Top Reasons Why an Editorial Calendar Is Crucial for an Effective Content Campaign

Effective planning can mean the difference between achieving goals and missing the mark. And when it comes to content campaigns, planning is everything.

In this article, we will explore the use of an editorial calendar as part of an effective content campaign. Specifically, we will discuss five reasons why an editorial calendar is crucial for a successful content campaign.

So, please stay tuned because there is plenty of information coming up.

What is a content campaign?

A content campaign is any type of published content aimed at a target audience. Content campaigns can be simple or complex. They may also reach across various channels or focus predominantly on a single one.

Overall, a content campaign may include any of the following content types:

  • Books
  • Articles
  • Blog posts
  • Podcasts
  • Interviews
  • Videos
  • E-books
  • Guides
  • Presentations
  • Demonstrations

Also, there are many channels for content campaigns, including:

  • Print materials
  • Social media
  • Websites
  • Video streaming platforms
  • PowerPoint presentations
  • Live in-person speeches
  • Podcasts
  • Marketing materials (i.e., brochures and product inserts)

Content can come in many shapes and sizes. Therefore, it is crucial to ensure that effective content campaigns reach the target audience in a timely fashion.

What is an editorial calendar in a content campaign?

Planning is essential to a successful content campaign. Failing to plan can cause a content campaign to produce underwhelming results. As such, an editorial calendar is a highly effective tool to ensure a content campaign hits the mark.

But what exactly is an editorial calendar?

At its core, an editorial calendar is a workflow organizing tool that coordinates tasks among the various stakeholders in a content campaign: writers, editors, clients, and designers.

An editorial calendar facilitates task assignment from the onset of a project up to its deadline.

While editorial calendars are staples of the publishing industry, they have become popular among marketing professionals as well.

Why is an editorial calendar essential for a content campaign?

Any company or organization that publishes content needs an editorial calendar. Publishing content without following a plan or schedule often leads to haphazard publishing schedules and generally disjointed materials.

In contrast, an editorial calendar allows publishers and marketers to carefully plan their content campaigns to match publishing schedules, target audiences, and content campaign objectives. As a result, an editorial calendar is a must for any organization looking to create successful content campaigns.

What are the benefits of an editorial calendar in a content campaign?

There are five key benefits to consider when using an editorial calendar as part of a content campaign:

1. Organizes Workflow Management

Publishing content regularly can become quite complex and time-consuming. Without a clear publishing schedule, content can easily become delayed. These delays lead to irregular publishing schedules. And irregular publishing schedules can ultimately lead to content failing to live up to expectations.

Implementing an editorial calendar is the first major step toward organizing workflow management effectively. A solid editorial calendar assigns topics, deadlines, and roles within the company or organization. There is very little margin for error with clear topics, deadlines, and roles.

2. Boosts Accountability

But what happens when someone misses a deadline? Without an editorial calendar, it may become quite difficult to pinpoint where the delays occurred. However, implementing an editorial calendar within content campaigns boosts accountability.

Please note that boosting accountability is not about assigning blame when things go off course. Instead, bolstering accountability aims to identify weak links in the chain. The publishing team must then shore up weak links to avoid possible delays. Ultimately, this process is all about continuous improvement.

3. Establishes Standard Procedures

The lack of an editorial calendar breeds ad-hoc procedures. These informal procedures can quickly lead to miscommunication.

Once miscommunication occurs, getting things back on track may become virtually impossible.

An editorial calendar is the key to establishing standard procedures throughout the publishing process.

Moreover, an editorial calendar as the core of a content campaign helps solidify effective communication.

Consequently, everyone involved throughout the publishing process will be sure to follow along the same route.

4. Reduces Stress

There is nothing like haphazard business processes to trigger stress. When staff members are uncertain about what to do in a given situation, their stress levels shoot through the roof. An editorial calendar can practically do away with stress.

As part of an effective content campaign, an editorial calendar can quickly reduce stress levels.

How so?

When staff members are certain about deadlines, procedures, and roles, they can focus on doing their job as best they can. Moreover, staff members know who to contact in case they need help. Please remember that a high degree of certainty is a pivotal element in an effective content campaign.

5. Facilitates Tracking

The lack of an editorial calendar ensures details fall through the cracks. This situation occurs because the publishing team is uncertain about roles, responsibilities, processes, and guidelines. Therefore, it is quite easy for details to get lost in the shuffle.

Implementing an editorial calendar within a content campaign facilitates tracking. Specifically, an editorial calendar allows everyone to visualize who is doing what. Utilizing an editorial calendar also allows staff members to see how their tasks fit within the overarching scheme of the content campaign.

Please remember that effective tracking ensures tasks stay on course and deadlines are met.

How can companies and organizations create an editorial calendar as part of a content campaign?

Companies and organizations can create an editorial calendar as part of a content campaign by following these steps:

Brainstorm content topics.

Every great editorial calendar begins with a healthy dose of topics. An old-fashioned brainstorming session is the best way to generate a list of topics.

Please bear in mind that it is crucial to understand the underlying objectives of the content campaign.

For instance, a content campaign aimed at boosting sales must have topics related to sales, marketing, and brand positioning.

Once a topic list has been produced, the publishing team can begin to whittle down the list to a reasonable number of topics. The first filter should eliminate topics that are unrelated to the content campaign’s objectives.

Identify needs and limitations.

First, identifying needs is a crucial element in building an effective editorial calendar. In particular, the publishing team must determine the channels, formats, and target audience that will consume the content. For example, a marketing campaign aimed at a younger demographic can focus on publishing content on social media. Consequently, the writing and editing team must ensure the topics, content, and formats match the channel and intended target audience.

It is also crucial to understand limitations. Time and budget constraints may limit what the writing and editing team can reasonably accomplish. Therefore, the editorial calendar must reflect these constraints.

 Match content to the channel.

After identifying the channel, or channels, it is key to produce content that fits. For instance, the writing team has identified YouTube as the best channel for their next content campaign. Thus, the writing team needs to produce scripts for video content. Please bear in mind that all types of content need to match their channels. Effective written materials ensure that this happens.

Assign roles and deadlines.

This step is crucial. The team must take on roles and deadlines for the various tasks within the content campaign. In some instances, there is a team leader who assigns roles and deadlines. In other cases, a self-regulating team can distribute tasks and assign deadlines.

The big question is: “How can one know what roles and deadlines to assign?”

In part, knowing what roles and deadlines to assign is the product of experience. Nevertheless, inexperienced publishing teams may need to proceed with caution.

