I would like to not talk about the negativity surrounding us right now. I strongly believe that the best thing about the human race is how fast we learn to adapt to new conditions. And it’s this survival instinct that will help us come out of the other end of this pandemic. In the world of business, it’s a time for do or die. And when you come to that situation, you are more open to trying out things which you probably would have never thought of doing otherwise. As the coronavirus rages across the world, businesses and brands across the world are scrambling to find new ways to find their audiences. And in search of that audience, which is now held up in confined territories, brands are finding alternative ways to fill their pipeline. And that is where content marketing and the digital space comes into the picture. With the virus blowing up all large-scale events and trade shows, marketers are now looking at content marketing more than ever. In the past 10 days, I have talked to atleast 5 business owners who have had to shut down their operations (mostly because of the industry they work in) and were now starting to build new streams of business that reach out to the audience digitally. They mostly wanted to know how they could improve their reach through their website? This trend has also been confirmed by the leads on our website. There have been businesses owners calling me to know how they could build a better website and attract more customers online, marketing heads looking for more content and brands looking for a stronger digital presence through content marketing. So, what is content marketing? According to Content Marketing Institute, “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.” Simply said, content marketing is a part of digital marketing where content plays the lead role in building connections with the audience. Content marketing relies on an ongoing relationship with the customer by creating trust and loyalty and imparting value at every stage. Over the years, content marketing has moved beyond just writing blogs and content pieces to encompassing SEO, social media, email and content distribution. See this infographic on exactly why content marketing works. Why does this make sense now? The graph below gives a bird’s eye view on how conversion rates have been declining across industries since COVID-19. Image Source As you can see, apart from industries like Food, Pharma, Media, and Healthcare, everything else has seen a massive dip. But there’s a silver lining through this whole situation. According to eMarketer, consumers spent 6.1 hours a day online on average in early January. This number has spiked to 7.3 hours in February and March since many parts of the world went into isolation and lockdown. Which means that online marketers have a more captive audience than ever before. And this could hold the key to recovering some lost business and powering through the crisis. At Justwords, we’ve been observing this very closely as we help our clients navigate this very challenging time. In the last month or so, we’ve devised our own playbook. This playbook is all about using digital marketing, particularly content marketing service, as an anchor to tide through these times. Here are some of the most important steps: 1. Use online marketing tools to retain existing customers Needless to say, you will lose some customers as people lose their jobs and businesses start scaling back. Having said that, this is the time to make sure you’re communicating the value you’re delivering to existing customers so that yours is the last product/service that gets hacked. Here are some simple tools you can use: Marketing automation If you’ve always planned to set up personalized, targeted ways of reaching out to existing customers, this is the time to do it. Use a strong marketing automation platform (WebEngage, MoEngage etc) to find the perfect way to communicate with your customers — through a combination of emails, push notifications, app/web content, chat, and so on. Make sure that you’re staying with them through the user journey, communicating about the extraordinary situation, how you’re adapting to it, extra services, etc. Delivering a superlative customer experience at this point will go a long way to retain customers. It’s also a great long-term strategy because your staff will now have free time to focus on content creation services and ROI-generating activities. Generating success-based content It’s really important to share stories about your success and effectiveness at this time. If you’re a B2B company, creating compelling case studies and whitepapers is a great idea, as are video testimonials. Of course, it’s important to be mindful in your messaging — make sure your content reflects the fact that we are in the midst of an extraordinary crisis that we need to come together to beat. Don’t allow your content to ignore the ground reality. Stay on top of social This is the time to really up your social media game when it comes to existing customers. Create a low-cost plan to reach out to customers at every stage of the social media funnel. Use monitoring tools like Hootsuite and Brandwatch to keep a firm eye on what customers are talking about — whether it’s your brand in particular or the industry in general. Also, make sure you add to the conversation — in a way that’s respectful and appropriate, but also adds real value. 2. Leverage dirt-cheap advertising You may be tempted to pull out all your money from online advertising. But think twice before you take this step. Online engagement is at an all-time high as people are spending more time indoors and on their devices. At the same time, many businesses are withdrawing ad spends which means that the auctioning system is
Category: Content Marketing
11 Reasons Why Nimble Content Trumps Everything Else
There are about 4.5 billion internet users around the world. According to CMI, half of today’s 18 to 49-year-olds read news and information online and 61% of American consumers made e-purchase decisions after reading recommendations on a blog. What does this data mean for marketers? Online consumers today are smarter and more informed. They don’t rely on companies or brands for answers. They choose and review a wide net of resources to extract the information they need. As marketers, it’s up to you to create this valuable info-pool, and make it available across all channels. That’s content marketing in a nutshell. Creating value-added nimble content that educates and informs readers rather than explicitly promoting a brand is the key to increasing the value of your brand. If you haven’t incorporated content marketing in your digital strategy yet, here are compelling reasons for you to do so: Great content builds brand trust People should see you or your brand as an authority in your field. For instance, what’s the first name that comes to mind for sports shoes and accessories? Most would say Adidas or Nike. That’s because these brands have established themselves as unshakeable experts in the domain. Or at least, created such messaging. Both companies spend time and effort to create snappy, share-worthy, and value-added content. People love that they anticipate questions and provide fun answers, which