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Welcome to the radical, fast-expanding world of UX (or user experience), which refers to any interaction a person has with a product or service.

A significant component of a person’s experience is the text a user encounters — known as UX copy. UX copy is produced by UX writers, a position whose importance is on the rise.

UX writers create content that guides the user on their journey with the product to achieve their goal. Sounds a bit existential, but what it really means is that UX writing tells a user what to do, and presents their options to them straightforwardly, which minimizes confusion and streamlines the process.

But UX writers do more than just write — they speak directly to consumers with their copy, which means a large part of their role is understanding and knowing how to best communicate with the user base.

We’re talking about everything from word choice, when and how copy appears, instructions, error messages, forms, basic structures of processes (like forms), and anything else that has to do with text. All of these components serve a strategic purpose to solve user problems and craft the optimal user experience.

UX WRITING IS NOT COPYWRITING

Copywriting refers to text crafted to advertise and sell a product. Copywriters often use clever language to get people’s attention and tell an engaging product story. Their goal is to get you to think about their product as much as possible.

UX writers, on the other hand, want to make you think as little as possible. They use straightforward, conversational language to create an intuitive experience. Distracting language can act as a road bump, knocking users off-course. While a copywriter’s job is to convince you to buy something and attract new customers, a UX writer works to keep existing customers by creating a seamless (and yes, painless) experience for them.

Copywriters transitioning to UX writing face a similar challenge — instead of creating texts that have the sole purpose of selling a product, they now have to guide users through a product using natural, conversational language.

Beyond writing texts found in digital interfaces, UX writers[MR1] imbue products with personality through careful use of voice and tone. Part of the process is creating a style guide that lays out how the product should ‘speak’ and ‘behave’ for the team. The goal is to keep the product voice consistent no matter who writes for it.

WHAT DOES A UX WRITER DO?

UX writers collaborate closely with UX/UI designers and UX researchers to develop a simple, efficient, and satisfying experience for the user — heroically vanquishing confusion and uncertainty.

Design Thinking
“But writing isn’t design,” you might be thinking. Well, think again. UX writers are key to the design process and actively help to shape overall UX — they just do it with words instead of graphics.

Design thinking is the process by which many companies are developing new products. The central tenet of this approach? Craft the user experience around understanding and empathy for the end-user. How will someone interact with the product? Where might a person get confused? The cornerstone of successful UX writing is to focus on how a user will interact with the product. But how do UX writers make the magic happen?

User Research
The research phase is where user needs, pain points, behaviors, and goals are mapped — which is how a UX writer gets to know their users. Data is transformed into actionable information and insights after being gathering via surveys, data-mining, focus groups, or other research methods. One popular process of analyzing user data is building personas or profiles of theoretical customers based on your target user base that examines their personality, behaviors, and motivations. When you know who you’re talking to, you can better speak their language.

Microcopy
Button labels, error messages, notifications, help texts, and CTAs (calls to action) all fall under the category of microcopy, which makes up a lot of the work that a UX writer does. A quippy, well-crafted 404 error message can turn a potential panic moment into a lighthearted and informational redirect. Google has set principles for effective microcopy: clear, concise, and useful.

Developing a Style Guide
UX copy essentially acts as the voice of a brand or product, and you want this voice to be consistent across platforms and media. UX writers need to fully understand the voice and style to effectively share it with other content creators who write copy for the organization.

UX WRITING PRINCIPLES

UX writing is a style all on its own. A lot of traditional writing adages do not apply. Here are some basic principles for good UX writing.

Engaging
You want to draw the user in and keep them engaged. The best way to win the engagement game is to make the process to the end goal as straightforward as possible. Ensure each step is well-defined and active — tell the user what they should do, not what they shouldn’t. There’s a fine line between being clear and telling the user too much — that can be intimidating and cause users to abandon their engagement.

Encouraging
When people feel encouraged, they have a better experience. People can become disgruntled and frustrated when they think they’ve done something wrong — so avoid language that implies that they have. If there is an error, offer potential solutions, such as links to other pages on the site.

Human-centered
The user is essentially in a conversation with the product, so you want to write with that in mind. Use natural, conversational language — and avoid jargon. The goal is to be understood and guide the user through the interface. The first question when making any choice should always be: “Does this help the user?

YOU NEED THESE ATTRIBUTES AND CHARACTERISTICS TO SUCCEED AT BEING A UX WRITER

Unsurprisingly, writing and editing skills are necessary to thrive as a UX writer. But, possibly even more important than that is a user-centered approach to the design process. Understanding how people think and process information will set you up for success as a UX writer.

Many companies are hiring UX writers right now, and they’re looking for folks with empathy and curiosity, who are creative problem-solvers and critical thinkers. Additionally, strong collaborative and communication skills make you a valuable contributor to any UX development team.

QUALIFICATIONS

A UX writer’s career path isn’t necessarily the most straightforward, mainly because this field is so new. While a lot of folks come in with a copywriting or design background, that isn’t necessary. Strong writing skills and understanding of design thinking will give you a strong foundation going into an interview.

There are many resources and courses available for folks that are interested in diving into the field of UX writing. If you think it might be for you, check this out.

SALARY

The average salary for a UX writer varies across the United States. According to Glassdoor, the national average is $85,277. In NYC, it ranges from $65,000 on the low end to $119,000 on the high end, while salaries in San Francisco range from $78,000 to $130,000.

About the author.
An award-winning creator and digital health, wellness, and lifestyle content strategist — Karina writes, edits, and produces compelling content across multiple platforms — including articles, video, interactive tools, and documentary film. Her work has been featured on MSN Lifestyle, Apartment Therapy, Goop, Psycom, Pregnancy & Newborn, Eat This Not That, thirdAGE, and Remedy Health Media digital properties.

