Online content creation is often spoken of in a purely functional capacity: You need to generate some words that will, in turn, give the search engines something to chew on, all while conveying your branding message in a clear and effective way.
But your writing can be technically precise, grammatically correct, and loaded with all the right SEO keywords, and still fail to make much of an impact—especially if it doesn’t start an emotional connection with your audience.
That’s something that happens only when you write with the right style—including all those old writerly concepts like diction, tone, and voice. Style is the oft-neglected aspect of content marketing—a field too often made dry, colorless, and technical—that often spells the difference between failure and success.
Style Defined
Style can be understood in many different ways; a recent Marketing Land article says it’s “a way of communicating,” which sounds right to us. After all, the style of clothing you wear says something about you, your tastes, your personality; and in the same way, your style of writing can convey communicate something even beyond the literal meaning of your words.
Of course, style can’t be relegated to just one aspect of your writing; it encompasses a few different things, among them:
- Your diction, or the actual vocabulary choices you make.
- The reading level you write on—simplistic? Elevated? Technical? Layman-friendly?
- The author’s “voice”—the personality you inject into your writing.
- The level of formality you employ.
- The way your text looks on the page—for instance, short vs. long sentences, etc.
Why Style Matters
In the end, though, does style really matter? It does, and for a simple reason: Effective marketing copy must appeal to more than just the rational mind. Emotions are just as impactful to purchasing decisions. (Have you ever made an “impulse buy” that you couldn’t really explain, just because it felt right to do so?)
That’s not to say that writing has to be a direct appeal to emotions; in some contexts, something a little more formal and impersonal might actually be more appropriate. Yet style can have an effect on the subconscious, and make a reader either more or less agreeable to trusting your brand. For example, a style that’s technical and erudite will lead to a deeper innate trust of your highly-technical product, while something warmer and more casual would work better when trying to appeal to the readers of a parenting blog.
For marketers, style can be relied on for three basic purposes:
- It can help establish and earn trust, as in our example of high-level style for a highly technical product.
- It can help establish a connection with your reader, really lodging information in the brain.
- It can have aesthetic appeal unto itself—causing readers to take notice.
Bring Style to Your Marketing
Are you ready to inject some style into your marketing copy—helping it become powerful and resonate? Our writers can help. We’re well-versed in creating marketing copy to fit any asked-for style or voice. Learn more about our style-savvy ghostwriting services by contacting Grammar Chic today—www.grammarchic.net or 803-831-7444.
Amanda E. Clark founded Grammar Chic in 2008. She is a graduate of Eastern Michigan University and holds degrees in Journalism, Political Science, and English. She launched Grammar Chic after freelancing for several years while simultaneously leading marketing and advertising initiatives for several Fortune 500 companies.