boosts brand perception. Gradually, consumers begin to see you as a reliable authority. It doesn’t happen overnight, but it does, over time. Smart campaigns grab eyeballs You’re new in the game, and nobody’s heard of you. But a clever marketer can generate the right kind of noise to create awareness and pull in leads. For instance, a software development firm that sells e-learning tools can publish how-to videos about their products and its benefits, which are then boosted on YouTube, your website and social media. Create blogs about their unmatched benefits for users, send e-mailers, and reveal how corporations can weave in e-learning in everyday operations. Slowly and steadily, online readership will rise. Your blog organic traffic will increase, and so will your search rankings. Instill brand credibility in the eyes of Google The search engine’s algorithm remains a mystery, and nobody knows the exact formula (or its extent) that Google uses to rank search results. But what we do know, is that the algorithm is centred around providing the most useful, vetted results for users. As long as you create high-value content (preferably, multimedia) that readers love to read and share, you’re good. If your ranking doesn’t match your best SEO efforts, it’s time for something different. Today, digital > traditional In 2014, the Aberdeen Group showed how online marketing is six times more powerful than traditional media when it comes to converting leads into paying customers. While TV, print, radio and newspapers hold considerable sway in developing countries, digital marketing methods like social media, e-mailers and blogging have made a powerful climb to the top. Build relationships If your website has unique, informative content that provides value, visitors will keep coming back to your website. For instance we all know Neil Patel as an SEO expert. Every blog he writes is focussed around offering valuable tips and strategies to help brands and digital marketers solve problems faced by them in today’s ever competitive scenario. Similarly Backlink’s Brian Dean is known for providing valuable tips in the form of case studies which gives the impression that it’s tried and tested and therefore trustworthy. People have come to regard them as experts in the field and look to him for any information around the subject. That’s the kind of relationship you should be looking to build with your visitors. Earn precious backlinks Backlinking is when an external or third party website hyperlinks to your SEO content, citing it as a useful reference. If that site is a credible, high-quality source, your audience will multiply exponentially, boosting referral traffic and leading to a higher presence on the seach engine result page (SERP). Google takes the high quality backlink as a sign of trust, and pushes you up on the radar. Targeted content influences purchase decisions Most people look up product recommendations, study user complaints and compare prices before making an online purchase. Blogs, aggregator websites, news portals and best social media channels present a crucible of varied opinion, and brands must strike while hot. Turn buying behaviour your way by providing answers to the questions the user might have. It can be about a common problem that the product aims to solve or a how-to guide that tells or shows the user how useful and easy-to-use the product is. For instance how-to videos, podcasts, social media posts etc are a good idea. Funnel your inbound marketing Gone are the days when you could push marketing material into people’s faces—think direct methods like flyers, brochures and TV commercials. Audience these days hate pushy advertising and being told what to do. They’d rather exercise their own sense of judgement, compare brands, and see if you work for them. Content marketing does just that. Help them decide what is best for them. If somebody wants the best sunscreen in the market, create indirect content that also lists peripheral information. Why are sun-screens essential during summer? What are its scientific benefits? Do effects differ with age and location? Track the common questions a potential customer might have, provide all answers, and voila—you’ve built credibility. Here are some tools that help identify you identify such opportuinities. BuzzSumo – Simplifies content research by bringing up popular posts using keywords. UberSuggest – Primarily a keyword research tool. Can help content research by bringing up search queries that users generally type in. Google Alerts – Helps you stay ahead of the curve by notifying of whenever new content is published around your keyword. SentiOne – A social media listening tool, it tracks brand mentions and conversations around a given keyword.
Content Marketing During the Times of Crisis
If you are a business owner who relies on online marketing to help your customers discover your product, engage, and nurture, now is the time to think differently. Unnatural times require big course correction. And that is what needs to happen with your marketing plans. You need to take into account that most business and communities are planning and preparing for turmoil and uncertain times, and hence your content marketing should talk to that change. Also, we need to remember that agility and flexibility are not enough if not supported by sensitivity, creativity and more innovative thinking. Here are few marketing tips. Share your business continuity plan As a business, you have already been making plans for the best and worst-case scenario. It is important to let your existing customers know how you are dealing with the situation and that you have a long-term plan and coping mechanism. This isn’t black and white for any business and what you say may possibly have grey areas that will evolve with the situation. Share an update about this via your official blog, social channels and also on email. Let your customers know about your actions Many businesses are helping out the society, the government and their customers in different ways. You could be contributing efforts, finances or offering a helping hand to people who are fighting this battle in the front line. Keep your customers posted about such actions, but do so in a careful way so as not to get a PR backlash. Do not sell. Do not promote drop your home-cooked favourites in the comments ?? 