Tag Archives: Content Marketing

How Velcro used a funny video to communicate a legal message – a good content marketing example

Good content marketing example: Trademark video from Velcro

Velcro is a product. Just like many famous products, it is also turned into a generic word. Anything that works like Velcro, becomes velcro. People say, “It’s a velcro”.

Just like they say, “It’s as a xerox”.

Companies who have patented the names have no problem as long as people use their names to actually use their services. For example, when you “Google” something, you actually mean using Google to find something. You don’t mean “googling” and then going to Bing.com to find something. This is why, Google may not have any problem when you say to your kid when you don’t know the answer to a question she has just asked, “Google it”.

But Velcro was facing problems, but it seems it does. Many companies are manufacturing products that do the work that Velcro does and people call these products “velcro” also.

So, the lawyers of the company created this video to raise awareness about their trademark with the hashtag #DontSayVelcro.

An amusing thing about the video is that it has been sung by the lawyers of the company, explaining why other similar products shouldn’t be called Velcro. They even say that they are going to sue you if you call your product Velcro.

Predictably, they received a ton of replies and some of the replies were less than charitable, which prompted them to create another video, thanking people to leave such replies.

Before watching the video, did you know that Velcro is actually a company that made this product 40 years ago and patented it? If you didn’t, this video gives you this piece of information in a very jovial manner.

This is a very good example of content marketing and also putting your message across without sounding very “lawyery”, considering the sort of reputation lawyers enjoy all over the world.

It also shows that no matter how “uninspiring” your product or brand message is, you can reach out to millions of people by simply making an original and entertaining piece of content, in this case, YouTube videos.

How is AI going to affect content writing and content marketing

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How AI helps in content writing and content marketing

Aside from the fact that AI one day may take over the world and cause extinction of human beings as a species, for the time being it can also empower content writing and content marketing.

In this context when we talk about AI (artificial intelligence) we mean the ability of the AI to precisely analyse and predict user behavior and then enable us to create/write content accordingly.

For example, wouldn’t it be nice if there is a software tool that can tell me exactly how many visitors and consequently, leads I’m going to get from a particular blog post based on the content that I have prepared?

Or, which topic I should cover on Wednesday and which on Monday?

AI is already telling Amazon which colour T-shirt a customer is going to purchase if he or she has purchased a blue colour T-shirt.

This article talks about 5 ways AI will bring joy to content marketers and the author mentions Rand Fishkin’s 10x content.

According to the 10x content concept, your content must be 10 times better than the content that is currently featuring on Google’s first page, to be there.

How do you achieve that? The author of the above article says that AI can help.

AI can help you know what information your customers need so that you can provide them that information without them having to look for it.

This is a concept that is also covered in my recent blog post titled How to optimize your content for Google Discover. This is more or less same as writing and publishing content Google things will be needed by your audience before your audience begins to look for it.

What would be the real world example of such content?

Suppose you want to improve your search engine rankings? Publishing high-quality content is the most important aspect of improving your SEO. You may know it, you may not know it, or you may not be ready to accept it. But, if on social networking websites you’re talking about improving your SEO and you’re looking for information on how to improve your SEO, it also means that you need to publish quality content.

Again, whether you know it or not, the AI on your mobile phone or embedded into your browser will know it, and will automatically start bringing up content that insists that high-quality content writing and content publishing can help you improve your SEO.

As a content writer and a content marketer, AI can tell me if you need content to improve your SEO. It will also tell me whether you are actively or passively looking for a content writer or not, and accordingly, I can create content to target you.

In email marketing, AI is already telling us which is the most appropriate time or day to send email messages.

Nice quote in the article:

AI is Dr. Watson, doing all the legwork so that you, the skilled Sherlock Holmes, can put everything together masterfully.

5 content marketing trends for 2019

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Content marketing trends 2019

Content marketing is constantly evolving as more and more organizations adopt it as primary marketing and promotional activity.

