Marketing Kit 2015 : Writing

Writing
Marketing Kit 2015
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Contents
Introduction 1
Nine Qualities of Good Writing2
Seven Ways to Talk Your Financial Execs Out of Jargon and Bad Writing6
The Epic Face-Off in Copywriting: Hype vs. No-Hype10
13 ‘Secrets’ to Engaging Your Blog Site Visitors11
Five Traits of Guest Content That Audiences (and Editors) Can Actually Use13
The Benefits of Byline Authorship, and How to Do It Right15
Lessons From the Greatest Marketer of All Time... Expelled From Oxford17
Writing and Readability Scores: It Matters21
How (and Why) to ID and Duck Wimpy Web Writers: 18 Telltale Signs25
Five Tips to Enhance Your Call to Action27
The Most (and Least) Effective Keywords in Email Subject Lines29

1©2015 MarketingProfs • All rights reserved.
If you have a web site, you are a publisher. If you are on so-
cial media, you are in marketing. And that means that we are
all relying on our words to carry our marketing messages.
In our content-driven marketing world, being able to com-
municate well in writing isn’t just nice; it’s necessity.
And yet writing is the oft-overlooked cornerstone of nearly
all our content marketing.
We hope this guide will give you both inspiration and
instruction you need to strengthen your own writing chops.
Because writing matters more now, not less.
Ann Handley
Introduction

How (and Why) to ID and Duck Wimpy Web
Writers: 18 Telltale Signs by Barry Feldman
At the end of 2011, I published a short e-book or guide
titled Find the Right Copywriter: Helpful Hints for Successfully
Concluding Your Search. The idea was to help you understand
that various wordsmiths are cut from different cloths, and
that tooled with the right insights and knowledge you’d spare
yourself the headaches symptomatic of hiring the wrong writer.
I stand by what I wrote; but, forever a stickler for detail, I’d like
to update a little nugget of data. I said then that a Google
search for“copywriter”retrieves 18.3 million results. A year later,
you’d already be looking at 19.7 million. And that continues
to grow.
Did 1.4 million copywriters join the ranks in 2012? It’s possible.
We won’t dwell on the number. It’s not real important. What is
significant is the phenomenon behind the flurry: the wild and
crazy content barrage.
Nearly everyone in marketing got the memo: Content is the
treasure trove that connects customers to companies now. And
where there’s gold, you’re bound to find miners.
The problem is that far too many will be swinging a wimpy little
pickax and struggling mightily to break any ground.
Metaphor aside, a helluvalotta people will claim to offer you
the writing skills you need to create new content. Few will have
the skills to make you stand out among the relentless noisefest
that is today’s Web.
You have to be fierce to pierce.
Media is cluttered with cautiousness. The irony is thick: The
more careful your content is, the greater the risk of anonymity.
“Welcome to our website”gets stepped on like a welcome mat.
If you want your brand to bust through, your pages have to
pop. So beware of the wimpy web writer with a flexible little
plastic pencil. Find one who wields a pen of pure steel. All glory
goes to the bodacious.
So watch out for these 18 telltale signs of a wussy wordsmith:
1. Clichés. Feeble writers love clichés. Readers loathe‘em.
2. We-we. The more times the page says“we,”the less
anyone will give a damn.
3. Everythingitis. When you find every single idea
crammed onto the first page, it’ll be the one and only
page you read.
4. Emotionless. Pain, frustration, anger... Excitement,
anticipation, joy... If you’re not feeling anything, it’s
because the prose has no pulse.
5. Jargon. Weak writers are full of it.
6. Yes man. “Yes sir, yes ma’am, yes boss.”The writer who
never challenges any of your ideas probably doesn’t
have any.
7. Doesn’t dig. Don’t trust a writer with all the answers.
The smart ones ask smart questions.
8. Keywordless. You should be wary of the“SEO
copywriter,”a bogus term in my book. That said, don’t
allow your writer to wimp out on keyword planning.
9. Keyword krazy. Keyword stuffers aren’t keeping up
with the modern ways of the Web.
10. Formulas. You don’t have a formula company, so
don’t let a writer fool you into believing some generic
formulaic approach to copywriting forwards the cause.
11. Bargains. Pass on the overly eager writer who will meet
or beat anyone else’s fees. You’re likely to get even less
than you bargained for.
12. Punster. Use a pun, go to jail. Excessive wordplay equals
weak Web pages.
13. Feature fanatic. Features will fail you. Benefits bring
the buyers.

How (and Why) to ID and Duck Wimpy Web Writers: 18 Telltale Signs
14. Industry expert. Be skeptical of the industry expert.
A copywriting and storytelling expert is what you
really need.
15. Under construction. Hiring a website copywriter who
has no website sounds as scary as trusting a doctor
who smokes.
16. Mr. Positive. Subtract points for the writer who fears
negativity. The contrarian angle is positively powerful.
17. Recycler. Look out for the copywriter whose idea of
creativity is to recycle concepts.
18. Humorless. Your scribe need not have a standup
comedy act, but he or she should have a good sense
of humor.
Take a stand or take a hike.
Bear in mind, the list features the common signals of softies
who will do you wrong. You’re welcome to argue otherwise.
It’s possible, for instance, you have yourself a copywriting
superstar who handles puns with great aplomb (but, hopefully,
uses words like“aplomb”sparingly).
All right, fine.
I don’t want you to believe everything you read or agree with
everything I write. That’s the point. Grow a pair. Have a spine.
Man up. (Excuse me, Barry, weren’t you just pooh-poohing
clichés?)
My take is this: With or without the handy-dandy list I’ve
created for you here, if you were to treat one attribute as the
acid test of whether or not you’re working with a wimp, it’d
be passion.
Fervor. Intensity. Hot mustard. Huevos.
Without a doubt, as we surf the Internet’s infinite turf, the
immense volume of content poses a tough challenge. Face it,
though: as a consumer, you can’t control that.
The real problem isn’t the volume of content. It’s the volume of
dreadful content. As a content creator, you can control that.
Make no compromises. Find yourself a badass writer.

Barry Feldman is president of Feldman Creative.
He creates compelling content by telling stories.
He’s a content marketing strategist, copywriter, cre-
ative director, speaker, and author. He specializes in
creating websites, e-books, and integrated online
marketing programs. Twitter: @FeldmanCreative
LinkedIn: Barry Feldman

