Are you struggling to write meaningful content

Diogenes, a Greek philosopher, said “He has the most who is most content with the least”. How truly this has come of age in these times. The one with the most original content in the least words will have the most advantage. 

Content marketing plan has been ranked consistently as one of the top three priorities of marketers for several wars. So how do you differentiate your two cents from the sea of content flooding the minds of your customers? Here is my take on few things you cannot ignore while creating content.

Research what readers want

Research about what questions people are asking. Place yourselves in the shoes of your readers and find out what answers they require. Create a persona of the reader and jump over to his side of the fence. There are several sites as Yahoo Answers which can give you a fair idea. Make a list of these and make sure you cover these when you pen your content. Listen socially!

Find out trends

Find out history trends of particular terms or keywords. With the help of google and other sites get an idea of how the subject has been treated over a period of time.This will help you to understand if your ideas are relevant at today’s times.

Distribute and format content

Do not cramp all of your ideas at one place. Distribute them evenly over the entire write up. At the same time, keep the formatting clear with headings and sub headings .Only one out of five readers go beyond your title.So work on it. Make it easy for everyone to find quickly if the subject is relevant to them. Avoid THDR(Too Hard Didn’t Read).It is an important part of content strategy.

A story with pictures

Now that you have made it clear and simple, put in some pictures and weave a story around it. It will be engrossing and pleasing to the eyes of the reader. Not to mention, images tell a thousand words as well as help in your SEO! Plan your content in advance.

Think original

Original is originality which means ideas should be original. This is something which should be on top of your mind to make your content top class. Nothing ever beats original. Do not agree? Just try once.The foundations of content marketing is laid on this.

Apply Pareto's principle

Pareto’s principle or 80/20 rule now applies to almost everything in life. So what does it mean for content. We can safely decipher that 20% of our content will be viewed 80% of the time. Find out those critical inputs (the "critical few") that you should pay a lot of attention to, and many unimportant inputs (the "trivial many") that you can ignore.

 

Suggest not direct

Make your audience apply your thoughts. Never direct them to do things. Application will make them understand and they will find your content compelling. It will make more sense to your audience if you can justify why they need to read and apply those.

Content creation is an art and science as well. So next time you set out to write some content, keep the above things in mind and let me know the results! Happy Writing!

How to handle the evolved email marketing?

What is it about email marketing that it is still ranks in top three lead generation tactics even after the advent of social media. This got me to read more about what has changed in this marketing channel and what new tactics people are using to avoid being in spam.

How and where to start?

The first and foremost view that I got is segmentation, putting across the right message at right time. You should be paying attention to where the contact is in the purchasing cycle so that you send the right message at the right time to the right audience. There should be one clear call to action, this is important as customer attention span is shrinking. The subject line is your “foot in the door”. It should be engrossing. Each subject line should be the superhero that stands out from the crowd, the pre-header should be its trusty sidekick and your email should be a story that your viewers will want to sit through.

What to put inside?

Now, coming to content part, Create emails using inverted pyramid style, with most important info up top. Only send quality information (imagine you are receiving this). Incorporate strong visuals into your email.Add real scarcity to emails (live countdown timers, days left for an offer...). It boosts CTR as well as open rates on the long run. Getting response is more about what's in it for them more than what's in it for you - let your audience's "WIIFM?" lead your offers, content, segmentation – everything

When and how much to send?

Don't send too much, too fast. Warm up your IP's and establish a pattern, before you start blasting.Focus on growing your list all of the time as newer subscribers are more engaged adding to healthier open rates and ROI. Send 1 salesy email, for every 3-4 informative emails that build trust with your subscribers. When an audience opens an email, be sure to have a series of 2-3 more emails close behind related to the same subject/topic of discussion - Engage the Engaged!

Do not forget the mobile readers!

Remember your mobile readers, check your links are easily clicked on desktops and mobile users alike. Don't miss out on A B testing. Add hidden teaser text to the very top of your code. This text will display as the first 2-3 lines for mobile users but won't be seen by desktop users.

Be creative at each step

If you're out of ideas for your next newsletter, take a break to think about it. Try something simple but meaningful for your email list. Example: Build a newsletter with a link to a quiz about your audience interests, built on a special landing page on your website. Another could be making a video on Screenr, and same process. Be creative!Stop thinking of it as "marketing"; it's a conversation and treat it as such.