In 2024, creating content that makes an impression is more difficult than it’s ever been. We’re living in an era of information anxiety, in which the average person has a multitude of distractions, most of which are at our fingertips or right in front of our faces.
Gone are the times when consumers might be expected to put time aside to read longform articles. The proliferation of social media and email notifications and other stimuli that divert attention have pretty much put an end to this quaint pursuit.
Because content is more accessible than ever, it can be consumed almost anywhere: on trains, buses, in the back of taxis or cars, on planes, etc. – more often than not, in environments that are simply not conducive to focus and concentration.
Other factors need to be considered. Selective exposure, for example, and technical yet frequently insurmountable hurdles such as ad blockers and annoying speedbumps like cookie walls.
These kinds of virtual bombardments can be fatiguing, making individuals less inclined to engage with a subject, let alone retain interest in it.
For these reasons alone, it’s important to create content that grabs and maintains eyeball contact without recourse to verbosity and while relaying the salient points. In such situations, generic content is almost certainly doomed to fail.
What is much more likely to succeed are an authentic voice, compelling storytelling, visual appeal, perceived value and an innovative approach.
Writing concise, impactful copy
This is a skill that requires the paring down of an article to its essence. Before starting, consider your core message and how it might benefit your prospective audience. To achieve this, you’ll need to focus on what the reader wants and how a particular product or service might satisfy their needs.
Be as ruthless with your writing as a gardener is with weeds or, kill your darlings, a piece of writing wisdom that applies as much to fact as it does to fiction – i.e. remove all unnecessary text to ensure that your message is as clear and effective as it possibly can be.
There are other things you can do.
- Create attention-grabbing headlines.
- Use active verbs (which help to generate greater dynamism), strong verbs and nouns and avoid redundant adjectives and adverbs (this will help to ensure that your content is more impactful).
- Employ sentence structures and paragraph sizes that encourage readability.
- Favour clarity rather than complexity.
- Never underestimate emotionality and creativity – they can help your copy to stand out and linger in the mind.
- Edit mercilessly to create a concise, precise, relevant article that flows nicely while imparting the requisite information.
Utilising visuals and formatting
In copywriting, content is king. This means using all the writing tricks and trades mentioned above in service of a meaningful message – which is not to say that other strategies can’t be employed to make the message clearer.
Visual appeal plays a huge part in audience engagement. Fundamentally, a written piece should be easy on the eye, even before a single word is read. This can be achieved in a number of ways but principally through colour and font choices, and by using subheadings, short paragraphs and bullet points. Don’t underestimate the power of a good hyperlink either, particularly one that offers SEO benefits.
Ultimately, scannable text facilitates easier comprehension. By aiming for a consistent and positive user experience, you’re more likely to strike a chord with the reader – lots of readers, ideally.
All of this relates to the writing itself – but there are other ways to ‘dress up’ your prose, with interactive graphics and videos, for instance. Visual components not only attract the eye, they quickly and powerfully convey information in an accessible and memorable way.
Interactive and dynamic content
Interactive elements help to bring writing to life, which isn’t to say that the written word isn’t a powerful tool in its own right – but let’s not forget the landscape we’re operating within:
- Ambient noise
- Passing conversations
- Buzzing, ringing mobile phones
- Informationally overloaded screens
- A mind that just can’t help but wander
And so on…
Judiciously placed infographics can significantly bolster plain text. The same can be said of clickable buttons or anything that encourages reader involvement. If relevant to your article, consider the inclusion of a poll or a request for feedback. For an even more immersive reader experience, you might gamify your content with challenges and quizzes and such like. This will help to foster an interactive and memorable reading experience.
In conclusion
Do whatever is necessary to create content that hooks itself into the reader without sacrificing integrity and veracity. As copywriters, we face immense competition in a fast-paced digital landscape – in which the audience has the power to terminate potential engagement in the blink of an eye.
