Sticks and Stones and Words can Hurt You

When we were kids, all of us at one time or another repeated the old adage, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me." When we were five years old and in a name-calling fight with a classmate on the playground, saying this phrase meant we were big, tough, invincible and no matter what they called us, we weren't effected by it.

Marketing is completely the opposite. The words you say in an email, TV, or radio advertisement or a Facebook or Twitter post can effect how customers view your brand and their likelihood of buying your product or service. 

Don't believe me? Here are three reasons why good content matters:

1. The proof is in the pudding...I mean the search results

Don't even try to fool Google's algorithm. It can sniff out quality sites and content like a fox hound. This algorithm can see right through any black hat's rule breaking SEO practices. By looking at time spent on pages, bounce rates, and number of times shared (among tons of other site characteristics) and not just keywords and phrases, Google is getting better and better at finding the real content. 

2. Learn about the people behind the clicks

This part takes a little bit of extra work on your part, but in the end it's worth it. Track clicks, comments, likes, anything and everything you can. Try to find patterns in the data you collect. Are there certain topics that get more viewers, what taglines get more clicks, what kind of comments are people making? If you find that certain things aren't working, try switching up your strategy. You won't know until you try!

3. Good content gets noticed. Period.

It's as simple as that. With today's consumers being bombarded almost constantly with advertisements and messages, it takes really strong content to grab their attention and hold it long enough to get your point across. Not only that, but if you can capture and keep someone's full attention, there's a higher chance they will share your message with their friends, furthering your campaign even more.  


Now go back to the last few pieces you've published. How does your content look? How did consumers respond to it? Are there things you can change about it? Consider making those changes and publishing it again. Like I mentioned, by trying different content tactics and analyzing your results you can really nail down exactly what your audience wants to hear. 

Now go forth and happy content writing!