In the long history of marketing, people have used the written word in their efforts to sell their products, proliferate their ideas, and build their brands. As the concept of “marketing” matured, so too did the way in which it was carried out. Anciently, the first civilization in Egypt used marketing — specifically, a rudimentary form of what experts today call content writing — to relate to those standing before the mighty and immovable stone walls of the palace of the godhood of the pharaoh; how great they must have been if they had united the Upper and Lower Kingdoms, built a pyramid, and brought war to the Nubians, as these hieroglyphs suggest.
This isn’t the only example of marketing in the ancient world. Consider this advertisement, arguably the earliest form of copywriting ever discovered: “we buy high-quality steel rods and make fine-quality needles that are ready for use at home in no time.” The accompanying captioned image was of a white rabbit holding a needle. While kids today would deem anything before the age of color television as “ancient,” this particular ad dates all the way back to the Song dynasty in China. Meanwhile, thriving cities in Saudi Arabia had a common practice of technical writing as they would carve their municipal laws on every gate leading into the city so that visitors wouldn’t be ignorant of the city council’s expectations.
A Variety of Styles
As the above examples indicate, when there is a story to tell or a person to persuade, then there is a bevy of writing styles under the marketing umbrella. While individuals, corporations, and empires have been pioneering new and better ways to bring their messages to the masses, it is the goal of the modern digital marketing firm to work fluently in each of these different mediums.
Of the various styles that can be used, the most predominant examples include:
- Content Writing: The act of writing and editing the text to be used for various web-based purposes. Ideally, this type of writing is engaging, meaning that it is interesting and often conversational.
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- Examples: Blogs, videos, social media posts.
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- Copywriting: This is the writing most associated with advertising. It is persuasive and promotional, designed to motivate people to buy now, click here, and sign up today.
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- Examples: Banner ads, item descriptions, email marketing.
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- Technical Writing: The marketing workhorse, technical writing provides instructional and informative text designed to increase the reader’s knowledge.
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- Examples: Progress reports, instruction manuals, rule books.
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- SEO Writing: The difference-maker in digital marketing, this style ensures that the writer is providing information that is both useful for the reader as well as the algorithm that dictates search engine results.
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- Examples: URLs, metadata, keywords, and page tags.
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- Creative Writing: The “fun” type of writing, creative writing lets the author stretch their artistic qualities, spanning any style the writer wishes.
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- Examples: Books, poetry, short stories.
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The wonderful thing about each of these styles is that they have practical applicability to marketing. From newsletters to landing pages, the digital marketing writer, like those at Gravitate One, can transition from one style to another with deftness and versatility, as needed.
Made to Order
Why spend the legwork in getting to know how each type of writing differs from one another? Can’t an editor simply let what is on the page exist without the need to scrupulously review the style? The truth is that understanding the various forms of marketing writing gives crucial insight into both how each is used to its fullest potential and whom each is best directed toward.
For instance, a cookbook is full of recipes that must be easily understood, with comprehensive instructions on which ingredients to have nearby and how they all work together to create the desired result. A block of text written in a narrative style, wherein the reader must identify how to cook by what the characters are doing on the page isn’t an effective way to teach. Instead, all this novel will accomplish (because it has ceased to be a real cookbook) is creating a lot of upset chefs. However, there is call for something as innocuous as a cookbook for a blending of different styles.
- An introduction to the book, or chapter headings, is a great place for content writing to draw in the reader to the story of the recipes.
- Chapter conclusions or “Learn More” sections can showcase great copywriting, as the author encourages the reader to visit the website or buy the other books in the series for more instruction.
- The recipes themselves are the purest form of technical writing. They must feature clear instructions and (ideally) some reasoning behind certain choices like why something should be cooked at a certain temperature or why it must include salt.
- Building the chef’s brand enough so that newcomers who are searching for this particular cookbook can find it and purchase it is a good use of SEO writing. The marketing firm will rank specific keywords such as the book’s title or author.
Whereas creative writing might not be the best tool for traditional marketing — though, one could argue that the best marketing strategy is simply putting out a quality product. People buy the latest book from a novelist because the last one was good, after all — the artful integration of all these various types of writing takes real creativity.
The Art of Knowing
Ultimately, having the experience to know what a certain audience or market calls for, and being able to bring quality to that writing is what drives people to hire professionals. For over a decade, Gravitate One has been perfecting these crucial skills. The greatest asset that a marketing firm can give its clients is confidence; a surety that they’re in the best hands and that everything will work out. That is what the writers on Gravitate’s content team bring — peace of mind.