Category Archives: Content Marketing

May 30, 2023 · 12:24 pm

Building Your LinkedIn Network

Having a strong network of professional connections on your LinkedIn account can work wonders in advancing your career, job searching, and conducting other outreaches. While it is easiest to connect with friends and colleagues, to truly expand your network and drive value, you’ll need to reach beyond just those people you personally know.

Decide Who Should Be In Your Network

To start growing your professional LinkedIn network, consider who would be a beneficial connection. Connecting with anyone and everyone will certainly expand your network, but not in a way that is helpful to you or supports you in achieving your goals. Develop a list of thought leaders in your industry, job titles of followers you’re targeting, specific companies, or topics of interest. Whether you have a free or paid version of LinkedIn, you can use the search bar to begin populating people who fit those descriptors. Be intentional about who you are targeting.

Use available filters to narrow or search through results. Browse through the person’s profile to see if they would be a worthwhile add before following or reaching out to connect. Finding people you already have mutual connections with can be a good place to start.

Become Active with Your Network

Now that you have started following professionals related to your industry or goals, interact with the content they share. Go beyond just giving their post a “like.” Attract their attention by making a thoughtful comment or reposting to your own feed with a caption that includes insight of your own. Spend time each day reviewing your LinkedIn feed or going directly to pages of people you’re following so you can stay engaged.

There are also a variety of groups on LinkedIn that you can join. Some are focused on general topics while others are fairly specific. Connect with individuals who have similar interests and participate in group discussions to slowly increase your followers.

Create Your Own Content

In addition to engaging with and resharing others’ content, build your presence and demonstrate thought leadership with your own posts, videos, and graphics. Share information that others will find helpful, thought-provoking, or educational. Developing a content plan will help you stick to a regular posting schedule and plan out the topics you want to cover as part of your content marketing strategy. Don’t forget to respond to people who have interacted with what you have shared too.

Be Patient

Organically growing your professional network takes time. As your follower count and connections increase, LinkedIn’s recommendations will improve and become more refined to reflect the audience you’re building. You can track your progress toward your goals and learn more about your network by using LinkedIn’s profile analytics (if you have Creator Mode enabled), content analytics, and the social selling index tool. Take a deeper dive into the demographics of your followers and use this information to tailor your approach when exploring new connections or creating content.

Optimize Your Profile

Don’t forget that as you’re expanding your network and searching profiles, other people are doing the same. Make sure your own LinkedIn profile is filled out completely, including work experience, education, professional affiliations, and skills. You want potential followers to get a positive impression of you and view you as a valuable connection for them as well.

Looking to expand your professional LinkedIn network? Make sure you’re not just connecting with anyone and don’t overlook your current connections either. Contact Grammar Chic by visiting www.grammarchic.net or by calling (803) 831-7444 to learn more about how we can help you build your LinkedIn presence the right way.

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April 3, 2023 · 11:23 am

6 Common Website Mistakes (And How to Fix Them)

An effective business website helps you accomplish several sales and marketing goals at once. It provides you with SEO traction, drawing traffic and boosting brand awareness. It educates your buyers, providing them with confidence in your products and services, increasing the likelihood of conversion. It captures information that your sales team can use down the road, including names and email addresses from potential customers. It conveys your company’s professionalism and expertise. It extends meaningful calls to action.

That’s a pretty robust job description, and it should come as no surprise that some websites don’t quite measure up. The good news is that many of the most common website deficiencies are totally fixable; and often, all it really takes is a content upgrade.

Website Mistakes That Content Can Fix

1) Poor calls to action.

Let’s start with a pretty simple example. Every page of your website should have at least one clear call to action, inviting the reader to take the next step. This might mean signing up for your email newsletter, calling to set an appointment, or purchasing a product from your ecommerce store. If your site isn’t getting the results you’d like, it may be a case of low call to action quality or quantity.

2) Insufficient thought leadership.

One of the most important roles your website serves is earning the trust of your readers, something you achieve by demonstrating your expertise. If your website lacks meaningful thought leadership, it may be because you either don’t have a blog or you don’t update it as often as you should. Both are issues that a content marketing team can help you resolve.

3) No meta data.

