The digital marketing funnel is a visualization of the stages your prospects go through before they eventually become your customers. While many businesses focus most of their energy on the beginning and end of the funnel, the middle needs just as much attention.
Middle-of-the-funnel content marketing is critical to increasing conversion rates and giving your potential customers an informative, seamless journey through your marketing funnel.
In this article, we will share some crucial advice on how to improve your MOFU marketing along with successful examples of this type of content.
What Is Middle of the Funnel Content Marketing
The marketing funnel is a tool businesses use to gain insights into the buyer’s journey. It is typically divided into three parts: top of the funnel (TOFU), middle of the funnel (MOFU), and bottom of the funnel (BOFU).
While many prospects follow the traditional route of going through each marketing stage in order, customers today can come into the funnel at any stage and in any order. You could even encounter an impulsive buyer who heads to the bottom of the funnel without spending much, if any time, at the top or in the middle.
Top of the Funnel
The top of the funnel is where you first introduce potential customers to your brand. The goal of TOFU content is to attract new people to your website. It typically includes blogs, paid ads, podcasts, and social media. Users interact with your content because it solves a problem for them. If they don’t like what they find or your products and services won’t solve their problem, they may leave the funnel at this point.
Middle of the Funnel
Prospects still interested in your brand move on the middle of the funnel. In this stage, users are considering whether your business will fully meet their needs. MOFU content typically includes checklists, surveys, and educational resources. At this stage, you are trying to convince prospects that your products and services will solve their problem. More prospects will leave the funnel at this stage.
Bottom of the Funnel
At the bottom of the marketing funnel, also called the decision stage, prospects are deciding if they want to become your customer or not. BOFU content makes the final push to show off your value with customer reviews, comparison charts, and product demonstrations.
The value of the top and bottom of the funnel is clear. The top of the funnel attracts people to your brand, and the bottom of the funnel closes the deal. However, without strong MOFU marketing, there isn’t a clear path forward and many prospects will fall off.
Why Does Middle of the Funnel Content Matter?
The middle of the funnel is where your business needs to nurture your leads. At this stage, prospects are looking for more in-depth information about your business and products.
MOFU Marketing Can Increase Sales
To anyone new to sales and marketing strategies, it might seem like customers can move directly from showing interest in your business to buying your products. While this does happen occasionally, it is not something you can count on every time.
What these inexperienced marketers often overlook is the educational component of the middle of the funnel. Without a solid strategy for the middle of your marketing funnel, your leads could lose interest in your products and move on to your competition.
In 2020, Google realized that even as a global powerhouse, it still needed to pay attention to the marketing middle. It found when it focused its efforts on the middle of the funnel, it earned 16 times more product sales than before.
Global consumer data leader, Nielson, found similar results in an analysis of packaged goods campaigns for consumers. It found that marketing strategies that covered the entire funnel had 45% better returns than those that only focused on one stage of the funnel.
While your business may not be as ubiquitous as Google or Nielson, these marketing results prove that the middle of the funnel can have a significant impact on how many prospects come out of the funnel as paying customers. Your customers want to be seamlessly guided through the marketing funnel and learn more about you and your products before they commit. This is why middle of the funnel content is so important.
MOFU Marketing Nurtures and Qualifies Leads
When your sales team keeps asking for more leads, they likely really want better leads. One of the key roles of the middle of the funnel is to filter through your leads so only the best and most qualified leads make it through to the bottom.
If you were to ask your sales manager if they wanted 100 fresh leads or 10 nurtured, highly qualified leads, they’re probably going to take the 10 every time.
Lead nurturing and lead qualification help you discover which leads are truly interested in your products and services. You can then focus your MOFU content on the specific needs of those qualified leads.
7 Proven Middle of the Funnel Marketing Practices
Now that you understand why the middle of the funnel is so important, here are 7 proven strategies you can use to improve your middle of the funnel content marketing.
1. Offer Content with Real Solutions
By the time a prospect reaches the middle of the funnel, they understand what their problem is, and they are looking for a solution. Your marketing materials at this stage need to focus on how your products and services solve problems, and not just any problems, your prospect’s problems.
Your potential customers don’t want to waste time filtering through content that describes those problems, they are ready for solutions.
2. Focus on Customer Validation
For this type of MOFU content, listen to your potential customers. What are they saying about your products? Do they need more information about a particular feature or why your services are priced a certain way? Whatever information they’re looking for that will help them decide on your brand, that is the type of content you need to offer.
3. Use Lead Scoring
Lead scoring is a common sales and marketing technique that assigns a numerical score to each lead. With that score, you can prioritize the leads most likely to turn into paying customers.
The scores come from a prospect’s behaviors and profile and are typically based on previous customers and leads who did not become customers.
Your company can compare your current leads to your previous leads to see what they have in common. If they match more closely with a successful customer, they will likely get a higher score than a lead that matches more with a lost lead.
While there is no exact formula for lead scoring, many companies use some of the following considerations:
Page views on your company’s website
Demographic information
Online behavior
Company information
Social profile
Email engagement
Potential false information
Lead scoring helps you create more specialized middle of the funnel content.
4. Stay in Contact with Email Marketing
Many leads spend a lot of time in the middle of the funnel, especially if you are a B2B brand. To keep your company name and products at the forefront of their mind, invest in quality email marketing.
While overdoing it can quickly get you flagged as spam or cause someone to unsubscribe, carefully planned messages can encourage your leads to continue their customer journey and ensure they don’t forget you.
These MOFU marketing emails should include helpful information such as product updates, your latest blog posts, links to ebooks, and other high-value, educational content.
5. Educate Your Leads
Make it easy for your leads to get to know your brand and your products with a wealth of educational materials. This will make it easy for them to learn as much as possible and feel more confident in their decision to become a customer.
Content like product demonstration videos and in-depth how-to guides are what your leads need in the middle of the funnel.
Make sure these educational resources are well organized and easy to find on your website. If finding this information is frustrating for your leads, it could be enough for them to dismiss you for one of your competitors.
6. Simplify Communication
One of the worst mistakes a company can make in the middle of the funnel is making it difficult for leads to contact them. If the only contact information available leads directly to sales, this adds unnecessary friction to something that should have a simple solution.
When a lead has a question or concern, you should have a general helpline available along with other popular options like chatbots and FAQ sections available 24 hours a day.
