A sleepy Sunday viewing of Britain’s Favourite 80s Songs left an indelible message in my head. While discussing the new wave discography of 1981, radio DJ Paul Gambaccini made a passing comment:

Under normal circumstances, it would have been a runaway #1. But occasionally, a record for the ages will run into a record for the moment.

 The record in question? Ultravox’s Vienna. Look me in the eye and tell me you don’t scream, “it means nothing to meeee!” with operatic vigour when somebody mentions that song. In the UK, the ballad never made it to #1. It was pipped for the top spot by John Lennon’s Woman, and later, somewhat embarrassingly, Joe Dolce’s Shaddap You Face.

 So what have we learnt here? As a content creator, I venture to say three things:

1. Quality stands the test of time. Case in point: Vienna charted again in 1993 and even landed in the hands of Millennial songsters in 2010 when it appeared on the Xbox 360’s Lips.
2. You might think your idea belongs in the bin, only for it to become “content for the ages”. Even Midge Ure hated it, proclaiming it did, indeed, mean nothing to him.
3. Timing isn’t always on your side with campaigns. Lennon’s Woman was no doubt a hit in its own right, but it was released within weeks of his untimely death.

Full of beans after your Weetabix?

Moving on to the 21^st Century, we’re now living in an age in which ‘going viral’ is over-glamourised. Everybody wants to be the next YouTube star, or come up with the next baked-beans-on-Weetabix campaign.

And to some degree, we can see why. In February, just a week after the controversial breakfast combo launch, Weetabix reported sales increases of 15 per cent. Likewise, the campaign earned 1 billion views worldwide. Not bad for something a drunk student might cook up.

But will the effects last forever? I can’t give you Weetabix’s forecasted sales, but I can tell you what Google Trends says. Between February 7 and 13, the term “Weetabix” peaked in Google’s UK Trends index at a value of 100. A week later, this value dropped to 47. At the time of writing, it’s at 21 – 25 per cent lower than this time last year.

Mouldy burgers can’t revive bad sales

When it comes to creating content, we have to weigh up the value of helping our customers long-term against pure publicity stunts. We turn to another foody example.

Burger King’s 2020 ‘mouldy Whopper’ campaign divided opinion, with one creative lead claiming it was “made for award shows, not to sell”. Ouch.

Sadly for Burger King, she was right. In February 2021, the fast-food giant reported a 7.9 per cent decline in same-store sales compared to a projected 4.5. We cannot attribute this to the pandemic alone: McDonald’s reported a 5.5 per cent increase in sales, while drive-thrus “performed well” throughout. This demands a fundamental service overhaul – not a fancy rebrand.

When is publicity bad publicity?

They say there is no such thing as bad publicity and yet, the King strikes again. On International Women’s Day, some clever clogs in the marketing department thought it would be a good idea for Burger King to tweet that “women belonged in the kitchen”.

Sadly, the Tweet’s attempt to promote the chain’s female head chef initiative was an astronomical misfire. It may have sparked more than 200,000 comments, but the Tweet left a bitter taste in viewers’ mouths, and has since been deleted.

The winners of evergreen content

But enough of the negativity. While there is a dark side to virality, it can be a force for good. The Reddit community proves not all heroes wear capes, and proceeds from the famed GameStop scandal have now gone towards saving wildlife.

Then we have the argument for ‘evergreen’ content. Valuable content. Non-sexy stuff that might not crash Twitter, but keeps working for you in the long term.

During a recent podcast appearance with Mike Winnet (cynical chap – you may know him), I discussed the benefits of said “non-sexy” posts. I cited an example of what was essentially a rant about social media. This 2019 journal entry has struck a chord with 120,000 people, and continues to generate new enquiries to this day. Like Midge Ure, I wasn’t that taken with it.

Mike likens good content to “real estate” and says that his best-performing videos are years old, bringing in leads from all over. “A good idea is a good idea forever.” – David Brent, 2001.

Stop worrying about expiry dates

But seriously. Fellow creative Stephen Kenwright raised some vital points at SearchLeeds in 2019.  Specifically, he talked about “content shelf life”. Black Friday promos are likely to drop off a cliff in December – but content need not be dead and buried once it’s out there.

Have you seen ‘expiry date’ infographics like this? Forget them. One of my most successful posts of 2020 was based on a transient Google update. We did the numbers.

Instead, make content work for you. This might be, as Stephen says, a simple case of updating it for present-day readers. Or you could try other methods:

• Creating supporting media, such as an infographic illustrating the salient points of a blog post
• Posting your work in social media discussions. “Great points, Lisa! We wrote about this in X blog.”
• Signposting evergreen content on your homepage as guides or FAQs.

Employing all four of these methods will help you to stay consistent and foster trust with your brand. That’s not to say we should repeat the same message over and over – we should adapt it, trial it with new audiences and consider new angles.

A truly valuable piece of content requires research, collaboration, editing and promotion. Don’t be deterred by the idea of your star fading. Going viral is fun, for sure – but the real results come from the long-term investment.

The post The COVID Age Is No Place For Viral Campaigns appeared first on Katie Lingo.

What is #Write52?

If you’re not familiar with it, #Write52 is a concept dreamt up by Ed Callow. The premise is simple:

• Produce one piece of content per week for 52 weeks
• Share on social channels with the hashtag #Write52
• See it featured in the weekly newsletter, collating posts from all contributors.

It’s also an exercise in discipline. The cobbler’s children certainly go barefoot in the writing trade: while we’re beavering away writing content for other people, we often forget to nurture our own.

Committing to one post per week is a challenge for time management and creativity – but the rewards speak for themselves. If you want to try it in 2021, please give me a shout. In the meantime, here are a few takeaways from writing 52 blog posts in one year. Strap in.

What a year.

That’s the understatement of the century, but with 366 days stuck behind a screen, there has been plenty of inspiration. Fifty-two blog posts have covered themes such as freelancing, personal development, content marketing…even Ricky Gervais and Donald Trump.

So, what have we learnt? Drawing on data from Google Analytics (GA), social media and lead generation, I’ve reached a few conclusions.

A few caveats: how we collected the data

(Did I mention that Katie Lingo now offers a data visualisation service? His name is Craig and he’s rather good.)

To reach the ‘top 10’ posts of the year, we started by looking at page views in GA, which revealed the most popular to be:

1. Move over, content: is user experience now king?
2. Did you start a newsletter in lockdown?
3. #HashtagWinning: the secrets of LinkedIn content data
4. How to make the most of the ProCopywriters Conference
5. PSA: you don’t need to be an extrovert to succeed
6. Is COVID-19 the end of travel blogging?
7. 2020: the year that personal boundaries forgot
8. Is business coaching right for you?
9. Forget greenwash hogwash: why sustainable copywriting matters
10. Is ‘freelancer’ a dirty word?

But…and this is a big but. Kardashian-sized. Page views aren’t the be-all and end-all, are they? What about engagement – likes, comments and shares? What about the acquisition source?

The golden formula

Using the top 10 by page view as a benchmark, we created a weighting system. We have ignored nominal Facebook and Instagram data, and should also consider general social media growth over the year.

Based on personal preference, the weighting system looks a little like this:

Value of metrics as a percentage

• Page views = 20%
• Shares on LinkedIn = 20%
• LinkedIn post views = 15%
• Referrals (website clicks) from LinkedIn = 15%
• Likes on LinkedIn = 10%
• LinkedIn comments = 15%
• Referrals from Twitter = 5%

You might feel this is a little biased in favour of LinkedIn. It’s based on Katie Lingo being a B2B service, and previous lead generation methods. Twitter overshadows Facebook and Instagram because my following is much larger, and it’s also where you’ll most likely find the #Write52 hashtag.

The real top 10

Here’s where it gets interesting. Using these percentages, we gave each article a number of points between 1 and its relative value (e.g., page views = between 1 and 20). The results are illustrated below:

Let’s look at the outliers.

Is freelancer a dirty word? jumps from 10^th place to a very respectable third. Meanwhile, #HashtagWinning: the secrets of LinkedIn content data falls to eighth place, while my analysis of travel blogging drops to 10^th place.