For many years now it has been a trend among content marketing companies and online publications to predict the trends of the forthcoming year. 2018 is about to end and we are about to enter 2019.

Many publications will be coming up with their own take on how content marketing is going to change in the new year, what turns it is going to take and where it is heading in terms of adaptation, big data, artificial intelligence, analytics and technology.

The Forbes magazine has just published “Five Predicted Trends for Digital Content Marketing in 2019“. According to the projections in the article,

Content will be better integrated into email marketing strategies.
Content marketing departments will grow.
Content will need to be optimized for voice search.
Marketers will start making thorough content marketing strategies, not just editorial calendars.
Live video, as a content marketing tool, will catch on.

Content marketing will be integrated into email marketing strategies

I’m happy to see that email marketing, which was, for a few years, being ignored, is still being taken seriously. Email campaigns that can make personal connections with the recipients/subscribers, will perform better and personal connections can be made through customized, targeted content that is meaningful and useful.

Off late my landing pages that I have created to promote my email writing services have been generating lots of queries and I can see that most of the customers are better informed when it comes to how to use email communications to reach out to their prospective customers and clients; not just by blasting off random messages, but through targeting and segmentation.

Content marketing departments will grow

Since content marketing is maturing and it is no longer a “snake oil” field, many businesses are having dedicated content marketing departments and since these departments have experienced better and growing ROI, they too are bound to grow.

Content will need to be optimized for voice search

When people use voice to search they use slightly different language. They search the way they talk. For example, to find my content writing services, instead of merely typing “content writing services”, someone may say into the phone, “find me a content writing service” or “looking for a content writing service”, or “content writer for my garments business”, or “find me a content writing service to improve my SEO”, and so on.

The best way of achieving this is preparing your content in question and answer format. Anyway, this is a totally different topic but yes, content will need to be prepared so that it is optimized for voice search.

Thorough content marketing strategies instead of merely content publishing calendars

Strategy, in simple terms, means knowing what you want to achieve and then taking strategic steps to achieve that, using the resources that you have in the best possible manner.

Since many people are using content marketing and experiencing success, more documentation is available. More insights are available. Over the years people have discovered what works and what doesn’t. This helps in strategizing.

Strategy means publishing and distributing content on the basis of at what stage of the funnel your target audience is.

Live video will be a major part of content marketing

Live video is more engaging. Though the success of your live video depends on how many people are actually “live” at that particular moment, but yes, if you have a brand presence and if you publicize the event in advance, it is a great way to interact with your prospective customers and clients in real time.

This sums up the blog post on the upcoming content marketing trends in 2019 that are published in the Forbes magazine. I will be covering more such trends in the coming days.

How to make sure your content is found by Google Discover

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How to optimize your content for Google Discover

Google wants you to stop searching. It wants to search high quality content for you and then fill your feed with it. If there ever was a need to create high-quality engaging content, it is now. You need to optimize your content for Google Discover.

What exactly is Google Discover and why do you need to optimize your content for it?

Google Discover is a replacement for Google Feed that you often come across when you use the Google search bar on your mobile phone, especially Google Now. Of course, there might be many Android-based phones that may not have Google Now pre-installed, but in most of the cases, your phone, or the phone of your customer or client, may be equipped with Google Now.

Since Google Discover isn’t being sent out to all the phones yet, you may still be using Google Feed. The updates on Google Feed are obtained from your search pattern and browsing history. As you know, Google tracks every activity of yours (yes, it is creepy) on the pretext that it wants to give you the content you’re looking for even when you don’t know how to find the right content.

Google is constantly tracking you

What is the difference between any other newsfeed, for example, Facebook Stories or even Flipboard, and Google Discover?

The first difference is, Google is after all, Google, and it is present in almost every non-iOS device. Hence, its feeds are automatically there on your mobile phone and unless you are hell bent on not using them, you will end up using them. Besides, Google claims that over 800 million users are using Google Feed regularly. The moment Google Discover arrives on their mobile phones, they will automatically start using it.

