
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