Meta titles and meta descriptions play an important role in signifying to the search engine algorithms, and to search engine users, what your site is all about. Well-written meta data is crucial for SEO and can even help facilitate conversions. Neglecting meta data means forfeiting a valuable opportunity to improve your site’s effectiveness.

4) Poor SEO.

Meta titles and descriptions are just one example of how poor copywriting can lead to impoverished SEO. Consider also that well-written and substantive content, with naturally integrated keywords, can be essential for search engine success. It’s also critical to write and format your content in a way that recognizes the growing popularity of voice search. Again, a content marketing team can help raise the SEO value of your website’s copywriting.

5) Low quality writing.

More generally, having bad writing on your site can compromise your SEO potential while also diminishing your brand’s sense of professionalism. A good content team can help you replace lackluster content with writing that’s tight, clean, precise, engaging, and error-free.

6) Duplicate content.

This is an especially big problem for companies that have a lot of individual product or service pages. Repeating the same boilerplate copy on multiple pages hurts your SEO potential, and also makes the entire site less engaging to the reader. A good content writing team can help you think of fresh and unique ways to convey the necessary information, even when it’s a little repetitive by its very nature.

Make Your Website a Traffic-Generating, Sales-Converting Machine

A good website can fuel business growth in more ways than one. To ensure your website is performing at a peak level, consider consulting with a content writing team.

We’d love to help. To connect with Grammar Chic, call us at 803-831-7444 or visit www.grammarchic.net.

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December 21, 2022 · 4:05 pm

Encouraging Collaboration Between Marketing and Other Departments

One of the most important traits for your marketing team to possess is an affinity for collaboration. Simply put, marketing teams work best when they are attentive and communicative with other departments, ranging from product development to customer service to sales. It’s through careful collaboration that marketing team members can ensure they are promoting the brand precisely and effectively, ultimately helping these other departments to succeed.

But cross-department collaboration is easier said than done, especially in an era where remote and hybrid work environments encourage siloing. Here are a few tips for more fruitful collaboration between marketing and other teams.

Coordinate with the Sales Team

It’s incredibly important for marketing and sales to work hand-in-hand. After all, marketers create the content that draws in leads, and sales reps then close the deal. For this division of labor to work fluidly and efficiently, everyone needs to be on the same page.

For marketers, then, it’s helpful to know what the sales team does each day, and what processes and strategies they use when interacting with customers. Having each marketing team member shadow someone for sales, if only for a day, can be incredibly beneficial. If that’s not feasible, some other options include listening to recordings from previous sales calls; sitting in on virtual sales department meetings; or even just assessing the sales department’s workflows.

Focus on Sales Enablement

It’s also important for marketers to remember that, at the end of the day, their top priority is enabling the sales team, making it easier for them to close deals and onboard new customers or clients.

There are a few practical ways in which this can happen:

  • Marketers can request that their counterparts in the sales division provide them with frequently asked customer questions. These real-life FAQs can be invaluable when crafting educational content that boosts consumer confidence, and primes customers to keep moving down the sales funnel.
  • Marketers can also work with sales to pinpoint the moment in the sales process where customers are most likely to fall off, then to brainstorm solutions. For example, does sales tend to lose customers when pricing comes up? It may be wise to develop content addressing this, perhaps by emphasizing the cost- or time-saving potential of the product in question.

Check in with Customer Service

In addition to the sales team, your customer service division plays an important part in frontline customer interactions. It’s important to check in with them from time to time, and specifically to inquire about complaint/success patterns. Complaints are just what you’d think: Areas where customers think the company could improve its efforts. And successes are those areas where customers express their pleasure or approval, commending the company for its good labors.

What does any of this have to do with marketing? Well, often, complaints come down to messaging and expectations. For example, if a customer complains about a confusing website experience, the answer may be to provide clearer verbiage on the landing page, or to be more succinct in your messaging. That’s something marketing can help with!

Engaging with Product Development

It’s also important for marketers to have a seat at the table in product development meetings. The reason for this is simple: As a new product is being developed, marketers need to begin brainstorming ways to present that product to consumers. And that means having a clear understanding of the product’s features and amenities (as well as its limitations).

