Tag Archives: Professional Content Marketers

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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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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Is Your Social Media Content on Brand?

As a business, it is important to connect with customers. Social media has become an integral part of many people’s lives, and users are often active on more than one platform. That means that most businesses have a presence on multiple platforms as well. Keeping branding consistent across channels makes businesses more easily recognizable and builds trust.

Here are some ways to improve your brand management and make sure your content stays true to your business’ mission and vision.

Develop a Style Guide

Create a go-to resource for anyone who makes content for your business. The style guide sets the standards and expectations for the brand voice, tone, style, colors, visuals, and more. It keeps everything cohesive and consistent. It can be helpful to design templates for employees to follow and a collection of graphics, visuals, or logos that can be used.

Plan Ahead

Develop themes, topics, or pillars to guide content creation. This can keep content on track and prevent posting articles or blogs that do not align with intended messaging. It also keeps posts relevant across platforms because they all revolve around the same subjects and goals at the same time.

Stay True to Your Mission, Vision, and Values

Don’t just post about something because it is trending or interesting. If it doesn’t fit with your company’s messaging or what you stand behind, then it may confuse customers and create a disconnect. Have a review process in place to approve content before it is posted to ensure that it is serving the intended purpose and fits with the company’s style guide.

Know Your Audience

Take the time to create buyer personas and identify your target audience. That can help you decide not only what type of content to share, but also where to share it. Just because a social media platform is available does not mean that your business needs to be on it. If your audience doesn’t have a big presence on TikTok or Snapchat, or your business doesn’t it lend itself to that type of content, then don’t join. Don’t waste time, energy, and resources on social media channels that don’t benefit your business or provide a return on investment.

Be Strategic

Sit down and develop a well thought out marketing strategy and plan. Decide what defines your brand and how you want to be known. Establish key messages and core values to build your content around. Every post should serve a purpose and fit within your overall brand vision.

Reach out to Grammar Chic today to learn more about how we can assist with building your brand and keeping your social media on point.

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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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Tips for Writing Instagram Captions That Increase Engagement

Instagram has simply become too big and too popular to ignore. Perennially ranked as one of the fastest-growing social platforms, Instagram currently boasts well over a billion global users. And with the incorporation of social commerce functions, it’s more relevant than ever before to the interests of small business owners.

When leveraged effectively, Instagram can help you increase website traffic, boost brand awareness, even generate sales. To accomplish these goals, you certainly need high-quality images and videos. But you’ll also need something more than that: Strong captions that engage the user and encourage likes, shares, and other actions.

How to Write Effective Instagram Captions

So, what makes for effective copywriting on this image-driven social platform? There are a few considerations.

1) Front-load your sentences.

When your posts show up in a user’s newsfeed, Instagram will shorten your captions to about three lines. The user may click to expand the caption in order to read the full thing, but not everyone will take the time, especially if those first few lines don’t grab them. All that to say, front-load your captions with interest and with value. Ask a question or make an attention-grabbing statement. Make sure you pack plenty of good stuff into your opening sentence.

2) Encourage action.

Ultimately, you want your Instagram captions to spark some further action. The best way to make that happen is to ask for it, whether by posing a direct question to the user or by providing a clear call to action. Some specific things you can ask Instagram followers to do include:

  • Visit a particular link in your bio.
  • Leave a comment (usually to answer a specific question posed in the caption).
  • Tag a friend (this can help you expand your reach).
  • Share their own photo using a specific, branded hashtag.

3) Share insight.

An Instagram caption is not a blog post, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use it as a way to share actionable advice, tips, or insights that are relevant to your field. Indeed, a post that shares real value is much more likely to be bookmarked or shared.

Side note: One of the best ways to generate insights for your Instagram captions is to actually use your blog posts. Read back through some recent posts for any bullet points that you could adapt to Instagram. Scuttling your blog for spare parts is an easy way to recycle content.

4) Be personable.

Generally speaking, the most effective Instagram captions are the ones that come across as human, not robotic. So, make sure you have a brand voice that can be casual, funny, and relatable. There’s no need to be as formal as you would be in, say, a press release. To that end, don’t be afraid to use emoji to animate your captions and inject some extra humor or emotion.

5) Use hashtags.

