content marketing

When marketing stories are false and manipulative.

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(What follows is the outline I wrote in advance of recording the video. They’re my talking points. Not a regular post or article. Just an outline.)

Martin emailed me and said.

“Nick, I have been reading your work for years and have a lot of respect for what you do. But stories? Almost every marketing story I read feels totally fake and manipulative. What gives?”

Fair enough. (I’m guessing he hasn’t taken my course on Selling with Stories.)

In part, I agree. Although I think Martin overstates things when he talks about EVERY marketing story being fake or manipulative. But I do get his point.

The two kinds of false stories that irritate me the most are…

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What’s the optimal number of words to have on a web page?

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(What follows is the outline I wrote in advance of recording the video. They’re my talking points. Not a regular post or article. Just an outline.)

This is a question from Holly who has taken my course on Web Content Optimization.

She asks, “I’m confused about all the different messages I get on the length of articles and posts. Are longer articles better? Is there an optimum length? Is there a point where content is too long?”

Good question. Complicated question.

A page, article or post can be optimized for a number of reasons…

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Do I write the page’s headline first or last?

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(What follows is the outline I wrote in advance of recording the video. They’re my talking points. Not a regular post or article. Just an outline.)

Great question from Lynn who is taking my course, How to Write Better Headlines.

The answer to whether I write the headline first or last is… yes.

I do both.

Let me explain. And this is the case whether I’m writing a page of content or a sales page. Same process.

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Use simple anecdotes as a tool to sell your clients on the power of stories.

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(What follows is the outline I wrote in advance of recording the video. They’re my talking points. Not a regular post or article. Just an outline.)

This is about collecting small stories or anecdotes, and then using them as a way to sell your clients or colleagues on the power of stories in marketing.

So… imagine you are trying to pitch a group of marketers on your idea for an upcoming campaign.

You want to use the company’s origin story. But first you have to persuade the marketing group this is a good idea.

Once again… stories to the rescue.

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What’s the easiest way to make your copy sounds conversational?

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(What follows is the outline I wrote in advance of recording the video. They’re my talking points. Not a regular post or article. Just an outline.)

This question came up during some back and forth over homework a student submitted as part of my course on Conversational Copywriting.

Here it is…

“Are there any quick and dirty tricks I can use to making corporate-sounding sales copy feel authentic and conversational?

There are two answers to this.

The NO answer and the YES answer.

Let’s start with NO.

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If Tony wants to get conversational, should he start with social media?

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(What follows is the outline I wrote in advance of recording the video. They’re my talking points. Not a regular post or article. Just an outline.)

Here’s Tony’s question…

“The company I work for is fairly small, but has adopted a rather formal and stiff tone of voice when communicating with our customers and prospects. If I want to change this – I work in marketing, and started there recently – and want to follow your conversational approach, would it make sense to start with our social media channels?”

Tony, I think there are a couple of places to start that make sense.

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