Category: writing

Posted on by — Leave a comment

What does your marketing voice sound like?

Image shows a women with dark curly hair and blue eyes hiding the rest of her face behind books. She's thinking about her marketing voice.

What does your marketing voice sound like? It might be a bit like your mum’s phone voice when you were a kid. You knew she was talking to someone important if her voice edged towards Lady Bracknell. The way you speak probably changes for different audiences, but how does it work when you’re writing for potential customers? If you’re a one-person business, sharing your personality helps you build a connection with your audience that makes it more likely they’ll buy or work with you long term.

Of course, there are a lot of factors that influence the voice you use in your marketing. In no particular order, here are my tips to help you think about what you want your marketing voice to sound like.

You are your business

When you’re a one-person business, you set the tone in terms of how you work and treat people. As customers, we make buying decisions based on our values and whether we see them reflected in the businesses we choose. Your marketing should show people what you stand for and how you work, which can also help you attract the right people. For example, I talk about structuring my working hours around family life, which means I often attract business owners with children because they know we work in the same way.

If your work involves meeting or talking to clients, ensuring your marketing voice matches the way you speak in person gives them a seamless experience. Equally, if someone meets you at a networking event and then looks you up online, they’ll feel as if they’re talking to the same person.

How professional do you need to sound?

Your profession might create expectations about the way you come across in your marketing. If you’re a financial adviser or lawyer, your clients will expect you to take their work seriously. However, they might also worry that you’ll use technical language they won’t understand, and want reassurance that you’ll communicate clearly. Your marketing voice can find the balance between the two, demonstrating your knowledge while also being approachable and friendly. Using informal language in some contexts doesn’t mean you’re unprofessional.

What experience do you offer?

Your marketing voice and writing style need to evoke the kind of experience your customers can expect when they come to you. You could write in a reassuring way, especially if you help with something that could be causing your customer stress. Think about the experience you offer. Is it calming, exciting or entertaining? How do you want your customers to feel when they work with you? The way you write can evoke those emotions and help people understand what to expect before they decide to buy from you.

Who are you talking to?

Getting to know your audience helps you understand what they need, which is one of the foundations of good marketing. It also helps you write by allowing you to imagine having a conversation with a potential customer.

When you write, think about who the post is for and what you want to achieve, then tailor your marketing voice to the person you’re speaking to. It’s a lot better than trying to talk to everyone, as you end up speaking to no one.

What’s already working?

If you’ve already been writing content for a while but haven’t looked at your analytics, start now. Reviewing what’s working helps you understand the type of posts your readers enjoy and which ones help you get results. Review your social media and blog posts to see what gets good engagement or prompts people to buy a product or book a call.

Taking this approach can help you plan what posts to create, but it can also help you work out what language people prefer. Think about whether your more successful posts use a particular marketing voice so you can replicate it in future content.

Ready for a chat?

If you’d like some help finding your marketing voice, let’s have a chat. When you work with me, I’ll get to know you and your business, and write content that sounds like the best version of you and that your audience will love. That could be monthly blog posts or articles, social media posts, emails or pretty much anything else you can think of!

Please email me to arrange a chat or book a Zoom call to find out more.

Alternatively, sign up for my mailing list, and I’ll send you a free copy of my eBook with fifty (yes, 50) topic ideas for your marketing as a thank you. It also includes hints and tips to help you structure your posts if you’re currently writing your content yourself.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

What can Santa’s workshop teach you about copywriting?

He's made a list and is checking it twice. What else can Santa's workshop teach you about copywriting?

There’s something magical about the idea of a snow-covered workshop at the North Pole, where Santa supervises his elves as they make toys and get ready to load the sleigh on Christmas Eve. You might not think Santa’s workshop has much to do with copywriting, but I love thinking of ways to add a bit of magic to people’s lives and help them reach their goals. I don’t think Father Christmas would get very far without some hard work and efficient processes.

Here are some things I reckon Santa’s workshop can teach you about copywriting.

Make a list and check it twice

Santa checks his list twice, and I’m betting he double-checks every name label too. Mistakes can happen, but every good copywriter has a system to help avoid them.

