10 Content Writing Examples to Help You Reach Your Audience

How do you write content?
What are examples of content marketing?
What does a content writer do?

If you ask yourself all of that, you wish to learn more about content writing and content marketing.

Online content nowadays is not just in written form. Video content is a big field right now. Video has started selling more in some cases since it is entertaining, interactive, and is easy to digest. Image-based content is quite popular as well.

However, none of these developments has come even close to surpassing the written word. Content writing, therefore, is only one cog in the whole machinery of content marketing. It remains the foundation of any brand’s marketing strategy.

Of content writing, there are many varieties—these range from social posts to standard blogs and everything else in between.

In this article, we are going to look at ten examples of content writing. We hope these will inspire you in your journey to make suitable content for your organization.

10 examples of content writing

Blog posts

Have you ever wondered why companies and social influencers alike have their blog?

This is because blogs offer a wide range of benefits, especially for a business. Blogs help you rank high on Google’s search engine with SEO, even rank on its first page!

Brainstorming topics

But what if you are starting and do not know what to write about? The first place to get help from is your team. Brainstorm topics for content. You’ll be surprised how many relevant blog topics you will come across!

Another way to find ideas is to find out what your competitors, people in your industry, and social influencers are blogging about. If these topics are in your industry and are relevant to your company, it can be a good idea to use their ideas.

What to do after setting up your blog?

Regardless of how you get the idea, the important thing is to keep going once the blog is set up. And that means posting new blogs regularly. Also, give quality content. Just don’t do a rehash of things that are already out there on the internet. Your audience has probably seen them. Instead, take inspiration from other sources but give your spin. Please talk about your experiences, or that of your company or brand, its products and services.

Social media posts

If you want to hone your skills in content writing, there’s nothing better than creating social media posts. These posts are not just short but also attractive and are quick to read. Thus, you learn copywriting too. Copywriting is a valuable skill that teaches you how to grab attention and make someone buy something.

Writing social media posts enables you to try various writing styles to find out which one suits you. You’ll learn how to do A/B Testing for social media ads, creating two versions of the same post to see which one gets a better reaction.

Website content

You can create all manners of content and give advertisements all over the internet. Still, if your website does not convey information completely or adequately, then your promotional efforts may result in nothing.

That’s why you should have relevant and adequate content on your website. In addition, these must be easy to find. One essential content page you must create is the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions.) This is the first point of contact between you and your customers. There should be an About Us page, Our Services page, Contact Us page, and so on.

Newsletters and emails

What sets emails and newsletters apart from other forms of content writing is that these are for customers who have already opted to receive them. Since they have already subscribed to your newsletters/emails, such customers have varying degrees of brand loyalty. When creating newsletter content, the goal is to keep them engaged and interested in your brand, products, services, and recent developments. Offering unique content will certainly keep them engaged.

Infographics

Like it or not, infographics are here to stay.
Why?

It is not just informative. Even a para of text can be instructive. But an infographic conveys a lot of information at a glance. These combine written and visual senses and therefore score over written content.

Infographics are great for showing statistics, lots of information at a glance, or even information about your company’s products, services and brands.
These don’t have to be complicated. Comparison sheets and charts are good examples of simple infographics.

Infographics are ideal for informing your customers while promoting your products and services.

E-books

If your customers desire in-depth knowledge of what you are offering, an e-book can be the perfect publication choice. E-books are exception tools for educating or informing your customers about your products. But these can be promotional materials as well! You can use e-books to convert readers into loyal, paying customers! Writing these may be a bit technical since you want to give readers comprehensive knowledge, but you still need to keep industrial jargon to a minimum, if you can. If that’s not possible, make sure you explain the terms.

White papers

People who write white papers are typically subject matter experts. In other words, they are authorities in their field. White papers tend to be longer than e-books and give more in-depth information and research on a subject.
Writing and publishing these will establish your company as an industry expert, which boosts your value in your customer’s eyes. White papers can work in conjunction with your blog topics. A white paper can be a follow-up piece on a topic you have already written an article about.

User Guides and How-To Manuals

If you already have loyal customers or have people who are very close to making a purchase decision, you need a different type of content material.
Enter user guides and how-to manuals. These inform the reader how to use a product. These are technical material and are not promotional. However, their utilitarian value is exceptional.

Case studies

Over the years, you surely have had many happy customers. You can use their experiences and testimonials to create promotional material. You can do this by making a case study.

A case study can be short or in-depth material, but it is the former in most cases. It showcases the problem faced, followed by the solution provided, and the results enjoyed afterwards. Case studies are invaluable for showing your services, products, sales history, and much more.

Video content

Video content is gaining ground.
But how to best use it? Start by penning down conversation points or writing the script before shooting. This ensures you stay on topic.

To sum up

In this article, you have read about 10 examples of content writing. Depending on your company’s needs, you can use these individually or in tandem.

April 27, 2021July 29, 2021

Marketing Disasters and How To Avoid Having One

Marketing campaigns are part of everyone’s lives. From the massive giants like Apple promoting their latest iPhones to an online entrepreneur asking you for 35 seconds of your time to promote his online investment course, marketing campaigns are omnipresent.

They are vital for the business’s survival regardless of its size. Companies pour millions of dollars every year to devise a strategy that effectively targets their consumer group and stands out from their competitors.

Creativity is an absolute must, and year on year, businesses try and outdo one another by trying something different. An example of a job well done would be Coca-Cola’s Christmas ad in 2020, a heartwarming and emotional masterpiece that was perfectly executed.

