We believe we need to be involved in every part of our company’s processes…and then… things get really busy! It’s not uncommon for founders and C-Levels to want to be involved in the content creation process, and the truth is, we want you to be involved! You’re the experts and you know more about your business than anyone else. Your insights are incredibly valuable. 

But, it’s also not uncommon for you – C-Level person – to become bottlenecks in the content creation process. This could be for a variety of reasons, like wanting to write content, but you aren’t able to get enough written for your content team to edit. Or maybe it’s because of the approval process, and with things getting so busy, there isn’t enough time to approve content waiting to be published. 

Whatever the reason, we’ve got some great (and relatively simple) tips to help you keep the content creation process moving smoothly, while still getting to be involved! 

Think ahead & be prepared

If you have a good content team, they’ll be asking for information from you and handing in tasks well before they’re due. This is where backlogs become crucial. 

Even before starting to work with a content team, it can be helpful to start a backlog of ideas, and then continue to build it once working with your content creator. 

If content marketing is built on consistency, to build trust with potential and existing customers, the importance of always having a steady flow of valuable content being published becomes clear. 

Having a backlog and a regular flow of ideas coming in ensures that you’re always prepared and never scrounging for what to write about, or what the next video should be about. This can help prevent bottlenecking because your content team isn’t waiting around for you to approve new ideas or tell them what topic to focus on next.

Be realistic about your capacity

We can get excited when we’re starting to activate our new content strategy. And it’s wonderful to be excited about it! But you also need to be realistic about your capacity, in terms of being involved in the process. 

You need to think about your average week and your busiest week. These will help you determine how much “free” time you have, or time you can set aside for being a part of the content creation process.

Overestimating or underestimating your capacity can easily cause you to become a bottleneck. Remember, you can also delegate tasks – it can be helpful to ask your team members about their capacity. 

Once you’ve determined how many hours per week you can dedicate to the content creation process, you can break up that time into days and tasks. 

Setting aside time each week

Blocking off bits of your calendar to focus on the content creation process is really important. This helps to make sure that you aren’t booking other meetings at those times or getting swept away in other tasks – negating your content and content team. 

It can feel challenging at first, but it will become a habit and it gets easier, we promise! The important thing here is to block off that time in your calendar and stick to it. 

We usually, recommend that you pick 2-3 days a week where you can make some time for content. Also, note that blocking off your calendar helps, but it’s also beneficial to outline what you plan to do in that time.

For example

Monday 9:00 am-10:00 am: 10 min filling backlog, 50 min. writing LinkedIn posts
Tuesday 11:00 am-12:00 pm: giving feedback, 
Thursday 2:00 pm-3:00 pm: 30 min writing blog post, 30 min giving feedback

Writing can be anything from writing a blog post or social media posts for your personal account. Feedback will be you setting aside time to give your content team constructive criticism and filling the backlog is to make sure you aren’t losing sight of great ideas and you always have something to create content about. 

Remember to let your content team know about your new schedule! This way they can plan their creating content based on the days you’ll be providing feedback. 

Who’s best at what?

Are you a good writer? Should you be the one commenting on grammar? Or are you more of a subject expert?

Know what you’re good at and be realistic about it. This combines a bit of the delegating tip coming up next, where it’s really important to have the right people in your team performing the right functions. 

A great way to get started with this is to call a meeting and have a discussion about content creation, about your content strategy, and determine who has which strengths – then you can play to those. You can even include your content team in this meeting as a great way for them to be introduced to your internal teams and get their perspective on the different skill sets. 

Delegate tasks to the experts

It can feel like you need to have your hands in everything for it to go right, but delegation can be a more effective way of managing your content creation. You’re likely already delegating other tasks to other people in your team, so find out who in your team can be helpful to the content creation process. 

You could choose someone from your internal team who provides feedback on all content – or you can even choose people from different teams to leave feedback on specific topics (as they’re the experts!)

What we mean to say here is – if you have a blog post about software development, you can choose someone in your dev team to be the person who provides feedback on that. If it’s a design social post, ask a designer. A piece of content about processes – ask one of your project managers. 

Remember, delegating is great, but those team members’ capacity does too – which is where we come back to the previous tips. If you do decide to delegate to experts in your team, make sure you know their skill set, and their capacity, and that they’re scheduling time in their calendars to manage these tasks. 

And, again, let your content creators know what that schedule is, so they can make sure there is always something ready for feedback on feedback days. 

Battle the bottleneck

You’ve spent time and money on a great content strategy and fantastic foundational documents – now you need to have it all activated. This is where your content marketing really begins to take shape. But it could all be in vain if you become a bottleneck in the content creation process. 

Being realistic about your capacity, setting aside time for your content tasks, delegating to the best team members, and knowing your teams’ skills are all great ways to prevent bottlenecking. There’s no need to feel overwhelmed, or disappointed that you haven’t managed to do what you said you would. If you give yourself and your team some grace – think critically about the process, your skills, and your capacity, activating your content strategy can be butter-smooth.

Yes, it’s a made-up name – but aren’t all job titles? We decided to start calling ourselves UX Messaging Experts because using titles like “copywriter”, “content creator” or “content writer” doesn’t even cover half of what we do at writelingo. 

