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Marketing

66% of marketers ‘lack confidence’ in ability to achieve revenue goals
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Research has highlighted the importance of data/analytics for marketers working to protect budgets and prove ROI in 2023.

A study conducted by Sprinklr and the CMO Council, Outsmart Adversity: Weathering Economic Headwinds and Emerging Poised for Growth, found that 2 in 3 marketing leaders lack confidence in their ability to achieve goals in the face of economic adversity and uncertainty.

Nearly 8 in 10 express concerns around lack of investment or budget cuts. Challenges with executing data-driven marketing strategies contribute to this lack of confidence.  

The report surveyed nearly 500 global marketing leaders to reveal key findings about how marketers feel about economic adversity, and how they can achieve revenue goals.  

Key findings include:  

  • 78% of marketers don’t strongly feel that they can convince the CFO to invest in marketing and not cut the budget. 
  • Facing budget challenges, a majority (68%) strongly agree that it’s imperative for CMOs and CIOs to collaborate this year to develop a competitive advantage with customer experience.  
  • However, even among highly confident marketers surveyed, only 32% are very satisfied in their ability to leverage data/analytics. Among less confident marketers, this falls to 10%. 
  • Internal collaboration and maximising ROI across marketing channels will be key to success. In the next 12 months, most marketers plan to create omnichannel customer experiences to help them emerge from economic uncertainty.  

“Marketers will have to build alliances with finance and IT to protect budgets and MarTech investments, and they’ll need to identify and shore up capabilities to build their confidence,” said Donovan Neale-May, executive director of the CMO Council. “These capabilities include gathering real-time insights that reveal how audiences really feel about your marketing on multiple channels, and then easily distributing this knowledge throughout the organisation.”

“In uncertain times, marketers face even more pressure to protect budgets and programs by demonstrating clear ROI,” said Arun Pattabhiraman, Chief MarketingOfficer, Sprinklr. “As our research with the CMO Council shows, marketers must embrace the opportunity to enhance the way they gather data, identify actionable consumer insights, and strengthen their engagement strategy across channels.”

Top ten PR and marketing tactics to help retain e-commerce customers
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In 2022, the UK was expected to have almost 60 million e-commerce users — leaving only a minority of the population as non-digital buyers. As such, e-commerce has undeniably become the norm for shoppers everywhere in the UK, resulting in an increasingly competitive environment.

With this in mind, and following a 7,900% increase in monthly searches for “customer retention” over the last three years, PR and communications specialists Wild PR, has shared ten ways e-commerce business owners can build excellent customer relations and retain existing customers to maximise return sales and up-sells…

Define your target client personas

In order to retain customers, you need to ensure your strategy is formed on attracting the right people and getting a comprehensive understanding of their needs, goals and objectives.

Clarify your perfect target audience and personas by researching the current industry landscape and competitor profiles, as well as listening to your current customers so you can define your tone of voice to best engage with them. This will allow you to appeal to the right clients for your business.

Embed your brand purpose

When choosing brands to do business with, today’s consumers are more interested in the impact that brands have on the world than just what products or services they offer. To take your brand to the next level, you need a mission statement that resonates with your audience.

Brand purpose is essential because it shows customers that you’re more than just a product, service or advertising campaign; you have a larger goal, and it’s not just about making a profit.

Make customers feel appreciated and valued

This is often as simple as saying thank you. Express your thanks with a special written note or a coupon for their next visit in their delivery or via their order confirmation. This is a way to remind them again that they made the right decision in doing business with you.

Go the extra mile

Why not send a Happy Birthday or customer anniversary offer as a show of appreciation for your customer’s loyalty?

Maximise the use of data from your CRM to identify the best possible times to interact with your customers. Whether it’s their birthday, their anniversary of becoming a customer with you, their pet’s birthday or perhaps their wedding anniversary, there are multiple opportunities to show your customer how much you appreciate them.

This may be an email with a discount for their order, or you could send them an unexpected sample gift in the post with an offer code allowing for potential appreciation posts on their social media platforms, which could, in turn, generate customer referrals. Win-win!

Ask for feedback

How can you improve your customer service if you don’t ask them what they think? Surveys and other means of gathering feedback can help you to learn what your customers enjoy and where improvements can be made.

You can even incentivise this by providing a discount code for everyone who completes the survey as a token of thanks, which could result in increased orders.

Value honesty and integrity

As a business, it is crucial always to have a culture of honesty and integrity. Refrain from blaming the customer if something goes wrong with your product or if something is missing from an order and you still need to meet the customer’s expectations.