I do my best work when I let the words flow without second-guessing myself too much. If I agonise over each word, everything grinds to a halt, and I end up with clunky paragraphs. No one wants that. Instead, I write a first draft, read it back, edit it and run it through my grammar-checking tool. This helps avoid mistakes and cuts out unnecessary fluff.

Wrap your gift perfectly

A beautifully wrapped gift adds to the Christmas excitement by adding some magic when you start opening presents on Christmas morning. You can do the same with your writing by finding ways to make it more visually attractive.

Even if you leave image creation to graphic designers, there are ways to make your words look better and encourage people to keep reading. Giant blocks of text feel daunting, so write short paragraphs and break them up with subheadings and bullet points.

Recruit your elves

Have you ever noticed how we only mention the toymaker elves when we talk about Santa’s workshop? They can’t be the only ones. What about the elves who get the sleigh through its MOT or the ones who feed the reindeer? There must be quality control or gift-wrapping elves somewhere.

Finding the right elves for each job helps you focus on what you do best. Even a relatively simple blog post can be a team effort with a writer, designer and editor. Building a team of people with different strengths helps you get better results.

Get the timing right

I saw a calculation that estimates Santa delivers presents to 526 million households on Christmas Eve, which defies the laws of physics. Getting to all those houses while it’s dark and the children inside are sleeping is quite a feat. The timing has to be spot on.

The same goes for copywriting. Deadlines matter, especially if you’re counting down to an important date like Christmas Day. Some of your products or services might be seasonal, and you want to give your customers plenty of notice to place their orders. A content calendar can help you track important dates and include a countdown to make sure you get everything done.

Spread some Christmas cheer

OK, this one reminds me of ‘Elf’, but I’m not going to sing to you unless you’re standing next to me at a concert. A magical man bringing wonderful gifts to children is a lovely idea. (Let’s overlook the implications of a stranger letting himself into kids’ bedrooms for now.)

Good copywriting doesn’t always evoke joyful feelings, but it should connect with your customers’ emotions. Using storytelling and emotional words shows people you understand their feelings, which helps them connect with you and become customers.

I never thought I’d have so much in common with Santa! I hope these tips help you find the right words to connect with your customers all year round. If you’d like me on your team, email me to arrange a chat or book a Zoom call here. I’ll get to know you and your business and write words that sound like the best version of you.

Alternatively, sign up for my mailing list here, and I’ll send you a free copy of my eBook ’50 blog topic ideas for your business’ as a thank you.

Have a wonderful Christmas!

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Are you scared to put your personality into your content?

Images of me encouraging you to put your personality into your content

When you’re a one-person business, you might not think of yourself as having a brand identity, but you probably know that your personality matters. Your character and values affect how you work, sell, and treat people. If you’re scared to put your personality into your content, you risk blending into the background and losing out on the right customers.

Why does putting personality into your content matter? I’m glad you asked.

It builds trust

People need to trust you before they’ll hand over their money. Putting your face and voice into your marketing shows your audience you exist beyond a Facebook page or website, so they’re more likely to click a link to buy a product or send you a message to book an appointment.

It can also quell nerves about contacting someone they’ve never seen. Remember, you’re a real person (did anyone else hear that in Hagrid’s voice?), so let your audience know.

It helps people get to know you

Your content shows your audience who you are and what you stand for. You might offer a similar product or service to lots of other businesses, but when you put your personality into your content, you show people the difference. In the face of many options, people often choose your business because you seem like their kind of person. You might share the same values or have a similar sense of humour, so don’t be afraid to share it.

It helps you stand out

Writing with personality can help you stand out, but images do too. I hate having my photo taken, so using images with my face on them in my marketing is challenging, but it is worth it. If your followers are scrolling their social media feeds, they’re much more likely to stop if they see a photo of someone they know and like than another stock image.

You can filter people out

You don’t have time to spare on calls with people who’ll never work with you, so putting your personality in your content helps you pre-qualify people. If you’re not for them, they can scroll on by. If they like what they see, that could lead to a call, a message or a new subscriber to your emails. The filtering process works in two ways.