7. Improve Your CTA Mapping
Most pages on your website should have some type of call to action or CTA. CTAs are a crucial tool in letting your leads know what they should do next. If they read through a product page, but there is no link to learn more or proceed to purchase, they have hit a dead end.
If you find many of your leads are dropping out in the middle of the funnel, your CTAs might be missing or leading them in circles back to the content they’ve already seen.
Map out your CTAs to make sure they follow a logical progression that clearly moves your leads through the marketing funnel.
Types of Middle of the Funnel Content (with Examples)
With a good understanding of why middle of the Funnel content is important and how you can use it, here are some middle of the funnel content examples.
Blogs: Blogs are an important part of content marketing for all stages of the marketing funnel. For MOFU content, blogs should offer deeper insights into your products and services to show leads how they work in the real world.
Airtable does a great job of this in its blog. In the Stories section, you can read blogs about how companies use Airtable to solve problems. This strategy uses customer validation to convince other companies that their products can work for them too.
Case Studies: Case studies are another example of customer validation. Not only do they tell a story about how a business used or is still using your products, but they typically include clear results with data to back them up.
In this example, ClearVoice shares how its blogging strategy helped Waikiki Resort recover from having to close for eight months in 2020.
FAQ Databases: Giving leads an easy option to quickly find answers to common questions is crucial for middle of the funnel marketing. One of the simplest ways to do that is with a Frequently Asked Questions database.
At Express Writers, our FAQ section includes categories for every stage of the funnel. Mid-funnel leads would likely be interested in the EW Basics and Our Process sections, which offer an overview of how our content process works.
Educational Resources: Often, offering something for free can encourage leads to stick around. Once they’ve realized the benefits of the free product, they may be convinced to invest fully and become a paying customer.
HubSpot offers an extensive library of free marketing resources, including workbooks, templates, ebooks, and guides. Many of these resources are gated, meaning a lead must give their contact information before they can download the product. This works in favor of HubSpot so they can stay in contact with their new lead.
In addition to these popular types of middle of the funnel content, you can also consider:
Webinars
Service/product pages
Social media content
Product demonstration videos
Product reviews
White papers
Customer testimonials
Online courses
Ace Every Stage of Your Content Marketing Funnel with Express Writers
By giving the middle of the marketing funnel the attention it deserves, you should start seeing significant results, especially if your business has neglected it in the past. Now that you’re ready to commit more time and resources to the middle of the funnel, you need the right content to improve your conversion rates.
At Express Writers, we are experts in creating content for every stage of the marketing funnel. We understand why each stage is important and how to deliver the right content for each stage.
If your marketing team has struggled with middle of the funnel content before, employing some outside help might be necessary.
If you choose Express Writers, we will match the best writers to your business needs to ensure you get the best content possible. Whether you want one blog or are ready to commit to a long-term partnership, we have content options for every budget.
Explore our Content Shop today to get the MOFU content your business needs.
When you hear the phrase “artificial intelligence” (AI), you might imagine sentient machines determined to take over the world. In reality, AI has become a useful tool many of us use every day – think Siri or Alexa. AI in content marketing has also become widespread.
This technology has benefits and drawbacks, both of which can be significant. A late 2020 survey from
Gartner shows that 41% of respondents reported increased revenue after incorporating AI tools into their marketing campaigns. Another 38% added more personalization to their content with AI, which led to better customer satisfaction.
While AI can produce some impressive content, if used too extensively, the lack of humanity in the pieces you write is likely to be extremely noticeable.
If you’ve been thinking about using AI in your content, this is the article for you. We will explore the history of AI in content marketing, how content writers can use it today, and why humans will never be replaced by AI.
A Quick History of AI
Artificial intelligence used to be something relegated to science fiction. Fans of the genre could watch a human-like robot explore the final frontier in Star Trek (Data) or kill off its human overlords in 2001: A Space Odyssey (Hal). But, in the real world, AI is used as a versatile tool across many industries.
Over the last century, the theories around AI, or artificial intelligence, have evolved wildly. In fact, the term “artificial intelligence” was first coined by John McCarthy in 1956. Additionally, scientist and mathematician, Alan Turing, created what we know today as the Turing Test in the 1950s.
This series of questions is used to determine if a computer is capable of human-like thinking. These days, many researchers disregard the Turing Test today because it is too simple and has too many limitations. Then, in the 1960s, the United States Department of Defense started investing in artificial intelligence research.
Since then, AI has expanded to nearly every industry around the world and continues to evolve rapidly. When used correctly, artificial intelligence is an impressive and versatile tool. It is capable of making our lives easier, regardless of how it gets shown off in movies or television.
In recent years, we have seen incredible feats of AI from IBM’s Watson besting Jeopardy champions to Google’s AI reading lips better than professionals. AI has also become adept at predicting the future with MIT’s AI predicating actions two seconds before they happen.
With innovations like these, finding ways to use this advanced technology in content marketing is a no-brainer. There’s even been a big breakthrough in the use of AI in marketing with the evolution of “big data.” Now that computers can store massive amounts of information, machine learning and AI capabilities have skyrocketed.
These advancements are great for AI in content marketing because they can allow for more in-depth research and assistance while creating content.
Types of Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence is used in much of the technology we interact with every day. AI is generally split into three categories based on capabilities:
Narrow AI: Also known as Weak AI, Narrow AI is typically limited to one task with predefined functions, for example, Alexa, Siri, or Google Translate.
General AI: Also known as Strong AI, General AI can learn and perform many tasks that humans are capable of, such as driving a car, creating a digital painting, or writing a novel.
Super AI: Super AI has surpassed human capabilities and can make rational decisions. Human beings have yet to create super AI.
How AI is Used in Content Marketing
When used well, AI can be a powerful tool for content marketing and even offer a competitive advantage. As the amount of data we produce continues to grow, AI is a necessary tool to stay on top of informational changes. Moreover, AI has the potential to revolutionize content writing, providing automated assistance and enhancing productivity in creating compelling and engaging content.
Here are some of the most useful ways to use AI in content marketing.
Personalized Content
Reading content that feels like it was created for you can make anyone feel special. In fact, one study by McKinsey shows that 71% of consumers expect personalization in their interactions with businesses, and 66% of them feel frustrated when they don’t get it.