15.8k Likes, 606 Comments – Zomato India (@zomatoin) on Instagram: “drop your home-cooked favourites in the comments ??” Many content marketing company is talking about salary cuts and furlougs and several sectors are staring at job losses. In this situation, no one wants to risk investing their savings when they don’t know what they are going to need in the next few days. Be sensitive around your context of communication. Definitely don’t cold call! Understand what your audience wants to hear You customers and prospects are mostly in a state of anxiety with the evolving Covid-19 situation. They may be hungry on the breakdown of information shared by the governing bodies in the country. They will want analysis and research on the topic and need tips and ideas on what to do next. Content creation that can help them – blogs and infographics that could probably be circulated via email. If you are not sure of what to communicate, get your team together and brainstorm on these possible ideas – What do your customers like? What do customers wish to hear about from your industry? What are your competitors doing right? If a marketing channel is being dropped, what could be other ways to achieve the same marketing effect? You might even want to talk to some of your customers to understand what they are thinking. By the end of this exercise, you will know if any changes are needed in tone, style, and execution and whether any new channel should be adopted for outreach. Use your social channels effectively View this post on Instagram कोरोना वायरस दुनिया के विभिन्न देशों में पहुँच चुका है तथा 118,000 से ज़्यादा लोग इस वायरस से संक्रमित हुए हैं। आइए जानते हैं कि तेज़ी से फैलने वाले इस वायरस से बचाव कैसे करें | #Coronavirus #Covid19 #CoronavirusPandemic A post shared by Genus (@genusindia) on Mar 12, 2020 at 6:29am PDT The current ride on social channels is all about helping people cope with staying at home. Whether it is about helping them keep children engaged, learn to cook, learn to save, or simply cope, you can deviate to create social media content that shows you in a positive light. Use this time to fine-tune your business’s online presence This is a great time to work on things that you normally don’t get time to work on. Since how long have you been planning to redo your website content and create that explainer video. Use this time to build great website content – content that will explain to your customers what you do and sell, boost your SEO with the right keywords and get in the traffic. Have your team work on research papers and e-books that were in the backburner. Where possible, speak to an industry expert (in your customer’s industry) to share their insights on what they are doing within their organization. Take this opportunity to polish and revamp your company’s online visibility and marketing strategy. Don’t forget your SEO While you go on to create content, make sure your SEO is still on track with the changing search trends due to Covid-19. Many brands are noticing a downturn in brand searches. Instead, a lateral approach to write about topics with high relevance as per the times and optimizing it can be a source of incremental organic traffic. ‘How to prepare for recession’ has 8,48,00,000 search results. Search trends for recession have peaked. We are, indeed, living in difficult times – both you and your customers. This too shall pass but it’s important to plan We don’t know how the world will change at the end of this crisis, or worse still, when will the crisis end. But your business will be better prepared to weather this storm if you have a proper marketing plan and clarity of what the action plan is going to be if the crisis worsens and if you are ready to embrace the change and innovate accordingly. In difficult times, your brand will be remembered for how sensitive it is to its employees and customers. As a business, the content you create now will go a long way in being the light at the end of the tunnel. Choose to be that business who will be remembered for good.
Clutch Features Justwords as One of India’s Top Content Marketing Agencies
At Justwords, we have been working on leveraging content to build brands for over a decade now. From our expertise in content creation, we have organically branched out into various aspects of digital marketing to now operate as a full-service content marketing company. In the last 10 years, we’ve watched content marketing come into its own in India, and are grateful to have been part of the transformation. While we’ve never really sought after reward or recognition, believing that the work we do for our brands speaks volumes, it feels great to have been ranked as one of the Top Content Marketing Agencies in India by Clutch. What is Clutch and why does this matter? Clutch is a Washington DC-based ratings and reviews research firm, focussing on digital marketing companies. They conduct in-depth reviews for clients of the companies they feature — which means that a Clutch list is based on real, comprehensive feedback from clients. Over the years, Clutch has emerged as one of the world’s most reputed websites when it comes to rating digital marketing companies across the globe. What does the rating mean and why it matters Clutch operates on the principle of in-depth client reviews. This means that it’s the feedback from our clients that has helped us feature in one of the most prestigious rankings for content marketing companies in India. We’ve serviced a wide variety of clients in the past decade – from a small neighbourhood bakery to some of the biggest multinational brands. The impact that we create for their business is what drives us, which is why this rating becomes so meaningful. What our clients have said Clutch is known for its in-depth client interviews, which go a long way in building the rating for any digital marketing agency on the platform. Unlike Google reviews which are more passive and open-ended, Clutch really goes deep into understanding We’ve been truly overwhelmed by what some of our clients have had to say. Here are some glimpses : “Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success? There has been ten-fold growth and success in the monthly visitors to our website since we engaged with Just Words How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs? They are very responsive and supportive. Even with the many changes we request. What did you find most impressive about this company? They are very responsive and the quality of the blogs they deliver is of a high standard. ” “What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? When we started this project, we were expecting to see a 40% improvement in our traffic, and Justwords delivered that in less than three months. For the next three months, we set a target for 80%, and it proved to be a challenge. I wouldn’t just blame Justwords; it also had to do with us as a customer. When starting from zero, getting to a 40% level is an easy jump, but, when we’ve achieved something, to exceed that figure is challenging. Both of us are still struggling to find the right strategy to improve traffic. My feedback to them is that we should have more weekly and monthly reviews, to plan the strategies and align ourselves right.” Where do we go from here We started our journey over 10 years ago. Back then, in a landscape that was just emerging, we understood that content would soon become a game-changer for brands of all shapes and sizes. So we started by creating text-based content- differentiating ourselves by the quality of what we delivered and the outcomes that it gave our clients. Through our journey, as we expanded from text to other content formats to become a full-suite digital marketing agency, this differentiator never changed. We still believe that it’s quality content that makes all the difference. As we expand our company to greater heights, creating campaigns that push the boundaries in content marketing, our commitment to quality content and yo client outcomes will never change. And milestones like the Clutch feature are just a reminder that this approach will always win out in the long run.
