Points 6-10 of my ten-point copy and content audit tool

Here’s the final part of a short series introducing my tool for assessing the suitability and quality of existing marketing content. You can also use it to assess new content while it's still in the draft stage.

If you haven’t read my blog summarising points one to five yet you can do it here. (Quick reminder, they are Context, Clarity, Comprehensive, Customers and Clickable.)

To wrap things up, this is a run through points six to ten.

6. Competition

If your competition has created similar content, you probably need to check how your piece stacks up against theirs. Maybe when you published your piece it was the best source of information around. But what if someone has since gone one better?

You could use other criteria in this framework to score competitor content, seeing how it matches up against yours in a head-to-head. For example, is competitor content more comprehensive than yours, or more customer focused?

For online content this step starts with Googling to find competitor content similar to yours. But don’t just use the obvious on-page copy for this comparison. Dig deep to see if competitors are publishing white papers, eBooks, videos, webinars, podcasts, slides, infographics, FAQs, case studies, how-to guides and so on.

I like to print out a few examples and get my Sharpies out. I annotate with notes on what I would like about the competitor content if I were a reader within the target audience. I do the same thing with hard copy content such as brochures or print advertising.

All the above refers to assessing how individual pieces of content stack up against competitors. It’s worth also mentioning some things you can look at to assess your overall content against competitors. Five criteria to consider are:

Volume. Does your total amount of content look slim compared to what your competitors offer?

Publishing frequency. If you publish news or a blog every couple of months and your competitors do it weekly, you may have a problem. (An easy fix to hide the fact that your frequency is poor is to remove dates from blogs, if you are blogging ‘evergreen’ content that will always be relevant.)

Subject matter. Are competitors covering subjects that you haven’t even thought of? (Or thought of but never got around to covering?)

Social media engagement. The level of likes, shares and comments competitor content is getting could be an indicator of how well their content strategy is resonating with audiences.

Traffic and SEO performance. Tools like Alexa, Moz and SEMrush can tell you how well competitor content is performing in terms of the traffic it’s attracting and its SEO performance.

7. Credibility

There’s a very simple question you can ask yourself to instantly assess the credibility performance of a piece of content:

If your most wanted customer read the piece, would they be more willing to do business with you as a result?

Improving performance in several of points 1-6 in this framework will bolster the credibility factor of your content. But now is the time to zero in on what you can do to go further.

Here are five examples of content you can add to build credibility:

1. Numbers. Do you have any stats that strengthen any claims you are making about the performance of your organisation, product or service? Remember to always say where those numbers come from, ideally referencing reputable external sources.

2. Expertise. Sharing genuine expertise could mean interviewing the experts within your organisation. Involve the people who know their stuff.

3. Co-create. Content created in partnership with credible influencers will likely carry more weight than content you produce on your own. Who do you (or colleagues) know across your industry? Can you involve them? (In a 2017 survey by DemandGen, 87% of B2B buyers said they give more credence to industry influencer content – so try to get influencers working with you.)

4. Links. You may not want to link people away from your content. But including a link or two that backs up anything you are saying makes you appear more involved and engaged in what’s happening across your sector.

5. More help (and less sales). Too much salesy content can ruin your credibility. You look desperate. Sell less. Help more people, more often. (Unless, of course, the content really is purely a sales piece.) 

8. Creative

Being creative all day, every day is hard. It’s easy to get caught up in a cycle of ‘churning out stuff’ rather than fully committing to excellent content. That’s why when you assess existing content you may find it’s a bit dull, even if when it was published everyone loved it. (Maybe everyone loved it because it was finally finished after a painful process.)

Assessing a piece of content’s level of creativity is not easy. It’s almost impossible if you just try to score it based on a single, blanket ‘creativity’ metric. This could be why advertising legend David Ogilvy preferred to use the word ‘remarkable’ instead of ‘creative’.

Instead, try asking these questions:

• Does it really answer a question or meet a need?

• Does it stir emotions?

• Does it have a great flow, like the best stories do?

• Does it instantly look as though it will be an easy, interesting read?

• Will readers think ‘this is about me and my life’?

If the answer is ‘no’ to all these questions, work is needed. The starting point could be to edit the piece so that the answer to one of the questions is ‘yes’.

