Expert Interviews: Sarah Gordon, Content Marketing Writer at SGContent Co.

"Content without purpose is just more words floating around on the internet"

Tell us a little about SGContent co. and your specialty:

We focus on the words that bring your brand to life and engage with consumers. So whether that is your website, regular blogs, email marketing, or social media – we help you talk to consumers about your brand, what makes you great, and why they should trust your quality and choose you over the competition.

What’s unique about your services?

We combine creativity with data. So if you want a great website we start with SEO research to ensure we can incorporate the keywords customers use to look for services like yours. Then once we can be sure we have the keywords that bring people to your site, we develop the amazing content that will keep them there and persuade them that they really need your services. Everything we do combines strategy and creativity for the best results.

Why should a company consider content writing for their business needs?

I’m a trained journalist so I’ll always argue about why words are so powerful. We’ve told stories to share with others since we began to walk this Earth. The best brands today know they need to communicate with their customers to build a rapport. If you want to be among them, you need to communicate effectively. On a practical level the constant refreshing of content – such as a blog – is actually a key tool for helping your website rank online as well as positioning you as an authority in your field – which builds trust.

What do you enjoy about writing?

Gosh, writing is such a wonderful activity in itself. I loved my career as a journalist and still write for UK newspapers. But really there is something so satisfying about talking to a client who is solving a problem for a consumer and then helping them really put that into words. They have a great product or service and we’re helping more people discover it.

How do you decide what topics to focus on and what format to use?

Everything is customized for our clients. Something they know exactly what they want and other times they are experts in their field but aren’t sure how best to communicate that to their customers. So we can work with them and explain the benefits of a landing page versus a website for example, or whether blogging will really work for them.

How do you determine the style, tone, and voice for content you write?

Once again, this is all about getting under the skin of our client. What do they do, who is their audience? Our job is to reflect each brand’s personality and the best tone for them to communicate with their customers.

What steps do you take to develop a content marketing strategy for your clients?

This is a really fun part of the job because it brings together all my favorite elements. It starts with liaising with the client to understand them, their USPs, their challenges, and their goals. Then we conduct SEO and competition research and from there develop a content strategy that will help them stand out from the crowd. It’s a really thorough and interesting process.

What makes content successful?

Content has the potential to be really successful, but it’s got to have value. There is no point just putting your intern to work writing endless blogs with a scattergun approach. With some proper market insights and a good writer, you can achieve really exciting things by giving customers what they want to read. But it needs to be strategic. Content without purpose is just more words floating around on the internet.

After you have published (or provide) content, what recommendations can your offer to promote it?

Well firstly, great SEO-friendly content should do its job in that it gets picked up by people searching within similar topics. But you can make it work even harder for you. Consider chopping it up as a teaser for an email marketing campaign to drive engagement, link to blogs, or your site from social media. Consider a shorter version posted on platforms such as LinkedIn to build your authority. There are so many options.

How do you or your clients know if your content has performed well?

It’s possible to map and track engagement, whether you want to know how many visitors are reaching certain pages, or how many are clicking through on certain buttons and getting in touch. The joy of digital is that you are always in control so can see what works and what doesn’t. A really strong and thorough SEO plan can also see you move up the Google rankings and start to appear on higher pages. This is something we are actually developing further with our SEO team so we can offer even more comprehensive services – so watch this space!

Is there anything else you’ll like to share with the readers?

Just that we know now is a really tough time for companies and we’ve seen a lot trying to pivot to improve their digital. We’re offering a 10% discount on all our services at the moment and are always here for tips and ideas as well, so do feel free to get in touch if you’re trying to make sense of it all, we’re happy to help even if it’s just with a bit of advice.  

Gracie;

Thank you Sarah for taking time out of your busy schedule to chat with us; learning your expertise on content marketing was very informative, I’m sure this will be beneficial to our readers.  

Continue to watch out for more interviews, tips, and advice from amazing experts like Sarah Gordon.  Sarah is a great friend to our brand is often a speaker with our virtual events and expert chats.

Sarah, as usual, it’s been a pleasure!

Until next time,

Gracie

Check out the video chat between Sarah and Gracie:

To get in touch with Sarah and her team for your content marketing need please visit - www.sarahgordon.uk or contact them directly hi@sgcontent.co