Brand Campaigns That Earned the Right Spotlight on Republic Day 2020
Brands are in the constant lookout to engage with their prospects and build a moment marketing connection on special occasions. Republic Day 2020 too was one such occasion. On such days, it is never about a hard sell, but the messaging, where there is some product or service synergy. We questioned various marketers on how they can evaluate the value of such initiatives. Mostly ranging for a week to just on the day of the event, some believe in ensuring that they never miss a chance to be in the visibility range of their users. Others, with contests, offers and quizzes, and engagement campaigns, try to generate leads and sales too. Here are some interesting brand campaigns and ideas from Republic Day 2020. Twitter: India Gate Twitter launched the tricolor India Gate emoji on the 26th of January. They also had President Ramnath Kovind tweet it during his address to the nation. While an emoji is a great way to cut across language barriers, Twitter still made sure that the emoji (which was available until 30th Jan) was available in ten Indian languages, including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati, Urdu and Gurmukhi. Also Read: Content marketing for heavy industries – how you can make it work Google Doodle The 71st Republic Day Google Doodle was created by Meroo Seth, a Singapore based guest artist. It is the celebration of iconic India from famous landmarks like India Gate and the Taj Mahal to our national bird – the Indian peafowl, music and dance, fabric and culture. Even the camel from Rajasthan and the ubiquitous auto-rickshaw found a place in this doodle. Tiktok #Deshkibhasa @theshilpashettyHappy 71st Republic Day! Jai hind!??#DeshkiBhasha #fyp #republicday #republicday2020 #happyrepublicday♬ original sound – theshilpashetty Tiktok invited users to share videos of Republic Day wishes in their mother tongue using the hashtag #DeshkiBhasa. The tricolor sunglasses added to the fervor with several users responding to Tiktok’s call. It was an engagement strategy that urged users to create more videos by riding on the patriotic sentiment of the day. Zee5: #RepublicOfEntertainment View this post on Instagram The #RepublicOfEntertainment gives you the right to enjoy the best of blockbuster movies and original web series! @zee5 @zee5shows @zee5_marathi @zee5_bangla @zee5kannada @zee5telugu @zee5tamil A post shared by ZEE5 Premium (@zee5premium) on Jan 24, 2020 at 3:46am PST We need entertainment and we need it now. OTT platforms have both created and fulfilled a need that we did not know we had. Today, they are an integral part of the way we consume content (or rather binge watch it). This Republic Day, Zee5 put out the #RepublicOfEntertainment message with a pledge to entertain with no bias of language or genre. FBB: #WearYourPatriotism View this post on Instagram This Republic Day, express pride with your unique statement of fashion. #WearYourPatriotism and flaunt it well, with scarves from fbb. . . . #styles #scarf #india #RepublicDay #pride #patriotism #fbb #fbbOOTD #Suave #casual #fashiongram #basic #fbbonline #instaalert #Fashion #Style #CasualWear #Trending #MensWear #WomensWear #lookbook A post shared by fbb (@fbbonline) on Jan 22, 2020 at 6:29am PST FBB asked everyone to #WearYourPatriotism. This is a great way to ride on a popular trend as most people choose to wear some representative colors from the tricolor to mark the celebrations on this day. In addition to this, they also created a special line of scarves inspired by our flag. The proceeds from the sales of the scarves were to be donated to the Indian army. Also Read: How to start your first content marketing campaign: the 5 must-do steps Lava: #SendItBack Mobile handset brand Lava conducted the #SendItBack to curb the fake news menace. It urged users to send the ‘Back’ emoji to verify the authenticity of a forwarded message. The message also fits well into their #ProudlyIndian umbrella of brand positioning. Amazon Prime Video and Netflix Prime video launched The Forgotten armies on 24th of January and Netflix launched Vir Das of India on the 26th. Both shows are now on the trending list. Contests #ContestAlert #Contest ? Tag, Retweet, Repeat! #RepublicDayWithMoneyTap should be trending before we start.? Starting in 30 minutes.? #MoneyTap #RepublicDayWithMoneyTap #RepublicDay #RepublicDay2020 pic.twitter.com/QKw53kwMqz — MoneyTap (@MoneyTapApp) January 24, 2020 Several contests were launched on the occasion and some even lasted until the end of the month. Kamdhenu Paints put out the #ShareTheColoursOfRepublicIndia contest asking for four colors they associate with the four pillars of our constitution – Equality, Fraternity, Justice and Liberty. Money Tap ran a Republic Day Quiz, the OppoColorOS community ran a contest for their fans. Restaurant offers Restaurants came up with some interesting offers to woo customers on Republic Day, which also worked well for them as it was a Sunday. Soda Bottle OpenerWala offered one cocktail from their new menu for just INR 26, all-inclusive. Taste of Punjab offered all their dishes only in tricolors among others. See what you missed here Discounts If not a special campaign idea, discounts do manage to grab attention. Big Bazaar made their annual 5 SabseSatse Din campaign around Republic day. Here’s a look on what got discounted Ecommerce deals AJIO offered flash deals of 71% flat off on popular brands, Lemon salons offered 50% flat off on all services, Lenskart offered 50% off on everything, Helios offered flat 20% off, Myntra had the Right to Fashion sale, and Amazon and Flipkart also worked hard to catch our attention. Those that did not have an offer simply piggybacked on the celebration asking users to check out their already existing offers and discounts. So, what did your brand do differently on Republic Day? Share via comments.