9. Call to action

It’s hard to think of a reason NOT to have a call to action (CTA) in every piece of copy and content. Will including one bring in thousands of enquiries, every time? Of course not. It can’t do any harm though. And it will probably do a lot of good.

The simplest call to action is along the lines of ‘contact us to find out more’. But if you’ve put a lot of time and effort into your content, why not follow it through with a compelling CTA? Like these:

• Netflix have managed to provide three benefits within a single CTA device: “Watch anywhere, cancel anytime. Watch free for a month.”
• Basecamp make it a no-brainer: “Give Basecamp a try – it’s free for 60 days.”
• Rothy’s add an air of exclusivity to their mailing list sign up: “Find out first.”

Make sure your CTA reflects the context and where the reader is in the relationship cycle. If the content is likely to be one of the first places they come to, and you offer an expensive or high-involvement purchase, you may want to avoid a ‘Buy Now’ CTA. Something like ‘Learn More’ might be better.

And if you haven’t used CTA buttons within your content, start now. Pretty much all the A/B testing I’ve seen found that a CTA button gets more responses than a standard text CTA. Follow your main CTA proposition copy (eg ‘Join our subscriber list to get exclusive offers’) with a button. Ten examples of button copy to consider as a starting point are.

• Subscribe.
• Sign up.
• Join.
• Get started.
• Count me in.
• Yes please.
• Give it a try.
• Send me more info now.
• Take me to the good stuff.
• Get a demo.

10. Correct

When you review a piece of existing content it’s a good opportunity to check it for accuracy. Some of this is covered under ‘context’. For example, if a piece of legislation is mentioned you need to check that it’s still relevant and hasn’t been replaced by new legislation.

Here are some other things to check:

• Spelling, punctuation and grammar. Why not do a proofread, just in case any typos slipped through the net when the piece was published?
• Links. Are all the links still working and still pointing to the right place. Don’t send your readers off to 404 error pages.
• Contact details. Check that anyone mentioned as the contact person is still in position, and that any contact email addresses and phone numbers are valid.
• Images. Do you have permission to use any images that are part of the content? Include this step if the content was published at a time when people were using images without permission.
• Brand. If your brand (including your written style guide) has changed since publication, decide whether you want legacy content to follow current guidelines.

As always with proofreading, ideally it should be done by the writer AND somebody else, preferably someone who is good at it. It’s also the final step in any process, a time to spot and fix any errors, and not a time to do more editing.

Would you like the complete content audit resources?

The ultimate resource is my new e-book, which includes more detail and examples across all ten criteria, a checklist and scorecard, and hints and tips for easy fixes for the most common problems. Drop me an email now if you’d like to a copy (it’s free!).

Points 1-5 of my ten-point copy and content audit tool

In April I introduced a new tool tor assessing the suitability and quality of existing marketing content. It can also be used to assess new content while it's still in the draft stage, helping you to strive for a better finished piece. In this blog, I delve a little deeper into points one to five, and invite you to request the full 24-page e-book.

1. Context

Things change fast, and even the best content can soon become out of date. This part of the audit is designed to spot when that has happened. A simple way to think about this is to break the task down into considering the internal and external environments.

Internal environment

Sometimes internal changes mean that the content is no longer relevant to your organisation’s current strategy or activity. I saw a classic example of this while working with a client recently. They had just launched a new product with a distinctive name and were in the middle of a PR campaign to promote it. But two years previously they had used the same name for a very early version of the product that hadn’t really taken off – and their website was littered with blogs and other pages using the product name.

There was a big risk than when someone Googled the product name after seeing some publicity about it, they would be taken to a blog about the earlier version. Old content often ranks high in search results, especially if it has been extensively visited and shared. In this case, if someone landed on an old blog it would have confused customers, potentially losing sales.

External environment

If you’ve studied marketing, you will remember the ‘STEP’ model for analysing the external environment. You can use it here, considering the Social, Technological, Economic and Political factors that may make your content look out of date. (Other versions of the model are PEST, STEEPLE or PESTLE, but they all do the same thing.)

A typical scenario would be where a piece of ‘thought leadership’ content becomes out of date after changes in the economic situation. Imagine if you are a financial adviser and you have a major piece of content from 2008 discussing mortgage options. The housing market has changed since then, as have interest rates and rules around mortgage availability.

