5 common pitfalls of poor blog posts

The same mistakes crop up time and again in blog posts. We list the top five most common issues to avoid. Make sure to look out for these in your own writing and share them with your colleagues.

1. Spelling and grammatical errors

Nothing looks more unprofessional than a badly written blog post that is littered with spelling mistakes. If multiple people are writing or editing content, typos can crop up very easily. Make sure you proofread your content carefully. Often, it’s a good idea to get a second pair of eyes to read it over. Always make time for editing so you’re sure you’re producing the highest quality content possible.

2. No call to action or links

When writing a blog post, you need to ask yourself: what should the reader do next when they have finished reading it? Would they want to contact you or sign up to an event/newsletter? Is there a link to your contact page or a phone number and email?

If you’re writing a blog post to increase conversions and web traffic, then this is a particularly important point to address. It would be a shame to create really great content but leave your reader hanging.

3. Irrelevant, stale or sales-driven content

You don’t want a post that is only full of content that interests you. Don’t focus on what you want to say about yourself, instead focus more on what your audience is interested in and what they want to learn about. Your reader’s time is precious. Make sure your content is relevant, engaging and fresh, and keep updating your blog regularly with new posts.

Try to speak to your audience’s needs without being too salesy – work out what issues matter to them. They might want some tips or advice on a particular topic, or they might be trying to find out about trends and news from their industry. Don’t ‘push’ your products and services, only mention them if they are relevant and if it doesn’t feel forced.

4. Too long or short

Think about who is reading your blog post and how much time they are going to have to scan over it. You want them to take away a few key messages, not feel overwhelmed with reems of text. They might be on their lunch break or just browsing social media for a few minutes between meetings. If your post is too long your reader is more likely to switch off and not make it to the end. Help them by breaking up the copy with subheadings or lists.

Similarly, if you only post short snippets instead of full articles then you could be missing out on the kind of rich content that is naturally optimised for organic search. Take a look at the sort of blog posts competitors are publishing to get an idea of length and layout. Take note of the topics they are covering too. This will help you target the right kind of keywords and content.

5. Too formal or informal

Blog posts shouldn’t be overly complex to read. A conversational tone is usually best for engaging with your reader. Long sentences and paragraphs can be off-putting and difficult to digest. Don’t alienate people with lots of jargon, strange acronyms, or unusual vocabulary. If you are using content written by a subject matter expert, then check it over to see if your audience will understand it. At the same time some blog posts need to use more formal and technical writing – it just depends on your audience and your brand. Consider rewriting parts of your post so that it fits the right tone of voice.

If you would like some professional help with writing blog posts or other content, please get in touch with the team here at asabell.

Lessons learnt from the pandemic

Over a year has passed since the UK went into lockdown, although it does sometimes feel like longer than that. It’s been a struggle for all of us in different ways, but as is often the case when faced with challenges, it’s also an opportunity to grow and reflect. Here are some learnings to take away from the pandemic.

Routine gives us resilience

Something that may have come as a surprise to at least some of us, is that having a routine is actually really quite important. Working alone and from home requires a lot of self-discipline, and actually having some kind of schedule makes a big difference. Of course, we all work differently and not all of us necessarily want a strict routine, but the lack of structure in life since lockdown has really crystalised why at least some structure is important.

Sometimes our personal lives can be complicated, overwhelming or distracting, and if we have some routine to fall back on it can give us stability and emotional resilience. Routine at work can also really help you manage your time and stay productive.

We all need human connection

Another learning, which may be more expected, is that we really benefit from human interaction. Our working life is so much richer when we get to maintain those face-to-face meet ups. It’s not necessarily even communicating about a project or piece of work, but more just the chit-chat and relationship building that comes from sharing a space with co-workers. It’s important to keep making time to catch up with people and keep the bonds strong.

Also, video conference calls can be quite tiring, especially if you have several back-to-back. Sometimes it’s worth scheduling in a meeting for 5 past or 10 past the hour just to give people some breathing space.

The comforts of home

Our final learning is a new appreciation for the comforts of home. It would be amazing if more businesses could transform their office spaces into a more comfortable place to be, after all we spend a decent proportion of time at work. Whether that’s allowing people to wear clothes that they feel comfortable in, ensuring everyone has enough natural light for their work area, or simply making some simple improvements to the space such as adding in some plants or updating the décor.

