It’s the first piece of advice you get as a writer, “Write What You Know.” Just because it is an old adage doesn’t mean it is without merit.
Anyone who has started a blog, written a story, or even produced copy will tell you that it’s much easier to write with purpose when the content is familiar. But besides being easy, what else does writing what you know offer? Expertise.
Expertise is invaluable to content marketing. It makes the voice of a piece of content more authentic, which gives the consumer a sense of authority while they are reading. This translates to the consumer trusting the brand or business and returning to the content for more knowledge.
An expert, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is a person who has special skill or knowledge relating to a particular subject. By that definition, any person is an expert at a pretty good number of things. Laundry for a family of four? Check. Traffic in the Bay Area? Check.
What sets your writing apart from other content, though, is that one little word: “special.”
Trust What You Write
We’ve all been there. We typed a sentence with a fact or two, thought “yep, that’s right,” and then started to second-guess ourselves. We turn to Google to fact-check.
This isn’t a bad strategy to follow if you’re really unsure of what you’re writing, but trusting your gut leads to a more free-flowing process. Instead of immediately clicking on the nearest search engine, finish your piece. Then go back and check it for moments when you got that nagging feeling.
This will lead to an honest thought process, which the consumer will read as natural (especially in tone and voice).
Be Honest When It Comes to Educating
Trusting what you have to say is an important element in writing. Trusting what you have to say is valuable is a whole other issue.
Once you accept that you are an expert in a subject, you’ll start to understand that what you have to say is “special.” People will turn to you for their problems or questions about a topic. Reward them for this trust by being honest.
Be honest about what you know and how you learned it. Give examples. Be Personable. Brett Henley of Content Standard illustrates this by referencing Paul Jarvis, who “references his nearly two decades of behind-the-scenes experience in freelance design before his relatively recent growth as a vocal influencer in his industry. Within the folds of his story are often strong personal anecdotes on what it took for Paul to maintain growth as a designer while staying relatively anonymous from a marketing perspective.”
Consumers will appreciate it and will continue to return to your expertise because they trust the value in your work.
Answer Pain Points
Once you trust yourself and consumers trust your knowledge, start listening to what they want to know from you. Comb the comments on your content, notice how and what people are sharing, ask your customer service team the most common questions they get ask about the product.
All of these method will help give answers to the questions your consumers are asking and ensure they will return to your content with their next question.
–Sage Curtis
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