1. LinkedIn post views are very influential.

The new third place came from LinkedIn post views – IFADW scored second place for these, despite coming last for website clicks. This suggests that the right kind of LinkedIn post will have considerable reach, whether that’s down to timing, wording, or just a controversial viewpoint. More on that below.

2. Twitter users love a good data deep-dive.

The secrets of LinkedIn content data performed extremely well for website views – but this was mostly from Twitter referrals. When we group posts by Twitter referrals (see the larger data set below), we see a recurring theme of data-led content making a splash. A post on lead generation in the pandemic, for example, was also a hit.

3. We shouldn’t ignore other metrics.

This insight into the demise of travel blogging was a huge anomaly. It was written earlier on in the year and shared as both a LinkedIn Pulse article and separate blog post, which explains its lack of LinkedIn referrals. But despite referencing multiple bloggers on Twitter, it had few clicks from that platform.

The reason it scored so highly was for page views – a third of which came from ‘Google organic’. Turns out, ‘travel blogger UK’ pushed up the views. Yay for SEO!

Expanding the data set

It would be unfair on the other 42 posts to restrict our analyses to just 10. So I opened up the field, and once again, the figures did a merry jig. The clear winners remained – that post on user experience, for instance – but they did pose some new questions.

Clickbait titles might do the trick…

Yeah, I threw up in my mouth a little bit too. But if we look at this chart outlining page views versus LinkedIn views, there’s a lot to be said for having a bit of a controversial title.

Note the article titles that attracted muchos views, but didn’t necessarily lead to click-throughs. A part of me dies inside when I consider that people may be commenting without reading, but it does give us an idea of what stirs debate.

“Is freelancer a dirty word?”

“Writing for SEO or writing for humans? The constant battle.”

“This is why you suck at writing.”

“Why are we still chasing the six-figure ideal?”

Ask a question or make a controversial standpoint – for example, writing for keywords is demoralising bullshit – and you’ll get bigger reach. There’s a more heartening graph below: those who commented on LinkedIn versus those who actually clicked through. Phew.

It’s a date

You probably heard the collective groan earlier this year as the alleged ‘LinkedIn algorithm change’ royally shagged everybody’s reach. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when it happened – this article from the beginning of Q4 had looked at the previous three months, so we can assume it was sometime around summer.

Take a look at this nosedive in page views at that time. The blue line is LinkedIn – in isolation, we could pin this on algorithm changes. But the orange line is Twitter, which is even more extreme, showing a dramatic rise in October.

Could it be that outside events have more of an impact than we thought? It was summer; it was hot and we were enjoying Eat Out to Help Out. There’s also the possibility that my content was just shite. Let’s skim over that…

General growth

One benefit of #Write52 is that it has proved instrumental for increasing social media following. If we consider that my Twitter presence has grown by 200 per cent this year, it follows that Twitter referrals should increase. Or it could be the other way around. More content = more followers.

Either way, the pattern is reflected on LinkedIn too. Back in April, posts were averaging around 300 views, whereas in October they peaked at more than 3,000. Brand awareness is notoriously difficult to value, but there’s no denying the snowball effect of consistent content.

You can also see how brand awareness becomes revenue in this post.

What themes pique readers’ interest?

As a content marketer, I’m naturally going to explore some themes more than others. Based on general engagement data, the subjects that struck the biggest chords were:

• Content marketing
• Freelancing
• Personal development.

That last one is particularly noteworthy because it essentially speaks to everyone.

The idea that we should be focusing on being ‘rich in other ways’ generated the second-highest number of LinkedIn comments. Similarly, a debate on business coaching came in third place – while a deeper analysis of introversion was a huge hit.

Micro and macro-targeting

There’s something to be said, then, for both micro-targeting and casting your net wide. In both cases, these posts have garnered more reach due to their involvement with others. A post on sustainable copywriting scored highest for comments because I’d interviewed so many people.

But this is a pandemic, and we’re all in the same boat, right? Never has there been a time more poignant to explore more general, personal themes. We can all relate to feeling introverted while we’re locked up indoors. The takeaway? Move with the times.

Just for fun – a few absolute turkeys

#Write52 has doubtless been an exercise in trial and error, not just with content themes but with distribution and such. For example, I learned early on that posting to a LinkedIn business page would dramatically decrease reach.

But for whatever reason, be they lacklustre topics or lost in a sea of breaking news headlines, these posts didn’t ignite.

1. Making the cut: how to trim long-form content

Well then, there’s an argument for long-form articles. It seems learning how to cut copy isn’t for everyone, and this brief 800-worder scored a paltry 7/100 on our weighting scale!

2. Did bad marketing cost Trump the election?

Perhaps the timing was wrong – maybe we were too caught up in the Four Seasons Landscaping debacle to notice. It would be interesting to see how this one fared had it been published a little later – but for now, it scored just 11. Ouch.

3. Tone deaf or virtue signalling? Watching our words in #Lockdown2

Talk about irony. It looks as though nobody wants to read about being ‘tone deaf’ during a pandemic – perhaps the whole article needed some more self-awareness. It scored 14/100. If we don’t fuck up, kids, we don’t learn.

The key takeaways

TL;DR – if you’re going to try #Write52 this year, please heed this advice from one very tired writer:

• The value of your content is entirely your decision. Maybe Twitter views mean more to you than LinkedIn. You can’t measure your own content by anybody else’s standards, so look at your historical data to measure future results.
• Brand awareness should not be overlooked. So, it’s not quite a case of simple numbers. It’s no less valuable – it’s a truth self-evident that the ‘lurkers’ on LinkedIn are the ones who will convert.
• Look for other metrics when you have anomalies. Twitter users love data. Who knew? If you’re bogged down in top-level stats, don’t forget that other factors might influence results.
• There’s nothing like a controversial title to crank up the hits. Questions put the onus on the reader to think, respond…and read!
• Don’t feel bad if seasonality gets you. Timing is everything, especially in a pandemic. Sometimes, it’s best to wait until after the latest crisis has blown over.
• Targeted themes work, but a broader approach can have a deeper impact. By all means, tag people when dealing with an industry-specific topic. But remember that empathetic, ‘authentic’ posts also have their place.
• Learn from your mistakes. Some posts will set off the tumbleweed. Shake it off. It will only guide you for your next piece – or your next hit.

For 2021, it’s all about the 26

If you’ve made it to the end of this behemoth, I tip my hat to you. But then, you made it to 2021, so you deserve a fecking medal.

I could not be more grateful for the opportunities #Write52 has given me this year – and the people I’ve met through it. There’s been a lot of work, creativity and late nights, but it’s all been worth it.

Will I do it next year? Possibly. I might try a #Write26 approach instead. That way I’ll have two solid weeks to really plan and research my content. Plus, it’s got a 26 in it, and Lord knows she loves a marathon.

All the best for 2021 folks, and thanks for following me on my #Write52 journey.

The post The Takeaways from One Year of #Write52 appeared first on Katie Lingo.

But isn’t the quality of writing entirely subjective? We can ‘grade’ our writing using specific prescriptive methods, such as grasp of grammar, breadth of vocabulary, or ability to engage. But can a machine do that?

This week’s #Write52 is inspired by a few frustrations. Times have changed since I was at school, when I would score points for every polysyllabic adjective I used, throwing out metaphors with gay abandon. I’m a professional copywriter now, and we need to get to the point.

And it would appear that only Google, or the SEO experts that are so beholden to it, are the arbiters of quality.

What does Google define as ‘quality’?

I’ll give you a hint – it’s not sprawling essays churned out by the erudite folks at The Guardian. While to a lowly reader like me, The Guardian is the hallmark of quality – just look at these writers’ vocabulary – these essays aren’t always going to score SEO points. In fact, if we’re going off AI measures alone, they’re scoring no points.

Take this example by Mark Kermode. In my eyes, the man is nothing short of a genius. I first began to appreciate his work when I watched his Sex and the City II review, but his use of language is just…spine-tingling.