A good rule of thumb is to overestimate time and effort. For example, a team member considers they will need four hours to complete a task. A conservative estimate would be to assign six hours instead of four. In doing so, the team can ensure they get their estimates down pat.

It is worth noting that roles and deadline assignments become much more effective and efficient with time and experience.

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Use a color-coded scheme.

Most teams use a spreadsheet or project management software to keep track of their tasks and deadlines. Additionally, a color-coded scheme can greatly help the publishing team visualize the editorial calendar’s progress.

For example:

  • Green – On track
  • Yellow – Delayed but still on track
  • Red – Behind schedule
  • Blue – Completed

The scheme above is simple, as it allows the team to visualize their progress. Please remember that it is always best to keep things short and simple.

Update, update, update.

The worst mistake publishing teams make is not updating their editorial calendar. An editorial calendar is a living entity. Thus, it evolves as the team makes headway. Completed tasks must come off the board, while delayed tasks must receive immediate attention. The board, software, or card system used must reflect the various stages in which a content campaign traverses.

For instance, a content campaign may have four stages such as:

  • Planning
  • Writing
  • Editing
  • Publishing

Each team member must be aware of the role they play and how their work impacts the next stage in the process. Moreover, understanding the nature of delays can help clear logjams, so the publishing process flows freely.

How can hiring a writing agency help a content campaign?

Companies and organizations often lack the experience and know-how needed to run effective content campaigns. Companies and organizations generally do not have staff specialized in content campaigns, producing editorial calendars, and publishing content.

Hiring a writing agency can solve those issues.

Employing a writing agency can be like killing several birds with one stone. A professional writing agency can streamline the entire content campaign creation process.

How so?

Experienced writing professionals know what it takes to produce effective content campaigns. They understand the need for and importance of an editorial calendar.

Moreover, they have the know-how and experience to create an editorial calendar.

A writing agency can easily work in tandem with any organization to help them create clear and manageable editorial calendars but also ensure that content campaigns achieve their intended outcomes.

This point is not hyperbole.

A professional writing agency can ensure that companies and organizations reach their intended target audiences through their content campaigns. Achieving these outcomes begins with an effective editorial calendar.

A Final Thought

A common objection to hiring a writing agency is cost. Critics often claim that hiring a writing agency is more expensive than producing content in-house. This argument may seem valid on the surface but holds very little water under scrutiny.

Employing a professional writing agency typically leads to savings in time and effort.

How is that possible?

First of all, a writing agency can produce professional-quality content within tight deadlines. This quality ensures that companies and organizations get more content out in a shorter timeframe.

Second, an experienced writing agency knows the tools of the trade. They understand how important an editorial calendar truly is. Thus, the professionals rely heavily on editorial calendars to guarantee they meet deadlines.

Lastly, a professional writing agency provides training and guidance to its clients. Professional writers can work with an organization’s subject matter experts to produce top-quality content. This collaboration can lead to capacity building within the client organization. As subject matter experts become more accustomed to working with a writing agency, the content publishing process becomes more and more efficient.

Hiring a professional writing agency is by no means an expense. It is an investment in getting content campaigns right from the beginning.

6 Essential Elements of a Killer Marketing Campaign

“Good marketing makes the company look smart. Great marketing makes the customer feel smart.” — Joe Chernov

Making your customers feel smart is much easier than you think. In fact, you can make them feel like geniuses.

Author and entrepreneur Allen Gannett once remarked, “Creating marketing that works should not be rocket science.” Indeed, creating awesome marketing shouldn’t be hard. Great marketing should engage audiences naturally, causing them to feel at ease at all times.

The secret lies in content marketing.

Content marketing is one of the most effective ways you can make your customers feel like geniuses. Content marketing makes people feel smart when it’s useful and actionable. Folks feel they have learned something they can put into practice right away.

When you take content marketing to the next level, people feel smart because they found you. In a way, it’s like finding a needle in a haystack.

In this article, we will discuss six essential elements of a killer marketing campaign. We will also discuss how content marketing can help take your business to the next level. So, stay tuned because there is much more coming your way!

What is content marketing?

According to the Content Marketing Institute:

Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach that focuses on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience – and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.

Woah, hold your horses, here!

There is quite a bit we need to unpack.

Let’s start with content marketing’s aims. First, we see that content marketing looks to “attract and retain a clearly defined audience.” In other words, content marketing aims to bring your brand closer to your target audience while keeping their attention.

Please bear in mind that it’s not enough to get their attention. You must strive to keep it.

The best brands have a knack for keeping their audience’s attention consistently.

They do it by providing content that strikes a chord. Therefore, your content must be relevant to your customers.

Failing to engage your target audience will cause your content to fall flat.

Also, the definition above highlights how content must be valuable. Indeed, your content must provide value, something your audience can take to the bank. Otherwise, why would anyone listen to you if you have nothing good to say?

The most valuable content is the kind that solves a problem. Or, at the very least, it gives audiences the tools they need to solve a problem. Think of a how-to guide. The guide itself won’t solve your problems. But it will help you find the solution.

Lastly, great content marketing is consistent. You can’t expect your content marketing to be successful without consistency. You want to ensure that your customers become accustomed to getting your content regularly. It doesn’t matter if it’s daily, weekly, or monthly. You want to ensure that your customers can bet on your content being there on time.

Please remember that the best marketing never sells anything. Killer content marketing is about positioning your brand in consumers’ minds. It’s about building a positive relationship between your brand and your customers. This relationship must be mutually beneficial. It should solve a problem and add to your bottom line.

Why is content marketing better than traditional marketing?

So, what is traditional marketing?

By “traditional,” we understand the type of marketing that pitches products to consumers. In other words, we’re talking about the usual brands that want you to buy their stuff. Well, guess what? That type of advertising seldom works. They’re lost whenever a brand tells their customers to buy something.

You see, customers don’t want to be told what to choose. Customers want to feel smart. They feel smart when they choose the right brands and products for their needs. If you tell them what to buy, you’re taking the decision power away from them.

Why is content marketing better than traditional marketing, then?

Content marketing informs consumers. It gives consumers the information they can use to make their choices. When you inform consumers and allow them to make their choices, you empower them.

Yes, that’s right!

When you empower folks, you position your brand in people’s minds. You allow your brand to build a positive association in people’s minds. You go from telling people to buy your product to building a convincing case as to why they should buy it.

Content marketing is much more effective than traditional marketing because content marketing helps consumers construct a coherent argument for your brand.

