What does it take to create content that appeals to your ideal client?

I posed this question to the CEO of Express Writers, Julia McCoy. Julia’s agency creates content for businesses around the globe. Express Writers has grown into one of the most successful content creation agencies in the U.S., and Julia is being heralded as a copywriting industry leader.

This would be impressive to say of anyone, but it carries even more weight when you learn about Julia’s background.  

She started her content creation company when she was just 19 years old. And that was after teaching herself the ins and outs of internet copywriting.

Since that time, she’s built a company with over 50 writers, has written two copywriting books/manuals, and has started an incredibly informative content creation course.

During our conversation, Julia shared seven pillars of modern copywriting that have helped her company grow year after year.

The 7 Pillars of Modern Copywriting that Will Help You Create Better Content

Follow these seven steps and you’ll start to see some amazing results from your copywriting efforts.

1. Always Focus on Who You’re Writing For

First of all, it’s important to make sure you’re writing for an actual human being – not for a search engine. Yes, SEO is important. However, search engines will penalize you for creating keyword stuffed content. And your readers won’t be too happy either.

The next part of this pillar is to determine who your ideal client is because that’s the person you’ll have in mind whenever you’re writing.

Julia and her team went so far as to print and frame a stock photo of a person they envision being their ideal client.

When you write with this person in mind, your content will be much more personal.

2. Think About How to Write High Quality, Relevant Material

You want to create content that is relevant to the needs, desires, and questions that your ideal clients have.

Julia’s team uses Facebook’s Audience Insights, which is in the advertising manager of your Facebook account. This tool helps you study their interests, what publications they read consistently, and even where they like to shop.

What if you don’t have client’s yet? Julia recommends finding someone who you would describe as your ideal client. Then, check them out on LinkedIn and Twitter. This will show you what their interests are and what groups they belong to. From there, you can create content that appeals to them.

3. Learn How to Use Social Media Platforms

A lot of writers tend to divide social media and copywriting when in reality, the two go hand-in-hand. It’s vital to learn how to make social media posts that are pertinent to your ideal client. Or, if you’re a copywriter, you need to learn how to make engaging social media posts to boost your client’s fans/followers and help them grow their business.

4. Everyone Loves a Good Story

Storytelling has stood the test of time, and it makes you relatable to your audience.

One story Julia recommends telling is your founding story.  Readers want to know how you got your start, what made you get into this industry, and what your values are.

5. Learn About Content Form Trends and Find Out Which Appeal to Your Audience

Content forms are changing all the time. Right now, video content is really hot. And yet, there are still people who prefer written or audio content.

The purpose of this pillar is to find out which form appeals to your ideal audience, and then go about creating that type of content.

Do your clients constantly share fun yet informative videos? Then, your job is to start creating video content that will tell your story while appealing to their sensibilities.

6. Ask: How Can I Create Something That a Robot Can’t?

A lot of writers are worried about robots taking over their jobs. That’s understandable. Some publications, like the LA Times, are already using AI to create much of their content.

But here’s the thing – robots have their limitations. They may be able to create content for news stories, but they’ll never be able to have a creative thought and write something that is witty or that tugs at a person’s heartstrings.

7. Break the Rules to Make Progress

If you follow the rules 100% of the time, you’re not going to get anywhere fast. You have to break out of the mold and do things that people won’t expect from time to time.

To illustrate this, Julia related a story about Wendy’s, the fast food restaurant chain.

The hiring team needed people to take care of their Twitter feed. Now, your average corporation would advertise, review resumes, and conduct interviews before hiring someone.

The folks at Wendy’s decided to think outside of the box. They looked for two things in their ideal candidates:

• Are they millennials?
• Do they really know how to tweet?

Then, they hired people who fit those qualifications and let those people do their job. They didn’t micromanage. They didn’t require their Twitter team to run tweets past them before posting them.

And this worked out really well for them. One of the women they hired turned out to be incredibly funny and natural. At one point, she responded to a somewhat negative comment in an absolutely hilarious way. The result: The tweet went viral, and Wendy’s has had a strong Twitter presence ever since.

Keep an Eye on the Latest Trends and What Your Customer Wants

What’s the best way to write content that captures the attention of your ideal client? You need to keep an eye on the latest content trends and find out which ones appeal most to your customer base.

If you notice that your client base is sharing articles from a certain website – take note. Or, if they continually rave about a new podcast, check it out.

These are formats that will keep your ideal customer engaged and what will make you, your company, and your content seems fresh and relevant.

Do you want to keep up to date on the latest copywriting trends? If so, check out Julia’s weekly podcast, her YouTube channel, and her blog for the latest news in content creation.

ABOUT JULIA MCCOY

Julia McCoy is an expert content marketer, blogger, author, and entrepreneur. She started Express Writers at the age of 19 after teaching herself online writing, and today, her content agency has over 50 team members and thousands of worldwide clients. Julia hosts The Write Podcast and #ContentWritingChat, and is the bestselling author of So You Think You Can Write? The Definitive Guide to Successful Online Writing, and the creator of the Practical Content Strategy Certification Course.