Well, not according to the Hemingway App. By these standards, the writing is grade 14. Poor.

For Google, quality is not so much about having a way with words as it is satisfying the user query. It is a search engine, after all, so it somewhat cynically tries to return the best content possible. Answer the question and fuck off. Users are short on time.

Thankfully, quality standards have improved with the introduction of Expertise, Authority and Trust – circumventing the pervasive ‘fake news’ culture and prioritising websites that use genuine sources. Bravo.

The frustrations with writing for SEO

For all its apparent emphasis on quality, Google still has a few tick-box exercises when it comes to writing high-ranking content. Said exercises make traditionalists like me die a little inside. No matter how much I want to write freely, in some cases, SEO caveats dictate that I must do this instead – and that ruins my groove.

Keywords

I can’t be too critical of Google here. The 2011 Panda update marked the end of some of the most cringeworthy SEO practices out there. If you were looking for a plumber in Leeds, all you’d have to do was consult our list of Leeds plumbers, and before you knew it, you’d have direct access to a plumber in Leeds. Ah, keyword stuffing.

That’s out of the window now, but when we’re tasked with writing SEO content, we’re still somewhat at the mercy of the machines. For example, we might have to rewrite the answers to the ‘people also ask’ section, and awkwardly shoehorn in long-tail questions as our H2s and H3s.

Of course, that’s acceptable in a long-form FAQ guide, but when you’re essentially rephrasing the same question to cover all bases…you start grinding your teeth.

Writing for rich snippets

Ever noticed how Google highlights a piece of text in yellow specific to the question you asked? It’s all part of the latest updates, and it puts more emphasis on certain parts of the article…rather than the whole thing.

In a transactional context, this might be fine. But imagine how heart-breaking it is for a humble writer, beavering away at a 2,000-word article, only for the reader to glimpse at the snippet most relevant to them. When we’re writing this ‘transactional’ content, we’re really writing a series of tiny articles.

Considering user experience

Note that this is quite different from accessibility – I champion any content that is accessible to all readers. If we must rely on technical elements like alt text to offer this, then so be it.

However, with increasing mobile use comes the ever more important consideration for user-centric design. We need to be wary of breaking up the text with headings, bullet points, images…but what about my flow, yo?

Of all three frustrations, this is probably my favourite. I’ve grown quite used to short paragraphs and obstacles within the text. It does indeed make it easier on the eye.

Why is SEO writing disheartening for traditional writers?

As somebody who has transitioned from writing print features to transactional SEO content, I feel a small part of me has been lost. Thank goodness for #Write52 – my weekly opportunity to write how I damn well like, and if it ranks on Google, marvellous. If not…hard cheese.

‘Traditional’ writers might be disheartened by SEO writing because:

• They want to switch up their vocabulary, rather than introducing X keyword X per cent of the time.
• People are reading transactional content for just that – to transact – they’re not reading the whole piece.
• Not every piece has to be there expressly to market your services. It could be there to inform, to entertain…even to serve as a stream of consciousness.

But Google is so much smarter now…good content is SEO content!

Of course, Google has come on in leaps and bounds when it comes to returning the best results. Advancements such as natural language processing are predicting what we’re going to search.

Second, we have latent semantic indexing keywords. Technically speaking, according to Google’s John Mueller, LSI keywords don’t exist.

Dig a little deeper, and you’ll see that latent semantic indexing actually involves a complex mathematical process – looking at polysemic words like ‘bank’ and returning the best result.

In English, Google is smart enough to realise we’re searching for ‘bank’ as in Barclays, rather than the Thames. And we can help Google return better content by using synonyms throughout the article – rather than keyword stuffing.

This supports the above argument that a stronger vocabulary is better. Not only will it delight users; it will also delight Google, right? Well, sort of. Look at the bigger picture.

It’s about user experience

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times. Users might click on a page because you’ve ranked in a search. They’ll stay on the page if they like what they’re reading – whether that’s an FAQ on getting your first tattoo, or an essay on why the 80s were the best decade for music. (They were.)

So within this, the task of creating good copy lies not only in having a Shakespearean grasp of words. It’s also a chance to reflect those other digital marketing muscles. To do well in SEO, we need to consider:

• Schema tagging – showing Google what kind of content it is, and making click-throughs easy for users (such as cinema times)
• Beating the ads – organic results are dwindling, so we need to harness that page description real estate
• Writing for design – considering visual elements, and remembering how they impact page speed.

So, should you ‘write for SEO’?

If we’re to believe Google is as smart as us, then by writing well, we are writing for SEO. But if you’re tasked with writing pages that exist only to convert readers, you may have to change tack.

Reasons to ignore SEO

1. Your writing might not always be transactional. You can still share and get engagement through other platforms, which may lead to transactions long-term!
2. If you don’t get it right, it might be unreadable. What if you’re told to shoehorn in X keyword X number of times? Is this going to hinder the user experience?
3. It can be soul-destroying knowing users aren’t reading the whole thing. Hint – to be a writer, you need a thick skin.

Reasons to favour SEO

1. Return on investment. SEO is by no means a quick win, but it’s a worthwhile investment. High-ranking organic content will push up other metrics like domain authority, creating a snowball effect – if you stay consistent.
2. Ranking pages go the distance. Assuming no competitor/algorithm change comes along and blows you out of the water, a high-ranking page will serve you in the long term.
3. SEO allows you to practise other skills. You might be experimenting with design, or adding new rich media. You might even be using SEO tools and watching your rankings.

What about measurement?

You could argue that neither SEO nor simple, unoptimized content are easy to measure. They’re harder to give an ROI, unlike something like PPC.

Instead, we look at other factors. Time spent on page. Bounce rate. Comments or social media shares. Rankings (using third-party tools like Ranktracker). In a way, that puts both under the umbrella of content – harder to measure than other channels, but a hell of a lot of fun.

Why you should do both

It might seem a tall order, but this writer’s advice would be to do both. I use #Write52 to flex my creative muscles and share blog posts simply to be shared – not to convert, not to persuade…not to spur action of any kind. If it leads to a sale, marvellous. It’s art to me, not business.

On the other hand, SEO is an inexorable tool in your overall digital strategy, and should be, at the very least, worked on in the background. Consider user intention – are their enquiries:

• Informational: “What should I do if my feet hurt while running”
• Transactional: “Best trainers for runners”
• Navigational: “Asics Gel Cumulus 19s”.

Having a broad spectrum of content will return results for all three types of queries. Of course, we want our users to convert. But sometimes – we want them to do nothing more than read.

And that’s fine.

Browse more on our blog or explore content writing services.

The post Writing for SEO or Writing for Humans? The Constant Battle appeared first on Katie Lingo.

Figures vary, but Podnews.net tells us that, as the pandemic took hold, listener numbers were down by 20 per cent.

Well, this is 2020, and nothing lasts forever. Yes, with the new tier system we may be returning to WFH (if we ever left) and forgoing our daily commuting. But listening figures have actually been on the up from as early as April.

BBC recorded a record 136 million plays of on-demand radio programmes in Q2. By the end of May, a fifth of all 16 to 34-year-olds had listened in the last seven days.

Meanwhile, Spotify continues to push its podcast offering, matching BBC Sounds and Apple – up from 24 to 37 per cent in 2020. With such erratic trends in listening figures, I find myself questioning…

Should we be doing more podcasts?

Part of the inspiration for this week’s Write52 was my own podcast recording experience. Earlier on this week I had the pleasure of meeting up with Ben Porter of York Creatives. We hid away from the perilous outside world in an upstairs container at Spark, York.

This was the second podcast I’d ever been invited onto – not for want of trying with others. Case in point: Northern Power Women asked me to send in some clips after the 2020 A-levels shambles. My clips were never used. Sob. Here’s one below instead. Bitter, moi?

Prior to York Creatives, I chatted with Nick Bramley on his Impact Sessions podcast. You can watch it back here – the most haunting part is around 24:35.

Be open to change because you never know what’s coming round the corner.

Wish I could do that with lottery numbers.

