Writing fresh and inventive marketing content can be troublesome and sometimes downright grueling. As marketers, we are always looking for unique ways to get our messages across, whether for our latest campaigns or our company blogs. We launched the DR blog almost two years ago, and we still find it difficult to find the right balance of original and shared content. Sometimes it feels like everything that can be written about social/email/mobile/content/modern marketing already has been written.

A new post on the MarketingProfs blog provides some valuable advice for marketers who produce original content, and we plan to take it on board. A few of the tips that we found most useful include:

• Keep your business and marketing goals in mind when writing to ensure your content aligns with your larger plans and uses the right “voice” for your company.
• Imagine your ideal reader, and write directly to them. Addressing your content to the reader whom you are trying to help, attract or influence will keep your message on track and add a personal tone to your writing.
• Get your first draft down, no matter how terrible it seems. Just producing a first draft, regardless of how much polishing it needs later, will give you a sense of accomplishment, as well as the building blocks for a great final piece. Just remember to polish – we all know how much slapdash and careless content is out there!
• Remember to answer the “what next?” that your reader will (hopefully) ask. Prompt readers to follow your blog, download a resource, register for an event, or simply like you on social media.

And here is one more tip from the DRs – read, read, read. Follow the best marketing blogs and those in your industry, subscribe to newsletters from your clients and suppliers, and most importantly – keep an eye on the DR blog! ☺  If you stay tuned to the great content out there, you’ll absorb not only the material and ideas, but also the writing styles and trends.