The second reason is, there is nothing negative about using Google Feeds. At one single place, it gives you all the information you need to organise yourself, even your flight updates if the information exists in your email. These are called “cards” and it gives you important updates on news, sports and entertainment.

Google constantly updates your feeds according to your search history.

Then it upgraded its feeds algorithm and started anticipating what you would like to read or watch.

Google Discover wants to predict what you want to find

It no longer wanted to depend on your search pattern or browsing pattern. It now aspired to predict what you’re going to like before you even knew it. Google Discover is a highly advanced version of its older Google Feeds Avtar.

The basic point is, if people come across your content without having to search for it, they may not search for it. This also means that if they are able to find your competitor’s content, there will be no need for them to search for your content. This way, they may never search for your content.

Using artificial intelligence, Google wants you to stop searching and start discovering.

For people to be able to “discover” your content, you need to convince Google that your content is worth discovering.

People who have used Google Discover say that there have been many design changes. There is a clickable topic header above every news item or update. If you tap on that topic header, feeds specific to that topic are displayed and Google takes note of your preference. At the bottom of the card, you will be able to indicate whether you would like to see more of such updates or less.

Topic header in Google Discover

Google Feed was previously accessible only through the Google Mobile app but now, once the Discover feed is introduced, it will be available in all Google.com mobile browsers including the “OK Google” thing.

Optimizing your content for Google Discover

Interestingly, this shift towards discovering rather than searching is in the sudden shift. Google has been modifying its content discovering capabilities for many years now and this is why a lot of stress is put on creating high-quality engaging content.

Optimizing your content for Google Discover is like sowing a tree. To eat fruit you need the tree, and there is no escaping from it, but you cannot get the fruit immediately. You will first need to plot a sampling or sow a seed. In this case, you will need to encourage your prospective customer or client to interact with your content, to engage with it, and only then Google Discover will deem it fit to keep on discovering it even when your prospective customer or client isn’t actively searching for it.

This Search Engine Land blog post has some useful tips on how to optimize your content for Google Discovery and make it more discoverable.

The first thing you need to understand while optimizing your content for Google Discovery is that it is all about the experience. What sort of experience people have with your content and how they’re going to interact with it? Are they going to be passive towards your content or they are going to share it with their friends and colleagues, share with their own timelines, link to it, spend more time going through it or even bookmark it? All these actions tell Google that people find your content valuable.

Importance of understanding user intent for content writing

In my blog post The importance of understanding user intent in content writing, I have written about how important it is to understand what your user/searcher is looking for and whether you are providing it or not. User intent means if someone finds your content on Google, goes to your link, stays there, and then doesn’t come back to Google to carry on the exact same search, it means the searcher found on your link what he or she was looking for and now there is no need to look for the exact thing.

There is also an attribute called the Search Task Accomplishment Factor about which I have written in this Huffington Post blog post, which talks about the same thing – does the search get over one’s someone visits your link or not? If the search gets over, it means you are providing exactly what the searcher is looking for, for that exact keyword. Your rankings improve.

Factors like these are going to have a big impact when you optimize your content for Google Discovery.

The above-linked Search Engine Land blog post suggests that you take care of the following when optimizing your content for Google Discovery:

Create quality content people like to engage with

Google Discover is going to function the same way your typical Facebook Timeline functions. The updates that you see are the ones that are either similar to the updates you have interacted with before, or, are similar to updates your friends are interested in. In one way or another, it is the engagement that decides what you see on your timeline.

The same is going to happen with Google Discover.

Now, why would people interact with your content, why would they engage with it, if they don’t find your content useful, interesting, high-quality or engaging?

Proactively showcase and highlight your content

Millions of web pages, images, videos and blog posts are being published every day. People can interact with your content only if they can find it. If you are well known, they themselves look for your content. If you’re not, you will need to take measures so that they take note of your content and start interacting with it. This will entail

Promoting your content using your social media profiles.
Giving incentive to people to interact with your content and engage with it.
Making your content discoverable.
Using recommended SEO guidelines so that those who search for your content can find it.
Using your mailing list to disseminate your content.