Workers also really do appreciate the flexibility of homeworking, and many organisations are now considering offering a mix of home and office working permanently for more of their staff. According to a YouGov poll, 57% of those who were working before the outbreak and who intend to stay part of the workforce say they want to be able to continue working from home. If there was one change we expect to see after the pandemic subsides, it’s a rise in remote working.

9 mistakes that show your copy is behind the times

Copywriting has changed fairly dramatically over the last few decades since digital took over.
The majority of content is now written for the web and social media channels. It can be difficult to keep up with best practice and writing conventions, but it’s important – you don’t want to stand out for the wrong reasons.

Here are some pointers on what to avoid when it comes to writing copy for digital channels.

1. Long paragraphs.
   Remember most platforms like websites have relatively narrow columns for copy, much narrower than Word. In fact, it’s likely someone may end up reading your copy on a mobile screen. Also, users tend to skim read blog articles and web copy, so it’s best to break it up and make it easier to digest. There’s nothing more annoying than landing on a page that has a huge block of text to try and absorb.
   
2. Indenting paragraphs.
   A space between them will do. This isn’t a letter from the early 20th century, it’s a nice, clean bit of copy going onto a digital channel.
   
3. Double spacing.
   This is a legacy of typewriters, but your content won’t match the formatting and layout of your other digital content if you start adding in double spaces. Also, it’s often difficult to be consistent with double spacing and you end up with a weird mix of single and double spacing, especially if multiple people are editing a bit of copy.
   
4. Being too salesy.
   Sales-driven content can come across as insincere and be off-putting. This includes cheesy one-liners and exclamation marks. Just avoid them.
   
5. Keyword stuffing.
   It’s so obvious when you’re writing content just to fit in as many keywords as possible rather than with your reader in mind. If you are writing an article about a particular subject, then related keywords will naturally crop up without you having to force it.
   
6. Overuse of bold, italics or even worse, all caps.
   There are better ways to draw attention to key points such as using subheadings or single-line paragraphs.
   
7. Using obscure words in order to elevate your copy.
   Generally, it’s best to keep content simple and relatively easy to understand. There’s no need to oversimplify but also no need for unusual or flowery language. You could alienate your audience.
   
8. Forgetting who you are speaking to and what tone of voice to use.
   If you’re writing for a younger audience or a more informal channel (e.g. social media) then overly formal writing will look out of place. Think carefully about where your content will appear and who you are speaking to.
   
9. Using ‘click here’ or URLs for hyperlink text.
   There are a number of reasons why you shouldn’t do this, ranging from SEO to user experience. Plus, the link will take up unnecessary space if the link text is a URL. Try to describe in a few words what you are linking to, for example: BBC website.

Don’t be afraid to ask for some professional support. Here at asabell we have dedicated copywriting experts on hand to help you produce the best possible copy. Catch people’s attention with your content – but for the right reasons. Get in touch to find out more.

10 tips to transform how you work with subject matter experts

Are you realising your experts’ full potential as ambassadors of your industry expertise?

By capturing their insight, you are close to having everything you need to be able to provide valuable content to your customers. But often, a torrent of unfiltered advice and knowledge can be hard to decipher, especially when it’s full of industry jargon and technical terminology.

You need to be able to know how to distil a specialist subject matter into engaging content that is easily accessible for your customers.

Using over 16 years of experience in this area, we’ve put together our ten most useful tips to get the best from your experts.

Download it by clicking the image below. Afterwards, if you’d like to find out more about how we can help your business, please feel free to get in touch.

10 steps to success: How to run a marketing campaign

When you want to get the word out about a product, service, event or re-brand, what you need is an integrated marketing campaign.

But where do you start? And how do you make sure it’s a success?

A marketing campaign is a huge commitment and a lot of work. From asking all the right questions during your strategic planning stage, to brainstorming the big idea that your campaign will centre around, there’s a lot to get right. That’s why we’ve put together a 10-step guide — to walk you through the main milestones and help you create a campaign to be proud of.

Download it now by clicking the image below and get in touch if you’d like more info on how we put together successful campaigns for our clients.

Marketing insight: making the most of LinkedIn

Your personal LinkedIn account is the perfect place to start building your individual brand in a professional setting. With over 300 million members, it’s a fantastic place to grow your network and harness new opportunities.

That doesn’t mean it’s a revolving door of prospects, though. Like any other social media platform, a solid strategy and dedication to building your following and brand are vital. That’s why we’ve put together a handy LinkedIn guide to walk you through the key areas that contribute to LinkedIn success: Purpose. Profile. Presence.

To find out more about these and how they can help you increase sales, build a platform as a thought leader or even find your next role, download the guide now!