5 Content Marketing Trends in 2020
Like everything else, digital trends in content marketing 2020 too are undergoing a change. The way we create, market, and analyze content will have some new facets. Blogs, social media content, websites, and apps will all still be on the content marketer’s job list. But there are going to be 5 new areas to focus on. January is the month when most content strategies for the year begin to take shape. Ensure these 5 latest content marketing trends are a part of your calendar for the year. Content Marketing Trend #1: User-Generated Content Short for User Generated Content, UGC started as a way for users to express their opinion and turned into a tool for marketers. UGC started with people sharing reviews of products and services. This was fanned into something much bigger with the usage of social channels. The free publicity worked in favor of the brand… until negative reviews gave birth to a new job in the digital landscape, known as online reputation management. Users decided to hold brands to ransom by increasing their amplification volume on social media. Some also go to the extent of tagging the company CXOs to be heard. This has driven brands to create a counter-strategy of sourcing, displaying and amplifying positive UGC. In the background of this play and counterplay, the fact of ebbing brand trust also came to light. At the beginning of this decade, content marketing trends 2020 showed that over 60% of people trust consumer comments more than the brand message. While the trust helps, this isn’t foolproof either. The Shed at Dulwich experiment, stories on AI bot reviews and, of course, planted reviews for SEO are also alternative fakes in the real world of UGC. What does this mean for marketers to generate great UGC? Understand your UGC sourcing points. UGC starts at a point when the user has made a purchase and is having a moment of delight on usage. For many companies, all customer-facing functions from pre-sales to sales to after-sales servicing allow opportunities to generate UGC. To ensure you are generating this, create channel touchpoints and reminders in all your customer lifecycle journeys. Record and attribute feedback to a campaign or strategy and work. Make it a point to reward your brand advocates and train all your customer-facing touchpoints to customarily ask for feedback at the end of the experience. Get to the root cause of negative UGC. Use custom strategy to manage UGC from each channel. If you are a B2C brand with an active customer base on social media, you can use FB and Insta visitor posts to be moderated and pulled into your site for the showcase. Twitter is often used as a complaint forum so you can either source out positive UGC to be posted on the channel (via campaigns/contests) or have different handles for brand and customer queries. Allow guest and influencer posts. Create a community of your users: A community (either brand owned or general) is a great way to source out the most engaged users of your brand, nurture them and elevate them as brand advocates. They are your non-paid (of sorts) sales managers who can, in this day and age, sell more than you can imagine. Also Read: 6 Reasons Why your Content Marketing may be Failing and How to Fix it Content Marketing Trend #2: Voice will get bigger The way we search is undergoing an overhaul. Google is releasing more updates every day than we can track. But the trend lines show a clear inclination towards voice search. Don’t believe us? Observe a 4-year-old with a mobile searching for YouTube videos. The search went from “London Hotel” to ”Cheap hotel in London near Hyde Park”. Subsequently, the way we write content to cater to this new audience also needs to change. Search results are now focused on not only having the best answer to user queries but also answering questions on Google directly. In addition to this, we also have Siri, Alexa and a few others competing for giving answers quickly. In the near future, you will be wondering how much your friendly neighbourhood search engine can do. If you didn’t hear the ‘a-hah…’ by Google Assistant during Sundar Pichai’s keynote address at Google I/O 2019, you simply HAVE to watch this video. https://www.facebook.com/EconomicTimes/videos/10155431554932694/ OK Google, Show me content trends in 2020 for voice search. Focus on Featured Snippets: Featured snippets, well, get featured, right on top of organic search results in the form of an ‘answer box’. Content featured here is your best bet on generating traffic. Here’s an interesting read on how you can go about doing this. Write for user intent: When you search for your brand, Google will show you the most common set of queries around your brand. Write a blog to answer each of these. Also ensure that your FAQ section is updated and your site is interlinking well to the answers to the most commonly asked queries. Use long-tail keywords: Have blogs and content specifically targeted at long-tail keywords. In fact, ensure these are quality, authoritative blogs and also meet additional criteria of having over 5000 words, content chunking and keywords highlighted in the right proportion. Improve page speed: Speed is key in getting your website up for general and voice search. Don’t take your eyes off the ball on this one. Use structured data: Adding Schema markup allows machines to better interpret the content you are putting out. This will be key in making your content ‘readable’ for voice search. See Infographic: Why Content Marketing Works? Content Marketing Trend #3: Personalization is your next big digital content trend The new throw-around word in Content is conversational marketing. Is it really possible to have a direct conversation when you are speaking to the mass of your audience? Advertising has done this over the years. For instance, talking to different audiences with different messaging. A fairness cream may mean different things to different women. A
5 Content Marketing Ideas to Showcase Your Brand This Republic Day
India’s emergence as an independent republic is observed with much pride and gaiety on the 26th January of every year. Since 1950, this day has been deemed as a national holiday, and it not only evokes patriotic sentiments in the common man but also allows him to spend quality time with loved ones and indulge in happy pursuits. So, what does this mean for brands? It means leveraging the unique importance of the Republic Day to showcase your products and services in a whole new light! From sales and discounts to new product launches, most brands engage in a variety of marketing activities around this time. But that is not all. With the advent of digital marketing services, attracting the attention of the target audience is a whole different ballgame. The concept of marketing has witnessed several transitions in the last few decades. While Marketing 2.0 was about highlighting the features and benefits of a product, Marketing 3.0 is all about sentiment. Brands are now shifting focus from talking about the product directly and moving on to things that consumers connect to, as human beings. It’s the emotions and sentiments that stay at the forefront — the product itself recedes to the background. Keeping this in mind, it’s a good idea to build some unique content for Republic Day. Here are five different approaches that have worked really well for brands in the past. Tugging at the heartstrings Appealing to people’s sentimental attachment to the country is one of the most effective ways to plan a Republic Day campaign. Most effective sentimental campaigns focus on one aspect of India that’s particularly appealing and then build an entire campaign around it. While images can work with this one, we’ve generally found that short videos with the right words, images, and background score have the maximum impact. Here are some great examples: Tata Salt In 2019, Tata Salt used the hashtag #NamakKeWaastey and created a wonderful video using salt art. The video talks about the spirit of the Indian constitution, which can always make the sentimentalists teary-eyed. We often take for granted the freedom and privileges of living in the largest Democratic Republic in the world. Here’s a salt art tribute revisiting some of the many reasons to celebrate the Indian Constitution #NamakKeWaastey pic.twitter.com/35v7aZjDzD — Tata Salt (@_deshkanamak) January 25, 2019 Sony Pictures Network Sony Pictures really nailed their Republic Day Content last year — their beautiful video talks about unity in diversity in their filmmaking. This one was a tear-jerker— and a perfect example of sentimentality meets patriotism. View this post on Instagram Cinema that entertains and binds this great Republic