How often do you stumble across low-quality written material with no real message or meaning while surfing the net? How long does it take you to dive in the pool of diverse web content to bring the most original and inspiring ideas back to the surface?
The truth is that the Internet is flooded with the worst kind of writing: uninspired, thrown-together, no-originality content. We’re talking about the really boring, trivial content that could only stimulate you to shut your computer and take a nap.
Boring, Trivial Content Is Your Brand’s Worst Enemy
Low-value content will never support your marketing goals for a number of reasons. First of all, today’s prospects are savvier than ever and know how to differentiate thought leaders from players who share the herd mentality and have nothing new of exciting to say about their company or their products. Secondly, they have a short attention span and a zero tolerance for writing that fails to answer and address their needs, questions and demands and only makes them waste time in front of their computer screen.
How do businesses entirely avoid this pitfall? How do they get creative with new stuff?
5 Ways to Kick Trivial and Boring Content Ideas to the Curb
If you’re striving to find the simplest answers to the questions I just asked, keep reading. I’m listing the 5 easiest ways to replace unremarkable concepts with written gems that will boost your readers’ interest and loyalty.
Write with Your Audience in Mind. The truth is that you don’t have to waste all your time trying to craft content pieces that are loaded with bells and whistles. Sometimes, the more you try to adorn your writing, the more you lose your focus and get farther away from the real substance of the message that you’re trying to convey. Therefore, as Hubspot points out, even when you’re working on educational content, you can upgrade your copy by making it respond to the questions and concerns of your audience. For instance, let’s assume that your services have been contracted by a company selling automotive supplies. By answering a very mundane question related to a popular topic, such as vehicle maintenance for example, you would actually be creating high-value content that would be assimilated with great interest by your targeted audience.
Let Social Networking Websites Be Your Guide. When it comes to crafting interesting content, social media platforms are your number one ally and one of the most amazing sources of inspiration that you could ever ask for. Just think about it: social networking websites represent the natural habitat of thought leaders and influencers who are constantly recruiting faithful virtual ambassadors. This is the place where companies go from small and obscure to big and successful in record time. Need another reason to poke around Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn? In this case, think about the fact that these websites are the major platforms where quality, relevant and original content can instantly become a viral sensation. Some of the freshest stories shared through these channels can inspire your writing and help you stay far away from boring, trivial content.
Use the Best Tools to Get Inspired. Sometimes, the most trivial concepts are born out of excessive boredom, apathy and a dangerous lack of inspiration and motivation. What can you do when you’ve struggling to overcome a case of writer’s block? Should you still be praying for inspiration after your fifth cup of coffee? Here’s a simpler alternative that can help you put pen to paper and let those clever words flow smoothly: use a wide range of free and almost free online tools designed to inspire your new content pieces. Content Marketing Institute has recently published a long list of such aids that can take your writing to a whole new level. Options such as Ahrefs Content Explorer tool, Topsy, Hubspot Blog Topic Generator or Ubersuggest are the best choices that you should explore to come up with exciting topics for your blog and avoid uninspiring ideas that could only make your readers yawn or raise an eyebrow while bouncing off your page.
Plan Ahead. Last minute decisions and successful content creation shouldn’t be a part of the same sentence for a very simple and logical reason: as a goal-oriented small business owner, you should know how, when and how often you should satisfy your readers’ cravings for premium content. In other words, proper planning and a smart, well-balanced editorial calendar are everyday essentials that can tighten the bond with your audience, while also optimizing your content flow. These two key elements will also help you avoid the tension, confusion and sense of powerlessness that could make you resort to cheap, yawn-inspiring content, which you may be tempted to use as time-fillers to give your audience something to chew on while you’re working on a new recipe for content success. There are several prominent content strategy tools, such as keyword research for example, that could offer you the expert insight you may require to start and follow a detailed editorial calendar that would ultimately enable you to achieve a rich online presence and a deeper connection with your content-hungry audience. Don’t forget that brainstorming with new staff members could offer you the finest food for thought that you could ever dream about adding to your content menu. Ask your client manager to attend these sessions to find out what kind of topics they would like to add to your editorial calendar. After dealing with clients all day, client managers are the team members who usually come up with the most spectacular content ideas that have what it takes to please and stimulate writers, readers and clients at the same time. At the end of the day, it becomes obvious that good old teamwork will never go out of fashion, especially when it comes to organizing brainstorming sessions revolving around creative concepts that can be rewritten and reinterpreted in countless ways.