However, this is easier said than done. Even multinational corporations with budgets in the many millions have dropped the ball. Sometimes, ideas that are so sinister and egregious have escaped rigorous testing and been approved to be shown to the public.

Why do marketing campaigns fail?

Frankly, marketers lose track of who they are advertising to. When the goal is purely to be creative or unique rather than target the consumer base, mistakes are made.

Of course, standing out from the rest is vital in creating a good marketing campaign. However, there is a line in the sand; when being ostentatious is over prioritized, and the target audience is estranged.

A marketing campaign’s primary goal is to inform potential customers what needs of theirs the company’s service or product can fulfill, why the company can do it better than its competitors, and share its type and brand.

When the campaign forgets about this premise, disasters are bound to happen.

That being said, let’s take a look at some of the most significant advertisement flops to date and see how to avoid making the same errors in the future.

Beware: Laughably Terrible Advertisement Campaigns Ahead

Kendall Jenner’s Pepsi Debacle

This is an iconic and infamous advertisement. Pepsi launched a two and half minute advertisement called “Live for Now”. The advert featured 21-year-old supermodel Kendall Jenner leaving a photoshoot and showing up at a protest.

Tensions were growing between police and protestors until she stepped up to offer an officer a can of Pepsi. This fixed the issue.

The advertisement was branded as “tone-deaf”, and the backlash overgrew, forcing Pepsi to back down and pull the spot and issue an apology.

Dove’s blatantly racist Facebook Advertisement

Dove launched a Facebook ad campaign of the above four images. The four-panel image shows a young African American woman removing her shirt. By the time she has done, she has turned into a young white lady.

The disastrous advertisement shows up on Google as “Dove’s Racist Ad”.

To make matters worse, this was the second terrible advertising campaign launched by Dove in 2017, with them having to issue another apology after receiving intense criticism on social media as well as bad reviews on their product.

Volkswagen lies again?

An ongoing disaster, Volkswagen had decided to play a prank for April Fools this year. Volkswagen America changed its name to “Voltswagen”, implying that it sells electric vehicles.

Not too long ago, Volkswagen was caught in the carbon emission scandal; they lied about how much carbon their diesel cars emitted.

Now, this publicity stunt seems like they are lying about producing electric vehicles. Moreover, VW lied to reporters in a situation where simply saying “no comment” would have been sufficient.

Now, talks of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) cracking down on them, and it looks like Volkswagen is April’s fool.

Wix Slaps Itself

Wix recently launched an attack ad campaign against its competitor, WordPress. This advert portrayed WordPress in an extremely negative light in the context of a web developer seeking help for a mental health crisis.

Almost instantly, Wix received backlash for their distasteful and insensitive ad. With so many people around the world suffering from mental health issues, especially due to the ongoing pandemic, it seemed like a very poor decision by Wix to greenlight a campaign like this.

This ad campaign has received and is continuing to receive a lot of criticism over social media and is sure to be one that Wix regrets.

How to Avoid Marketing Disasters

Let’s find some nuggets of wisdom from the abysmal foolishness above and learn how NOT to make these mistakes.

Don’t ever lose touch

As you can see above, Pepsi lost touch with its audience. They came across as tone-deaf. Remember to consider the implications of the marketing campaign. Even when making jokes, remember that to take into consideration other perspectives and angles.

By sacrificing your brand value for a few jokes, you may risk offending your audience. Insensitivity and tastelessness can quickly alienate the audience and result in a marketing disaster.

Keep current affairs in mind

Marketing campaigns take a long time to plan and execute. They require extensive testing, planning, and, for larger companies, a lot of red tapes. This makes it easy to overlook what is ongoing in the real world.

A campaign that may have been acceptable a few months ago may no longer be so. If the marketing campaign aims to educate consumers about a situation, it needs to understand the issue and its implications genuinely.

Constantly review the campaign and ensure that it is up to date with current events.

How to create a good marketing campaign

If you are running your own business or part of a giant corporation, you understand the need for marketing. It can be an absolute nightmare to navigate the inner working of creating a successful campaign. What would help alleviate this would be someone who could take this burden off your hands.

MIU offers a range of marketing services that will help your company successfully launch and maintain a marketing campaign. With experience and skills, the disasters mentioned above can be avoided with our help.

Feel free to contact us for a free digital audit or check out MIU’s website to learn more about how we can help you.

April 9, 2021July 29, 2021

What is Clubhouse Marketing?

Clubhouse is the latest app that has got marketers going crazy over it, and here’s why.

Introduction to Clubhouse

As a social audio chat application, Clubhouse first got widespread attention when Tesla founder Elon Musk tweeted about it to his 40 million followers. It has since been downloaded more than 2 million times on the App Store.

That’s not even the main reason why Clubhouse continued to be wildly popular. As an invite-only app, Clubhouse gave off that exclusive vibe which drew even more people to it as it symbolises status and elitism. To get in, you would have to get an invite from an existing user — and they usually only have two invites each. Furthermore, the discussions that happen are often live and unrecorded, adding to the exclusive feel.

Clubhouse was initially marketed to Silicon Valley investors, top-tier celebrities and influencers, and industry thought leaders. Drake, Oprah Winfrey, and Elon Musk were the first few high-profile users the app saw.

Founded by Paul Davidson, who once worked for big companies like Google and Pinterest, Clubhouse came at the perfect time when the world is still recovering from the pandemic’s effects.

With everyone having more free time to themselves, spending more time alone, and the popularity of podcasts rising, Clubhouse was a social media experiment headed for success. Launched in 2020, Clubhouse provides users with a great platform to make conversation and create a new type of content.