together! ❤️ Here’s wishing all our fellow countrymen a #HappyRepublicDay! ?? गणतंत्र दिवस की हार्दिक शुभकामनाएँ । ? A post shared by Sony Pictures Networks (@sonypicsprodns) on Jan 26, 2019 at 12:42am PST Paper Boat Paper Boat focuses on a very specific kind of Republic Day sentiment— nostalgia. With vivid memories of numerous Republic Day celebrations in school, this one finds an immediate connect with its audience. This campaign is particularly clever because the theme of Paper Boat’s overall marketing also revolves around nostalgia— and this post fits in perfectly. Tongue-in-cheek While one doesn’t traditionally associate humor with Republic Day, it’s still a great opportunity to design some witty, tongue-in-cheek content. Here are some examples of brands that nailed it: Zomato This image is the perfect example of tongue-in-cheek — it wishes the reader a happy Republic Day, while also focusing on their love for food (which in turn is very closely related to their business). Chances are, many viewers saw the image, realized they were hungry, and decided to order from —you guessed it — Zomato. Visual product placement This is one of the easiest and yet most effective ways to create a successful Republic Day campaign. All you need is an incredibly creative graphic that allows you to integrate your product with a Republic Day campaign seamlessly. Here’s our list of brands that really got this right: Amazon This campaign is simple yet so effective — making the tri-color a part of the Amazon packaging integrates the product and the Republic Day message with great ease. Strangely enough, Flipkart put up a very similar post not long after Amazon — but they went a step ahead to subtly emphasize that Flipkart was “born Indian”! Oreo Oreos Republic Day image gets it completely right. Visual, evocative, and most importantly, delicious-looking — need we say more? Engagement building campaign Republic Day is a major foundation stone in the idea of India as a nation— which makes it a big talking point, especially nowadays. Hence, a great content marketing services idea would be to build a thought provoking campaign, inviting opinions from the viewers. This doesn’t have to be very political or controversial — it can even be fun and frivolous! Myntra This is one of the best examples in this category. Myntra uses the constitution— and the principle of fundamental rights — to create the hashtag #RightToFashion. It then asks users to come up with their own definition of style and fashion— redefining their Right to Fashion. It’s fun, relevant, and designed to instantly invite engagement. Also Read: Here’s How Brands Used Social Media to Celebrate Republic Day 2019 Action-driven campaign Since Republic Day is such an important and momentous occasion, it’s a great way to encourage viewers to take some action— building on a particular sentiment associated with the day. Here are a couple of great examples: Axis Mutual Funds With this campaign, Axis Mutual Funds is focusing on what it means to be a responsible citizen— and correlating that with what it means to be a responsible investor. https://www.facebook.com/AxisMutualFund/photos/a.719225541430944/2193682630651887/?type=3 Robin Hood Army and Girliyaapa This was one of the more interesting Republic Day campaigns from last year. The Robin Hood Army collaborated with popular YouTube channel Girliyapa
5 Types of Content to Get More Traffic to Your Blog
Are you suffering from blogger’s block? Or, just wondering how to liven up your blog so that you can find a better connection with your audience? If so, you’re not alone. Most content marketers struggle with this at some stage of their journey— maintaining a blog that’s consistently exciting isn’t easy. Luckily, over the years at Justwords, we’ve been able to figure out certain types of content that can immediately boost your blog calendar. What’s more, with different types of content, you can even recycle old content in new formats — like old wine in a new bottle, so to speak. So if you’re looking to make your blog richer or increase blog traffic, make sure you incorporate these 10 types of content. How-to articles/tutorials An effective how-to article is one of the best ways to draw attention from your readers. Here’s why: Many queries on Google are related to learning to do something — whether that’s changing a tire, baking a cake, or writing a good blog post. A how-to post guarantees that you will be found by people looking to solve a specific problem. “How to” posts come under the category of “evergreen content”. This means that as long as you keep making minor updates, your article will continue to be relevant to users, even if they are reading it 3-4 years down the line. This increases the longevity of your post and brings a steady stream of traffic. It’s a great way of informing people about your business. If your how-to post is essentially a summary or short glimpse of what your business does, you’ll definitely be in the minds of users when they’re looking for a paid solution. Also Read: 8 Proven Ways to Increase Traffic to Your Blog in 2020 Topical, curated content You don’t have to do Content creation from scratch — curating a newsletter with high-value content from thought leaders in your industry is a great way to add that extra zing to your blog. You need to keep a few things in mind here: Choose quality over quantity— only share articles that add value to the users. If you spend time in researching quality content, it will help build your credibility as an industry expert. The format and theme of the newsletter are critical — it’s the way you link different pieces together and showcase them through a particular lens that really matters. The frequency of a curated newsletter depends on the nature of your content, and how easy it is to find quality content in your industry — it can be weekly, fortnightly, monthly or even daily. Also Read: How to Write Content That is Future-Proofed for Google Algorithm Updates Product Reviews and Comparisons If it makes sense in your content marketing plan, product reviews or comparisons are a great idea. Customers are always looking for reviews before they make purchase choices so this one is guaranteed to get you those eyeballs. These blogs are also fairly straightforward to execute and can become a staple part of your blogging calendar as long as they don’t detract from the overall messaging and aesthetics of your blog. Of course, once you become a regular with reviews, chances are that you’ll be inundated with free samples of products, which is a nice little bonus! Also Read: How Customer Reviews Can Bring a Whole New Meaning to Your Content Marketing Infographics It is said that 70% of all sensory receptors are in your eyes — which means that humans are visually wired. What’s more, color visuals are likely to increase our willingness to read something by 80%. In short, anything that’s extremely visual is appealing — and that’s why infographics are becoming so popular. Some things to keep in mind: Infographics are a combination of great content and great design. It’s important to have a great theme, a particular format for presenting the content, and some great data to back you up. At the same time, you need a top-notch design— consider using a professional graphic artist to build those infographics. If you can’t create your own infographic, you can still share existing infographics. Most of them are ready to be embedded — so add a paragraph or two of your own perspective, and share an existing infographic. Also Read: Visual content formats that can triple your content marketing results Case Studies Case studies are one of the most effective ways to demonstrate your value to potential users. If you’ve already achieved fantastic outcomes for someone, a prospective customer needs to know that. Keep the following in mind when designing case studies: It might be tempting to throw in all the facts about a particular case. But it’s more important to design a compelling narrative that draws readers in. If a user reading your case is able to connect with the situation being presented, your job is 70% done. Focus on outcomes — big, important metrics make a huge splash. Showcasing the impact you had in a real, meaningful way will go a long way in finding the right customers. Don’t try to show off your work. Be more focused on showcasing the actual solving of customer problems through the case. Using these content types is a sure-shot way to get more blog traffic and add some freshness. Best of all, many of these content types can become a recurring feature in your blogging calendar. If there are any other content formats that you’d like to add to this list, let us know in the comments below!