So if you’ve ever wondered what the “F” a UX Messaging Expert actually does, we’ve got you covered. 

UX Messaging Experts – what we actually do

As UX Messaging Experts, we use research, best practices, and design knowledge to ensure that users understand what actions you want them to take when using your product or solution. 

All the while, we’re ensuring that your brand voice doesn’t get lost in the mix. If you’ve heard us shout anything, it’s probably “consistency is key to building trust with potential customers and keeping existing users”. 

Simply put, a UX Messaging Expert makes sure that users are delighted, feel comforted knowing they can trust your brand, and are able to navigate through your product or solution. 

User Experience

If you’ve met our founder, you know she often talks about the fact that so many companies spend their budget on development and design, but then try to skimp out on their copy. Thing is – she has a point! 

Building a new solution or product means that your users need to understand how to navigate to get from whatever your point A is, to your Point B. Point B, is, of course, the action you want them to take in the end – whether it’s signing up for or onboarding to your app or making purchases. 

Designers, generally, do a great job of using some UX best practices to make products and solutions easy to navigate, but where they often miss the mark is the copy they’re putting into their CTAs or notifications, for example. 

Some actions are intuitive if designed well – but not all. There are a lot of cases where users don’t understand what to do next or what steps to take to complete an action. This is where you need a UX Messaging Expert.  

What services do UX Messaging Experts offer?

Well, we do a big mix of different tasks, but all with the same ultimate goal – making sure that your users love your product and know how to use it!

UX website and app audits

This is where we go through your website or your app and determine points of friction. These are areas in which you could improve the UX for your users. We always provide recommendations and suggestions for how to improve them. 

In-app copy and strings

Working closely with designers and developers, we determine what each step of the customer journey is (or should be). From there we write the copy in your app including calls to action and notification strings, while providing suggestions to designers on changes that need to be made to certain assets or components. We use tools like Figma and Confluence to make sure that there is seamless cooperation between our team and yours. 

Brand foundational documents

Creating the foundations for your brand, ensuring that any and all customer-facing content, including your product, are all in line with your branding. These include:

• Logo & colours
• Brandbook
• Tone of Voice documentation
• Brand Persona
• Buyer Personas

Writing targeted content

Of course, we write and manage company blogs and can even help with writing your social posts. But primarily, we’ll use your foundational documents to write engaging and targeted copy, speaking your ideal customers’ language to increase conversion rates. 

Content strategies

Building a strong strategy is the best way to ensure that your content is consistent – not just with your brand, but also in a timely way. It’s important to understand that all your goals should be attainable and that the way to choose to achieve them are manageable for you and your team. For instance – do you really need to be posting on every social media channel?! Probs not. 

C-level LinkedIn Makeovers

Making your company trustworthy through your brand and content is just one part of the bigger picture. Your C-levels must look like people who can be trusted – also that they actually look human! Having your C-levels makeover their LinkedIn profiles is a great way to engage a wider audience, let them know what your company is doing, and is a great avenue for bringing in quality leads. 

We don’t do it all, and that’s ok

It’s always easier to focus on what we do best, and then do that really really well. Performance marketing and other types of marketing have their place, and we often cooperate with agencies or internal teams who do these – but it’s not what we do. We’re your one-stop shop for content marketing!

We’re wordsmiths, with vast experience in product design, product development, and project management. Building brands is an important part of what we do, but more than that – we activate those brands! Having all the documents in the world won’t bring you clients an

Tech companies like yours are constantly on the lookout for diverse content channels, mainly because you want to create deeper connections with your audience. While blogs have traditionally served as the backbone of digital marketing, offering steady engagement and a boost to SEO, they represent just a slice of the pie when it comes to the platforms available for businesses to showcase their know-how and interact with their audience.

Using a wider spectrum of content types in your marketing mix helps you to appeal to a wider range of audience preferences, helping you to connect with more people in different ways. When you combine this with staying consistent with your brand tone of voice, you’ll be able to create more memorable experiences across the board – making sure that your brand stays top of mind for your potential clients.

Infographics: pictures worth thousands of words

Visual storytelling is powerful. We can tap into that potential by using infographics. They’re a really useful tool in our space, transforming complex data into visually engaging, easily digestible pieces. These content pieces do more than simplify – they improve the retention of information by using engaging visuals and design. 

In sectors like healthtech – where the subject matter can often become a little intricate, even daunting – infographics become an excellent medium to distill complex concepts into memorable snippets of useful knowledge. 

Using infographics can help to simplify how you convey your product’s features, industry trends, or survey results. The key? A blend of compelling data and eye-catching design.

Brochures: digital showcases

Next up, digital brochures, including pitch decks and sales decks. These are not your average leaflets but interactive presentations that highlight your products or services in a succinct, engaging manner. 

Okay, we know that user experience can set you apart from your competition. But we can take that UX and mix it effectively with high-quality, interactive brochures. That’s when we see the magic start to happen: conversion rates are likely to increase and interested leads can become loyal customers. They’re perfect for catching the eye of potential investors or clients during virtual meetings. And there’s another bonus: they show off how you’re able to innovate and adapt to the evolving expectations of your audience. 