At the same time, marketing can sometimes offer valuable pushback, noting when a particular feature or amenity might be difficult to sell. In other words, marketing team members can help the product development team stay on track with actual customer pain points and concerns.

Use Product Roadmap Software

One way to unite all these disparate departments is with the use of product roadmap software, which keeps everyone on the same page with regard to timelines, product specifications, and more.

Gocious is one of the leading names in product roadmap software solutions, and it’s especially notable for its inclusion of marketing features.

With Gocious, marketing team members can stay in sync with sales, customer service, product development, and company leadership. Specifically, Gocious allows marketers to:

  • Score and rank the product against the things target customers emphasize.
  • Stay aligned with product definitions, features, and benefits, all of which are essential when drafting marketing collateral.
  • Compare product lineups with competitor products.

Work in Tandem with Cross-Disciplinary Teams

The most effective marketing teams are communicative and collaborative with other departments, reveling in a give-and-take with sales, customer service, and beyond. That often means using the best software solutions, as well as the most nimble and adaptive vendors.

Questions about creating marketing messaging that harmonizes with other departments? Reach out to Grammar Chic, Inc. at www.grammarchic.net, or 803-831-7444.

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October 26, 2022 · 10:23 am

Promoting Diversity & Inclusion in Your Marketing

Your small business marketing efforts aren’t just about promoting products and services. Ultimately, they’re about establishing your brand’s values and identity. As more and more customers (particularly younger ones) seek brands that align with their social values, this dimension of marketing is more critical than ever before.

In particular, small businesses can use their marketing channels to demonstrate their commitment to diversity and inclusion. This isn’t just about “virtue signaling.” Ultimately, it’s about making your brand as customer centric as possible.

Diversity Defined

When we talk about promoting diversity and inclusion through digital marketing, exactly what are we talking about?

Ultimately, it means evaluating your messaging, your visuals, your website accessibility and experience, and even your marketing team, seeking to provide a welcoming and affirming experience for everyone. As you consider diversity and inclusion in your digital marketing, some specific factors to evaluate include:

  • Age
  • Ethnicity, race, and nationality
  • Gender and sexuality
  • Socioeconomic status
  • Religious affiliation

Crucially, promoting diversity doesn’t mean trying to be all things to all people, nor does it mean losing sight of your data-driven audience targeting. What it means is being aware of who’s being drawn to your marketing and your branding, then ensuring that they feel represented and included.

Valuing Diversity

But why exactly should small businesses care about diversity in their marketing? Simply put, because customers care. Studies confirm that about nine out of 10 millennials have a higher estimation of a brand if they believe it to be inclusive and diverse. Among younger customers, the numbers are even higher. Likewise, statistics show that customers from ethnic and sexual minorities are more likely to buy from a brand if they feel like the brand has made an effort to include them.

Some additional benefits to promoting diversity and inclusion in your marketing efforts:

  • You’ll reach more people, expanding brand awareness into new demographic groups.
  • You’ll build greater brand loyalty and trust, establishing shared values with your customers.
  • You’ll earn genuine respect and goodwill for your brand, which can further increase loyalty.
  • All of these things, taken together, can help increase your pool of customers, thereby boosting revenues.

How to Promote Diversity in Your Marketing

As for specific ways to promote diversity and inclusion in your marketing, there are a few guidelines we’d recommend.

  • Understand your audience. Do you remember the Jeep ad that Bruce Springsteen appeared in during last year’s Super Bowl? With its heavy reliance on all-American imagery, the ad proved divisive among viewers… some of whom loved the heartland imagery, while others thought it felt too jingoistic. The point is, it’s important to know who’s in your audience, and to consider how images, words, and branding might resonate with them.
  • Be willing to adjust. A big part of promoting diversity and inclusion is being willing to tweak your messaging. Certainly, many brands took stock of their representational values in light of the Black Lives Matter movement, while others have adjusted their advertising language to bring transgender folks into the conversation. Be sensitive to the ways in which time and culture are changing, demanding new standards of inclusivity through your marketing efforts.
  • Don’t be performative. Today’s consumers are pretty allergic to brands that talk the talk but fail to walk the walk. What do we mean by this? Simply put, adding Black faces to your marketing materials can fall flat if your hiring practices undervalue Black workers; proclaiming opposition to bigotry goes farther if you’re actually making some donations to anti-bigotry efforts. Remember to back up your marketing messaging with real-world action whenever possible.