While the issues might be out of your hands, or it might indeed be the customer’s fault, find a way to fix the issue as quickly as possible and promptly respond to complaints politely and professionally.

If communication is being undertaken on social media pages, look for a way to take the communication privately to minimise the chances of the post showing in potential customer feeds.

Engage in two-way communication with customers

Two-way communication between brands and consumers is beneficial for both parties. Social media platforms, in particular, have made it easy for companies to connect with their customers so they no longer feel like strangers.

Make sure to respond to consumer feedback or questions, as failing to do so can create a sense of distrust, or potential customers could view you as being inactive and, as such, risk the loss of orders.

Building a community online

As part of the buyer journey, consumers are often primarily looking to learn more about a company’s products or services before making their purchase decision.

By building a strong online community that aligns with your business, you can strengthen brand loyalty and attract new customers. Companies can easily achieve this by providing educational content for customers through newsletters, forums, videos, blog posts, and even whitepapers.

Digital PR and Traditional PR

Customers who see a company being talked about in positive news stories are more likely to feel secure about their buying decisions when purchasing from the business.

Traditional PR, such as company announcements, product launches, thought leadership or commentary on relevant topics, can boost credibility when it comes to retaining and attracting clients.

While Digital PR can help drive referral traffic through an element of link building, helping your site rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). This tactic helps get you in front of new customers, reminds lapsed customers about your brand, and makes loyal customers advocate for your brand. All tactics that help increase sales.

Hire a PR agency to manage communications

Hiring a PR agency can help brands stay ahead of the curve and reach a much wider audience.

Usually, the agency would work alongside internal marketing teams or directly with CEOs and business owners to promote an e-commerce brand’s products and services while positioning them as the best option in the market.

Revealed: The solutions marketers need in 2023
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Lead Generation & Tracking, Customer Engagement and Social Media top the list of solutions the UK’s leading marketing professionals are sourcing in 2023.

The data has been revealed by the Digital Marketing Solutions Summit, based on delegate requirements for this week’s event.

Delegates registering to attend were asked which areas they needed to invest in during 2023 and beyond.

The Top 5 is rounded out by Marketing Strategy and Multichannel.

The most in-demand services has changed markedly since May last year, when Lead Generation Pay Per Click and Google Ads topped the list.

% of delegates at the Digital Marketing Solutions Summit sourcing certain products & solutions (Top 10):

  • Lead Generation & Tracking
  • Customer Engagement
  • Social Media
  • Marketing Strategy
  • Multichannel
  • Data Management
  • Email Marketing
  • Pay Per Click
  • AI
  • Google Ads

To find out more about the Digital Marketing Solutions Summit, visit https://digitalmarketingsolutionssummit.co.uk.

Local language support essential for online sales success
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When it comes to buying from brands online, over four in five consumers won’t buy from a brand that doesn’t offer local language support

That’s according to a new report released by RWS, which asked 6,500 global consumers about their online habits and how they like to engage with online businesses.

RWS’s Unlocking Global Understanding research found that 62% of global consumers see the internet as very important when undertaking daily activities, with a third of people admitting they cannot live without the internet (35%) – rising to two-thirds in Japan. As a consequence, 20% of consumers spend over 10 hours a day online.

Yet when it comes to dealing with online companies, the provision of local language services can have a drastic impact on the user experience and the level of trust that consumers hold in different brands.

The vast majority of global consumers (89%) believe they should have the option of dealing with a company online in their preferred language, with half of those surveyed feeling strongly about this (49%). Despite this, 44% of consumers voiced their frustrations at the fact that the English language dominates the internet and consumer technology.

If brands want to access a global audience, 93% of consumers agree that these companies need to communicate with them in their preferred languages through all channels at all times. At a national level, 60% of Kenyans, 57% of Indians and 55% of Brazilians feel particularly strongly on this point. What’s more, although 77% trust businesses with a local presence, 58% agree that a localized online presence matches a physical presence in terms of trust.

Maria Schnell, Chief Language Officer at RWS, said: “It’s no surprise that consumers around the globe rely heavily on the internet for daily activities. Yet this dependency is being undermined by the fact that not all consumers are able to engage with companies in their preferred language. This can pose significant problems and foster feelings of alienation as consumers are forced to communicate in a foreign language. It also demonstrates a knowledge and cultural gap when it comes to marketing, advertising and customer services.