Using AI when you automate some forms of content can help you keep things personalized at a larger scale. Doing this ensures that you avoid being overwhelmed with frustrated customers that leave you for a business with more of a personalized touch.
Personalized content is most evident in email marketing. Click through a small handful of promotional emails in your inbox. How many of them include your name in the header? Or reference an item you looked at on a company’s website but did not buy?
Source: Email from BuzzSumo
Streaming services like Netflix use AI to personalize your home page with recommended content based on what you have previously watched and liked.
Personalized content can help increase customer engagement and revenue with minimal human interaction needed.
Automated Content
Some large-scale news agencies like Washington Post, Fox, and Yahoo have started using AI to generate articles for the latest news updates. AI can instantly learn the information it needs and produce an article covering the topic.
This software won’t necessarily replace journalists or writers, but companies use the tools to share stories more quickly as they happen. They are then able to free up employees for other tasks and avoid the loss of hours and the expense needed to have a human write the content with a very short turnaround time.
Data-Driven Insights
Computers can take in and understand vast quantities of information in small fragments of time. This data -devouring behavior is helpful in learning new insights about your customers. What might take your marketing team weeks of analyzing, an AI-powered system can get through in minutes.
With these powerful insights, you can create more useful and personalized content that your leads and customers want to see.
Improved User Experiences
One innovative AI-powered tool that has become ubiquitous across the internet is chatbots. These systems use Natural Language Processing (NLP) to mimic human conversation. Today, they are commonly used as a customer support channel.
While chatbots are not a complete substitute for human help, they are a great way to fill in the gaps and offer customers some self-service options since chatbots never sleep or take a day off. Chatbots can help customers solve simple solutions by linking to FAQ databases.
You can also use the information you collect from your chatbots to drive content marketing decisions. For example, if customers frequently use your chatbots to ask the same question, this could be an excellent topic to cover in a blog or to add to an educational database.
Content Generation
Perhaps one of the best uses of AI in content marketing is the ability to save vast amounts of time with content generation tools. Instead of taking hours to choose blog topics, find relevant keywords, create a content strategy, and schedule social media posts, AI can do all of that in a small fraction of time.
With the time saved by not having to do these tasks, content marketers can focus more of their energy on the creative side of things, a place AI hasn’t fully entered.
How Does AI Generate Content?
When artificial intelligence generates new content, it examines already existing content to put together something new. Advanced algorithms like Natural Language Generation (NLG), NLP, machine learning, and deep learning collect data and look for patterns. Then, they generate something new, yet similar enough to what already exists.
Here are three content examples:
Text Generation
AI text generation is straightforward and works with the following steps:
Input your desired topic along with any other required information.
The AI will gather and analyze relevant information from its database and the internet to create a subset of data.
The AI processes the subset using NLP.
The AI uses NLG to create unique content with the most useful and reliable information.
One of the key benefits of AI-generated text is that it learns and improves every time it generates content. In addition, the more data it has to draw from, the better the content will be.
Deepfake Videos
Deepfake videos are a relatively new area in AI technology. This advanced technology can replace a person’s face or generate a new face for someone in a video.
While this technology is popularly used for comedic purposes in many YouTube videos, it can be used for marketing purposes, too.
You could use the technology to add more personalization to your content. For example, if a customer wanted to see what a model’s makeup would look like on their skin tone, deepfake technology can adjust the video to match the viewer.
Images
In recent years, AI-generated image technology has exploded. Many people enjoy playing with these tools to see some of the wild images AI technology creates. While some images look more like a Salvador Dali painting, others are incredibly realistic and have the potential to be a new source of images for online content.
Take this image for example. It has an image input of “a bowl of soup as a planet in the universe as digital art.” Looks pretty good.
Some of the most popular AI image generators include:
DALL-E 2
Stable Diffusion
Nightcafe AI
Craiyon
Midjourney
Why AI Can’t Replace Human-Created Content
With so many advancements and admittedly impressive results, it might seem like AI is quickly on its way to replacing human content creation. Thankfully for many of us in the marketing industry, this is not true.
Here are 6 reasons why humans will never be completely replaced by AI for content creation:
1. AI Does Not Have Emotional Intelligence
While some AI technology can interpret and even mimic human emotions, that does not mean AI has emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is the ability to control, express, and be aware of your and others’ emotions. It also involves handling interpersonal relationships and being empathetic.
As social animals, humans require emotional interactions to be happy and healthy. We communicate our emotions not only through body language and our words but through the release of hormones. This is something AI cannot replicate. That means content written by a person can better connect with your audience, and that’s the heart of creative marketing.
2. AI is Limited to Its Data Inputs
AI is fully based on the information it receives. While that information is vast, it is also limited. Computers have basic memory and storage limitations. Once that limit is reached, it requires new hardware to get more data and cannot adapt to this situation.
While humans tend to forget things, our brains never reach full capacity. We are capable of adapting, gathering new information at will, and improvising to new situations. These are behaviors that AI is not currently capable of.
3. AI Lacks Soft Skills
Soft skills are things like teamwork, creative thinking, interpersonal skills, and critical thinking. They are highly valued in the workplace. While AI attempts to mimic these skills with NLP technology, most humans can tell the difference when interacting with AI-powered technology.
4. AI is Powered by Humans
Artificial intelligence exists solely because of human intelligence. Humans create the code that powers AI, and they are in control of the hardware AI “lives” on. As AI technology continues to advance, those advancements are made by humans.
There is no evidence that AI will ever overtake human intelligence or capabilities since it is fully designed and operated by humans.
5. AI Has Limited Creativity
While AI technology can generate content. That content is based on everything that has come before it. It can only generate creative ideas based on things that already exist. This forces AI to stay within certain parameters – the antithesis of true creativity.
Humans, on the other hand, excel at generating creative, one-of-a-kind ideas. While we can gain inspiration from others, we like to try new things and solve problems, sometimes with little to no outside help.
6. AI Complements Human Capabilities, Instead of Replacing Them
While some human roles are undeniably being replaced by AI technology, that technology is creating new human opportunities at the same time. This is true in the marketing industry as well as other industries.
According to the World Economic Forum, 85 million human jobs will be replaced by machines or AI by 2025. In that same time, this shift will create 97 million new roles for humans.
With data like this, it is clear we can use AI technology to complement human creativity and create better, more informative, and more engaging content for everyone.