By focusing on clean design and concise content, you’ll be able to use digital brochures to communicate your value proposition effectively.

White papers & e-books: going in-depth

You’ve got deep insight in your field and you want to explore well-thought-out ideas worth sharing that bring real value to your audience. This is where white papers and e-books come in.

You can present your brand (and yourself) as a thought leader by offering well-thought-out material to your target audience. You can offer insights, solutions, and innovative ideas highlighting your expertise. Since they’re far more comprehensive than the average blog post, you’ll be able to challenge your audience’s interests more, helping you to build (and maintain) a strong foundation of trust and credibility. Let’s say you’re a cybersecurity firm – your e-book or white paper can offer best practices for SMEs who are trying to understand the threats specific to the scale of their business.

When your audience is looking for detailed information and the latest in industry trends, these will be your go-to content types. They can also help to generate leads by showing that you really understand their problem space – and you’re often able to collect insightful data on people who want access to this content (like their email addresses and other useful contact info).

Case studies & customer stories: real successes

You don’t need to shout to be heard. The same goes for real success. But sometimes you’ve just got to show off how you solved a customer’s pains in the real world, helping you to build credibility and trust. Case studies and customer stories are your chance to shine a spotlight on how your business made a real difference for your clients.

For tech companies, how your products are applied to solving problems can be as important as the technology itself. Crafting these stories can explore versatility and impact very effectively.

Email newsletters: your direct line

Email newsletters are still a powerful tool for keeping your audience engaged. They allow you to share updates, insights, and content – directly with your subscribers. 

Newsletters can help your business in the long term – in some pretty amazing ways.

• Builds brand awareness and trust: The more clients read about your business and what you’re doing, the more they understand and come to trust your products or services.

• Improves sales: Newsletters can help your customers along their buyer’s journey and make the right decisions that are relevant to them – whether they’re in the awareness, consideration, or decision stage.

• Offers personalized content: Sending well-crafted, personalized emails to your customers makes them feel like you’re speaking directly to them. You’re able to tailor specific types of emails, sending those directly to certain members of your target audience

But the key to connecting relies on two things: consistency and value. So you’ve got to make sure your newsletters offer something worthwhile to keep your audience looking forward to your next send.

Social media content: engage & connect

Lastly, we can’t overlook social media content. This is your arena to be more personable, creative, and direct. Social media platforms offer a unique opportunity to engage with your audience in real-time, bringing your company’s personality up front and staying top of mind for your audience.

And you don’t need to be on every single social channel – make sure your efforts count by understanding where your buyer personas go to get info. If they’re not on TikTok, put more of your time and effort into socials where your target audience will actually see what you’re posting. 

Using different types of content in your strategy

Diversifying your content doesn’t mean abandoning blog posts. You need to integrate lots of different types of content into your overall strategy. Each format serves a unique purpose – they help you to reach different people in your target audience. 

Think of it this way: different people in a single buyer persona probably learn in different ways, so different types of content will resonate better with some people more than it will with others. By exploring new formats, you can improve engagement, extend your reach, and strengthen your brand’s presence in the tech industry.

As a tech company, you want to solve your customers’ problems. But you’re also there to educate and highlight your innovations through your content. As you move beyond traditional blog posts, remember the importance of staying true to your brand’s voice. A customer who connects with your brand will want to return to your products or services. If you want more clarity on what type of content works better for different audiences or objectives, just give us a shout and we’ll be happy to help.

You’re at a crossroads trying to figure out if you should hire an in-house content marketer or team up with an external content squad. Going with someone in-house means they’re all yours, totally tuned into what your brand’s about, and working to make sure every piece of content fits your vision like a glove. But, sticking to just one person could box you in a bit, limited to what they know and can do.

Then there’s the option of bringing on an external team. They come with a wide variety of expertise, with experience in an array of tech projects and industries. They’re a breath of fresh air for your content strategy, ready to throw in a curveball of creativity and expertise that you might not get from just one person.

So, take a moment to think about what’s really going to amp up your brand. Is it the solo marketer, or the wide-ranging skills of a whole team? Your choice here is going to shape how effective your content is and – in the bigger picture – could affect your brand’s reach and impact.

Content marketing agencies usually have specialized teams with expertise in SEO, copywriting, documentation, and marketing. They help refine your company’s tone of voice, documentation, and content from a unique perspective while helping you save time and money. An agency always combines the best of both – the dedication of an internal team, with the expertise and cost-effectiveness of an external partner.

Years of combined experience

Agencies with experience in different industries like writing, and tech (AI, UX, fintech, healthtech, blockchain, and various software solutions) have exactly what you need to create content for your intended users. 

You get a dedicated team of UX messaging experts who understand many facets of the tech industry – and its audiences. These content marketing specialists often come with over a decade of combined experience to really help you get your messaging and content on point, knowing the most effective ways to get it out there.

Comprehensive expertise vs. limited skill set

Two (or more) heads are better than one, right? A team with a broad range of diverse expertise can offer more insight than a single employee. A tech company with different needs requires a variety of content marketing skills that one person alone can’t cover.

