Taylor here – I’m a copywriter and account manager here at Unrivald Digital. You’ll find me sorting out the minute details of clients’ websites to make sure they’re perfectly happy and that the sites are perfectly user friendly. I love this kind of detailed work, and often find myself at an interesting crossroads between what the client wants, and what will make sense to the end-user of their website. We’ve touched on the design aspect of this topic before in our blogs (why your favourite colour isn’t necessarily the best choice for your website), but once we get into the words (Be it on the website, landing page, or ad), it becomes more complex.

We recently (virtually) attended the Search Marketing Expo hosted by SearchEngineLand, and the day was a fully brain-exploding festival of information.  

In today’s blog, I’ll distill some of my key takeaways from two of my favourite sessions relating to wordsmithing and your marketing into bite-sized morsels.

Ad Copywriting from a copywriter’s perspective

Even if your website is perfect, you still have to get people there. Think of it like hosting a party but not giving out your address. This is where your advertising comes in, and I want to highlight the importance of two things: WHO you are advertising to, and WHAT inspires them to click your ad.

As a business owner, you’ll understand that your market falls into a few categories:

  • Unaware: These are people who don’t have a problem to solve, don’t know you, don’t know your product.  
  • Problem aware: These people have a problem, but don’t know how to solve it. These people might google “what to do about ants in my house”.
  • Solution aware: This market knows that there’s a solution to the problem, but might not know about your specific solution. These guys might google “Ant traps for indoor use”
  • Product aware: This group knows that your brand can help. They might search for “ACME ant traps”.
  • Most aware: Finally, this group might know exactly who you are and what your product is. They’ll google “ACME Overnight Ant Removal System”

When advertising to market segments with varying degrees of familiarity, SMX speaker Charlie Byrne of Peak Ace AG, suggests you tailor the messaging in your ads to speak directly to those different markets. By considering the psychology behind what will encourage certain segments to take action, you increase the likelihood of engagement. Someone who already knows and loves you might be looking for a sale (ACME’s Overnight system, now 20% off!) , while someone who has never heard of you might simply be looking for a solution to their problem (Fix your ant problem overnight).

Consider the psychology behind what will encourage certain segments to take action.

No matter what segment you’re targeting, emotional appeals, reviews, and benefits of your solution are always a good place to start. After that, look at what people are talking about – is there something in the news or pop-culture you can leverage? Taking advantage of popular, relevant keywords is an important next step.

The second talk that really grabbed my attention was “Alternative content strategies to increase organic traffic and tracking success in 2021”

This eye-opening talk by Marie Amelie White, head of SEO for FloristPro highlighted some of the ways search engines are presenting information to searchers, and how businesses and advertisers can take advantage.  

Why is this important? 39% of searchers click on one of the first 5 results, and less than 4% of searchers make it to the bottom of the page. This highlights the importance of getting creative with your content to make it to the top of the page. 

Google My Business

Creating or claiming your Google My Business account is the most important thing you can do to set yourself up for success. Verifying your business, filling out the business profile in full, and gathering Google reviews will help your business appear in those coveted top-of-page positions. 

Snippets

Have you ever searched Google by asking a full question, and been served up a paragraph, list, table, recipe or video? You’ve been served a snippet!

These snippets usually tie back to a blog or some other piece of content on your website, so make sure you include the question AND the answer in your source content. There’s a bit of back-end magic that needs to happen to create these snippets, but your friendly neighbourhood digital marketers will be able to sort you out.

Image Pack

If your content is visual, you can take advantage of Image Pack, which is a search result that clicks through to Google images. As we all know, people remember images much better than they remember names, so if your organization can take advantage of this feature, it can be a powerful tool.

Some of these features require a bit of back-end magic, but your friendly neighbourhood digital marketers will be able to sort you out.

In conclusion

There are so many ways to reach your audience, but words matter in all of them! Whether it’s word-perfect display ads that capture your audience as they browse, or having the perfect answer to their question when they type it into Google.

Try it yourself: Google “What does Unrivald Digital do?”

If you’re looking for an experienced team to get your digital marketing and advertising working for you, why not get in touch? Call us at 1-888-322-6250 or email info@unrivald.digital.

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Gary Pitcher

Web Developer

Gary has forgotten more about technology than most of us will ever know. He’s worked in dozens of industries in a wide variety of roles and solves difficult problems recreationally. By the time you’ve formulated your question, Gary already has an answer, which would be annoying except he’s so darned nice about it.

Adrian Proctor

Web Developer

When you put Adrian behind a keyboard, magic happens. On stage, that means he’s making music. At work, he’s bringing website designs to life. Adrian is probably the quietest member of the Unrivald Digital team, but when he speaks, we all listen because we know he’s got something important to say.

Shaheen Bhimani

Director

Shaheen is the guy you want in your corner when you’ve got a complex problem to solve in the next 15 minutes. He’s part MacGyver, part Tony Stark and part while still being the nicest guy in the room, hands down. His soft-spoken, down-to-earth vibe and ability to deliver makes him a client favourite.

Blair Shunk

Founder

Whether leading a meeting, riding his motorcycle, or running in the Banff Jasper Relay (for which he was Race Director for many years), Blair connects with the world around him. He inspires his team to work hard while never forgetting the value of the relationships he builds with clients.