Get Great Content from Human Writers at Express Writers
While there is no denying the power, versatility, and benefits of Artificial Intelligence for content marketing, we still need the human touch.
At Express Writers, we are entirely staffed by humans who create great content. Our writers will never rely on AI to generate their content. Instead, we teach them tools to help them craft 100% unique content.
Direct response copywriting is the antithesis of the ad copywriting you see on TV. Those TV copywriters are focused on a long-term game.
They want you to remember their product if or when you see it on supermarket shelves.
In contrast, direct-response copywriting focuses on the immediate moment. This is copy that’s about inspiring the buyer to take action as soon as they’re finished reading. It can be an important tool to improve conversion rates on landing pages, blogs, and other types of content.
With direct response copywriting, you’re trying to get them to complete an action like:
Making a purchase
Signing up for your newsletter
Downloading a freebie
Following you on social media
To do this, you must craft copy that tugs at your reader’s emotions and, most importantly, addresses their worries, fears, pain points, or immediate needs.
The Art of Deeply Understanding Your Reader
Renowned copywriter David Ogilvy is perhaps the best-known direct response copywriter. In fact, he is frequently called the father of modern advertising.
Ogilvy headed up incredibly successful and memorable campaigns for some of the top brands in the 1950s and ‘60s, including American Express, Rolls Royce, Hathaway, Shell, Dove, and others.
Ogilvy understood that the most effective direct response copy isn’t just directed at your target audience – it speaks to them on a personal level.
The combination of this deep understanding and direct, personal approach is the engine that runs this form of copywriting.
X Direct Response Copywriting Takeaways from Real-World Examples
How do you write great direct response copy? There are a few key principles you must follow:
To understand these principles better, we will look at a handful of real-world examples
1. A Great Headline Snags Your Readers
The first and most important principle of direct response copywriting is to craft a powerful, compelling headline. Your headline should snag your reader’s attention and entice them to keep reading.
A recent study by Microsoft showed that the average human attention span has dropped to just 8 seconds. With such limited time, crafting the perfect headline is even more important.
The right headline sparks their interest and encourages them to continue reading, helping you overcome that 8-second barrier.
Here is a classic example from none other than David Ogilvy:
“At 60 miles an hour, the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock.”
Ogilvy described this headline as the best he ever wrote. This headline was so effective, other world-class companies like Shell specifically requested Ogilvy for their campaigns and wouldn’t settle until he agreed. They refused to even consider another copywriter.
The benefit is cleverly hidden within the headline. It’s not stated but implied. When you’re driving 60 mph on the highway in this car, it’s so quiet, you’ll only hear the clock.
It’s simple and to the point. It doesn’t use any hyperbole or fluff to pad it out. It only states facts.
It states something exciting and provocative. When this ad came out, most cars had loud and obnoxious engines. Readers might think, “I would love to enjoy a quiet highway drive.”
It’s useful information. For anyone looking to buy a new car like this, the headline offers helpful information – it’s quiet.
It sparks curiosity. The headline makes the reader want to learn more. What kind of car is this? How can it be so quiet? What else can it do?
Headlines are crucial because they convince someone to read everything else. You must write a headline that makes readers want to know more. This is the keystone of writing direct response copy.
2. Long-Form Copy Informs, Persuades, and Convinces
Most direct response copywriting is long form.
Why is this?
To be more persuasive, you need to give the reader a lot of information. It is easier to convince someone to buy something with an entire page’s worth of information than a couple of sentences.
To quote Davie Ogilvy again, “The more you tell, the more you sell.”
The more information you can give your reader, the more likely they will want to follow up on the desired action.
For a good example, let’s look at this sales page for Adobe Photoshop:
It starts out with a solid headline – Everyone can. Photoshop. This plays on the prevalence of Photoshop in today’s world. The brand name has practically turned into a verb.
Along with the headline, there is some compelling introductory copy and an eye-catching animation.
Keep scrolling down the page, and you’ll see real-world examples of how professionals use Photoshop today to make their visuals more powerful.
Near the middle of the page, Adobe offers a captivating CTA in the form of a quiz.
The page continues with a how-to section with links to learn more, highlights of the latest new features and improvements, and then a selection of frequently asked questions.
There’s a lot of copy of this page, but it’s all useful, informative, and persuasive. It helps you make that purchase decision.
Most importantly, it keeps you scrolling, learning about each feature, and then entices you to click “Buy now.”
If the only copy on this page was the first paragraph, it becomes a lot less convincing. There isn’t enough information to help you decide if you want to buy the product.
Beyond this visual example, there is data to back up the case for long-form copy. Conversion Rate Experts ran a case study for Crazy Egg that compared a short vs. long landing page.
In the case study, they compared the original “control” landing page to a new page nearly 20 times longer.
They ran an A/B split test to gauge which page had a higher conversion rate. The results: the long-form content outperformed the short page by 30%.
These results make sense. With more information, customers feel more confident with their purchase and feel like they’re making a better, smarter decision.
Another consideration is the price of what you’re selling. If you have a landing page promoting a free case study, a short page is likely all you need.
However, the more expensive a product is, the longer your page should be. In the above example, Crazy Egg’s heat mapping service costs as much as $249 per month.
The key to producing long-form direct response copy is keeping your copy engaging. Long, boring content will quickly lose your readers’ interest no matter how good what you’re selling is.
3. An Irresistible CTA Clinches the Response You Want
Without a call to action (CTA), all the copy you created to inform, persuade, and convince your readers will be useless.
Think of this call as your battle cry. It inspires your readers to act now and do exactly what you want them to do.
Here is a good example of a motivating CTA for the streaming service Hulu.
Hulu has an eye-catching homepage that showcases dimmed images of some of their most popular shows. The bold green text overlay tells customers they can bundle Hulu with other streaming services to save money.
The word “get” inspires direct and immediate action, which is the hallmark of a good CTA. Notice how Hulu highlights the high-value offer with the large green, mouse-activated button. Those who want to sign up for only Hulu have to look for the less noticeable, white “Sign up for Hulu only” link.
So why is this CTA effective? It implies visitors are getting a good deal by choosing a bundle. Instead of a simple sign-up button, Hulu uses the “Get the Disney Bundle” message and emphasizes value to encourage visitors to sign up for the bundle.
