Recently, a good friend came to me for advice on hiring. She was unsure how to start looking for content writing talent. And, honestly, even as someone in the industry for about 12 years, I can say she was right to be a little lost.
Content writing can mean many different things to different companies. Crafting social media copy, drafting press releases, posting opinionated essays 鈥� they all have their little nuances but fall under the umbrella of content writing with a shared purpose.
Content in marketing is anything we create for our target audience to consume and deepen their connection with our brand. But great content writing is crucial to setting this all in motion.
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In a recent report, Semrush found have a content marketing strategy in place 鈥� ninety percent.
This means the role of a content writer is more in demand than ever before.
However, what it actually entails depends on both industry and business needs. In fact, my first question to my friend was, 鈥淲ell, what do you want them to write?鈥�
Some businesses invest heavily in a social media strategy, while other companies prefer creating content in the format of blog posts or ebooks. Content writing is a wide spectrum, including:
Regardless of format, however, high-quality content that represents and strengthens a brand's voice can help:
Overall, content writing is your opportunity to tell your brand鈥檚 story. Great content writers convey meaningful, helpful, and insightful messages to inspire and move an audience to take action.
When done right, that action is marketing a purchase. Content writing can convert readers into prospects and prospects into paying customers. But that鈥檚 easier said than done.
Before writing content for your marketing, your team must have a few foundational pieces in place.
There鈥檚 no way to cover it all in one article, but here are some resources to review if you鈥檙e just starting out:
Now, let's explore some of my favorite content-writing tips.
Effective content is rooted in helping people fulfill a need. And more often than not, that need is an answer to a question. I mean, there鈥檚 a reason they call them search 鈥渜ueries.鈥�
When writing content, aim to answer people's questions about your product, service, industry, or any relevant topic you choose to discuss. Addressing these concerns (good or bad) helps you stand out as a trustworthy, honest resource.
It also makes your brand appear more helpful and, in turn, makes people more inclined to buy from you.
Don鈥檛 believe me? has found consumers who read early-stage educational content are 131% more likely to buy from a brand immediately after than those who don鈥檛.
Point of sale company Toast does a great job of answering common questions for restauranteurs on its blog.
Pro tip: Not sure what questions your buyers are asking?
When it comes to shopping, most audiences are looking for pricing information, product comparisons, and reviews 鈥� just think about your own buying behavior.
But the best way to find out what questions your specific audience is asking is to talk to your salespeople and front-line team members.
You can also try social listening to see what questions or concerns come up in conversation. ( can help here.)
Whenever I write a blog article, I do online research 鈥� even if it鈥檚 a topic I know well, like 鈥渃ontent writing.鈥� However, content will never rank, let alone keep people engaged if you just rehash the same information that already exists online.
(That鈥檚 part of why AI content writing can be dangerous, but more on that later.)
For content writing to be successful, it needs your unique perspective, expertise, and voice. This is what your audience can鈥檛 find anywhere else.
That said, when I know a topic well, I start by outlining everything I would discuss off the top of my head. Then, I鈥檒l search the topic to see what鈥檚 already out there and if perhaps there are any ideas I missed worth mentioning.
It鈥檒l also give me insight into how I can approach my content differently, even if there is overlap.
But of course, I don鈥檛 know every topic well. In those cases, I鈥榣l contact internal 探花精选ters who are experts on the subject or conduct external outreach via social media to find a reputable source willing to provide tips, quotes, or original examples.
Additionally, I鈥榣l research sources like YouTube, LinkedIn, Reddit, Quora, and even podcasts, then reflect on and explain the ideas from my point of view.
Bottomline: I always come back to my personal knowledge and tips. I try to give my audience something original, even if it鈥檚 simply my opinion or a twist on common advice.
This is your differentiator. It鈥檚 what gives people a reason to stay on the page rather than go elsewhere.
Neil Patel is a master of this in content writing. For instance, does not reinvent the wheel, but Patel leaves no stone unturned when leaving his signature voice (and face) throughout the piece.