Images

Looking at my photos, you won’t see a young, trendy fashionista, a beach babe or a sharp-suited city dweller. I look like someone’s mum, mainly because I am someone’s mum. You’ll see me with a cup of tea, walking in the woods or working at my laptop. If you visited the website for a corporate company or a surfing brand, the images would be very different. Working with a good photographer can help you decide how you want to appear and give you photos that reflect that.

Words

The language you use in your marketing works alongside your images. Your words tell your readers what it would be like to have a conversation with you and whether they’d get what they need. Put simply, if you like how I write, you might like me. If you think I sound weird, maybe not. I can still adapt my style to suit your business, but how I write can help you understand whether I’m your kind of person and care about the same things as you.

If you’re scared to put your personality into your content, I can help. When you work with me, I’ll get to know you and your business and write content that sounds like the best version of you and that your audience will love. Email me to arrange a chat or book a Zoom call to find out more.

Alternatively, sign up for my mailing list here and I’ll send you a free copy of my eBook ’50 blog topic ideas for your business’ as a thank you.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Why the F* would I write a cookbook?

Why the F* would I write a cookbook?

I had this food photography idea pre-pandemic and had just ordered ‘the’ dining table (to photograph on) when lockdown hit; so, I don’t even have that as an excuse! Looking back, it seems quite a strange thing to do. I wasn’t a food photographer, food writer or a chef; I just loved food. I do recall I was very open to finding something creative that was for myself. Being a wedding, event and commercial photographer, I found very enjoyable, however where did I really fit into it? I was always aware my creative soul needed more, and I needed to find myself somewhere in my creative practice.

A significant part of my photography workflow was sharing my client images on social media. I love my own work and quite simply wanted to show it off. I would share funny stories about working with clients and took the writing of this very seriously. Over years and years, I was writing more and more as it was also a valuable part of my marketing. I approached a lot of work with good humour to make my posts a little more personal, engaging and fun to read. I always felt social media needed livening up a little.

The cookbook

When I started taking and sharing snaps of my food with my phone, I utilised my writing skills that I hadn’t really acknowledged I had. I saw it as a fun thing that I did, but the idea that I could be considered a ‘writer’ was a totally alien concept. I literally just grabbed by book and sat it next to me now to remind myself that I did actually write a book. My name is Matt, I wrote a cookbook, and I am a food writer. I spent a good while in the 4.5 years it took me to publish the book to own ‘food writer’, and annoyingly; I am still a little detached from it. Please don’t shoot the messenger, I am just conveying the tedious facts!

Over the course of this project, my approach became:

  1. Obsess over the recipe. This could be hours, days, months or years.
  2. Make a mental plan of action to ensure that the outcome was pleasing (I’d say I had a 90-95% success rate. The 5-10% miss days were not very pleasing).
  3. Cook the food.
  4. Set the scene to photograph usually on my dining table but could be anywhere. This mainly involved ceramics, boards, and vintage cutlery.
  5. Style the food.
  6. Obsessively photograph the food.
  7. Eat the food (which was always secondary, so often it blew my mind how incredible a cook I had become).
  8. Sit down comfortably and reflect on the whole mad and sweaty but joyous experience and tell the story with delicious words.
Matt with his gorgeous cookbook!

Getting the cookbook out there

The bringing together of the project to publish came with challenge after challenge. The design element I found utterly excruciating, but now is not the time to delve any further into that subject. If I am totally honest, I didn’t think I could pull it off. I genuinely wanted to see how deep in myself I was willing to dig. I sold the idea to myself (and subsequently the Kickstarter campaign) in the form of ‘is it worth following your dreams?’. Being a romantic at heart, I knew that I would NEVER say no to that question. If the answer is no, what is the point in being? I basically tricked myself into pulling the impossible out of a hat.

In the months before I launched my Kickstarter campaign, I was at the doctors with severe anxiety and as if by magic, ADHD landed hard on my lap. It totally blew my mind and explained a lot, but certainly didn’t put me off. I needed to get this book over the finish line no matter the cost. In my new neurodiverse world, this project had become a wild, yet nourishing hyperfocus. 

In hindsight, would I do this project again? One hundred percent I would! Would I recommend others doing such a thing? I’m not sure I would like that on my conscience to be honest.

Finally, I dare you to ask yourself: ‘Is it worth following your dreams?’