Hulu’s copywriters made the CTA actionable, concrete, and persuasive – three things you must have to push your reader into the direct response you want your copy to produce.
4. Staying Customer-Focused Keeps Your Copy Relevant
Direct-response copywriting needs to stay relevant for the audience/reader to deliver the results you want. It’s about your customers, not about you.
This form of copywriting exclusively uses the second-person voice to address the reader. It’s focused on “you.”
Here is an example from HubSpot’s homepage that highlights how their CRM platform can help “you.”
In this copy, HubSpot is talking about what it offers the reader/prospect. It is not strictly about how great HubSpot is.
Many well-meaning businesses make this mistake. They make their direct response copy about them when it should be all about their customers.
To make your copy focused squarely on your customers, you must understand their wants, needs, and preferences.
Here are a few concrete steps to help you get to know your target audience:
Gather data on your current customers and look for similarities
If your customers can’t understand your copy, you’ve failed. To inspire direct action from your words, you must write at their level – not over it, and not under it.
Think of it this way: The more readable and understandable your copy is, the more people you can guide toward your desired action.
Don’t speak to your audience like they’re first graders, but don’t make your copy unnecessarily complicated, either.
Keep your content clear and straightforward. It can be tempting to move towards witty writing. However, not everyone has the same sense of humor. What is funny and clever to you might come across as trivial or even confusing to your readers. Clarity should always win out over comedy.
Skip the jargon. Every industry and business has its own “shop talk” and jargon. While you might use these words with your business partners, avoid using these words in your copy. You risk alienating your potential customers if you use this unfamiliar or complicated language. Stick with plain language that clearly conveys your message.
Avoid over-explaining. No one wants to read through pages of unnecessary information to get to the point. Most will give up before it comes to that. Keep your explanations of your products and services concise and well-rounded. Tell customers how it solves their pain points and what other people think of it.
Present trustworthy content. Your customers want guidance. Present content that’s well-researched, cites reputable sources, and presents facts and statistics to show you can be trusted.
Use Readability Checkers
A good readability checker gives you a quick glance at how easy your copy is to read.
Most checkers base their scores on the Flesch-Kinkaid Reading Ease formula. This formula determines the readability of a piece of text by looking at the ratio of words to syllables to sentences.
There are two basic scores you that come from the formula: a readability score and a grade level (i.e., the minimum grade level knowledge a person needs to understand the text).
The readability score is scaled from 0-100 (hardest to easiest). The higher the readability score, the lower the grade level that can understand it.
Here are some readability checkers you can use to test how easy your copy is to read:
For an example of incredibly simple and readable direct response copy, let’s look at the Band-Aid brand home page:
When we plug this copy into the Hemingway App, it earns a “Grade 6” score for readability. It’s so simple, nearly anyone will understand it:
Also noteworthy: 0 sentences are “hard to read” or “very hard to read.”
We can also test the readability of the entire page by plugging it into WebFX’s Readability Test:
The page will be “easily understood by 11 to 12-year-olds.” The demographic for this website would be adults, so anyone in Band-Aid’s target audience should have no problems reading its website.
6. Cultivating a Sense of Urgency Makes Direct Customer Action Inevitable
The final piece of the direct response copywriting puzzle is urgency.
For a great example of cultivating urgency in your copy, we will look at the product page for the Apple Watch Ultra. The page starts with a bold headline of “Adventure awaits.”
If you are interested in an Apple Watch, you might read this headline and wonder, “How can this watch improve my adventures?” As you scroll down the page, you learn about some of its adventure-ready features:
As you continue to scroll, the features keep adding up. This is what builds anticipation. You might start thinking, “What can’t this watch do?”
As the benefits pile up, you may feel more excited about the watch. It’s an irresistible build-up that will inevitably convince at least some potential customers to add the Apple Watch to their cart.
What’s another way to create urgency? Use the scarcity principle. The scarcity principle taps into a basic instinct – the fear of missing out. When you use this principle in your direct response copywriting, you encourage customers to purchase an item or sign up for a service before it’s gone.
You’ve likely noticed this phenomenon in your online shopping. Urgency is usually triggered by key phrases, including:
Hurry – While supplies last!
Only 3 left in stock
Limited quantities available
Amazon does an excellent job of adding urgency and scarcity to many of its products:
In this example, Amazon has a countdown for delivery and a description that says only two are left in stock. If you are considering this product, this emphasis on urgency and scarcity might encourage you to quickly click “Add to Cart” or “Buy Now.”
Make Direct Response Marketing Work for You in Your Copy
Direct response copywriting is a tried-and-true method to compel readers to act, whether it’s on your sales page, landing page, blog, email, or any other piece of content.
The compelling examples we included above can help you make your copywriting even more effective.
To learn even more about direct response copywriting and its powerful effects, read this blog from CoSchedule that explores how junk mail uses direct response techniques and how you can use those principles in your marketing.
Looking for a Direct Response Copywriter?
If you need a direct response copywriter who can inspire the customer actions you need, you’ve come to the right place.
Here at Express Writers, our talented team of expert writers can craft compelling direct response copy that gets results. See what we can do for you and check out the possibilities for web pages, email marketing, and expert blogs.
Ready to get started? Contact Express Writers today to put your direct response plan into action.
Content marketing is recognized as one of the most effective ways to grow a business and attract new customers. To be successful with content marketing, you need to share high-quality content regularly. But it can feel difficult to constantly think of useful and insightful topics that attract the right audience.
This is where online tools like Google Trends come in handy. Learning how to use Google Trends for your content marketing gives you a valuable resource for relevant, trending topics that people want to engage with.
As you read on, we’ll explore how to use Google Trends for SEO and improve your content marketing strategy.
What Is Google Trends?
Google Trends is a search feature offered by Google that shows you the most popular search terms for a specific period. Current trends are from the past 7 days, while past trends date back to 2004. The Google Trends site also allows you to check the frequency of specific search terms. On the results page, you can see the interest over time, interest by subregion, and related topics.
You can also adjust your search based on the industry, category, time frame, location, and type of search (image, shopping, news, web, or YouTube).
Google Trends can be a valuable tool for conducting market research. It gives you insights into the seasonality of search terms or even helps you gauge how much interest your products have in a certain geographic region.
