Whether it's an advertisement, public statement or any other write-ups you would be making for your business, the motive is to get as much audience as possible.

Whether it's on your blog, website, hand bill or even a complimentary card, you don't just do it anyhow. We will talk about ways by which you can

  1. Get new people to read your content,
  2. Maintain integrity for your business personality through what you post.
  3. How to get content to post.

What you need to know about most people's reading culture:

  1. They want the author to prove that their content is worth the time. You get the chance to do that in the first few lines.
  2. They have experienced cases of abuse of promotional content. Have you seen people that hate BCs, promotional SMS etc.  It's because those mediums have been abused.
  3. They want to hear from you. Contrary to what you might think, hearing from your business is a significant factor that can determine if they want to do business with you again.
  4. They will likely not respond to your post, even if you have done everything to make sure the post is engaging. You should learn not to depend on user's approval or engagement for encouragement.

These are the elements of a rich promotional content. Most readers consider a promotional content "rich" if it is:

  1. Informative: Most readers value information and would regard any platform that would keep them informed about who and what they care about. When your post is informative, your audience tends to trust your sense of judgment on areas you pose as an expert.
  2. Engaging: when you give your audience a voice, you will not only earn for yourself loyalty but you will also be blessed with quality feedbacks from users. Humans are social beings and they would do anything to engage with people of interest. Ready to engage me right now?
  3. Entertaining: I love to be entertained, I believe every honest person would say the same.  Once in every while, feel free to promote your product in a way your audience finds enjoyable and fun.  A common example is what MTN is doing with "project fame".
  4. Original: think of the feeling you get when you received the same BC that someone had sent to you six months ago. Or the feeling you get when someone claims ownership of a quote you have read somewhere else. Without originality, very soon, no one will take you seriously. Also if you must copy content, ensure you provide correct attribution.
  5. Grammatically Okay: No one is above mistakes, but we must minimize every chance of typos and grammatical errors in all compositions. A grammatical error easily distracts your readers and it portrays a shabby job.
  6. Well arranged and structured: When your content is well arranged, you command the respect of your readers. Some way and somehow, the way you arrange your composition has a lot to do with how competent your audience thinks you are. Therefore, pay close attention to this.
  7. Precise: proof-read your content to remove unnecessary portions. The shorter your content is, the better, but you are allowed to have heavy content, so far they are relevant things to the purpose of the composition.

We have been discussing ways by which you can create better promotional contents. Now, these are the action points, lessons that you are expected to take note of.

  1. Prepare your content ahead of time; avoid sending out content immediately you compose them. This allows you to ponder on them and correct any errors. What you would get most times is a very rich content that portrays competence and depth of knowledge.
  2. Give what you would like to receive. And what you would get will surpass your imaginations. Content building is a trade; a trade of attention. You sow a seed of attention to building a solid content; you reap a grown tree of fruits, filled with a hungry audience, looking forward to hear from you again.
  3. Use a word processor like Microsoft Word to compose your promotional content. They come with useful features like spell checkers and formatting options that allows you to produce a rich content. At least, ensure the editor you are using has a "spell check" feature.
  4. Use graphics and videos to express yourself where possible. A picture is worth more and shorter than a thousand words. Using graphics in your content also allows your audience to visualize the promotion. The visualization makes it stick in their memory.
  5. Have someone take a look at what you have composed. There is a high chance that there are a number of errors your eyes didn't catch. A second look will help cover that. If it's a very serious business, you might need to have a professional to review the content.
  6. Have a specific target audience in mind for your content before you begin with it. Don't even try to reach out to everyone in your post because you can't please everybody. This gives you the right focus you need to deliver a message that is always on point.

Here is a Promotional content checklist. Your promotional content should contain the following, no matter how brief they must be.

  1. Business or Brand Name or Logo: this allows you to give your audience an idea of who you are as a business. Since your name would be on the publication, you must ensure the content represent what your business represent.
  2. Contact Information: sometimes, your composition gets you a business prospects, how do you want those prospects to contact you? Its better you make it a policy never to publish a content that doesn't have your contact information.  Your business will be better for it.
  3. A message: if truly, you had a goal and an audience in mind before you compose an article, your content should also have an intended message. The most basic message you could compose is the one that lists out your products and services.

Composition of a promotional content has just been concluded. Hope you gained one or two things :)

Categories: article business writing 23

Share

Comments

  • Mayowa
    5 yrs ago
    This is so educative and touching
    Thank you Ayoola