Employ Expert Writers. At some point, you may realize that your limited amounts of time and energy represent real obstacles standing in the way of your content creation efforts. In this case, what’s the simplest way to avoid generic, overdone, extremely boring or trivial concepts that will never do your company any favors? If your goal is to get rid of most of the burden of coming up with unique, awesome content, consider hiring a team of expert writers.
Trivial Content Is Perfectly Preventable
Whether you choose to use the finest online tools to boost your creativity, conduct brainstorming sessions or create and follow a strict editorial calendar, you should know that all these strategies can help you avoid damages associated with poorly materialized, dull or trivial ideas. If you’re already at the bottom of the sea of trivial content and don’t know how to swim, do keep in mind that professional content creators can put the wow factor into your marketing messages while crafting a unique story around your brand and feeding your readers’ ever-growing appetite for captivating writing that actually serves both aesthetic and practical purposes. Photo credit: g-stockstudio / iStock
Inexperienced copywriters tend to think that creativity is the gift from above that automatically determines the quality and effectiveness of their content pieces. In reality, efficient, target-oriented copy that actually works is a complex 1,000 piece-puzzle requiring multiple skills, time, talent, passion and lessons learned over the course of a few days, months of years. Novices may also tend to think that what’s been done before (with excellent results) should always be stolen, borrowed, reinterpreted or recycled to come up with new meanings.
The Valuable Lessons Provided by the 10 Most Inspiring Pioneers of Copywriting
In reality, the basic principles of advertising highlighted by the biggest names in this industry haven’t changed much.
Here are 10 authorities on copywriting offering valuable lessons that can inspire and enable you to squeeze more out of your web content.
Victor Schwab. Victor Schwab ((1898 – 1980) started in this business as the secretary of Maxwell Sackheim, who was employed by Rathrauff & Ryan. After improving Sackheim’s copy in a radical manner, he got promoted to copywriter. In this position, he became known as the very best direct mail-order copywriter in history. His excellent results were influenced by in-depth research and ample testing. He tested virtually every single aspect related to his copy, including layouts and calls to action. Schwab was also the genius who advanced the idea that first-hand copy should illustrate the promoted product in action, to allow the prospect to understand its benefits and crave for it.
Eugene Schwartz. Eugene Schwartz (1927-1995) follows a similar approach, explaining that copywriters could achieve their daily goals by exploring and exploiting the overwhelming desires manifested by consumers. Headlines such as“Give Me 15 Minutes and I’ll Give You a Super-Power Memory” reflect the honest, transparent trade established between buyers and sellers, based on the principle “you give me what I want and I’ll give you what you need,” which is still applicable today.
Rosser Reeves. Do you really think that brand uniqueness is an innovative concept guiding the strategies of modern online marketers? Sorry to disappoint, but it isn’t. Rosser Reeves (1910-1984) coined and perfect it before it was cool. As an inquisitive man with multiple interests, Reeves reached the conclusion that advertising should depend strictly on hard-sell strategies. Known as the “Prince of Hard Sell” according to Copyblogger, Reeves has promoted quite a few brands that we still know and love today, such as Viceroy or Colgate. He firmly believed that copywriters could make any product recognizable and increasingly popular by highlighting its unique selling proposition.
Robert Collier. Some people speak just to hear the sound of their voice, while others write for the sake of writing. Both tactics are equally dangerous and inefficient. According to Robert Collier (1885-1950), one must come up with a string of ideas based on the effect that they want to trigger in their readers. In his masterpiece entitled The Robert Collier Letter Book, this copywriting authority unveils the key to writing direct-mail letters that actually reach their target. According to this source, before putting pen to paper, you should identify the ideal emotion (pride, anxiety, flattery or envy are excellent choices!) that you wish to awaken in your readers and act accordingly.