Query vs. Topic in Google Trends
Google Trends gives you information on both search terms and topics. A search term is a specific word or phrase, while a topic is a group of search terms that fit into the same general concept. Google Trends measures and ranks these categories differently, so accurately comparing search terms and topics is difficult. Instead, you should compare search terms to search terms and topics to topics.
How to Use Google Trends: 11 Innovative Ways
With the help of Google Trends, you can create better, more relevant content that your audience will want to read. Try these 11 ways to use Google Trends for content marketing.
1. Conduct Market Research
Google Trends is a valuable tool for conducting market research. It can give you insights into the seasonality of certain search terms or even help you gauge how much interest there is for your products in a geographic region.
For example, let’s say you are a brick-and-mortar business based in Columbus, Ohio. You are considering building a second location in Indianapolis, Indiana. By checking Google Trends, you can find the popularity of terms relevant to your business in specific locations. If the search volume is low, you might need to reconsider your plans.
2. Discover Relevant Trending Topics
If your team struggles to find fresh topics for content each month, Google Trends is a great resource. You can explore the most popular searches nationwide or narrow it down to a specific location or timeframe. Use the charts to help visualize and compare terms.
When choosing your Google Trends topics, make sure the topic:
Is something that would interest your target audience.
3. Improve Your Keyword Research
While creating high-quality, relevant content is the most important part of content marketing, you should also consider your search engine optimization (SEO). SEO strategies help improve your search rankings for specific keywords. And Google Trends can help you do better keyword research.
Use the Explore feature and enter a keyword or phrase you are considering. You will see a breakdown of interest over time, along with the interest by subregion. Then you can try various search terms to see which are the most popular.
More popular search terms will give you better results. This is because more common keywords increase the chances of someone discovering your content and are more likely to be used in regular conversation. When creating content, you’ll want to use these keywords naturally. Keep in mind that other businesses are likely to use similar keywords, so you should narrow down some long-tail or focus keywords that are more specific to your business and content.
The “Related Topics” section on the Explore page is a good place to brainstorm similar topics and keywords. It can even help you discover a topic or angle you hadn’t thought of before.
4. Create Your Content Calendar
A content calendar helps you organize your content strategy around the types of content you create and when you post. Engagement is a huge metric to consider as you plan the release of your content. Knowing how to time your content to trends and what people search for is a great skill to cultivate, and Google Trends can help you plan and schedule your content calendar accordingly.
For example, if you want to write content about cooking, the Google Trends results show significant search peaks in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving and Christmas. The weeks before these holidays would be the ideal time to share your relevant cooking content so it’s easy to find when someone searches for it.
Another example is the term “wedding invitations.” This term shows a surge between early January and the end of February. That’s because there are likely a lot of couples who get engaged between Christmas and Valentine’s Day.
While some keywords get used more often at certain times, other keywords will show you when to avoid talking about certain topics. This could be because of a lull during one season, like the summer, for certain keywords that are relatively popular the rest of the year.
Utilizing Google Trends data for each topic on your content calendar will help you plan the best times to post your content.
5. Enhance Your Branding
You can also use Google Trends to check the popularity of your brand. While this feature might be more effective for larger brands, even small businesses can use this feature by limiting the search to your local area. When you use this feature, you can even narrow your results by your specific industry.
Another way to improve branding? Google Trends lets you search for popular terms related to events in your area. For example, let’s say there is a large conference held in a nearby city each year. If you’re in the hospitality industry, you can search keywords related to your business. Then capitalize on the popularity of the event and create content that can introduce a new audience to your brand.
6. Focus on Local Shopping Trends
Google Trends gives you the option to isolate your query based on the type of search. If you select Google Shopping, you can find shopping trends in your area. By searching for products related to your business you’ll see when people in your area are searching for and buying them.
For example, within the past year, across the United States, people shopped for makeup most often in the week leading up to Halloween. However, if you narrow it down to a specific state or city, the results may look different. With just Iowa selected, people shopped for makeup most frequently in the first week of August.
With this kind of data, you can focus your content on the right shopping trends at the right time. This may help you sell more product during high-demand times.
7. Use Google Trends for Newsjacking
Newsjacking is a content marketing tactic where you take advantage of a recent, well-known news event and find a way to play off its popularity. You can use Google Trends to track the latest news events that might be relevant to your brand. The best way to do this is to sign up for a Google Trends subscription. With this, you choose how often and how many noteworthy events and trending searches you want to see.
A great example of newsjacking is Calm, a meditation app. In 2020, the brand paid to sponsor much of CNN’s election coverage. It ran frequent 30-second ads during and leading up to election night–a time when many people feel anxious. The ads focused on the brand’s mission to “make the world happier and healthier” without any political messaging. The goal was to give viewers a brief break from the stress and anxiety of the election season. The campaign paid off, and Calm saw a boost in its growth.
Newsjacking does not have to be complicated or even a major campaign. Sometimes a simple tweet or social media post that connects the news event to your brand can be a fun way to engage with your audience.
8. Consider New Product Innovations
If you are considering developing new products or adding new options to your existing products, Google Trends can help you capitalize on the latest search trends. You can use this to guide your product innovations and content marketing.
Start by searching for a general topic in Explore. Then, check the “related topics” and “related queries” sections to find rising trends. Anything marked with “Breakout” indicates growth that’s over 5000% over the previous period.
These trending topics can help you gauge interest in innovations for your products. Consider creating content around these new ideas to see how your audience reacts.
9. Explore Broad Categories
If you want to explore general categories, Google Trends lets you do this without entering a search term. In the category drop-down, choose your preferred category and the region, time frame, and search type you want to see.
From here, you can explore similar search topics and queries. This may give you inspiration for new content that you haven’t explored yet.
10. Use Google Trends for Topic Clustering
Topic clustering is an effective content marketing strategy that helps teams shift their focus from highly specific keywords to core topics. With topic clustering, you organize your website around pillar pages. These pillar pages focus on the core principles of your business. From there, you create cluster pages that link to the pillar page.
Google Trends can make topic clustering easier. Search for your pillar keywords and then explore the related topics and queries. These lists can give you ideas for your related cluster pages. You can further refine your search criteria by specifying a Category.
11. Capitalize on Stable or Emerging Trends
Before beginning your Google Trends search, start with an outline of topics or terms you would like to target. Perhaps you have an overabundance of some products, and you would like to create content to highlight these products.