But I digress. From a personal perspective, I have found my brief experiences to be:

A personal challenge

As writers, we can rely on the backspace key if something doesn’t come out quite right. In a podcast format, you have to think on your feet. Certainly, some hosts may be more liberal with editing, but if you trip over time and again, people might think you’re not such an expert.

A cross-channel asset

Every podcast I’ve been on has been filmed (bar that which must not be named, above). That’s a whole other permanent asset you’ve got to add to your arsenal. Mr Bramley’s takes pride of place on my LinkedIn profile, and so too will York Creatives’. Unless I look fat.

These can enhance your portfolio if you’re used to one medium. Prospects will get a feel for how you conduct yourself, how you react under pressure, and ultimately, what you’d be like to work with.

An extra dash of authenticity

You can’t awkward-laugh on a blog post. Podcasts are stripped back, and we are laid bare for all to see. In an age where authenticity means everything, it’s wonderful to see the face behind the brand.

I can think of countless examples where I’ve thought, “well I never” when listening to people I thought I knew. Bethan Vincent’s The Brave is a great example.

A learning curve

With most podcasts taking a question-and-answer format, they’re a great way to look at topics from another point of view. Ben and I discussed our approaches to time management, while Nick challenged my views on emojis.

Podcasts stir up a debate, and crucially, allow others to offer their two cents. More engagement, more coverage. Boom.

To host or to guest?

Naturally, I can’t speak from experience as a host, but I have interviewed many people before, including:

• Kevin Keegan
• Ferdinand Kingsley (you might know his dad, Ben)
• Simon Schama
• That blond tit from Made in Chelsea. Only kidding. Nice fella. I forget his name.

If you’re going to host a podcast, you open yourself up to so many learning and networking opportunities. Any interviewer worth his salt will do his research first, which gives the old brainbox a meal before you even hit the studio. Once you’re in there, you’ll hear anecdotes and industry expertise. I can only imagine that’s why Jeremy Paxman is so clever.

Can anybody do it?

Advances in technology have made podcast recording and distribution pretty simple. Buzzsprout, for example, will allow you to upload two hours for free each month, which it then shares onto networks like Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Of course, a professional studio recording is going to sound more polished than a natter on an iPhone. But in theory, if you’re serious about it, you can add a podcast string to your marketing bow.

If you’re a guest, on the other hand, this will open up new doors. At Podcast Motor, the folks suggest trying a little of both – giving you experience as an orator and listener. Being a guest is a marketing exercise in itself, not just in terms of promotion, but for research. A good host will know what your audience wants to hear.

What the stats say

The 2020 Reuters Digital News Report backed up the abovementioned listening figures, but it also raised another key point: half of us say we’re gaining a deeper understanding of subject matter with podcasts.

Coronavirus-themed podcasts have skyrocketed in popularity, suggesting a wide-reaching thirst for facts, not fake news. In Germany, Das Coronavirus-Update shot to the No.1 slot in the charts.

Podcast genres that proved most popular in 2020 were:

1. News and current affairs
2. Specialist – health, business, tech
3. Lifestyle
4. True crime
5. Sports.

That’s great news if you want to host or star on an industry podcast. These are most popular with 25 to 34-year-olds, though this trend is the same across the board.

Millennials are the biggest consumers, but Generation Zs are a close second. (Note – ‘Millennial’ does NOT mean young person. Millennials could be 39. Zs were born after 1996.)

This is heartening news for those who continue to target 25 to 39-year-olds, while it also paves the way for the next generation. That’s essentially a spectrum of anyone born from 1981 to present day to target. Happy days.

Listeners are also an affluent audience. According to Music Oomph, podcast listeners are 45 per cent more likely to have an annual income of $250,000 or more.

Give it a go

The beauty of podcasting is that it’s relatively low effort, compared with, say, writing a blog post. (Always outsource your blogs to your friend Ms. Lingo.)

This is particularly true if you’re a guest – I do not envy the editors who have to painstakingly bleep out profanities. Turn up, chinwag, distribute and bam.

But even if all you’re doing is using an iPhone, it’s relatively low-risk. Like any brand-building, you can make improvements as you become more established. Better still, you can leave it to the experts.

Remember: supporting content trumps all others

I’m not going to bore you with marketingspeak like ‘omni-channel’ so I’ll keep it simple. Supporting content helps to increase brand awareness – you can distribute podcasts differently, and reach new audiences.

Audio shouldn’t replace blogs, infographics or anything else. It should complement them. In BrightonSEO terms, this is known as “supporting content”. And it’s the best way to keep your audience entertained, informed…hell, it’s the best way to keep them guessing.

Mic drop.

The post Are Podcasts a Viable Form of Marketing? appeared first on Katie Lingo.

Why the beef? The term ‘content’ is simply too catch-all: it makes me think of ‘contents’…you know, like E numbers in baked beans or the contents of Rik Mayall’s underpants.

Sure, I’d sooner we used more specific terms, like blog post, video or infographic. But enough about semantics. And pants.

The back-breaking toil of making great content

When it comes to content creation, there are two types of people – those who know it’s hard, and those who are wrong. Let’s take a standard blog post. Churn out a few hundred words and click post, right?

Spoiler alert: the writing is the easiest part. One (high-quality) blog post requires:

1. Finding inspiration. Ninety-nine per cent perspiration, Edison? Writers might disagree. This may involve:
   1. Scanning the news for topical, relevant themes
   2. Using tools like BuzzSumo to explore ideas
   3. Following a planned content strategy
   4. Analysing Google search queries for informative posts
   5. Diving deep into the darkest parts of your soul to write a personal essay.
2. Research. This might involve searching Google, interviewing contributors, running surveys or even…gulp…opening a book.
3. Writing the damn thing. Going back and proofing, trimming…running it through the Hemingway App or sticking to Stephen King’s “remove 10 per cent” rule.
4. Optimising the post. You might use a tool like Inlinks to look for keyword density, or slave away for those green lights in Yoast.
5. Considering user experience. You could add images and GIFs to break up the content, or add more headings for optimum scrollability. (Sssh…that’s a word.)
6. Publishing the beast and promoting – using scheduling tools or being bold and going LIVE.

Strewth. It’s no wonder we copywriters charge £379 per day.

I’m making my own content – is it worth it?

On a good day, everything from step two onwards might take you three hours. If we consider research and third-party contributors, it could take days…even weeks.

So, what are the fruits of our painstaking labours?

Allow me to offer you some personal anecdotes to explain. Since starting #Write52, I’ve reaped the rewards of disciplined, regular writing.

Brand awareness

We all know that ‘exposure’ is little more than snake oil: a ploy used to target fledgling creatives who may not yet have the confidence to ask for money.

Making your own content puts you behind the wheel. The industry term is ‘owned media’ – something unique to you, accessible on your digital platforms. Rather than working pro bono for somebody else, you control your own promotional channels, enabling genuine discussions and creating new opportunities.

This LinkedIn article was written in November 2019 and it’s still getting reactions to this day. It’s at 120,000 right now, which led to two new clients and 1,174 new connections. (Measure yours here.)

I’m quite a fan of the LinkedIn snowball effect – the more people who interact with you, the better your brand visibility. On a softer note, I had all those warm ‘n’ fuzzy feelings of people telling me how much the piece spoke to them. It’s not always about the bottom lines.

Goal conversion

See above – conversions don’t always mean sales! In 2018, I had the ambitious goal of raising £1,500 for Deafblind UK. Marathon fundraising is so dry – I wanted to engage on a different level.

So I set about creating some very…embarrassing…video content. The ‘marketing campaign’, if you will, was called ‘Dares for Donations’. Quite simply, I would perform acts of public humiliation in exchange for donations. The acts were up to the donors. Singing in public. Eating entire chocolate cakes. Wolfing down the world’s hottest chilli.

We had six months and reached the target in six weeks. Videos went viral, including one that had 90,000 views. This attracted the attention of local radio stations, papers and TV channels. Deafblind UK even gave my mum and hubby VIP seats. Worth those 26 miles…

SEO benefits

Perhaps this should be higher up in the rankings (bu-dum-bum tssh), but I’ve never personally given SEO too much thought. Until now. Google genuinely rewards fresh content (though it mustn’t be crummy) as it shows crawlers your site is still active.

