When it comes to marketing, that’s right! Words matter! Who would have thought it is 2026? We are surrounded by content – it is everywhere! Did you know? 90% of internet users watch digital videos weekly, and over half (around 55%) watch daily, spending an average of 2.5 to 4 hours a day on videos. However, when it comes to marketing, the written word holds a top spot. “Don’t you just generate everything in AI?” No, we don’t here at Hubspoke Media. Do we use AI? Yes, but there is a time and a place.
The importance of words in website marketing
We recently held a discovery meeting with a client and took handwritten notes to begin their website marketing. Now, I know that a discovery meeting to some people can be seen as a “fluffy” thing, that is just a meeting to state the obvious. But, no, it is not. This discovery ran to time and was full of chatter and questions. We left with scribbles with keywords, terms, values and ideas. It was a great meeting, and time was well spent.
Before we start, it is important to understand that this website project was a new project; no marketing had gone before. This was, in fact, the first step to this new path. This is why the discovery meeting was of the utmost importance.
The aim of the meeting is to come away with not only an understanding of what the client does, but also how they see themselves. In addition to this, it allows us to understand how they would like to be talked about, what their values are.
The key here was to learn more about the client. Our mission is to build a website and develop the copy that goes on the website. This needs to support accessibility and search engine optimisation, but this is all pointless if the client does not recognise themselves in how we are presenting the business.
Marketing with intent
Equally, we need to develop the marketing position – another fluffy term, but this really matters. Questions like – “why are you different?” or “how do you talk about this?”, “What does the company stand for?”, “Why don’t you do this, or say that?”
You see the arrival of AI and the wealth of social media content often takes the limelight. But in reality, it is all about marketing with intent.
“Ok Adam, get to the point!” I hear you cry! My approach is often to use questioning:
- How do you say what you do in one sentence?
- Who are your customers – where is their attention? How do they like to be spoken too?
- How are you different to someone that does the same thing?
Sometimes, marketing messages can be hard to unpick. However, once you unpick them, you start to build a personality, brand, and value in your copy.
So, we left the meeting with approximately 200 words of notes. This is our starting point to go away now and give the marketing the attention it deserves. Did we sling it into AI to generate the content? No, we took time to think and discern the various themes, language, and wording.
Once we had done this, we started taking a first run at the copy to develop the tone, values and service offering. We divided the notes into sections that will then comprise the plan for the website. Then, taking each in turn, we are drafting and tweaking the words to fit each section.
Now we are getting somewhere; in fact, we are now over 1400 words and growing! Each section flows and makes sense alongside each other; brand themes are starting to emerge. This copy is relevant, reflective of our meeting, and hopefully reflective of the client’s outlook regarding their business.
What’s next?
So, what is next? Meet the client, serve our copy back to them, and ask two questions. Does this represent you accurately? Does this sound like your business?
Finally, in this day and age, let’s not be robots. Prepare strong copy and let it serve as the foundation of your marketing.