‘Where the F* is my Dining Table?’ – available at https://mattgloverphotography.co.uk/cookbook/

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Can you talk about sensitive subjects in your blog?

Can you talk about sensitive subjects in your blog? It looks as if I'm hiding from the idea!

How do you deal with sensitive subjects in your content? Do you ignore them, skirt around the edges or share everything? You might wonder whether your definition of a touchy subject is the same as other people’s and worry about upsetting someone if you get it wrong.

The thing is, talking about sensitive subjects can help you connect with your audience. There’s no easy answer, but here are a few reasons why you might be avoiding some subjects and how you can approach them.

Maintaining client confidentiality

Maintaining client confidentiality is vital to every business, especially if you have a legal duty or signed an NDA. Alternatively, you might just not have permission from the client.

Anonymised case studies and posts can be a great way to talk about your work unless there are giveaway details. I’ve even heard about confidentiality agreements so tight you can’t even mention what you had for lunch. In some cases, you could tell the story and leave the confidential bits out.

Embarrassment

You might be reluctant to share a story if you messed up and don’t want to tell anyone. That’s natural, but we’re all human and make mistakes. The important thing is to reflect on what you learned from the experience and share that with your audience.

Sharing something a bit embarrassing humanises you. You’re not an invincible robot; you’re just like them. Depending on your audience, it could also help them avoid making the same mistake.

You’re worried about upsetting people

Some businesses have upsetting subjects at their core because of the services and support they provide. For example, mentioning bereavement can be upsetting, but if you’re a grief counsellor, you’re trained to help.  People often put off writing a will because they don’t want to think about death, but your posts can educate people about why they need to act instead of ignoring something.

You can’t always predict what people will find upsetting, but knowing your audience and choosing the right words all help.

There are experiences you don’t want to share

That’s completely understandable. If an experience is still raw, you may not be ready to talk about it, which may never change. If you have a connection with your audience that helps you understand each other, it can help to share. You don’t have to share all the painful details if you don’t want to, but thinking about what you can talk about will establish that connection and can be incredibly helpful to everyone.

Don’t make jokes about sensitive subjects

This comes with a caveat. I have a friend in the medical profession who has told me about the dark sense of humour she and her colleagues share. It’s a way of releasing the pressure when you have people’s lives in your hands. They all get it, but a casual observer would be horrified. They make the kind of jokes you can only make when you’re sure of your audience. If you’re sharing something on a public platform and don’t know who will read it, tread carefully.

I can help you find the right balance in your marketing. When you work with me, I’ll get to know you and your business. I’ll suggest topic ideas if you need them, and we’ll spend half an hour a month (or longer if you prefer) chatting about your business and our latest topic. Then, I’ll write content that sounds like the best version of you and that your audience will love. Email me to arrange a chat, or use this link to book a Zoom call and find out more.

Alternatively, sign up for my mailing list here, and I’ll send you a free copy of my eBook ’50 blog topic ideas for your business’ as a thank you.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Do you want to tell a good marketing story?

Image shows a blank page waiting for a good marketing story

Once upon a time, our ancestors gathered around fires to tell stories that kept them alive. It bonded the tribe so they’d all look after each other and know to watch out for that scary-looking tiger that came ‘this close’ to eating the storyteller. (I imagine it as the prehistoric version of ‘the one that got away’ after a fishing trip.) Sharing stories still helps us connect with other people, and that’s what marketing is all about. So, here are my tips on how to tell a good marketing story.

Choose a structure

Good stories have a structure that helps you understand what to expect. Starting a story with ‘once upon a time’ can be comforting if it’s a bedtime story or unexpected if it’s a LinkedIn post. Your story structure depends on whether you share a case study explaining how you solved a problem and the process or a post about a personal decision.

Jumping in at the most dramatic part of the story hooks your reader, and you can fill in the details later. Writing bullet points can help if you’re unsure where to start.

What does your story say about you?

A good marketing story shares your expertise but can also let your customers get to know you. When you write, ask yourself what the story says about you. You don’t have to be perfect; it’s better if you aren’t. Telling your audience about a mistake or a challenge and what you learned from it makes you more relatable because we all slip up sometimes.