The primary goal of the user experience or UX design process is to create a product or service that is an easy, efficient, and satisfying experience for the user. Easy right?

To uncover what a user will respond positively to requires some digging — and that’s where a UX researcher comes in. Take an anthropologist, sociologist, and marketing specialist, shake them together, and boom — you get a UX researcher. These creative professionals are tasked with figuring out what motivates someone to buy a product and want to use it. To figure that out, they design, conduct, and analyze user design research and usability testing and then collaborate with designers so that the final product can deliver an optimized experience. Let’s take a deeper dive into the differences between the roles of UX researcher and UX designer.

THE CONNECTION BETWEEN UX RESEARCH + UX DESIGN

UX design refers to any interaction a person has with a product or service; it considers each component that shapes a person’s interaction with a product or service. This encompasses a wide array of experiences: how it makes a user feel to how simple it is for a user to accomplish their desired task to how the product feels in their hands, to how easy it is to complete a transaction (particularly online).

To avoid assumptions and make information-driven design decisions, a UX researcher will come in to speak to real users within the target market about the service or product. Day-to-day, UX researchers plan and conduct discovery interviews, concept and usability testing, contextual inquiry, and more. They set the scope of each study, along with research objectives, and recruit appropriate participants. Following a user research session, the data is analyzed and translated into actionable insights and product recommendations. UX researchers paint a picture of how people feel when using a particular iteration of a service or product with their work.

WHAT DOES A UX RESEARCHER DO?

UX researchers contribute to many stages across the development process to build a successful, intuitive, user-centered design.

Research

The research process begins with both market and customer feedback. Market research can reveal what potential competitors are doing that is successful and where there might be space for a new offering.

When gathering customer feedback, UX researchers utilize different methods to get a comprehensive understanding of how consumers interact with a product or service. Methodologies can include questionnaires, online surveys, focus group discussions, and more. In addition to choosing the right method, UX researchers need to ask the right kinds of questions based on the specific problem or challenge relevant to the product they are working to develop.

Analysis

Data analysis transforms the information gathered during the research phase into usable, actionable insights, and recommendations to inform future design decisions. Analysis methodologies look different depending on the types of research conducted. Some types of analysis are quantitative, while others are more qualitative. One popular method of analyzing user data is building personas or profiles of theoretical customers based on the target user base, to better understand their personalities, behaviors, and motivations.

Collaboration

To transform the research and analysis into a usable product, the UX researcher works with the UX design team and client to cover all the project’s bases. The UX researcher often works most closely with the UI designer. The research they’ve conducted most directly informs how the UI designer creates users’ direct interactions with the product or service. A great working relationship between a UI designer and a UX researcher allows the team to zero in on what the user finds essential, minimizing the effort that a person has to put into interacting with a product and facilitating their ability to accomplish their aims with ease.

Validation/Testing

Testing ensures that the choices made during the design phase stand up to scrutiny; it’s the time when user difficulties that were not discernible during design have a chance to be nixed. Other details have an opportunity to be refined. There are numerous testing methods commonly used, including A/B testing, usability testing, and remote user testing.

Testing occurs during both the prototype phase and once the product/service is available to consumers. The end product, over time, will be evaluated and re-evaluated using the same criteria to ensure that what the business is offering provides the desired experience and solution that the end user wants. This continued testing ensures that the design stays relevant, adjusts to changes in the market and user patterns, and connects more meaningfully to your audience.

In short, UX researchers act as a translator between consumers and the design team — providing a map that is informed by, and best caters to, its user base. Simply put: Without understanding what the consumer wants, UX designers would be flying blind.

UX RESEARCH METHODS

UX researchers use various methods to gather information about how consumers feel about and interact with different types of designs. These are the main four research context categories:

Natural Use of Product

Exactly what it sounds like — customers engage the product as they usually would in their regular lives — allowing researchers to understand behavior and opinions as close to reality as possible via methods like data mining and ethnographic field studies.

Scripted Use of Product

Often taking place in a lab, scripted use can reveal insights on specific usage aspects, like asking participants to complete a particular task. These studies provide more specific usability metrics, but don’t necessarily offer a complete picture of overall usage patterns.

De-contextualized

De-contextualized studies offer information about broader cultural behaviors and opinions, including research that doesn’t necessarily have a user engaging the product — such as focus groups and email surveys.

Combination/Hybrid

Some creative methods combine aspects of more than one of the above, such as having customers work with theoretical designs or testing broader concepts.

YOU NEED THESE ATTRIBUTES AND CHARACTERISTICS TO SUCCEED AT BEING A UX RESEARCHER

Unsurprisingly, research skills, like data collection and analysis, are necessary to thrive as a UX researcher — as is the ability to craft research plans and individually-targeted questions, identify problems and potential solutions, and translate data into a format usable for the design process.

Most UX teams approach projects via the Design Thinking process, which includes starting any design process from a place of empathy for the consumer. A desire to learn about and understand people, their behaviors, and what makes them tick, along with wanting to optimize their experiences, drives most UX research — so approaching a role with that perspective will prime you for success. Familiarity with this process and creative problem-solving skills, critical thinking skills, and curiosity are also vital to supplementing any set of hard skills and qualifications. Additionally, strong collaborative and communication skills will make you a valuable contributor to any UX development team.

QUALIFICATIONS

The career path of a UX researcher isn’t necessarily the most straightforward. While a background in research provides the most robust foundation to a job in UX research, people have made their way successfully into the field from the worlds of neuroscience, marketing, and communications, anthropology, and many other areas. There may not be a traditional educational pathway that will guide you to UX research, but there are plenty of opportunities and strategies to start learning about the space.

If you want to learn more about UX research to see if a career in this growing field might be right for you, check this out.

