Content marketing is the future and in fact, there is no way we can imagine digital marketing without content. By leveraging engaging content, businesses can reach out to their target audiences, promote brand awareness, increase leads, and sales, and impact the business’s bottom line.
A survey conducted by SEMrush indicated that 87% of marketers rely on content for their marketing efforts. In fact, they create different types of content to support the different stages of the customer journey. Today, people access and consume content in several formats such as articles, blogs, website content, podcasts, videos, email newsletters, e-books, and press releases. However, does every content produce the intended results?
Crafting content that is engaging and puts the message straightforward requires mastery. As a marketer, you would definitely love your audience to connect with you with every post, take the necessary action, and perhaps receive the intended feedback.
This blog will look at the 7 Cs of communication that every copywriter, content writer, or digital marketer must master to enhance the effectiveness of content writing skills. So, let’s get started!
7 C’s of Communication to Master for Content Writing
Content marketing field is getting more competitive annually and it’s essential for writers to understand the 7 C’s of communication and how to leverage them. The 7 C’s of communication are crucial facets of effective communication. They generally display the elements that every content must possess to produce the intended results.
1. Clarity
If you’ve ever landed on a form of content that left you confused and wondering what a writer intended to mean, then that content was unclear. Clarity is by far the most crucial dimension of content writing because it can make or break bonds. When the target audience is left perplexed with the given form of content, there are higher chances that they will look for alternatives.
Therefore, as a writer or a digital marketer, make sure to craft understandable content copies. That will also require you to emphasize a specific point in the content rather than clouding a given piece of content with a lot of information. Precisely, ensure that the content is free from ballast to attain optimal clarity.
2. Correctness
Correctness is another facet of effective communication. Correct information builds trust and lays a foundation for long-term relationships. In a business world that is increasingly influenced by networks, minding the correctness of content before publishing it is certainly crucial.
Correct content is factual and free from grammatical errors that may cause misconceptions or misinterpretations. Therefore, check your content for danglers, plagiarism, guesswork, mistakes, and pronoun case problems which may affect the correctness of the text. Also, read it aloud and indulge in self-reflection to assess the correctness of the content. Note that correct and well-timed content has a greater impact on a reader.
3. Completeness
The trait of completeness in communication means that the content must be complete or should convey all facts. Any content is rendered complete when it excellently details all the required information. For example, you want to send a pitch. Your email should properly detail your intentions, your bio, and the reason for a possible collaboration.
In the case of creating content, i.e a blog, try to break the topic into smaller bites and tackle one niche at a time. That’s if the topic is complex. Also, ensure that no important information is missing. Remember, complete content helps in decision-making and can cut marketing costs excellently. So, every writer must consider this.
4. Concreteness
The element of concreteness implies that the content is clear and particular rather than general. Any content that is concrete can easily convince a reader to take the desired decision. Also, concrete content won’t need further elaboration from the sender. Generally, the content is self-explanatory and dimensionally supported.
You may consider making a thorough research on a topic you are writing about to produce concrete pieces. You may also have to understand “search intent” in case of writing a blog and optimize content to the best. Apart from that, consider including facts, figures, and credible sources to support your content. All in all, concrete content appeals more to the recipient and surely leaves readers convinced.
5. Conciseness
Crafting long articles that can be summed up in a few words or paragraphs is one of the biggest mistakes that content writers make. You may want to reach the target word count, but that would be diluting your content. The major fact is that many people aren’t interested in reading. That’s why video marketing and podcast marketing are new trends we see in content marketing.
With that, ensure to craft concise content, yet appealing and engaging. Craft engaging introductions, segment your content into paragraphs, and use bullet points where necessary. Be straight to the point, and avoid using jargon or being too wordy.
6. Consideration
Content is always crafted for a reason. So, whether it’s to cultivate relationships, increase leads, or sales, any writer must understand the target audience. You must be able to relate to their emotions, problems, and expectations. In simple words, you must place yourself in their shoes.
Don’t use intricate words that may make the massage complicated or sound arrogant. Words like “you can”, or content pieces that address problems can bridge the gap between a brand and its audience. On the other hand, show that you empathize with your readers and that you value them.
In addition, upgrading your job skills as a digital marketer or content writer can help you achieve optimal results with your content marketing efforts.
7. Courtesy
The element of courtesy captures several facets of any piece of content. These include respect, judiciousness, and politeness towards the reader. Courteous content will require you to think about the receiver or reader of the content and how they might perceive your attitude towards them.
With that, try to be warm by using cordial words and mind about the tone of your content as you craft every piece of content. There are different content writing strategies and regardless of the form you prefer, courtesy shouldn’t be overlooked.