I once agreed to work with a client because I needed the money, ignoring the alarm bells that told me they weren’t trustworthy. After several stressful months in which I did far more work than we’d agreed, they disputed my invoices. It taught me to pay attention to the red flags and do better research into potential new clients.

The ‘so what?’ test

It’s a harsh truth that your customers care more about themselves than they care about you. You might tell a highly personal story in your marketing, and the response could be a resounding ‘So what?  Before you start, ask yourself what your audience will get from your story. Do you have shared experiences that will resonate? Have you solved a problem like theirs before? It could simply show them that you’re easy to talk to.

Start gathering stories

What stories could you share from your own life? They could be personal or business-related, but you should be able to create a business link to pass the ‘so what?’ test. I once set the satnav to take me to a shop on the outskirts of town. I’d visited before but was approaching it from a different direction. The satnav told me I needed to go straight on, but that felt wrong. Then, I looked up and saw a massive sign on the road to my left. It reminded me that sometimes, in business, you should follow your gut rather than a road map someone else has created.

If you want to tell a good marketing story, I can help.

When you work with me, I’ll get to know you and your business. I’ll suggest topic ideas if you need them, and we’ll spend half an hour a month (or longer if you prefer) chatting about your business and our latest topic. Then, I’ll write a post that sounds like the best version of you and that your audience will love. To find out more, email me to arrange a chat or book a call here.

Alternatively, sign up for my mailing list here, and I’ll send you a free copy of my eBook ’50 blog topic ideas for your business’ as a thank you.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

How can your marketing look after your existing customers?

Image shows a guest guidebook, which is one way of creating marketing to look after your existing customers.

You know that good customer service is vital to your business. You might think that marketing is all about bringing in new people, but it can also look after your existing customers.

It’s about going above and beyond basic information, like your delivery updates, booking confirmations and contact details. Here are my favourite ways to use your content marketing to look after your existing customers.

Product tips and tricks

Showing customers how to get the best out of a product they’ve already bought shows them you’re interested in more than their money. You want them to get the best results. Instructions on product use are essential, but you can enrich the experience with advanced tips or alternative uses. This could help you attract new customers and support existing ones with the same content.

Sudocrem did this in a recent advert. It’s famous as a nappy cream, but they showed how it can be used on injuries or for skin conditions.

Getting ready

Sometimes, the best way to support your customers is to help them prepare in advance. If they’ve booked a beauty treatment, you should provide safety information, but you can also offer advice on how to make their spray tan last longer or maintain their hair between appointments.

Holiday packing lists can reduce their stress, or if you sell meal kits, you could let them know what kitchen equipment they’ll need. You can use all of these as blog posts to give your audience a taste of the customer experience you offer. It’s even better if you recommend things you don’t sell, as it shows you’re not just looking to make another sale.

Destination guides

I love planning holidays and looking for fun things to do while I’m away with my family. We’ve had some holidays with Eurocamp over the past few years, and they send destination guides via email. Eurocamp design the guides for their customers, so they include details of the facilities and activities on site. However, they also tell you about other things to do in the area, how far away they are and what age group they suit. If I’d written something like this I’d put it on the website too, to attract people who haven’t chosen their destination yet.

I used to write blogs for a holiday park, where customers owned their static caravans. We got great feedback; customers felt the owners cared and wanted them to enjoy their time away.

User-generated content

Big brands often use user-generated content, which is a great way to generate social proof with minimal effort. Encourage your customers to use your product, take a photo of themselves and share it on social media with a hashtag that’s specific to your business.

If you’re sending a physical product, you could include an extra treat, like some sweets or a bar of chocolate, with their order. Alternatively, ask them to showcase the results they’ve achieved with your product by sharing before-and-after photos. You can offer an incentive, such as a discount or entry into a prize draw, for anyone who posts.

Repurpose everything

There’s more than one way to use your content. User-generated before and after photos can go into your emails, website and sales pages, as well as social media. Start with a simplified version of your destination guide on a sales page and create a longer one for customers who’ve already booked their holiday.

You can use almost anything in an email and a blog post. For example, if your customer’s meal kit is on its way, you can let them know what kitchen equipment they’ll need. It could also encourage people who are reluctant to try your product because they’re worried they’ll need lots of fancy kitchen gadgets.