Having a social chat app allows users to multi-task. More importantly, it cuts through the visual noise of an era where so much of the content we consume is carefully curated, edited, and pieced together. With live discussions happening in real-time, Clubhouse offers unfiltered authenticity in a time heavily dominated by visual content. Rather than showing people what you have and hoping for possible engagement, Clubhouse skips all unnecessary steps and straight away gathers people for immediate and direct engagement.

Marketing in Clubhouse, is it possible?

So how can marketers use this to further their needs? Well, we can take a leaf from Tribal Worldwide Singapore’s book — they jumped onto the platform and had potential content strategists pitch for a job at their agency via the app.

But that isn’t the only way.

Premium and luxury brands can host branded events on Clubhouse or even sponsor events related to their industry. As a business leader or a professional in your industry, you can host Clubhouse Rooms to discuss a topic related to your brand, service, or product. By setting yourself to seem like a thought leader, you’ll gain more brand awareness and trust and loyalty amongst your consumers.

Not to mention, as the perfect platform to network, Clubhouse is the best way to meet and connect with some of the most prominent entrepreneurs around the world. Currently, Clubhouse has low dilution and incredible reach, although that might not hold for long — so take advantage of it while you still can. This way, you can use Clubhouse to make your brand feel more personal and humanised and build a new following just from the app itself.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg also mentioned in a Room that his social media company is looking into building its version of an audio platform. And it isn’t just Facebook — Twitter also announced plans for a drop-in audio feature for their app, known as Twitter Spaces. Indeed, the social media audio trend is unlikely to be going away anytime soon.

As such an interactive app, Clubhouse proves to be of great potential with being able to satisfy on-demand consumption of content. Marketers should keep their eyes on the app as there is much more potential for audio marketing trends to be discovered.

If you want to find out more about the new marketing strategy, Contact Us.

March 2, 2021July 23, 2023

7 Content Writing Tips for Your Marketing Strategy

A huge part of any digital marketing strategy is to first create content for it. However, to create good content that will do well, especially in the online sphere, isn’t easy. There’s already a sea of content out there — so how do you make yours stand out?

To start off with, there are in fact plenty of things you can do to boost your content. In all content marketing strategy, these are necessary steps to take if you want your content to perform well. There is no doubt that your competitors are already engaging these in their strategy — so make sure you don’t fall behind!

1. Do keyword research

Keyword research is an important step in creating all content. In fact, it’s the first step you should take. Before you even begin writing a single word, start checking what are the hot and trending topics on Google.

By doing a quick search, you will be able to know what are the most relevant keywords you should adopt in your content. Not only that, but you will be able to tell what keywords perform the best on different search engines — which is the key to getting your content out there.

However, keep in mind not to overuse your keywords as this will actually affect your page ranking. Google’s algorithm is smart enough to recognise that a webpage with too many of the same words may mean a potential spam website — and therefore it would not place it at the top rankings or recommend it to its visitors.

Similarly, visitors to your webpage would not like the excessive and unnatural use of too many a specific keyword and will bounce quickly. Over time, this will translate and search engines will mark down your domain.

2. Incorporate a powerful CTA

When creating your content, keep in mind the call-to-action (CTA) you want your readers to take at the end of it. Think about how you can get your readers to take that action. Want your readers to purchase something? Sign up for your newsletter? Or just to share your content on their social media? Either way, give them a reason to take these actions.

Perhaps you could offer something of value to them. Give them a 20% discount off your product with a unique link, if your goal is to get them to buy your product. Offer information and resources to get them to subscribe to your newsletter. Or even provide a free e-book for sharing around your content and getting others to click on it!

A CTA is one of the most vital aspects of any content marketing strategy. It is how you link content writing to marketing goals, ROIs, and KPIs.

3. Engage your readers with your choice of words

One great way to make your content interesting and engaging is to use the active voice instead of the passive voice. Generally, the subject is the one performing the action when you use the active voice. In the passive voice, the subject becomes the one the action is being performed on.

For instance, compare “The brave knight rescued the princess from the dragon.” with “The princess was rescued from the dragon by the brave knight.” The first sentence sounds a lot more exciting as it emphasises the action that is happening.

Similarly, you can also make your content sound more interesting with your choice of diction. Instead of “sales increased”, you can use “sales rocketed”. See the difference? By adopting more interesting verbs, you can highlight important actions while still making it engaging for the reader.

4. Keep sentences short and paragraphs brief

Keep in mind that attention spans online are a lot shorter. Not only that, but minimising your paragraphs helps you to optimise your content for mobile. With more readers consuming content from their mobile devices these days, it is ever so important to take this aspect into consideration as well.

Your sentences and paragraphs need to be optimised for both mobile devices and the short attention spans that people have online. So, keep their attention locked onto you by making bite-sized content and paragraphs!

5. Always hyperlink

Hyperlinks sound counterintuitive since you’re potentially sending your visitors to another website, but they can actually help you get backlinks! More often than not, the sites that you reference will reciprocate with a nod to you via a mention or a link. Win-win!

If you’re still concerned about sending your web traffic to another site, you can always set your page up to open links in a new tab or a new window. This will effectively keep your traffic on your page while still allowing you to practise good internet etiquette by hyperlinking your sources.

Linking to other pages also helps to boost SEO on your site and increase page view over time. It also makes your content more credible and gives your readers useful information.