Marketing insight: animations

It’s a crowded marketplace out there, and it’s getting tougher to get your messages across. Increasingly, B2B businesses are choosing animations as a way to bypass pages of static text, using the fact that the brain can process visuals 60,000 times faster than the written word.
But it can be confusing if you’re new to it, so we’ve put together a guide to producing amazing animations. Have a read and get up to speed on all the hints and tips that will help you through the animation process.

Download the guide now by clicking on the image below and get your messages moving.

Sales enablement for the win(ning of new business).

You might be wondering what sales enablement actually is. Well, put simply, it’s your ticket to boosting sales. But behind this is a collection of marketing resources that help your salespeople seal the deal.

The sales call is only one part of getting a new client to sign on the dotted line. It’s a rare prospect who buys from you during their first contact with your organisation.

That’s why you need to build a wider sales-enablement campaign — including sales emails, cheat sheets and organised calling days — to bring that new revenue through the door.

Supporting your sales superheroes.

It can often be hard to convince sales professionals that marketing materials really can help them. But we’ve run more than a few campaigns in our time that show sales enablement is totally a thing.

Take, for instance, when one of our clients tasked its sales teams with winning back 60 accounts from competitors in 60 days. Sounds like a tall order, right? Well, our ‘Heroes’ collateral helped the salespeople smash their targets — and saw the campaign extended way beyond its original remit.

To do this, we created a company superhero — along with flyers, posters and cardboard cut-outs. Oh, and chocolates made an appearance too (followed by a swift disappearance once eaten).

When people met their targets, they got to become their favourite superhero — as we created framed photos and awarded certificates.

It might all sound daft without seeing it in action. But the salespeople all bought into the campaign, and made it a huge success. A superhero theme might also seem frivolous when budgets are tight. However, for relatively little investment, you can seriously boost your bottom line.

Three ways to enable sales.

So, how do you go about creating your own super-successful sales-enablement campaign?

Well, here are three steps you need to follow to get your sales team selling as they’ve never sold before:

1. Share best practice.
   
   How does your top seller tackle a difficult sale? Find out, and share their knowledge. There’s no to reason to keep the things you do successfully a secret. And collateral like cheat sheets give you simple ways to make sure everyone in your sales teams has access to best practice.
   
2. Own the customer conversation.
   
   Two-thirds of sales teams struggle with not being able to find content to send to prospects. Create emails, presentations, data sheets and more, and you’ll have plenty of useful info to seal the deal.
   
3. Upskill your people.
   
   You can’t expect your people to all work the same way. But you can encourage them to adopt best practices by providing training materials such as internal emails and intranet campaign pages. This gives your people the helping hand they need to turn prospects into customers.

Play by your own rules, and get results.

There are so many ways to give your sales teams the edge when they talk to prospects. It all depends on what’ll work best for your people.

Sales enablement allows you to win business by making sure everyone has the tools to share your message and work together.

Give us a call to find out more about how we can help you shape your team into a room full of sales-target-busting superheroes.

How to write a great case study in 4 easy steps

A good case study is like sales gold dust. It’s the closest thing you’ll get to one of your satisfied customers going around and telling all your prospects how great you are. In just one short document, you can evidence that you understand your customers’ issues AND know how to fix them.

So why do so many case studies end up as dry, underwhelming documents that do nothing to win business?

A case study that lacks impact is often the result of poor planning and execution. The good news is that there is a winning formula: follow our four key steps to make sure your case study brings in the business.

1. Find the story

Creating an effective case study is all about telling a story, complete with a plot that sees the hero facing and triumphing over a challenge. Ideally, there’ll be some element of struggle in it before moving on to a happy ending. If you find what you intend to write about doesn’t have a story to tell, cut your losses and find a different topic for your case study.

Your customer must be the hero of the story. Make your customer’s main challenge the villain of the piece and remember that your company, product or solution must only ever be a supporting character. As with any good story, your plot will centre around your hero, and will take them on a clear journey. And maximise the reality, believability and relatability of your story by mentioning any hitches that you and your customer had to overcome along the way. Making your customer the hero has three main benefits:

1. A customer is more likely to sign off a case study that shows them in a good light.
2. It creates a story experience that the reader is most likely to identify with.
3. It stops you focusing the piece on your product or service. This means you’re less likely to get side-tracked into listing features that detract from the story and are better suited to a datasheet.

Wondering how we could tell your customers’ stories? Take a look at some of our case study examples.

