A Handbook: Everything About Content Writing and Content Marketing
As the world continues to depend more and more on the internet for the most basic queries to the most complex issues, the content available for any given topic is colossal. A consumer can do self-guided, in-depth research on any topic complete with all the facts and figures. The internet has no dearth of content on topics from healthcare to legal, healthcare to personal care. You type it, you get it. Content creates businesses into empires just by their sheer ability to target the audience where it is required.
Seth Godin calls content marketing “the only marketing left” – it’s authentic, useful, and perfectly suited for the internet generation.
So What Makes Content the KING?
Content marketing has become the major digital marketing tactic, with over 90% of B2B and nearly 90% of B2C marketers admitting to including content in each of their marketing campaigns.
Content alone can make your brand king. It can bring your blog on top of search results, getting you more traffic and of course, converting those clicks into business.
Sometimes, great content can make customers buy even when they are just into the mode of window shopping.
Read More: Trying to find the right content writing agency? Google Write Right because we write it right
The other day, I along with my partner had gone to the mall to.fill up our pantry. However, by the time we came.out, we had overshot our list of essentials and practically replaced half the brands we wanted to.buy with others. This came after reading the description (read content) on the items we were buying. We ditched our old brands in favor of newer ones solely based on content. This is the power of content. It can make people change their minds by targeting their mindset.
However, clicks do not equal likes/shares which in turn do not equal business.
It is estimated that out of 10 people, 8 read the full headlines and only 2 out of those 10 clicks through the article. People generally either do not find the content interesting enough or feel that it is just average.
How some of the content writing stays relevant always?
When content is created as a flagship or first over a topic, it becomes a sort of go-to article for the industry and is used as reference material by future content creators and curators. It is always relevant and more favored.
Short-term content writing is also important as it refers to the immediate need of the market.
Content creators should keep in reworking their content so that their piece of work is always up-to-date and relevant according to the needs of the time.
I Have Something To Say.
The content you are planning to write should be original, personalized and relatable.
When we do a keyword search, Google throws hundreds of thousands of links in a few milliseconds.
The above image shows the humongous amount of search results thrown up by Google in just 0.56 seconds. However, the real point which remains is with how many of these links are the readers able to connect?
One of my friends works as a freelancer came in with her article on which she was asked to rework. The editor had cited the inability to connect with the content. When I read the article, it was a terrific piece but the only flaw it had was that the article lacked personalization which made it just like hundreds of others already available online.
While writing, a content writer should keep in mind that whatever s/he is writing has either already been written or someone is working on the same topic exactly at the same time. So what makes that tiny difference which catapults a similar blog post or article to heights?
The simple answer is the personalization of the content. It enables the customer to differentiate between your company and its competitors by providing enhanced engagement, increased trust, and credibility.
Dynamic personalization of content can help create a unique experience for each user. It does not let the content get boxed in an orthodox way. It helps in catching the attention of the customer. engaging content can make the customer more and more interested in your business.
For example, the OpenTable app sends a follow-up mail to the customers who make bookings through it to know about their experience.
Amazon encourages its customers to rate and share their experiences to add credibility to the products in its catalogue and thus, influence future customers.
Some businesses invite customers to share their experiences on apps like Facebook Live or Instagram.
Netflix and Amazon curate further watchlist by observing the pattern of users’ last watched items.
78% of consumers say that personally-relevant content is a determining factor in their purchasing decision
- Increasing personalization can lead to a 500% increase in consumer spending
- A lack of relevance leads to an 83% decrease in engagement rates
Originality Sells
Example: In Google when you type ‘Best Content Writing Company in India’ or ‘Top Content Writing Agency India’ – Google is smart enough to understand the original phrase ‘Content Writing Company.
While creating content, it is imperative to authentically represent your company’s mission. Transparency between a company and its valued customers can only be established when the company can gain the trust of their targeted audience.
Seasoned customers can very well point out loopholes and hidden points by just having one look at the content.
The content should be the brand’s voice and add value to the target audience.
Any opacity and misleading content writing and marketingcan be a red flag to customers which in turn makes companies suffer.
Any discrepancy in words and work of the company can very well cost a company its reputation.
Case in point:
- 86% of consumers say that authenticity is a key differentiator that leads to a purchasing decision
- 73% of consumers would pay more for a product if the company behind it promises transparency
- 94% of consumers say they would remain loyal to a brand that provides complete transparency
The purpose of content marketing is to sell products by providing value to the audience by educating them about the company’s mission and its products.
It helps the target audience to achieve their goals concerning what is offered by the company.
Also, it makes them comfortable while engaging with your brand.
Informative and engaging content can provide an insight into the company’s doings.
Google analytics shows that an average article on pages 1 to 10 has 1890 words in it. This means that this is the approximate number of words that can hold the attention span of the reader.
An example of Google analytics:
The ever-changing algorithms of google have made the content creators more aware of the importance of authentic, personalized and value-adding content.