Great content doesn鈥檛 scratch the surface of a topic; it goes in-depth to address all of the questions someone may have.
As an editor at a previous employer, this was always my criteria when determining whether an article was ready for publication.
This didn鈥檛 mean every piece of content had to be a novel, but it did have to offer clarity or guidance via a link or additional resource.
This is something we do commonly at 探花精选:
In this snippet from one of my articles, you see I overtly recognize that the reader may want even more than what is covered in this piece and give them suggestions on where to turn.
This is all about creating a good user experience. Quality content writing anticipates a user鈥檚 needs and intentions and ensures it delivers that value.
Internal linking also keeps people on our website and signals to search engines that these pages are related.
Listen, I love wordplay. The center of my universe is the pun, not the sun.
(I鈥檒l pause for your laughter.)
But despite this deep-rooted love, I know clarity is non-negotiable when it comes to content writing.
To effectively offer value to an audience and have them grasp a message, they need to understand it. So, minimize the jargon and complicated sentence structure.
Whenever possible, write in the simplest terms so that anyone 鈥� familiar with your industry or not 鈥� can understand what you鈥檙e trying to say.
Complicated writing risks your message not being received and can even frustrate a potential buyer to the point of bouncing off your website and to a competitor.
But hey, it can be powerful if you can find the happy balance between clever and clear. Few brands do this better than Apple, in my opinion.
The introduction and hook of your content are often your best opportunity to inspire, move, surprise, and delight your readers. Moreover, it鈥檚 your only chance to convince them to stick around and keep reading. To 鈥渉ook鈥� them if you will.
Sometimes, writing a good hook is easy 鈥� particularly if the topic is intriguing or exciting to you, but what about more boring, mundane topics?
My 探花精选 teammate explains, 鈥淪ometimes, writing a good hook requires pulling back and looking at the bigger picture.鈥�
She continues, 鈥淔or instance, while rel=nofollow isn鈥榯 the most fascinating topic (in my opinion), what is interesting to me is SEO and how SEO can directly impact a company鈥檚 ability to reach new audiences 鈥� plus how Google has needed to change regulations in recent years due to an increase in illegitimate sites.鈥�
鈥淭his means when I started writing 3 Reasons Why SEOs Are Upset About Google's Rel=nofollow Announcement, I used that angle to inspire my hook and painted a picture: Myself as a Wikipedia editor, writing about zebras, and getting paid $500 to link to a fake news website.
(Now you鈥榬e interested, aren鈥檛 you?)
My creative writing background helps in this case, and I'm willing to bet your passion for writing will also help you create exciting hooks.鈥�
Like complicated language, how you present your content can make it more difficult to digest, especially on mobile devices. Fortunately, formatting and hierarchy can help.
Effective formatting can also make your content easier for search engines to understand what your page offers.
Here are some formatting best practices to keep in mind:
does a great job of using formatting to improve its content writing.
Your writing can be genius, but it may never get read if it鈥檚 not optimized for search engines. That鈥檚 why, as a content writer, you must become familiar with search engine optimization (SEO).
Even if your content is posted on social media, search engines can crawl and index it, so pay attention to your use of keywords and technical aspects like file size, SCHEMA, and more.
If you are new to SEO or just want to brush up on the basics, read:
While SEO is critical for ensuring your content ranks on search engines like Google, it's not the only way people can become aware of your brand.
Nowadays, discovery is actually more frequently happening on social media, especially with the rise of explore and 鈥渇or you鈥� tabs. In fact, our research shows that social media is the preferred product discovery channel for members of Gen Z, Millennials, and Gen X.
Plus, different people enjoy consuming information in different ways, so if you鈥檙e only creating one type of content you may be getting ignored by many in your target audience.
To reach a wider audience, you need to write content for a variety of platforms and mediums. That means not just blogs and website content but also email newsletters, social media, and even videos, depending on your business needs and audience.