2. Clarity

It’s amazing how often something that the writer thought was very clear looks less clear when looked at again a while later. There’s something about coming back to a piece that gives us a different perspective. This is one reason why checking for clarity ('understandability') is part of the audit.

If you want to assess how clear and understandable a piece of content is, here are some tips:

Read it properly 

We often just skim through a piece of writing, missing out words or phrases and trusting our brain to fill in the blanks. You want to avoid that here. Now is the time to read the content properly. Every word, every sentence, every paragraph.

Be very tough on the content. If there is anything you don’t completely understand the first time you read it, it needs attention.

Read it out loud

When you read something out loud you perceive it in a different way. You’re more likely to spot any problems with clarity. If you find yourself stumbling over parts of the content, it’s probably an indication that there’s a problem.

Think like the reader

Again, be very tough on the content here. Look out for any word, phrase, sentence or paragraph that may be confusing to readers. Pay special attention to whether any abbreviations or industry jargon you’ve used will be understood by everyone the piece is aimed at.

A definition of jargon is ‘special words or expressions used by a profession or group that are difficult for others to understand’. But the problem with that definition is that it assumes everyone in a profession or group has the same level of knowledge and familiarity with jargon. That’s an unlikely scenario.

Identify the density

Unless you’re a brilliant writer, it’s likely that long sentences or long paragraphs will confuse or slow down many of your readers. I don’t usually give ‘rule of thumb’ advice but in this case, applying these three tips across a piece of content almost always improves it:

• Identify any sentences over 25 words and see if they can be rewritten or split into two.
• Insert line breaks in any paragraphs longer than three sentences.
• Insert subheadings after every three or four paragraphs. 

3. Comprehensive

In many cases, the best content gives readers all the information they want. It answers their questions and leaves them feeling glad they spent time with it. If I take the time to publish a page about a training course I’m running, I want people to see who the course is for, what’s included, how it’s delivered and how much it costs. If I don’t do all of that, I’m pretty certain that many people will click somewhere else rather than ask me for the missing information.

Most SEO experts also agree that comprehensive content tends to perform better. Google likes giving its users answers to their questions, and comprehensive content is usually more likely to do that. As a quick test, I googled ‘best way to control weeds’ and the first five pages listed were all 800 words or more.

4. Customers

The audit has already made a start on this, but now is the main place to ask whether the piece is really focused on the readers. (Usually this will be customers or potential customers, but other stakeholders may also apply here.) In short, is this something they will want to read and then be glad that they did?

Here’s a handy list of qualities that you can use to help with this assessment. The content may not fulfil all of them, but it should probably score well on at least one of them.

• Helpful. The reader can do something better as a result of reading the piece.
• Unique. It’s information that readers can’t get elsewhere, or if they can, they might struggle to find it all in one place.
• Interesting. The content maybe doesn’t have any practical value, but it’s informative nonetheless.
• Actionable. The readers can go and do a specific task after reading the piece.
• Inspiring. The content will inspire emotion, changing how people feel.
• Targeted. It’s clearly aimed at a specific segment/persona/situation.

On the other hand, non customer-focused content looks like this:

• Useless. It’s trying to help, but really it doesn’t.
• Obvious. It’s all stuff that the reader already knows.
• Generic. Lots of content is available elsewhere that says the same thing.
• Boring. Even if the subject matter is good, the writing style is totally uninspiring.
• For everyone. There's nothing specific to any particular type of reader. By trying to appeal to everyone, you appeal to no-one. 

5. Clickable

This is about getting people to the content in the first place. The question to ask is this: if people just saw just the headline, and maybe an associated image, would they be likely to click to through to the content? So, assuming that the content itself is strong, with good subject matter and well written, how are the title and image performing?

The headline/title. Look at the headline and ask yourself:

• Does it properly convey just how awesome the content is?
• Is it really likely to generate clicks?
• Is any data on click rates available to help you assess the title’s performance?
• Does it include words or phrases that your target audience are likely to use, including when using search engines?

The image. If the piece has a picture that appears in emails, on social media or elsewhere:

• Is it a good one?
• Is it likely to compel people to click to the content?
• And if there is no image, can you add one?

