Content Marketing research

Content Marketing Research

In today's blog post I would like to do and show my research about Content Marketing. First let's have a look what the content marketing is. Following the Mailchimp Glossary the definition of Content Marketing is: "the development and distribution of relevant, useful content - blogs, newsletters, white papers, social media posts, emails, videos and the like - to current and potential customers. When it's done right, this content conveys expertise and makes it clear that a company values the people to whom it sells" (Mailchimp, 2021). That means the prospects and existing customers will feel connected with the company if them consistently use content marketing. The audience will choose them when it's time to buy if they see them as a partner and a source of advice and guidance who is dedicated to their success. 

Why the content marketing is very important?

There is no question that content marketing works. It also provides a competitive advantage. Here is what the statistics show:

- blogging generates 67% more leads for companies than non-blogging companies

- the majority of buyers view between three and five pieces of content before making contact with a sales representative

- the growth rate for companies utilizing content marketing is approximately 30 % higher than that of businesses without it

- almost 72 percent of B2B marketers say content marketing increases engagement and leads

Now I understand that those statistics shows that how important is the content marketing and also I consider every company should have it's marketing content.

Consideration stage

Following Mailchimp:" In the consideration stage, content should offer a hybrid of helpful information and marketing. It should educate the reader about what features or functions to look for and how various features address their needs. Of course, your content should have a bent toward what your business offers." (Mailchimp, 2021). That means case studies, how-to articles, how-to videos, and checklists/worksheets should all be included in this stage's content.

Closing stage

In the last stage of the sales process, we focus on sales, as long as continue to emphasize why the the company are the best choice rather than just how great products or services are.

That means here, the main message should focus on the expertise, knowledge, and the advantages of what companies want to sell. Best examples for this stage: case studies, buyer's guides, user-generated content, product videos and research reports.

The history

The history of content marketing begin in 1890s:

                                                    John Deere and content marketing

The John Deere Company is a well-known, household-name framing equipment company that wa originally founded in 1837. While the brand was well know to its community from the 1830's to 1990's, a turning point occurred in the late 1890's that shaped the trajectory of the company. 

                             'The furrow' - A journal for the American farmer (1897)

The look evolved throughout the years, reaching a peak in 1912 where 4 million consumers read its pages. It continues today to be produced and reaches over 2 million readers worldwide, a testament to the power of amazing content. In 1912, at the peak of The Furrow’s subscriber quantity, John Deere actually purchased its first electric printing press to publish the successful magazine. It could print in two colors and publish 50,000 copies in eight hours:

                                                          'The Furrow' (1912)

                                                        'The Furrow' (1960)


The content was engaging, valuable, shared farming information, build brand loyalty, positioned John Deere as a passionate, engaged brand and developed relationships between farmers and John Deere. Now I would like to implement that information to my project. Also we can see how the brand developed through the years.


The area in which I would like to move is Content Writing.

                                                                Content writing

According to the Backlinko.com: "Content writing is the process of planning, writing and editing web content, typically for digital marketing purposes. It can include writing blog posts and articles, scripts for videos and podcasts, as well as content for specific platforms, such as tweetstorms on Twitter or text posts on Reddit." (Backlinko, 2021). During my course I will focus on learning and improving my work in area of writing engaging articles and blogs. My first project it is an article about Polish food and culture. That will be my first challenge in this area.

Content writing it's not only writing articles, it is also writing email newsletters, video scripts, keynote speeches, social media posts, podcast tiles, white papers, web page copy, landing pages and YouTube video descriptions.

We can highlight kind of specializations of content writers:

blog writers - articles, blog posts, interviews, research

brand journalist - brand stories, interviews, customer stories, press releases, company bios

copywriter - website copy, infographics, traditional print media, sales collateral

ghostwriter - e-books, off-page content

technical writer - how-to' s, guides, FAQs, instructions, UX

social media writer - social media posts, quizzes, interactive content, PR outreach

email writer - newsletters, drip campaigns, transactional emails, customer nurture

script writer - chatbots, video scripts, podcast scripts, radio & audio advertising

long-form content writer - e-books, data studies, case studies,

ad and promo writer - advertising copy, direct mail copy, product descriptions

That informs me what I can do in the future. Also I noticed that writing articles is not only one direction when I think about content writing. I discover a lot more. For example long-form content writing allows to see that content writers can write an e-book or a case-study.

Content writer first of all should have excellent language skills also empathy with the reader, an engaging, inspirational writing style, SEO and other associated skills, the ability to deliver various types of content. I can say I have a lot of empathy for other people, I'm working and I will be working of improving my language skills during my course, also learn grammar and read another content to gain writing skills.

What is SEO?

Another interesting part of content marketing is SEO. According to the Hubspot:" SEO stands for search engine optimization. It refers to techniques that help your website rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). This makes your website more visible to people who are looking for solutions that your brand, product, or service can provide via search engines like Google, Yahoo!, and Bing. What hasn't stayed the same are the techniques we use to improve our rankings. This has everything to do with the search algorithms that these companies constantly change." (Hubspot, 2021).
An SEO marketing strategy is a comprehensive plan to get more visitors to the website through search engines. The key successful search engine optimization lies both on-page, which uses keywords based on intent, and off-page which generates inbound links from other websites.


That means for example the title of my article should be well constructed that engines like Google or Yahoo can position my article at the top of the searching page. My article should be searchable. Now to my mind came an idea that instead of a title: Polish Food Culture and Traditions I should more think of something catchy and not very long for example 'Food of the miners'.

