The Benefits of Thought-Leadership Content
Creating thought-leadership content can do great things for businesses in the sustainability sector. Maybe you’re a start-up with an idea that’s going to change the world. Or an established brand, looking to maintain your position. Whatever your business, engaging a sustainable copywriter to create regular, thought-provoking content will work hard for your brand. How? Well, we’ve listed a few of the ways below, because who doesn’t love a list?

1 Improved Brand Awareness
Well-written thought-leadership content can help you raise brand awareness by providing valuable insights into current events and hot topics. An experienced sustainable copywriter will not only draw out key insights around the subject but will also include your core messaging in the content. So, while you’re showing your viewpoint, you’re also associating your brand with sharp thinking. In fact, you’re making your brand the go-to place when that topic comes up. This is a great way to differentiate your business from the competition and ‘live rent-free’ in your audiences’ heads.

2 Increased engagement, without getting down on one knee
Today, a great deal of content is created to be quickly scanned by the reader and clicked through. Thought-leadership content is designed differently. A freelance sustainable copywriter can work with your team, researching fascinating data and gathering unique opinions from your people. They’ll blend this into an informative, deeper style that is far more engaging. In this way, they’ll create something designed to be read and absorbed. Audiences can still be directed to click through after reading, but when they do, they’ll do so with real intent and interest.

3 Extending your reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeach
By expressing a unique view on a hot topic or bringing previously unexplored research to the conversation, your thought-leadership content has the potential to reach a wide range of audiences or more of the right people within your target audience. This is because a good sustainable copywriter will craft the interviews and data not only into something that forms a strong narrative and clear conclusion, but that will be enjoyed and shared. From social media sharing, to interested clients forwarding your content to colleagues, this is a great way to increase the reach of your message – and brand.

4 Increased Loyalty, without taking treats to the park
Let’s be honest, there’s a huge amount of instantly forgettable content around. Thought-leadership content is designed to provide value to the reader. Your sustainable copywriter will have worked with other brands in your sector, so brings a valuable viewpoint on what’s tired and what’s new. They’ll use their considerable craft and experience to create craft something unique. And when you provide content of genuine interest, it creates a sense of trust and, over time, loyalty between your brand and the reader.

So, it’s pretty clear that thought-leadership content is an important tool for businesses in the sustainable sector to leverage. By using a sustainable copywriter, you can make sure your brand message is heard and resonates with your audiences. Raising brand awareness, increasing engagement, reaching a larger audience and creating customer loyalty… what’s not to love?

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With language constantly evolving, many grammar rules have fallen by the wayside or can at least be ignored to suit the context. That isn’t to say they don’t still have a place within copywriting. But sticking rigidly to them can actually harm website copy and other SEO content, such as blogs. So how can you change it up?

Good. Old. Evolution

The way we speak has evolved (how many people said ‘selfie’ in 19726?) and online content needs to reflect this. Look at the work of anyone offering content creation services – they try to engage and appeal to the audience by echoing how they speak, rather than using the dusty grammar manuals of bygone years.

As most of those rules were developed over a century ago, they tend to formalise language, so are a teensy bit outdated. This is especially true in the digital space, such as mobile apps, SEO website content and blogging, which tend to be more colloquial and informal.

Go on you rebel BREAK SOME RULES

So, let’s get our professional copywriter hats on, and look at some rules it’s OK to break.

1. Don’t start a sentence with ‘And’. One of the first grammar rules we all learn is not to start a sentence with a conjunction such as ‘and’. But (there’s another!) this is often ignored in good copywriting. You’ll see most copywriters using ‘and’ or ‘but’ at the beginning of the sentence, as it’s a good way to break a long sentence and can also add impact. Breaking this rule is a great way to make sure you’re writing effective website copy and making blogs easier to read.

2. Don’t use slang. With formal writing, it’s best to avoid colloquial language and slang terms wherever possible. But, good copywriting connects with the audience by ‘speaking’ as they do. Slang is one of the best ways to connect to readers in a friendly and natural way. A great example of this is Barclays Bank renaming the ‘Cashpoint’ the ‘Hole in the wall’.

3. Avoid one-sentence paragraphs. When writing for a digital audience, you’ll want your SEO content to be easy to read. Audiences often skim-read for quick answers and important information. One-sentence paragraphs are a useful way to make key points stand out in your copywriting, especially in SEO content.

4. Don’t miss out, ‘that’. Missing out words in your copywriting isn’t going to work if no one knows what you’re talking about. But sometimes it’s useful, especially in website content or blogging, where shorter sentences are better. It’s perfectly acceptable to miss out words, if the meaning of the sentence remains the same. For example: ‘Ann was sure that she would win…’ works just as well as, ‘Ann was sure she’d win…’.

5. Use commas ‘properly’. Most of us, freelance copywriters included, were taught to use commas sparingly and in specific circumstances, such as to create lists or join clauses. But it’s fine to break this rule by using commas more often. As a copywriter, using commas is a way to set the flow and interpretation of a sentence. Here’s an example, a comma can dictate a pause.

6. Never split infinitives. We all know not to split infinitives right? Wrong. This is another grammar ‘don’t’ freelance copywriters often ignore. But it’s not about making a hard and fast rule about whether it’s okay to make like a banana and split, especially in their website content or blogs. Most copywriters look at the sentence structure and decide based on what sounds best in each case.

7. Don’t swap ‘whom’ for ‘who’. Knowing whether to choose ‘whom’ or ‘who’ has baffled even some professional writers for years. These days it’s more common to swap ‘whom’ for ‘who’, though ‘whom’ is still used in formal writing. Many of use offering content creation services l use ‘who’ instead’, depending on the audience, the tone of voice and of course subject matter. A good copywriter is led by context, rather than pre-conceived rules and ideas.

8. Don’t finish with a preposition. Allowing yourself to end on a proposition will help avoid awkward, overlong sentence structure, so freelance copywriters often break this rule. Instead of focusing on whether or not a sentence ends with a preposition, think like a copywriter – about how the sentence reads. This is far more important when it comes to engaging readers and creating a tone of voice, key concerns for SEO website content and blogging.

9. Always use ‘correct’ personal pronouns. He. She. Him. Her. For a long time these were all you needed. But with more people identifying as neither male or female and a wider awareness of gender fluidity, we need another term. So, if you’re writing about someone who’d rather not be classified or who you’re unsure about, the best approach is to use ‘they’. For example, “Sam is a pilot, they’ve always loved flying.” See? Easy.

10. Do not use contractions. Though it’s best to avoid them in formal writing, it’s okay to use contractions with an informal audience. Generally, people want to read stuff that sounds like they speak. And most people don’t speak formally (lawyers, the Queen and her corgis aside). Most writing, including SEO content such as websites and blogging, works best when it sounds natural and engaging, and contractions really help.

Breaking grammar rules, rather than landing you on the naughty step, can make a step-change in the effectiveness of your copywriting. Using your judgment, based on context, will help make sure your tone of voice suits the brand and subject – as well as creating that all-important connection with your audience. So, whether you’re crafting the copy yourself or hunting down content creation services, remember, some rules were made to be broken.

Find out more about our approach to copywriting at www.alexgencopywriting.co.uk

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