You can use the long-term data in Google Trends to see the stability or growth of certain terms over time. For the time range, you can select 2004-present to see the full range of Google data.
For example, if you choose the broad category of “Home & Garden,” there is a gradual decline in the earlier years and then steadier growth more recently. If your business sells home and garden products, like outdoor pavers, you can search for this term and see that it is a stable, seasonal product. Whereas the term “xeriscaping” has seen a gradual increase over the past few years.
Data like this can help guide your content marketing and even the products you choose to sell.
Trust Your Content Marketing to the Experts at Express Writers
Managing content marketing and SEO on your own can sometimes feel overwhelming. If you ever feel like you don’t know what you’re doing and you’re not getting the results you want, it might be time to consider outsourcing to a content writing agency. At Express Writers, we only hire the best writers with expertise in a wide range of areas.
Our team can help you take advantage of the latest Google Trends, build a content plan, and create content customized to your business. Whether you need one-time assistance with a difficult topic or want to create a long-term partnership, we are here to help.
Are you ready to get strong results from your content marketing? Contact Express Writers today and we can help you decide which services would be the best fit for your brand.
A crucial part of modern digital marketing is content marketing. To use content marketing effectively, you should regularly add content, like blogs and videos, to your website and other channels. While some businesses can manage their content marketing on their own, others prefer to outsource this writing. One choice for outsourced content marketing is online content marketplaces.
Using a content marketplace gives businesses access to freelance writers and other content producers. It can be a valuable resource if you get the right person. However, content marketplaces do have some drawbacks that might make them a poor choice for some businesses.
Today, we’re exploring the benefits and drawbacks of content marketplaces and comparing those to a professional writing agency. Read on if you’ve ever wondered how online content marketplaces work.
What Is a Content Marketplace?
A content marketplace is an online platform where freelance writers and other creators can offer their services to anyone who needs them. Two popular online marketplaces are Fiverr and Upwork.
Marketplaces like these give content creators a safe place to make business transactions while paying a small fee to use the platform. Most marketplaces are open to everyone and there is no quality guarantee. Depending on the platform, you can either browse through writer profiles to find one that matches your needs or post a one-time job offer and sort through interested writers to see who qualifies for the role.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Online Content Marketplaces
Using a marketplace for content can come with several pros and cons. For example, if you run a small or medium business, you might find that they’re a good fit because of the access you get to writers. But you might want to weigh more advantages and disadvantages, so let’s explore what those look like.
1. Costs for Content Marketplaces
Advantages: In general, the writers and creators you can hire through a content marketplace offer reasonable prices for their services. Content marketplaces tend to be more affordable than professional content services or writing agencies because you cut out the middleman. It should be noted that lower prices do not necessarily mean low-quality work. Usually, it’s a side effect of the high competition in the marketplace encouraging writers to work for lower rates. You’ll still find that the highest-rated writers usually have higher rates.
In some online marketplaces, the writer sets the fee for the content they provide, which can help you establish budget expectations if you don’t have any. Other marketplaces have a model that lets you set your prices while freelancers pitch their ideas to you. If you have a strict budget, this might be useful.
Overall, content marketplaces can give you more freedom to shop for writer fees that match your budget without being locked into anything.
Disadvantages: In a content marketplace, you may not have the option of a regular payment schedule, which can make budgeting for your content marketing more difficult. Additionally, there is an added time commitment that goes into hiring the best freelance writers. It may end up being more expensive than working with a professional agency, so you should consider the manpower costs that go into navigating an open marketplace.
2. International Writers
Advantages: Here in the United States, most businesses look for native English speakers for their content. However, if you operate in other countries or serve a specific non-English-speaking population, you might need content in another language.
Because content marketplaces are open to anyone, there tend to have more international writers. You can likely find a writer who is fluent in the language you need.
Disadvantages: Many non-native English speakers sign up for content marketplaces to earn money. These people may be excellent writers in their native language but struggle with some of the idiosyncrasies of English, especially when writing about more complicated topics.
3. Freelancers’ Skills and Expertise
Advantages: Freelance writers tend to have well-rounded knowledge and the ability to write generally on a broad range of topics. Some writers may even offer SEO and keyword research as part of their services.
Disadvantages: If you need expert-level writing, you might struggle to find a freelance writer with the right expertise. This lack of industry knowledge means many businesses turn to professional agencies when they have higher-level content needs.
Does your business cover multiple content topics? If so, you will likely need to work with multiple freelance writers. This can change your deadlines while waiting on content and you may end up managing multiple sets of instructions. Should you be the only person at your company managing content, you are likely to be pulled away from more important tasks that need your attention.
4. Workload Management
Advantages: Freelance writers in a content marketplace have the freedom and flexibility to choose which projects they take on. Since most freelancers only take on the amount of work they can manage well, you can probably find a writer to take on an urgent project. You can also work with them closely so they’ll make it their top priority and listen to your feedback to make any necessary changes.
Disadvantages: Some freelancers end up overextending themselves and take on more than they can handle. When this happens, some projects get pushed aside, they miss deadlines, and writing quality begins to suffer. These writers may also struggle with doing even simple revisions because they are overworked.
5. Schedule Flexibility
Advantages: Freelance writers are usually not tied down to a typical 9-5 workday schedule. Many prefer to work odd hours. This could be advantageous to you if you have a last-minute project that you need by the next business day. Once you build a working relationship with a writer on these marketplaces, you can work with them again, meaning it’s easier to access them.
Disadvantages: Because freelance writers do not work set schedules, you may have more difficult contacting them. The issue could be exacerbated further if there are significant time zone differences. Plus, freelancers might charge extra if you need work done quickly in the evenings or over the weekend.
6. Service Expectations
Advantages: For a freelance writer, their name and reputation is their brand. They will usually do whatever it takes to maintain a good online rating and keep positive reviews flowing. This sole focus on their own work can make them dedicated writers who deliver excellent service. Additionally, you can guide them about your expectations, getting better results from the start.
Disadvantages: Freelancers can take time off whenever they want. If you have a writer you prefer, and they aren’t working, you will have to find someone else. Therefore, the quality of the work you receive could be wildly different than what you’re used to. Plus, a writer could promise one thing while delivering something less than stellar.
