5 differences between blog writing and other writing styles

Your marketing content comes in many shapes and sizes - case studies, white papers, press releases, videos, eBooks and of course blogs.  What binds them is they must all be relevant to your audience, who should see only high quality, valuable and compelling pieces of content marketing. 

So while they have that in common, they each have something very different about them: their writing style.

Content writing styles – an overview

For example:

• A client case study will present itself more in the form of a story, with a) background, b) the challenge and c) the solution.

• A press release, on the other hand, will use the inverted pyramid rule, starting with the essential news and gradually building in the supporting information; this allows an editor to chop from the bottom up, as publishing space allows.

• Video writing must usually imagine the human voice and speak directly to the audience.

• A whitepaper, however, will deliver a greater depth of detail and volume. It will provide many sources, opinions, and statistics and include case studies and research material.

• An eBook is almost pictorial in its writing style – here’s a great example (well, of course, we wrote it!).

So what’s so different about blog writing?

It must be:

1. Searchable – link to related content on the Web and even to your own site pages; include metadata; tag your images; include keywords

2. Readable – keep it concise; use subheads, bullets and numbered lists

3. Understandable – can the reader quickly grasp what you’re trying to say?

4. Personal – the tone should speak directly to your audience. If appropriate, create a voice for your business and give it its own personality

5. Actionable – provide a Call to Action, a comment box or a direct summary of what to do

What do you think is the one key thing that makes a really smashing piece of blog writing?

Read more posts on:

• Best Practice
• Blog writing
• content marketing