This power is what your customers get from your content.

You empower them to feel smart about their choices.

You don’t use gimmicks to compel them into buying. You get them on board by using convincing and compelling arguments.

Top-selling marketing author Marcus Sheridan said, “Great content is the best sales tool in the world.” Indeed, great content is the best sales tool you can utilize. Great content delivers consistent value without actually selling anything.

The Essential Elements of a Killer Content Marketing Campaign

Crafting a killer marketing campaign boils down to focusing your attention on what truly counts. So, here are the six essential elements of a killer content marketing campaign that will take your brand to the next level.

1. Define your target audience.

It seems like everyone says, “define your target audience,” right? But how many marketers actually do that?

Defining your target audience is about building a customer persona. A persona entails describing your intended customers as accurately as possible. In other words, building a customer persona is about putting a name to a face. When you have a visual of who’s consuming your content, it becomes much easier to cater to their interests and needs.

For example, “Mary, 25, young professional, lives in a condo, walks to work, consumes fresh coffee every morning, likes sports, and is single” provides a great visual of who is going to receive the value of your content.

2. Devise clear metrics.

The next step in a successful content marketing campaign is devising clear metrics. Metrics allow you to adequately gauge your content marketing campaign’s effectiveness. These metrics must be objectively measurable.

Consider this example:

The campaign will show a 10% increase in sales.

On the surface, this metric seems clear. It shows an objective metric that is easily trackable. However, it falls short because it doesn’t measure a timeframe or specific means of measuring your content marketing campaign’s success.

So, let’s refine it a bit, shall we?

How’s this:

The campaign will show a 10% increase in sales revenue during the first quarter of the year.

In this example, we can see a clear metric (10% in sales revenue) and a timeframe (first quarter of the year). Having clear metrics ensures that your content marketing campaign meets your expectations. Otherwise, you might become misled by inaccurate results.

3. Focus on content.

Understanding your target audience allows you to focus on your content.

Your content must resonate with the customer personas you have crafted.

Consequently, your content needs to match what your customers want to hear.

Marketing guru Seth Godin offers this insight: “Real content marketing isn’t repurposed advertising. It is making something worth talking about.” Indeed, your content marketing campaign aims to give your customers something to talk about.

How can you focus on content? Think about information such as age, purchasing power, and profession. Consider where they live and their preferred media. These elements must sync with your customers’ personas. For example, younger customers would most likely prefer consuming content through digital media. In contrast, older customers might prefer print materials such as brochures, magazines, or newsletters.

4. Diversify content.

There is an infinite number of topics you could approach within a specific content category. As such, your content must strive to be diverse but without diverging significantly from your content’s core message.

Consider this approach:

A fashion brand offers content focused on product reviews, new releases, relevant industry news, and customer comments. This brand also consistently engages its customers by asking them what topics they would like to know about. By asking customers, the brand has a steady supply of potential topics.

Overall, it’s crucial to keep things fresh. The last thing you want is for your content to run around in circles. Mixing up content will always generate something to talk about.

5. Choose the right platform.

The right platform depends on your customer personas. While most of the world’s marketing endeavors are shifting toward predominantly digital platforms, there is always room for more traditional platforms such as print materials.

So, how can you know which is the right platform?

Ask your customers!

Don’t be afraid to ask your customers what their preferred media is. You might be surprised to find that most customers prefer a mix of digital and print media. Doug Kessler, marketing author and speaker, offers this advice: “Traditional marketing talks at people. Content marketing talks with them.” This is a key insight as your chosen platform should enable a consistent two-way conversation.

6. Promote brand content.

Lastly, it’s essential to promote your brand’s content. After all, what good does killer content do if no one notices it?

Promoting content shouldn’t be about advertising it. Instead, promoting content should be about helping folks discover it.

Ultimately, the best type of advertising is word of mouth. When folks discover great content, word gets out pretty fast.

Currently, the most effective means of promoting content centers on social media. Building a strong social media presence can help your brand’s content become noticeable. As a result, offering free tidbits on social media platforms ought to entice customers to visit your website. From there, you can boost traffic, drive sales, and get your brand on the map.

How can a ghostwriting agency help your content marketing campaign?

Let’s face it, modern life is quite complex. First of all, running a successful brand is a time-consuming endeavor. You must run your business, manage finances, supervise employees, and serve your customers.

That doesn’t leave much time for creating content, does it?

Employing a trusted ghostwriting agency can give you the boost you need to create a killer content marketing campaign.

A professional ghostwriting agency can handle the heavy lifting in terms of creating content, producing print materials, writing a blog, and consistently updating your brand’s website.

Here are the benefits you can expect when employing a professional ghostwriting agency:

  • Saves time and effort. A professional ghostwriting agency works behind the scenes while your brand focuses on what it does best.
  • Boosts brand recognition. Producing killer content enables your brand to get noticed. Customers will positively associate your brand with awesome content.
  • Impacts your bottom line. As brand recognition increases, so will sales. As a result, you can expect a positive impact on your bottom line.
  • Refreshes content consistently. A ghostwriting agency can keep up with your customers’ demands. A ghostwriting agency can help you maintain a consistent publishing schedule.
  • Works with your team. A trusted ghostwriting agency works with your team to produce the right type of content for your customer personas.

Bringing in a ghostwriting agency can make the difference between a stalled content marketing campaign and a killer strategy.

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One Final Consideration

The most common objection to hiring a ghostwriting agency is cost. Nevertheless, employing a professional ghostwriting agency is more cost-effective than going it alone.

The time and effort it takes to produce amazing content may distract you and your staff from core functions. Consequently, employing a professional ghostwriting firm allows you to do what you do best: build great products and deliver outstanding service.

So, the next time you think about creating a killer content marketing campaign, consider hiring a professional ghostwriting agency. Take the time to interview various agencies. The right fit is the agency that shares your vision, values, and philosophy. Investing time in finding the right ghostwriting firm will pay off in droves down the road.

How to Manage and Organize Content for Blog Campaigns

Launching a blog campaign is an effective way to grow your business’ influence online. By posting regularly, it allows you to provide value for your customers by educating them on specific topics. More than that, it establishes you as an expert in your field, which can draw more attention from potential customers or clients.

Indeed, blogging has proven to be a very effective tool for businesses, but there must be a method behind how you manage your blog posts. This is where the blog campaign comes into play.

Sort the Fine Details Before You Write

Before you jump into organizing or even writing the content for your blog campaign, start by sorting the fine details you want to include in your posts. Jumping directly into the writing process will lead to confusion, both for you and your readers.

