EVERYTHING is CONTENT!
The 50 billion pictures on Instagram, the 500 hours of videos uploaded on YouTube every minute and the 7.5 million blog posts published on the internet. But many still believe content is just writing, thereby mixing up the ideas of Content Marketing and Content Writing.
As a content marketing agency in Ahmedabad, Flora Fountain has had days where their writers and digital marketers had to explain the difference between the two ideas to almost every person (even clients) that they meet.
So, here’s all the tea, to understand what exactly is content, and the difference between content writing and content marketing.
CONTENT
Content is information, art, ideas and experiences, expressed in the form of words, pictures, speech, graphics or moving visuals published either digitally or on print, for an end user to consume.
Okay, okay… Let’s try putting it in simpler words, shall we?
All kinds of photographs, blogs, articles, captions, ad copies, videos, reels, music, podcasts, graphic design or animated visuals are content.
And the internet is an ever flowing stream of content, good, bad and ugly!
CONTENT WRITING
Content writing is all about putting ideas into words, creatively and in a simpler form. Writing content can be something like an advertisement copy of just 5 words, or a thesis of 5000 words. And in digital marketing, some of the best content writing companies produce written content in the form of captions for social media posts, marketing copies for online promotions, content for websites, blogs like this, articles for newspapers and magazines, copies for print ads in magazines or hoardings, or even scripts for videos.
Content writers include bloggers, brand journalists, copywriters, ghost-writers, SEO writers, technical writers, etc.
CONTENT MARKETING
Content marketing is basically marketing to strategically promote a brand or business on a digital platform, using smartly created content like blogs, pictures, creative posters and videos.
IT IS NOT JUST WRITTEN COPY! But yes, written content does play a crucial role in content marketing, as every great marketing idea first comes to life in the form of a copy.
Content marketing is done through blogs, case studies, emailers, social media posts, video, website content, articles, ad copies, infographics and a lot more.
To sum up, Content Writing involves creating various types of written products, which can then be used to produce other forms of content and further implemented into Content Marketing to promote a business or a brand.
So, how does one write content that is ideal for marketing?
1. Put the audience first
The content should address the target audience. It should talk to them about their problems and perhaps possible solutions. If the content cares about its intended audience, it will make the audience care about the messaging too. Readers connect with content that understands them, their needs and provides them some kind of value, either as information, education or entertainment.
2. Tailor the content
A business can never sell its products if the marketing content doesn’t speak the language of their target audience. A local brand can use the local language and sometimes even street slang (where applicable) in addressing their customers, a B2B brand must sound more formal.
3. Links to the brand
The content should create recall for the brand, its services, products or team, in an organic and authentic way. This is to be done to create a form of brand association with certain subjects in the readers’ minds. The end goal is to leave a positive and memorable imprint about the brand on the reader.
4. Draws the reader towards the business
It is important that the content must have more than one call to action prompt, to ensure that the reader is drawn towards the end of the sales funnel and eventually convince them to either purchase the product or provide some information as a valuable lead for the business.
Inform, Educate & Inspire through content, with us
If a brand wants to stand out on the Internet today, there is no space for mediocrity. This is the age of short attention spans and high speed internet. Only crisp, clear and SEO-friendly content that speaks both to a user and to a search engine can propel a business into the visibility of the constantly-scrolling audience on the world wide web.
It is advisable to seek the help of content experts, who have cut their teeth in the market working with the finest brand and have written content for audiences of all kinds.
As a top digital marketing agency, Flora Fountain provides content marketing & writing services in Ahmedabad and all over the country to brands and businesses of all types. Drop us a line, give us a call, and let’s have a chat over a cup of coffee and some mind-blowing ideas for your business.
Amazon.in cross selling multiple shirts on their product pageFor instance, if a customer is looking to purchase a mobile phone online and as they scroll down, it will show a combined price window with a pair of earphones and power bank. It lures the customers into thinking he/she is getting a great deal in purchasing all of three products together.
Rayethnic.com creating a sense of urgency by highlighting high demand of their productsAnother way to create a sense of urgency is to offer a limited period discount or benefit. For instance, Amazon displays a pop-up under many of its products which offers either an attractive price deduction or a free overnight shipping if the customer places an order within X number of hours.
A variety of blogs on rayethnic.com that talks about fashion tips using their productsBut these aren’t just blogs, they’re smartly written content pieces peppered with relevant keywords that help their website rank higher on the search engine page. This means their visibility increases further when people search for ethnic wear.
Brizfeel research showcasing various aspects that influence shoppers to purchase moreBy regularly having offers like “The End of Season Sale” for lifestyle brands, or a “Buy One Get One Free” offer for FMCG products and food items, the quantitative sales among regular shoppers see a sharp rise. Further, when these regular customers talk to their friends and family about the great discount they availed on the sale, it attracts new visitors to the site, and chances of getting new sales go up.