Make Inclusivity a Hallmark of Your Marketing Efforts

Ready to make some informed, strategic adjustments to your marketing? Our team is here to help you work diversity and inclusion into your messaging. Contact the Grammar Chic, Inc. team to schedule a marketing consultation. Reach out at 803-831-7444 or www.grammarchic.net.

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October 12, 2022 · 5:10 pm

5 Tips for Marketing During a Recession

When times get tough, businesses pinch pennies… and usually, it’s the marketing budget that gets pinched first.

This is an understandable instinct: Faced with leaner profits and greater financial instability, business owners naturally may look to their marketing budget as something “extra.” That is, something non-urgent. Something of middling importance. Something cuttable.

Marketing Matters — Even During Lean Times

Actually, slashing your marketing budget is the wrong approach: The businesses that do so jeopardize their long-term market share. In fact, during periods of financial downturn, robust marketing is more necessary than ever.

There are several reasons for this:

  • If your business is pinching pennies, you can bet that your customers are, too. They’re going to be extra cautious about which products and which brands they entrust with their hard-earned money. Marketing may be just what you need to remain top of mind, and to give yourself an edge over the competition.
  • Continuing to market during a recession also conveys your strength and resolve: It shows resilience and a mind for the big picture, traits likely to appeal to customers who are grappling with their own financial uncertainties.
  • By contrast, cutting your marketing budget will leave you with a diminished online presence and a vanishing brand awareness… providing an opening for competitors to swoop in and steal your customer base.

Tips for Effective Marketing During a Downturn

The answer for small business owners, then, isn’t to cut their marketing budgets, necessarily, but to use their marketing resources effectively and judiciously. Here are a few guidelines to keep in mind:

  1. Reach out to existing customers. Your loyal customer base is one of your most valuable assets. These customers already trust you, and already have a pretty clear idea what to expect from your products and services. Focus on maintaining contact through social media and email newsletters, gently reminding them that you’re open for business at their discretion.
  2. Be consistent. This is important no matter the economy, but it’s especially impactful during downturns. There’s likely going to be less marketing noise than usual, so you can make a big impression simply through consistency: Create a monthly schedule for blogging, social media, and email, and stick with it.
  3. Tap into the right emotions. What’s the best way to connect with consumers during a downturn? The answer isn’t to be glib and pretend like the recession isn’t happening, but neither is it to wallow in despair. Instead, convey encouragement and empowerment. The “we can do it,” problem-solving attitude is most likely to resonate with customers who are looking for some uplift.
  4. Keep an eye on your data and metrics. Pay attention to the product pages or blog posts that see heightened traction during the recession, as well as the areas of your business where interest seems to vanish. These metrics can provide clear insight into the kinds of pain points your customers wish to address. Those are naturally the areas you’ll want to focus on with your marketing budget.
  5. Emphasize your value proposition. As we noted above, consumers will be extra vigilant about where they spend their hard-earned money. To win their business, you’ll need marketing assets that clearly convey the value you offer, the benefits you provide, and the pain points you address. This is an area where professional copywriting can be invaluable.

Keep Marketing

The bottom line? Marketing isn’t a fair-weather investment. If anything, it’s even more important when times get tough. We’d love to help you get your message across, and to make smart use of your marketing capital. Reach out to the Grammar Chic team by contacting 803-831-7444, or by visiting www.grammarchic.net.

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July 15, 2022 · 11:52 am

Connecting with Gen Z’ers Through Content Marketing

Gen Z typically encompasses individuals born between 1997 and 2012. They have never known a world without social media and are digital natives. They know how to navigate different technology platforms with ease and embrace ecommerce and social commerce. This can make marketing to this tech savvy generation challenging.

While older generations prefer to spend their time on Facebook or Twitter, Gen Z migrates toward TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram. This younger crowd thrives on engagement, interaction, and discovering the next best thing. Refining your content marketing strategy to appeal to Gen Z is a must if you want to attract their business. Here are some tips to build connections with this next generation of customers.