People who know a lot about something often want to say a lot about something, which can lead to providing information in a very unorganized fashion. Preplanning helps you bring your thoughts together on specific topics so that you don’t forget anything, and so you can organize it into a system that helps others learn.

Start by working through themes for your campaign. For example, a technology company would want to teach customers about the latest technology on the market. This may take several blog posts to cover all of the information, such as:

  • What the new technology is
  • How different it is from other options
  • Its history and how it became what it is
  • How to use it or what it is used for
  • Why customers should want it
  • Specific things that only technology aficionados would know
  • How to get the new technology
  • Why they should get that technology from you

From this list alone, there are a lot of specific things to cover about this new technology that will be interesting to clients and help companies get a boost in sales. To get the most out of this content, it needs to be organized into a campaign that follows logical steps. That way, you can effectively educate clients while creating an effective sales funnel so both sides benefit.

Pro Tip: Make a List of Content Points for the Year

An easy way to organize your content is to make a list of content points that you need to address throughout the year. Some of these will be easily predictable, such as holidays or special events. Industry trade shows and similar events also make great content points to write about. Here are some content points that are commonly used to organize blog content:

  • Industry-specific themes
  • Specific products or promotions
  • Product launches, sales, or other special events
  • Major business changes like an expansion or merger

Develop Your CTA

One of the most important parts of your blog to develop is your CTA or Call-to-Action.

This is the part that asks the customer to do something, such as buy a product or schedule an appointment. It is usually found at the end of the blog post with links to landing pages or other sales resources.

The CTA is important because it takes a reader from being passive to being active and engaged with your company. Without it, your blog will not drive sales.

Creating a CTA does not have to be complicated, but it does require specific pieces of information. Before you create any content, create a CTA.

Information for Your CTA

There are specific pieces of information that need to be included in your CTA. Otherwise, it may not be effective at directing your potential customers. Your CTA needs to include:

  • Your company name
  • Company primary contact information
  • An invitation to what you want customers to do (i.e., “call us” or “click this link”)
  • A link to a landing page or the business home page

Once you have this information, you can compile a CTA using a basic formula for each blog post. This formula will change slightly based on the topic and where the post sits in your sales funnel.

If the post is about general information about the business or is early in the sales funnel or campaign, your CTA will focus on getting clients to your website or a specific landing page to learn more.

If it is deep enough in your sales funnel to ask for the sale, then the CTA should focus on getting clients to the sale through a product page or a landing page that asks for the sale.

Your CTA should follow a template and look like the following:

  • Sentence 1: Introductory sentence to transition from content into CTA.
  • Sentence 2: Sentence on how the product can be valuable to the consumer.
  • Sentence 3: Request for a specific action, with contact info or link.
  • Sentence 4: Sentence on how the company can support the consumer.

Example (Early Sales Funnel)

Replacing your outdated TV with a new 80-inch flat-screen will make watching the game more enjoyable, but taking your old TV to the dump can be a challenge. It is much easier if you can find a service to pick up your TV and take it to the landfill for you. [Company Name] can help you get that old TV to the dump without you having to lift a finger except to call us at [company phone number]. Let us help you make every game special by making it easy to install your new TV.

Example (Late Sales Funnel)

Replacing a broken TV shouldn’t be a hassle, but large TVs are hard to get rid of. You want to order a new TV to watch the game with your friends, but your old TV Is standing in your way. Call [Company Name] at [phone number] to get that old TV out of the way. We’ll drag your old TV to the dump and let you enjoy your new TV without getting off of the couch.

Organize Content by Relevance

Once you know what your content will be about, put it in order of relevance for the goals of the campaign and the subject matter. There are several ways to organize your content by relevance.

Relevance to the Reader

Your content should be in the order of relevance to the reader if there are multiple subjects or the content becomes progressively more complicated. This is common on education websites where the content starts basic and becomes more complicated over time.

However, it is not always that straightforward since some parts make sense to go out of order. Businesses use this method when introducing multiple products or services. They may introduce them as a whole so that customers have a frame of reference for all of the options, then start to go through them individually.

Relevance to Time

Content can be organized based on chronological events.

History classes do this so that everything develops in a logical progression.

And companies use this when they are guiding readers through tutorials.

Every post builds on the one that came before it, so doing them out of order does not make sense for the reader.

Relevance to Topic

Another way to organize content is to organize by topic. This works best when the blog posts may seemingly have nothing to do with each other.

For example, writing blog posts about bananas, oranges, and apples that do not compare them means that each post has nothing to do with each other. However, you can combine the posts into a campaign that teaches readers about different kinds of fruit to make them better shoppers at grocery stores.

Group content based on your themes so that content related to a topic is treated in a single series of blog posts.

Build a Storyline

Having a method for organizing your content helps you get a feel for what posts need to go where and when, but that is not the end of the process. Once you have an idea of how to group your content, you need to organize it so that it builds a storyline.

For the most part, consumers do not make a purchase based on the technical specifications of a product. They don’t even buy because a product solves a problem for them. They buy because they connect with the narrative of that product.

You can use this to connect with readers and make asking for the sale more effective.

For this to work, every piece of content in the campaign must support a narrative in some way. Instead of focusing entirely on features, talk about how the product was developed and why customers enjoy it. Paint a picture of how customers can use it to make their lives better.

Once they can imagine using your product to resolve a pressing need for them, they are beginning to buy into the storyline.

It is important to remember that although the posts are working toward a common goal, every piece must be able to stand on its own.

Every blog post is a self-contained story of its own, and you want to make sure that customers get a good understanding of what you are writing about, even without access to other posts.

That way, readers can keep up with what you are writing without having to read back through old posts for everything to make sense.

Develop a Simple Tracking System

As you launch the campaign, it is important that you track the success of each post. Without a tracking system in place, you won’t be able to effectively evaluate your campaign strategy.

The good news is that your tracking system does not have to be complicated. A simple system could be to track KPIs on every post to see which ones perform the best.

If you have posts that do well and others that do not, figure out what makes some perform well and change your process to make the others more effective.

Try Different Campaign Strategies

Campaign strategies can always be changed to fit your needs. If you try to develop a successful campaign and don’t get the results that you want, pivot and find a strategy that works. You can try as many strategies as you like until you find the one that works best.

Successful companies make sure they can track the performance of their posts in a meaningful way. When they find a specific element of a post that works, they integrate it into their strategy and apply it to every post.