Seven Ways to Talk Your Financial Execs
Out of Jargon and Bad Writing by Susan Weiner
Marketing and communications professionals know how
to write well. However, sometimes you struggle to get your
firm’s executives to recognize the power of good writing. You
edit their text, but the execs put the jargon and longwinded,
indirect language back in. I have seven tips for how to win over
your subject-matter experts.
1. Use the Oracle of Omaha
When I push for plain language, sometimes my asset manager
clients say they’re worried they’ll be seen as“dumb.”That’s
not justified.
I tell them to look at Warren Buffett. His annual letter to
Berkshire Hathaway’s shareholders relies heavily on plain
language. Yet the report is widely discussed by sophisticated
financial professionals. I’ve never heard anyone call Warren
Buffet dumb because of the way he writes.
Buffett writes like you imagine a trustworthy person would talk.
For example,“A number of good things happened last year, but
let’s first get the bad news out of the way,”he says on page 3 of
his 2012 shareholder letter (PDF). He admits that the firm’s 2012
gains were“subpar.”He says it’s even possible that the firm may
lose its record of consistently outperforming the Standard
Poor’s 500 Index over consecutive five-year periods.
It’s easy to imagine a different company burying the bad news
at the bottom of the letter or even in the footnotes. Other
companies surely would have used stuffier language to convey
such news.
Buffett’s style works for various reasons:
A plainspoken style instills trust in investors. For example,
its 2010 full-service investor survey spurred J.D. Power and
Associates to recommend boosting investor trust with methods
that include honest communication about investment
performance and plain explanations for fees and commissions,
according to“Study: Why focus on people, not profits,
increases investor trust.”On a similar note,“investors are no
longer impressed with jargon. They want to understand their
investments without learning the definitions to unfamiliar
words,”according to“New Word Order,” (PDF) part of the
Invesco White Paper Series. Moreover,“when Invesco tested the
phrase‘institutional-quality money management,’one focus-
group member asked why prison inmates were handling the
money,” according to an article in The Wall Street Journal.
The directness of Buffett’s writing saves time for
readers. Everybody’s busy. They can save time by reading data-
supported statements like this:“Our insurance operations shot
the lights out last year. While giving Berkshire $73 billion of free
money to invest, they also delivered a $1.6 billion underwriting
gain, the tenth consecutive year of profitable underwriting.”
Though a securities analyst and a portfolio manager might
want to dig into the annual report for more details, these
sentences give them a quick idea of what to seek.
It’s entertaining. Whether you’re an investor, an analyst, or
a random reader, you’ll find something to make you smile in
Buffett’s reports, which are regularly discussed in articles such
as The Wall Street Journal’s“Warren Buffett’s Annual Berkshire
Letter: The Highlights.”
I imagine that some industry experts would read Buffett even
if he wrote terribly; his investment insights are respected.
However, weak writing would limit his reach.
2. Remind them that longer sentences and
paragraphs lose readers
Jargon isn’t the only problem. Research suggests that the
longer your writing, the greater the probability that your
readers will drop out. The average American starts to lose
interest when pieces average more than 42 words per
paragraph, 14 words per sentence, and two syllables per
word, according to research cited by Ann Wylie of Wylie
Communications in Portland, Oregon.
The 42-14-2 rule may be too strict for you, but the bottom
line is clear: Longwinded writing is bad for readership. That
should be intuitive: Everybody is bombarded with content;

Seven Ways to Talk Your Financial Execs Out of Jargon and Bad Writing
and they skim or skip pieces that run long, as the mutual fund
prospectus research in the next section suggests.
Don’t believe the research? Here’s what Warren Buffett wrote
about his experience reading corporate reports in his preface
to A Plain English Handbook: How to create clear SEC disclosure
documents:“I’ve studied the documents that public companies
file. Too often, I’ve been unable to decipher what is being said
or, worse yet, had to conclude that nothing was being said.”
The problem of bad writing is separate from the problem of
jargon, because technical terms wouldn’t stump Buffett. It’s
probably longwindedness and indirectness that derail him.
3. Read out loud
When writers read their work out loud, they get a new
perspective on it. I’ve seen that to be the case in my financial
blogging class: Students recognize weaknesses they
overlooked on a computer screen or printout.
Ask your experts to read their clunky sections out loud. Or, you
can read it to them. Then ask,“How does that sound?”You can
also suggest reading your edited version of that passage and
comparing the“before”and“after.”
Here’s a“before”example:
“Proposals from the German/French axis in the last few days
have heartened risk markets under the assumption that fiscal
union anchored by a smaller number of less debt-laden core
countries will finally allow the ECB to cap yields in Italy and
Spain and encourage private investors to once again reengage
Euroland bond markets. To do so, the ECB would have to
affirm its intent via language or stepped up daily purchases
of peripheral debt on the order of five billion Euros or more.
The next few days or weeks will shed more light on the
possibility, but bondholders have imposed a“no trust zone”on
policymaker flyovers recently. Any plan that involves an“all-in”
commitment from the ECB will require a strong hand indeed.”
Did you find it hard to grasp the main point of the“before”
paragraph? Now consider the“after”paragraph:
“Prices of riskier investments rose in response to recent
proposals by German and French leaders, but we are skeptical
that this will continue. Investors seem to believe that the
proposals will strengthen the euro zone by capping bond
yields. This would make euro-zone bonds more attractive to
private investors. However, success would require the European
Central Bank (ECB) to use strong language or to boost its daily
purchases of the troubled countries’debt by at least €5 billion.
To convince distrustful investors will require strong action. That
may be more than the ECB can achieve.”
In addition to shortening and simplifying, I summarized the
paragraph’s main point in the first sentence. Doing so is an easy
way to boost reading comprehension. In fact, by simply making
that one-sentence change to the“before”paragraph, the author
can greatly improve the paragraph’s effectiveness.
By the way, the“before”example is written at the level of grade
17, while the“after”is grade 11, as calculated by the Readability
Index Calculator. Think of grade level as a measure of how hard
you are making your reader work to understand your message.
The lower-grade-level“after”doesn’t sound“dumb.”Rather, it’s
clear and confident.
4. Plain English boosts results
Research shows that rewriting documents using plain English
improves their effectiveness.
According to Joseph Kimble’s Writing for Dollars, Writing to
Please, mutual fund buyers found a proposed plain-English
“profile prospectus”more appealing than the traditional
prospectus. He writes:
In every one of a series of comparisons—including how easy
it was to find and understand several important items—the
buyers rated the profile prospectus higher than the traditional
prospectus. What’s more, most of the buyers had not even
read the traditional prospectus before investing; but 61%
of that group said they would be very likely to read the
profile prospectus.

Respondents to an Investment Company Institute survey (PDF)
on the profile prospectus revealed that“Investors overwhelm-
ingly considered the writing style of the profile prospectus
superior to that of the [traditional] prospectus.”They also liked
the profile prospectus better for making purchase decisions,
locating specific information, and comparing funds.
Profile prospectus research conducted by fund companies
showed that financial advisers also liked the layout, length,
and content of the profile prospectus and would use it with
investors. Unfortunately, this simpler overview of funds was
not adopted because of fund company concerns about costs
and liability. However, a similar document, called a“summary
prospectus,”was adopted in November 2008 with the mutual
fund industry’s support.
5. Show them you can work with the
compliance department
Some bad writing results from fear of the firm’s compliance
department. Under SEC and FINRA oversight, nobody wants
to make a mistake. Here’s an example of the kind of clunkiness
that results:
In the investment decision-making process, it has been
demonstrated that the most important element affecting
future portfolio performance is the asset mix.
I suspect that the use of“it has been demonstrated”comes
from the desire to fend off a compliance officer’s complaint that
there’s no proof that the asset mix is so important. The same
may be true of the reference to“future”performance, because
a hair-splitting compliance officer might point to the many
times when factors other than asset mix play an outsized role in
investment returns.
However, you may be pleasantly surprised by how open your
compliance professionals are to your efforts to write well while
also satisfying their concerns. After all, they benefit if readers
understand what both of you are trying to say.
I suggest that first you write your message clearly. The sample
sentence above might become“The investment decision that
has the most impact on portfolio performance is the asset
mix”or“A portfolio’s asset mix has the greatest impact on
performance.”This could cut the sentence’s length from 23
words to as few as 10 words.
Next, consider ways to satisfy the compliance department’s
concerns. It may be enough to document the importance
of the asset mix by listing links to academic articles in the
marketing department’s compliance files or in a footnote to the
document. If your overseers demand more information in your
publication, remember that you don’t need to jam it all into
one sentence. A less prominent position in the same paragraph
should work.
6. Turn the tables
Your troublesome executive may be more open to recognizing
problems in other people’s writing. That gives you an opening.
Try showing them before-and-after examples of somebody
else’s writing. You can use the examples given earlier in this
article or something more relevant to your firm.
When an executive recognizes the value of streamlining
someone else’s writing, you will have an opening to discuss the
exec’s writing.
7. Be tactful
Tread gently when you edit your subject-matter experts’work.
Suggest changes rather than offering criticism. That’s less
threatening to fragile egos. Also, a wise writing coach talks
about the writing, not the writer. It may also help to position
your rewrite as“alternative”wording rather than a“better”
approach.
It’s not easy for anyone to break a lifetime of bad writing
habits. My tips could help you nudge someone in the right
direction. As a starter, share this article and ask for your subject-
matter experts’advice on how to boost the effectiveness of
your firm’s communications. Enlist them as your partners in
better marketing.