Leo Burnett. Why waste time and money researching and buying products that are plain boring? Wouldn’t you rather focus on finding the real gems that make your life just a bit more interesting and enjoyable? This is one of the ideas highlighted by Leo Burnett (1891-1871), who advises fellow copywriters to accentuate the drama associated with the product or service that they’re representing in order to make it more desirable. This gifted and highly successful American advertising executive and founder of the prestigious Leo Burnett Company, Inc. has provided a simple piece of advice that may just represent the Bible of modern copywriting: “Make it simple. Make it memorable. Make it inviting to look at. Make it fun to read.” According to Business 2 Community, Burnett also highlighted the importance of authenticity and believability in this industry, indicating that the truly successful copywriters are the ones that are able to think like a potential client. According to another important lesson offered by Burnett, creativity is the end result of curiosity about life in all its forms. Unlike the Prince of Hard Sell, Burnett affirmed that there is no such thing as “soft sell” and “hard sell”, specifying that there are only two approaches that one should ever factor in: “stupid sell” and “smart sell.”
Mel Martin. You may be tempted to think that some of the best-selling products represent the success of marketing tactics associated solely with positive emotions. In this case, what do you think about anxiety? Anxiety is not necessarily a negative feeling. As long as it can fuel your boldest aspirations and stimulate you to perfect yourself, this emotion actually has strong positive connotations that Mel Martin knew how to explore. What happens if you’re not the best golfer? Or the best chef? Or the best teacher on the Planet? You work harder and buy the products that support your rapid ascension. In short, you basically use the clever technique of exploring an old anxiety to advertise your product, patented by Mel Martin. Martin wrote headlines such as “For golfers who are almost (but not quite) satisfied with their game — and can’t figure out what they’re doing wrong,” unleashing the power of audience referencing and making its readers believe that his copy was actually crafted to solve their unique problems.
David Ogilvy. Known as the Father of Advertising, David Ogilvy was the well-respected wizard of words. Promoting the idea that the best concepts come from a well-informed subconscious, Ogilvy took this thought a step further. He underlined the importance of the testing phase, suggesting that there is no such thing as a safe bet in advertising. He also provided useful guidelines on how to write magnetic headlines, indicating that irrelevant and/or tricky constructions will automatically be ignored by people who are often landing on random pages just to find quick answers to their most pressing questions.
Claude C. Hopkins. Recognized as one of the most potent pioneers of advertising, Claude C. Hopkins (1866-1932) was an expert in human psychology and knew every single trick in the book meant to consolidate his relationship with his targeted audience. Hopkins is the author of the bestselling book entitled Scientific Advertising, published in 1923, who was bold enough to state that “please buy me” type of sales pitches do not work. Ever. In his opinion, one could achieve copywriting success by simply abandoning this counterproductive strategy and putting the customer first. What does your client actually want? Discover the most concise answer to this question and let your product or service do all the talking, while keeping in mind that coupons and other perks can only make your prospects become more receptive to what you may have to say about your brand. According to Todaymade.com, Hopkins also affirms that selling uphill is an incorrect tactic. Instead of wasting time and money trying to convert new prospects, one should try to rely on the experiences of existing customers to build credibility and trust. These are only a few of the most significant lessons offered by the promoter of Scientific Advertising, who was also a firm supporter of continuous testing, an essential phase that shaped the face of digital marketing as we know it.
Raymond Rubicam. Rubicam (1892-1978) was one of co-founders of the Young & Rubicam advertising firm and a respectable pioneer with a new vision, the highest dosage of creativity and proven leadership skills. He always insisted on the idea that one should “resist the usual” in an attempt to highlight his very own uniqueness and fresh, individualized copywriting approach. At the same time, according to Investors.com, Rubicam was the visionary who made the first decisive steps towards bringing solid market research in the ad business, revealing that ads should be written by writers with a broad knowledge database and even broader “human sympathies,” which would enable them to stay in sync with their audiences.
Tom McElligott. Arguably one of the greatest and most inspiring copywriters of all times, Tom McElligott gave a valuable piece of advice that is still valid in any context: do not underestimate the intelligence of your readers. Aside from its unique perspective on copywriting, McElligott also gave us the key to handling one of the hardest challenges in today’s markets- a tiny budget-after facing it himself. In the 80s, Tom McElligott had to promote a brand of whiskey. Not the toughest assignment that you could think of, right? The problem was that this project counted on an almost negligible financial support. According to Vice, even in this particular situation, this legendary copywriter proved that you don’t necessarily need a lot of zeros to create memorable masterpieces. By relying on stock photos (the ones that every modern advertising book will tell you to avoid), and a clever message (“Fortunately, every day comes with an evening,” Tom McElligott managed to illustrate the concepts of tediousness and awkward daily events to perfection, while also presenting the perfect “remedy” for this problem: a little bit of whiskey served in a cool-looking “rocks” glass.
