7 Tips for Balancing Your Creative Writing Skills With Your Marketing Writing Goals

By Wanda Lafond

Digital marketing is a peculiar realm. Some marketing writers are drawn to their jobs because of their interest in selling things, while others—especially content marketers—find it to be a lucrative way to use their creative writing skills to earn a living. There is a challenge, however, to find the right balance between being creative and selling products. Here are some helpful tips for balancing your creative writing skills with your marketing writing goals.

7 ways to balance content marketing and creative writing

1. Improve your research skills

The first thing to understand about digital marketing is that there is a lot of research that goes into it. This is why you need to improve your research skills before you can work on any technical or artistic aspects of your writing.

The best thing about improving your research skills is that as you do it, inevitably your creative writing also improves. Just think about it. When you have an understanding of what you are writing about, you are better able to put a concept into words and more effectively communicate with your audience. The more effort you put into your research, the easier it will be to sell a product, while you also deliver the information about the product in a creative way.

2. Focus on your target audience

Something to always keep in mind is that you must constantly focus on your target audience. Every piece you write will cover a particular topic and be written in a particular format, but it also must be suitable for a particular audience. It needs to fit the reader's needs and interests to strike a chord with them and engage them.

This is why you should always remember who your readers are. While writing, ask yourself whether your ideal reader would find your text interesting. Will they read on? Will they be entertained, educated, or informed? Will they want to buy the product/service you are writing about? All of these questions will help you keep your writing going in the right direction.

3. Develop your own process

This seems to be both a common tip and one that is rarely talked about. As both a creative writer and as a digital marketer, you need to have consistency. This consistency can only be achieved if you organize what you do. Consequently, you need to develop your own process for writing content that will fit exactly how you write, what you write, and why you do it the way you do.

No two writers are the same. This is because writing is such a creative process in and of itself. However, there are some common tips available for writers who struggle with organizing their writing process. These tips can be a great starting point, but you need to develop your own way of doing things and stick with it. It’s the only way to be consistent in what you do.

4. Show off your strengths

Every writer and marketer has their own strengths and weaknesses. It’s easy to worry about the things you can’t do, but doing so will only keep you in a negative mindset and prevent you from succeeding. That is why you need to focus on your strengths and show them off when you can. If you know how to do something and you can do it well, then why not use it to your advantage?

A strength might be something simple—for example, you could be really good at telling jokes. If you're trying to persuade potential customers to make a conversion or purchase, include humor in your writing to add a creative flair to your pieces while also maximizing their emotional impact.

Figure out what your strengths are and apply them to your writing and marketing to combine the two more effectively.

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5. Grab the audience's attention from the start

When you read a book, you know how long it sometimes takes before the plot starts to unravel. Book authors don’t always like to jump right into the action. But while this approach might be great for creative writing, it’s not ideal for digital marketing. When you create content, you need to grab your audience's attention from the start.

Online users are bombarded with all kinds of content, so they’ve had to adapt by not responding to everything they see. If you truly want your content to get read, grab your audience’s attention at the very start.

6. Set up a realistic schedule

A key to success when it comes to writing (and marketing) is to have a habit. When you develop a habit of writing, you can truly achieve something grand in the long term. But the problem with this is you have to commit to what you do for a long period of time. And this can be quite difficult, which is why you need to set up a realistic schedule for yourself.

On one hand, you can treat writing as your job—after all, digital marketing is about doing a job. But when it comes to creative writing, there tends to be an assumption that you can only write something creative when you are inspired.

But how can you get the job done if you only write when you “feel like it”? That’s why you need a schedule where you force yourself to sit down and write a specific number of words every day. It’s the only way to develop a habit and improve.

7. Don’t be afraid to experiment

Last but not least, do not be afraid to experiment. Creative writing is all about creativity, and true creativity can only be achieved if you are willing to take risks, try new things, make mistakes, and find something that works for you after all these trials and errors.

The best thing about this is that digital marketing can also be about experimentation. Of course, there are certain rules and best practices that most marketers follow. But who said that rules should always be followed and should never be broken? When you combine creative writing and digital marketing, you are bound to break some rules—so go ahead and don’t be afraid to do so. Experiment and discover something new.

Find the perfect balance gradually

At the end of the day, you shouldn’t take things too seriously and stress out about them. Instead, take it one step at a time and gradually find the perfect balance between the two. Digital marketing can’t survive without creativity, but too much creativity could ultimately defeat the purpose of marketing—that is, selling a product.

This is why it’s so important that you take the time to hone your writing skills and develop your own writing process that combines creative writing with digital marketing. This way, you will be able to produce the best content for your particular audience and satisfy both your readers’ needs and your own.

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