For the first time ever, what was originally a ‘portfolio site’ is now ranking for terms outside of my brand – and unintentionally! Articles such as the UK’s Best Content Marketing Events for 2020 (lolz thanks ‘rona) are on page one of the SERPs. I’m getting organic queries for proofreading. Result.

It’s not just on-site SEO either. The more high-quality owned media you have, the better your backlinking value. Relevant sites can link to your content and build up your trust/citation flow. My domain authority has increased by 50 per cent this year. Boom!

Winning awards

Of course, it’s not always owned media – you might have contributed content to a specific campaign. Back in 2013, I contributed to Yahoo’s Life of Pi campaign, which won two awards. This boat race was up on the big screen onstage, and I got to meet Miles Jupp. Winning.

Moving on to this century, I used my owned media to apply for awards, including the Digital Women Awards 2020. Those certificates take pride of place on LinkedIn, and in my email signature. More than that, awards increase trust in your brand.

Making new connections

You can’t go to a few award ceremonies without making new friends, right? Content has the power to connect you with so many inspiring people. Educate them, or learn from them – either way, with relevant content, you’ll reach people who add value to your life.

Specifically, they may share content that teaches you a thing or two, or introduce you to your next client. They may even reach out for work, or invite you to events. There goes that snowball.

Without #Write52, I wouldn’t have the solidarity and support of so many wonderful freelance writer chums.

Money money money

Now for the awkward part. We all have to eat. Attributing financial gain to content is notoriously difficult. So I’ll give you the abridged version: these content pieces led directly to money because the new client referenced them.

• The Secrets of LinkedIn Data – new client. Value: £400.
• Contingency Planning in an Unpredictable Industry – written for a travel client, who gained their own new client. Value: £6,800.
• Running another marathon (social media post) – attracted the attention of an old client. Value: £700.
• Blowing Out Someone Else’s Candle Won’t Make Yours Burn Any Brighter – two new clients. Value: £600.

These numbers might not seem astronomical, but they’re a lot to a single person. What’s more, these are only the ones who enquired directly. I’m sure this #Write52 exercise has led to immeasurable publicity, for example through comments on in-depth pieces, like this Google UX post.

How can I measure the value of my content?

It’s tricky, particularly if you’re not selling anything, but you can drill down to measure your value or influence.

Make educated guesses with Google Analytics.

Share a post and watch your GA dashboard light up in real-time. Look at the locations of your viewers, and track their behaviour to see if they visit any more pages. If you get an enquiry from a specific location, you can make an educated guess.

Add contacts to a CRM/other filing system.

If somebody comments on your content, connect with them. Add their name and role to a CRM, along with the content title. Keep in touch and log any enquiries you receive from them, then refer back to your data.

Use attribution and behavioural flows.

(I’m not going to go any more complicated than GA here, folks.) If you do sell online, you can attribute all sorts to specific users or user groups. You can look at behaviour flows to see how they reached a transactional page, and apply an attribution value to each interaction. Hint: this also works well with pay-per-click.

Consider other valuable metrics.

Likes aren’t always vanity metrics! If you can spot upward trends over time for likes, comments and shares, that’s a measure of your brand awareness. Cross reference this with unique visitors or page views for better insights.

Similarly, use Moz to check your domain authority, or paid tools like SEMRush to see your rankings.

Don’t go off page views alone.

A million people may have landed on a page, but did they stick around? Use metrics like time spent on page to assess if people actually read the content. Likewise, look for patterns in exit pages to identify any turn-offs. If you want to be super-fancy, use a paid tool like VWO to measure clicks and heatmaps.

Ask yourself: are people talking about me?

There’s no marketing quite like word of mouth. If you notice a sudden rise in referrals, or even use features like LinkedIn’s ‘see who’s talking about your page’, you’ll know you’re doing something right. Run a backlink analysis every now and then too.

Use gated content

If your content is so good it needs a guestlist, consider gating it. This involves adding a contact form for users to hand over their details in exchange for a download. It’s great for lead generation, and shows that your content is worth it.

Convinced to make content?

Every industry is different, and we all have different ideas of what constitutes ‘value’. It’s hard work, yes. But consistent, high-quality content is a slow burner. Katie Lingo has grown by 14 per cent in this tax year alone, so once again, for the people at the back:

Is your content really worth it?

And hey, if you’ve got no time, I’d be happy to help.

The post Is Your Content Really Worth It? appeared first on Katie Lingo.

If I had a penny for every time a client told me they had no confidence in their writing…

Well, I’d have a lot. Don’t ask me to do maths. I’m a writer.

While it’s not in my best interests to pat these people on the back, it does suggest a need to explore a deeper issue. You see, for those of us who didn’t pursue English beyond G/CSE, the big wide world of writing is pretty constrained.

We’re not talking about Nobel Prizes for Literature here. We’re talking about writing content for business. For marketing. And if you’ve got a pretty well-established career, chances are you’ve not looked at a schoolbook in a while.

Defining ‘writing’ – turning back the clock

Rewind 10 years and Google hadn’t even released Panda. It was still merrily letting people climb to the top by producing utter garbage through content mills. (I worked for one. I’m allowed to say that.)

Twenty years ago, Google was only entering the terrible twos. The biggest thing it had going for it was the Google Toolbar. Print advertising was a $150 billion industry. Kylie’s Spinning Around was #1. It was a magical time.

Thirty years ago, advertising was undergoing a seismic shift. Independent media company ‘spin-offs’ were all the rage. Ad agencies were embarking on the “new frontier” that was the internet, and some nutcase in Surrey was pushing her mother into labour.

But we didn’t really hear the term “content marketing”, at least, not in its “second era” sense until 2004, when Merriam-Webster declared “blog” as its word of the year. In the years that followed, YouTube rose to fame, and the Content Marketing Institute was born. Many, many years after we rounded off that final English essay, we met the dreaded obligation to write, once again.

So, what’s the problem with writing?

The problem with this obligation is that content marketing is a world away from academic writing. I recall drafting up an interview for Raconteur – the interviewee remarked that bad habits are “learned” in school. We are taught using prescriptive methods, and if we dare deviate from these, we’re penalised with bad grades.

These bad habits carry on into university. We’re judged on word counts. We’re encouraged to write long, sprawling prose – endless paragraphs with sentences that are so meandering, by the time we’ve got to the end of them, we don’t know if we’re coming or going. (See what I did there?)

This. Is Bad. Marketing. Why?

“He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary.”

That’s what William Faulkner said about Ernest Hemingway. It was supposed to be an insult. For a copywriter, it would be praise.

— jackiebarrie (@jackiebarrie) June 12, 2020

Yes, Faulkner, your colourful words might spark all sorts of images, but we’re not writing novels. We’re keeping it simple.

What your readers really want

If you want your content to make a difference, you need to turn off that schoolteacher voice. Otherwise, that toaster you’re writing about might just turn into an innovative solution that leverages cutting-edge technology to accelerate heating processes for the delivery of optimised breakfast options. Or something.

Just for a bit of fun, try this out for yourself. It’s a great way of checking for corporate BS in your copy. Let’s take an auto-generated example:

“Completely synergise resource taxing relationships via premier niche markets. Professionally cultivate one-to-one customer service with robust ideas. Dynamically innovate resource-levelling customer service for state-of-the-art customer service.”

Pardon?

Talk to your readers like a human.

You may have heard the term “keep it simple, stupid”. It’s actually a design principle, but it applies to copywriting, too.

Dave Trott summed it up best at BrightonSEO in September 2019. If you bore your readers with high school essay language, you’re going to make them feel stupid, and you’re going to alienate them. Bye bye sale.

So, what’s a good tool to use instead?

The Flesch Reading Ease Test

If you’re using WordPress, you might notice this niggly little tool with its judgemental red dots. Learn to love it – trust me; I hated it at first. The Flesch Reading Ease Test looks at two key variables:

• Sentence length
• Average number of syllables per word.