Go By The Word-Of-Mouth
To make the content for a company all-encompassing, employees from each level should be included to have an opinion. The content creators should move out of the marketing team and include employees from each level to have a say in content creation. To have multi-level opinions with regards to perspectives, needs and expectations from the content can help develop a novel and unique approach towards the understanding of the goals the company wishes to promote. By going into the length and breadth of the company, content can easily be made more personalized rather than the standard template kind of approach. The audience can connect better with the ins and outs of the company.
Various tools like Facebook and Instagram can be used to make the content widely acceptable.
And if not, different, smart and creative content writing companies are doing their best job to do the same.
Let Us Sell Together
When we create content in collaboration with people or brands in and out of the company, we use the knowledge and best of marketing strategies of both the parties to create a powerful.combination.
Two companies can come together to promote their brands in collaboration with one another, or may even create an entirely new product.
Uber & Spotify came together to create such an example. Soundtrack for Your Ride
This gives a value add and a boost to the marketing to.both the parties involved. Since the collaborators have no competition between them, this arrangement works for both
Sometimes companies collaborate with other companies who have similar values and missions as their own.
In such collaborations, product description videos, webinars, Apple product launch like events, play an important role.
Regarding the consumption of video content:
- 75 million US consumers watch video content daily
- By 2019, video traffic is expected to account for 80% of all consumer internet traffic
- Video content that’s around two minutes in length generates the highest levels of engagement
These collaborations allow the businesses to play off their and their partners’ strengths.
Since the partners are non-competitive, the benefit shared is mutual. Cross-promotion provides value and supplemental marketing content by utilizing the content by both brands.
A partnership between Amazon and American Express is such an example.
Get Influenced
Influencer marketing is another trend that can provide credible content to a company’s brand. Since the influencers create custom content for the products, it can give a unique flavor to the marketing.
The influencers have a huge following across the social media platforms, so when they share such custom videos among their followers, it gives more visibility to the product.
Companies which make sports gear also rope in sportspersons to influence their target customers.
Be Omnipresent
By providing your content on various multimedia sources can make your brand be present on the minds of your customers.
Presenting audio content over radio channels can have a great impact on the target audience as while stuck in traffic or working, people like to listen to radio broadcasts.
Another good option is.podcasts. marketing guru, Neil Patel broadcasts a short podcast daily which can be listened to while getting ready for work.
According to the HubSpot behavior survey, internet users want to see more social posts, news articles, and videos. While the top three content types aren’t surprising, the ever-changing habits of users are apparent. Not long ago, podcasts and blogs dominated the content world. Now, consumers say they would prefer online courses, research content, and interactive tools.
Small Moments Matter not only in life but also in creating content
Ask and meet any content writing companies how much efforts do they put in creating a lifelike story and you will know.
Short and sweet is the correct phrase to describe micro-moments by Google. They provide short and quick answers to the queries put up by the users.
Whereas long format has its benefits like giving detailed answers in the form of FAQs, short-form micro Moments can be an easy way to satisfy customer curiosity.
Hello ChatBot!
Chatbots both manual and AI operated are gaining popularity among businesses. On average, almost 40 % of companies use chatbots while dealing directly with the customers. with the help of natural language processing (NLP) and Machine Learning, chatbots are being utilized to not only communicate but being used as search engines, store assistants, shopping guides, and giving suggestions to the customers.
For example, H&M, Sephora, Burberry, etc.
Advanced technology is making dependency on human interaction increasingly Low.
The modern customer is smart enough to understand that chatbots cannot answer their every query, but they expect to be guided in the right direction.
How chatbots are utilized:-
- Provide quick and easy answers to simple, frequently asked questions regarding your services
- Provide details regarding delivery, payment, and other such transactional processes
- Collect information and feedback from customers to be analyzed later.
Too Much Is Also Important
Cluster content is long-form content which is more than 1000 words. Marketing guru Neil Patel says articles on page 1 of google search have an average of 1890 words.
With changing algorithms of Google, the use of keywords, jargon, boxed or segmented terms is now passé. With your content, you need to convince Google that whatever you are writing is going to.add value.
Even Long keywords are being rejected by Google algorithms.
Ubersuggest is tracking 619,718,788 keywords globally. During the last 30 days, only 24,593,402 of them generated over 10,000 searches.
And no matter what popular term you are going after, you are going to have a lot of competition.
It is advised that the content should add value not only to the target audience but also to the search engine.
According to Google, a single, detailed and independent blog about a broad topic under the umbrella topic is more valuable than a post just touching and moving ahead. Numerous pieces covering the lengths and breadths of the variety of topics have more chance of standing against the test of time and algorithms.
It is advisable to make your website the Bible of your industry.
Conclusion
though each of the trends for content creation deserves an independent blog post, let’s have a walkthrough of what we discussed:-
- personalized content can make a huge difference in articles on the same topic.
- authenticity and transparency of content can take the business to new heights.
- cross-team inputs can make content more appealing to customers.
- partnership with other companies can give a boost to your marketing content.
- influencers can help create custom content.
- short-form and long-form of contents have their benefits.
Creating valuable content takes a lot more than just a keyboard and writing. months of research, weeks of compilation, days and nights of creating meaningful content go behind this job.
Want to make an impact with content? Write Right is the best content writing company that will make all the difference. Trust word, not the world.
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