Would you like the complete content audit resources?

In my next blog I’ll take a closer look at points 6-10 of the audit framework. The ultimate resource is my new e-book, which includes more detail and examples across all ten criteria, a checklist and scorecard, and hints and tips for easy fixes for the most common problems. Drop me an email now if you’d like to be among the first to receive your copy.

Writing content today? Try being super-specific

Almost every time you write a piece of content you have a choice to make: do you make it fairly generic so it appeals to everyone, or do you narrow it down to something more specific?

If in doubt, my preference is usually to go down the specific route. Here's why...

(Photo by Scott Webb from Pexels.)

It can be tempting to try to appeal to as many people as possible with each piece of content you write. Imagine a scenario where you write blogs for a company that sells gardening equipment. Your boss has asked you to write a blog to get interest in the pond maintenance equipment.you sell.

You might want to bash out a generic piece on ‘tips for garden pond maintenance’ because that's going to be suitable for anyone with a pond. But the problem is that there are lots of articles like that. You are pitching it right into a crowded, competitive space. 

But a piece on ‘garden pond maintenance for small, shady gardens’ is much more specific. Sure, it will only appeal to people with small, shady gardens, but there are lots of people like that and they have unique problems and questions. You would probably be the only company addressing their situation. You'd be writing something they actually want to read.

As a bonus, writing specific content opens up the door to writing a series of pieces, each one on an aspect of the situation. And even better, in my experience it's also much easier to write, because you'll be more focused. 

Your ten-point copy and content audit tool

Is your content fit for purpose? Scary question, right? Most people involved in marketing know that too much of their copy or content isn’t as good as they’d like. But the task of going back through content to assess its quality and suitability can be daunting.

You wouldn't expect a doctor to look at a sick patient without any system for diagnosis. That's why I have developed this ten-point 'diagnostic tool' for copy and content. 

It's a method for assessing the suitability and quality of existing content. As a bonus, the tool can also be used to assess new content while it's still in the draft stage, helping you to strive for a better finished piece.

A copy and content audit everyone can use

If an organisation has been around for a while there could potentially be hundreds of pages of content available to readers. Lots of it may no longer represent the business the way it should (and some of it probably never did in the first place).

I have spent the last few weeks developing a simple framework for checking the suitability of existing and new copy or content. This post introduces the ten criteria in the framework and over the next couple of blogs I’ll flesh these out.

Best of all, in May I am launching a 24-page e-book that will include detailed notes and examples for each category, a checklist and scorecard, and hints and tips for easy fixes for the most common problems. (Drop me an email now if you’d like to be among the first to receive your copy.)

With that as the background, here’s the framework that will help you make the most of the time you have available for assessing and editing content.

1. Context

Content written some time ago may no longer be relevant to your organisation’s strategy, or to how the world is today. Content that is no longer relevant can be deleted, or you can bring it up to date.

2. Clarity

You may publish a piece thinking it scores well on clarity, but when looking at it again after a break you realise it’s not so clear after all. Use this opportunity to look out for the use of confusing jargon, badly written sentences, weak structure, dense formatting and anything else that acts as a barrier to clarity.

3. Comprehensive

This doesn’t mean everything has to be a long copy piece with tons of detail. But check that the essential information is included, in the context of the piece. You may be able to use the ‘what, when, where, who, why and how’ list as a quick check that the essential information is there.

4. Customers

Is the piece really focused on the readers? Usually this will be customers, but other stakeholders may also apply here. In short, is this something they will want to read and then be glad that they did?

5. Clickable

This takes being customer-focused to the next level. Is the content something that readers would be attracted to and happy to share with their network? This is also the category where SEO performance can be assessed.

6. Competition

If your competition has created similar content you probably need to check how your piece stacks up against theirs. Maybe when you published your piece it was the best source of information around. But what if someone has since gone one better?

7. Credibility

After looking at the piece’s credibility, clickability and competitive performance, you’re in a good position to assess its overall credibility. Ask yourself this: if your most wanted customer reads the piece, will they be significantly more willing to do business with you as a result?

8. Creative

Assessing a piece of legacy content is an opportunity to be more creative than when it was originally published. Does the piece feel a bit dull now? Would it benefit from a refresh?