Susan Weiner, CFA, is the author of Financial
Blogging: How to Write Powerful Posts That Attract
Clients, which is tailored to financial planners,
wealth managers, investment managers, and
the marketing and communications staff that
supports them. Read her blog or follow her on
the Investment Writing Facebook page. Twitter: @
susanweiner Google+: Susan Weiner

The Epic Face-Off in Copywriting:
Hype vs. No-Hype by Marcia Yudkin
Through the years, I’ve witnessed a perennial discussion among
veteran copywriters.
A client refuses even to test the marketing copy written for
him, for instance, objecting to the hard-sell style and saying it
would damage his company’s image. A chorus of copywriter
colleagues then chimes in, calling the client a traditionalist idiot
for refusing in advance to submit to the verdict of testing. After
all, whatever wins in testing deserves to be used.
A person or two in the chorus remains bewildered, however.
What is in clients’minds when they call the direct-response
style of copy—which to the copywriters has been proven
supreme again and again—”embarrassing”?
Balking at over-the-top headlines and bang-bang arguments
makes sense to me, though, because I’ve had clients email me:
“Please, can you write something for my website I won’t be
ashamed to use?”
Theirs is not an anti-marketing mindset so much as a desire
to maintain the trust of customers who disdain fast-talking
infomercials, raw appeals to greed or fear, and tabloid-style
promises. Rather than hot air and hoopla, clients want
substance, practicality, and dependability coming through in
their approach.
Here is the face-off between hype and no-hype copywriting—
in infographic format:
Marcia Yudkin is a copywriting expert and the
author of 6 Steps to Free Publicity, now in its third
edition, and 15 other books. Her e-book No-Hype
Copywriting: The Keys to Lively, Appealing and
Truthful Sales Writing is available on Kindle, Nook,
and Smashwords. Twitter: @marciasmantras

13‘Secrets’to Engaging Your Blog Site Visitors
by Michelle Rebecca
Have you ever come across a blog, read (or skimmed) a couple
of entries, and then surfed away for good? That’s exactly what
you don’t want your blog visitors to do. You want return visitors
who are engaged by your content, because they are the folks
most likely to convert to customers.
The following“secrets”will help you turn casual visitors into
loyal fans.
1. Keep your content fresh and simple
Constantly publishing new content makes for a happy
reader and a happy search engine. You don’t need to post
every day (although some bloggers do), but you should add
something new to your blog at least once or twice a week.
Also remember that you’re blogging, not writing a novel. When
online readers see long sentences and paragraphs, they quickly
tune out and move on to something easier to digest.
Here are some tips to follow:
• Break up your points into short and to-the-
point sections.
• Sections should be no more than three or four
short paragraphs.
• Use bullet points and number lists as often as possible.
2. Fit in, but stand out
It’s all well and good if your interests are in botany and your
posts typically center on the rare indigenous species of the
Island of Samoa. Just don’t expect to draw a large crowd by
writing about a subject only a few are interested in.
To gain a large follower base, choose popular topics, such as
entertainment, news, finance, and fashion. State more than just
the facts. Add your own opinions or discuss how current events
might affect the lives and businesses of your readers.
For example, if you’re an SEO company, don’t just describe
Google Penguin. Give your readers tips for weathering the
new algorithm.
3. Invite comments—and monitor them
Engage readers in your blog by encouraging them to leave
comments. One way of doing that is to end each blog post with
a question. For example, if you’re writing a post about Google
Penguin, you might end it by asking,“How has Google Penguin
affected your page rankings?”or“Have you changed your
website to accommodate Google Penguin?”
Make sure you then answer those comments. Doing so will
show your readers that you care about them and what they
have to say.
Also pay attention to make sure that no one is leaving spammy
comments. Most blogs require comments to be filtered or
approved; if yours doesn’t, make sure you’re checking regularly
for spam, or your blog will look neglected.
4. Feature guest bloggers
Guest bloggers can boost your blog’s popularity by bringing in
a new batch of readers—fans of the guest blogger. Reach out
to other bloggers who cover topics similar to yours, or locate
someone who has just published a book on the subject you’re
covering, and ask whether they would be willing to write a
guest post for your blog. It’s great publicity for everyone.
5. Offer contests and giveaways
Send a free e-book to every visitor who signs up to receive your
newsletter, or hold a simple contest for prizes. For example,
you might send the person who tells the best story in your
“comments”section an Amazon gift card.

13 ‘Secrets’ to Engaging Your Blog Site Visitors
6. Select ads carefully
There’s nothing wrong with monetizing your blog by placing a
few well-selected ads where visitors are most likely to see them,
but make sure they don’t take over your content.
You should also vet your ads carefully so that you don’t end up
flashing X-rated sites or even sites that have nothing to do with
your blog.
7. Keep your design clean
You can probably make your blog play music, flash pop-up
ads, and turn the background color neon green... but don’t.
Too much razzle-dazzle can put readers off. Opt for an easy-
to-navigate design with no surprising noises or pop-ups. Your
readers will thank you. Better still, they’ll come back for more.
8. Stick to a single topic
Your topic can, and often should, be broad, but every post
should somehow relate back to an overarching theme. If you’re
writing about cars, you can write reviews of new cars or talk
about problems you’re having with your family car. What you
don’t want to do is compose a post that has absolutely nothing
to do with cars. People didn’t come to a car blog to read about
your experience at your family reunion.
9. Solve your visitor’s problems
Visitors usually come to a blog for a reason, whether they’re
looking for celebrity gossip,“how to”information about
choosing a new puppy, or ideas for better parenting. Most
blogs offer the ability to set up a poll so that you can ask
readers why they are visiting your blog and which types of
articles they find most helpful.
10. Sprinkle in some eye-candy
Whoever said that a picture was worth a thousand words had
the right idea, especially online. You can use your blog to post
pictures of products you are selling, infographics made by your
company, and videos that support the substance of your piece
and might catch the reader’s eye.
11. Use eye-catching headlines
The title of your post is the most important factor in the
reader’s decision to click on your link; yet, somehow, countless
inexperienced bloggers treat the title as an afterthought.
“Instructions for Changing the Oil in Your Car,”is boring.
“10 Easy Tips for a Do-It-Yourself Oil Change”is a much
more interesting title, and it’s likely to get more attention
from readers.
12. Visit other blogs
You can publicize your blog by visiting other, similar blogs,
reading the posts, and leaving appropriate comments. Don’t
spam and don’t overtly invite readers back to your blog. Simply
leave a relevant comment with a link to your blog.
13. Change it up
You don’t always have to write the same style of article. Use
lists, interviews, guest posts,“top 10”pieces, and even videos or
podcasts to keep your visitors engaged and coming back to see
what on earth you will do next.
Final Thoughts
Great writing and interesting content will put you in the
position to grow your audience and increase your standing as a
blogger on the Web. Whether you are posting about breaking
news from the Middle East or providing insight into how to
best organize computer tables, take the time to do the little
things that make a post stand out.
Michelle Rebecca works for SEO company WebpageFX as a
content coordinator for its online public relations team.