TikTok

Gen Z is drawn toward short, eye-catching content. Videos need to immediately attract their interest and go beyond traditional sales tactics. Shift your focus to real-world examples of how your products can impact their lives and daily routines. Think “show, don’t tell.” Why do they need what you have to offer? What can it do? Showcase diversity while being authentic and genuine. Skip the gimmicks, as Gen Z will see right through them and move on to something else.

Snapchat

Timeliness and relevancy are key to marketing on Snapchat. Posts disappear in 24 hours, so create a sense of “act now” urgency – and give them a way to interact. Gamification and VR are popular ways to connect and draw users in. Be strategic with your posts, or it will be “out of sight, out of mind.” Share content regularly and leverage feedback and recommendations from Gen Z to tailor posts to what they want to know and see.

Instagram

If you haven’t picked up on it yet, Gen Z is very visually oriented, be it pictures or videos. But building an Instagram following means creating a refined image and sticking with that theme. Images and videos should be carefully curated to align with your brand, mission, and vision. Partner with influencers who are real-life users that Gen Z will relate to and trust. Share user-generated content and show your products or services in action, giving different ideas for how they can be used.

Be Authentic

Gen Z doesn’t want the traditional gimmicky sales pitches. They have a more vested interest in a company’s values and what they stand for. Don’t be afraid to be vocal about what your brand believes in and the causes it stands behind. Building meaningful connections can attract more business and increase customer support in your brand.

Focus on Engagement

Gen Z’ers are constantly clicking, swiping, and tapping. Make sure your content is interactive and generates action. Use targeted hashtags, post quizzes and polls, create contests around tagging and sharing, and make completing purchases a seamless process. Gen Z is used to having information at their fingertips 24/7. Old-school marketing tactics can mean you’re missing out on a wealth of opportunity.

It takes the correct approach to create content that will ultimately connect with your Gen Z customers, and Grammar Chic’s team can help you develop it. Contact us today to discuss any of your content strategy needs.

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June 8, 2022 · 5:15 pm

Content Refresh: 7 Post Ideas to Revive Your Social Media Strategy

It can be easy to fall into a rut when developing content for social media. You get into a routine creating the same types of posts and sharing variations of the same information. This repetitiveness can cause users to keep scrolling past and reduce overall engagement.

It’s time to shake things up and give your social media strategy a much-needed refresh. Here are a few post ideas to revitalize your social media marketing and attract your audience’s attention whether you’re posting on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn.

  • Break Things Up with Photos and Videos

Line after line of text gets boring. Brighten up your page with photos that show your products or services in action, highlight product benefits, or give helpful how-to insight. Create short videos to increase engagement by demonstrating how your product works, what it offers a user, showcasing attractive features, or introducing new items.

  • Ask Questions

Encourage users to interact by asking for their feedback. You can create a simple poll with multiple choice answers, post two choices and have users pick A or B, or ask people to fill in the blank to complete a statement. This can also be a great way to conduct informal research and gain insight into what your customers like.

  • Share Testimonials

People love to hear what real customers think about a product or service. Create attractive graphics that incorporate reviews from satisfied customers. Pick statements that offer valuable insight and entice potential customers to take action themselves.

  • Incorporate User Generated Content

What better way to promote your business than by sharing posts from your customers? It could be a photo, video, or graphic where they express their thoughts in a relatable, authentic way. Don’t forget to ask permission and give credit to the original creator!

  • Answer Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Your team probably fields a lot of the same questions every week. Use this as an educational moment and create a fun post that publicly answers a question or two and gives customers more information. This can speed up their decision-making process because you’re answering what they want to know.

  • Take Users Behind the Scenes

How is your product really made? Who are the people making it happen? Spotlight a different employee or department each week. Make a video showing part of the design or production process. Snap a picture of everyone enjoying a company outing. Give insight into what goes on behind the scenes and humanize your business.

  • Go Live.

Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn all have options for live streaming, or you can share a link to a live event on another platform. Give customers the opportunity to interact, ask questions, listen to thought leaders, or watch a panel discussion.

Consider your business and audience to decide what approaches might be a good fit, and then get started! Experiment and see what works well and what doesn’t. Give new strategies a few tries to allow them time to gain traction and boost engagement. Keep your content marketing fresh so customers want to stay connected and know what’s happening.