If you want to create marketing content to look after your existing customers and speak to your target audience, I can help.

When you work with me, I’ll get to know you and your business. I’ll suggest topic ideas if you need them, and we’ll spend half an hour a month (or longer if you prefer) chatting about your business and our latest topic. Then I’ll write a post that sounds like the best version of you and that your audience will love. To find out more, email me to arrange a chat or book a call.

Alternatively, sign up for my mailing list here, and I’ll send you a free copy of my eBook ’50 blog topic ideas for your business’ as a thank you.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

What do beginners need to know about what you do?

What do beginners need to know about what you do?

You’re an expert at what you do, so it might be hard to remember when you were a beginner. However, when new people see your content, a few of them will probably be completely new to the kind of work you do. It’s worth thinking about ways to talk to them, so ask yourself: what do beginners need to know about what you do?

What knowledge helps people work with you?

Does your business help beginners, or is there an entry point that makes your working relationship easier? For example, selling a product is often quicker and easier if your customers know exactly what they need.

I don’t do marketing strategy, so I love it when people come to me with plans or already know their customers well. I can help with topics, but they’ve done the groundwork and know what they want their marketing to achieve.

What information can you share?

If your business offers training, your content can share your knowledge and give your customers a taste of the training they’ll receive. Even if you don’t train people, your marketing can educate them about what will help them work with you. For example, I talk about ways to get to know your ideal customer even though it’s not part of my core service.

Sharing the basics in a short guide or quick tips can also give your audience the confidence to contact you without worrying they’ll sound stupid or ask silly questions.

Use lead magnets

Lead magnets encourage people to sign up for your email list and can work in the same way as the rest of your content. A lead magnet doesn’t have to be complicated; the shorter, the better. The idea is to offer your audience valuable information that gives them a quick win when they put it into practice.

Creating a lead magnet that helps beginners who may want to work with you also means you only spend time emailing people who could be genuine customers.

Create products

You don’t always have to give information away for free. You can offer products even if you offer a one-to-one service like I do. For example, if you have a craft business, you might write about different craft techniques, equipment and how to get started. You can also create a beginner’s kit with a simple project, materials, and instructions that help customers learn and build confidence.

My version of this is in my eBooks, which include ideas for your content marketing and your Christmas posts.

Team up with other businesses

This is one of my favourite ways to work. Collaborating with businesses related to yours but that don’t offer the same service helps you reach a wider audience. You can share guest blogs on each other’s websites and social media feeds, organise joint events, or refer your clients to each other.

This approach can make your clients’ lives easier. If you’re a wedding photographer with a network of other wedding professionals, recommending people can save your clients time and stress. I work with marketing consultants and trainers, graphic designers, and web designers so our clients don’t have to build a whole team from scratch when they start a new project.

If you have a plan but lack the time or energy to turn it into new marketing content, I can help. I’ll write blogs, posts, emails, and whatever else you need to engage your audience. Head to my shop for eBooks with marketing inspiration. If you’d like to chat about how it works, you can book a call here.

Alternatively, sign up for my mailing list here, and I’ll send you a free copy of my eBook ’50 blog topic ideas for your business’ as a thank you.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Can you create a new angle on an old marketing idea?

Image shows me sitting at my laptop, coming up with a new marketing angle on an old idea.

If you’ve been creating marketing content for a while, you might feel like you’ve said it all. (I know I sometimes do.) However, your existing content can be a great source of new ideas. Here are some ways to find a new marketing angle on an old idea.

Revisit an old post

What do you see when you look back at your old blog or social media posts? Do they make you cringe because you’ve changed or learned more about your audience since you created them? You might find posts discussing issues that are still relevant but where your advice has changed. You can base a whole new post on the same topic, sharing the knowledge you’ve gained since then, and it’ll still be relevant to your audience.

Update a resources post

Sharing the tools you use can help your audience in multiple ways. Say you run a craft business selling tools and materials; showing people what you use yourself can help beginners and improvers. A hairdresser can share products and tools to help customers maintain their locks between appointments. I talk about software such as Grammarly, which helps me with my grammar, so you can use it when you write your own posts.