Do the Lessons of Established Copywriters Have an Expiration Date?
You may wonder: can we still rely on the words of wisdom spoken or written by an established copywriter who made in history in the 20s, 50s or early 90s? Times have changed, but the basic rules of the game are still the same.
There are two notable differences worth mentioning. First of all, modern consumers are constantly bombarded with a wider range of messages developed to promote a more generous selection of goods and services. Secondly, both online marketers and prospects count on online and offline channels and a plethora of gadgets and tools to promote and respectively, research and purchase goods. But even in this context, people still read articles that address their anxieties, just like Mel Martin underlined; they talk about content pieces that explore their most ardent passions and desires just like Eugene Schwartz said they would, and yes, they still tend to favor brands that do a great job at underlining their unique selling proposition just like they did when Rosser Reeves was still in business. At the end of the day, you don’t necessarily have to sink into a pool of frustration while trying (and failing) to reinvent the wheel in copywriting. Just learn the best lessons served by your predecessors on a silver platter, do your homework, explore different media (and social media) channels and work hard to maintain a solid connection with your clients and audiences to stay on top of your game.
Sassy and smart – it is the way of the Internet and Denny’s knows it! This brand is a perfect example of how to create amazing content whether on social media or advertisements bringing in people from a wide demographic. We’ve all seen at least some part of their successful ad campaigns throughout the years, but how did they become so successful again?
4 Ways Denny’s Just Makes Their Content Irresistible…Mmm, Breakfast Anyone?
Let’s take an insider look at Denny’s and their incredible approach to content marketing & overall copywriting, making them the champion of breakfast food!
1. Denny’s Began Reinventing its Brand. Before we get to the different things that make Denny’s remarkably successful with copywriting, let’s focus on what made them get to that point. Denny’s used to be an incredible place for family and friends to eat at, complete with that fun diner flare. However, it eventually lost its spunk and began going downhill. This is the point in a business’s life that can either mean it will disappear forever or the owners can come out fighting and be stronger than ever. This is just what Denny’s did.
A few years ago, the eatery began with a Super Bowl ad offering free breakfast for everyone in America and included a value menu to spark more interest. However, the business knew it couldn’t stop there. In 2011, Frances Allen, the chief brand officer, realized that the brand needed more emotion and spunk to get going. It was around this time that the restaurant started reinventing its brand and became what we all know now. They said “so long” to irrelevance and are now a powerhouse and inspiration for copywriting and content marketing.
This shows just how important it is to reinvent your brand. Yes, you like it the way it is, but if it isn’t working, then you need to start making changes. If you are hesitant, just look at Denny’s; it is now wildly successful and everyone wants to go there at some point. Don’t hesitate to reinvent your brand if it isn’t working right now. Changes here and there can really impact your business in positive ways!
2. They Have a Sassy Social Media Approach. When you think of a restaurant that sells breakfast food, you don’t see how it can really have a great social media approach. However, Denny’s proves this wrong with a hilarious, sassy approach to social media. They have a wide variety of posts they send out from hilarious one-liners to emoticon filled stories. They also started a hashtag #poorjack to tell the story of a robotic car named Jack that drove itself to a specific location. The restaurant’s social media pointed out that the car drove past so many Denny’s on the way but was deprived of enjoying delicious breakfast food.
Poor Jack Image:
a car named jack drove itself to CES but how many denny’s did he pass on the way, unable to enjoy, his happiness denied? #poorjack
They utilize multiple social media channels, and always hark on current pop culture trends that are likely to resonate with audiences more. You can check them out at Facebook, YouTube, Tumblr, and Twitter. Denny’s is a great example of how fun, relevant social media usage can boost your engagement, and reach a wider audience. Relevant content is a great way to make sure you create a great place for engagement for your audience. This can be on social media, but also in your blogs. Who can forget the ever-relevant Hobbit menu from Denny’s? Relevancy and fun are great when creating unique content that is sure to help engage your audience.