Is your business’ social media strategy in need of a refresh? Contact Grammar Chic today to learn more about how we can assist you.

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January 5, 2022 · 3:57 pm

How to Create a Content Strategy for 2022

Though we’ve started a brand-new year, there are some things that haven’t changed. For example, a winsome content strategy remains paramount for building your brand, engaging your target audience, and driving sales.

Whether you’re building a content strategy from the ground up or looking to revive a strategy that’s been on life support, we’ve got a few tips to start the year off right.

Do the Groundwork

First things first: Before you start creating content, it’s important to have a clear sense of what you’re trying to achieve. We recommend spending some time auditing your current assets, checking up on your competition, and brainstorming about where you want your content to take you.

Some specific considerations include:

  • Set your objectives. One way to provide direction to your content strategy is to set some clear, measurable, and specific goals. This may be as simple as deciding that you wish to grow your email list by 50 percent or want to hit a particular benchmark for website traffic or time-on-page.
  • Define your audience. Who are you addressing with your content? Which people are you hoping to bring to your business website? Do some customer research and create a set of buyer personas, helping you zero in on a target audience.
  • Create a keyword list. Keywords reflect the terms and phrases that consumers use as they seek information about your products or services. You can find keyword ideas in your Google Ads or Google Analytics dashboards, or even by playing around with Google Autocomplete.
  • Audit your existing content. Spend some time reviewing the content on your business website and blog, as well as any other assets you have. Vet for quality, but also check the metrics to see what kind of content seems to perform well for you (and which assets haven’t performed well at all).
  • Make a set of categories. We also recommend developing a list of categories based on your previous/existing content. For example, if you own a plumbing company, you may have a category for preventative maintenance, a category for DIY tips, a category about energy efficiency, etc. These categories can help you brainstorm new content ideas. And, they help you see if there are areas you’ve been focusing on too much, or areas you’re neglecting.

Produce Content

Once you’ve laid the groundwork, the next step is to get serious about producing content that’s aligned with your strategy. A few recommendations:

  • Develop an approach to content ideation. You’ll need to be producing new content ideas on a regular basis. Schedule regular brainstorming sessions with your team members, perhaps using your keyword and category lists to facilitate the discussion. Also make a habit of consuming content from your competitors or from industry authorities; you never know when inspiration will strike!
  • Create a topic list. As new topics arise, add them to a shared spreadsheet. Include a working title, a one-or-two-sentence summary, a proposed call to action, and a list of relevant keywords to be used in the content. You might also include inspiration/research articles, when applicable. Also make sure you denote any landing pages or other assets to which you’d like the content to link.
  • Make a schedule. In conjunction with your topic list, develop a regular rhythm of writing. You may want to use your topic list to assign a due date, or to assign different writers to each topic (if you’re lucky enough to have a team of writers collaborating with you).
  • Check for quality. Make sure your process includes a quality check. An editor or proofreader should review all content for grammar and typos, and also confirm that it aligns with your overall objectives. A plagiarism check may be wise, too.
  • Vet for SEO. Also make sure content is reviewed by someone with some SEO knowledge, who can advise you on things like linking, meta data, and keyword usage.

Produce and Promote

Once you develop and publish new content, you’ll also want to make sure you promote it to all the appropriate channels.

  • Compile topics for newsletters. Hopefully, you have a regular e-newsletter where you can share the latest blog posts, videos, etc.
  • Share to social media. Also be sure that you have a team member who is in charge of sharing content to all of your branded social media accounts.
  • Consider paid promotion. For content that you really believe in, promotion via paid ads may prove fruitful.

Ask for Help

One final tip? Remember that you don’t have to do all of this yourself. In fact, the most efficient way to get high-quality content may be to enlist a professional writing company. Reach out for a custom proposal and partner with Grammar Chic to make 2022 be your company’s best year.

To speak with the experienced content creators at Grammar Chic, Inc., contact us at www.grammarchic.net or 803-831-7444.

