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Hello, friend! Welcome to the twenty-ninth edition of The Write Fit, a fortnightly newsletter from Dan Hatch and Sarah Mitchell at Typeset. Get ready for rush hour, folks. It’s Dan in the driver's seat this week and he’s brought Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves along for company.

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A busload of content marketing insights

You wait ages for a bus and then suddenly two come along at once.

These days, each bus will have about eight socially distanced passengers on it and a “full” sign shoved against the windscreen, forcing you to wait even longer for a ride out of town — which is really a perfect allegory for 2020.

But I digress.

I mention this old chestnut of a public transport metaphor because in a normal week I’d be happy to have a major report with fascinating insights about content marketing land in the Typeset inbox. But this past week, I’ve had two: The Content Marketing Institute’s B2B Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends Report for 2021 and Orbit Media’s Annual Blogging Survey.

It’s left me racing around like Sandra Bullock in Speed, unable to take my foot off the gas pedal until I’ve shared everything with you and won Keanu Reeves’ heart. (That’s what that film was about, right?)

Anyway, here are 8 things I learned from these reports that you should probably know.

1. Marketers have switched things up because of the pandemic

That content marketers have changed what they’re doing in response to the global pandemic is hardly a groundbreaking discovery, but CMI’s report tells us exactly how they’ve responded (in the business-to-business space, at least).

As CMI points out, brands must adapt to shifting customer priorities.

2. Here’s what the top-performing content marketers are doing

This chart compares what the most successful and least successful respondents to CMI’s study are doing. Relative success is self-reported here but, still, these are interesting stats to benchmark yourself against.

3. Blogs and email newsletters are still content marketing’s superstars

Obviously, the number of in-person events held this year was down, while pandemic-friendly content options like webinars and livestreaming were up. But it was fascinating to note that the two content types that produced the best overall results this past year were blog posts and virtual events/webinars/online courses (tied on 22 per cent).

4. Working with editors delivers better results

Orbit Media’s report took a deep dive into blogging. As someone who comes from a traditional journalism background, I was particularly pleased (although not surprised) to see bloggers who work with editors get better results. I can’t tell you how many times an editor or proofreader has saved my bacon over the years. Hiring professional editors and proofreaders is a smart and simple way to improve the quality of your content.

This tallies with what we discovered in Typeset’s own State of Writing 2020 report, which found editing plays a big role in how well writing performs. Nearly two-thirds of communicators who reported being extremely or very effective in their writing had someone who oversaw all their written content. By contrast, less than half of those moderately effective (44%) had a central figure to guide content production.

5. It’s time to update your old content

Updating old blogs is becoming more popular and I can see why: Bloggers who go back and update their old blog posts are twice as likely to get good results as those who don’t. It’s a strategy we’ve seen work to great effect with our own customers.

6. Social media really isn’t that effective for promotion anymore

The big social media companies have tweaked their algorithms to the point where their platforms are basically redundant for many brands — there’s just no point posting to them anymore. Find other channels to promote your content.

7. It’s hard to find time to write

Have a quick look at this chart and then come with me on a little bus ride.

Orbit Media found the most successful blog posts:

Are 3000+ words long
Take more than six hours to write, and
Have more than 10 images.

On top of that, the most successful blogs publish daily.

No wonder it’s hard to find time to write. Who has time for all that?

If I was on this speeding bus of content creation while trying to run a successful business, I reckon I’d last about three days before I looked around, apologised to the passengers, and took my foot off the gas.

Ka-boom!

Creating content can be hard. Creating content that actually delivers on your business goals and your audience’s expectations is even harder. But it’s not a race. You can drop below 50 miles an hour. Nothing will explode.

Which brings me to my final point:

8. We need to be more like Keanu Reeves

The big lesson from both of these reports (although I admit, the authors did not exactly put it in these terms) is that we all need to be a little bit more like Keanu Reeves.

That is to say:

Know your goals and have a well thought out strategy for achieving them
Adapt when circumstances change, and
To achieve your goals, partner with people you trust.

Dan Hatch
7 October 2020

A la carte

If you’re writing about a transgender person, or about transgender issues, you’ll want to ensure you’re getting things right. This article, written by Dan in consultation with members of the trans community, will help you do that.

Take me to that blog post!

Run straight to the dictionary

Have you ever looked up the word run in the dictionary? Specifically in the Macquarie Dictionary Online. Go ahead; I’ll wait while you read the definitions – and wait, and wait, and wait. Still waiting.

There are 131 definitions listed! They range from the verb form “to move quickly on foot” to the noun form meaning “an act or instance of escaping” to the adjective meaning “melted or liquefied”. Those definitions don’t include the 52 other listings for the phrases using run, including “in the long run”, “run off at the mouth”, and “the runs”.

I’ve never seen any other word with so many definitions and phrases.

My point here — other than there are 183 ways you can use run in a sentence — is to stress the importance of dictionaries. And to remind you to research the words you’re using.

Language is constantly in flux and a word’s meaning may change. You may discover you’ve been using a word incorrectly or be pleasantly surprised to find a new definition.

You could also discover there are dozens of meanings for a word — although I doubt you’ll run into another doozy like run.

Wendy Wood
Proofreader

The 2021 40under40 Awards is Western Australia’s pre-eminent program that recognises and celebrates the state’s leading entrepreneurs, innovators, and future business leaders who are under the age of 40.

Entries are now open for the awards, which recognise not only personal determination, commercial drive and business success, but also philanthropic and community contributions.

Tell me more about 40Under40!

Missed a recent edition of The Write Fit?
Catch up here!

Actually, give me the lot!

Move from intent to action
The Brand Purpose Power Index is the largest study to measure consumer perceptions of brand purpose. It’s fascinating and includes good advice on moving from intent to action. Check it out here.

Headline here
No, that’s not a mistake. That’s really the headline. Another thing Orbit Media found in their study was that bloggers who take a lot of time on headlines — trying lots of versions and testing them — have more success. With that in mind, I thought I’d share Orbit’s blog on the subject. It’s filled with great advice.

It’s Customer Service Week
Customer service guru Shep Hyken has just released his latest Achieving Customer Amazement Report. Did you know 96 per cent of customers will leave you after receiving bad service and 62 per cent are willing to pay more for good service? Find out what else Shep found out, here.

Speed: Flight Risk
Some internet wag made a parody trailer for Speed 3. This time the action takes place on a plane. It’s completely stoopid, so I’m sharing it with you. We all need a little stoopid right now.

Until next time,
Happy writing!