GM, and welcome back to Marketing Qualified. How was your week? Good, we hope. If it wasn't, hopefully, these topics make it a little better:

• The 2nd most important part of copywriting. What you write is most important. This is number two.

• Are you a great B2B marketer? Or are you a ‘meh’ marketer?

👀 The 2nd most important part of copywriting.

When it comes to copywriting, what you say is most important. No surprise there.

But there is another crucial part of copywriting that most marketers forget to consider. Ignoring it kills their conversion rate and makes them lose money.

So, what is this mysterious missing piece?

Layout.

The way your copy looks is almost as important as what it says.

You should treat your copy like a visual object. Text that looks good tends to read well.

A lot goes into creating the perfect layout for a piece of content. But here at Marketing Qualified, we’re fans of the 80/20 rule. You know, where 20% of your effort gets you 80% of the result.

So, we’ll let the graphic designers out there worry about making things perfect. Us marketers, on the other hand, should mainly think about two things when it comes to layout:

1. Hierarchy

2. Readability

1) How to create hierarchy.

For this one, it’s easier to show than to tell.

Follow the visual structure below for assets like landing pages, ads, social media graphics, ebooks, etc.

Just rip and replace with your own words, taking note of the use of different text sizes and colors.

2) How to increase readability.

Do not, we repeat, DO NOT publish content with massive text blocks.

You’re better than that!

If you want someone to read something you write, making it physically difficult for them to read is a really bad idea. Shocking, we know! 🤯

Instead, use the following items strategically:

• Headings

• Subheadings

• Images

• Short paragraphs

• Bullet points

You don’t have to use all five of these items every time. How many you need depends on how complex the thing you’re writing about is. But you should always use some combo of them.

Here’s an example of how you might transform a text block into something much more readable.

📰 In the news this week.

🔗  10 internal linking best practices.

💰 The creator economy is ready for a workers’ movement.

✅  How to create online display ads that work.

💻  Insights from CES 2024.

🎶  How brands might approach 'music marketing.’

🤔 Are you a great B2B marketer?

A lot of marketers are what we would call ‘meh’ marketers. Sometimes, they get the job done, but they're never going to break any records, and we doubt anyone is writing home about them.

Great marketers, on the other hand, understand key concepts and have a mindset that sets them apart.

In our opinion, these are some of the most significant differences between ‘meh’ marketers and great marketers:

#1

Meh marketer:

Bring people into the funnel and give them an offer.

Great marketer:

Bring the PERFECT people into the funnel and give them a PERFECT offer.

#2

Meh marketer:

Gets confused by the term B2B. They think it means they need to be formal all the time. They think they’re selling to businesses.

Great marketer:

Understands that all B2B buyers are actually just people. They market to humans. They capture attention, tell a story, and make people feel something. They write how they talk.

#3

Meh marketer:

Find a tactic that works, get attached to it, and think it applies everywhere.

Great marketer:

Understand that there's no one-size-fits-all approach. They’re constantly testing new tactics and letting the data lead them. They know that nothing works forever and always have the next thing cooking.

Which type of marketer are you?

😂 Marketing meme of the week.

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