Reaching the maximum earning potential for your business means you have to effectively market your offerings and attract new customers and clients. By now, you have likely learned that relevant and engaging content is the cornerstone to inbound lead generation and since content creation is easy, there is no need to hire a content writer or an inbound marketing company. This is a common mistake many business owners and professionals make. Before you begin, read on to learn five ways writing your own copy can damage your brand and turn potential new business away.
1. Features vs. Benefits
Understanding what your target audience wants to know about your products or services is usually quite different from what you, as an expert in the field, thinks is important. Most business people, especially in technical industries, are not good marketers. They want to talk about the features of their products or services instead of how the overall product or service will actually benefit their customers and solve their problems. Addressing and researching these problems and explaining the solution in layman’s terms can be challenging for an insider.
2. Lack of Professionalism
Many people who attempt their own content creation rather than using their inbound marketing company rely on their computer’s spellcheck for spelling and grammar errors. These are basic tools that allow many errors to slip by without warning because context is not checked. This can sometimes result in basic spelling and grammar issues that suggest a lack of professionalism to your audience. Your inbound marketing company works with writers who are experts in content creation and each piece is reviewed by several people (most importantly, YOU) before it is published under your name.
3. Using Industry Jargon
Nothing will turn away potential visitors faster than content they don’t understand. Keeping things simple and clear shows that you are easy to work with, are approachable and efficient. Avoid using large, obscure words or industry-specific jargon whenever possible. You are not trying to impress your competition, you are trying to inform and engage prospects that are just learning about what you have to offer.
4. Coming Across as Promotional or Overly-Opinionated
When building your brand’s reputation, you have to refrain from presenting your opinions as facts to your potential customers. If you do share an opinion (not recommended in most cases), be sure to state it as such. If you are presenting facts, cite them so your readers can form their own conclusions. We have a saying at Lasso Up when advising our clients about web content: “Don’t tell them. Show them.” For instance, instead of saying you have the best customer service, offer client testimonials to prove that point. If you think your staff are experts, rather than just saying so, offer their credentials as proof. Don’t say you save people money, offer data to prove your claims. Inflammatory statements breed skepticism among experienced web researchers.
5. Obvious SEO Push
Cramming keywords into your content will sound artificial to your readers and will be counterproductive with search engine placement. Keywords are critical to SEO however, if your reader can pick out what your target keywords are, you are not using them naturally.
Writing your own content may sound simple but it takes a serious investment of time and care to ensure you are presenting your brand in its best light.