User experience (UX)

UX experts focus on understanding your users, their goals, and their pain points. A UX messaging expert creates useful, easily-understandable content for your target audience at every stage of their user journey. They improve readability, using in-depth research and insight to help users feel a connection with your product and brand.

Content creation

When it comes to marketing, advertising, and brand identity, having a content creation team helps you solidify your online presence. From digital media to blogs and articles, creating great content influences revenue and helps you to inform and educate your audience.

Strategy

A good strategy involves creating and developing plans for executing content, campaigns, and aligning with your sales teams. Having an effective strategy playbook is one of the reasons most companies are successful in content execution. Content strategy gives your company a foundation to create, curate, and distribute relevant, engaging content via the right channels. The result? More engagement and more leads that are aligned with your marketing goals.

Consulting

With so much content out there, agencies can help you to cut through the noise by guiding you to craft effective copy and messaging (from the ground up) and execute resonant content marketing campaigns that hit the mark.

Cost-effectiveness

Companies always try different cost-effective marketing strategies that bring the best possible result while optimizing resources. Hiring, training, and keeping an internal marketer takes time and money from your business. Partnering with an agency helps you save a lot of money:

• Increasing ROI and savings on resources and education. 
• You don’t have to pay for social insurance, recruitment costs, or other overheads associated with employees. 
• Agency B2B models give you access to a full team of experts at a fraction of the cost of building and maintaining an in-house team.

A team of experts vs. an internal marketer

When you’re looking at creating and executing your content strategy, you’d usually take a few other factors into consideration, too – ones that might not be so obvious at first glance. Looking at the following details may help you decide which your company requires.

Quick delivery

With more resources and experience, your marketing campaigns are executed and delivered faster with a content marketing agency than with in-house hires.

Scalability

By conducting content audits and business and customer research to improve business dynamics, you’re able to scale your marketing efforts with more impact. You can get insight into the current level of your business and provide services to grow your business and meet increased demand.

Consistency 

One way to ensure consistency is by creating foundational documentation and tone of voice guides. This helps make your brand and messaging consistent on all digital platforms. 

Objectivity

It’s always good to have an objective opinion to help see things from an outside perspective. This removes bias and helps us point out areas of improvement to provide data-driven insights.

Expertise and focus

Both internal hires and content marketing teams can provide expertise and focus. But your company’s audience may require an approach that understands the nuances of varying audiences. For example, an internal hire might be familiar with the sensibilities of a European audience, without realising that certain messaging elements won’t work for your Middle Eastern users. 

Outsourcing your marketing could quickly give you access to that broader viewpoint and offer the focus you need. Sometimes messaging is universal. At other times, a template just won’t cut it in your specific niche. With your diverse and dynamic content needs, partner with us at writelingo to clearly communicate your brand’s message.

What’s a brand story, exactly? Let’s think of it this way. Ever been to a party and met someone you couldn’t get away from fast enough? Nothing interesting to say – a real yawn-er. Or what about the new bestie you just met at an event, because they were fascinating! You’d want to hang out with them because they tell great stories, are super interesting, and there was just something about them that clicked.

Your brand is exactly like that. It’s your company’s identity and personality – it’s what helps potential users or customers know if they like you, trust you, and want to give you all their money! 

Brand communication is always evolving and your ability to continually sell your story is what helps you stand out. It’s not just a marketing tool. How you tell your story determines how your audience feels and connects with you.

Extend your reach beyond your channels

Looking for ways to capture your audience and tell your brand story goes beyond your website. You have to know where they are and how to find them. Telling your story through social media, podcasts, and videos expands your reach and impact.

Take Red Bull as an example. Apart from having one of the most popular advertising slogans: “Red Bull Gives You Wings,” this Austrian company has solidified its brand identity by having one of the most successful marketing strategies in the world. Their packaging, level of international awareness, and extreme sports event series have placed them in the top 3 in the energy drink game.

We don’t have to go as extreme as Red Bull and do stuff like a space diving project. You can learn how effective communication strategies are by making use of various platforms and meeting the audience where they are. This gives your brand a more dynamic presence by engaging with different people and maximizing storytelling.

Stand out in a crowded market

One of the best ways industry giants solidified their brand identity was through brand storytelling.

Companies like Apple have mastered storytelling as a powerful strategic business tool. Apple became recognizable because Steve Jobs, its co-founder, was known for his excellent storytelling. They continued this storytelling through the years and we can see that with ads like their Mother Nature ad.

A good story can make your audience feel good, but a great story makes your audience take action. Creating and writing stories will never go out of style. Storytelling in business helps you create a unique brand persona that makes you stand out from your competitors.

Connect with your audience using emotions

Two salespeople walk up to you. The first one says, “Would you like to buy a cold drink?” and the other one says, “It’s a hot day. Why don’t you relax and cool off with a cold drink?”. Chances are, you’d likely buy from the second person. But why is that?

One of the best ways to increase customer engagement is by creating content that reflects real-life situations and experiences:

• Don’t be afraid to express emotions in your communications because this makes your brand more human.