SALARY

The average salary for a UX researcher varies across the United States; in NYC, according to data gathered by Creative Circle, it ranges from $65,065 on the low end to $180,180 on the high end. According to our data in Minneapolis, Minnesota, salaries range from $59,769 to $165,514.

Are you a comic book fan? Love graphic novels? Storyboard artist might be the career for you.

Storyboard artists work with directors and producers to visually interpret a script or concept by creating a series of illustrated image panels called storyboards — similar to a comic strip. They are the visual translators of a story, and their work becomes the roadmap for production.

It’s a vital role because storyboard artists guide how others perceive the project. All members of a production or development team look at storyboards for reference — which is why the boards’ clarity is so critical. Storyboards also convey the energy and style from which art directors take their cue. The storyboard artist needs to give the look and feel of what will become the finished product, from a character’s gestures and emotions to the production design, while using minimal language. Storyboards are used by directors and producers to put a visual narrative in place that informs other departments — from camera crew to costume design to art direction — what they have to do in the production.

What does a storyboard artist do?

Storyboard artists are essential for many different types of productions — from animation to films, television commercials and ad campaigns, video games, app games, music videos, instructional videos, and more. The storyboard artist enters the picture after a concept or script has been created. The actual storyboard presents the “action” via a series of scenes depicted by individual panels that let filmmakers, marketing and advertising executives, producers, and directors “see” the project before commencing production. Storyboards are also used to give direction during the actual production.

In animation, storyboard artists create the “raw footage” of a project. They birth the vision of a script — pretty cool, right? Storyboard artists take a script and begin visualizing it by making drawings that depict each beat of the story, drawn in sequence on a timeline so that a visual structure is scaffolded to the script’s words and there begins to be something to “watch.”

How do storyboard artists create their work?

There are many different modes of creation — storyboard artists might draw scenes by hand or use computer illustration. Some might sketch in black and white while others produce full-color storyboards. Storyboarders work with a production or team from concept to project completion, sketching scenes during initial meetings and editing scenes as the project progresses.

Sometimes, storyboard artists are given a radioplay — an audio file with stand-in dialogue — so that they can fine-tune the timing to how the episode or project will actually play. Eventually, these illustrated montages are edited together to create a rough draft that is sometimes referred to as the “animatic.”

Methods vary from artist to artist — in many cases, the rest of the development or production team will influence the storyboard artist’s processes. For film or animation projects, the director may affect how a storyboarder renders their scenes. It’s great to have your own style, but flexibility is essential when working with a larger team. And if there is more than one storyboard artist on a team, often the various artists will mimic one another’s styles because the uniformity of the storyboards helps maintain the clarity of the vision.

Here are some key things that storyboard artists have to convey in their storyboards:

Describe camera movement – Storyboards are a comic book of the finished project and show when the camera pulls back and when a close up is needed.
Tell the story visually – A storyboard needs to clearly show what is happening, using minimal text. While technical descriptions have a place in the storyboard, the images should convey what is happening.
Track narrative structure – Time is not linear in most films or animation stories. Storyboards have to make these transitions clear. In video games, a storyboarder may go beyond visualizing scenes as they are likely working on different levels within a game and an element of character design.
Continuity – Storyboard artists are responsible for the visual continuity of a story.

Where do storyboard artists work?

There are extensive job opportunities for storyboard artists. Because the skillset lends itself to opportunities outside of entertainment, there is an inherent job malleability for those that master this type of illustration. Here are some of the diverse places that employ storyboarders:

Film studios
Game development companies
Animation studios
Advertising agencies
Graphic design and marketing agencies
Architecture firms
Some governmental agencies

What attributes do you need to succeed as a storyboard artist?

Excellent Illustration skills. As you might suspect, superb drawing skills are essential. Storyboards need to clearly convey a scene and the emotions and gestures of the characters therein.
Understanding of cinematography. It’s key to know a bit about cinematography as you will be drawing what the “camera” will see. While video games and animated films aren’t filmed with a camera per se, the imagery still has a point-of-view perspective. What a camera sees and what our eyes see are distinct — you’ll need to know and understand the difference.
Ability to interpret other people’s ideas. The name of the game is translating scripts and written concepts into a visual form — the ability to discern meaning and texture within the language and bring it to life is the heart of storyboarding.
Excellent storytelling skills. Storyboard artists are creating visual narratives for the written word, a deep understanding of how to tell a story is vital.

What are the key responsibilities of a storyboard artist?

Read the script and meet with the director or producer to discuss mood, design, and overall theme.
Make sketches of crucial scenes in sequence.
Maintain narrative continuity (aka keeping story details connected)
Visualize scenes from the camera’s viewpoint; plot character emotions, gestures, angles, overall mood, along with wardrobe or prop requirements in each frame.
Detail shots and action scenes before shooting so that the production can use the storyboard as a roadmap. You know the adage: measure twice, cut once — storyboards help avoid reshoots and going over budget.
Amend scenes to reflect changes in the script or comments from the producer or director.

What qualifications do you need as a storyboard artist?

You should have:

A creative mind
Excellent illustration skills and the ability to draw and work quickly
The ability to interpret other people’s ideas
Superb storytelling skills
Solid understanding of cinematography, film theory, and production
In-depth knowledge of human form, gesture, and motion — along with excellent layout and composition skills
A great sense of timing, sequential drawing, and story editing
Be able to use computer illustration software *

PRO-TIP: Take art, theatre, cinema, and photography courses. Every element of the creative production process you understand will make you that much more valuable as a storyboard artist.

How much do storyboard artists make?

The average annual salary for storyboard artists is approximately $114,300 and ranges from $85,000 to $149,000.