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August 16, 2021 · 10:18 am

Don’t Let Writer’s Block Derail Your Content Strategy

Writer’s block can strike the best of us; just ask James Caan’s character in Misery. And while it can certainly be a lethal affliction for fiction writers, it’s just as unsettling for content marketers. If you’ve ever found yourself on a tight deadline for a company blog post, press release, or email newsletter, you know just how little wiggle-room there is. The last thing you need is to waste precious time waiting for inspiration to strike.

There’s no magic formula for banishing writer’s block, but there are a few simple remedies that can help get your creative juices flowing. Here are a few tricks and tips from Grammar Chic’s writers.

How to Deal with Writer’s Block

  • Walk away for a little while. You won’t accomplish much by banging your head against the desk, or by staring at a blank screen. So why not go for a walk? Get your blood pumping a little bit. Step outside to soak up some sun or make a quick phone call. Spend 15 minutes playing a mindless iPhone game and see if that helps you clear your head. You can’t put off your deadline forever, but you can take short breaks.
  • Always be looking for inspiration. You never know when a billboard or a line in your favorite TV show will inspire a company blog post. Be ready to jot down these inspiration points on your Notes app and consult it when you feel low on ideas.
  • Work when you know you’re at your most focused and creative. Some of us have our best ideas early in the morning. Others tend to perk up toward the end of the day. If you’re the kind of person who just always feels blank first thing in the AM, then choose a different time to get your writing done.
  • Ask for ideas. You know who probably has some great ideas for your next company blog post or newsletter? Your sales reps, who talk to customers day in and day out and know what some of the common questions and pain points are. Don’t hesitate to go to them for inspiration.
  • Just start writing. You may have no idea what your next piece of content is going to look like… but you can always write something: A list of keywords, questions, or even a simple outline. Even if you’re just regurgitating a precious blog post, the act of writing can often inspire fresh ideas.
  • Outsource your efforts. If your writer’s block becomes chronic, you may want to hire someone who can help you shape some new ideas. The Grammar Chic team would be happy to step in as needed.

Reach Out to Grammar Chic, Inc.

Do you feel inspired to learn more about our content writing services? If so, then let’s set up a time to chat. Reach out to Grammar Chic, Inc. by visiting www.grammarchic.net, or by calling our office at 803-831-7444.

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July 1, 2021 · 1:07 pm

5 Ways to Repurpose Your Content

Your written assets are invaluable pieces of marketing collateral, often representing a significant investment of time and labor. And yet, all too often, we treat content as though it is disposable. A blog post that takes days of research, writing, and optimization may be heavily promoted for a month, but then it’s all but forgotten.

To ensure you’re getting the maximum benefit from each piece of content you develop, consider some methods of repurposing. Here are just a few tips to improve your content mileage.

Effective Ways to Repurpose Your Digital Content

1. Update your longform blog posts regularly. If you take the time to write 2,000 words about email marketing trends, then you should be prepared to update the post every six months or so, reflecting how those trends change. After all, long-form content can be invaluable, both in terms of SEO and brand authority, but you’ll squander all that value if you allow the content to become dated or obsolete.

2. Use video to tease your content. When you develop a new piece of content, consider making a short video to promote it. For example, you can make a YouTube video or even an Instagram clip to summarize some of the main points of your most recent blog post, and end by inviting your viewers to read the post (and then share it).

3. Summarize your blog posts in email newsletters. At Grammar Chic, our monthly newsletter includes a rundown of all our recent blog posts, along with some short summaries of each. You don’t need to rehash the entirety of each post, but you can definitely use your long-form content as fodder for future emails.

4. Turn bullet points into tweet storms. Sure: Tweets are by their nature fairly ephemeral. But if you have a blog post with plenty of stand-alone points, quotes, or observations, it’s pretty easy to convert them into short blasts to your social media followers, potentially shoring up your thought leadership credentials.

5. Combine shorter posts into an e-book or downloadable guide. One final option to consider: If you have a number of shorter posts on a related topic, work with an editor to combine them into a single document, which you can then promote as a downloadable resource.

Increase Your Content ROI

These are just a few ways to improve your content ROI, particularly for longer and more in-depth pieces. We’d love to talk to you further about how these repurposing methods can fit into your overall content strategy. To speak with one of our writer-editors, contact Grammar Chic, Inc. at 803-831-7444 or www.grammarchic.net.

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