This year at SXSWi, Stephanie Hay (of Stephanie Hay, LLC) will be sharing her skills as a successful copywriter who believes “the message should lead any efforts — online, mobile, offline — and the design or functionality serves to uplift, support, complement, and more effectively deliver that message.” Yes, design supports the message (not the other way around).
So much of what is on the web these days just seems to be taking up cyber space. It’s just “there.” A lot of it isn’t engaging and doesn’t motivate anyone to do anything. According to Stephanie, compelling content is the key to user motivation. “Writing compelling content is the stuff that energizes a user to want to buy, sell, vote, etc. It’s active content that says something, means something, and invites the reader to really participate because s/he’s being spoken to in a genuine way that’s both entertaining and informative — without the marketing fluff.”
In a recent interview, Stephanie provided additional insight into her SXSWi panel and explained how web content must touch readers in a meaningful way: “Genuine communication is inherently authentic. My goal in the SXSWi presentation is empowering people to identify and capitalize on their unique characteristics that will help them write more focused, credible, and consistent content for their readers. In doing so, they’ll be able to more effectively convey their personalities online and — as a result — have a more honest presentation and dialogue with users.”
After all, it’s the desire to dialogue with users that makes us establish our web presences in the first place, right? Stephanie’s presentation is a must for anyone who wants to make sure his/her web content gets noticed and moves users to respond. Remember: It’s the content that makes the difference!
To contact Stephanie or to keep up with her activities (including her participation at FOWD London and at InspireConf in Leiden, Netherlands), visit Stephanie’s web site at: http://stephaniehay.com/.
(For additional recommendations on this important topic of web content at SXSWi 2011, be sure to check out Doug Seliger’s Top 5 post, Presentations for Writers.)