Waffman:
thanks to reports of a new walkman we’ve had to rush out our Waffman project. not even sure what it does yet, smh. pic.twitter.com/WdVqY0Ftgr
3. Utilizing a Web Series to Reach Young Adults. Denny’s also knows the audience that is going to help make them more successful – young adults. College-age individuals are more likely to frequent this establishment because of affordable prices, good food, and it is usually open at perfect times for the college-age crowd. Because of this, Denny’s undertook a campaign to reach out to this demographic. You can easily see this with their social media campaign, but they also did a whole web series for young adults. The series features an alumnus of Saturday Night Live interviewing different celebrities as they sit down to enjoy a meal together. It is a great chance for witty one-liners and things that will resonate with a young adult crowd.
This is a great example of reaching out to various demographics. Denny’s can obviously resonate easily with older crowds, especially appealing to those who enjoy diners, but they realized young adults were being widely missed. Take a look at your demographics and see if you are missing any group that could find your company interesting and helpful. You might be surprised at how limited your scope is, so take a chance a broaden it.
4. Denny’s Reaches Out to More than Just English Speakers. Denny’s also knows that they need to reach out to wider audiences that aren’t just English speakers. The restaurant created a Latino Facebook page for their Spanish-speaking costumers. They interact with them and reach out to a demographic that can easily be overlooked in marketing. Spanish is the most popular non-English language spoken in the United States, which makes it wise to create Spanish ads and social media campaigns.
This goes hand-in-hand with Denny’s reaching out to young adults. They saw a demographic that was being overlooked and changed their campaign to reach it. Again, take this to heart and see which demographics you might be missing and consider adding a Spanish (or different language) branch to your company, especially if you are based in America. This will help you reach a demographic that is looking for companies that are willing to speak to them in their language.
Turn Denny’s As Inspiration For Your Next Fab Copywriting Idea
Denny’s is a great example of how effective copywriting and content marketing can help turn a slowly declining business back into a massive success. Take a few of these great ideas and apply them to your business’s content marketing campaign and make things fun for your audience! Remember, you can always be professional while still adding a fun flair to your social media campaigns, web content, and blogs. Which of these ideas do you think will help inspire your business to do better?
Chances are that you have heard of Under Armour. They are well known for their ultra-warm athletic clothing, serving not only athletes, but those who are looking for top-quality clothing for multiple purposes. Under Armour has nailed their branding image through quality products and catchy copywriting and motivational phrases. Business owners take note: Under Armour has dominated their niche, and here’s how they did it.
Under Armour’s Target Audience Defined
Half the battle of a successful marketing campaign is to understand your target market. Throwing your products at the wall to see what sticks can lead to disastrous results. With that said, Under Armour’s audience is defined as athletes, those who want top-of-the-line clothing, and even those who see Under Armour as a status symbol.
Under Amour’s grasp on their target demographic helped pave a pathway to success, but their work still wasn’t done. The next step of Under Armour’s branding success was establishing a connection to their athletic audience.
Hitting Home Runs With Athletes
In order for Under Armour to successfully connect with their audience, they needed to get inside the head of athletes. What do athletes want in their apparel? What motivates them to continue training? How do they manage to push through pain or being uncomfortable?
Motivation Comes From Within … or From a T-Shirt
Almost every athlete knows that your ultimate source of motivation comes from within yourself. However, that doesn’t mean that athletes can’t use a little help every now and then. In order to give athletes a boost during their training, games, or competitions, Under Armour incorporates copywriting that scores big both on and off the field.
Experiencing The Power of ‘I Will’
Under Armour’s slogan has gone through a transition as of late. Originally, the athletic apparel powerhouse frequently used Protect This House. This context could have been taken several ways: protecting the playing field of your home base, or protecting your body by exercising and keeping it healthy.
Today, Under Armour’s mostly operated under the catchphrase I Will. In fact, there was recently a lawsuit settlement between Under Armour and Nike, with Nike using the I Will catchphrase on some of its products.
Using The Motivation of ‘I Will’
Under Armour strategically uses their slogan to I will to help motivate almost any athlete. Here are several examples of how the megabrand incorporates their slogan into key motivational phrases — mostly screen printed on T-Shirts.
I Will Change The Game
I Will What I Want
Attack I Will
I Will Never Quit
Protect This House I Will
I Will Crush My Personal Best
Show The World I Will
These are just a few examples of how Under Armour incorporates their slogan to motivate athletes. Under Armour uses the power of branding, top-notch copywriting, and quality clothing to score with their audience.