• Prioritize connecting with consumers’ emotions and create an identity for what they’re about.
• Be empathetic and understand the challenges and needs of your customers, creating a connection with them and fostering loyalty and trust. 
• Actively engage with your audience on social media platforms to show that there are real people behind your brand who care about their customers.

Use brand stories to attract the right audience

You need to learn how to reach your target market effectively. The main goal of every brand’s marketing strategy is to attract the right audience. Your brand story should be a magnet for customers who share similar values and beliefs. What’s the point of putting all that money, time, and resources into marketing if you’re targeting all the wrong people? 

Researching and understanding your audience is a great way to reach them. You can do this by creating user personas.

When you know who your customers are, you can market your brand to them and create relevant content to grab their attention.

Targeted messaging also helps you craft messages that speak directly to the emotions and motivations of your audience. 

Use language, tone, and imagery that resonate with them, making them feel seen and understood.

Communicate value effectively

Having value as a brand means knowing who you are, what you believe in, and how you work. You’ve got to take time to create value because it goes beyond listing features. It shows how your product or service addresses the needs and desires of your customers.

A company with value is a memorable company. Think Coca-Cola. Its values are leadership, integrity, collaboration, passion, accountability, quality, and diversity. 

Coca-Cola’s value has remained the same for many years and no matter where you are in the world, it always promises the same set of principles.

Communication improves customer engagement. Your message should be straightforward and clear for your target audience to understand. Your brand should also show what it’s offering and how it benefits customers. 

You can make your brand valuable by:

• Keeping it consistent on all platforms
• Developing an effective marketing strategy
• Engaging with your customers 
• Having a unique selling point
• Using different storytelling and content management tools.

Leave a lasting impression

When you effectively stand out, you create a brand identity and your brand becomes more memorable. Creating a connection with your audience will get you there because an emotional connection goes beyond a transactional relationship.

Communicating your value helps your audience understand what your product does and why it matters to them. By focusing on attracting the right audience, your brand story becomes a powerful tool for building a community of loyal customers.

Look into your current brand narrative and its effectiveness. In this journey of brand storytelling and identity, we’re not just selling products or services, we’re creating and shaping experiences, fostering connections, and leaving lasting impressions that turn qualified leads into paying customers.Contact us to help you tell your business’ story and build brand value.

Think of a UX copywriting audit like spring cleaning. Just as you would go through each section of your house organizing, decluttering, and revamping, a UX copywriting audit involves examining and refining the written content on your digital platform.

Whether you’re creating an app or building a new content strategy, it’s always good to have a UX copywriter or UX messaging expert involved in the process. They help build trust between you and your users, ensure that everything related to content is consistent, provide value to customers, and keep everything going in the right direction.

An audit doesn’t need to be for all your content. It can just be for specific pieces of content like your blogs, user journeys, a specific form, or just your website. It can also be done in steps, so it doesn’t feel like a huge overwhelming task.

Save on costs

Audits usually save costs related to extensive content changes. Regularly assessing and refining written content helps your business avoid major website or application redesigns.

If the content is clear, compelling, and aligned with marketing goals, it can positively impact the effectiveness of marketing campaigns. This, in turn, can lead to more efficient use of marketing budgets.

Aligning your content with user needs and preferences, and continuous improvement based on user feedback helps refine your strategies without resorting to costly trial-and-error methods. 

Elevate user experience

Your content should always be relatable and readable. Making navigation easier, fixing broken links, and ensuring your content makes sense helps create a more user-friendly environment.

A UX copywriting audit looks at user flows, user journeys, and how reliable and presentable your texts are to your users. An example is using concise, clear texts and bullet points to ensure users feel that they can connect to your posts, website, newsletters, or emails which ultimately generates more leads and sales.

Identify outdated content

Content is always evolving, and staying up-to-date helps you maintain your connection with your users. People evolve, and your content has to follow that trend. Putting out current and quality content makes your online presence reliable and increases your chances of ranking at the top in search engines.

Carrying out a UX copywriting audit allows you to identify and eliminate outdated or irrelevant content. With a clear understanding of what works, you can refine and update your content strategy, focus on producing more content that performs well and adjust or eliminate underperforming content.

Creating new content faster

Having a look at previous content and enhancing it can help increase user conversions even if they weren’t performing well before. 

An audit uses best practices to identify gaps in information or redundant messaging to improve content with important information, address important user concerns, and avoid unnecessary repetition.

Maintain a consistent brand identity 

Consistency is key and a content audit ensures a consistent brand voice across all platforms. By reviewing and aligning style guides, content templates, and tone of voice documentation, you can identify whether specific grammar rules or writing conventions are followed.

A UX copywriting audit also checks whether the content reflects the latest version of your documentation. It ensures that any updates or revisions are implemented consistently.

It gives a more unified and professional user experience, strengthens your existing brand identity, and establishes a trustworthy image.

Mobile experience 

Most people can’t go a few hours without using their phones. Chances are you’re probably reading this on your phone right now. 

An audit also considers the unique aspects of mobile interaction and makes your content easier to access through mobile devices, making sure your content makes sense on every screen.

