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What Writing Fiction can Teach You about Inbound Marketing (and Vice Versa): Part I

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Do you happen to have one of those obscure BA degrees that don’t seem to do anything other than make you look super smart and distinguished? Enter the Creative Writing degree. As it turns out I wasn’t descended upon by a pack of wild publishers the moment I got my diploma in hand, so I improvised and tried my hand at copywriting. And here we are.

 

What Writing Fiction can Teach You about Inbound Marketing (and Vice Versa): Part I

Now that we’re on the same page (get it? Page?) it turns out that Inbound Marketing and fiction writing can agree on a lot of things, and there is a lot to be learned from both sides that can benefit one another. Business writing majors: We can have peace.

So what exactly can fiction writers and Inbound marketers do for one another? Our first nod of acknowledgement goes to buyer personas. We hear about them in Inbound so much that we chant the phrase in our sleep sometimes. Determine your potential targeted customer base and build a persona around them. Imagine their habits, their concerns, their wishes. Decide what they’d write for an online dating profile.

In storytelling we know this as character development. A well-rounded character brings depth to a story, and shows just how much the author understands about the world they’re showing you.  On the other side of the ink splotch, an Inbound marketer who understands their buyer personas has a better chance of maximizing the potential of their Inbound efforts. Fiction writers: don’t be afraid to bring those characterization exercises to a buyer persona brainstorming session!                                                  

One of a storyteller’s most important assets is his sense of voice. A work of fiction that is all over the place (stylized pieces aside) usually leaves readers feeling lost and confused (with stylized pieces we just pretend.) A good sense of voice will translate well when switching to Inbound mode. We can think of a business' online presence as telling the story of that business - and a story with a clear, unified voice can be more attractive to potential leads. Working with clients and discovering the individual voices of their companies can help build an awareness over time that will carry over into creative writing sessions when you're deciding what sort of tone you want to set with your work.

Writers come in all forms and with many different pens, but that doesn't have to mean we're inflexible. Branching out and trying different fields can add miles of depth to our writing style. Next time you're looking for a copywriter, don't shrug off the ones with fiction writing on their resume!

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