Even if you only get one thing that works out of your campaign, that is an improvement. Collect these little improvements and you will eventually create a campaign strategy that works reliably. All it takes is effort over time and a desire to consistently make improvements.

The Content Publishing Storyline

Every blog post campaign needs to tell a story. Customers buy based on the narrative of a product more than any other factor, and this is your key to making more sales.

For help building your campaign storyline, just use this helpful checklist.

Do I Need Permission to Use a Logo in my Blog?

You’re writing an article about your favorite cereal – the origin of the flake shape, the ingeniousness of the ingredients, the history of the brand name – and to fancy up the copy, you decide to include the company’s logo.

But then, you wonder: Is this permitted?

Are Logos Copyright-Protected?

The answer isn’t cut-and-dried: Some are; some aren’t. Sometimes a logo may be copyrighted. Or it may be trademarked.

What’s the difference, you ask?

Both actions are taken to protect intellectual property. But legally they are very distinct. In general terms, copyrights (©) apply to intellectual or creative works, while trademarks (™) protect commercial names, logos, and phrases.

In general terms, copyright gives exclusive rights to the owner of a literary, artistic, educational, or musical work.

Trademarks, on the other hand, are used to help companies represent their unique brand.

Corporate logos, therefore, are typically trademarked. This provides the company some amount of protection against someone trying to pass off a product represented by their logo.

But many corporations also opt to copyright their logos for additional legal identity protection because copyright law and trademark law each have some gaps.

According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, “A trademark includes any word, name, symbol, or device, or any combination used, or intended to be used, in commerce to identify and distinguish the goods of one manufacturer or seller from goods manufactured or sold by others, and to indicate the source of the goods.”

A completely different office, the United States Copyright Office, handles copyright issues. They explain, “Copyright commonly does not protect names, titles, slogans, or short phrases. You will have to look into trademarking. Copyright protects works of original authorship such as text, artwork, photographs, sound recordings, screenplays, music, lyrics, etc.”

Are All Logos Protected?

Regardless of whether a logo has been registered or not, the creator still has certain protections.

Graphic designer, Stephanie Asmus, points out that a logo doesn’t actually need to be copyrighted or trademarked to be protected: “The moment a logo is created, so long as it’s justifiably original, the owner has protectable rights to that creation under what’s called ‘common law’.”

This means that even if a logo has not been registered to an “owner,” it can’t be usurped for use by another entity. Common law provides legal protection to guarantee that the “owner” is the sole entity permitted to use the logo as an identifier in their industry.

What really matters is protecting the integrity of the graphic.

As Elizabeth Potts Weinsten, founder and lead attorney at EPW Small Business Law PC, puts it, “Trademarks are designed to protect customers from confusion… If you use the logos in a way that won’t confuse customers or the public, then you probably are not infringing the trademark.”

So… Am I Free to Include the Logo?

According to upcounsel, “You need permission to use a logo unless it is for editorial or information purposes, such as when a logo is used in a written article or being used as part of a comparative product statement.”

This type of use is called fair use. Basically, as long as your intent is not to profit from the logo, you should be able to replicate it to accompany your article.

So, this is great news for, say, bloggers just wanting to spruce up the page with a splash of color.

But there’s a caveat.

Keep in mind that the company likely toiled long and hard to come up with the image that graphically represents their brand. As such, they might have very strict usage guidelines – from the exact colors that must be used and whether it can be recreated in black and white to size restrictions and any accompanying tagline or words to even the required white space around the image.

As a general rule of thumb, don’t make any changes to their image.

Your best bet is to check with the company’s website or media relations department to find out what their specific brand usage guidelines are and how they relate to using their logo.

Copywriter Q&A: Diving into Company Blog Campaigns with Melanie Green

The Writers For Hire (TWFH) team member Melanie Green has more than 15 years of writing experience and specializes in digital marketing content. With TWFH, Melanie is the go-to expert on blog campaigns for businesses.

For this installment of Copywriter Q&A, we asked Melanie for her insights on the best practices for launching an effective blog campaign.

TWFH: We hear a lot of hype about blogs being an important aspect of company websites. In what ways can having a blog help a business?

MG: Blogs can help businesses in a lot of ways. A blog creates more content that can be found and linked to. It gives businesses more opportunities to utilize SEO keywords in an organic way that can help search engine rankings. It can even be used to answer common customer questions.

A blog gives credibility to the company and positions it as a thought leader or expert. It can also ensure that a business’s website comes across as up-to-date and relevant. Who hasn’t gone to a website to see that its last blog post was two years ago and questioned whether the company was even still in business?

TWFH: Those are some really compelling arguments for starting a blog! So, if someone is considering launching a blog campaign for their business, how should they get started?

MG: First, they need to have a platform available on their site to upload blogs on. I’m preferential to WordPress because of the plug-ins that are available, including the editorial calendar and Yoast. The editorial calendar lets you plan posts with a month-long view, and Yoast is a free tool that helps with search engine optimization.

Next, they’ll need to make decisions about who will write the posts, how frequently they’ll post, and what the topics will be.

TWFH: What is the best way to come up with a theme or topic for the campaign?

MG: I’m not sure that there’s a single “best way,” but there is a process that I follow. To find blog post ideas, I would:

  1. Answer common questions my customers have
  2. Provide information that would overcome sales objections from customers in the sales process
  3. Find frequently asked questions online related to my topic
  4. Review recent news to see if there’s anything that’s relevant
  5. See what my competitors are writing about
  6. Use topic generator tools like Answer the Public and Buzz Sumo
  7. Use keyword tools like SEMRush and Google Keyword Planner, aiming for relevant keywords that have high search volume and low competition
  8. Create variations of my most successful posts

TWFH: How frequently should blogs be posted? Is there a rule or best practice?

MG: Consistency is the key. If you can only commit to one post a week, then it should be every week, posted on the same day. It’s worse to post two in one week and none for three weeks.

Technically speaking, websites benefit the most from two posts a week. More can be better, especially for more competitive search terms. However, I always recommend that clients start by posting two posts a month and work their way up toward twice a week. Since quality is just as important as consistency, you don’t want to sacrifice quality.

TWFH: Do all of the blogs have to be new content, or can old content be recycled (if it’s relevant, of course)?

MG: The same content can’t exist in two places at once. So, it’s okay to update old blog content, but you wouldn’t want to re-issue it as a new post, even if the content has many little changes to it. This could hurt a website’s search engine rankings. If it’s a part of a monetization program, such as Google AdSense, having duplicated content can end the monetization agreement.