Use images and videos to optimize your content for Google Discover

It is already recommended that you use high quality graphics and images, on your blog posts and web pages. Google Discover will highlight important content through images and videos that are present in the same piece of content. Images and videos draw attention of people easily compared to text, this is why Google Discover is going to put more stress on your images and videos.

Publish new as well as evergreen content

Don’t rest on your laurels once you have published great content on your website or blog. You want people to keep coming back to your website for more great stuff. If you give them an indication that you have given your best and now there is nothing new to expect, they will lose interest in your website. Even Google crawlers will stop crawlingg your website or blog if your pattern becomes haphazard or rare.

Evergreen content means content people would like to bookmark, to save, to refer back to it whenever they need to recall the great information contained within that piece of content. This is also important. People would love to link to this content and when they link to this content, Google will think that this content is important and will showcase it in the Google Discover feeds.

Concluding remarks on content optimization for Google Discover

So, is active searching history? Personally, I don’t think so but I’m not a farsighted person when it comes to predicting technology and even content marketing trends. Maybe something is there that I cannot see, but, presently, I don’t think active searching is going away. This is why, every content aggregation service gives you a search bar. There is no “discovery”, “story” or “feed” service or app that does not come with a search box or a search bar. Why is it so? Because there is always a possibility of the artificial intelligence not discovering what you want.

But yes, passive browsing is here. All social networking and social media apps thrive and survive on our proclivity to browse passively. How many times do you post on Facebook or Twitter? Most of the time you are just scrolling up and down, viewing what other people have posted. These posts and updates don’t even appear chronologically. Some algorithm somewhere is deciding what you should see, and then you see it. So yes, we are already tuned to browsing passively and content being discovered for us.

Maybe, someday it will be a full circle and things will be back to the way they were on TV and radio, but more targeted and narrowed down.

How to generate more leads with content writing

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How to generate more leads with content writing

In this post I’m going to throw some light on how you can generate more leads with content writing consistently.

Every business wants to generate more leads. A lead is when a prospective customer or client approaches you (through your contact form, through a phone call, through an email, through an advertisement or whatever mode of communication) and shows interest in your product or service.

Leads may have different meanings for different business models. Generating leads doesn’t necessarily mean people coming to you to buy your product or service. A lead can also be when someone subscribes to your email newsletter. A lead can also be a casual inquiry.

Basically, whenever someone shows interest in your business for the sake of buying one of your products or using one of your services, he or she is a lead.

Businesses eagerly pay for leads. There are many websites that sell you qualified leads – people leave their requirement on the website and then the website contacts you telling you that someone needs your product or service. Then it is up to you whether you make use of that lead and do business, or squander it away.

Why generating leads are important for your business?

It’s easier to sell to people who are interested in buying from you, compared to those who are not interested. Hence, there is a greater chance of a lead turning into your customer or client, if you strategically lead your lead to the ultimate point of making the purchase. Leads are easier to convert.

It is very difficult to get noticed on the Internet these days. For every business there are thousands of contenders. If you use advertising, your competitors can too. If you think you can improve your search engine rankings there are thousands of others who think on similar lines and may even outrank you in a matter of a few weeks or a few days.

Hence, there is a constant cat-and-mouse game going on and the more businesses try to vie for attention, the more noise they create, and the more noise they create, less it becomes possible for prospective customers and clients to understand their marketing messages and even if they can understand, it becomes difficult to distinguish one business from another.

A lead immediately changes the scene. You’re not vying for the attention of your customer or client – he or she is already interested in you. Your business or your brand has got his or her attention despite all the noise. This is a major gain. It’s like in a crowded party full of strangers someone has walked up to you and have started a conversation.