A UX copywriting audit checks how well-written content is optimized for mobile platforms, considering factors such as limited screen space, different user behaviours, and the need for concise and impactful copy.

Competitive edge

No business wants to sound exactly like its competitors. They’re always looking to do something different and bring something new to their users. 

An audit can compare your content with that of your competitors and having a UX copywriter’s insight will help craft unique content and compelling messages. This insight can also set your brand apart from companies that rely on AI, which spits out generic content.

A lot of companies are starting to sound the same, and adopting a human-centred approach with a distinctive brand voice helps influence user perceptions.

When to conduct a UX copywriting audit

Annually: For many businesses, conducting a comprehensive content audit every year is a good starting point. You can get an expert to review your entire content inventory, identify outdated or irrelevant material, and ensure that your content aligns with your current business goals.

Quarterly: If your business undergoes rapid changes, a quarterly content audit may be more suitable. This frequency allows you to stay agile, adapt to market trends, and keep your content strategy current.

After significant changes: Whenever there are significant changes to your business, such as a rebranding, shifts in the target audience, or updates to your products or services, it’s advisable to perform a content audit. This ensures that your content accurately reflects these changes.

When SEO goals change: If you change your SEO strategy or focus on different keywords, conducting a UX copywriting audit can help align your existing content with your updated SEO goals.

After redesigns or migrations: If you redesign your website or migrate to a new platform, it’s crucial to conduct a content audit to address any issues that may arise during the transition and ensure a seamless user experience.

UX copywriting audits should happen as often as possible. Getting an expert to look over your content is a strategic investment that enhances user experience, conversion rates, and overall brand effectiveness.

The person who conducts the audit can also make fixes after the audit is conducted. They identify what’s wrong, and what’s going well, and use this info to make informed decisions for the fixes.

Audits help to set the foundation for business growth by ensuring that your content resonates with your audience, effectively communicates your value proposition, and is adapting to a dynamic market.

Picture this: You’re about to release a digital product. You’ve done extensive market research and competitor analysis, you know your users, and you have a thorough understanding of the problem you’re solving. Development and design are perfect.

After release, users start to complain about your product, or from your analytics, you can see they’re dropping off pretty quickly. They don’t understand how to navigate your app, or the copy on your website is long and complex.

That’s because there’s a final piece of the product that has been overlooked- the content.

High-quality content has the power to bring your vision (and digital product) to life and make it easily understandable to your users. That’s where a copywriting specialist comes in – specifically, a UX copywriter.

Let’s dive into the three vital aspects that every tech company should understand before embarking on its content creation and UX copywriting journey.

1. The power of great copy

In the fast-paced and competitive world of tech, it isn’t surprising that tech companies often focus most of their resources on the development and design aspects of their digital products. However, it’s not uncommon that they overlook the importance of the quality of the copy that goes into those designs. 

It’s like building an amazing house but not furnishing it. The design may catch your users’ attention, but the copy keeps them engaged and informed.

Having an aesthetically pleasing user interface (UI), cutting-edge technology and well-crafted UX copy are equally as important to the success of any digital product. We know it’s easy to focus on budget constraints, but having an expert UX copywriter to write your content is the icing on the cake; it makes all the other spending on development and design worthwhile. 

Great UX copywriting is the unsung hero of user engagement. Content carries meaning and creates a conversation between your product and your users. 

Having good, helpful content that guides your users every step of the way makes them want to use your product and recommend it to other people without you having to spend much on marketing.

Content is the bridge that connects your product to your users, and expertly crafted copy enhances the overall user experience. Investing in great copy improves the appearance of your design, conversion rates, user flows, and user journeys and gives the users the best experience when navigating your product.

2. The value of foundational documentation

A solid foundation is the basis of any lasting structure. Understandably, there’s a desire to get things done quickly and save costs, and this sometimes leads many tech companies to skip a very important step in content creation – foundational documentation. Sometimes, tech companies believe they can do the job themselves or that just anyone can do it. 

Foundational documentation serves as a guideline for those involved in the product, helps the product content stay consistent, and provides the basis for building a lasting product. Even this article is based on foundational documentation. 

It’s always good to start your documentation foundation with a UX copywriting expert who can create foundational documents such as tone of voice, brand persona, and buyer personas. That’s because the expert knows this document is the backbone of any successful content strategy. 

Bringing in a UX copywriting expert to create this document is both financially efficient and time-saving. UX copywriting experts usually see things objectively, things that might have been missed by those too close to the project. UX copywriters bring new ideas and an outside perspective that can reveal unique selling points and create content that resonates with your target audience and gives you a competitive edge.

Plus, they’ve created these documents for many other companies before, which means they know exactly what to include, what to exclude and where to really focus the most attention. 

Our experience with tech companies has shown that those who want to create their own docs usually discover that the process can be far more complex and time-consuming than anticipated. Bringing in an expert consultant can help prevent delays caused by missing crucial details or conflicts over the tone and voice down the road.

3. Not all copywriters are equal

Understanding that not all copywriters have the unique skill set required for UX copywriting is crucial, and this is where conventional copywriting and UX copywriting differ. 