“The internet has the potential to truly empower people from local communities. However, this can only occur if companies are willing to recognize and appreciate local cultures, giving their consumers the opportunity to communicate in their own language. Doing so will open brands up to new market opportunities; if avoided, they run the real risk of alienating themselves from non-English speaking consumer markets.”

UK digital ad spend up 11% to £26.1bn in 2022
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The UK digital ad market maintained double digit growth of 11% in 2022, despite a challenging year as advertisers navigated the cost-of-living crisis, political uncertainty, and the impact of structural changes such as the removal of Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA).

The IAB’s latest Digital Adspend report, produced with PwC, shows that digital advertising spend stands at £26.1bn – a 56% overall increase since the pandemic began in 2020.

Key findings include:

  • Search continued to maintain market dominance with spend up 13% year-on-year to £13.1bn. Meanwhile, display investment grew by 6% to £10.4bn, with growth in this area fuelled by standard display ads (+ 14%). Video spend grew by 9%, largely driven by investment in outstream formats
  • Reflecting the growing diversity within the online ecosystem, Digital Adspend 2022 includes an official sizing of the UK’s digital retail media market for the first time, with spend standing at £176.4m. This figure relates to UK-based retailers and specifically charts onsite spend. Our forecast analysis indicates that spend in this area will continue to grow in 2023, becoming a key driver of digital’s overall market growth as advertisers increasingly harness retailers’ first-party data
  • In another first, the rate of growth in desktop spend (+ 14%) outstripped mobile (+ 8%) for the first time since records began, a development that coincides with Apple’s IDFA changes in-app and shows how structural changes are shaping the market. However, mobile still has the largest share of the market at 58%
  • Elsewhere, podcast spend grew by 32% to £76.3m, which is more than a three-fold increase since IAB UK first started measuring the market in 2020. Another area of strong growth was in a category that includes wearable devices and in-car advertising, indicating how advertiser spend is embracing the opportunities posed by new technology

Jon Mew, CEO at IAB UK, said: “The latest Digital Adspend results highlight two things: resilience and opportunity. Not only was 2022 challenging for our industry, as it was for the entire UK economy, it also followed a year of stratospheric, pandemic-induced growth in 2021. In this context, it’s testament to the resilience of digital advertising that the market has maintained double digit growth in 2022 – and astounding that it has grown by 56% since the pandemic began.

“Today’s results also reflect the growing opportunities for advertisers to resonate with audiences in new ways. Of course, search and display spend still underpin the digital ecosystem, but the UK’s flourishing retail media market – officially sized for the first time in this report – alongside the continued growth of podcasting, show how digital is diversifying to offer advertisers more choice and more immersive routes to connect with consumers.”

Hannah Biernat, Senior Manager, PwC, added: “This year’s Adspend results reflect a stabilisation of the market growth in line with pre-pandemic levels, demonstrating the robustness of the industry and its ability to weather wider spread economic and political uncertainties. Clients appear to be embracing connecting with audiences in emerging formats as demonstrated by the growth in podcast investment and formats across connected devices. It will be exciting to see how the industry continues to innovate and diversify in formats and channels in the coming year.”

Simon Lonsdale, Strategy Director, Tesco Media and Insight Platform powered by dunnhumby, commented: “It’s hugely significant that digital retail media is in the IAB’s 2022 Digital Adspend report for the first time. While various forecasts and estimates have been published over the past few months, this is the first official cross-market spend figure for the UK-based market, which reflects the growing importance of retail media to advertisers.

“Our priority is to evolve and grow our retail media business to allow advertisers to reach the customers that matter most to them at scale. We look forward to working closely with the IAB to pioneer the frameworks that are essential to underpin long-term growth and allow retail media to reach its full potential.”

Retailer apps boom as consumers seek deals
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A global survey has indicated more consumers are turning to retailers’ mobile apps to streamline in-store shopping experiences and score personalised offers and deals.

Across 11,000 consumer respondents surveyed by Airship, 78% are using retailers’ mobile apps either more often or about the same as last year.

This preference for retail apps extends across age groups and household income levels. Generationally, 81% of millennials and 79% of Gen X report using retail apps more or about the same as last year, followed by 72% of both Gen Z and boomers.

High household incomes lead in regular use of retail apps at 82%, followed by 79% of medium and 75% of low income levels.

When asked about 10 different activities one might use their smartphone to accomplish while shopping in-store, using the retailer’s app grew the most year over year. Globally, 74% of respondents said they are likely to use the brand’s app when shopping at its physical storefronts.