Best Content Examples of 2019
As the year comes to a close, it’s time to share our favourite picks of content from around the world that has induced a range of emotions. We had the team pick and vote their favourite content and these are the ones that we want to be on our list in 2020 too. The most interesting newsletter(s) whlw What Happened Last Week is an amazing email magazine circulated by Sham Jaff every Monday. There are over 5000 people who subscribe to this ‘human-curated’ magazine. The magazine does not give news but adds perspective to each facet of the story. From how the current situation in South Sudan is affecting the world to what Christine Lagarde – Forbes No. 2 most powerful woman – is planning, you’ll read different stories in a new light. The magazine works on donation from patrons. Subscribe here https://www.whathappenedlastweek.com/ TMAI Being a digital and content writing agency, The Marketing and Analytics Intersect circulated by Avinash Kaushik holds a special place in our heart. Most of his newsletters hold an interesting nugget of wisdom on the one piece of a campaign that many marketers want to cover up in fluff – real ROI. It always brings the focus back on data and analysis and the overall purpose on why you started with content marketing in the first place. The Best ads of 2019 Ballerinas, footballers, an astronaut, a hummingbird, a tiger, fairy lights and a cloud of smoke – we can’t imagine what the brief for this ad would have been! Clearly, it looks like Indian viewers found the combination along with the animation an interesting way to introduce a new car. The Kia Seltos ad bagged 232 million views on YouTube, making it the most-watched ad of 2019. Not too far behind, with 205 million views, is the Samsung Good Vibes ad. With the perfect mix of product innovation (an app for the deaf and blind) and feel good factor, this 2:59 minutes long ad can stir up teary emotions in its viewers. Have a look if you haven’t seen it yet. Great UGC campaigns Cisco’s #WeAreCisco It’s hard to push out UGC content in the B2B space but Cisco seems to be doing this just right. They invited 20 super ambassador employees from all over the world to connect with the Gen Z population of new graduates and university students. Named ‘Kitten Rainbow Unicorns’ (to reflect everything that is awesome about the internet), the group was responsible for posting daily snapchat stories of the awesome work-life at Cisco. What we really liked is that they got the pulse of the audience right. GenZ is looking for authenticity and validation from their online experience. And having employees of their peer group post positive content does both. Innovations India is home to 40% of the world’s blind population but the masses are hardly sensitized about it. Savlon decided to change this. On World Sight Day, they did the first mass media Braille campaign where two daily newspapers – Dainik Savera and Vijayvanni, worked to publish fully Braille newspapers. The campaign reached 549mn people and improved Salvon’s trust scores from 51 to 64. Most viral videos of 2019 We all have videos that we’ve watched and shared instantly with friends. Whether it was Ruby the dog who patted a tiny kitten or a porcupine frustrating a leopard with its spikes, or Chad Kempel sharing hacks on feeding his quintuplets, here is a quick recap of the most viral videos from 2019. Best digital strategy The ad that took home the Emvie this year comes from Brooke Bond Red Label, continuing on its Swad Apnepan Ka theme. The theme focuses on inclusion. While last time the ad showed a Hindu couple having tea at a Muslim house, this ad addresses the vegetarian / non-vegetarian divide and leaves you with a smile. HUL used TV as the main medium and also used digital, outdoor and print to improve its reach. Buzzing Community Building a brand community is a difficult task but some just know how to do it right. Our pick this year for a buzzing community goes to Spotify. There are music chats, playlist exchanges, idea sharing, issue tracking and the best of all, their brand advocate program called Rock Stars. Simple and clean design, good UX, clear communication and lots of buzz from its users makes this platform a great go-to place for the 71,94,451 people connected with Spotify. You can also check out Spotify’s newsroom for their top stories of 2019. Best of radio The ‘Knock Knock.. Who’s There?… Its RJ ALEXA!!’ campaign took home awards for its witty presentation on radio. Amazon Echo’s Alexa has been answering both straight and quirky questions. Alexa now supports over 350 radio stations which include live broadcast of 17 All India Radio stations in 14 languages. The best of tongue-in-cheek content We have three contenders – Netflix, Swiggy and Zomato here that you should definitely follow on Twitter. The internet broke out laughing when Netflix and Swiggy got on the Parle-G memes for Sacred Games! Netfilx even ended up ordering ‘Kaali Chai’ from Swiggy! Season 1: 0 mentions of Parle-G. 0 hit songs written by Bunty. Season 2: 1 mention of Parle-G. Bunty becomes a world-famous producer, casino owner and lyricist. Coincidence? We think not. https://t.co/VJKyOBu8Bt — Netflix India (@NetflixIndia) August 21, 2019 Take the recent spat on Paneer and Radhika Apte where Netflix ended up having the last laugh. Well, she is everywhere. pic.twitter.com/XcEw0OjtHf — Netflix India (@NetflixIndia) August 29, 2018 These brands show that wit and brand tone together can make you stand out on social media. Visual presentation of content When was the last time you gave a miss to the same old company newsletter? Though content is interesting, presenting it in a visually attractive format is necessary for that content to draw attention. Boston Consulting Group (BCG) was having trouble grabbing its employees’ attention on internal communication. The communication was then revamped to meet
