What is the Goal of Your Content?
A question every web writer – and every web writer’s client – should ask
While sloughing through post topics, I glanced at Twitter.
A tweet came through from Lorraine Thompson, @WritersKitchen – itself a retweet of Nick Usborne’s, who posted a link to the Web Content Strategy Blog titled An Interesting Content Manifesto.
(Why am I thinking of Kevin Bacon all of a sudden…)
Anyway, this blog post makes a very, very crucial point in regards to content. ALL content.
“Content Manifesto: Don’t create content ABOUT something. Create content IN ORDER TO DO something. To achieve goals. All content should be in service of a goal. If not, cut it.”
In service of a goal. I agree 100%.
But what goal?
Do Something? How about “Spur Reader to Action?”
I have asked clients the question of what goal they want to accomplish with content. Almost every time the answer goes like this…
1. “Just something about the product/service.” (Okay…what?)
OR
2. “It should tell the client about how great our product/service is, how great we are to work with, that we’re the only one to work with…” (See a “self”-evident pattern in there?)
Many clients want the goal of their content to be “talking about themselves.” It’s understandable; if you’re passionate about something, you want to talk about it.
But it’s not the kind of goal you should use when writing content.
Look at that citation again. “Create content IN ORDER TO DO something.” Now obviously, companies want their content to do something.
Like what?
Most would agree that they want their content to spur the reader to action.
Question is…what kind of action?
Examples of Content Goals
Asking questions like this helps us specify the goal for a piece of content. In order to do something, a content’s goal must be specific.
These are a few goals I’ve used when writing content in the past.
- Drive visitors to sign up on a website.
- Get prospects to read an email.
- Reward people for downloading a file or application.
- Encourage readers to consider a product/service in their project plans.
- Educate the reader on specialized information the company has.
- Make people want to bookmark a site and return.
- Encourage visitors to email the company about a project or question.
- Purchase a product/service.
Include Content Goals in Content Strategy? Definitely.
The Web Content Strategy post concludes by suggesting a “page goal” be incorporated into content strategy. Again, I agree. For content to belong in a matrix, it must DO something to forward the company’s overall goals.
Wait a Second, Does This Post Have a Goal Too?
Yep. The blog post you’re reading right now? It was intended to remind you – content must do something. You must decide on a goal for your content. That’s the goal here.
And if you read this far, it means the content succeeded!
To what goal will your next content be in service?
Damage Control: A Written Answer to a Business Disaster (Case Study)
7-21-08
Most people think copy writing belongs in ads, on brochures, etc. Heavy promotion, chock-full of sales slogans. Oh, and for filling webpages with jargon, so they don’t look empty.
I’ve always believed writing has tremendous power in business. To prove it, here’s one example where good copy helped salvage an entire business!
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(These proceedings concluded in mid-2009. But I’m leaving out or changing names of the parties involved to protect their privacy.)
Last month I received a call from Jeff, a mortgage broker in my area. He said he needed a letter written ASAP, and a fellow copywriter had recommended me.
Why the referral? The letter needed would seek damages from a software company, whose processing application caused severe damage to his business. Heavy on detail, very aware of the seriousness of the issues. Even though I like putting humor in my writing, I am very good at this kind too.
And I’d need to be.
THE PROBLEM: DATA LOSS
I spoke with Jeff at his office the next day. He laid out a day-by-day portrayal of what had happened. This software company – we’ll call them BrokerX Software – had sent Jeff an upgrade of their software 2 weeks prior. Not wanting to risk any data loss, Jeff called the company and had them walk him through setup.
Everything went fine. Until Jeff went back and checked.
BrokerX’s upgrade had erased his database of customer information!
You read right. Every name, phone number, account history…gone. Needless to say, Jeff called back.
At first, BrokerX tried to fix the problem remotely, connecting to his office in California from their center in Texas. While they worked like this (with no success), the software upgrade actually traveled out across his company network and erased any remaining data in the system!
Now the backups were gone too. Jeff almost panicked. He faced a double-barreled shotgun of Business Collapse and Financial Ruin.
Since remote support yielded little, BrokerX brought in technicians from a California office, hoping to restore the data on-site. Over a week’s effort only netted a 15% restoration.
Jeff was crushed. Despite all their efforts, his business was essentially destroyed. All the backups were gone, his paper files only covered a fraction of customers…he faced going out of business. From one software upgrade.
BrokerX declared they would like to settle with Jeff, and requested a damage estimate from him. Here’s where the letter came in. Jeff is a great broker – but he was far too frazzled by these circumstances to write out the story.
THE SOLUTION: AN URGENT LETTER TO SEEK DAMAGES
I was a little busy that week with two other clients. But after hearing Jeff’s story, I knew he needed the help. Badly. Jeff and I met, and had several phone conversations over the course of a week to rush his project along.
This was more of a legal/financial writing project than technical, so it was a unique sort of challenge. But I had several things going for me:
1. Jeff was thorough, and completely open. He provided every detail I asked for, and then some.
2. Jeff’s lawyer stood ready to look over my work once completed. In case a change was needed to
satisfy legal requirements.
3. Because BrokerX had in fact requested a damage estimate, I didn’t have to use a hard sales
angle. I focused on writing out a solid case for Jeff, so his damages would be 100% valid in
any reader’s eyes.
After Jeff gave his seal of approval, his lawyer took a look at it. His response? “There’s nothing I need to change!”
The next Monday, Jeff’s “Request for Damages” letter had been sent off to BrokerX.
THE RESULT: SETTLEMENT IN PROGRESS
Jeff called me a week later to say the company had arranged a meeting to discuss a settlement. He said he finally felt good about the process, and had hope of salvaging his company again. Great! I asked him to keep me informed, and so far everything’s going well for him.
Professional copy writing isn’t just for glitzy ads and hard-driving sales. It’s essential whenever you need to communicate a message. Regardless of whether that message is marketing a new product, explaining your business methods, or requesting legal damages.