6. Provide added value

One of the best ways to keep your readers coming back is to leave them with a parting gift. It can be a free digital guidebook, a link to a webinar, or some collated statistics in a Google sheet. Either way, it doesn’t have to cost a thing.

Not only will your readers appreciate this, but they might recommend it to their contacts too! This word-of-mouth marketing will lead to higher search engine rankings as well as some repeat traffic. Now you’ll be sure your content marketing will see a huge leap in improvement!

7. Keep your old posts updated

The last step of any content marketing strategy is to keep your content updated. As time passes and events unfold, content — no matter what it’s about — ages. Information goes out of date as the market changes.

A good strategy is to keep your content constantly updated and relevant. By doing so, your content will gain value over time. This means that even an old post could very well keep traffic coming in, as pages continue to link to your content and social media accounts continue sharing it.

Speaking of, it is a good idea to also update your old content with new and fresh links. For example, if your post is talking about a good digital marketing strategy for 2020, you can update it for 2021 — and improve on it by giving recent statistics! This not only boosts your search results but keeps your content useful and relevant to any visitors passing by.

Remember, a great marketing strategy will know how to maximise the most value out of its content possible. Be it using relevant keywords, links, or CTA, all these tiny steps go a long way in boosting your content. So start optimising your content by implementing these tips into your marketing strategy today!

February 23, 2021October 5, 2023

How Long Should Your Video Content Be?

Video length on different platforms

Videos are increasingly becoming the more popular choice when it comes to digital marketing. After all, videos perform better than images on almost every social media platform.

Consumers generally remember the content in videos better than in images. This is as videos are a lot more dynamic, and engage both our sight and hearing. Images, on the other hand, are static and only engage one sense: sight.

Many marketers believe in the myth that videos are expensive and time-consuming, and not at all worth the slight advantage they hold over images. Furthermore, plenty of consumers may leave a video halfway, which would reduce the effectiveness of using such a medium.

However, video marketing isn’t as disposable as you might think it is. 81% of businesses that use videos in their marketing strategy agree that it helps to engage your audience, deliver clear messages, and promote your brand, amongst other benefits. 95% of video marketers also noted that videos have helped increase understanding of their product or service.

First off, videos definitely provide a significant advantage over images. Imagine if you were to convey a large amount of information via images. Your audience will most likely lose interest upon seeing such a lengthy wall of text.

Meanwhile, videos are able to keep things concise while still answering the basic questions to help consumers make an informed choice. 64% of consumers tend to reach a purchasing decision only after watching a branded video.

Not only that, but videos are far more engaging as well. Videos attract three times more engagement on Instagram than sponsored ads. They help to create a space for you to build connections with your audience, making your brand more personalised for them.

So how long should your videos be?

Be it Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, every platform has its knicks and knacks. In order to make sure your video does the best it possibly can, you need to understand not only the features each platform offers but the type of audience they cater to.

Take for example the users on TikTok or Snapchat. They are often used to watching short clips on these platforms and would probably not appreciate it if they were suddenly forced to watch a long video. On the other hand, YouTube users are more accustomed to watching lengthier videos and therefore it is more acceptable to show them longer content. Different platforms are able to hold attention for different amounts of time, so keep that in mind.

Facebook

Facebook insights have discovered that videos “get shown organically to more people when they’re at least 3 minutes long.” Keep in mind that an organic Facebook video is one that is posted and gains exposure without any advertising spend.

At the same time, Facebook’s algorithm rewards engagement over duration, so it is not guaranteed that your video will get more exposure just because it is 3 minutes long. Therefore, make sure to focus not just on your video length, but your video message as well. By encouraging engagement such as likes, shares, and comments, your video is more likely to get a boost in their algorithm.

The same can not be said for Facebook Video Ads.

Marketers can also fork out a sum of money in order to get more views for their videos. For every person that watches your video for longer than 3 seconds, Facebook will charge you for a view.

Therefore, if you’re paying to promote a video ad, you need to get your main point across as quickly as possible. The viewers that Facebook push out your ad to might not necessarily be familiar with your brand or your content, so they might lose interest easily. If that’s the case, retention is the most important target — so cut to the chase and keep it short.

One additional tip that we recommend marketers to keep in mind is to optimise their videos to still be understandable even with the sound off. 85% of users on Facebook actually watch plenty of videos without the sound — perhaps they are in a public place — therefore, in order not to ostracise this crowd, the message of your video should be clear even while its muted.

Instagram

On Instagram, there are two types of videos you can post: IGTV as well as Stories and Reels.

The latter has restrictions on the length of your video which means that your videos generally cannot be longer than a minute. If you wish to post a video longer than 60 seconds, you would need to post it as an IGTV.

However, HubSpot has found that videos that receive the most comments on Instagram are on average 26 seconds long. It would be best to keep videos on Instagram shorter than a minute.

This is because people are often used to scrolling quickly through their feed on Instagram, and pausing to watch a long video actually goes against their muscle memory. As such, their attention span for videos on Instagram generally does not last as long.

Furthermore, it is not possible to rewind these short videos on Instagram, which means that people would most likely skip or move on if they miss a part of the video and are unable to understand the point of it.

Twitter

Twitter’s previous video duration limit was only a mere 30 seconds. Now, they have started allowing users to upload videos up to 2 minutes and 20 seconds long on their app, matching the character limit that they set for their tweets. However, this does not necessarily mean that you should post videos of that length.

In fact, Twitter users are also often scrolling through their feed quickly on that very same app, which means that they would be more accustomed to shorter content. Therefore, it is still recommended to keep video content under 30 seconds long.