A copywriter excels in conducting detailed user research, writing promotional materials, producing content that resonates with the target audience, and is skilled in search engine optimization (SEO). On the other hand, a UX copywriter understands user experience (UX), website flow, product telemetry, heat maps, conversion rate optimization (CRO), and A/B user test results.

Both skill sets require an in-depth knowledge of your product, service, or technology, and finding a professional with such insights is priceless. It saves you both time and resources typically spent on lengthy onboarding processes. Cooperating with a UX copywriter who can fulfill your vision in terms of copy brings your product to life and increases its chance of success. If you find a writer whose work aligns with your expectations, consider establishing a long-term partnership with them.

Hiring a UX copywriter 

Trying to find cheaper or faster options elsewhere costs more in the end… trust us, we’ve seen it a few times.

It involves the time-consuming search for the right fit, the onboarding process, and the risk that their work may not be up to your standards. If you’ve already got someone great, stick with them. It saves you time and money in the long run while making sure your copy is the high quality you expect.

Remember that great content is the unsung hero of your digital product, foundational documentation forms the bedrock of content strategy, and not all copywriters possess the specialized skills required for UX copywriting. By understanding and applying these three vital aspects, tech companies can streamline their content creation process and create products that captivate and engage users from the beginning of the product.

UX writing is the process of using simple, clear, and practical words to help users easily find their way around a digital product and have a positive experience while doing so.

Imagine your app is a city that tourists want to visit. You usually need a tour guide to show you around, help you with any unexpected challenges during the trip, and give you the best experience. 

In this case, the tour guide is the UX writer; your user is the tourist. 

Note: The terms UX writing and UX copywriting are often used interchangeably. We shouldn’t confuse them with tech copywriting or general copywriting, which are different fields.

UX writing is important to app interfaces, and it’s important to understand why you should have a UX writer in all stages of your app development and how a UX writer can make your app more customer-centric.

Research insights

UX writers are skilled researchers. They use techniques like conversation mining to dig through information and resources on forums and social apps to find similar language that a company’s target users often use. 

UX writers analyze and solve problems. They can also use analytics tools to determine and compare user language preferences. UX writers understand the needs of the users and the stakeholders and use this to design clear and concise copy, user journeys, tone of voice documentation, and writing style guides.

UX writing consultation

UX writers are often brought in at the end stages of design projects to fill in the copy or empty spaces with words within the app design.” But UX writers aren’t just space fillers; they bring way more to the table. 

Including your UX writer from the get-go will help you understand how users flow through your app and ensure that every piece of text fits into the user experience. They can also spot inconsistencies and gaps in user flow and recognize areas of improvement that developers or other designers might miss.

Making copy fit properly 

Imagine reading a mystery novel with missing pages or trying to solve a jigsaw puzzle with half of the pieces missing – you’re left feeling frustrated and unable to see the complete picture. That’s what encountering an app with bad UX writing can feel like. 

A UX writer has done a great job when users don’t notice the app copy. Unclear UX writing, however, causes users to notice anything and everything wrong with your copy.

This includes ensuring that notifications, buttons, and microcopy fit perfectly into your app’s design and knowing when to use the right tone and words. For example, a happy tone for a successful onboarding message or a serious tone for a warning message.

Expert collaborators

One of the core skills UX writers have is collaboration with designers and developers. Good communication with designers and developers always results in positive user experiences.

For example, your app’s onboarding process. Developers create the functionality, designers craft the visuals, and UX writers finesse the content. The result? A smooth onboarding experience that guides users effortlessly.

Crafting strings for clarity

In the world of app interfaces, “strings” refer to those pieces of text that pop up everywhere – from button labels to error messages to notifications. These strings might seem insignificant, but they’re the glue that holds your app together. 

Imagine you’re using an app, and a pop-up message appears saying, “Error 404: Operation could not be completed (WD GeneralErrorNetwork404).” Unless you’re a coding wizard, this message probably doesn’t mean anything to you. It’s a perfect example of unclear UX writing.

Now, let’s imagine you have a UX writer onboard. A UX writer can craft the error message to say, “No internet: Poor network connection detected. Please check your connectivity.” with a CTA that says “Retry.” This message helps you understand the issue and gives you a way out. It’s like having a friendly mechanic when your car breaks down.

UX writing is crucial for apps

Clarity & conciseness

Clarity and conciseness always go hand in hand. App interfaces usually have limited space, so UX writers take their time to write clear and concise words that convey information to users.

Engagement 

The language you use determines your user engagement. UX writers create microcopy that can turn mundane tasks into engaging user experiences and increase conversion rates. 

Consistency

UX writers play an important role in maintaining copy consistency. Using consistent language across your app creates trust and reliability and helps users feel connected to your product.

Empathy

UX writers understand the needs and emotions of users. Well-crafted language makes app copy relatable, addresses user pain points, and makes them feel understood. 

The power of UX writing for apps

Tech companies looking to create an app or that are currently building an app should never underestimate the power of working with a UX writer. 

A vital key to an app’s success is user experience. UX writing is about clarity, usefulness, and guiding users through your app’s interface.