Not sure where to start? Here are some resources to check out:
As I mentioned earlier, incorporating videos, images, graphs, or other multimedia content into your text can make it easier for your readers to consume.
Consider, for instance, take the article, 鈥�The Ultimate Guide to Product Marketing: How to Market a Product.鈥�
That blog post is long 鈥� nearly 6,000 words. But, I broke it up by embedding videos and other multimedia elements (like images) to keep the reader engaged. I also use things like a table of contents to make it easier to find what you need.
Pro tip: Use this as an opportunity to promote your additional resources. For instance, if you have a new company podcast, try embedding episodes in relevant blog posts to drive listeners while providing additional value for your readers. It鈥檚 a win-win.
As a content writer, your job isn't just to create good content; it鈥檚 also to convert readers, listeners, or viewers into prospects and customers. That said, you must learn how and when to include CTAs throughout your content.
Now, a call to action can be anything. It can be a reminder to subscribe to your YouTube channel, to read a page on your website for more information, or to download an offer.
Whatever it is, you want to make sure the ask is relevant to what you鈥檙e talking about and appropriate for where your audience is in their buyer鈥檚 journey.
Consider, for instance, the relevant CTAs embedded in the description of 探花精选's YouTube video, "":
These in-text CTAs direct YouTube viewers to explore other 探花精选 offerings, including 探花精选 Academy social media courses.
They aren't jarring or off-putting. The content writer did a good job ensuring the CTAs were relevant to the video and made sense for what viewers would want to do next after watching it.
When I finish a first draft, I always try to set it aside for some time and then come back to it. With a fresh perspective, I can edit for minor grammatical errors, fix structural issues, and improve the piece overall.
Good content writing is impossible without good content editing.
Grammatical errors can make you look careless or even unprofessional, while poor writing can hurt your brand鈥檚 reputation as an authority in its space.
We鈥榬e all human and can make mistakes, and that鈥檚 okay. But, you should still do your due diligence to review any content before hitting publish.
You can also run your content through tools like or when you鈥檙e under a time crunch. These can miss things too, but an extra pair of eyes can鈥檛 hurt, even if they鈥檙e AI.
Most of your readers are busy. Try to make your point as quickly as possible to avoid taking up too much of their time. Cut filler words, redundancies, cliches, or anything that may weaken or distract from your key message.
探花精选 contributor Clifford Chi shares some useful tips in the article 鈥�8 Writing Tips I Wish I Knew Before I Started Blogging.鈥�
No matter how good your writing is, readers won鈥檛 necessarily want to hear your advice on particular topics.
For example, Forsey remembers writing an article on protecting your mental health while working from home. She explains, 鈥淚 didn't try to tackle the topic myself. Instead, I found a psychologist to provide well-researched, helpful tips to take my piece to the next level.鈥�
She advises, 鈥淓ven if you鈥榬e an expert, consider how you might provide alternative opinions to create a more well-rounded argument.鈥�
鈥淚f you鈥檙e writing a blog post like 鈥榁ideo vs. Podcast: Which Is Better For Your Business?鈥� 鈥� see if you can get quotes from podcasters and video producers (or your internal colleagues who feel passionate about the subject).
Expert quotes or original insights will impress readers and show them that what they鈥榬e finding on your website they won鈥檛 find elsewhere on the web. And that鈥檚 powerful.鈥�
Let鈥檚 be real: As empathetic as someone might be, nothing gets their attention more than hearing what鈥檚 in it for them.
In content writing, this means framing your topic or point around your reader.
Let鈥榮 say you鈥檙e creating an ebook: 鈥淎 Comprehensive Guide to Excel,鈥� for example.
This likely isn鈥檛 something super exciting for your audience to read. They鈥檙e reading because they have to, but you can make it more engaging (and, in turn, delight your readers) by explaining why the information is important to them.
Consider how critical Excel is for specific functions or how it can help make certain tasks easier.
Excel can help a company's financial department analyze year-over-year performance to determine how much budgeting a marketing team will receive in the upcoming year.