* The best storyboard software in 2020

As the adage goes, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” But is it … always? Not when you have many points to get across with conviction, precision, and flair. On the mention of points, a picture is not the main point here, but rather a pivot point. That’s because the number of words attributed to it in the opening sentence serves as the launching pad for a discussion of long-form content.

To begin, what is long-form content? Implicit in its name, it refers to content of ample length, measured in number of words. How many words would that be? This is not an exact science or art. Long-form has a wide wingspan, which starts at around 1,000 words and extends to 2,000 and beyond. Recently, pundits profess a preference for the higher amount and push the end mark to 3,000 words. Rather than quibble over the limits, one thing about the math rings clear. It takes a word count of quadruple digits to weave the sticky web of propositions, arguments, analyses, and more that engage and excite audiences — including Google.

This post explores various facets of this format, from framing it to outlining a variety of its strengths. What it doesn’t do is suggest that long-form is superior to its shorter cousin. In the arena of short- versus long-form content, one does not hold the title of supreme champion. There’s a proper time and place for both short-form and long-form content. Apply each one — or a combination — based on prevailing needs and goals. For example, snippets are easy to process and produce abundant quick clicks. But, many times a smattering of words, however clever, won’t fulfill the objectives and elicit the response you seek. At these junctures, more extensive content is the way to go.

This is to say: long-form content has a definite role in an organization’s digital marketing and communications toolbox. Let us count some of the ways long-form content delivers.

Stimulates interest and informs: Content marketing

Welcome to the fertile fields of courting loyal followers and, in the end, customers, facilitated by content marketing. This is the land of long-form content. First, let’s identify what content marketing is. The Content Marketing Institute defines it. “Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.”

Content marketing is subtle, yet substantive. Its mission is not to directly promote an organization, brand, service or slate of products. Instead, it draws upon the power of words — a lot of them — to stoke awareness and gain attention; that, in turn, leads to competitive advantage, sales, and profit. Another way to look at it: content marketing uses a back door approach to generate crowds at the front door and the checkout. It’s a process, but one with a potential worthwhile and enduring payout.

The content marketing playbook is a treasure trove of materials derived from long-form content. This broad category includes articles, blogs, e-books, newsletters, content hubs, research reports, and meaty infographics. Podcasts, videos and webinars are other assets in this class. The members of this league do not give short shrift to a topic. They explore it, highlight key aspects, and offer constructive takeaways to connect with audiences. When readers acknowledge the value, they savor it and come back for more. This creates recognition, relationships, buy-in and, at some point, buying.

How about some statistics to back up these claims? The Content Marketing Institute offers such evidence. Studies on its site show that “content marketing generates over three times as many leads as outbound [promotional] marketing and costs 62% less.” More? “Small businesses with blogs get 126% more lead growth than small businesses without.” Okay, here’s another. “Content marketing rakes in conversion rates six times higher than other methods [such as traditional marketing].”

All told, content marketing and its long-form enabler should be an integral part of a company’s strategy.

Bolsters perceptions and authority: Thought leadership

A subset of content marketing, thought leadership deserves a section of its own. An effective tactic within this sphere, it works a bit differently and distinctly. Here a spokesperson presents an issue or point of view on something of interest and importance. It may relate to the company, perhaps even tangentially, or to an industry, event, or pattern of consequence. This long-form content is substantial and substantiated with examples, data, and discussion points. It shows the person’s command of what is being conveyed. Ideally, it’s novel and impressive.

Readers appreciate this information; in fact, they may be looking for it. These posts help them understand a development or trend. The insights bestowed connect the dots or explain a rationale. This in-depth content may lead to an aha moment — hmm, that’s why or that’s how!

These articles, blogs, white papers, and other pieces of long-form content build credibility and eminence. The readers’ assessments of the organization and its people rise. This indirect marketing approach offers much capacity to generate success. How much? Recently, Survey Monkey and partners decided to find out. “The 2020 thought leadership report: defining it, using it, and doing it yourself” captured the opinions of 481 marketers via an online questionnaire. And what was the top-line conclusion? Two-thirds deem thought leadership a “top priority” for their firm.

Why did these practitioners rate thought leadership so highly on their to-do list? Because, based on their experience, it increases:

website traffic by 71%
lead generation by 62%
media mentions by 56%
email subscribers by 54%
customer relationships by 53%

This feedback alone shows that thought leadership is a hook. What’s more, it works. As such, it behooves an organization to use this long-form content asset.

Conveys attributes and builds brands across all stakeholder groups

Long-form content hits the jackpot for brands. And it accomplishes it on a head-on basis. Aside from the first two strengths cited for this format, not all efforts to position and market a brand need to circle around what truly matters. They can go right to the heart of products, services, categories, and lines — whatever organizations offer. The same applies to the overall brand and what it stands for. Unlike its short counterpart, long-form content presents details to fully explain and elaborate upon a brand. In doing so, it differentiates the entity from others.

This format applies to any moment in time in a brand’s lifetime. It’s the way to go to establish brand identity and ingrain it. Long-form content provides the bandwidth to tell the brand story and feature aspects of it in tangible terms — it delves into the matter rather than scratching the surface. This deep-dive content creates affinities with customers en route to bringing them into the fold for years on end. These pieces anticipate customers’ questions and lay It all out for them. They convey a brand’s essence and then build, build, build upon it.

With the help of Images and videos, long-form content fleshes out brand personality. What else can well-conceived long-form brand-oriented content do in this regard?

Helps brands stand out
Shows how they work
Promotes and persuades
Cross sells and upsells
Memorializes them

Of note, brand stakeholders are not all external. Employees are integral within a brand’s framework. Long-form content helps to engage and educate these important internal resources about the brand’s mission and values. Employees serve as brand ambassadors and among the enablers of its success. They need to understand and align with the brand’s essence, purpose, and plans. Long-form content helps take them there.

