Awesome Content – Any Definition?

Content is the life-blood of digital marketing and branding. Better content gives you better ROI and more leads or customers. Content creation is more of an art than science, especially for the online consumer. We shall not speak of creation content here, instead, we will speak of what good or awesome content means.

Let us talk about newspapers. There are thousands of newspapers out there, but everyone who reads them has a favorite one. Considering that all newspapers source their news from the same set of press distribution agencies in a given country, they would come with the same or similar set of news on a given day. They may vary in presentation, content quality and appeal.

Then why does one read “The Times of India” and not “The Hindu” or “The New York Times” and not “The Wall Street Journal” and vice-versa? Think why you prefer to read “The Hindu” and create a furor with the newspaper guy if he makes a mistake.

It is possible that you like the language, the presentation or the layout; you can list a thousand things that you like about your preferred reading, be it a newspaper or be it a fiction novel. So, let us call it appeal. A newspaper’s success rate is measured by its readership figures.

Simply put, it is imperative that the newspaper with the best readership figures creates the best content. End of the day, design and layout matters, however, without good content they are worthless.

If you consider the same example with respect to the fiction novel category and let us say we ask 100 fiction readers to list the 10 best fiction novels they have read. The one book that comes out top, as read by most readers can be easily considered the best book in terms of content. Honest confession, I do re-read my fiction novels once every 2 or 3 years, I love them so much.

"Quotes" – Yes quotes are remembered by many people for years. Why? Because quotes convey more in less words and concisely delivered information creates a mental imprint. Keep it short and don’t put air into the content just because someone said more content means better rankings.

Coming back to content and its quality, what then is the content that will ensure your success in your digital marketing or branding exercise?

So now, what is awesome content? A dozen pointers:

a.     Content that is simply rendered and understood by most, let’s say 8th grade.

b.     Content without typographical or grammatical errors.

c.     Content that is integrated into an aesthetic template.

d.     Content that speaks to the reader instead of lecturing him or her.

e.     Content that is aimed at transforming the reader into a more positive state of mind.

f.      Content aimed to ease pain points of the reader.

g.     Content that makes the reader go WOW.

h.     Content that compels the reader to finish what he or she is reading.

i.      Content that makes the reader think or take action.

j.      Content that adds value or empowers the reader in terms of knowledge.

k.     Content that is clear and concise.

l.      Content that stays in the mind of the reader for long.

Sadly, all those enterprising businesses online are used to using content that blows their own trumpet and does not cater to the customer. Do you think such content will succeed?

Content as in the bullets above, created and deployed across websites and other social media assets can bring in more ROI. More important, you will start generating more leads and improve your conversion rate, simply because, you are appealing to the customer and a niche one at that.

The author has an entrepreneurial experience of over 24 years of which 13 have been spent in Digital Marketing is CEO & Disruptive Digital Marketer @ eTraDeX, Founder & Chief Mentor @ Startup Essentials.

If you are looking for a comprehensive digital marketing strategy, execution or comprehensive content in any niche, drop an email to [email protected]

This article originally appeared at Etradex.