7 Reasons Why Marketers Need to Be Excellent Writers

Published by Denise Gabbard on Monday, May 5, 2014 in Content Marketing.

Content marketing is not just a buzzword; it's part of nearly every brand's marketing arsenal.

Traditional marketing, like television commercials and magazine ads, no longer work for marketers the way they once did. Digital marketing has taken its place.

In recent years, as businesses and marketers realized how important content writing and keywords were to their online campaigns, they filled websites with pages with keyword-stuffed nonsense that attracted search engine spiders. Today, those spiders are smarter and writers must write for their audience, not search engines. Luckily, advancements in search algorithms have brought common sense back to marketing. Good writing is an invaluable skill for marketers today for no fewer than these seven reasons:

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1. Marketers Need to Know What to Say

While most people can write, few people do it well -- fewer still are those who can write good marketing copy. Effective copywriting requires a marketing slant -- and not every writer is a salesperson. As a marketer, you need to know how important it is to highlight the crucial aspects of a product when you have seven seconds to get your points across.

2. Marketing Means You Have to Know How to Say It

Marketers also realize the best way to break down the features and benefits of their products is to produce scannable copy (see also: 6 Phrases Weakening Your Content). This means writing short paragraphs, short sentences and only three to seven main points in each post.

3. Marketers Have to Compress

Bulleted lists are easy to read and readers are naturally drawn to them. They convey lots of information without a lot of clutter and break up paragraphs into small bites.

4. Marketers Are Conversationalists

Marketing professionals need to know the art of conversation. They know to mirror the tone of the people they are talking to and to tailor their language as well. The average American reads at the grade-school level, so that means that you must develop writing strategies that speak to the reader in simple, direct terms (see also: Don't Be a Content Snob: Listen to What Your Audience Wants). Writing the way people talk is necessary, even if copy is filled with fragmented sentences.

5. Marketers Know WIIFM

As a marketing professional, you might have heard WIIFM and know that it means "What's in it for me?" Marketers have to know how to take the technical aspects of a product or service and translate it to the customer's language.

6. Marketers Need to Create a Sense of Urgency

Marketers understand that they must always ask for business. No matter how stellar the presentation or the article, leaving the customer without clear direction to contact you or order the product will ensure that orders get lost in the process. True professionals understand they must create urgency and direct the customer to the next step. This is why you often see "contact us today to order" in bold or bright red type -- there is no mistaking what to do next.

7. Marketers Have to Convey What's Most Important

When writing for customers or potential customers, no one knows better what is important to say than a marketing professional. Your reader is your focus and writing about solutions to problems your consumers face is the only way to reach them.

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Marketers should learn to write because they are tasked with communicating everything essential and desirable about their products or services. This communication should take the form of high-quality content, the sort that's sharable on social media and draws attention to the brand.