Hashtags are crucial for making your posts discoverable in the Instagram search algorithms, which can be key to broadening your reach. As you consider the right Instagram hashtags, we’d recommend a combination of branded hashtags (specific to your brand), community hashtags (widely used within your industry or field), and the occasional trending hashtag (but only when genuinely relevant).

Get Help with Marketing Copy

There’s a real art to effective social media copywriting… and if you need a little help mastering that art, we’re here for you. Set up a consultation call with Grammar Chic, Inc. by visiting www.grammarchic.net or by calling 804-831-7444.

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6 Reasons to Invest in Professional Content Creation

Most business owners don’t need to be convinced of the value of online content. By now, the bottom-line benefits of content marketing are well-documented. The right content can lead to greater Google visibility, it can attract qualified leads, it can establish trust and rapport, and it can even ensure that customers are well-educated about your product and service offerings before they get in touch with your sales team.

No, the problem isn’t a perceived lack of value. The problem, in our experience, is a simple lack of time. Small business owners constantly have full plates, and as they get more and more swamped, blog-writing and content refreshes are usually the first items erased from the to-do list.

The solution? Hire a team of pros. Indeed, there are a number of benefits you can anticipate from investing in professional content creation.

Why Invest in Professional Content Creation?

  1. You lack a consistent online presence. Do you ever feel like your business is lost in a sea of competitors? One way to stand out, and to attract more attention from potential clients and customers, is to invest in blog posts, which in turn fuel your social media efforts. Regularly generating content allows you to cultivate a real presence on the Internet, potentially drawing in people who want to benefit from your thought leadership.
  2. You’re not feeding the beast. By the beast, of course, we mean Google’s algorithms, which constantly crave fresh, original content. If you’re not feeding the beast on a regular basis, sooner or later it will cause your SEO rankings to tumble.
  3. You’re creating content without an overarching strategy. Creating content just for content’s sake is a rookie mistake. A better approach is to build out a full strategy, including carefully defined goals and laser-focused buyer personas, then to create content that is tailored to move your bottom line. A professional content creator can help you with that.
  4. You’re not a great writer. Hey, there’s no shame in admitting that writing isn’t your strong suit. Whether you lack experience or simply aren’t able to write quickly, the last thing you want is for your brand to be tarnished with suboptimal content. Hire a team of pros to ensure the right level of polish and professionalism.
  5. Your content exists in a silo. Content isn’t supposed to live in a vacuum. Ideally, your content is developed to fuel your social media activity, to provide fodder for an email newsletter, and perhaps even to lay the groundwork for some compelling videos. A good content developer can help you bring all the pieces together into something coherent and strategic.
  6. You just don’t have time. We’ll say it again: Small business owners have a lot on their plate. We get it. And that’s why we love providing small companies with our content writing services, allowing their busy leaders to focus more time and attention on growing their business and developing their employees.

Questions About Professional Content Creation? Contact Grammar Chic, Inc

We’d love to tell you more about the advantages of choosing Grammar Chic, Inc. as your content creation partner. Reach out and schedule a consultation with us: Call 803-831-7444 or visit www.grammarchic.net.

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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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7 Reasons to Hire a Content Writer in 2021

When you run a small business, you know more about it than anyone in the world. But just because you know your business inside and out, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re the best person to articulate its value proposition… especially not in writing.

That’s where a professional content writer can be invaluable: Translating your knowledge and your passion into messaging that crystallizes what you do and why customers should care.

Indeed, there are a number of reasons why business owners outsource their content writing needs… and, why enlisting a writer may be the best decision you make in the dawning days of 2021.

1) Bad writing will wreck your reputation.

Let’s be honest: Writing is a skill, and not everyone has it. If you’re not a natural-born writer, that’s totally okay! You obviously have plenty of other skills that have allowed you to launch a successful business.

But if you’re not a good writer, that’s something that’s important to acknowledge to yourself. See, if you do your own copywriting but it’s filled with circuitous grammar or sloppy mistakes, it could actually have a counterproductive effect.

For instance, it’s hard to say that your business stands for quality, consistency, or attention to detail if your writing is full of typos.

Hire a professional writer to make sure bad writing never tarnishes your good name.

2) Good writers will know how to connect.