It requires lots of words and repetition to reach targets and stakeholders in a brand’s vast network. In building brand across multiple channels, long-form content serves as a go-to that goes a long way.

Enhances SEO and pecking order

Do you want your content to register high on Google search results, ideally on the first page? Who doesn’t seek to be among the leaders of this pack? The path to follow: go long.

Long-form content does not automatically come with this guarantee, but it points to this potentially winning principle. A landmark study done by SerpIQ arrived at this conclusion about the benefits of long-form content in attaining attractive SEO ratings. According to its findings, the average content length of the top 10 results was in excess of 2,000 words. This outcome prompts SEO pros, such as SWEOR (Strategy Website Enter the Market Optimize ROI) to note: “longer content produces higher search rankings. Simply put, studies show that longer content dominates page one of search rankings.”

Content quality of long-form is a factor that correlates with high ranking. Make it compelling, comprehensive, and relevant to what audiences seek. Insert lots of prized nuggets adaptable for sharing. Judicious and plentiful use of keywords also points the way to success. But there’s more…

What’s a sure shot way to bolster scores? Links. A recent exhaustive study of 11.8 million Google search results confirmed this concept. If found “Overall link authority (as measured by Ahrefs Domain Rating) strongly correlates with higher rankings.” And “pages with lots of backlinks rank above pages that don’t have as many backlinks. In fact, the #1 result in Google has an average of 3.8x more backlinks than positions #2-#10.”

All of this reinforces the use of long-form content to be able to ace the Google algorithm. What’s the short of it? Long-form content is ripe with SEO benefits.

Supports social media and paid advertising

Long-form content is perfect for mining. When done well, it contains fruit just waiting to be harvested. Pull a quote, statistic, insight for social media purposes. Incorporate a link to the long-form content piece in an email. Insert it on your website, your intranet. It’s all there in those thousand plus words, so cull it – leverage, recycle. Put your long-form content to work. It can do double, triple or whatever dimension duty with little effort. It’s the stuff of Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram — you get the drift. By the way, readers who like a long-form piece share it on their own — it’s that easy. They may comment on it as well, which draws even more attention to it and may precipitate a discussion thread. What’s some hard, fast data to confirm this? According to a post on Digital Vault, research from BuzzSumo and Backlinko report that “long-form content results in 56% more social shares.”

Long-form also serves as a platform for paid advertising, such as LinkedIn sponsored content. Again, use long-form content posts as inventory and pull from the rack for many purposes, AKA repurpose. Granted, it likely takes more time, effort, and expense to create these longer pieces. However, they offer ample possibilities to fuel other means of getting your brand front and center. Post, repost, share, reshare; let the content go round and round and maybe even viral!

Pulling all of these bits and pieces together…

Well planned, conceived, and executed long-form content wields a lot of power. Dedicating one thousand or several thousand words to such an effort showers the organizations that use them with a range of benefits. They offer opportunities to flex their marketing and SEO muscle. In doing so, they render a one-two punch, if not more.

To sum this up in a sprinkling of words, long-form content provides:
High Visibility, High Impact, and High Performance

It attracts readers and keeps them engaged and on a site for a longer time rather than a brisk bounce. In this sense, bigger is indeed better. Long-form content is a social media darling. This format enables organizations to, both indirectly and directly, build their reputation and base en route to ringing up sales. It’s the stuff from which videos and podcasts are made. And these lengthy pieces easily lend themselves to being chiseled into shorter posts and to readers (including those outside the organization) sharing them with those in their networks.

This post has offered a top-line view of long-form content. It also provides something else related to this format. In the birthing process of covering this topic, this piece evolved into something quite unexpected. It turned into an example of long-form content in its own right.

About the author.
You name it, she covers it. That’s the can-do attitude Sherry M. Adler brings to the craft of writing. A polished marketing and communications professional, she has a passion for learning and the world at large. She uses it plus the power of words to inform and energize stakeholders of all kinds. And to show how all of this can make a difference, she calls her business WriteResults NY, LLC.

Media planners do exactly what it sounds like they do — plan media buys, but what does that really mean?

Successful ad campaigns are targeted ad campaigns. When you find yourself surfing the web and see ads for brands you are interested in — their placement is orchestrated by (drumroll)…media planners. These specialists are responsible for identifying which media platforms are best for advertising a client’s product or brand. Media planners are the maximizers of an ad campaign’s reach to a client’s target audience — the conduit by which advertising lands in magazines, billboards, websites, television, radio, direct mail, and more.

Media planners produce action plans for advertising campaigns from pre-defined marketing objectives.

WHAT DOES A MEDIA PLANNER DO?

Media planners typically work within advertising or media planning/media buying agencies to maximize the impact of advertising campaigns. Part of the work involves using mathematical formulas to analyze demographic data to determine the best ad placement. Some media planners track their advertising planning performance on the back end, calculating return on investment — or ROI — to ensure they receive good value for their advertising spend.

The three main specialties within media planning are determined by advertising format.

Traditional advertising includes television, radio, print (from magazines to newspapers and direct mail), and outdoor (think billboards, bus stops, subway platform posters).
Interactive marketing includes banner ads, web ads, mobile apps, email blasts, native advertising, and social media, among other digital platforms.
Engagement marketing includes experiential campaigns (which can range from events to immersive environmental concepts), point-of-purchase (like in-store demos), and behavioral marketing (which can span from viral marketing campaigns to street teams).

It’s a changing landscape; agility is vital. To succeed in their jobs, media planners must keep in tune with culture as it ages and changes values. The way people consume media content is in a constant state of flux. Individual channels become more or less relevant and useful at reaching specific demographic groups — which is why media planners need to keep abreast of new forms of advertising and media to ensure that the brands and products they represent maintain a strong position in the marketplace.