Five Traits of Guest Content That Audiences
(and Editors) Can Actually Use by Alyce Currier
Guest article or post submissions can be a great asset to a
publication, but they can also be an excuse for bad content to
slip through the cracks. Editors as well as guest-post writers
must therefore take special care to ensure that they do not
lower their usual standards.
I was spurred to write this article after reading a blog post
about what makes for a great guest post: Kate Morris’s“The
Anatomy of a Great Guest Post”at Distilled.
As the editor behind the Wistia blog, I’ve outlined much of
our approach to guest posting. But I wanted to share a more
thorough breakdown of how we think about guest content,
what we’ve found makes for the best guest posts, and the
suggestions I’d give to someone writing guest content for
any publication.
1. Share your personal story
We wouldn’t want to outsource the Wistia post about“how to
use video in email,”for example, but we’re happy to outsource
a post about“how [company] uses video in email to [achieve a
thing].”That’s not because we don’t think someone else could
do a good job creating the former post, but because we’re
capable of creating that piece of content ourselves. We think
we should be the ones who write the more general, go-to
resources on our blog.
Specific anecdotes from different perspectives offer something
to our audience that we couldn’t otherwise provide. As Kate
said in her article,“include yourself.”Don’t be afraid to tell
your personal story in guest posts: Editors want your content
because they’re interested in you!
2. Include your own stylistic flair (to a point)
Don’t submit a post that sticks out like a sore thumb among
the other content on someone else’s blog, and be familiar
with their formatting and style, but also don’t be afraid to
incorporate some of your own personality.
This point especially relevant to guest content that’s in the form
of video, because it’s both a visual showcase of who you are
and a way to make a personal connection with the audience.
Unless you’re being totally unreasonable, or the publication
you’re submitting to is really, really serious, showcasing your
own style will help you stand out rather than hurt you; and if
you cross a line, the editor can nudge you back over it.
3. Don’t be pitchy; teach, don’t sell
You know those full-page ads in print newspapers and
magazines that attempt to imitate an article? The ones with
that barely discernable text that reads“advertisement”on
the top of the page? Take a step back from the guest post
you’re about to submit and ask yourself whether a traditional
publication would charge you to publish it.
“Pitchy”is something we try to avoid at all costs. Even in our
own posts, we try not to sell too hard (sometimes to a fault).
Content marketing is about teaching, and if a reader’s only
takeaway is“sign up for an account,”then we’ve failed.
The same is true for guest content, too. Use guest posts as an
opportunity to share your knowledge and insight, and people
will look into your product—when they’re ready—because
you’ve built trust.
4. Don’t write a testimonial
On the opposite end of the spectrum from guest posts that
sell the guest’s product too hard are the posts that are too
laudatory of our product. (Not that we don’t love to read them;
it’s totally flattering.)
But no one else would read our blog if the content was entirely
focused on people who already love Wistia. So we try to shift
such posts to show how you are using Wistia. That is much
more actionable for our readers.

Five Traits of Guest Content That Audiences (and Editors) Can Actually Use
When you’re writing guest content, make sure you’re thinking
about the audience that’s going to be reading it and what they
want to feel empowered to do.
5. Include actionable takeaways
While the most basic“listicles”feel cheap, we can learn
something from the popularity of the format: It’s digestible
and actionable.
Reuters editor Chadwick Matlin has commented on listicles’
appeal to readers’identity:“The best demolisticles
[demographic listicles] are the ones that recognize that all we
want is for somebody to recognize us for who we are, and who
we used to be.
And, in the case of business writing, it can also be about who
we want to be, or what we want to achieve.
If you’re having trouble parsing out the main points of a draft,
imagining what the“Buzzfeed headline”for that article would
look like can help. Reconceptualizing“the story of my post-
production process”as“5 ways you can trim down your post-
production time”(even if you don’t explicitly title it that) may
help you focus your work.
* * *
Writers and editors alike can contribute to making the world
of guest content a much more valuable place by striving for
higher quality.
I’ll close with a quote from Kate’s Distilled post that made me
write this article in the first place:
I challenge all of you to do better, and I am taking the challenge
myself. Don’t let poor quality content slip through the cracks.
Don’t do things just because you need to hit a metric, get a certain
number of links for the month. Write great content for others, that
is how guest posting started. Maybe we can get guest posting back
to where it started, as a great way to get exposure and help others
with the problem of content development.
Alyce Currier is content strategist at Wistia, a
provider of Web video hosting for businesses.
LinkedIn: Alyce Currier Twitter: @notalyce

The Benefits of Byline Authorship, and
How to Do It Right by Cathy Caldeira
When a business owner decides to dip a toe into the waters
of marketing, the choices can seem overwhelming. Should
she buy a few ads? Sponsor some events? Put out a few
press releases?
Short of jumping all the way in with a full-fledged marketing
plan, entrepreneurs can start with one tactic that is inexpensive
and pays big dividends: content marketing in the form of
bylined articles, or article marketing.
Today’s media landscape is not the closed-door fortress it once
was. True, traditional media relations still hinge on convincing
the right reporter or editor that your story is worth telling.
However, many publications and online outlets are hungry
for content written by guest bloggers or authors. At a time
when media are short-staffed, highly competitive, and niche-
oriented, subject-matter experts have an opportunity to talk
directly to readers.
When you get such an opportunity, use it to solve a customer
problem, shape a market conversation, clarify a confusing issue,
or introduce a new concept. Contributing content isn’t about
direct sales; it’s about positioning yourself, your colleagues, and
your business as industry thought leaders.
The benefits of getting this high-value tactic right are many.
You’ll gain authority in your market, you’ll improve your search
engine optimization (SEO), and you’ll spark conversations that
can generate leads.
Follow the following three steps to get started.
1. Write articles that humans would want
to read
You have two elements to consider: First, you have to come up
with some ideas that appeal to your target market. Second, you
have to write for real readers, not search engines.
Let’s start with the first issue: What can you write about? Begin
with your audience in mind. The most-read articles are those
that solve problems for their readers:“Five Steps for Building an
At-Home Aquarium,”“How to Save Money on Your Energy Bill,”
“Get Ready for the Next Big Threat to Data Security.”
You are an expert in your industry, you know what keeps
your prospects up at night, and your articles should speak to
those topics.
If you’re starting from scratch, brainstorm a list of possible
topics, and then see whether they pass the“so what?”test.
Would those topics matter in five years? Who would care about
them today? Whittle down your list of potential topics by
asking those questions of each one and crossing off any with
unsatisfactory responses.
Chances are, though, that you’re not starting from scratch.
You can repurpose existing content into polished articles.
Repurposing isn’t about plagiarizing yourself: No one wants
to read a cut-and-pasted brochure in the pages of his favorite
magazine; moreover, such an approach will actually hurt your
SEO efforts (and your credibility). However, you can mine
what you’ve already written for good ideas, which can then be
rewritten as fresh material.
Start by looking at what you already have:
• Whitepapers
• Survey results
• Infographics
• Presentations
• Blog posts
• Webinar content
• Case studies
Now that you have your ideas and some source content, it’s
time to write. Again, remember your audience. Your readers
don’t need a hard-sell; they need information. Give it to them