Don’t Lose the Plot, Here’s How Your Brand Can Tell a Consistent Visual Story
Here’s what happens when you visit any outlet of a brand like Dominos across India. Barring the size of the outlet, you’ll find that all of them deliver pizzas of the exact same taste and have the same visual collateral. The menus, the tent cards and the value meals all look the same. This level of service excellence isn’t a coincidence. It comes with mandates at a brand level that cascades down to the base level employee who serves you with a smile. When it comes to digital and social content, can brands promise that they follow the same level of consistency? With tactical campaigns and some ad hoc ones (we all have the last moment planning to blame), it isn’t easy to maintain the same language with every post across channels. There are some brands that lead the way. When you see a post, you eventually start relating it with the brand because of its consistency in quality and presentation. It comes with the clarity of understanding for the brand’s visual guidelines – and as marketers we know that this is not an easy nut to crack. Here are a few things using which brands maintain a consistent language on digital channels: Color Photography Video Typography Colors Colors play a huge part in creating the visual identity of the brand. It is something that people come to associate with you easily. A play with these colors is every marketer’s delight. The brand hues and tone is used to evoke the emotion needed. Take McDonalds India’s Instagram account for example. The unmistakable yellow and red is consistent on the page throughout. Each image fits perfectly into the Instagram grid, encouraging seamless scrolling. The story visual is consistent, whether the post talks of an offer or the taste. View this post on Instagram There’s nothing McAloo Tikki and Fries can’t solve for ?❤️ #WeAreNotTheSame or are we? A post shared by McDonald’s India (@mcdonalds_india) on Nov 28, 2019 at 5:49am PST Yellow is associated with happiness and optimism. Red is associated with excitement. Even when you are quickly scrolling through your feed for the day, the colors invariably stand out and scream attention to the brand. Over time, you automatically start associating all their posts with the brand. There isn’t a chance of things getting dull here, as there are enough ideas that can be executed with these two colors as heroes. Photography It’s a no-brainer for digital marketers to veer towards good brand imagery as the world now consumes more visual content than ever. Even without knowing the language or having the time to read the post content, the visuals themselves can communicate all you need to say. So, how does a brand maintain visual consistency via photographs when there is a lot to say? View this post on Instagram After a day of exploring the canyons and mesas of Colorado Monument National Park, give your feet a rest in Superhost Corey’s vintage RV. This riverside retreat may be secluded, but you’ll hardly be alone—don’t be surprised if a friendly alpaca or two stops by to check you out. If you feel like company of the two-legged variety, head into town for live local music at Palisade Brewing Company. Photo: @victoriamorse A post shared by Airbnb (@airbnb) on Nov 3, 2019 at 2:22pm PST Let’s take AirBnB for example. A look through their Instagram feed shows they depict both the stays and the people enjoying there. If one could sum it up in a word, it is all about experiences. For a few seconds, you’ll ponder what it will be like to wake up in a castle in the middle of a lake or walk into a tree house via a rope bridge. You’ll look at the group of friends and family and replace it with an image of your own. Even if they are using models, you’ll notice that the faces are more natural than made up, adding the element of believability to the photographs. They don’t have a dearth of content and make sure that only the crème gets featured on the posts. It is difficult for all brands to follow this guideline. The place to start is coin three words at the maximum that you want to represent as a brand. Explore two to three words at the most that you want to represent as a brand. In the case of AirBnB, we can think of these as “stunning stays” and “unique experiences”. Video Videos, especially crisp snackable ones, are one of the best ways to keep your audience hooked and deliver a message. With the advent of bumper ads, brands can even share one key message in just 6 seconds. DIY, educational, informational, promotional or just entertaining, brands can explore a variety of ways to bring in the customer’s attention and drive the CTA in the end slate. Hebbar’s Kitchen is one of the path-breakers in its category that has viewers hooked to its innovative format of presenting recipes, many times, within a minute. So much so that people no longer want to watch the meandering format of the earlier style of recipe presentation where the chef spends the first one minute just giving a preamble and asking users to ‘click on the subscribe button and bell icon’! The good part is that Hebbar’s Kitchen’s recipes are not difficult to follow even in their trim format because of sub-titles and high-quality editing. There are enough and more comments validating the quality of the recipes. Being one of the first to adopt this format of videos, the brand is reaping benefits across multiple social channels. Typography As all brands know, how you say is as important as what you say. Having a consistent font and type of presentation, tone and language can build familiarity with your regular followers. It eventually drives recall and helps the brand establish a tone of voice