No matter what you’re writing - be it an email, a landing page, a blog post or a social media status - you have to produce something that your target audience wants to read. Content needs to catch their eye and make them stop - even just for a second - to read your work.

When it comes to attracting and converting new customers to your business, producing compelling content is essential. We’re not going to say that writing compelling content is easy - we understand that not everyone enjoys writing content or feels confident  but we also understand how important content is to converting leads. With this in mind, we thought we would pull together our top tips for writing compelling content that converts leads.

Know who you’re targeting

The first and perhaps most crucial detail when it comes to writing compelling content is to think about who you’re trying to reach. To get a better idea of who you’re targeting, you should develop a buyer persona - a semi-fictional character who represents your ideal customer based on a combination of data about your existing customers and market research.

Your buyer persona should include your customer demographics, any specific behaviour patterns, motivations and goals. The more detailed your buyer persona, the more relevant your content can be to them - and your customers.

Plan your content

In order to make the most of your content, it has to be well thought out - there’s no use typing out your thoughts, sticking them on your website or social media platforms and hoping for the best. Each piece of content that you write should have a purpose and identify just one topic per piece of content so as not to confuse any messages.

If you’re struggling to think of content ideas, consider a bit of keyword research - use a search engine such as Google to find searches which are related to your products or services. For example, if you’re an accountancy firm looking to attract small businesses to your website, a search for ‘small business accounting’ will bring up a range of related searches including ‘how to do small business accounts’ and ‘how much do small business accountants cost’. You could answer these questions in your content.

Appeal to their emotions

When writing your content, logic will only get you so far. The best marketing campaigns are thought provoking and powerful, appealing to people’s emotions rather than to their logical side. If you’ve got your buyer persona right, you will have a good understanding of what makes your ideal customer tick.

Tell a story

We all love a good story. One thing that many businesses forget is the ability stories have to provide meaning, create context and instill a sense of purpose. As humans, we are more receptive to stories than we are to statistics and data - stories help us relate to the storyteller or subject, they allow us to empathise and process information in a form that is more memorable.

Double check your content

Once you’ve drafted your content - whether it is an email, a landing page or blog post, don’t click send or publish straight away. Step away for it for a little while - go make yourself a cup of coffee, go for a walk, work on something different and come back to it later. When you read a piece of work with fresh eyes, you’re more likely to spot any errors. If you can, get someone else to read your content as they may have additional ideas to add.

Don’t forget the CTA

So, you know who you are targeting, you’ve planned your content, you’ve told a story, appealed to the emotions of your readers and finally, have checked and double checked your content but have you included a call-to-action (CTA)?

You can’t expect your readers to do what you want them to do without telling them to do it. If you want them to download a guide with relevant, targeted additional content, tell them that is what you want them to do using clear, concise and actionable language. Make sure your call-to-action is positioned in an obvious place - it doesn’t have to sit at the end if it makes sense to place it earlier on in the content.

Not sure where to start with your content plan? Get in touch with our content experts who will be able to give you more help and guidance writing content that converts leads.