Online Marketing, Content Creation and Copywriting Swipefile.

Being a Marketer is an ongoing learning process. As a marketer I always have to take note of what is changing, what works and what doesn’t work. But my notes get lost in the multitude of Word-documents I create. So I decided: “Hey, why not create an Online Marketing, Content Creation and Copywriting Swipefile you and I can easily access?”

So here you go! Here are all the things I’ve learned so far. Don’t forget to come back regularly. Maybe I’ve added something over the time!

The number one thing of Marketing

Provide value to your audience. Do not state what your products and services do. Instead, tell your audience what value it brings to them when they follow you, when they buy your products, when they opt in for your newsletter, when they are interested in your services.

Social Media Marketing and Advertising

Be consistent. Be consistent in when you post and in what you post. You do not have to publish content each day, but you shouldn’t be offline 24/7 either. Furthermore, determine your value, goals and identity and stick to it. You can change your (personal) brand’s identity over time, but don’t come up with content that doesn’t relate to your identity at all.

Optimize your content for each platform. Facebook, Instagram and Twitter each have different image and text formats. Meaning a picture + long text works for Facebook does not instantly mean it works for the other platforms.

Engage. If other people respond, at least have the decency to like their comments. They will feel appreciated. Even better: react to them too.

Content creation

To create, you must consume. Though ideas appear at very random times, they do not exist out of nothing. They’re the result of information you consume from other content.

Write down your entire thinking process when creating content. First determine the goal and the theme of your content. Think about the value your content will bring to your audience. Will it educate them? Will it entertain them?

If you are promoting a product or service. Make associations with them. Take an apple, for instance. How does an apple look like? How does it taste? Where is the apple from? What benefits will eating an apple bring to you? Under which circumstances are you eating an apple?

Outline your content by using bullet points. In the editing phase, start connecting those bullet points.

Creativity rut? Don’t worry. Go for a walk or read a book. Creativity comes back at the most unexpected moments.

3 hours of full-focused work are more useful than working 9-5 while being distracted.

Idea generation

To come up with brilliant ideas, you must plow through the shithole of bad ideas first. Yes, you must write down your bad ideas too. Just to get these out of your mind. And don’t delete them yet, because maybe these ideas can be of use in the future. As you continue writing, you will notice that your ideas start to become better and better.

Copywriting

Keep it simple, stupid.

Headlines matter more than the rest of your content. If your headline is poor, no one bothers to start or continue reading your content.

Test your headlines in Facebook Ad Manager, on your website, on Twitter even. See what works and see what doesn’t work. And take notes.

Specific > generic. So not “I can help you become a better marketer”, but “Can I show you two things that speed up your content creation process?”

Make Call To Actions vivid. No [Learn More], But [See how we can help you]

Writing rules are there to be broken.

Less commas, more periods.

Write like a maniac, edit like that high school teacher you hated because he or she would correct literally everything.

Books to read: 

Self-improvement:
– James Clear – Atomic Habits
– Bertrand Russell – The Conquest of Happiness
– Dale Carnegie – How to win Friends and Influence Them

(Copy)Writing
– Ann Handley – Everybody Writes
– Gary Provost – 100 Ways to Improve Your Writing

Persuasion:
– Robert Cialdini – Influence
– Dale Carnegie – How to win friends and Influence them

Ad + Social media Copy
– Thomas Kemeny – Junior
– Luke Sullivan – Hey Whipple, Squeeze This