Expand a subheading

If you’ve ever written a post with some quick and easy tips, review it to see if you can expand on one of the subheadings. For example, some of my posts on writing a blog mention creating a good headline to catch people’s attention as a subheading. I expanded it into a full post on ways to do that. (https://www.kirstyfrancewrites.co.uk/write-a-headline-tips/)

You may have kept things short and sweet for a tips post, but expanding a subheading lets you share more of your expertise. You can also link between the two posts to improve your SEO.

Have industry updates changed how you work?

Looking back at old content, you might find that your advice has changed because of external changes in your industry. ChatGPT has impacted marketing, so you could create a post discussing the issues or recommending ways to use the technology. (https://www.kirstyfrancewrites.co.uk/ai-help-content-writing/)

There may also have been changes in the law that impact your customers and that you can educate them about. Legal changes might also mean people need to review their will or investments. You can contact existing clients, but sharing updates in your marketing could attract new ones.

Create new case studies

Case studies are a great way to show potential customers how you work and showcase the results you’ve achieved for others. When you review existing case studies, you might find that your process has changed with time or that you haven’t talked about a service that has grown in popularity. Creating new case studies with more recent clients ensures your content stays up to date. If you have business clients who are happy to go public and share that they’ve worked with you, it can be a great marketing opportunity for you both.

If you have a page full of ideas but lack the time or energy to turn them into new marketing content, I can help. I’ll write blogs, posts, emails, and whatever else you need to engage your audience. I’ll even look at your existing content to create new marketing ideas. If you’d like to chat to find out how it works, you can book a call here.

Alternatively, sign up for my mailing list here, and I’ll send you a free copy of my eBook ’50 blog topic ideas for your business’ as a thank you.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

How to use your FAQs for new content ideas

Image shows question marks representing FAQs to help you create new content ideas.

If you’ve ever run out of ideas, think about the questions you’re asked most often and write a blog or social media post to answer them. Your FAQs can be a great source of ideas, as if people are asking you in person, they’re likely searching for answers online, too.

Here are a few ways to turn your FAQs into new content ideas.

Expand the answers to your existing FAQs

Do you already have an FAQ page on your website? If not, think about creating one. The rest of this post should help you come up with ideas if you’re drawing a blank. If you’ve already got a page with short answers, you can share them as social media posts or expand them into a longer blog post or article.

For example, there may be a story behind why you take a particular approach, or you could expand on a process to let people know what to expect.

Link to your FAQ page

Linking between pages on your website is excellent for SEO and gives your visitors a choice about how much they want to read. For some people, a short answer might be enough, and they don’t want to wade through several paragraphs to find out what they want to know. Others might be interested in a more in-depth answer, so you can link from your FAQ page to a blog post to give them more information.

Check your client meeting notes

I make notes of every client meeting so I can remember what questions they asked, what information I gave them and what I need to remember to send afterwards. Sometimes, a potential customer might not get in touch because they’re afraid of asking a silly question. Answering the queries you’ve already had helps them to relax because they know what to expect.

If you don’t speak with new clients one-on-one, review your emails or messages to see what comes up regularly.

What do you hear at networking events?

You may have noticed that I network a lot. I always keep my ears open to understand what people struggle with because I can include details that show I understand my customers’ lives and provide tailored information about how I can help them.

Whether you attend in-person events or network online via Zoom or social media groups, see what questions and comments come up to see if they inspire a new topic idea.

Create a knowledge base

Sharing your knowledge is incredibly powerful as it shows your customers the benefits of your service and that you know what you’re talking about. It can also save you time. If a new client comes to you knowing that they need a particular product or service, it means you don’t have to answer lots of questions to help them make the right choice.

You could write about different products or explain how something works. For example, I write for an insurance broker and we create lots of different knowledge posts about how life cover or health insurance works. Their clients get to know the basics and then come to them for detailed advice.

If you’ve got a page full of ideas but lack the time or energy to turn them into new marketing content, I can help.  I’ll write blogs, posts, emails and whatever else you need to engage your audience. If you’d like a chat to find out how it works, you can book a call here.

Alternatively, sign up for my mailing list here, and I’ll send you a free copy of my eBook ’50 blog topic ideas for your business’ as a thank you.