The Benefits of Byline Authorship, and How to Do It Right
as straightforwardly as you can, and avoid some of the most
common sins of marketing writing, including these:
• Relying on jargon
• Flouting the rules of grammar
• Ignoring the reader’s interest
• Burying the“so what?”
• Taking liberties with the truth
• Baiting search engines
Good article marketing (like good writing) starts with getting
real—and telling a story that matters to the reader (the human
one, not the search bot).
2. Craft a compelling pitch and target it to
the right publication
Your media targets will differ, depending on the audiences you
want to reach and the story you want to tell with a particular
pitch. Keep the story angle in mind, and then determine your
local print, Web, and broadcast targets, as well as vertical and
national publications and any other applicable outlets.
For example, if you run a Boston-based bicycle business, your
audience is local cyclists or physically active residents. Your
publication targets would include local blogs, Boston-based
business publications, cycling magazines, and similar outlets.
Craft a pitch with a particular publication in mind. The one or
two paragraph article overview you send should reflect your
knowledge of the publication’s audience and the interests
of the editor you’re contacting. Make sure your pitch is
brief, illustrative of your market knowledge, relevant to the
publication and its audience, and timely.
When you capture the interest of a publication or online outlet,
make it easy for the editor or publisher to work with you. Be
transparent and authentic. Follow the publication’s writing
guidelines, and meet your deadlines.
3. Distribute your published article and
encouragereaderstoshareit viasocialmedia
Congratulations! Your article has appeared in a publication that
your customers, prospects, partners, and investors read. But
your work isn’t done yet.
The beauty of byline articles and guest blogs posts is that the
output has greater reach than just the single publication in
which it appears. Share the link to the article on your social
media platforms: Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn. Write
about it on your company’s blog and share it any e-newsletters
you put out.
Whether readers see your article when it’s originally published
or find it via your post-publication distribution, if the content
strikes a chord—and it should if you crafted it well—readers
will want to share it. And then it’s up to you to convert your
writing success into leads.
As readers move from your article to your company’s website,
make sure they can find more helpful content when they
get there. Offer a free download of an e-book, a newsletter
subscription, or a reservation for an upcoming webinar.
Cultivate your new leads, and prepare your next article pitch to
keep your momentum high.
Cathy Caldeira is a co-founder of Metis
Communications, which employs a unique com-
bination of journalism, content marketing, and
public relations to help clients get in front of the
right audiences at the right time. She has more
than 15 years’experience positioning, launch-
ing, and supporting companies, entrepreneurs,
products, and services.

Lessons From the Greatest Marketer of
All Time... Expelled From Oxford by Matt D’Alesio
The marketer in question is, of course, David Ogilvy. He was
given the educational opportunity of a lifetime—the chance to
study at the prestigious University of Oxford. He was expelled,
with the reason undisclosed, in 1931.
Ogilvy never had a college degree, proving you don’t need to
have a marketing degree to be a fantastic marketer. However,
the experiences in the years that followed did shape him into
one of the greatest marketers ever.
The Wilderness Years
After a brief stint as a kitchen monkey in a Paris hotel, Ogilvy
started working for the Aga Cookers company in England,
selling stoves door to door. It was his first taste of marketing,
and he excelled, eventually writing a sales manual for Aga
salesmen described by Forbes as“probably the best sales
manual ever written.”
After fortuitously landing a job at a London agency in part
because of that very manual, in 1938 Ogilvy was sent, at
his request, to the United States to attend George Gallup’s
Audience Research Institute in New Jersey. He cited this
experience as a huge influence on his thinking, because he
learned not only research methods but also how to apply
findings to real life.
In the 10 years that followed, Ogilvy worked for British
Intelligence during the World War. He purchased farmland in
rural Pennsylvania, where he lived among the Amish. By 1948
he realized that farming wasn’t his calling, and he moved to
New York to start his own ad agency.
Founding an Agency
Ogilvy became a founding member of Hewitt, Ogilvy, Benson
Mather (which would eventually become Ogilvy Mather
Worldwide), even though he had little experience as an ad man.
But after writing ads for such companies as Lever Brothers,
General Foods, American Express, and Shell, Ogilvy soon
became one of the most prominent figures in the world of
advertising. Ogilvy on his successful ad copy:“They made
Ogilvy Mather so hot that getting clients was like shooting
fish in a barrel.”
Five of Ogilvy’s Most Important Marketing
Lessons
1. “Unless your advertising contains a big idea, it will pass
like a ship in the night. I doubt if more than one campaign in a
hundred contains a big idea.”
If a marketing campaign is unsuccessful, it’s likely because it
lacks ambition and creativity. Ogilvy’s thinking was that in a
world of average you needed to cut through mediocrity with a
big idea that captured people’s attention.
Don’t confuse the notion of a big idea with the loudest or
most controversial idea, however; a big idea means seeing
something no one else doing yet being brave enough to do
it yourself. It’s not about creating a wacky idea, but it is about
doing something different and making it successful.
2. “In the modern world of business, it is useless to be a
creative, original thinker unless you can also sell what you
create.”
This lesson may seem to contradict the first lesson, but the
point is that you should never be creative merely for the sake of
being creative; you should only be creative to achieve the most
important thing as a marketer: sales.
Moreover, creativity does not automatically equate to better
sales; how you apply that creativity is most important.
3. “I abhor advertising that is blatant, dull, or dishonest.
Agencies which transgress this principle are not widely
respected.”
A lot of people will ponder whether this is a marketing lesson
or a moral lesson. It definitely has elements of both. First, Ogilvy
wanted his ads to carry integrity; he wasn’t looking for short-

Lessons From the Greatest Marketer of All Time... Expelled From Oxford
term exposure that would lead to long-term pain either for his
clients or his agency.
Whether it was a legacy or reputation that Ogilvy was trying
to build, he wanted to create ad copy that would be respected
and admired for a hundred years; he always had branding and
his own image in mind.
4. “Advertising people who ignore research are as dangerous
as generals who ignore decodes of enemy signals.”
Ogilvy was not a marketer who trusted his success to luck; he
did not base his ideas on gut feeling or random thought. He
was scrupulous and thorough in his research, which he would
use to ensure his ads reached and convinced their audiences.
After attending George Gallup’s Audience Research Institute,
he became a stickler for research and testing. It was not good
enough for an ad to be successful; he had to know exactly why
it was successful so he could take note for other ads.
5. “If we hire people who are smaller than we are, we will
become a company of dwarfs. If we hire people who are
larger than we are, we’ll become a company of giants.”
This is another lesson that epitomizes Ogilvy. He was not
ego-driven; he didn’t want to build an advertising agency with
zealots, followers, and supporters. He wanted to hire people
with the values he shared, but they had to be as good or better
than those already working for him.
He was a huge believer in the value of community within
a company; he was unreserved in his desire to help his
employees and ensure their happiness (both at work and at
home), believing that a happy worker was a good worker, in the
simplest terms.
But Ogilvy wasn’t soft. In giving everything to his employees,
he expected the same back in their work. His ethos was, If I
give you the resources and help, to be a giant in marketing,
then you had better show me you’re a giant. There was
no sentimentality.
Notable Ads by Ogilvy
Hathaway Shirts
Read the ad copy and then tell me why the man has an eye
patch. A cinematic rule called Chekhov’s gun can be applied
here; it states that a prominent object in the first act should be
used in the last act.
In this example, the first thing that most people notice is the
eye patch, and it is not unreasonable to expect to find the
reason behind the man’s having an eye patch. However, the eye
patch is simply a red herring, a visual draw to create curiosity.
By defying the rule of Chekhov’s gun, you can gain the
audience’s attention and simultaneously create hype around
the ad: Why does the man have an eye patch? This sort of clever
subtlety is why David Ogilvy is revered as a marketing genius.