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A MEDIA PLANNER AND A MEDIA BUYER?

Say hello to two of the most important cogs in the great advertising machine: media planners and media buyers. While the two roles are often lumped together, media planning and media buying are distinct; it is likely best to describe their relationship in the mediascape as a symbiotic one as their individual roles experience peak performance when working in tandem. Most media professionals know that an integrated approach to creating, planning, and broadcasting delivers the best ROI for advertising campaigns.

Together, media planners and media buyers connect media strategy elements to an actual media platform. Without them, advertising campaigns would wallow in the darkness of creative obscurity instead of garnering potential consumers’ attention.

Media planners are tasked with figuring out what media platform will be the most effective for a particular campaign. They research the best way to achieve the client’s aims while outlining specific campaign goals and objectives. And they set how the budget should be allocated across the various media platforms chosen.

The primary roles of a media planner include:

Conducting external market research to assess the lay of the media land for a client’s particular field, looking into how a brand is currently advertising, what their competitors are doing, what inspires and motivates their target audience, and what media channels have been most effective in reaching them.
Conducting internal market research to uncover what a client’s brand identity really is, what unique value proposition and selling points are, and get a sense from demographic research who the particular customer personality is.
Setting campaign goals and objectives for what is likely the most essential interface for an advertising campaign. The nexus between what a client hopes to achieve and what media planners believe can be achieved is the crux on which campaigns’ success rests.

Media buyers receive the media strategy from their media planners for an ad campaign — and then ensure that the ads are featured in the most appropriate media channels, as cost-effectively as possible. Successful media buyers possess an intimate understanding of the media landscape and have cultivated and nurtured relationships with media vendors throughout their professional lives.

The primary roles of a media buyer include:

Cultivating and leveraging contacts is the heart of media buying. Who you know may well trump what you know for successful media buyers — media buyers have to know the right people in the right places.
Knowing where the space is and how to get it (for a good price) is the name of the media buying game. The right people matter, but they have to be in the right places for a client’s campaign. The goal? Find the perfect space to get the best exposure for a client, yielding the best return for the best price. Phew.
The ability to tweak and finesse a campaign in motion is also paramount. Once the strategy is handed off from the media planner to the media buyer, it is up to the media buyer to optimize the platforms and channels used to ensure the campaign’s effectiveness across its lifecycle.

YOU NEED THESE ATTRIBUTES AND CHARACTERISTICS TO SUCCEED AT BEING A MEDIA PLANNER

Excellent research skills. This job is all about assessing the market and media landscape and figuring out the best media platforms for a brand’s products or services.
A deep understanding of consumer media consumption and marketing is essential for media planners to set the strategy for advertising campaigns.
A data-first mindset to research and interpret demographic data helps planners ascertain the best action plan for an advertising campaign.
People skills. A media planner liaises with clients, consumers, cross-functional agency staff, and researchers — being a people person is essential for success.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES OF A MEDIA PLANNER

Analyze and interpret data and undertake relevant demographic and media platform research for advertising campaigns
Connect the dots between internal teams, clients, and media buyers
Perform research and analysis of media landscape using Nielsen, Kantar, iSpot, and other research platforms
Evaluate and keep up with new media platforms and advertising opportunities
Utilize web analytics tools to monitor digital campaigns
Produce strategy briefs for media buyers
Coordinate, monitor, and evaluate media campaigns and strategies
Identify and understand target audiences

QUALIFICATIONS

Most media planning professionals hold a bachelor’s degree, with majors in marketing, communications, or public relations. In terms of personality, this is a people person, numbers loving role — you’ll need to like both to succeed. It is useful to have experience in both advertising and media outreach and learn how to utilize media research strategies like Nielsen research tools.

SALARY

The average salary for a media planner in the United States is $72,516.

Media buyers do precisely what it sounds like they do: buy media space — but here’s what that really means. For advertising campaigns to be successful, they must be targeted to particular groups or demographics to impact sales of a brand’s products or services. Whatever the media outlet — print, radio, television, digital, billboards, and more — companies need someone (hello media buyer!) to conduct media research and know the best ways to reach those target customers. The media buyer magic is to successfully assess individual platforms and media channels to make sage decisions about where advertising campaigns should be unleashed.

WHAT DOES A MEDIA BUYER DO?

The essence of the media buyer role is to ensure that a company’s advertising message rises above the noisy fray of an ever-expanding mediascape. From billboards to magazines to banner ads on websites — media buyers vie to get their company’s brand seen by the right audience at the right time in the right place through strategically purchased advertising buys.

Media buyers are responsible for negotiating price and placement for all ads on radio, print, television, and digital — and ensure that all media inventory (running the gamut of logistical details including times, days, lengths, and size of placements) is purchased within a pre-designated budget. The goal is simple: ensure that ads are seen by the most people within a particular target audience while staying within budget.

The three main specialties within media buying are determined by advertising format.

Traditional advertising includes television, radio, print (from magazines to newspapers and direct mail), and outdoor (think billboards, bus stops, subway platform posters).
Interactive marketing includes banner ads, web ads, mobile apps, email blasts, native advertising, and social media, among other digital platforms.
Engagement marketing includes experiential campaigns (which can range from events to immersive environmental concepts), point-of-purchase (like in-store demos), and behavioral marketing (which can span from viral marketing campaigns to street teams).

It’s a changing landscape; agility is vital. The way people consume media content is in a constant state of flux. Individual channels become more or less relevant and useful at reaching specific demographic groups — which is why media buyers need to keep abreast of new forms of advertising and media to ensure that the brand and products they represent maintain a strong position in the marketplace.

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A MEDIA PLANNER AND A MEDIA BUYER?