For most countries and generations, the likelihood of using a retailer’s app while shopping in-store is only a few percentage points behind visiting the retailer’s website despite first having to download apps from the App Store or Google Play.

Airship says the data suggests that inflation and the current economy is driving more deal-motivated behaviors from consumers. It also demonstrates an opportunity for retailers to expand customer understanding as shoppers are more motivated to share personal information in exchange for valuable offers and convenient experiences that better meet their needs.

“Today’s consumers are increasingly turning to mobile apps from their favorite retailers to score deals, gain special access and improve their overall customer experience, particularly while shopping at brick-and-mortar stores,” said Thomas Butta, Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer, Airship. “As marketing budgets are pinched and consumers face economic pressures, retailers need greater agility to create and optimize valuable app experiences that grow customer understanding and reward them individually, making life easier and better for everyone involved.”

81% of senior marketers have contingency plans… but only 21% follow them
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Eighty-one percent of marketing leaders have established a contingency plan to respond to disruptions, according to a survey by Gartner, but just 21% of respondents said they follow these plans, as marketers weather the storm of continued economic and geopolitical uncertainty.

A Gartner survey of nearly 400 marketing leaders conducted in November and December 2022 revealed that 44% of digital marketing leaders who enacted a contingency plan during an economic disruption event exceeded organization year-over-year profit growth.

“With ongoing economic and geopolitical disruption, contingency plans are more important than ever,” said Greg Carlucci, Senior Director Analyst in the Gartner Marketing practice. “Having a plan is a good first step, but following through on that plan when disruption occurs is what really matters.”

Nearly all respondents reported adjusting their marketing budgets in response to the current economic environment.

Positive budget adjustments are an effective way to counter disruption: Respondents who increased spending relative to their contingency plan were nearly two times more likely to achieve year-over-year profit growth than those who decreased spending or did nothing.

In contrast, just 5% of respondents decreased their spend, reflecting marketing leaders’ increased appetite for budget to deliver against their organizational objectives.

The three most utilized digital channels for B2B marketing organisations executing their 2022 marketing strategy were email marketing, social advertising and SEO, highlighting the effectiveness of these channels during times of disruption.

Investment in digital customer engagement ‘increases revenue by 90%’
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Investment in customer engagement continues to drive revenue growth and help companies meet their financial goals in the face of economic headwinds.

Twilio’s fourth annual State of Customer Engagement Report reveals that amid constrained resources and economic uncertainty, investment in digital customer engagement increased brands’ revenue by 90% on average, up from 70% last year.

The data also show that effective customer engagement strengthens brands’ ability to adapt to shifting market conditions and evolving consumer preferences.

Customer engagement leaders report increased customer retention, conversion and long-term loyalty, while six out of 10 companies report that investment in digital customer engagement improved their ability to meet changing customer needs.

Twilio’s State of Customer Engagement Report is based on a survey of more than 4,700 B2C leaders in key sectors across the world, plus a parallel survey of over 6,000 global consumers. It also incorporates data from Twilio’s own customer engagement platform, including Twilio Segment.

Twilio’s 2023 research explores essential consumer trends around personalization, data privacy and trust. The findings highlight the urgent need for brands to leverage zero- and first-party data, meaning data collected directly from interactions with customers rather than a third party, in order to improve customer experience and increase customer lifetime value.

The stakes of using data effectively are high, with 66% of consumers claiming they will stop using a brand if their experience is not personalized. Meanwhile, brands continue to overestimate how well they are meeting consumer expectations for communication preferences, protecting customer data privacy, and transparency around customer data usage. Additional consumer insights include:

  • Consumers want a faster transition to a cookieless future. Nearly one third of consumers always or often reject cookies on websites, while nearly two thirds (65%) of consumers would prefer brands use only first-party data to personalize their experiences. Meanwhile, eighty-one percent of brands are still reliant on third-party data.
  • Consumer frustration with inconsistent digital experiences is growing. 51% of consumers report being frustrated with their interactions over the past year, rising from 46% the year before.
  • Real-time personalization boosts customer lifetime value. 86% of consumers say that personalized experiences increase their loyalty to brands, and consumers spend on average 21% more on brands that personalize.
  • Consumers trust brands less than brands realize. 95% of consumers want more control over their customer data, placing top priority on “identity data.” Four in 10 consumers say they have stopped doing business with a brand after their expectations for trust and privacy weren’t met.