9. Call to action

This one is simple: if there’s no call to action, add one.

10. Correct

We’re talking accuracy here, and this covers everything from spotting typos and dead links to checking that you still have permission to use any images that are part of the content.

After you’ve used this audit framework

If the piece scores well across these criteria you can consider recycling it, perhaps as a new blog or landing page. Then raise its profile across your marketing activity. If it scores very badly, and you don’t have the time or desire to fix it, maybe it’s time to say goodbye to it.

Would you like the complete content audit resources?

In my next two blogs, I'll look at the above list in more detail. But the ultimate resource will be my new e-book. Drop me an email if you’d like your free copy.

Something that doesn't need to be in a copy brief

This week I have started on a new project for a client. The aim is to produce a small website or app dedicated to part of their product range. This will be used to help launch some new products and tie them in with the existing range.

We met to get things started and the main subjects up for discussion were how we should structure the content, and how much depth of information should be included.

Should we structure it by product, product category or product features? Should we just have brief summary content linking through to detailed data sheets, or have another layer of detail in between them?

I think some people wanted to make a decision on all of this at the meeting. Thankfully we agreed to leave the decision for another time.

Decisions on structure and content can be postponed

There is no real advantage in deciding on the final structure yet. In fact, doing that could place an unnecessary restriction on us in these early stages. Instead, we are getting stuck into drafting some content and we’ll see what feels right in terms of structure and depth as we go along.

We are working in Word at the moment, rather than a content management system or database. That means it’s incredibly easy to cut and paste, change the length of content and shape the overall structure of the materials. Once everyone is agreed, we can upload content onto the system and minimal changes will be needed.

A week or two of drafting alternative versions is the next stage and as we go along the main stakeholders will have opportunities to review and comment.

At the moment nobody knows what route we’ll take and that’s fine: it’s sometimes better to let things emerge over time rather than get locked in to a fixed format too soon in the process.

Shaping a written 'tone of voice' - part three

n my previous post I discussed some of the things about your writing that can have an effect on the tone of voice. Now let’s take things a step further, with five more things that can be considered.

Choosing your words

As you write, you are constantly making choices about the words you use.

(Or: while you communicate, you are continually deciding upon vocabulary options.)

In many cases, the choice you make will determine the level of formality or informality of what you write. Will you use currently or now? Will you use collaborate or work together? Will you use positive feedback or great response?

An example often mentioned (so hey, I’ll do it too) is that MailChimp tells its staff to write ‘So sorry for the hassle’ rather than ‘We apologise for the delay’. Even in a small sentence, it’s clear that using sorry and hassle rather than apologise and delay changes the tone of voice and, as a result, gives the reader a very different perception of the company.

A tip for improving as a writer in general, and for fine-tuning your written tone of voice, is to use a thesaurus again and again as you write. Look at the alternative words available, try out different combinations and see which words best suit your message and your brand.

Spelling

Hang on a minute, surely there are no options about spelling. There is just one correct way to spell, right?

Well, no. There isn’t a central authority for spelling in the English language. Dictionary publishers make their own decisions about spelling and that can lead to some interesting dilemmas.

Most professional writers will use all right and consider alright a very informal spelling. Indeed, the folks at Oxford Dictionaries say that ‘alright is still regarded as being unacceptable in formal writing’.

But they also say: ‘There is no logical reason for insisting that all right should be written as two words rather than as alright, when other single-word forms such as altogether have long been accepted.’

Sometimes this lack of clarity over spelling has an effect on tone of voice. Using u instead of you would horrify my lawyer clients. But it might be just right - in places - for a young B2C brand. And I predict that one day even the Oxford English Dictionary will accept it: in fact it already lists u as an informal alternative to you.

Slang

One of the problems with slang is that it might be perfectly normal to some people and completely meaningless to others. The MTV website says that 'Geordie Shore features people getting mortal'. Do you know what that means?

You must keep sight of who the audience is when you are writing, and consider how that affects your use of slang. If you don’t know your audience very well, try to consult with someone who does if you want to use slang.

I often write content aimed at IT experts, but I’m not an IT specialist. So if I use some slang to add informality and colour to a piece I check with some techies that the slang has an authentic ring to it.

