eLearning Writers: 3 Ways You Stand Out as a Digital Marketing Writer

What’s the difference between writing for a general business audience and writing for your eLearning company’s blog? “Plenty!” your marketing manager would say.

To stand out as a marketing writer, you need to know what makes your writing distinct from your company’s internal newsletter, for instance. (No offense to your internal communications colleagues!)

Your Audience is Different

This point may seem fairly straightforward, but let’s make sure we’re implementing it correctly. First, allow me to state the obvious: general business writing is for internal communications – you’re writing for people who are already invested in your company.

Marketing writing, on the other hand, is for your clients. Or is it for your prospective clients? Well, it depends on the context, doesn’t it? (More on that, below.)

The important thing to know is that when you’re writing content marketing deliverables, your audience is a group of people you (and your bosses) hope will invest further into your company. Whether they’ve invested anything so far or not, the goal is always to move audience members through your sales funnel.

If you’re unclear about where your audience for a particular piece is in relations to your sales funnel, just ask your Marketing Manager, preferably before you start writing – they’ll love to tell you and they’ll probably be impressed by your initiative!

Your Purpose is Different

If you’re writing general business communications, your purpose is to convey helpful information as efficiently as possible. Well, that’s one purpose anyway.

Point being, internal communications writing can involve an element of persuasion – you do want your colleagues to follow the new recycling guidelines, after all!

The difference is that marketing content always involves persuasion, but the concept of persuasion can be more subtle than it first appears.

Here’s what I mean: you always hope the reader will click through or fill out a form or give you information or even call you . . . which will eventually lead to a sale.

In other words, there is no piece of content marketing that is designed to stand on its own.

Your purpose, content marketing writer, is to keep your audience engaged throughout your piece so that they will follow through on the call-to-action you include at the end. This will ensure continued engagement, which is about building a relationship, not just making a single sale.

Your Project Types are Different

Your marketing manager probably needs blog posts, case studies, white papers, emails, web copy . . . the list goes on.

And whereas an internal memo could be sent to almost anyone within your company – the content will determine the recipient – content marketing formats are determined in large part by where your audience is within your sales funnel.

For example, someone reading your email newsletter is likely further along your sales funnel than a reader of your company’s blog.

So, this is not a one-size-fits-all style of writing. You and your marketing manager will choose each format and platform based on the specific target audience you’re trying to reach with it.

And your CTA plays a major role in this process. Blog posts often include a CTA to exchange an email address for a subscription to your newsletter. Your email newsletter will include invitations to click links that will initiate an email series. And so on.

Internal communications also have CTA’s, but they’re not designed to lead the reader from one piece of writing to the next. Instead, these pieces often stand alone as far as purpose goes, though not always.

When you’re writing for marketing, knowing the next desired action is essential for every piece you produce.

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Hopefully, these tips have helped to clarify what marketing writers do differently from everyone else who writes for your company.

Questions? Email me at [email protected].