To produce high-quality written content, you need both copywriting and editing. These services are often sold together or separately. When asked just for editing, we often see questions asking why editing isn’t always cheaper than copywriting from scratch.

Well, copywriting and editing call for different skill sets. A single copywriter can definitely have both skills, but they aren’t one and the same. Here’s why:

Skill and expertise

Copywriting and editing are two different skills. Copywriters craft original, engaging, and persuasive content for a specific audience and goal. For this to happen, copywriters need to be creative and do research to better understand the subject they’re writing about.

Editing is about refining and improving content that’s already written. Besides clarity, coherence, grammar, and style consistency, anyone who does editing should have a keen eye for detail and be able to offer practical feedback on text quality.

Time and effort

Sometimes, editing can take longer than copywriting. Copywriters begin with a blank canvas and create content from zero, but editing involves reviewing and revising content that already exists.

It could be that sentences need to be restructured, entire paragraphs need to be rewritten, and even a complete revamp of particular sections of text. It’s complex and demands meticulousness, time, and effort.

Specialized knowledge

This depends on the content type, but both copywriting and editing may demand specialized knowledge in a specific domain. For example, materials like technical documents, legal contracts, medical papers, and industry-specific content sometimes require niche knowledge.

Copywriting and editing these types of material is considered a high-value skill, and not everyone will be able to do it correctly. Sometimes, this can also include having knowledge about specific required formatting and writing styles.

Quality assurance

Most copywriters can do copywriting, but not all of them can edit. Editing makes sure that the final draft of content is of the highest quality. Aside from looking out for grammatical and spelling errors, the content should have high readability.

What’s more important, though, is that the content needs to make sense to the target audience and be in line with your content strategy. The message you’re trying to deliver has to be accurate, and that’s how you’ll know that the service you’re paying for is worth its weight in gold.

More than just fine-tuning

It’s a common assumption that editing will be cheaper than copywriting from scratch, but that’s not always the case. Editing can be equally complex and holds just as much value. Yes, most copywriters can do both, but those actually skilled in editing have a lot more to offer.

Editing is more than just fine-tuning text, and the investment you’re making as a business for this service can be worthwhile if you’re working with the right copywriter.

Think of a content strategy as your roadmap to success. When done well, it’ll help you to achieve everything that you set out to do with marketing your business. And fortunately, it isn’t that hard to create one that works for you.

Before we jump right into how you can craft an effective content strategy for your business, let’s learn a little more about what it actually is.

What is a content strategy?

Consider a content strategy like an action plan that’s outlined by your business goals for content marketing. Instead of going at it haphazardly, a content strategy gives you a more structured approach to creating, distributing, and managing content while staying true to your brand identity.

Steps to formulating a content strategy

Define your goals

When creating content, think of its purpose. This can mean increasing brand awareness, generating leads, converting visitors into customers, retaining existing customers, optimizing search ranking results, or something entirely different.

Depending on what you’d like to achieve, consider the different content types you can produce for every visitor and customer touch point. You definitely want to be having the right conversations with the right people at the suitable stage of the customer journey.

Audience research

Your content strategy will only work if you have a deep understanding of your target audience. Look into the types of sites they’re visiting, the kind of content that they engage with the most, and which social media platforms they use the most.

Something else you can do is create buyer personas with the demographics, pain points, interests, and behaviors of your ideal customers. This gives you more clarity for your content creation process and helps you make sure you’re providing them the value they’re after.

Content research and ideation

Effective content that produces real results doesn’t happen by chance. We’d like to think of it as an ideal mix of in-depth research and creativity, and a great place to begin is by looking into what the industry and your competitors have already done.

Dig into industry trends, competitor content, and suitable keywords to identify gaps and opportunities you can use to your advantage. Then, brainstorm content ideas based on this data you’ve collected that address your audience’s needs and interests.

Content development and distribution

Quality is key when it comes to creating content. It goes without saying that your content should be accurate, well-researched, and well-written. Your brand tone of voice should also be easily recognisable. This ultimately helps to strengthen your brand identity and build credibility.

Now, it’s time to distribute this content. Once you find out which platforms your audience are mainly on, build up a content calendar that states when and which platform your content will be published and promoted.

Measuring success

A content strategy that is successful is a continuous process of measuring your results, doing your analysis, and strengthening your strategy. There’s no need to track every possible metric, but it’s best to narrow down a few KPIs that work for your business.

These metrics can include website traffic, social media engagement rates, email open rates, and conversion rates. This way, you’ll know what’s working and what’s not so that you’re able to use these insights and improve your content strategy as you go along.

Staying adaptable and agile

Building a content strategy isn’t a passive, one-and-done thing. Instead, it’s a dynamic task that requires consistent and careful planning for your content to stay relevant and resonate with your target audience. Working with experts to build your strategy can sometimes be the best choice – or even have a consultant take a look at what you’ve come up with.

By setting clear goals, crafting valuable content, and distributing it properly so the right eyes are on it, you’ll be well on your way to building meaningful connections with your audience, which is exactly what you’ll need to stand out in today’s competitive world.