Why Content Marketing & Structured Content Are Trending?

1. Why Content Marketing & Structured Content Are Trending? Are you one of the marketers who is frustrated with the changing dynamics of customer behaviour? Do you think customers do not pay much attention to your elaborately designed marketing plan? Well, its time to smell the coffee and realize that the marketing practices that were in demand earlier, have, of late, undergone a drastic change. Let us understand it better with an example. The much hyped paid advertisements that were a rage sometime back (even now for some people,) are not preferred by customers of today who think of them more for their nuisance value than for some serious source of information. The result! By June 2015, around 198 million users from across the world had used ad block software leading to a whopping loss of $22 billion in the same year (Ref: https://pagefair.com/blog/2015/ad-blocking-report/.) As if these alarming numbers were not enough, the fact that these are only increasing by every passing year should make those who swear by the power of paid advertisements sit up and take notice.

2. Where does this ultimately lead to? Should the digital marketers change their tactics? The answer is an emphatic yes, for instead of putting all the marketing eggs in a single basket of ‘paid advertisements’, it is high time the balance is tilted in favour of content marketing. Does the term ring a bell? Let’s find out. Content Marketing? To begin with, content marketing is a technique to generate user interest about a business, brand, product or service by developing and marketing content through various media channels including the social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc) and content management systems (WordPress, Drupal etc). This is done with a singular objective of driving the maximum user traffic towards the sales funnel. And yes, the content so developed and distributed across multiple channels to seek users’ attention should be presented in an entertaining, engaging and interactive way. This approach is much needed for a content to rise above the clutter that abounds on the internet. Why Content Marketing? The fact that content per se is not subjected to the restrictions put up by ad block software makes it quite handy for B2B or B2C content marketing services reach out to users. The other reasons why content marketing has become the go to area for marketers are as follows:  Users prefer reading an engaging high quality content to get specific pieces of information. This increases the user traffic for leading content marketers and through them, the concerned websites as well. The high traffic observed by established bloggers or marketers like Neil Patel and Joe Pulizzi among others is a case in point  We react differently rather in a more welcoming way when addressed to on a personal basis. The same goes with content as well, for reading a generic content vis-a-vis the one that interacts with us generates better vibes and no prizes for guessing which one (the latter one, right?). A personalized content leads to a greater brand recall as it helps users to engage with a company or brand in a better way  More effective and less expensive (costs 62% less) than traditional forms of marketing (Reference: http://bit.ly/2dyoK1m)  Leads to a better conversion rate than other forms of marketing. According to a study, content marketing generates three times more leads per dollar spent as opposed to outbound marketing (Reference: http://bit.ly/1DkDX8A)  Websites featuring good content receive greater search rankings  Creates an enduring relationship with users that can easily last longer than obtained through other forms of marketing such as advertisements

3. What constitutes Content Marketing? Even though in popular perception the content marketing services inb211clude writeups like blogs, articles, ebooks and white papers interspersed with images, animations and videos, there are a slew of tools like emails, infographics, classifieds, slideshare, quizzes, live streaming, podcasts, gamification (presenting content in the form of a game) and explainer videos that can be even more effective. With the popularity of content marketing soaring, businesses are creating contents in droves giving rise to a deluge that spans practically every domain. So far so good, but what happens when as a content marketer you are asked to create or edit multiple contents on a single topic for different devices, sites, applications and platforms that too on a large scale? Chances are you will find it all too overwhelming. Is there a way out then? Yes, in the form of structured content. Let’s first understand how an unstructured content can lead to the abandonment of content by the users. For example, if an unstructured content created for a PC/laptop is viewed on a mobile, then no matter how responsive your website is for mobile viewing, the content shall not always be displayed similarly. To explain it further, if a piece of information is viewed on the first screen of a desktop, it might be visible on the fourth screen on a mobile thus leading to its abandonment by the mobile users. You might be at your wit’s end understanding that even after making the site mobile responsive the results do not quite conform to the plan. So, what has gone wrong here? As mentioned above, it is in producing an unstructured content that is not adaptive to the demands of SEO or multiple edits. So, invest your time in creating a structured content, yes the one in a modular format that can be classified with metadata tags for easy distribution to multiple channels from a single source. In other words, given the multiplicity of devices, platforms, delivery channels and applications, the focus should be on creating a structured content that gets displayed on any type of device with proper layouts no matter which mode (text or voice) the end customer uses to seek information. How can a structured content be of help?  It can address the concerns of developing a single personalised content for different segments, platforms, devices and applications. By using a content management system (CMS) like WordPress the content can be published across platforms quickly and automatically  Content can be displayed in a proper format and layout with all the attendant features or elements when sought for by using a voice command like in Siri (iOS) or Google Assistant (Android)  Content can be made to fit different device screens for easy viewing. For

4. example, a desktop can show a paragraph compared to a line or two of the same content being displayed on a mobile  Leads to higher productivity and efficiency besides accruing savings on time and cost  Delivers a higher customer experience  Helps to analyze the performance of contents across platforms. This provides a big picture wherein content marketers or content developers can know the content that is performing well and the one that should be improved upon Conclusion The primacy of content marketing especially of creating structured content has been well  established over other forms of marketing in recent times. If you want to optimize the  content of your website across devices, platforms and applications, Contact us Today! You can read the full content: http://www.apsense.com/article/why­content­marketing­ structured­content­are­trending.html ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ WebGuru Infosystems Email ID: enquiry@webguru­india.com Phone No.: +91­33­40200844 Mobile No.: +91­8420197208 Visit Us: https://www.webguru­india.com Stay Connected Via: https://www.facebook.com/webguruinfosystems  https://www.linkedin.com/company/webguru­infosystems­pvt­­ltd­ https://twitter.com/webgurutweet