That budget contributes to critical growth and the business鈥榮 ability to reach and convert new customers. Without it, the marketing team won鈥檛 be able to increase brand awareness as effectively as they鈥檇 like 鈥� and the business will suffer.
When you recognize that Excel can be tied to job security, it suddenly becomes much more fascinating, doesn鈥檛 it?
Content writing is about more than just stringing together a coherent sentence. It's about telling readers why a topic matters to them.
Even if you鈥檙e an expert in your field, people won鈥檛 always take you at your word.
Details like examples and data can help ground your advice and drive a message home. They show you鈥檙e not just making things up and can also illustrate how readers can apply tactical advice. It鈥檚 about showing, not telling.
That being said, let's dive into some examples of powerful content writing.
What I like:
In this video, Dove stays true to its brand of promoting 鈥渞eal beauty鈥� and makes it relevant to today by discussing how that brand is affected by generative AI.
But I don鈥檛 just love the video's writing (which is simple and clear); I love the video description, which implements many of the tips I shared.
It details Dove鈥檚 unique commitment to its audience, pulls in data, and incorporates calls to action.
What I like:
is smart because it highlights their product, but also tells a human story and offers social proof.
It鈥檚 short but engaging with its use of an embedded video and colorful imagery and smartly links to the products featured in the content.
What I like:
never discusses or promotes its product. Yet, it shows their marketing muscle by discussing a topic their audience cares about 鈥� being more productive and effective. Helpful content like this helps to drive SEO and aligns with the brand鈥檚 story.
What I like:
focuses on a particular segment of their customers: retailers. Great content writers craft each piece with a purpose and audience in mind. This post exemplifies that.
They also make use of statistics and specific examples to drive home the value that their product delivers:
What I like:
Parallel Health is a startup that creates custom skincare solutions based on your personal skin microbiome. focuses on the reader and explains the benefits of the antioxidant-rich natural ingredient that happens to be in their products.
This post speaks to skincare connoisseurs with a penchant for science, which accurately describes their target audience. It also makes readers feel good about using the product, which is always how you want to make your customers think.
Generative AI is here, and it's not going anywhere anytime soon. Using tools like ChatGPT, Google鈥檚 Gemini, and our , content writers can generate blog posts, titles, captions, and other content ideas just by asking.
However, this doesn't mean generative AI does the content writing for you. Generative AI is best used to help you along in the writing process. In other words, outlining, researching, and brainstorming.
You鈥檒l still need to personalize the AI鈥檚 output and align it with your voice and needs.
Here are some tips for effectively implementing Gen AI in your content writing strategy.
When prompting your generative AI of choice, give it the context of what your content will be about, your goals, and who your target audience is. Be as clear and descriptive as possible when prompting your AI.
Tell the AI about specific keywords you want to hit, the length of your post, and any other structural information relevant to the type of content you want to create. Do you want a bulleted list of points as opposed to whole paragraphs? The more detailed instructions you can give, the more on-target the results will be.
If your AI didn鈥檛 output what you sought on the first try, reiterate, rewrite, and adjust your prompts to get the best results. You can ask your gen AI to review and expand on specific segments until you are happy with the results.
Let鈥檚 say you are researching an upcoming post, which requires you to read many other articles for inspiration and fact-finding. You can use generative AI to summarize a lengthy passage.
Copy and paste your source text and ask the AI to summarize the input as a bulleted list.
Just like that, you鈥檝e saved time and have access to key takeaways and points that will inform your content writing process.
Generative AI is exciting and convenient but does not replace human content writing. Remember, AI is trained on existing content, but only humans can create something out of nothing.
Use AI for inspiration and jumpstart your writing process, but don鈥檛 copy and paste the output verbatim, or your content will end up generic and lacking your personal touch.
At the end of the day, everyone has their own writing style, and every brand鈥檚 audience likely responds to different things.
Use everything in this article to start experimenting to see which ultimately can help take your content writing results to the next level.