Every area of human life follows various trends at some point. This can result from one of several reasons, including changes in people’s collective tastes and perception, advancements in technology, and even world events. Copywriting, like everything else, has its trends – we’re going to cover the top 5 copywriting trends to look out for.
It’s sensible that you understand and follow these trends so you can stay ahead of the competition. Many writers still employ strategies that may have worked years ago, but not any more. Incorporating these trends into your writing means you are naturally ahead of them all. Also, following these trends means your clients will find your copywriting service valuable, and your intended audience will use the content you’ve written. Because if they cannot, you’ve just wasted precious time and creative energy writing.
Here are the top 5 trends to look out for in 2020 and beyond.
- Natural And Full Search Terms
For a long time, copywriters thrived on targeting keywords or search terms that looked like they were shoehorned into the write-ups. Examples include search phrases such as ‘make money online 2020’, ‘fashion trends UK’, and many more. This is no longer acceptable, and copywriters who choose to stick to using them will be left behind.
Why is this? More people now favour voice search over typing into search bars in search engines. It is estimated that about 30% of searches are now voice searches, and this trend will only increase in the coming years.
Essentially, this means more people will use services such as Siri, Alexa and Google. So, instead of search terms like those listed above, there will be a shift to more natural terms. Such as ‘How do I make money online in 2020?’, ‘What are the fashion trends in the UK?’, and ‘Which is the best dentist in London?’
It will help if you start incorporating these natural search terms in your copy to take advantage of the trend.
- Engage And Connect With Storytelling
If you’re writing a marketing piece, you should consider the use of storytelling. Beyond being a trend, storytelling engages people more than other content types. Many people skip to the conclusion in most content types, but they connect with and read stories. This is, partly, because stories engage and activate different parts of the brain.
And what is one of the best ways to use storytelling? Testimonials. These are among the best-performing content types. The reason they are very effective is simple: people identify with stories that affect them on a deeply emotional level. When we read stories, it stirs up memories.
Stories also help gain and increase customers’ trust. Unique stories incorporate your personality and help to distinguish you from the crowd. Agencies that offer the best content writing service have already begun incorporating storytelling into their marketing content.
- Social Media Isn’t Going Anywhere Soon
It’s not unusual for one channel to be in vogue one minute and obsolete the next – that is the way of the world. So it’s not wrong to feel sceptical about the longevity of social media. But you cannot deny that, so far, social media has stood the test of time, and it’s not going anywhere soon. Besides, social media remains one of the best places for brands to reach customers.
With this in mind, writing for social media still holds a great place in copywriting trends. The only thing you have to pay close attention to, which isn’t new, is that one type of copy does not sell on all social media platforms. This means you have to master the kind of content that does well on any platform for which you are writing.
It also goes back to a fundamental copywriting principle: focus on your audience.
To succeed at writing copy for the different social media platforms, you should understand the type of audience that each of these platforms attracts. For starters, LinkedIn is mostly for professionals and B2B audiences. Twitter, on the other hand, is best for starting up conversations.
As a copywriter, proper understanding, strategising and mastery of these platforms and their audience types will ensure that your content writing services remain valuable to your clients.
- Long-Form Blog Posts
Blogging, like social media, is here to stay, too. But, whether for purposes of ranking higher on search engine result pages or relevance to a seeking audience, longer blog posts are the new trend. Logically, a 2,500-word blog post on ‘How to write a great copy’ will be of more value to a reader than a 500-word article on the same topic.
Of course, the long-form article on the topic has to contain more relevant information and not ‘filler words’ used to make up a specific word count.
Done right, blogging can be a great way to assert your expertise and authority in your industry while adding value to your audience. It’s also an excellent way to generate traffic and leads.
For a long-form article to be relevant and contain valuable information, it cannot be ‘just another’ afterthought. Proper planning has to go into it. A good copywriter or copywriting agency should know the basics of content planning. You’d find great copywriting examples if you run a simple search. But for clarity’s sake, once you have zeroed in on the audience you plan to write for (properly defining the customer persona), consider the following:
- Don’t just tell, show! Strategies and ideas are great but have little value for your audience if you do not lay out practical ways to use them. Give people clear, actionable steps or advice.
- Points that aren’t backed up don’t really mean anything. Ensure you have statistics, case studies, or data to back up valuable points – it will make your writing more credible.
- Having a unique angle on a subject matter to distinguish you from everyone else is an important skill. Even if you agree with the others, choose a different angle.
- Easy-to-read structure and formatting trumps all writing styles. It doesn’t matter how great you are as a writer, if your readers have to go through a mental maze to figure out the structure of your content, you’ve lost.
- Include visual aids that make your content appealing and more interactive. Typically, two or more images or videos per post are ideal.
- SEO is still essential! Give your article the chance to rank high in the SERPs by including on-page SEO.
Of course, your write-up must also follow appropriate writing rules: proper punctuation, spelling, and grammar.
These copywriting trends will stand you in good stead for your content marketing in 2020 and beyond. No matter what your business goals are, strong copywriting is essential if you are to stand out from the competition. If you need some help with your copywriting, please get in touch with us today.