Schweppes
The mark of a great marketing campaign is how long it runs,
proving that it both works and stands the test of time. This is
one of a series of Schweppes ads that ran during the 1960s
and 1970s.
These ads perfected the use of a narrator character, someone
who seemingly isn’t part of the scene yet whose interactions
are absolutely key. If you look at these ads, then look at the
famous Old Spice ads, you’ll notice a lot of similarities.
Rolls-Royce
Proof, if any was needed, that the headline is 90% of ad copy. If
you can’t get that right, then you won’t draw in the audience,
which makes the rest of your copy completely redundant.
“At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce
comes from the electric clock”is often cited as the greatest
ad headline of all time; it shows fantastic understanding of an
audience searching for a vehicle that provides ultimate luxury.
Today, the only impressive thing about this headline might
be that alludes to a quiet car, but back in 1958, when this
ad was published, an electric clock in a car was pretty swish,
too; sewing those two points together seamlessly shows the
brilliance of Ogilvy.
Even the subtlety of using the word“noise”is fantastic. You
could use“sound”instead of“noise”—they both mean the same

thing—but“noise”connotes a problem, an irritant... yet that
minor ticking is anything but noise, really. So, without missing a
beat, readers create an image in their head of a relaxed, serene
driving experience free of irritation and stress.
Matt D’Alesio is the owner of Marketing Degree
Advisor, an online resource for getting the low-
down on getting a marketing degree.

Writing and Readability Scores: It Matters
by Grant Draper
Creating high-quality content is more important than it’s ever
been, thanks in part to the recent infamous algorithm updates
by Google.
Now, when creating a blog post, article, or any other written
content, you must make sure that it’s not only highly relevant
to your audience but also specifically tailored for them—its
language, in particular.
For example, if you’re creating a post for a site that gives advice
to parents, the post is naturally going to be a lot less formal
than if you’re creating a post that sets out analyst forecasts and
discusses them. The language that you use will be different,
as will the readability factor. Before you begin writing, then, it
pays to know your audience.
Some Best-Practices forWriting for theWeb
Writing for the Web uses skills, language, and design elements
that are different from those used for print. Before we discuss
readability, let’s have a look at a few of the basics of text for the
Web:
• You should use white space. Keep paragraphs short,
no more than six lines, and ensure there is clear white
space between each.
• Use shorter words and sentences, depending on your
target audience.
• Use language that is known to the target audience.
When writing for technology or corporate markets, for
example, some jargon might be necessary.
Flesch-Kincaid Readability Scoring
Flesch-Kincaid was developed by Austrian-born Rudolf
Flesch, who fled to the US to avoid the Nazi invasion. He was a
readability expert who studied law in his home country before
going on to graduate from Columbia University with a PhD
in English.
Flesch was also a writing consultant and created the Flesch
Reading Ease test, and he was the co-creator of the Flesch-
Kincaid readability test. He was one of the earliest proponents
of writing in plain English.
According to Flesch, the formula for readability that he devised
works because it is“based on some very complicated facts of
human psychology. It works because it is based on the way the
human mind works.”
When someone is reading, the mind and eyes focus on
“successive points,”allowing for a tentative judgment to be
made in the mind of the reader as to what the text means up
to that point. Natural breaks in the text, such as punctuation
marks or new paragraphs, allow the mind to re-evaluate the
text up to the point, when the mind stops for a split second,
until it eventually arrives at the final meaning.
The longer the word, sentence, or paragraph, the longer the
brain has to suspend comprehending ideas until it can reach a
point where all of the words make sense together.
Because they require more mental work by the reader, longer
words and sentences are harder to read and understand.
The Flesch-Kincaid formula requires you to count words and
syllables in order to measure the amount of mental work that
may be required by the reader. On a scale of 0 to 100, 0 is
measured as the most difficult, 100 the easiest.
To use the formula, count the length of each of the following:
• Words
• Syllables
• Sentence up to where they are marked by a full
stop, colon, semicolon, dash, question mark, or
exclamation point
Then divide the average number of syllables per word, words
per sentence, and average sentence length, and score using the
following image:

You can work out the readability score by taking a ruler and
connecting the two figures that you have for sentence and
word length; where the line crosses the figure in the center
column is your readability score.
Using the Formula
Image: Wikipedia
So, multiply the average sentence length by 1.015, average
word length by 84.6, add the two numbers, and then subtract
that total from 206.835 to arrive at the readability score.
If a text’s readability score is...
• 90.0-100.0, it easily understood by an average 11-year-
old student
• 60.0-70.0, it is easily understood by 13-15-year-
old students
• 0.0-30.0, it is best understood by university graduates
You may think that you’re insulting your readership by sticking
to a score of around 60, but you’re not; you’re just writing in
plain, understandable English.
When we read on a monitor, we don’t behave in the same
way as when we’re reading a book or magazine. We tend to
scan a lot more, so shorter words and sentences become even
more important.
Flesch recommends that the score of the average
conversational piece aimed at consumers be a minimum of 80
(approximately 15 words per sentence and 1-1.5 syllables per
word).
Examples of average scores for various types of content:
• Comics: 92
• Consumer advertisements: 82
• Reader’s Digest: 65
• Time magazine: 52

• Harvard Business Review: 43
• Standard insurance policy: 10
As you can see, the scores differ according to the target
audience. Harvard Business Review assumes a readership with
a certain level of education. An insurance policy will include
a lot of industry-relevant language and so has a very low
readability score.
Determining Readability in MS Word
Microsoft Office products include a readability scoring tool
based on the Flesch-Kincaid formula. To enable it in Word...
Go to Options choose Proofing ensure that the grammar
with spelling box is checked select the tick box for Show
readability statistics.
When checking the document for spelling and grammar, you
will see a box displaying statistics and scores.
Troubleshooting
If you’ve finished your post only to find it has a readability
score of 20, say, you can address the issue during editing.
Consider breaking up long sentences into one or more smaller
sentences, and cut out words of over three syllables
Flesch maintained that there are no complex, legalistic words
that can’t be translated into plain English. In Word, use the
synonym function to help you choose similar words if you
get stuck. You can do this by right-clicking on the offending
word and choosing a synonym; Word will bring up a list of
alternatives. For example:

That was the list of words given as alternatives to the word
“convoluted”; as you can see, you have the further option of
using the Thesaurus should you still be stuck for a better word.
It’s also a good idea to use contractions such as don’t and
they’re. Another idea is to use two-word combinations such as
on-site instead of at the customer’s workplace.
* * *
In short, the key to authoring good content is to use language
that doesn’t detract from your message.
Grant Draper is an Internet marketer and the owner of Vibe
Tech Media. His working week consists of managing content,
design, and SEO projects.