As part of the research, Twilio divided B2C companies into three categories based on their customer engagement maturity: customer engagement leaders, framers, and beginners. Customer engagement leaders—companies that have the most mature use of personalization, first-party data, and highest level of digital engagement—reported enormous benefits and increased revenue growth compared to those who have less advanced customer engagement strategies. Specifically,

  • 82% of customer engagement leaders met or exceeded their company’s financial goals for 2022, compared to 62% of customer engagement beginners
  • 40% of engagement leaders reported much higher customer retention rates than previous years, compared to 12% of beginners
  • 41% of engagement leaders reported much higher customer conversion rates than previous years, versus 15% of beginners.

“In this macroeconomic climate, every business is looking to do more with less budget,” said Joyce Kim, chief marketing officer at Twilio. “This research reflects what we’re hearing across our customer base, which is that when brands use first-hand data to personalize engagement with customers, it saves companies meaningful marketing spend and increases lifetime value. For brands facing growing headwinds, this means ROI today.”

Twilio’s State of Consumer Engagement Report 2023 is available as a web report with data available from 18 countries worldwide, and as a comprehensive, downloadable white paper. Both can be found at www.twilio.com/state-of-customer-engagement.

How can marketeers address ‘loyalty destroying’ home delivery experiences
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By Kitty Poole (pictured, above), Chief Marketing Officer at Doddle

Home delivery hit the headlines in the UK last December when a perfect storm of Royal Mail strikes and extreme weather resulted in huge backlogs and many people not getting their parcels in time for Christmas. Doddle found that 62% of shoppers had experienced at least one delivery issue in the month, and 39% of consumers were considering switching retailers to avoid problematic carriers, their reputations damaged by the peak delivery failures.

For marketeers, this has once again highlighted the delivery experience as an important vulnerability in the supply chain with a material brand impact. Putting safeguards in place to ensure consumers avoid the annoying and loyalty-destroying experiences of delivery failure will be crucial at a time when retaining customers is more important than ever, given the challenging economic background and drop in consumer spending.

Since the Covid pandemic consumers have become accustomed to online shopping and increased their expectations of retailers.  A poor delivery experience can be extremely damaging to long-term customer loyalty and generate bad reviews or other negative brand impressions. This is a major challenge for marketeers who are increasingly aware that what were traditionally viewed as operational issues, are now at the heart of any reputational marketing.

For marketeers the Out-of-home (OOH) delivery offer is a win in many ways. It gives shoppers the ability to select convenient local pickup and drop-off points for their online shopping and returns, providing them with choice and greater flexibility.  In addition, the increased security helps address other concerns.

One of the most potent benefits of OOH delivery is that it escapes the familiar unpleasantries of a bad home delivery experience. There can be challenges (queueing at a post office or shop counter for a parcel isn’t always ideal) but in working with customers, we’ve repeatedly seen OOH delivery achieving the highest Net Promoter Score of any delivery type. In addition, the psychological benefit of controlling when to pick up a parcel encourages customers to feel positive about the merchant.

We recently conducted research into European Out-of-Home Delivery Options, surveying retailers across the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy to learn which merchants are offering OOH delivery; how they’re making it happen; whether it’s working for them; and what carrier partners need to provide to merchants to make their ecommerce checkouts more effective at converting and retaining customers.

Our survey showed that 77% of European merchants offer OOH delivery and are reaping the benefits, including increased conversion rates, average order value and net promoter score.  50% of our merchant respondents said that they saw an increase in conversion rates since adding the out-of-home delivery options, with 20% saying they saw a significant increase.

OOH deliveries cater to an important demographic of shoppers who cannot guarantee they’ll be at home to accept deliveries, particularly during the working day. Giving them the confidence that they won’t miss their delivery should make them more likely to purchase in the first place and 55% of merchants surveyed saw an increase in average order value since adding out-of-home delivery options to their checkouts. In simple terms, customers who are confident that their delivery will be available at a convenient time and place are liable to spend more.

In addition to enabling the reduction of delivery costs OOH deliveries can also be marketed as the sustainable delivery option.  With fewer deliveries being sent to individual homes, and consumers trip-chaining their errands and parcel pick-ups or drop-offs into local collection points, emissions are reduced as fewer kilometres are driven per parcel. 80% of our survey respondents indicated that they believed it was important to offer consumers a sustainable delivery option – a role OOH delivery should absolutely qualify for and can be promoted to fill.

