Establish your industry knowledge and build brand awareness and loyalty.

Content writing tells a brand’s story — but indirectly. 

Content writing usually involves the creation of informational, engaging articles targeting a niche audience who either are, or may be, potential customers. Using content writing, brands can demonstrate their industry leadership without doing so in an overly salesy way. 

Content writing also helps firms create platforms for community building among current or future customers as a means of establishing long-term brand loyalty.  

Examples of content writing include:

• An article about national parks tent camping for Jeep’s brand magazine
• An informative blog post about symptoms and treatments of whooping cough for a children’s hospital website 
• A profile of a high-performing alumna for a university’s social media platforms
• An email outlining steps for fighting weeds, sent by a landscape company
• A monthly newsletter with editing and writing tips, built by the wordsmiths at Dragonfly Editorial

While the terms “content writing” and “copywriting” are sometimes used interchangeably, copywriting generally describes writing that’s more directly focused on product or service advertising and sales. 

Content writing, on the other hand, often includes no direct mention of products or services. Instead, it prioritizes a broader goal: establishing a company’s overall industry expertise with readers.

How to craft strong content writing 

Strong content writing starts with understanding your customers and their motivations.

What are they interested in? What questions do they have? What end goals are bringing them to your website or social platforms? Why might they be engaging with your brand?

When agencies have a good grasp on the needs of their current and potential clients, ideal topics for content writing become more clear. 

As each of the examples above illustrates, well-crafted content writing attempts to engage readers by answering or addressing their search for:

• Helpful information about a broad topic (such as writing/editing tips)
• Solutions to a specific problem (like weed control)
• A community of like-minded individuals (fellow university alumni, for example)
• Eye-opening explorations of aspirational activities (national park camping, for instance)

When you publish well-written content that consistently addresses your customers’ various informational needs — whether on your website, in printed collateral, or on your social media channels — you’re putting in place a process that, over time, helps your agency establish itself as a trustworthy authority in your field.

In this way, you can make sure your business is the one that’s top-of-mind when customers are ready to seek out a product or service you can provide.

How to create a content calendar 

To create content that creatively and effectively attracts your customers’ attention, consider building a yearlong content calendar to identify topics to cover within each quarter.

Start by brainstorming industry-adjacent topics that could be seasonally related — think avoiding pollen in spring or safety tips for young trick-or-treaters in fall — and schedule them for posts in appropriate months. 

Then, to fill out the rest of the calendar, think of common or perennial challenges or issues your client base may be grappling with. Broadly informational topics such as How to select an architect or interior designer or Best practices in website design can help you share your expertise on a given topic, without being overly promotional.

Finally, use online tools like Google Trends, Semrush, or Quora to discover common online search queries and trending keywords. Using these as an idea source can help you brainstorm article topics that should rank highly in terms of SEO, potentially bringing more eyes to your post.

Adopting this approach — namely, building your content writing strategy around commonly asked questions and widely held concerns — can help you feel confident you’re on a path to creating articles and posts people actually want to read.

How to outsource your content writing

Like the idea of using content writing as a brand-building tool but unsure how to get started? Consider outsourcing your copywriting to Dragonfly’s writing team.

Our experienced writers create content for a wide range of industries and sectors, from financial services, IT, and health care to architecture, engineering, and construction.

No matter your field, we can help you develop a content writing marketing plan to further your relationship with existing clients — and help you get noticed by clients-to-be. 

Connect with us to learn more.