2. Let your customer’s voice shine through

Wherever possible, conduct interviews with key players in your customer’s company to capture the human angle for your case study and let the personality of your customer’s business shine through. By talking through their experiences you’re more likely to extract genuine responses that your reader can relate to; written inputs tend to be more clinical and can slip into industry jargon that sound stilted, significantly reducing readability.

Prepare thoroughly for your interviews by speaking to the person that has the closest relationship with them in your company:

• Get the background to the events you’ll be exploring and your colleague’s side of the story so you can make sure you cover every aspect in your interview.
• Prepare open questions beforehand and work logically through the story journey.
• Seek out the transformation story. Explore the position of your customer’s company before and after your actions so you can draw out the contrast.

Listen out for good quotes to incorporate into your writing and use them liberally. The way your customer expresses themselves will be far more effective than your reportage of what they said. Don’t be afraid of a natural-sounding quote; think of it as one peer talking directly to another.

3. Maximise layout and design to make your messages easy to absorb

Boost your chances of your messages coming across loud and clear by making the most of imagery in your case study. The right images embody your customer’s industry and help to draw your reader into the story. Images also create more of a magazine feel, so reading the piece feels light and easy.

Design your case study with the skim reader in mind:

• Include call out boxes containing headline results and key benefits.
• Use subheadings to signpost the main points of the story.
• Consider including graphics to illustrate products or services mentioned, or design mini infographics to draw attention to key stats.

Need a hand to make your case study look good? Take a look at some of our examples for a taste of what we could achieve for you.

4. Work your case study hard

Creating a great case study is not enough — you need to get it noticed by the right people, and that can take some work. Start by customising your core story into the right formats to suit a variety of channels. Begin by creating a short, two-sided version for a quick read, and a succinct couple of paragraphs to get across the key points in presentations. Could it work as a video case study?

Plan how you’re going to promote your case study:

• Consider promoting it across your social channels using custom-designed images.
• Think about how you can feature it on your website with a call-to-action banner.
• Make sure your sales teams know about it and have strategies for using it to best effect.

Once your case study is up and running, keep an eye on its performance. Check back in with your sales teams to get feedback on how your case study has been performing so you can incorporate their opinions into your ongoing case study strategy. Find out the reach of your case study on social media, and website views, too. All measures of effectiveness will support your overall case study programme.

Sell your success with a story

Never underestimate the power of a good case study. Sharing your customers’ stories is a sure-fire way to convince prospects to choose your business. By explaining their journey, your satisfied customers help others to visualise how they could achieve a successful outcome with you, too.

At asabell, we create case studies that win business. To talk through how we can help you share your customers’ stories, get in touch.

Five reasons to say ‘yes’ to social media in B2B

Deciding to include social media in your B2B marketing mix can feel counter-intuitive: surely it’s more of a B2C tool? In fact, 83 per cent of B2B marketers use social media, making it the most common B2B marketing tactic. To help you take the plunge, here are five golden reasons to embrace social media.

1. Make the most of your content.
   Social media is a simple and effective way to sweat your resources further. If you have great content, why not share it as widely as possible? From your company blog through to your latest white paper or case study, social media increases the chances of getting your content noticed. Plus, it can increase awareness of your brand, too. Overall, it increases the visibility of everything you do and, used wisely, this can help you reach new heights of presence amongst a broad audience.
   
2. Keep your costs down.
   With social media you can promote your business at a fraction of the cost of traditional forms of marketing. Paid promotion offers a relatively low cost way to target your audience based on age, industry, job title, location, interests, income, and much more. Results are rapid, too, allowing you to take stock and adjust where necessary, making sure your budget is working as hard as possible.
   
3. Global reach no matter what your size.
   Social media is one of the few areas where a smaller organisation can compete on a par with an international player. To a certain extent, it’s a level playing field. Via social media, you can easily reach customers and prospects all around the world, giving you a global presence.
   
4. Achieve thought leadership.
   Bring knowledgeable opinions to social media, and you have the opportunity to grow your thought leadership position — no matter what the size of your company. Even as a single expert, you can join debates and share your expertise to build up a reputation people will listen to.
   
5. Maximise website traffic and conversions.
   A consistent and engaging social media strategy brings with it increased website traffic and conversion rates. Social media gives you the opportunity to appeal to an audience beyond your regular website visitors, opening the door to encouraging leads that would otherwise not have come your way. Every post, tweet, image or video comes with the chance of being seen by a prospective customer beyond your loyal customer base.

If you’d like to talk through how social media can benefit your business, then get in touch.