In general, it’s a good idea to only post new content to a business’s blog, while updating past posts for accuracy and keyword usage. Keyword performance changes over time, so this should be reflected in past posts.

TWFH: Should blogs be written in-house? Or is it OK to contract them out?

MG: I’m not sure that it matters where the content is written as much as who is writing it. If a business wants to invest money into hiring a staff writer with experience writing blogs, then it’s perfectly OK to have blogs written in-house. Writing is one of the most interesting fields, in that most people are capable of writing words down on a page. However, it doesn’t make them a writer. It’s still important to hire someone with experience that understands online writing and keyword usage and has the ability to turn work around to meet an editorial calendar.

For many companies, getting this expertise in the most cost-effective way is by contracting blog writers. Not all blog writers are the same, though. You can find a very inexpensive blog writer and end up with low quality or plagiarized content that you have to spend a lot of time to edit and fix. Finding the right set of writers can take time and you’ll need the budget to do so.

What often happens is that companies try to get blog content out on their own first before hiring blog writers. They’ll get busy working on other tasks and blog writing for their own site takes a backseat to other work. That’s when we’ll often see companies looking to collaborate with contract blog writers.

TWFH: What other components should a successful blog campaign have?

MG: Successful blog campaigns have 100% original blog posts of at least 500 words, consideration to keyword targets and usage, relevant pictures with alt-tags, and meta descriptions. The most successful campaigns are also well-advertised. Simply writing a post isn’t enough to drive traffic to it. It’s important to also share it with the world.

TWFH: What is the best way to distribute blogs?

MG: The most obvious way is through social media. This is low hanging fruit and should always be a part of the process. It’s also helpful to embed links to posts on relevant Quora or forum questions and to ask other blog owners to include your post on link round-ups.

TWFH: How will you know if your campaign worked? What is the best way to measure success?

MG: The success of a campaign depends on your goals. Is it to gain new traffic? Measuring success could simply mean more page views with a lower bounce rate, which means that they’re more engaged and didn’t immediately hop off your page.

TWFH: This is all great advice! Is there anything else that you’d like to add about blog campaigns?

MG: If companies want to get started with more content marketing, blogs are a great way to go. There’s no limit on how many you have, and it adds to the value of the site itself.


Avoiding the Copyright Police: Ways to Find Free Images for Your Blog

Remember story time as a kid? While the story was great, you have to confess it was the pictures that drew you in, right? Looking at the pictures was the best part of the entire experience.

The same applies to digital and printed communications.

Visuals, including photography and infographics, play a significant role in helping people take action, become inspired, or grasp a concept.

But you need to be careful about where you obtain your images.

Some imagery, including those on Google Images, are more often than not copyrighted and could land you in hot water if you use them without written permission.  

“One of the issues we often see is clients using what they find on Google as images for a blog, website, or social media post. This is a dangerous game as many images are protected by copyright, or creative commons license, which limits their usage without proper payment or permission from the owner,” says Charlie Ewing, creative director at CGS Digital Marketing.

Before you get in haste to copy and paste, here are a few tips to tell if something is copyrighted or not:

  • Credit or contact details – If an image is copyrighted, take a careful look at the caption. You might spot the name of the photographer or whoever created the image. You might also find that person’s email address in the caption. If you really like the picture, you can contact them to see if you can use it; however, don’t be surprised if you will need to pay a small royalty fee.
  • Watermark – Many times, when an image is copyrighted, there will be a watermark or a faint design in the background of a logo or image. No matter how much you love the photo, don’t attempt to remove the watermark. It could cost you later on. 
  • Metadata – You may want to check an image’s metadata. Sometimes referred to as EXIF data, metadata is described as a set of data that gives information about other data. The website “How to Geek” provides a good explanation of how to do this using a PC or Mac. 
  • Reverse image search – If you are adamant about using the image and are determined to find the creator, you can use Google’s reverse image tool. You can upload the image there, and it will trace the photo back to where it resides online. From there, you might be able to determine the owner and contact him or her. 

If you can’t find the owner to ask for permission, err on the side of caution and don’t use the image.

Photographers, illustrators, and graphic designers need to protect their livelihood and, as such, often check to see if there are situations where their images are being used without their approval. 

It’s probably a smart idea to familiarize yourself with the different types of copyright laws and what they mean. Here is a list of the most common licenses:

  • All Rights Reserved
  • Royalty-Free
  • Public Domain Work
  • Attribution
  • Attribution-ShareAlike
  • Attribution-NoDerivs
  • Attribution-NonCommercial

If I can’t use Google images, what can I use?

The consequences of using a copyrighted image can be, for lack of a better word, unpleasant. 

“Copyright is always something to be mindful of in the age of information,” says Emily Glass, director of marketing for Because Marketing. “With free services such as Unsplash and Pexels, there are plenty of stock photo options that won’t break the bank. Still can’t find a photo that fits? Adobe Stock or Shutterstock are great paid options.”

Below is a roundup of some of the best websites out there that offer royalty-free use of images: 

Pexels.com 

Pexels provides unlimited downloads of beautiful photos, and you’re bound to find something to match the subject at hand. Here’s an example of a beautiful picture you can download for free on this site:

Photo by Sebastian Voortman from Pexels

Burst.shopify.com 

This site provides thousands of free images for websites and commercial use. Here’s a sample:

Reshot.com 

Reshot says it is a “uniquely free,” “non-stocky” source for photos. Here is a great example of something that you might not find elsewhere:

Photo by Waldemar Błażej Nowak

Pixabay.com 

This expansive site provides over 1.8 million stock photos you can download for free. Here’s a sample:

Image by Tài Thiện from Pixabay 

Gratisography.com 

Gratisography markets itself as “truly unique, usually whimsy, and always free.” Here’s an example of what you can find on this site:

PXhere.com 

Another full site that states the photos are free of copyright, so “do whatever you want.” Here’s a cool photo we downloaded from PXhere:

Image by Konevi

Unsplash.com 

Unsplash has a robust collection of images ranging from pets to interiors to places of worship. Here’s a picture-perfect puppy we found:

If these sites don’t have what you’re looking for and you’re willing to pay, there are a few sites out there you can subscribe to for a reasonable price, including:

“We go through hundreds and thousands of stock photos with our clients every month. Stock images provide clients and writers with affordable, high-quality photos at their fingertips, and they have plenty of choices to pick from. Not only that but you can test and try the images before you purchase them. Photos are easy to license so you can be assured that you will not infringe on the copyright. A few of our favorite resources are freepik.com, pexels.com, unsplash.com, stock.adobe.com, and shutterstock.com,” says Sami Khaleeq, president of CGS Digital Marketing.