If you want to get people to watch your long-form content on Twitter, you can create short teaser videos and link people out from there — be it to another social media platform such as Facebook or YouTube.

YouTube

The main difference between YouTube and other social media platforms is that on YouTube, users are actively seeking out videos to watch. Instead of having a curated feed for them to scroll through, users are browsing through video content with the mental preparation to watch them.

It is also significant to note that unlike Facebook’s algorithm, YouTube’s algorithm actually rewards videos that have more watch time by pushing them up in search results as well as users’ recommendations.

Therefore, longer videos do have the potential to do better on YouTube — as long as viewers are engaged and actually stick around to watch your lengthy video content. YouTubers are, in fact, recording longer videos, which has been observed to rank higher in search results.

Planning out a video marketing strategy may sound complicated, but break it down and you will see that it is easier than you think. Why not ask MIU if you have any further questions on video marketing? It is, after all, the marketing tool to look out for in 2021.

February 11, 2021September 4, 2023

6 Content Marketing Trends in 2021

Content is more often than not the first step in any marketing strategy. Whether you’re dealing with traditional marketing, digital marketing, social media marketing, or SEO, it is a known fact that content can’t be overlooked. In fact, it is a huge part of what drives brand awareness and exposure.

With 2020 throwing all of us into a whirlwind (not literally), content marketing has seen some swift and sudden changes — all in a bid to adapt to the volatile industry. It would not be a surprise if these changes continued their way to 2021. Brands should therefore remain vigilant and adaptable in order to stay relevant.

To help you, here are some content marketing trends we’ve picked out that could surface this coming year.

1. Content relevancy will replace keyword research

I know, I know. Content marketing articles everywhere have drilled into your heads (even ours) that keyword research is of the utmost importance when it comes to SEO.

Want more exposure for your article? Use the most popular keywords. Need a more captivating caption? Throw in the most-searched-for keywords.

Keyword research has driven so much of content marketing thus far, it might feel a little strange to deviate from it. However, Google will soon introduce a new system that ranks your content based on the depth of expertise, rather than other factors such as link building. It is no longer good enough to be able to create content centralised around a certain keyword — but rather, how the content fits into your website.

Backlinking may have been one of the most significant resources when it comes to optimising your SEO strategy. As Google’s machine-learning algorithm becomes smarter about semantics, this might no longer be the case. Instead, link relevancy may become obsolete.

That being said, we are certainly not encouraging you to disregard link building. Keep in mind that this is just one of many possible trends that may arise in 2021. Whether it has yet to prove its worth remains to be seen. Until then, get ready to adapt.

2. Value-driven content will stand out

In an environment where content is everywhere, consumers will not hesitate to drop mediocre content and go for the highly-valued ones. With limited time and attention span, it is up to the brands to showcase their value immediately and keep their consumers engaged.

In this sense, content marketing is often the best way to retain consumers’ attention and provide meaningful content. Currently, plenty of brands are using the tactic of giving out average content for email addresses, in hopes that these will later help in converting the visitors.

Not anymore — 2021 has decided content marketing will be the main strategy in converting potential consumers. If you want your visitors to convert, show them how your product can help address their needs, not just what it can do.

3. Original research will rise in popularity

Sure, the online sphere is already swarming with information with its archive of research content. It would be easy and convenient to push out your own content based on the existing research out there.

However, with the overflow of information, it can be difficult to determine what content is actually relevant and useful in an ever-changing landscape. Coming up with your own studies can actually give you insights into what is relevant to you which may help you more than you realise.

Not to mention, original content that is applicable to your brand may interest your consumers more than over-gargled information. You can even reach out to your consumers to engage them as thought-leaders to create such content!

This informative content can be even repurposed into bite-sized content. Be it in the form of an infographic, video, or charts, having shareable content that allows you to post on your social media platforms can help you garner even more exposure.

4. Increased use of AI

A trend that has been on the rise — be it marketing or otherwise — is that more and more robots are taking over human jobs. In the realm of digital marketing, this often refers to automation.

As technology continues improving, content creation by artificial intelligence (AI) could very well become a thing. Of course, at this level, such content may not necessarily be considered high-quality, but it is a great way for brands to push out consistent content and even increase their content production.

According to participants in a McKinsey study, 20% or more of earnings from brands of different industries are attributed to AI. Indeed, AI and machine learning will no doubt change the way companies produce content. Just as Google is evolving to prioritise content relevancy rather than keyword research, AI will become a significant part of content creation in the years to come. After all, AI is already currently being used in aspects such as content analysis, optimisation and A/B testing.

5. User experience will take on more significance

As the biggest search engine, Google has been the focus of most marketers’ efforts. Therefore to determine what trend would lead 2021, it makes sense to observe Google’s future plans. And they are looking more than ever to cater to their users.

Beyond switching their focus to content relevancy, Google is also beginning to focus more on user experience. This means factors like UI/UX design, the site load time, as well as the delivery of content (for our case, in particular) would also be heavily considered when it comes to search ranking.

Therefore, it is important to focus on the smaller details including your site’s optimisation for mobile devices, image positions and sizes, as well as personalised content. In fact, personalisation more often than not has a positive impact on user experience. So if you want to stay ahead of the game, keep your web design in mind.

6. Advent of content atomation

Content atomation basically refers to the breaking down of long-form content into smaller pieces. With many businesses still struggling to get their content out there particularly in the post-Covid era, this might just be the solution they seek.

By repurposing your primary form of content and giving it a new angle, you can keep it fun and engaging for your audience while still pushing out valuable information.