It then awards you a score, from 0-100. Get in the 90s and your copy is easy to read, matching the reading level of an 11-year-old. Get it in the <30s and it’s accessible to university graduates only. I know what you’re thinking. “But I want to sound clever!” Sounding clever ain’t very clever.

Your copy needs to be as simple as possible. That’s not to say that we think people are stupid or that they deserve to be condescended. They’re quite simply short on time. But more on that later.

The Hemingway App

The Hemingway App uses the same school grading principle, only this one is a lot harsher. It measures:

• Adverbs
• Passive voice
• Simple alternatives e.g. “use” instead of “utilise”
• Hard to read sentences
• Very hard to read sentences.

Again, I hear you. Why the hating on the adverbs? Interestingly (deliberate), this is a bone of contention among some of the world’s best-loved writers.

Stephen King, who’s sold more than 350 million books, says:

“I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I will shout it from the rooftops. To put it another way, they’re like dandelions. If you have one on your lawn, it looks pretty and unique.”

Meanwhile, the late Terry Pratchett, who’s sold more than 85 million books, would use adverbs unashamedly at every opportunity. For example:

“It’s for putting wine in,” she said defiantly. “My mother brought it back from Spain.”

“It hasn’t got a bull on it,” said Adam severely.

“It doesn’t have to,” Pepper countered, moving just ever so slightly into a fighting stance.

So yes, writing is totally subjective. Even today, people are questioning if King’s contempt for adverbs is going out of fashion.

What’s not going out of fashion? Technology.

And with it, our ever-dwindling attention spans. Whether you’re agonising over passive voice or not, people will still leave your website after 15 seconds if they’re not engaged.

That’s why we need to consider so many more factors, none of which come from prescriptive teachings. If you want to write good content, remember:

• Think about page design.
  • Is it scroll-friendly for mobile readers?
• Can your reader navigate to a significant point with ease?
  • These may render as ‘rich snippets’ in Google – short paragraphs that answer a user’s question, which can be found with a relevant heading.
• Does your content solve the user’s problem?
  • Good copywriting doesn’t brag – it solves problems.
• Do you use a consistent tone of voice?
  • Agree a set of brand guidelines if your team is larger than one person.

Ditch the dictionary. Try this instead.

Now that you’ve satisfied the robots (I’m half joking), try spicing up your copy with these tips.

Use the Gary Provost approach

With so many distractions, we need to keep our readers engaged. You can use Gary Provost’s ‘musical’ approach:

Use the force. (Science. We mean science.)

You’re writing for the customer, not your English teacher. The 12 most persuasive words in the English language (according to various studies) are:

• You
• Guarantee
• Money
• Love
• Save
• Discovery
• New
• Results
• Easy
• Health
• Free
• Proven.

Make it about them.

Long sentence or short sentence, buzzword or no buzzword, it’s not about you. Look at the persuasive words. It’s about YOU – the customer! Whatever you’re writing, make sure you use those personal pronouns with the gay abandon of Pratchett’s adverbs.

Keep it concise. Keep it simple. Keep it real. And yes, this blog post will probably fail MASSIVELY on the Hemingway Test. But it’s supposed to, so there.

Need help crafting your copy? Contact Katie Lingo.

Browse more on our blog or explore content writing services.

The post This Is Why You Suck At Writing* appeared first on Katie Lingo.

Today is National Freelancers’ Day – a celebration of the finest self-employed talents out there, whose contributions make up some 5 million of the UK’s workforce.

As a proud freelancer, I like to think I espouse good values. Professionalism, reliability, courtesy. Ask any other and you’ll doubtless hear the same.

But is this the general consensus of the wider population? Or indeed…

Is ‘freelancer’ a pejorative term?

The inspiration for this week’s blog comes from a dear professional friend of mine. We’ve worked together on a few projects – podcasts, webinars, blogs etc. One issue that we often discuss is the ‘F word’.

I quote: “I would class you as more than a freelancer. There’s an elevated professionalism about being different – you’re not just knocking out content in your back bedroom.”

My fault. I probably shouldn’t have joked that I sit around “in my pants” producing content.

Anyway, in another of our lively debates, we were joined by a creative with his own company. While discussing career progression, we touched on why I wasn’t expanding. I was advised to be “bigger than I am”, and that having an agency image would be more lucrative.

I had a little cry.

This is no disrespect to my fellow debaters – they were encouraging me to grow. But it’s lockdown and we’re ALL A LITTLE SENSITIVE AT THE MOMENT, OKAY? I felt as if I’d let my 26-year-old self down. The one who pushed herself to practise shorthand and train for marathons. Had my ambitious streak waned?

So I reached out to other freelancers.

I wanted to know if anybody else had heard these connotations, good or bad. The results were quite surprising.

“Weirdly, I had a ‘freelancer as a pejorative’ experience this week!” says Sally Fox, a copywriter from London. She’s not the only one with horror stories.

“When I’ve done day shifts in an office, I’ve been treated as ‘not one of the team’,” says Tim Bradley, an author and freelance writer. “I recall a time a company sent in some free goodies, but I wasn’t allowed any because I was ‘just a freelancer’.”

So what exactly does “just a freelancer” mean? “Unfortunately, I think some people still think it means ‘cheap’ or ‘general lackey’,” says Steve Morgan, freelance SEO consultant and author.

Risk association

For others, the term conjures up images of risk-taking – and not necessarily for the business itself. Hayley Maguire, a freelance copywriter, says: “I don’t think it has negative professional connotations, but it is viewed by some as being a risky, and perhaps reckless, career move.”

Sally agrees. “While chatting with a prospective client, I noticed he signed off with ‘good luck with your freelancing’ – as if I was walking a tightrope over a tank filled with sharks.”

Perhaps it’s fear of the unknown, but there is clearly some prejudice surrounding the term. Steve says he prefers to use the phrase positively. “I use the label because ‘SEO Consultant’ suggests I’m at an agency, whereas ‘freelance’ indicates that it’s just me and my business.”

My thoughts exactly, Steve – I personally changed my LinkedIn bio to include freelance, so as to assure agencies they would be working with one person.

The Digital Women Awards 2020. No, I don’t know why I have an umbrella either.

The public consensus

Beyond our emotional biases, there’s the wider public opinion (translation: Google search). Type in “should I hire a freelancer” and you’ll get a mixed bag:

• Position zero offers a balanced view, calling us an “attractive option” and a “risk” in the same breath
• Two explicitly reference why you shouldn’t hire a freelancer (or at least, not the wrong one)
• Four address the “pros and cons” (unpredictability of work quality…boo)
• Three extol the virtues of hiring us (yay!).

Agency or freelance?

And so we return to my little Zoom debate. Should businesses work with agencies or freelancers? Agencies can offer a wider range of skills, but a freelancer is likely to be more specialised.

Of course, you could just say you’re an agency and charge more, right?

To expand or not to expand?

To round off my research, I spoke to the real deal. Director of United by Design Owen Turner had two spells of freelancing before expanding into a full-service agency.

He says: “I took my first staff member on in year two to help with workloads. I’d always talked about setting up an agency, so it seemed like a natural progression.

“It’s a rollercoaster, but the ultimate motivation is working with an amazing team, doing great work for great people!”

The agency rollercoaster

Indeed, some of the stresses that Owen has faced are the very deterrents for others. Steve says: “I like the flexibility of being solo – no headaches, costs and office politics of hiring staff.” Sally adds that she’s not a fan of managing teams. In fact, it was the reason she got into freelancing.

For others, it’s about the art. Hayley adds: “I don’t want to spend all of my time managing others. I wanted to focus on being creative.” Tim, meanwhile, worries that the industry is oversaturated.

“There are a lot of content agencies right now. With something like this, I think a personal service is far more attractive.”

It’s a view I share, too. While I don’t have a bad word to say about agencies, I have no desire to jump into an already crowded pool. Plus, most of my clients are content marketing agencies – would that not make me their competitor?

