Archived post. Originally published 6.18.2010.

If you had to choose one line of copy to spend the most time on, it's always going to be your headline. Without a strong, attention-grabbing lead-in, your copy will flop.

As a marketer, I'm always searching for new resources to help me improve my headlines, which leads to improved conversion rates, increased brand awareness, and hopefully, better leads.

Luckily, I found a great post from Ivana Taylor of DIY Marketing, which collects about a dozen fantastic articles and resources focused entirely on killer copywriting skills. Check it out today: Write the Best Marketing Headlines Using These Resources.

After reading, tell me - what's a resource that you always turn to in order to beef up your headline-writing skills?

Archived post. Originally published 5.21.2010.

Are you pleased to introduce a unique innovation that's a bleeding-edge, mission-critical technology which shifts the industry paradigm? 

If this sounds familiar, this post is just for you.

First off, I'll fess up - I still catch myself writing like this. But honestly, how could you not get caught up in it? We're not just software - we're innovative, unique, robust and marketing-leading. We're solutions-driven, we enable, and we are best-of-breed. Whatever that means.

While this tactic works for a bit, in the end, it acts as a turn-off to reporters and customers. Why? Because while the language bolsters your word count, it dilutes your message. Important eyes, like a customer or a prospect, glaze over this language, because you're not communicating anything concrete. Your message of how you solve problems for people is completely lost among useless descriptors.

So how do you combat vacuous language that could harm your chances at coverage and business? 

1. Give yourself a big reality check
Ask yourself - are you really unique? Really? Are you truly mission-critical? Will a business die without you? If not, cut the rhetoric and ground your messaging in reality. Your content will only improve, and your customers and reporters will thank you.

2. Outline what you're trying to communicate
Many times, vacuous and ineffective language stems from a lack of focus in the message. Or frankly, you don't know what you're trying to say, you just know you need to say something.  The best place to start is an outline of your announcement - follow the 5 W's, and stick to them. 

3. Kill the internalspeak
Too many times, internalspeak ends up on press releases, on blogs, and in articles. What you call one item internally is referred to as something completely different in the outside world. To combat this, I recommend running a quick Google search on your terminology. If you can't find it, remove it from the copy and work in the terminology that actually makes sense to your audience.

4. At all costs, avoid the fluff
At the end of the day, it all comes down to personal preferences versus. good writing. Many marketers, myself included, have to take a step back from their own writing and cut the fluff. One trick I use is to leave the writing for an hour or so, and come back with a red pen to remove all of the unnecessary descriptors. What I'm left with is a clean, concise bit of copy that does the job I need it to. 

Archived Post. Originally published on 12/4/2009.
One of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever gotten, or have offered, is that “Your content sucks.”

Harsh, I know, but let’s sit back and ponder it for a minute. How many of us have company descriptors that beg further explanation? How many times do the words “leading,” “best-of-breed” or “innovative” appear in the first paragraph of anything you write? Do your customer case studies actually present a case?

I thought so.

Like any good article, content development should start out with an outline of the 5 W’s. Ann Handley of Marketing Profs presents this theory nicely in her article “What the ‘Five Ws’ of Journalism Have to Do With Marketing (and Why You Should Care)”. Check it out today by clicking here.

Afterwards, I challenge you to take a handful of your written materials, and evaluate them. How could you improve your writing by applying the 5W rule? Share your thoughts in the comments today!