Nine Qualities of Good Writing
by Ann Handley
There are two kinds of people: Those who think they can
write, and those who think they can’t. And, very often, both
are wrong.
The truth is, most of us fall somewhere in the middle. We are all
capable of producing good writing. Or, at least, better writing.
Why does good writing matter? Isn’t the best content
marketing very often something short, snappy, and non-text?
Like Skype’s Born Friends video, Lowe’s Vines, or Chipotle’s
haunting video commentary?
Sometimes, yes. But here I’m not just talking about content in a
marketing context. I’m talking about content, period.
Text is the backbone of the Web, and it’s often the backbone
of any content you watch or listen to, as well. That Born Friends
video started with a story and a script.
Words matters. Your words (what you say) and style (how
you say it) are your most cherished (and undervalued)
assets.
Yet, so often, they are overlooked. Think of it this way: If a visitor
came to your website without its branding in place (logo,
tagline, and so on), would he or she recognize it as yours? Are
you telling your story there from your unique perspective, with
a voice and style that’s clearly all you?
Here, in no particular order, is what I’ve learned about the
necessary qualities of good writing (or content, in our digital
vernacular), based on my own 25 years’working as a writer and
editor… and even longer career as a reader.
1.Goodwriting anticipatesreaderquestions.
Good writing serves the reader, not the writer. It isn’t indulgent.
“The reader doesn’t turn the page because of a hunger to
applaud,”said longtime writing teacher Don Murray. Rather,
good writing anticipates what questions readers will have as
they read a piece, and (before they ask them) it answers them.
That means most good writers are natural skeptics, especially
regarding their own work. They relentlessly think of things from
their reader’s point of view: What experience is this creating for
the reader? What questions might they have?
(I did this above, when, before listing the qualities of good
writing, I thought,“Why does good writing even matter to you?
Why should any of us care?”)
George Orwell said the“scrupulous writer”will ask himself at
least four questions in every sentence:“What am I trying to
say? What words will express it? What image or idiom will make
it clearer? Is this image fresh enough to have an effect? And he
or she will probably ask himself two more: Could I put it more
shortly? Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly?”(Hat tip to
The Economist style guide for that one.)
Lauren Vargas quoths the Raven
Here’s where marketing can really help add value in a business
context, by the way, because“simple”means“making it easy
for the customer.”It means being the advocate for them. As
Georgy Cohen writes,“The marketer should be identifying
(and ruthlessly refining) the core messages and the top goals,

then working with the web professionals to create a website
supporting them.”
2. Good writing is grounded in data.
Data puts your content in context and gives you credibility.
Ground your content in facts: Data, research, fact-checking and
curating. Your ideas and opinions and spin might be part of
that story—or they might not be, depending on what you are
trying to convey. But content that’s rooted in something true—
not just your own opinions—is more credible.
Said another way: Data before declaration. If you are going to
tell me what you think, give me a solid reason why you think it.
3. Good writing is like good teaching.
Good writing strives to explain, to make things a little bit
clearer, to make sense of our world… even if it’s just a
product description.
“A writer always tries… to be part of the solution, to
understand a little about life and to pass this on,”says Anne
Lamott in Bird by Bird.
4. Good writing tells a full story.
Good writing roots out opposing viewpoints. As Joe Chernov
says,“There’s a name for something with a single point of view:
It’s called a press release.”Incorporate multiple perspectives
when the issue lends itself to that. At the very least, don’t
ignore the fact that other points of view might exist; to do so
makes your reader not trust you.
So make sure he or she knows you’re watching out for them. To
quote Hemingway:“The most essential gift for a good writer is
a built-in, shockproof, shit detector.”
5. Good writing comes on the rewrite.
That implies that there is a rewrite, of course. And there
should be.
Writing is hard work, and producing a shitty first draft is often
depressing. But the important thing is to get something
down to start chipping into something that resembles a
coherent narrative.
As Don Murray said,“The draft needs fixing, but first it needs
writing.”Or Mark Twain:“Writing is easy. All you have to do is
cross out the wrong words.”
6. Good writing is like math.
I mean this in two ways: First, good writing has logic and
structure. It feels solid to the reader: The writer is in control and
has taken on the heavy burden of shaping a lumpy jumble of
thoughts into something clear and accessible.
It might not follow a formula, exactly. But there’s a kind of
architecture to it. Good writing has more logic to it than you
might think.
Second, good writing is inherently teachable—just as
trigonometry or algebra or balancing a balance sheet is a skill
any of us can master. Journalism professor Matt Waite writes in
his essay, How I Faced My Fears and Learned to Be Good at Math:
“The difference between good at math and bad at math is hard

work. It’s trying. It’s trying hard. It’s trying harder than you’ve
ever tried before. That’s it.”
I think the same is true about writing. Ta-Nehisi Coates, a senior
editor at The Atlantic, spent a year teaching writing to MIT
students. He later wrote,“I felt that the rigor of math had better
prepared these kids for the rigor of writing. One of my students
insisted that whereas in math you could practice and get
better, in writing you either‘had it’or you didn’t. I told her that
writing was more like math then she suspected.”
7. Good writing is simple, but not simplistic.
Business—like life—can be complicated. Products can
be involved or concepts may seem impenetrable. But
good content deconstructs the complex to make it easily
understood: It sheds the corporate Frankenspeak and conveys
things in human, accessible terms. A bit of wisdom from my
journalism days: No one will ever complain that you’ve made
things too simple to understand.
“Simple”does not equal“dumbed-down.”Another gem from
my journalism professors: Assume the reader knows nothing. But
don’t assume the reader is stupid.
If you think your business-to-business concept is too complex
to be conveyed simply, take a look at the very first line of The
Economist’s style guide:“The first requirement of The Economist
is that it should be readily understandable. Clarity of writing
usually follows clarity of thought. So think what you want to
say, then say it as simply as possible.”
8. Good writing doesn’t get hung up on
what’s been said before.
Rather, it elects to simply say it better. Here’s where style be a
differentiator—in literature and on your website.
Mark Twain described how a good writer treats sentences:“At
times he may indulge himself with a long one, but he will make
sure there are no folds in it, no vaguenesses, no parenthetical
interruptions of its view as a whole; when he has done with it,
it won’t be a sea-serpent with half of its arches under the water;
it will be a torch-light procession.”He also might’ve said:“Write
with clarity and don’t be indulgent.”But he didn’t.
That doesn’t mean you need to be a literary genius, of course.
It only means you have to hone your own unique perspective
and voice.
9. A word about writers: Good writers
aren’t smug.
Most of the really good writers I know still feel a little sheepish
calling themselves a“writer,”because that’s a term freighted
with thick tomes of excellence. But like many achievements in
life—being called a success, or a good parent—the label seems
more meaningful when it’s bestowed upon you by others.
“Most of the time I feel stupid, insensitive, mediocre, talentless
and vulnerable—like I’m about to cry any second—and wrong.
I’ve found that when that happens, it usually means I’m writing
pretty well, pretty deeply, pretty rawly.”—Andre Dubus III
(House of Sand and Fog)
BONUS: Good writing has a good editor. Writers get the
byline and any glory. But behind the scenes, a good editor adds
a lot to process.