7. Problem Solving
Advantages: Should an issue arise with your content, your chosen freelancer can work with you on a one-to-one basis to problem-solve and come up with a solution. Because of their odd hours, they might even be able to take calls more quickly and work with your team directly on a solution. And, since they only have to consider one person outside of your business, they might be able to come up with really creative solutions. Agency writers may not have that available time or flexibility.
Disadvantage: Even with their dedicated efforts, being a single-person team with limited experience may make it more difficult for them to brainstorm solutions to problems that come up. A professional writing team will have more resources available and a wider pool of expertise to draw on. This means more people can work together to get your content where it needs to be while caring for your expectations.
8. No Binding Contracts
Advantages: One excellent advantage to hiring freelancers is there is no emotional baggage or contract to worry about if you don’t like their work – you simply do not hire them again. However, if you are firing someone in your company or even trying to break ties with a professional agency, you may have to deal with contract issues.
Disadvantages: Freelance writers can take advantage of the same benefit. If they don’t like your company, they can just as easily stop accepting your content requests. Many freelancers avoid signing contracts so they can maintain this freedom.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Professional Writing Agencies
Professional writing agencies can be a great resource if your business wants to see stellar content marketing results. And there are often agencies that work well with businesses of all sizes. You might find that the advantages and disadvantages of content writing agencies are more clear.
1. Costs for Professional Writing Agencies
Advantages: While the upfront costs of a professional agency may be more than a freelancer in a content marketplace, you typically get a lot more quality and expertise for your money. In addition, if you have multiple projects or sign up for a long-term commitment, agencies have more room to negotiate prices for packages. Professional agencies also offer consistent pricing, which makes it easy to plan for future content marketing costs.
Disadvantages: Writing agencies typically charge for each part of a project. For example, if you want SEO research, a 2,000-word blog, and custom images, each portion of the project will incur an additional fee. However, finding a freelancer who can do all these things well at an affordable price would likely be nearly impossible.
2. Quality Assurance
Advantages: Professional writing agencies are typically fully staffed teams. This means not only do they have expert-level writers, but editors and project managers to help ensure quality. Freelance writers may have limited funds to spend on quality editing software.
If a writing agency has a project manager, this person will help select the best subject matter expert for each job. With a wide selection of writers, you are more likely to get better-quality content. And if you ever have questions or concerns, you can work with a team on the revisions.
Disadvantages: None.
3. Skills and Expertise
Advantages: Since a professional agency has a larger team of writers available, you’re more likely to find someone who understands your niche in the wide range of writing niches. Each writer brings their own unique experiences and expertise. This can save businesses a lot of wasted time trying to vet a freelancer with the right expertise.
Since all the resources are housed under the agency umbrella, they can meet a client’s needs in a shorter time. They’re also more likely to spend time working with you on the specifics of your branding and expectations. You can also expect writing agencies to understand the finer details of digital and content marketing better.
Disadvantages: None.
4. Communicating with Writing Agencies
Advantages: When working with another business, like a writing agency, you have certain expectations when it comes to communication. A writing agency will treat you and your requests seriously and professionally. It is also easier to schedule communication or meetings since an agency will have regular business hours.
Disadvantages: Due to the nature of writing agency teams, the person a business communicates with at the agency is not the person doing the writing. If a writer needs clarification on the assignment, there could be a communication delay as the question is passed back and forth through the chain of command.
5. Work Priorities
Advantages: Thanks to the abundance of resources, professional writing teams can offer fast turnaround times for projects. They typically have no problems meeting deadlines since they can share projects between multiple writers. If you’re committing to larger projects or contracts, you’ll also find that agencies will spend more time learning your branding and needs closely.
Disadvantages: While a professional agency typically appreciates and respects every client it gets, you may not get the same level of dedication to your projects as you would from a freelancer. This is because agencies have more clients and may not get attached to a client if they don’t order regularly.
6. Working as a Team
Advantages: An agency is designed so multiple teams can work together to create the best results. The more people there are, the more ideas will be passed around. This can lead to incredible results for your content marketing strategy. A single freelancer is limited to their worldview. But writers, strategists, and designers working together on your projects add more creative flare. You’ll also find that the leadership can work closely with the team to provide other solutions and creative thinking.
Disadvantages: With multiple people working on your projects, you could see higher expenses if the agency doesn’t have an inclusive pricing model.
7. Reliability and Consistency
Advantages: With a full team of managers, writers, and editors, you can expect consistent, reliable, on-time results for each piece of content. Professional agencies understand the importance of being consistent as they want to maintain their brand image and reputation.
Freelance writers have fewer resources and expertise and may struggle to be as consistent as an agency. In addition, if there are any major issues, like a writer having an emergency and being unable to finish a project, an agency can reassign the content. With a freelancer, you will likely have to start your search from scratch.
Disadvantages: None.
Content Marketplace vs. Professional Writing Service
There are a ton of considerations to consider when you’re deciding which direction you want to go for content outsourcing. It’s important to examine your own goals, business model, and niche to understand which space will suit you best.
Do you need some quick and easy content on a tight budget? A content marketplace might get you what you need. You’ll work one-on-one with a writer without worrying about a middleman. These experiences can be more personal but might lack the knowledge of content marketing you need.
On the other hand, if you need expert-level writing with impeccable quality and research, a professional agency may be a better fit. For example, the Express Writers team vets and manages all our writers so you never have to. We just need your briefing documents, then we match you with a writer who understands the technical ins and outs of your business and industry. In the end, you get content from a trusted writer and can work with a team if you need revisions.
Get the High-Quality Content Your Need with the Professionals at Express Writers
In the past, have you tried content marketplaces and ended up being disappointed with the quality? If so, you are not alone. Many businesses find themselves exasperated with the inconsistencies and unpredictability of content marketplaces.
Express Writers is not a content marketplace. Our end-to-end content writing agency works with each of our clients to understand their needs before matching you with a writer who stays with you the entire time you order with us. We thoroughly vet our writers during the hiring process and only choose those who meet or exceed our high expectations. Then they receive internal training before starting to work with our clients.
You can trust that we’ll handle your content with the passion and care it deserves. Our mission is to get you the best quality content from the first delivery. In case we don’t get it right the first time, we include two free revision requests with every piece of content. Then we can work with you further to understand your expectations.
If you are tired of spending money to only get mediocre results, it is time to invest in the quality content your brand needs.