Breaking down your long-form content doesn’t necessarily have to mean that your audience will see less content than usual. In fact, it is the opposite. Your audience not only gets to sieve out the content they feel is the most interesting, they are also able to absorb the same information in a shorter amount of time — so you’re still providing value to them.

Overall, there is much for us to learn in 2021. Whichever trends arise, the most important trait is for brands to stay adaptable. For now, keep creating high-quality, value-adding content for your audience and your hard work will equally be rewarded.

December 8, 2020July 23, 2023

6 Simple Tips for the Most Effective Headline

While I was researching what makes a good headline, one question kept resurfacing: what is the difference between a headline and a title? I think it is important to answer this question before looking into the elements that make up a great headline.

You see, headlines and titles serve similar functions and are similar in many ways, so there is plenty of overlap between the two. Many marketers can easily make the mistake of assuming they are both the same, but there is one aspect that sets the two apart.

I’m sure you’ve seen the title of this article before you clicked on it. The title serves to tell you what this article will be about — it is more for the benefit of the reader. Headlines, while also meant to grab attention, have an implicit aim of getting the reader to take an action — it is more for the benefit of the marketer.

Here’s a twist — the title of this article is also the headline. As I mentioned, there is quite a bit of overlap between headlines and titles, and this manifests in the way that titles can be headlines, but not all headlines are titles. To put it simply, titles fall under the umbrella of what headlines are.

So how does one differentiate between a headline and a title? Generally speaking, titles are used for articles and any type of long-form content. Headlines aren’t as restricted to the content that they are attached to. For example, imagine the banner of your landing page, which contains a short phrase that is meant to instantly hook your visitors. That may not necessarily be considered a title, but it is your headline.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, the next step is to look at the elements that make up an impactful headline. Headlines are so omnipresent in marketing that it is important to do them right. From landing pages, to blog articles, to social media posts (really, the list is endless), headlines are everywhere. So here’s what we found about what an effective headline should include.

1. Use numbers

Headlines with big, obscure numbers at the start tend to do much better than those without. Almost every headline guide will agree on this. In fact, A/B testing has been conducted previously on the same exact headline, the only exception being one has the number written out and the other has the number spelt out. And the one with the number written out always wins.

2. Put impact words at the front

Trigger words like how, why and what tend to draw in more readers than most other words. Especially when placed at the front of your headline, it is more likely to enable or persuade someone to click on your article and read it. Just make sure that your headline either starts with trigger words or numbers, because it rarely works well if you try to do both at the same time.

Here’s a really good example to help you decide which to choose should you ever face a similar scenario:

Simple Tips for the Most Effective Headline

The two titles, “10 Simple Communication Tips That Can Help You Ace Your Job Interview” and “How to Ace Your Job Interview with These 10 Simple Communication Tips”, both mean the same thing. However, on mobile devices such as the email inbox, long headlines are very much likely to get cut off. Subject lines get truncated after about 45 characters in the mobile inbox. Similarly, headlines get truncated after about 60 characters in search results. This is why it’s extremely important to put the keyword within the first handful of characters in your headline. Readers would be able to see the benefit and value of clicking into your article clearly.

3. Incorporate emotional words

Using powerful adjectives will draw out emotion from your readers, which might then nudge them into taking an action. Words such as free, incredible, effortless, and painstaking all have high emotional value in them. When emotional adjectives are used to describe pain points, your readers would be more likely to feel a sense of connection to you and/or the topic at hand.

The Advanced Marketing Institute (AMI) has created a headline analyser that looks at the emotional marketing value (EMV) of your headline, which is a gauge for how likely your headline will be able to elicit an emotional response from a reader. By eliciting emotions, you are more likely to get your readers to like, share, and engage with your article.

In fact, studies show that headlines that elicit positive emotions are more likely to get your reader to take the action you want them to. This is as the positive emotions give readers an additional boost and help them imagine a better outcome.

4. Create a sense of urgency

Developing urgency in a headline by including words such as ‘now’ or ‘today’ is more likely to push your readers into taking action. For instance, “10 Ways to Boost Your Career Today” is a lot more compelling than “10 Ways to Boost Your Career”. In a fast-paced society, everyone desires instant gratification and wants to see immediate results.

You can also create urgency by implying the effects of ignorance, as seen in the headline “5 Mistakes You are Making Right Now”. This offers the reader something that they can do or change right now to give them the efficiency they are seeking.

5. Use power trigrams

Trigrams are groups of three words. In the marketing field, there are many common trigrams that appear in headlines. But which ones are actually effective?

A few years back, Steve Rayson of Buzzsumo conducted a study where he looked at typical trigrams that appear in headlines. When looking at how it correlates with social media engagemen, he found that certain trigrams encourage more social engagement.

6. Write multiple headlines and read them aloud

This is basically self-explanatory, and while it isn’t something tangible that you can include in your headline, you should always follow this step. Having multiple headlines allows you to compare and contrast, whereby you might be able to notice what’s lacking in the ones that don’t seem to flow as well.

Ultimately, headlines show up everywhere. From your blog title, to your subject line, headlines are the ones doing most of the work. They are your opener; the attention grabber. Marketing would not be marketing without a good headline. Find out more about how you can improve yours by connecting with us.

November 19, 2020September 4, 2023

Artificial Intelligence for Content Marketing

What is content intelligence?

Content intelligence is something that has only surfaced in recent years due to the demand for marketing, particularly digital marketing.