Creating Your Own Images

Maybe these sites don’t provide precisely what you need. If you need a quick photo and don’t have time or the resources to hire a professional photographer, you can always take advantage of your phone.

You can capture stunning images with your iPhone or Android. Digital Photography School provides some quick tips: 

  1. Light up your subjects.
  2. Get close to your subject.
  3. Hold your phone steady.
  4. Save the editing for later.
  5. Don’t delete your mistakes.
  6. Don’t use the digital zoom feature.
  7. Experiment with white space.
  8. Take lots of shots, have fun, and experiment.
  9. Learn some basic composition rules, and then don’t be afraid to break them.
  10. Keep your lens clean. 
  11. Practice camera phone etiquette 101: Obtain permission to take photos of others in public.
  12. Use the highest resolution possible.

Creating Graphics and Infographics 

What if you need a quick graphic or infographic to explain a concept or present information? There are several great tools available for this purpose. Here are some examples:

Canva.com 

Canva allows you to create professional-looking graphics that will make you wonder if you shouldn’t have pursued that degree in graphic design.

It’s user-friendly, intuitive, and provides a wide range of backgrounds, colors, and design elements.

You can use the basic version for free or pay a little extra to use the professional version.

Canva lets you create everything from business cards to social media posts, posters, flyers, infographics, and restaurant menus. Below are images of designs made in Canva:

AdobeSpark.com 

You can choose from millions of free photos from sites such as Unsplash, Pixabay, and Pexels to create your graphics in Adobe Spark.

It lets you add text animations and stickers, and also has a library of exclusive fonts.

There is a free version, which provides the basic usage, a $9.99 per month individual version, and a $19.99 per month version for multiple team members.

Below is one of the templates you can edit and use as your own:

Picmonkey 

This online photo editing and designer program can be accessed via the web.

It provides graphic design and editing tools and design templates for wedding invitations, announcements, business cards, and more.

You can use the basic features for free, but to get access to all the bells and whistles, you’ll have to pay a membership fee.

Here’s an example of what you can make using PicMonkey: 

Visuals are an essential element of your blog post, website articles, and social media posts. With these resources at your fingertips, you’re sure to steer clear of copyright infringement, while at the same time creating something engaging and compelling for your audiences.

Accommodating All Five Types of Web Visitors

There are five different types of online visitors, each with unique reading and learning styles. In order to write effective copy, your website needs to reach each of the different types of readers and give them the information they need in the way they want it. Let’s take a look at each of the types of online personalities, and some best practices to get them hooked, make a sale, and convert them through your online copy.

Group 1: Information Gatherers

These folks want to know as much as they can before they make a call or place an order. They want to know your pricing, they want to read about your guarantees and warranties, they want to know how your product works, and they want to know your credentials — they want all the information they can get their hands on, really.

These are the people that will be reading your copy attentively, so all of the standard copywriting rules apply: Be clear. Be concise. Be specific. Be benefit-oriented. Remember, the golden rule of attracting Information Gatherers is to never make them guess.  

Group 2: Visual Learners

Visual learners hate to read. When they come to your website, they’re looking for a few pictures or charts where they can quickly grab the info they need to make a decision. You can accommodate visual learners by adding graphics — like a flow chart about how your business or service works, or a table comparing your prices to your competitor’s prices. There are also lots of web tools out there that can also accommodate visual learners, including:

  • Test results
  • Process charts
  • Labeled diagrams
  • Infographics

Group 3: Doers

Doers don’t want to research your company or read your website. Period. They want to get it done and move on. They want to find your action statement — and they want to find it fast. Doers literally read your headline and then scroll to the bottom of the page to place an order or fill out your contact form.

If you want to keep their attention, you’ll need to give this group something to do: Every page of your website needs to have a call to action — whether it’s “Print this Coupon Now for a 15% discount” or “Sign Up For Our Newsletter.” And remember: This group doesn’t want to dig around for information. Make sure that your call to action is clear and easy to find. Don’t bury it in a bunch of copy — highlight it, make it bold, make sure it’s in a prominent position on your website.

A few other ways you can capture (and keep) doers’ attention:

  • Put contact information on every single page
  • Allow for multiple methods of contact:  phone, email, forms and even chat

Group 4: Speed Readers

This name is a little deceptive, because “Speed Readers” don’t actually read your website — they skim it. The opposite of Information Gatherers, Speed Readers figure they can get everything they need by reading the headlines and a few bolded points. To make this group happy, your web copy needs to be broken up and easy to scan.

A few other ways to keep skimmers happy? Use bullets, big headlines, and bolding to guide them to the main ideas.

Group 5: Listeners

These guys would rather see and hear it than read it. They love videos and voice-overs. This is the group that will want to check out your company’s YouTube channel right away; they’re huge fans of things like product demos, unboxing videos, and video testimonials.

Unlimited Combinations

Most people are some combination of these five basic types. For example, Speed Reader/Information Gatherers skim your content for the important stuff, but if they like what they see, they’ll come back later and scan each page in-depth. Some people are Doers when they’re in a hurry — but when they have enough time on their hands, they’ll go into Listener mode and scour your site for video testimonials and demos. 

This is why it’s important to accommodate all types of visitors.

By tailoring your content to each type of audience, you’re ensuring that people can interact with your website however they want. Tweet this

This is also why redundant content is acceptable — and even desirable — in web writing. People are going to skim, scan, and skip around. By including things like key points and contact info on each page, you’ll ensure that nobody misses the critical information.

Our writers and editors manage multiple topics, multiple subject matter experts (SMEs), and multiple deadlines, all with equal ease. After hundreds of clients and decades of experience, it’s likely we’ve written about a business or focus like yours. But if we haven’t, rest easy: we’re quick learners who love research and never miss an opportunity to check a fact.

We’ve also come to grips with the realization that, online at least, readers want to get the point, fast. So we’ve mastered the art of the scannable post, including:

  • Strong headlines
  • Compelling subheads
  • Infographics
  • Bullet points
  • Highlighting important content
  • Links (learn more about our thought leadership capabilities here).
  • Calls to action that make people move. Now!

We’ll Work (Well) With Your SMEs

Your SMEs have vast knowledge to share and keen insights to impart, but they’re generally so caught up in their own work that they don’t have time to sit down and write a blog post. (Which might be just as well, inclined as they are to include everything they know instead of the key messages your audience wants to hear.)