As the world continues to ‘open up’ and the consumer becomes increasingly busier, implementing integrated OOH delivery options in 2023 will be crucial for retailers to stay ahead of the curve and meet the demands and preferences of the ever-evolving online shopper.  Delivery is often an underrated aspect of customer experience. However, thinking of it as the culmination of the shopping experience requires us to understand the impacts of a negative delivery experience on the retailer’s brand.  In contrast to this, OOH delivery offers huge opportunities for everyone involved in the delivery journey – the customer, carrier and retailer.  For the marketing team it means they are no longer fighting brand damaging issues and can focus on the positives.

How to write compelling copy (that sells) 
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By Cecilie Conradsen, Content Guru at Hyped Marketing

No matter your line of business, you’ll need to create engaging copy — the words you use to promote your services online.   

Whether you’re trying to catch the attention of passers-by with a poster, convert leads into customers with your website or improve your ranking on Google, your written content should represent your brand and help you stand out from the competition. 

But writing ‘good’ copy isn’t just about airtight spelling and grammar. A lot goes into producing something that adds value for you and your audience — from defining your tone of voice (TOV) to finding relevant SEO keywords.  

 So, where to begin?  

 A crash course in copywriting

With the market already saturated with bespoke marketing campaigns and trending content, you’ve got to make every word count.  

When done right, your written content can generate engagement from your target audience, leading to click-throughs and site visits that’ll (hopefully) turn into enquiries or purchases. Alternatively, poor-quality copy can confuse your audience and drive away potential customers.   

There’s no magic formula for writing compelling copy (we’re looking at you, ChatGPT…), but there are best practices you can follow to help you nail your niche. Here’s what you need to focus on to make sure your content performs…   

Consistency

One of our top copywriting tips is this: when it comes to copy, consistency is key.  

Will you use contractions? Do you want to come across as helpful and friendly or corporate and high-end? Creating a recognisable TOV and deploying it across all your content — from social media posts to brochures — is one of the easiest ways to guarantee your business stands out.  

Additionally, your copy should always live up to high standards to make a positive impression on your audience. Failing to do a thorough quality check can leave inconsistencies in your messaging and lead to some pretty distracting — although admittedly sometimes hilarious — typos. (Who remembers the Pringles ‘multigran’ incident?)  

Audience

News flash: just because you find something interesting doesn’t mean your customers will. No matter what you’re writing, always keep the reader in mind.   

Are you talking to your audience in a way that they’ll understand and providing them with the information they’re looking for? Is the content you’re writing suitable for the platform you’re posting on, or might it perform better in a different format?   

Remember, what works for one audience might not work for another — don’t waste time barking up the wrong tree!  

Purpose

A copywriter’s job is to evoke a reaction from their audience with the content they publish — from blogs and flyers to press releases and emails. So, to ensure you achieve the response you’re hoping for, it’s crucial to keep the purpose of your writing in mind at all times.  

Are you aiming to inform, persuade or entertain? Determining this will make a big difference to how you write and the language you use.  

Research

Keeping up with the latest trends can be a little overwhelming, but ensuring your content is appropriate, original and topical will help you appear in the right searches and provide the most valuable insights for your audience.   

You should also conduct keyword research when writing blogs and website pages. Including relevant keywords with a good balance of significant search volume and moderate difficulty will boost your search engine optimisation (SEO) ranking, bumping you up on Google’s results pages.   

Plus, adding relevant hashtags to your social media posts can allow you to reach more of your target audience with the content you share.  

Planning 

Never skip the plan. Whether you’re working on an article for PR or writing copy for a website, having a strategy in place can help ensure your writing doesn’t go off on a tangent and disengage the reader.  

If you’re writing long-form copy, work out a content plan that ensures each point flows into the next. Nailing the structure of your writing can be one of the trickiest things to get right, but it’s crucial for making your content interesting to read and easy to understand.  

Try to break up long bits of text into shorter, more manageable paragraphs. Not only will this make your writing more readable, but it’s also important for SEO; Google is likely to penalise a page with sections that are too long. The more you know…  

Call to action  

Struggling to convert page visits to sales? Your promotional content is probably missing a clear call to action (CTA).   

In today’s marketing landscape, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to capture the attention of your ideal customer as they scroll past countless ads every day. So, you need to ensure everything you’re producing has a strong CTA that points the reader towards their next steps.   

Often, less is more. Including simple buttons, snappy headlines and bold text can clarify the main message behind all your marketing activities and ensure you have the best chance of success.