I Will Learn From Under Armour
When it comes to capturing your audience and creating killer content, there’s a thing or two we can learn from Under Armour. Whether you are just starting out on your content strategy or you are looking for a few pointers, let’s look at the ways that we can connect to our own audiences with Under Armour’s guidance.
Tap Into Your Core Audience
As a marketer, sometimes it is hard to step outside of your own mind and into the head of your readers. However, we see here that this is exactly how Under Armour was able to become so successful. Here are a few tips to help you connect, really connect, with your readers.
Ask more questions. You might think that you know what your audience wants, but until you ask, you might not really Don’t be afraid to ask probing questions. Ask your audience what exactly they need to solve their problems, and what persuaded them to look into or buy your product.
Conduct a split test or review your Google analytics. Don’t always assume that your audience favors your how-tos or in-depth guides. Your entertaining or humorous posts might be the content that is pulling your audience in. To get a thorough understanding of what your audience is valuing the most, you will need to split test a few pieces of content, or simply review your analytics for traffic patterns.
Use your best customers as resources. It goes without saying that your best customers see the value in you. Pick their brain and find out what exactly it is that the value so much about your product or service.
Don’t try to be everything to everyone. One of the key branding traits that Under Armour nailed is zoning in on one particular target market. There’s nothing wrong with servicing a niche; in fact, it can work out better for your business in the long run.
The 10 I Wills For Winning With Copywriting
Now that you have an idea for how you can connect to your audience, your next obstacle is to write some top-notch content that kick starts your sales. When it comes to writing content that resonates with your audience, be prepared to put your best foot forward — and do it with a plan.
1. I Will Meet My Audiences’ Needs With My Content
In the world of content, it is almost never about you. The purpose of developing content is to satisfy the needs of your audience, whether it is through answering questions or providing relevant information on a regular basis. Whatever your audience is seeking, it is up to you to be the go-to source for their needs.
2. I Will Produce Content Of Top Quality
If you really want to get the most out of your content strategy, producing top quality content should be at the top of your list. Your content should always be 100 percent original, free of spelling and grammatical errors, and exclusive to your company.
3. I Will Educate My Audience With My Content
One of the latest Google Panda updates put an emphasis on educational content. As far as quality content is considered, content that informs and educates is one of the characteristics that Google looks for when ranking content.
4. I Will Format My Content So It’s Easy To Read
Presenting your content as one big block of text is a big turn off to your customers. Properly formatting your content involves breaking it up into easy-to-read paragraphs. Use bullet points, bolds, and italics where necessary. Don’t forget to break up your paragraphs with headlines.
5. I Will Write Attention Grabbing Headlines
Studies have shown that 80 percent of your customers will read your headline, but only 20 percent will click and read. In order to increase the number of click-throughs to your content, you must write compelling headlines. Compelling headlines typically consist of numbered lists, questions, and statistics.
Simply winging your content strategy will have you running out of blog ideas and losing your readers one by one. In order to maximize your content strategy and get the most mileage out of your efforts, incorporate an editorial calendar into your content campaign. It’s as easy as A-B-C.
7. I Will Curate Content Often
Curated content is predicted to take a big turn in 2015. Showcasing the hard work of others on your own blog will put you in the position of a thought leader. The key to successful curating is adding your own twist with expert insight — give it a try.
8. I Will Re-purpose My Content To Reach More Audiences
Add a twist to your usual blog post by trying out an infographic on for size. You can also expand your blog posts into slideshows and videos, which will help you reach a larger audience pool.
9. I Will Run Regular Content Audits
Content audits aren’t the most fun activity in the world, but they can help you find gaps where your current website needs improvement. By filling these gaps, you can satisfy the needs of more customers, which can ultimately translate to sales.
10. I Will Develop Content Like A Thought Leader
The best content marketers write and think like thought leaders. Thought leaders blaze trails and think outside the box with their content. Strive to develop top-notch content that is original while showcasing the very best of your products and services.
It is safe to say that Under Armour nailed the I Will slogan, as you can apply it to pretty much anything in life. By following this set of guidelines, you can start connecting to your audience on a deeper level while producing the best content in your industry . . . and you will.