Fortunately, our writers have the copywriting chops necessary to prepare content that keeps readers coming back for more. They also have the people skills to work with your SMEs.

  • They’ll respect your SME’s time, do their homework, and come prepared.
  • They know how to ask thoughtful questions, listen, and follow up. That helps them reach the gems hiding under the surface.
  • They’ll do the hand-holding needed to get the project completed on time. Like discussing goals, deadlines, and expectations at the start. Agreeing on ways to track progress. And implementing an established process for copy review and revisions.
  • They’re diplomatic. They understand that sometimes SMEs feel the piece won’t be complete without those 117 slides they did in 1982. Our writers will explain why that isn’t the best approach and offer alternatives that will keep everyone happy.

In other words, our writers create great partnerships with subject matter experts that result in great work.

In-House SEO Expert

SEO has changed dramatically over the past decade: Today’s Google rankings are more complex and sophisticated than ever — and it takes more than repeated use of keywords to keep your brand on the first page. Authentic, engaging content matters more than keywords. If you aren’t offering anything of value, readers — and Google rankings — will quickly go elsewhere.

When you work with The Writers For Hire, you’ll have access to a full-time SEO expert who can help you create blog campaigns that rank for search terms your target audience will use. That means your blog campaign will be built around a steady stream of relevant, high-quality content — no keyword stuffing here!

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Crafting Tourism Industry Content

By Jennifer Babisak


The award-winning television drama “Mad Men” fed viewers much more than a weekly dose of suspense and eye-candy. Though the focus sometimes drifted more to Don Draper’s sexcapades than his creative mind, the show still gave an intriguing peek into the inner workings of an advertising agency.


The Art of Emotional Appeal

The tourism industry would do well to pay attention to some of the marketing strategies that Sterling Cooper Draper Price employed during the show’s seven seasons. For instance, Don was a master of crafting emotional appeal. “This device isn’t a spaceship, it’s a time machine,” he said of a Kodak slide projector, “It’s called a carousel. It lets us travel the way a child travels, around and around and back home again to a place where we know we are loved.”

The efficacy of such emotional appeal applies to much more than slide projectors. Emotive appeals work particularly well in the tourism industry, where destinations have spun their wheels with straightforward marketing techniques, targeting consumers’ rational purchasing-power, for far too long.

Vacation Time and Stress-Management

Americans have a track-record of exceedingly poor stress management. In addition to financial and health stressors, the widespread use of smartphones has brought twenty-four hour workplace connectivity and an unending barrage of horrific news headlines. You would think a chronic stressful lifestyle would send employees running for the hills come vacation time. But a recent Harris Interactive survey presented the startling finding that American employees only use 51% of their eligible paid vacation time and paid time off.

Yes, you read that correctly. Chronically stressed employees are leaving vacation time sitting on the shelf. They want vacations, need vacations, and have the means to take vacations. All that lacks is an effective tourism industry appeal, motivating enough to cause Americans to break through their fog of stress and take the action of booking a vacation.

And guess what? Bulleted lists reciting a destination’s most recent million-dollar renovations won’t spur the apathetic consumer to action. What these potential tourists- ripe for the persuading- need is carefully constructed marketing content brimming with emotional appeal.

Emotional Content Standouts

Major destinations are waking up to the value of using emotional appeal in marketing campaigns. Most notably, Las Vegas employed the incredibly successful tagline, “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas,” refining its image as a hedonistic escape from the boundaries of daily life.

vegas2And the longest running tourism campaign in history, “Virginia is for Lovers,” began back in 1969. In the ensuing years, Virginia has capitalized on the marketing value of those words- posturing itself as a romantic getaway filled with warmth and charm.
But emotive content goes beyond concise taglines. The New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau recently launched a campaign to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The CVB sent out an emotionally-charged series of e-mails, thanking travel industry professionals for their coverage of the city and highlighting its advances in the decade since Katrina.

The president of the CVB kicked off the campaign with an e-mail containing this message: , “So as we look back at what happened here 10 years ago, we want to give thanks to all of you who took us in when we had no place to go, helped us tell our story when we had no voice, helped us rebuild our homes and our city from ruin, celebrated our victories, showcased to the world what makes our city so special, and those of you who simply came to be our guests as we put the pieces back together. In the next nine days leading up to the 10th anniversary of Katrina, we will be sending you a short video, showcasing some of the improved aspects of New Orleans.”

Tugs at the heartstrings, right? And it creates, or renews, an emotional attachment to the city, drawing visitors in more than a simple list of “improved aspects” ever could. Note in his message where he thanks writers who “helped us tell our story.” That’s the goal of effective emotionally driven tourism content– telling the unique story of a destination.

Finding the Right Words

So how do you find the magical, emotive words that will lure droves of tourists to your destination? It’s actually a combination of careful research- discovering where your intended audience and your unique offerings intersect- along with meticulously crafted written content:

  • Evaluate where your revenue lags. Do you need to boost business during the week or on weekends? During peak times or off-season? Having a concrete goal in mind will help you focus on the proper audience.
  • Pinpoint your ideal tourist. Based on your revenue assessment, you should know whether you’re looking to attract more mid-week business travelers, family weekenders, or retired snowbirds. Familiarize yourself with the profile of your intended audience.
  • Discover the desires of your audience. What motivates these people to travel? Are they seeking escape, adventure, serenity, or relaxation? Hone in on a specific emotional motivation.
  • Review the offerings of your destination, searching for particular experiences that will appeal to your audience’s emotions. You don’t have to highlight your destination’s entire range- specific and well-defined focus on an emotionally appealing experience is in order.
  • Carefully craft your content, highlighting your chosen experiences in a fashion likely to appeal to your chosen audience. Take care to tailor your writing style to the vernacular of your audience. Genteel retirees aren’t likely to respond well to copy littered with hipster slang, while millennials magnetize to key-words tailored to their generation.
  • Maintain consistency across all modes of communication. Don’t cast your destination in one light on Facebook while presenting a different image in print brochures. Find your identity, articulate it well, and stay true to your message.

Such a strategy holds great potential for payoff. After all, the travel and tourism industry has an annual economic impact of around $6.5 trillion U.S. dollars, worldwide. And a Choice Hotels International survey found that Americans plan to spend 8% more on leisure travel and 5% more per trip in 2015 than they did the previous year.

With carefully-crafted, emotionally-driven content, you can ensure that a good chunk of those $6.5 trillion dollars lands squarely on your destination’s doorstep.