Say hello to two of the most important cogs in the great advertising machine: media planners and media buyers. While the two roles are often lumped together, media planning and media buying are distinct — it is likely best to describe their relationship in the mediascape as a symbiotic one, as their individual roles experience peak performance when working in tandem. Most media professionals know that an integrated approach to creating, planning, and broadcasting delivers the best ROI for advertising campaigns.

The primary roles of a media planner include:

Conducting external market research to assess the lay of the media land for a client’s particular field, looking into how a brand is currently advertising, what their competitors are doing, what inspires and motivates their target audience, and what media channels have been most effective in reaching them.
Conducting internal market research to uncover what a client’s brand identity really is, what unique value proposition and selling points are, and get a sense from demographic research who the particular customer personality is.
Setting campaign goals and objectives for what is likely the most essential interface for an advertising campaign. The nexus between what a client hopes to achieve and what media planners believe can be achieved is the crux on which campaigns’ success rests.

Media buyers receive the media strategy from their media planners for an ad campaign — and then ensure that the ads are featured in the most appropriate media channels, as cost-effectively as possible. Successful media buyers possess an intimate understanding of the media landscape and have cultivated and nurtured relationships with media vendors throughout their professional lives.

The primary roles of a media buyer include:

Cultivating and leveraging contacts is the heart of media buying. Who you know may well trump what you know for successful media buyers — media buyers have to know the right people in the right places.
Knowing where the space is and how to get it (for a good price) is the name of the media buying game. The right people matter, but they have to be in the right places for a client’s campaign. The goal? Find the perfect space to get the best exposure for a client, yielding the best return for the best price. Phew.
The ability to tweak and finesse a campaign in motion is also paramount. Once the strategy is handed off from the media planner to the media buyer, it is up to the media buyer to optimize the platforms and channels used to ensure the campaign’s effectiveness across its lifecycle.

YOU NEED THESE ATTRIBUTES AND CHARACTERISTICS TO SUCCEED AS A MEDIA BUYER

Excellent negotiation and relationship-building skills. This job is all about negotiating terms and money — so media buyers need to excel in this department in spades.
A nuanced understanding of media consumption and overarching marketing strategy is essential for media buyers.
A strategic financial mindset to calculate rates, budgets, and usage is key to succeeding as a media buyer because they are the team’s money managers.
Budget savoir-faire. Media buyers have to make the advertising magic happen but within budget. The name of the game is getting the best inventory for the best price for the most impact on the leading demographic.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES OF A MEDIA BUYER

Monitor daily client performance and campaign delivery across channels to ensure strategies are implemented correctly and goals met
Connect the dots between internal teams, vendors, and media network partners
Perform research and analysis of media landscape using Nielsen, Kantar, iSpot, and other research platforms
Evaluate and negotiate new media opportunities and advertising contracts
Utilize web analytics tools to monitor digital campaigns
Monitor costs and ROI (return on investment)
Ensure ads are displayed correctly across channel distribution
Communicate with media companies to find available times and spaces and pricing for ad placements

QUALIFICATIONS

Most media buying professionals hold a bachelor’s degree, with majors in marketing, communications, or public relations. In terms of personality, this is a people person, numbers loving role — you’ll need to like both to succeed. It is useful to have experience in both advertising and media outreach and learn how to utilize media research strategies like Nielsen research tools.

SALARY

Many media buyers earn part of their income from commission. The more advertising space and time they buy, the more money they stand to gain. Therefore base salary is not necessarily reflective of full earnings potential. Media buyers make on average $80,509 a year, but the position offers career growth opportunities that could lead to higher-value roles with experience.

The art, music, and creative industries were some of the most hard-hit by COVID-19. Major festivals and fairs like Coachella, South by Southwest, Art Basel, and more had to be postponed or canceled — fashion shows went virtual. Theatres remain dark. We don’t know when (or if) artists will return to the stage or when art openings will open again.

But in the face of all this absence and loss, artists and fans have found community in staggering numbers by tuning into Instagram Live and Zoom, watching intimate performances and shows streamed right into living rooms everywhere. DJ D-Nice’s Club Quarantine became one of the must-do digital tickets, with fans including Michelle Obama, Beyonce, Joe Biden, and Oprah. And museums and cultural institutions joined the fray, finding new ways to bring art to the people. While we suffer through the challenges of COVID-19, and yes — there are many challenges — we want to take a moment to salute those that have found new modes of creation in these most unusual of times.

Here are eight great creative things born in the time of C-19 that are giving us life.

1. LIMBO MAGAZINE: A New Type of Magazine About the State We’re In

LIMBO is a novel rethinking of the magazine publishing model. A compendium of original, quarantine-created work from over 100 top artists — including Tom Sachs, Vivienne Westwood, Wolfgang Tillmans, and more. This grassroots idea is rooted in creating a positive outlet and paying work for creatives living in an uncertain time. In the words of Nick Chapin, the creator of LIMBO and former Director of Publishing for art-world juggernaut, Frieze Magazine:

“I started to worry about the younger artists, freelancers I’ve worked with over the past 10 years who are often living paycheck to paycheck. There’s no furlough scheme for artists, and no safety net for many people across the creative industry, so the situation seemed pretty dire. At the same time, I wondered what new ideas were bubbling up under lockdown. It was a rare moment, everyone in the world standing still. It felt like we ought to take a picture—a snapshot and a cross-section of the state of things through the eyes of the most creative people.”

And the result? Perhaps the ultimate time capsule of 2020 — as seen through the gaze of some of the most creative humans on the planet. A collection of hope, laughter, and a vision for the future.

2. Verzuz Live Battles: An Homage to Hip-Hop’s Roots in the Age Of C-19

When COVID-19 closed the curtain on live music performance, ingenuity kicked in and created another way. Veteran superstar producers Swizz Beatz and Timbaland started the Verzuz series, turning their own friendly rivalry into a social media hit paying homage to hip-hop’s roots and reigniting careers.