Remember what I said above about there being two kinds of
people? Those who think they can write, and those who think
they can’t? And very often, both being wrong? A good editor
teases the best out of so-called writers and non-writers alike.
The best writing—like the best parts of life, perhaps—
is collaborative.
And by the way, is it odd that I’m seeding what’s essentially
business advice with insight from artists? And if so, why is
that odd?
Because in a world where we have an opportunity and
responsibility to tell our stories online, we need to find not just
the right words… but the very best ones.
Ann Handley, co-author of Content Rules: How
to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks,
Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and
Ignite Your Business. She is chief content officer at
MarketingProfs.

Five Tips to Enhance Your Call to Action
by Stephanie Thompson
Think of the last time you responded to a marketing
communication. What made you do it? Was there an incentive,
or a chance to win something? A good call to action (CTA) is a
lot more than just a link. Very rarely will you get someone to
follow your call to action by simply asking them.
In nearly 10 years of working with direct mail, I’ve found a few
tips you can use to enhance your calls to action and get people
to respond.
1. Use a Widget
In the marketing world, a unique element makes your message
stand out among the other messages in the same medium. If
we’re talking direct mail, a widget means something that isn’t
paper. In the past, I have used car keys, credit cards, and casino
chips. They add physical weight to the mailer and help it stand
out from other items in a mailbox. It draws attention to the
message, and it gets the recipient to engage.
Widgets work online, too. Rather than a standard lead-capture
form, add an interactive game, well-designed imagery, or even
unique colors to make your communication stand out. The
ultimate goal is to make it look different from your competitors’
marketing and keep the consumer’s attention long enough to
take the desired action.
2. Offer Prizes
I believe in the idea of reciprocity. When you are looking to
drive engagement, offering prizes is a great solution. If you
give consumers something for engaging with you, they are
more likely to return the favor. For example, if you won a TV at a
furniture store, where are you most likely to go when it is time
to buy your next couch or bedroom set? Part of human nature
is that we tend to take care of each other. When someone does
something for us, we reciprocate.
Offering prizes of some kind—like popular gift cards—can
help you build a relationship with a consumer beyond just the
CTA. Of course, you don’t simply want to pay your consumers
to interact with you. Put some thought into the prize and make
sure you’re still going to earn ROI on your marketing. If nothing
else, give them an opportunity to win a prize:“For responding,
your name will be entered to win a $100 gift card!”
3. Personalization
We all love to feel special. Personalizing your CTA tells
consumers you understand that they are unique. Add a
handwritten sticky note, use their name in your greeting, or
personalize offers to match their lifestyle.
For online use, create a landing page that recognizes the visitor
and pre-populates the information you already know about
them. Doing so also increases the ease of use by allowing them
to quickly complete forms.
Another good method of personalization is speaking about
something you know they already own—whether a car,
television, or a tanning package. Doing so can tell them
this isn’t just mass marketing, you’re thinking about them
as individuals.
4. Clarity of Intent
This one can’t be overstated, and it works the same for both
print and online: Your CTA has to be clear. There’s no room for
vagueness in a CTA. Make the next step obvious, and give a
specific time frame for completion. Does the offer expire in an
hour? Tell them that. Have every incentive driver point to one
location—the CTA—and be clear about what steps should
be taken.
5. Repetition
Within your messaging, whether direct mail, email, or a
newspaper ad, zero in on exactly what you’re trying to
accomplish and state that message. Be clear, and repeat the
message. People are more likely to remember something—as

Five Tips to Enhance Your Call to Action
well as take action—if they’re presented with the option
multiple times.
This works in two ways. First, within a specific marketing
communication, make sure that your CTA is called out multiple
times throughout the piece. Second, try multiple marketing
mediums. For example, don’t stop at just a TV commercial. Try
the same promotion in a print ad or email campaign.
Whether you use the same medium multiple times or you track
across multiple media, repeating yourself can help increase the
impact of your message.
* * *
Whatever your company is doing, make absolutely sure that
you’re tracking the results. Marketing isn’t one size fits all. If
you’re going to try something new, A/B-test it. At the very
least, test the idea against similar campaigns you’ve done in
the past. Pick one variable to change and track how it impacts
the results. If it works, great! If it doesn’t work, adjust and try
something else.
Targeting the right consumer can affects your results as well.
Know your target, find a group, and go after them. If you’re
tracking correctly, you’ll see remarkable results.
Stephanie Thompson is the vice-president of client
services for PERQ, a marketing technology and
promotions company that helps businesses attract
consumers with incentives online and in-store
Twitter: @DirectMailDiva

The Most (and Least) Effective Keywords in
Email Subject Lines by Ayaz Nanji
Emails with the word“alert”in their subject lines have a
38.1% higher than average open rate and 61.8% higher
click rate, according to a recent study by British marketing
firm Adestra.
The keywords“free delivery”(+50.7% higher open rate,
+135.4% click rate) and“bulletin”(+15.8%, +12.7%) also
performed very well in the email campaigns analyzed.
On the other hand,“report”(-23.7% average lower open rate,
-54.8% click rate),“learn” (-35.5%, -60.8%), and“book”(-4.6%,
-25.4%) had a negative effect.“Newsletter”showed a marginal
effect on open rates (+0.7%), but had an adverse effect on click
rates (-18.7%.)
As for date-related keywords,“daily”(+27.8%, +100.3%) and
“weekly”(+27.1%, +50.6%) performed strongly, but“monthly”
(-26.6%, -37.0%) had a negative effect.
Below, additional email subject line keyword performance
broken out by B2B, B2C and commerce. For complete results
and analysis check out the full study, The 2013 Adestra Subject
Line Analysis Report, which was based on a review of over 2
billion global emails.
B2B Emails
• The words“alert”and“breaking”in the email subject
lines of B2B emails performed well.
• B2B customers seem to have become desensitized to
words such as“reports,”“forecasts,”and“intelligence.”

The Most (and Least) Effective Keywords in Email Subject Lines
B2C Emails
• “Review,”“update,”and“special”all did well in the
subject lines of B2C emails, as did“video.”
• The use of question marks in B2C subject lines had a
negative effect.
Retail and Commerce Email
• “Free delivery”(+35.9% higher than average open rate,
+81.3% higher click rate) performed very well in retail
and commerce email subject lines.
• Consumers love a“sale”(+10.7%, +26.7%) and specific
offers such as percent off, (+6.1%, +17.7%).
• Generic offers such as“save”(-4.4%, -27.4%) and
calls to action such as“buy”(-19.3%, -59.1%) had a
negative effect.
• “Cheap”(-67.2%, -71.6%) and“free”(-23.7%, -34.8%)
also resulted in lower than average performance.
About the research: The study was based on an analysis of a
random sample of over 90,000 email campaigns, each with
a list size of at least 5,000 subscribers, for a total of over 2
billion emails.
Ayaz Nanji is a digital strategy and content consul-
tant. He is also a research writer for MarketingProfs.
His experience includes working as a strategist and
producer of digital content for Google/YouTube,
the Travel Channel, and AOL. LinkedIn: Ayaz Nanji
Twitter: @ayaznanji

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