For as long as marketing has been around, humans have been the ones churning out content for companies and businesses alike. But with technology advancing at such a rapid pace, artificial intelligence (AI) has begun taking over the positions that were once underfilled. Now, they have evolved to perform even better than their human counterparts.

As such, it’s increasingly become the norm for AI to take over all sorts of positions, even the ones that do not have manpower shortages. So long as AI can do your job better than you, you might just as well be obsolete.

In the marketing field, content intelligence is literally the use of existing technology to assist in content marketing. With better data analysing skills and more reliable judgements, AI has become a staple in content marketing. In fact, they are most commonly used in content management systems (CMS)!

CMSs offer plenty of benefits that address most of the pain points marketing teams face today. With software that transforms data into actionable insights, these systems advise you on what is the best strategy and tactic to adopt. Here are just some ways that CMSs can help you:

Predicting consumer behaviour
Publishing content on social media
Maximising conversions
Website designs

How does content intelligence change the way you market?

With machine learning, content intelligence is able to help improve your content marketing effectiveness. Following the Pareto principle, which states that 80% of all consequences come from 20% of the causes, so does 80% of conversions come from only 20% of your content.

Content intelligence is able to quickly identify the best-performing aspect of your content to provide a content recipe that you could follow for future content planning. This way, you can maximise results to get the best possible ROI.

Besides that, CMSs are able to predict the best timings and platforms to promote your content on. Distribution and promotion are just as important parts of the process as content creation itself and CMSs can help you to optimise such areas.

By analysing existing data and trends, content intelligence is also able to help you predict future trends and customer needs. A good CMS should be able to recognise relevant topics and help you decide what to touch on for your content.

Overall to conclude, content intelligence can help you in multiple ways, including:

Identifying the most effective content
Suggest optimal platforms and timings for distribution
Predict future trends and customer needs

Indeed, content intelligence is the future of effective marketing. Many companies are employing the use of AI in their marketing efforts, including chatbots, customer relationship management systems (CRM), and more. Start your journey with content intelligence and feel the changes it brings about with it today.

September 15, 2020October 5, 2023

The Complete Breakdown of the Types of Digital Marketing

Digital marketing has been on the rise in the past couple of years and has become a necessity for brands, particularly in Singapore. With Singapore having the highest digital penetration rate in Southeast Asia, it is easy to see why. As we enter this digital era, the way we consume and process information has changed along with the way we shop. It is therefore important for brands to adjust the way they market themselves, too.

At this point you might be wondering, what exactly is digital marketing and how is it different from the standard marketing process? There are many aspects to digital marketing, from web development to content marketing, and it can be easy to mix them up.

7 facets of digital marketing in 2020

SEO Agency VS In-House SEO: Why You Need A SEO Agency Now? [2020] - Nexis Novus — SEO refers to the process of boosting your ranking on search engines. (Source: Nexis Novus)

1. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

This is the most commonly known form of digital marketing — with over a thousand searches for “SEO agency” on Google each month, businesses are vying to make themselves relevant in this cutthroat world of competition. Knowing SEO is easy. Understanding it takes a lot more work.

To build up SEO on your website in order to rank higher on search engines, you must first understand how search engines work. Beyond just including major keywords with high search volume on your website, it is important to also look at off-page SEO. This includes backlinks — external websites that link to you — which can easily influence the amount of organic traffic coming into your website just as much.

2. Content marketing

How to do Content Marketing for Pharma | BlueNovius — Create, create, create! (Source: BlueNovius)

With the majority of people in Singapore heading online, it is also just as important for a business to have a strong online presence. It is so vital now for a brand to have their own website — the lack of a website actually screams unreliability. According to a survey, 72% of users look at websites when finding information about a brand, with 63% of these users citing it as their third most trusted source of information. More than half of these users will browse the company’s website as well. If this doesn’t indicate to you how important it is for a brand to build their own website, what does?

More often than not, a company blog allows you to showcase your expertise in the industry to potential customers, and generates search traffic for your business as well. Content marketing is often tied in with SEO in order to better market your brand and increase the success of the campaign. If done right, it will lead to traffic growth, increase brand awareness, and even convert website visitors into customers for you.

3. Social media marketing

How to Repurpose Top Content for Social Media Posts — Social media marketing is all the rage now – after all, who doesn’t use it? (Source: Digital Marketing Institute)

Webs aside, it is also just as important for brands to have a presence on social media as well. Just in 2020 alone, an estimated 3.8 billion people are using social media, and this figure is expected to increase to 4.4 billion within the next 5 years (Statista). Indeed, digital penetration is an unstoppable phenomenon. Not only that, 79% of our population in Singapore are on social media as well (Talkwalker).

Just as content marketing does, having a good social media marketing strategy will increase brand awareness, improve traffic, and generate leads for your business.

4. Web design and development

Web Design Best Practices For Your Next Website Project — First impressions are important – and so is your website’s user experience. (Source: Kinsta)

As previously mentioned, the number of online users who look at a company’s website exceed half — meaning that the majority of online users, which are your potential customers, would come across your website! It is therefore essential to make sure your website is not only functional, but user-friendly and visually appealing as well.

A website development agency will help brands improve the layout of their website, making sure it is not only user-friendly, but aesthetic as well. A website with a good user interface will be sure to convert online visitors to customers much more successfully than one without. More often than not, this requires the expertise of a digital marketer with knowledge in the user experience, which a web development agency offers.

