Business Buzz - Making You Famous

by Loic Le Meur

Great Content Marketing strategies are…

the pumpkin in pumpkin pie, the Z in Zombie, the sweet in Halloween candy, the content in content marketing. As Google and other search sites put a stake through the heart of time tested marketing methods that “game” the SEO system, the power of the written word have regained its rightful throne. So, if your job includes driving monster web traffic, you will appreciate these well-carved power PR points.

1 -Don’t pinch pennies on content creation

Many jobs are going offshore faster than a Ghost Busters ghoul. Computer programming, web development, and a bunch of other tech skills lacking in the U.S. lead this pack.  However, English as a second language is a problem for foreign writers who seek to offer content for the U.S. market.  Great writers stateside communicate clearly with an economy of words. Offshore writing English as a second language tends to ramble. This is great for word count, but not so good when getting to the heart of the matter and the heart of the prospective customer.  Advantage–USA! I suggest that in content marketing and public relations, you pinch pennies in areas outside of content creation.

2 -Readability is huge

Who is your target market market? If it’s highly educated folks with advanced degrees you may get away with writing at a Flesch-Kincaid index 13th grade level with average sentence length of 23 words per sentence. Conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer writes at that level in this example.

“For all the hyped indignation over GOP “anarchism,” there has been remarkable media reticence about the president’s intransigence. He has refused to negotiate anything unless the Republicans fully fund the government and raise the debt ceiling — unconditionally.

“For all his protestations about protecting the full faith and credit of the United States — jittery markets are showing that his brinkmanship could have precisely the opposite effect — the president’s real intent is to score a humiliating victory over the GOP.”…

Charles uses lots of big words. There are nine four-syllable words in the first two paragraphs.  He also averages 23 words per sentence.  This results in a Flesch Reading Ease score of over 40. Time (52) and Readers Digest (65) are both easier to read–the higher the better for this index. By comparison, Florida requires insurance policies to stay above 45 by this measurement. Making me read insurance stuff would definitely be a Halloween Trick at any time of year.

After writing the  first draft of my thriller novel, GreenSpin, I found that it was somewhere around a 11th grade reading level. Since the average novel is between 6th & 7th grade level, I had to shorten sentences and use less big words for final copy.

So, if you hire out your writing, keep it Made in the USA. When you write, keep long words to a minimum and sentences short. That is, if you want to do great Content Marketing, listen to the ghosts of great writers well remembered.

TIP: You can determine your document’s readability in MS Word under Tools/Grammar and Spelling

Spelling thanks to my 12th grade English teacher, Mrs. Herrington, for teaching the value of writing well.