Grammar ‘rules’

I have put ‘rules’ in inverted commas because many of the things we are told are rules are in fact not rules at all. And yes, that does mean the ‘rule’ that you can’t start a sentence with and.

Sometimes sticking to ‘correct’ grammar adds an unwelcome level of formality to writing. You might know when to use whom rather than who but if using whom makes your writing sound stuffy, do you really want to use it?

(By the way, I cover grammar and grammar myths on my Copywriting Skills Development Programme.)

Objective vs subjective

The use of subjectivity can play a big role in giving your writing (and therefore your organisation) a personality. So if your chosen tone of voice is all about having a brand personality, it’s something to consider.

Here are two approaches to describing a sofa:

This two-seater sofa has an especially soft fabric that you will love.

We love the fabric on this sofa. In fact, we wish our clothes could be this soft!

The second version has a strong personal opinion and in doing so adds some personality to the communication. If you are struggling to get a personality across, have a go at using some subjectivity in your writing: it may be just what you need.

In summary…

I hope that across these posts on tone of voice you have a good list of some of the variables to consider. There are hundreds or thousands of other articles, blogs and guides out there on the subject too, so invest some time in further reading if this is a topic of particular interest.

Why you shouldn't sweat too much over draft #1

Writers know that it's important that everyone involved understands the process we use. The process may seem painful to some people, but it's how all writers eventually produce the right words.

We writers churn out (sorry, carefully craft) thousands of words each day. Most of what we write is intended to be draft copy for others to review. Ultimately, it is a client - either an actual external client, or a boss if we are working in-house - who has final say on what's published.

Experienced writers know that we can't hope to get every word right, every time. Or rather, we can't hope to write what our client wants, every time. There is a process going on where we write a draft, get feedback on the draft, write another draft and so on.

Anyone - writer or client - who thinks that a 'perfect' version should always be written on draft one, two or three is being unrealistic. Yes, it can happen, and it's great when it does. But more often than not, it's a process that takes a bit longer.

Let's look at why multiple drafts might be needed before we get to the final, approved and published version...

Writers don't care as much about words as clients do

 

What? Is Richard now saying that even though he has been writing for 20+ years he doesn't care about words? In a way, yes.

The issue is that we writers have lots of options about the words we use. There is never 'one correct way' to phrase something. Ultimately, it is the client who chooses what's right. That's why we don't labour endlessly over every word and every phrase in early drafts.

The client reading a draft usually has a very clear idea about how they want the message to be phrased. Or, more likely, they instantly know whether they like or dislike the writer's choice of words when they read a draft. So it would be daft for the writer to try to make a first draft 'perfect' because no matter what we write, the chances are the client will see things differently.

Here's an example. A writer working in the automotive sector writes this:

'Buy this product and you will instantly transform your motor maintenance costs'.

The client could like that and approve it immediately, or have any number of thoughts about that phrase, such as:

• We shouldn't say 'buy' as that emphasises the fact they customers have to give us money, so we should say 'invest in' instead'.
• I don't like the word 'product': I prefer 'solution'.
• 'Instantly' is too big a promise so we should say 'soon' instead.
• I think that 'vehicle' is better than 'motor'.
• Using the word 'you' sounds too informal.

Now, none of these reactions are wrong. And none are right. They are all subjective feelings about words. True, they may be informed by knowledge of the target market and overall context, but they are subjective nonetheless.

The point is that the writer cannot possibly know whether the client would rather say 'motor' or 'vehicle', or 'buy' or 'invest in'. Even the best briefing process won't go into that amount of detail about every word or phrase.

Great writing is a process of draft, feedback and re-draft

At some point, the writer has to get something down on paper (so to speak) and get it out to the client. The client needs to know that the writer will very likely use some words or phrases that the client won't like. The writer may miss out important messages. The overall tone of voice, length of copy, amount of detail and so on may be wrong.

But here's the thing: it doesn't matter. Because when the boss/client gives detailed, specific feedback about the first couple of drafts, the writer will be in a much better position to craft words that are suitable. 

That feedback stage is a vital part of the briefing process. Writers and clients alike need to embrace the process. Yes, it can feel a bit painful at times. But it's an important part of the work both parties must do if the end result is suitable, effective content.