In a “why so serious” world, we desperately need people who bring laughter to our lives and Stephen Colbert is one of those humorous champions! Along with people like Jon Stewart and John Oliver, Colbert has created an amazing network of satire news that both informs audiences of major news stories while mocking major media establishments.
For those who don’t know, Colbert is the host of The Colbert Report where he discusses everything from current events to nerd rage about various films. His achievements include being a political satirist, a mega, well-informed nerd, and comedy show writer. He even showed up in one of the installments of The Hobbit since he is a major fan of Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings.
Come 2015, we will all get to watch Colbert without a major cable package when he takes over for Letterman on the Late Show. Colbert is quite an expert at copywriting and I am sure you can learn a thing or two from the comedian. Let’s take a look at a few awesome things that are sure to inspire you!
1. He’s a Social Media Powerhouse
With 7.19 million Twitter followers, Stephen Colbert constantly proves that he knows how to use social media. He is an absolute powerhouse and many won’t deny that when he tweets, all of his followers re-tweet. He uses social media to inform followers about who will be on his show, which helps remind people when to tune in. He also uses it to connect with his fans and to prove just how funny he can be. Whether it is a joke he unnecessarily breaks up into three posts or a sarcastic remark about the latest news story, he proves that being funny and active on social media is both easy and successful.
What can you learn from Stephen Colbert’s winning social media strategy? Here are a few takeaways you can use:
Work on cultivating a following on Twitter and other social sites. Your postings will only work if you have a following, and you can only grow larger if you encourage your following to share. You can this by encouraging people to follow your social sites via your website, blog, or email campaigns, as well as business cards.
Always stay with the trends. Something that makes Colbert easy to re-tweet is that he is always focusing on things that are currently trendy. This is a great way to build and maintain a following and get more engagement on social media.
Create entertaining content for your followers. I will focus on this a bit more later on in the post, but we all know that Colbert wins at content because he is such an amazing entertainer both on and off screen!
2. He Focuses on Building a Loyal Fan Base
Everyone knows that Colbert has a rather large and loyal fan base, but he had to create and maintain it. How does he do this? He works to create a loyal fan base by constantly engaging with his fans and making fun activities for everyone. In the end, he is able to gain help from this base when it comes to charitable organizations and other fundraisers. He continues to build on this base and work to maintain it each and every day with social media and through his show.
This is a great example of how important it is to build your customer base and make sure it is a loyal one as well. While you won’t have the draw that Colbert does, you can do things like engage with clients on social media and send out emails in other campaigns. You can ask for clients to fill out surveys to help make your business better and offer incentives for helping out.
In fact, offering freebies just for a customer being your customer is a great idea and can make anyone feel appreciated. By doing something like this, you are creating a greater chance of boosting your revenue and also having a great base when you want to raise funds for various charities during the holiday season.
3. He Uses Humor with Copywriting in the Best Way Possible
The most obvious thing that Stephen Colbert does with copywriting is he uses humor in the best way. Humor is something many people enjoy, and when used correctly, it can really help boost content. The majority of Colbert’s content is humor based, but he knows how to use it for various trends and knows when and how to deliver the right punch line.
You don’t have to be Colbert to use humor in your content though and you don’t have to go to his level with it. You can use sarcasm, silly jokes, or whatever type of humor you feel is appropriate for your content, the time, and your clients. A few tips when using humor in content are:
Avoid offending your client base. Sure, some of Colbert’s humor can be offensive to different people when it comes to politics, but he does a good job of staying away from incredibly offensive jokes.
Make sure the humor fits your brand. You don’t want to get too off base with your humor. Make sure it matches your brand and your already-established voice.
Make your jokes very obvious for the audience. The written word can make it very difficult for people to know just what you’re saying and many times people can misunderstand. This can cause a lot of problems that you want to avoid so make sure everyone knows you are joking.
Hire someone who is funny. This will make sure your jokes come across well and that they truly are funny!
In Closing, Make Them Laugh, Make Them Laugh, Make Them Laugh!
Whether you need a laugh or want to learn a few more marketing tricks from the comedic genius, Colbert is a great resource! Tune into his show if you have Comedy Central or follow his various social media sites to keep up-to-date. With each new video and show comes more inspiration for humorous content, things to share on social media, and great ideas that you can use in your content. What are some things you’ve learned from the brilliant mind of Stephen Colbert? Let us know!