It’s actually possible that you know your business or your industry a little too well.

This is a common issue among business owners, who get so excited talking about what they do that they load their language with jargon, technicalities, or sales-speak.

Sometimes, it takes an outsider to identify what really makes your company special, and to phrase it in a way that it connects with potential customers… not just explaining what you do, but what difference you can make in their lives.

3) Professional writers can help you get results.

Whether you’re writing a blog post, a press release, or an email newsletter, you’re probably not doing it just for kicks and giggles. In theory, your writing should always serve a specific purpose. You should be writing to generate leads, to close sales, to instill trust, or to build your reputation.

This requires more than just a knowledge of how your business works. It also requires knowing how to format your writing, how to build an argument, how to use persuasive language, and how to craft a perfect call to action.

These are tools in the professional writer’s toolbox, and they can ensure that your business writing actually accomplishes something.

4) Good writing is good SEO.

Which is more important: Writing content that appeals to human readers, or writing content that jibes with the Google search algorithms?

Trick question! Actually, by writing relevant and valuable content for your end user, you’ll be much better positioned to occupy prime search engine real estate.

The best writer will have the SEO knowledge it takes to draw the right kind of attention, from your target audience as well as from the search bots.

5) Hiring a writer will save you time.

Honest question: How long would it take you to write a really solid company blog post?

And what else could you do in that same amount of time?

One of the main reasons to outsource anything is to free yourself to focus on the essentials: Leading your team, strategizing for your business, or satisfying your customers.

Allow writers to take content creation off your hands.

6) A professional writer can address a range of content needs.

By forming a relationship with a professional writer, you can ensure you have someone you can call on for a range of needs, including developing new sales copy, composing tweets, and beyond.

As the writer gets to know your business better and better, they will become a trusted marketing partner, able to provide a range of marketing assets for use in your business.

7) Professional writers will work well with your other creative partners.

Believe us when we tell you that a professional writing company, like Grammar Chic, Inc., does a lot of collaborating with other agencies. These might include SEO consultants, web design houses, marketing firms, and beyond.

If you’re looking for a partner who can easily fold into that relationship, ensuring really optimal results across your different marketing activities, consider hiring a professional writer today.

We’d love to speak with you further about all the reasons it makes sense to outsource your writing needs. Reach out to Grammar Chic, Inc. today by calling 803-831-7444 or by visiting www.grammarchic.net.

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Mindfulness: Not Just for Mental Health – Apply it to Content Marketing

Customers are inundated with content every time they go online. A simple Internet search can generate millions of results. There are pop-up ads on many websites. Social media is a never-ending cycle of information. But just because the content is there, doesn’t mean that customers connect with it. Being mindful about the information you put out and intentional in your marketing can pay off.

Focusing on Quality Over Quantity

Publishing articles and posting on social media just for the sake of pushing out content will garner limited results. Taking the time to offer information that is relevant and meaningful to your audience will produce a greater return. Consider what value they will get from what they read. What do you want them to do with the information?

  • Know your audience. Don’t try to be everything to everyone. Focus on what is important to your audience and what affects their decision making. Take advantage of analytics tools to understand what customers are searching for, and what attracts them to your site. This should guide your planning process.
  • Be authentic. Let your audience know that you understand the challenges they face and are grounded in reality. Show them that you are listening and using their feedback to make meaningful changes and share information that they want. Keeping them in the loop will build loyalty and repeat business.
  • Look beyond sales. While you may use content marketing to drive sales, all of your copy shouldn’t be sales-focused. Offer a variety of data and information related to your brand, products, and services. Be genuine in offering solutions and action-oriented content rather than just being promotional. Once you gain their trust and build credibility, the sales will come.
  • Post with a purpose. Stop writing fluff pieces. Before you start, consider how your content will be different than everything that is already out there. What do you want the reader to take away from it? Why should they care about the topic? Go in with a plan and a focus on quality.

Be mindful about the content you are producing and the value it adds. Drive a connection with your customers so they want to engage with what you have to say, rather than keep scrolling by. Whether you’re focused on social media or blogging, Grammar Chic can help you get noticed for the right reasons with a solid content marketing plan.

Find out how we can help you and your business by contacting us today at www.grammarchic.net or (803) 831-7444.

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