Finding the balance

The over-arching view was that my interviewees cherished flexibility – but got worked up over income. This is no exception for agencies. Owen concedes that working with a team is multi-faceted: it affords him more opportunities, but also more obstacles.

“I think you need to have the right motivations to expand. Do you want a fully-fledged agency, or just a collective that can offer your clients more?

“Client decisions may be based purely on budget and time, while others look at experience. It’s about finding that sweet spot.”

Collaboration, not competition

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about being a freelancer (with no desires to expand – I’m a walking HR disaster), it’s that there’s a huge sense of community.

This extends to the agency world too. For example, organisations like York Creatives welcome freelancers and staff teams alike, collaborating on awe-inspiring, philanthropic projects.

There are also some heartening statistics out there for those freelancers who feel ‘alone’:

• The UK’s freelance workforce increased by 31 per cent in 2019
• Freelance Twitter groups unite the self-employed in their droves: @FreelanceHeroes has nearly 6,000 followers
• Freelancers contribute £139 billion to the UK GDP every year
• We’re acknowledged annually through events like the IPSE Awards (with a £5,000 cash prize!)
• There are more resources than ever – Sian Meades-Williams’ Freelance Writing Jobs newsletter has a 65 per cent open rate!

Do you want to be dirty?

Whatever your choice, whether you’re going it alone or kicking ass at an agency, it’s crucial to have a support network. Collaborate with others, join Twitter chats, go to networking, and see what’s out there.

We can’t convince everyone, but there’s some pretty solid evidence that freelancers are very highly valued indeed.

And if you’re just getting started, please feel free to pop me an email for any tips.

Happy National Freelancers’ Day, kids.

A huge thank you to all of this week’s contributors:

• Owen Turner, director of United by Design
• Tim Bradley, freelance writer and author of The Last Prize
• Hayley Maguire, freelance copywriter
• Sally Fox, freelance copywriter for sustainable businesses
• Steve Morgan, freelance SEO consultant and author of Anti-Sell

The post Is ‘Freelancer’ a Dirty Word? appeared first on Katie Lingo.

• Live without going outside
• Make banana bread
• Not kill our partners…

…it’s also taught us about marketing.

I’m not going to echo what the behemoths are saying – the need to carry on marketing is obvious. Rather, these are my personal takeaways from being told to stay home, and how the nation is reacting.

You cannot please everyone.

We’re all united in the fact that this virus is kicking us in the proverbials, but we are all very different. Every single person affected by this has an individual circumstance. That’s why, when Rishi Sunak announced the Job Retention Scheme, there was a national outcry from freelancers. When he offered support for self-employed people, there was an outcry from single-person limited companies.

Frontline workers are overlooked. Zero hours contracts are overlooked. There is always somebody who will feel forgotten, so there’s no one catch-all solution in marketing.

Hyper-segmenting your customer base

On the flipside, we could see this as an opportunity. Rather than casting our net wide, we could focus on the individual customer segments that need our services most, however small they might seem.

You’ll see just how many different kinds of support there are for all sectors, employment contracts and taxpayers. Just as the government needs to keep updating these, we too should consider every segment in order to meet our audiences’ needs.

No marketing comes without trial and error.

If you’ve launched a campaign and it becomes an instant hit with no tweaks, bravo. Not very likely though, is it? The last few weeks have taught us that testing (both in a medical, and marketing sense!) is essential. Just think about how the government guidelines have evolved as time has moved on.

Five weeks ago, we were told to wash our hands for 20 seconds. Four weeks ago, we were greeting people with elbow touches. Three weeks ago, we were still naively attending public gatherings. The stronger the limitations get, we hope, the sooner we can “flatten the curve”. But this is not without trial and error – and we also shouldn’t ignore external data. Figures from Italy served as a stark warning in mid-March. Look where we are now.

It’s a very glum way of looking at it, and by no means should we trivialise the impact, but it goes to show – we should always seek expert sources before we commit to anything. (I’m looking at you, tiny hands.)

Somebody will always win in a crisis.

JFK talked about the Chinese word for crisis, and how we should also see it as an opportunity. Well, there’s a time and a place. We have the good – Ford turning its hand towards making ventilators. We have the bad – just look at this ‘brand exploitation’ message below. And we have the downright ugly. I’m not one to speculate on Zoom calls being used for espionage, but hiking up prices of hand sanitisers and playing on people’s fears does no good.

brands right now pic.twitter.com/jNE2II9I16

— Matt Buechele (@mattbooshell) April 1, 2020

I think the following warning sums it up best: “People will be remembered for how they treat others during this crisis.” Yes, some companies are going to profit, by virtue of the product they sell. Others will go down in history as some of the most exploitative organisations out there. You know who I’m talking about.

On a positive note, there is opportunity for you – not to learn the guitar or become Mary Berry. Now you can finally do all that SEO housekeeping, accounting or whatever else you’ve been putting off. I refer once again to the marketing behemoths who encourage us to carry on.

Content becomes stale very, very quickly.

In a February podcast with The Impact Sessions, I talked about having an adaptable content marketing plan. This was to account for the unexpected. What could be more unexpected than this? It’s almost disheartening to think we’re putting our life and souls into content that will ‘expire’ as soon as Rishi Sunak makes the next announcement.

Instead, we adapt. (Aah, another corona buzzword.) Pivot (stop it Katie!) your strategy towards evergreen content now. People are Googling how-to guides like they’re going out of fashion. How to make a TikTok. How to cut your own hair. They’re also committing to learning more, so if you can be that essential source of information that won’t expire faster than banana bread, more power to you.

Marketing needs people. Pure and simple.

Sound obvious? Money makes the world go round, but it’s the people that are spending it. For all the scary statistics about AI and machine learning taking our jobs, we still rely on good old-fashioned people. The butterfly effect of a simple pub closure can be life-changing: marketers freeze budgets, agencies lose clients and freelancers are hung out to dry.

But again, enough with the negative. People are what will make or break this crisis – whether they’re clapping key workers, offering free webinars, delivering food or just staying in touch. We might need the machines to run our daily lives, but people are what really matters.

So, next time you’re sending out a message, turn your attention to the biggest of the ‘4 Ps’. Talk to your audience like a human. Don’t send them catch-all messages with no effect. Offer your help. As we said above, people will remember that when we get out of this.

The post What Has Lockdown Taught Us About Marketing? appeared first on Katie Lingo.

10. Running the London Marathon for Deafblind UK – April

Running in one of the world’s most iconic marathons is not an opportunity to pass up. I feel hugely privileged to have had this opportunity, which was all down to my client, Deafblind UK. I write for their bi-monthly magazine, Open Hand. When I told them I’d run (at the time) one before, they offered me the chance to fundraise for them. This lighthearted blog post looks at the trials and tribulations of the day…including the record-breaking hot weather.

Read more >

9. Six Cultural Insights Your Business Needs to Know About Japan – February

At the turn of 2019, I worked on a short-term content project with research company Tokyoesque. Their aim is to help businesses expand into the Japanese market, advising them on how their products will be perceived. This in-depth research piece looked at previous companies’ attempts to market in Japan and the cultural differences that affected these campaigns.

Read more > 

8. What’s Next for Netflix? – May

This was a whole lot of fun to write. Working with SONA, a luxury home technology installer, I’m privileged to be able to write about all sorts of exciting tech. With a focus on home cinemas, this deep-dive into Netflix discusses what we should expect next as viewers, and how the brand continues to innovate.

Read more >

7. Should We Expect Our Readers to Pay for Content? – September

If you’ve read my blogs before, you’ll know I love a good old read through the Reuters Digital News Report. Published every June, it looks at the way we consume news in more than 30 countries, and our attitudes towards the headlines. It was also the inspiration for this personal post on the value of gated content.

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6. Contingency Planning in an Unpredictable Industry – April

Working in association with travel wholesaler The Group Company, this magazine article featured in the US-based National Tour Association’s Courier magazine. It delves into the potential catastrophes of group travel, even citing one very amusing story from The Group Company team. Long story short – a remote hotel shut down three days before a large group was due to travel. The team stepped up, travelled from York to Devon and did everything, from cooking to entertainment. The moral of the story is to always be prepared, and I’m pleased to say it had a happy ending.