5. Pay Per Click (PPC)

What hotels should look for in a pay-per-click program | Hotel Management — Convert clicks into revenue with PPC ads. (Source: Hotel Management)

PPC is a type of advertising that drives traffic to your website through online advertisements, in which the publishers are paid per click. Google Ads are the most common form of PPCs, where you are able to pay to get your link as one of the first results on the search engine. Many other well-known PPCs include paid ads on Facebook, Twitter ad campaigns, and sponsored messages on LinkedIn.

6. Email marketing

Beyond creating content for their website, brands can often reach out to their audience via email marketing campaigns. These usually include newsletters, holiday promotions and other follow-up emails. Email marketing campaigns are good for promoting events, discounts and any other relevant content.

7. Digital Public Relations (PR)

Get to know the best PR agencies in Egypt | Amwal Al Ghad — Maintaining good relations with your audience is essential. (Source: Amwal Al Ghad)

Of course, it is not sufficient to keep your content strictly to your business website — you need a boost from various other sources as well! This is where digital PR comes in — with a PR agency, you would be able to secure online media coverage with other content-based websites such as digital publications or blogs. This can help create backlinks to your website as well, boosting your SEO.

Besides sourcing for media opportunities, PR also includes the handling of customer relations, such as any comments, questions or reviews that might surface online. When customers see that you are actively making an effort to communicate with your customer base to make things as transparent as possible, they are more likely to view your brand in a positive light — which helps to humanise your brand, generate productive conversation, and allows you to deliver impactful messages regarding your brand.

How this changes the way you look at a digital marketing agency

So now that we understand the various types of digital marketing that exists, how do you know which marketing agency you should look for? Well, although there are thousands of digital marketing agencies based in Singapore, you need to find one that complements your needs. After all, the best marketing strategy is to engage in all of them – tastefully.

Knowing that you’re about to embark on a great marketing journey, it is vital to find an agency that makes the experience as comfortable and incredible as possible. Remember, you are building a long-term business relationship with the agency, so make sure you stick with one that works best with you.

At MIU, we guarantee client satisfaction by keeping communication lines open even after each project, so we can always ensure that we are always hitting success with each goal met. Take a look at our portfolio and let our work speak for itself.

September 1, 2020September 4, 2023

4 Simple Steps to Run an Effective Content Marketing Campaign

Does the perfect content marketing campaign exist?

There are different branches of marketing, all of which are various ways a business can promote themselves. From branding, to advertising, to content marketing, these methods are all valid ways for a business to reach their intended audience.

Different Types of Content for Content Marketing — What exactly is content marketing? (Source: Aspiration Marketing)

Content marketing is a simple way for brands to attract and retain their targeted audience by creating their own content to generate interest in their own brand. Though simple, this method of marketing can be powerful and effective as it allows the brand to create its own narrative. Content can come in all forms—blogs, infographics, videos, or more.

How exactly does content marketing help promote a brand? Well, you’re asking the right questions. When a brand creates its own content, they are indirectly building an audience – one that has vested interest in the product or service that the business is offering. What’s more, they can also use their content to educate the same audience about their own product or service.

This not only establishes confidence in the brand—because you will sound like you know what you’re talking about, thus proving your knowledge and expertise in the field—but also inspires loyalty amongst your audience.

This is where content marketing agencies come in. These agencies are able to produce and share content on your behalf, with your intended audience in mind and the goal to turn them into loyal customers. With their knowledge of digital marketing and more, they are able to readily and efficiently get their content to reach as wide an audience as possible.

We would like to aspire to these agencies please! (Source: AgencySpotter)

There are many content agencies in Singapore, but what sets apart the top few from the rest are their content marketing plans and strategies. Top content agencies like MediaOne, Click2view, and Evolve Digitas are the cream of the crop due to their meticulous step-by-step planning.

So how do you run an effective content marketing campaign? Content marketing is one of the most important channels of digital marketing, and we at MIU understand that. With our expertise in marketing, we understand the importance of distributing the right content to captivate your target audience. Just like the aforementioned content agencies, we also have a clear plan in mind for when it comes to devising the perfect content marketing strategy for our clients.

1. Determine your goals

Science Says Only 8 Percent of People Actually Achieve Their Goals. Here Are 7 Things They Do Differently | Inc.com — Aim for the sky! (Source: Inc.)

The first step to effective content marketing is having a concrete plan. What is your goal, and what are the steps you’ll take to achieve it? Who is your target audience? These questions will help you figure out what kind of content you should put out.

2. Understand your target audience

It is important to create a buyer persona so that you can easily understand what kind of content your target audience might enjoy. That said, it is also important to research the other types of content that are already out there—how can you differentiate yourself from your competitors? This is the key to really making your brand stand out to your audience.

3. Decide what type of content to put out

Now that you know what your goals are, and who your target audience is, the next step is to decide what kind of content would best help you to achieve those goals. Would the information be better showcased via an infographic? A book? Would your target audience prefer consuming content through reading blog articles, or watching videos? These considerations would all go towards tweaking your content marketing strategy to improve its effectiveness.

4. Monitor your content marketing progress

9 Web Analytics Metrics You Need to Know — Keep close track of your analytics (Source: WebSolutions)

Besides considering what kind of content to put out, it is important to keep track of and analyse how the content is doing. Having a content management system in place will help you to do so, so you have an idea if you’re on the right track. That way, you can continuously refine and improve on the content that you’re putting out.

With that said, it may not always be easy to run a successful content marketing campaign. This is where you might want to consult an expert to help you plan out your strategy. From web development to search engine optimisation (SEO), MIU believes that a well thought-out content marketing strategy is the first step to boosting your brand. Want to further your brand with a content marketing campaign? Look no further.