The concept behind the Verzuz series is simple: Swizz Beatz and Timbaland curate a DJ-like Insta-Live event, choosing two Hip-Hop or R&B icons, typically from the golden age of 1990’s-early 2000s that they both came up in, to face off in two 10-song rounds. Artists play signature songs and tracks that they wrote, produced, remixed, or performed. While the performers make their magic happen, a real-time audience that has ranged from 250,000 to 710,000 (for May’s Jill Scott-Erykah Badu) cheer them on and comment on the action.

These classic rap DJ and R&B battles have become a much-needed bright spot for music lovers. Since April, Verzuz has become a quarantine cultural institution — with the adjacent creation of its own host of characters, lexicon, and community. It has revived and sparked new interest in Black legacy artists, sparking the term “the Verzuz effect,” making these online events the talk of the quarantine town.

3. Window Swap: New Twist on a Room with A View

Wanderlust calling? Travel may be on hold, but that doesn’t mean the vistas have to be. The brainchild of a wife-and-husband team of creatives living in Singapore, Vaishnav Balasubramaniam and Sonali Ranji created the ultimate “quarantine project” — Window Swap, a website that lets you travel without moving by letting you gaze out of other people’s windows all around the world. From the comfort of your own home, you get the feel of being in a new place, without the pathogenic drama of planes, trains, or automobiles. Anyone, anywhere, can access Window Swap — just visit the site and find a video of a window to look out.

Want to share your world with the world? Just shoot a 10-minute, static, horizontal locked shot video, ideally with part of your window frame or balcony door frame in the shot, and send it to this qunaliaa@gmail.com. Have fun exploring!

4. Drive-In Opera: An Aria En Plein Air

When COVID-19 shelter-in-place mandates first began, music events pivoted to virtual spaces. But now that lockdown has eased somewhat, how can fans enjoy a real-life experience without crowds? Say hello to drive-in opera! The famous International Festival of the Voice that takes place each year in Phoenicia, New York, is hosting the world’s first drive-in opera! On Saturday, August 29, one of the grandest of operas, Puccini’s Tosca will be performed live on stage and simulcast on giant Jumbotron screens. An advanced sound system will amplify the arias as you relax in the cozy cocoon of your vehicle.

When the COVID-19 pandemic made it necessary to re-envision the annual 3-day Festival of the Voice, this idea for a drive-in opera was born. 600 cars will have space to partake in this unique performance, and it may just set the stage for future events of its kind worldwide.

5. #MuseumFromHome

Just because the museums are closed doesn’t mean you can’t take in the art. When the physical doors closed, tons of museums opened virtual doors for all to experience in this time of distancing, magically making the far away tangible with a mouse’s click. Here are a few that caught our fancy:

Through Google Arts & Culture, you can take virtual tours of some of the world’s most impressive archeological and cultural sites.
The world-famous Art Basel fair. This visual celebration may have been canceled, but you can indulge the glories from home, even if you had no plans to attend the fair in-person. Scroll through its unique online viewing room, featuring more than 2,000 artworks from 235 global galleries.
Take a virtual guided tour of the iconic Guggenheim Museum in NYC. Join museum educators for a live shared discovery of different collections, exhibitions, and architecture. Each tour shines a spotlight on a selection of modern and contemporary artists and works to spark conversation, contemplation, and collective meaning-making. All ages and abilities are encouraged to come play.

6. Stories of Splendid Isolation – Little Moments of Literary Respite

https://www.instagram.com/p/CDbuZjSB4TB/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Google Assistant’s Stories of Splendid Isolation creates little moments of literary respite that bring together thoughts from writers all over the world, chronicling the myriad ways everything has changed during this time of social distancing.

Using the Google Assistant app, listeners can hear writers from around the world share their thoughts and reflections on the COVID-19 crisis. It is a point of connection in these less-connected times. Created by Visual Editions in London, with help from Google’s Creative Lab, Stories of Splendid Isolation is available through Google Assistant. Each day, there’s a choice of three different authors to listen to, with each clip around two minutes long. Writer’s musings range from their personal lived experience of the pandemic to an imagining of what life might be like post-quarantine times.

To be part of this story, download the Google Assistant app, and say: “Hi Google, talk to Stories of Splendid Isolation.” Google Assistant will take care of the rest — all you have to do is give yourself a few minutes a day to listen.

7. The Sofa Singers

Sing your blues away at this twice-weekly online vocal extravaganza from James Sills, which brings hundreds of people together from around the world to sing together. The genesis of The Sofa Singers is a now-classic tale of the virtual pivot. When it became impossible to run his real-life choirs, vocal leader James Sills launched this group, connecting people globally through the power of song from cozy sofas everywhere.

It’s free and easy to take part! If you want to lend your voice to this epic auditory Zoom experiment, register here to come together in real-time and sing with hundreds of people for 45 minutes every Tuesday evening and Friday morning (UK time). Before the session, participants receive a lyric sheet and access code to join the session, where Sills takes participants through the song bit by bit.

8. Dancing Alone Together

Welcome to the transformed reality of live dance — creatively cobbled together and delivered to us wherever we are through our myriad devices, from professional companies finding new ways to dance together, to new models for movement classes that invite you to shake off your insecurities in the comfort of your kitchen, living room, or garden. In the video above, Alvin Ailey dancers move lyrically together, apart — performing an excerpt of choreographer Rennie Harris’ Lazarus.

These unusual times have also brought more regular folks into the dance fold through livestreams like DanceChurch, which captures a rotating cast of dancers, often including founder Kate Wallich, Thomas House, and Lavinia Vago — who take turns leading movement that is part virtual dance class and part joyful therapeutic release.