Content writing and how the process of generating leads has changed

I specifically mention content writing because this is what I provide – content via writing. For your case, content can exist in any form. It can be videos, it can be images, it can be infographics, it can be slideshows, it can be Instagram posts, whatever works for you. So, when I see content writing, you can call it video publishing or email marketing, or whatever comes to your mind.

Marketing and lead generation have changed

In the olden days, marketing was all about telling people how great your business is and what they stand to lose if they don’t use your product or service. Advertising and marketing was unscientific. It was like throwing lots of gooey mud on the wall expecting that some of that goo would stick.

Marketing these days, especially after the advent of the Internet, is more customer-centric. Through your content writing, you don’t promote your interest, you promote your customer’s interest.

Amazing writer

For example, when you’re reading about my content writing services, do you want to know what an awesome writer I am, or do you want to know how I’m going to help you generate more leads and consequently, more sales? Obviously the latter.

You couldn’t care less if I have written books or if I have earned citations for my pros. Yes, it may reassure you that I know a thing or two about writing, but your primary concern is, whether I can help you generate more leads and grow your business.

So, when I write, I’m constantly addressing your concerns. If you’re reading this blog post, you want to generate more leads. You don’t want traffic, you want people on your website who would buy from you or subscribe to your newsletter or do something that makes you money. Can I do it? This is what you want to know.

This has changed across the board. No matter how big a business you are, if you don’t impress your customers, they’re not going to give you a second glance.

So, how does content writing help you generate more leads?

You want to be a part of your customers’ lives. This can be achieved by providing highly useful and high quality content on an ongoing basis using the channels your prospective customers and clients use. You cannot simply tell them to do business with you because one, there are many choices available these days and two, there is always this other business that is more eager to engage, interact and provide a meaningful relationship rather than always wanting to sell.

It’s very logical.

If you have a business, you don’t need to repeatedly tell people that you have a business, your customers and clients know it. If you have a product or service to sell, provided there is no ambiguity in your messaging, everybody knows that you have a product or service to sell. You don’t need to repeatedly tell people how great your furniture is, how exceptional your web designing is, what an awesome make-up artist you are or what a prodigal content writer you are.

I’m not saying you should never tell people what a great business you are running, but you don’t need to do it constantly.

But if you don’t do it constantly, you fear losing your customers and clients to your competitors. What you do then?

You publish content that is useful to your prospective customers and clients. This way, they want to hear from you rather than you wanting to talk to them.

People who positively receive your content are also your leads. They may not buy from you immediately, but if you constantly engage them, if you provide them value through high-quality content writing, then when they eventually need the products or services that you provide, they’re going to come to you.

Another benefit of content writing is that it improves your search engine rankings. Search engines are continuously looking for new content to index and rank. As their crawlers find new content, they push the older content down and if the newer content is good, they push it higher. This is an ongoing churning that is happening every second.

Higher search engine rankings can bring you practically unlimited leads.

To generate qualified leads, you may decide to focus on the following channels:

Your business blog and content marketing through it
Website optimization and usability improvement
Search engine optimization
Social media marketing
Email marketing
Press releases

Content writing plays a pivotal role in every channel. You need well-written content for your website so that you can clearly communicate your message, people can understand it, and then decide to do business with you.

Search engine optimization is not possible without well-written, optimized, relevant and quality content.

Even if you write just 2 sentences, your social media marketing is incomplete without good content writing.

Email marketing and press releases solely depend on high-quality content writing.

All these are lead generation channels.

As you can see in the above image, unlike the older ways, you don’t go to your customers and clients and urge them to buy from you.

You create funnels through high-quality content that you disseminate using the channels your prospective customers and clients use.

Whether it is personal branding or business branding, your brand should be familiar to them and they should respect your brand. They should value your content. They should be able to use your content to improve their business and enrich their lives.

Many of my clients think that this is a long shot but it is not. It is a sure shot way of generating more leads following a well-defined path. Give them value through quality content writing and content marketing and they will buy from you.