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5. How Important Is Digital Transformation for Your Business? – November

I had the pleasure of meeting the Netsells team back in October, and this was my first assignment. It explores the opportunities before us as marketers to harness digital. From understanding the customer to saving time, this post examines why we should all embrace the new age.

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4. What’s Next for 2020 Marketing Campaigns? – December

After I met the simply fabulous Bright team at BrightonSEO in September, we began working together on some Christmas content. Beyond a few tips on how to create festive campaigns, we also decided to look ahead for 2020. From the Summer Olympics to artificial influencers, here’s how it turned out.

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3. Trending: Young People – November

Another collaboration with The Group Company, I was commissioned to write a piece for Teach and Travel. The title belongs to the US-based Student Youth and Travel Association, looking at new trends and tips for educational travel. I identified the new trends on the horizon, from sustainability to living like a local.

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2. An Honest Account of Anti-Depressants – August

As the name suggests, this is quite a personal one. After a difficult start to the year, I was prescribed a mild selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor. This is a first-person insight into the realities of taking medication for mental health, and why there should be no stigma.

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1. Blowing out Someone Else’s Candle Won’t Make Yours Burn Any Brighter – November

The post 2019’s Top 10 Content Hits appeared first on Katie Lingo.

Strictly speaking, they’re not all just content. There’s everything digital from SEO to branding, PR and much more. Whatever you want to get out of them, I speak from experience when I say they’re a great way to meet people. What’s more, you might just walk away with some new skills…or even new clients.

*Disclaimer: at the time of writing, not all agendas/timings were listed. I will update these when new information becomes available.

Digital City Festival

If you’re looking for the Marketing Show North, you’ll now find it under the umbrella of Manchester’s inaugural Digital City Festival. Look out for events such as the Marketing Show North, eCommerce Show North and Tech Show North.

Monday 9^th-Friday 13^th March 2020, Manchester Central, Manchester.

Price: FOC.

CMA Content Summit

The Content Marketing Association is back for its 2020 Content Summit event in London. This year promises to be even bigger, with speakers from some of the UK’s largest companies, plus refreshments and networking.

Thursday 19^th March 2020, The Curzon Theatre, Bloomsbury, London. Agenda TBC.

Price: Members £149, non-members £249.

B2B Marketing Expo

“Europe’s leading marketing event” features seminars, keynote speakers, awards and networking opportunities at London’s ExCel. Expect to rub shoulders with thousands of experts from the likes of LinkedIn, Shutterstock and Adzooma.

Wednesday 25^th-Thursday 26^th March 2020, ExCel London, London. Agenda TBC.

Price: FOC to non-exhibitors.

BrightonSEO

The first of this biannual event takes place in April at the Brighton Centre – a long way from a room above a pub, as they say! I attended in September 2019 and learned many invaluable content/SEO lessons from their seminars. There’s also a full training day before the main conference.

Thursday 16^th-Friday 17^th April 2020, Brighton Centre, Brighton.

Price: from £150-£600+VAT – rising soon, so get in there quick!

Leeds Digital Festival

The Leeds Digital Festival will celebrate its fifth birthday with a number of events, attracting some 25,000 visitors. Learn all about digital marketing at multiple gatherings throughout the city – or even host your own. I attended the SEO Mixer in 2019 and learned a lot about CRO, SEO and PR.

Monday 20^th April-Friday 1^st May 2020, various locations in Leeds. Full agenda TBC.

Price: priced per individual event – follow #LeedsDigi2020.

Atomicon

Led by the world’s top digital marketers, this quirky event is aimed at small businesses looking to grow in 2020. They pride themselves on having “fun” speakers, addressing content, Facebook marketing and much more.

Monday 27^th-Tuesday 28^th April 2020, The Sage, Gateshead.

Price: from £650.

SMX London

Search Engine Land’s SMX London caters for those “obsessed with SEO and SEM”. Expect workshops on martech and international search, plus keynote speakers on what’s new in search engine marketing. Sign up for the newsletter to get the full agenda.

Tuesday 19^th-Wednesday 20^th May 2020, etc. venues 155 Bishopsgate, London.

Price: from £395+VAT before price increase on Friday 7^th February.

Digital Marketing World Forum

Designed for the “new age marketer”, the Digital Marketing World Forum is one of many international events. May’s conference takes place in London with insights into influencer marketing, digital experiences, content strategy and digital transformation.

Thursday 28^th-Friday 29^th May, Business Design Centre, London.

Price: from £299 before price increase on Friday 31^st January.

SearchLeeds 2019

SearchLeeds

Wear high heels to the first direct arena at your peril! This huge event tackles some of the biggest topics in digital marketing, from the latest Google updates to PPC and CRO. I attended in June 2019 to brush up on technical skills, as well as watch panel discussions on personal confidence.

Date TBC – usually June at first direct arena, Leeds. Follow @searchleeds.

Price: FOC.

Brand Marketing Summit

As the name suggests, the Brand Marketing Summit is attended by the likes of some of the world’s biggest names, from Burger King to Harrods. This year’s event will look at innovation-based growth, thought leadership, customer journeys and much more, with networking opportunities.

Monday 1^st-Tuesday 2^nd June 2020, Hilton Canary Wharf, London.

Price: from £959 + VAT.

MarketEd.Live

MarketEd.Live focuses on getting the best ROI from your marketing, with key insights based on the latest data from industry experts. It culminates in an awards ceremony followed by an after-party in Nottingham city centre.

Monday 21^st September 2020, Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham.

Price: from £200.50 early bird before February.

BrightonSEO

It’s back again for October, slightly later than the usual September dates. It may just be warm enough to hit the log flumes, but if not, there are always the speakers and networking opportunities, plus the awesome games room.

Thursday 1^st– Friday 2^nd October 2020, Brighton Centre, Brighton.

Price: free if you make the ballot, otherwise from £150-£600+VAT, increasing closer to the event.

Festival of Marketing

This year, the Festival of Marketing has merged with Marketing Week Live, which used to take place in March. This promises an even bigger event in London, with celebrity speakers, insights from top marketers and networking opportunities.

Wednesday 7^th-Thursday 8^th October 2020, Tobacco Dock, London.

Price: from £495+VAT. Group discounts available.

CopyCon (Copywriting Conference)

Since joining ProCopywriters last year, I’ve really wanted to check this out. If you’re a content writer, join the training sessions or just visit for the conference, where experts will share their tips. They’re also looking for speakers.

Thursday 8^th-Friday 9^th October 2020, De Vere West One (Thursday training) and The Royal Institution (Friday conference), London.

Price: from £265 early bird. Discounts available for ProCopywriters members.

Martech Fest

This “anti-conference” certainly has a ring to it. The event’s goals are to make martech simple, helping attendees to leverage technology and meet their objectives. Expect to network with big brands like Pepsi, Amazon and Twitter.

Monday 19^th-Friday 23^rd October 2020, venue TBC. Agenda TBC.

Price: TBC.

York Business Week

A personal favourite of mine, York Business Week has something for every sector. Look out for individual events from creatives, like networking and seminars on branding, marketing and more. The week kicks off with the York Business Conference – ideal for meeting new contacts.

Dates TBC (usually November), various venues around York.

Price: priced per individual event – seminars usually around £15 each/York Business Conference £45.

Martech Summit

The Martech Summit takes place all over the world. You can catch the London event in November, focusing on digital transformation, content strategy, data and customer experience. They’re also looking for speakers. You have the whole year to perfect your speech.

Wednesday 4^th-Thursday 5^th November 2020.

Price: from £640.

Looking for something more exotic? Check out these international events:

• Digital Marketing World Forum Asia – Singapore, February
• International Search Summit – Munich, Boston and Barcelona, from March onwards
• Retail and Brand Experience – Barcelona, May
• Digimarcon East 2020 – New York, August

What do you think?

Which of these events are you looking forward to most? Have I missed any off? Let me know in the comments below.

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