Sources:

Mailchimp (2021), Available at: https://mailchimp.com/marketing-glossary/content-marketing/ (Accessed date: 16 November 2021)

Express Writers (2021) Available at: https://expresswriters.com/the-story-of-john-deere-and-content-marketing/ (Accessed date 16 November 2021)

Delignieres, M. (2021) Available at: https://www.salesodyssey.com/blog/how-to-write-an-article/ (Accessed date: 16 November 2021)

Backlinko (2021) Available at: https://backlinko.com/hub/content/writing (Accessed date: 16 November 2021)

Skrabanek, B. (2019) Available at: https://www.clearvoice.com/blog/10-types-content-writers-use/ (Accessed date: 16 November 2021)

https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/what-is-seo 

Project Development

 Further Major Project Research

In reference to my further research about my project, today I will be looking at how to write an article. If I want to write a good article I need to know how to do that. I found a step-by-step guide about it.

 

Writing article step by step 

What I learned from this, there are three rules I should follow writing my article: planning and answer the question of who is my target audience and what I am going to write about? Secondly rules about writing in order, the article should include an introduction, main body, and summary. The third one is editing, that I should look for grammar mistakes, make sure my sentences are clear and easy to understand especially that I am writing in the English language which is not my first language. I created Mind map in Canvas to organize the ideas:

Canvas Mind map

WHO?WHAT?WHY?

So now I will plan and consider who is my target audience. In my opinion the target audience that I want to reach are people in age between 25 and 65 years, mainly workers also people from middle-class, people who like food and anyone who is interested in culture. I would like to write a 1000-word article about Polish food and culture. Silesian cuisine has a long history and a rich culinary history. This is going to be a long article feature for an online culinary magazine or website that focuses on the region and a number of well-known meals, as well as two cooking channels on YouTube that the reader can access. I'm going to look into the culinary history of Silesian cuisine as it is specialty. To discover more about this topic, I used trusted web sources. Also I will examine other magazines and online content directed to my target audience.

WRITING

In this section I would like to consider about the language and the style is used in writing articles, also what sort of words I will be using. In separate blog post I will add my thoughts about it. 

INTRO/CONTENT/SUMMARY

Introduction - start with grabbing attention. In the beginning, it is important to catch the reader's attention by writing something interesting and engaging. Summarizing what the article will be about, so the reader knows what it is about.

Content should be divided into paragraphs. They should be wrote in logical order. For example: "give different events or ideas their own paragraphs, in a logical order that builds on the previous details. For example, if you were writing about the brief history of a war, you might have these five paragraphs: 1 – origins of the war, 2 – how it started, 3 – what happened of note, 4 – how it ended, 5 – the aftermath" (Williams, P., 2014)

Conclusion: "The conclusion should present the main points of the article in a clear and succinct way. You should not add new information in the conclusion, just summarize what you have discussed, with your closing thoughts or opinions."(Williams, P., 2014)

How I will implement that to my project article?

I think the best way to catch the reader's attention is to start with the story. This story will be about Polish miner which is  my dad. I will start with narration that he came back from work and his wife is waiting for him ready to serve the traditional food. Then I will think about my paragraphs, I will think about what I have to write and put that in logical order. First I will start with the story and then I will write about family values. Next will be to write about culinary heritage. At the end I want to write about famous dishes and two famous cooks. At the end of my article there will be a short conclusion. Just to summarize main points of the article. 

EDITING

This is the last part of completing my article. I will be looking for grammar mistakes, especially with articles 'the' and 'a' as I consider it as a problem to me. Also I will look for consistency of my text. Also important is proofreading. I will check also spelling. Then I will check how my text is readable and understandable to my readers. Following English Lessons at Brighton.com : "Editing is not just about looking for mistakes. As you edit your article, ask yourself if the language is clear and engaging, and if the structure works well. If you planned the article well, this should be easier – if not, you may need to do a lot of editing" (Williams, P., 2014)

Sources:
Williams, P. (2014) English lessons Brighton Available at: https://englishlessonsbrighton.co.uk/writing-article-step-by-step-guide/ (Accessed: date: 14 November 2021).

Lorem Ipsum

Lorem Ipsum 

There is one more software that I can practise with- that is Lorem Ipsum website. Lorem Ipsum is simply filler text for publishers and graphic designers used to demonstrate graphic aspects. 

I will be using lorem ipsum as placeholder text when practicing with Lucidpress software. 

Screenshot 1 - Lorem Ipsum 

                                                      Lorem ipsum - tools 

                        

                                                    Screenshot - Article 1000 words

Software choices

 Software choices

To create my project I will investigate the software I will be using. My project is an article so I will be looking at Lucidpress, Flipsnack and Microsoft Word. Lucidpress is used to create the content for individuals, teams and businesses. Also It is used in case in design & publishing, content marketing and graphic design services. Lucidpress offers many free templates and it consist of 3 pages that I can use for free. Another reason that I will be using there is a lot how to guides that will help me create my outcome for a high standard. Another software is Flipsnack. It has option to publish my work. I think I will use both of them to create my final project. Here I add some screenshots how I tested software:

                                                          Lucidpress website

First I sign in and choose the template that I want 

                                                        Screenshot 1 - Lucidpress templates 

When I think about article I also think about magazine, so I will choose magazine template

                                                           Screenshot 2 - Magazine template

I went deeper and I found something that suits my needs - food magazine template

                                                                 Screenshot 3 - Food Magazine

But I can see this is upgrade version so I will look into another free template:

                                                                  Screenshot 4 - Free Template

On the left and right side there is a menu with useful tools that I can work on customization of my template, adding images and changing font. 

                                                                    Screenshot 5 - Tools

In my opinion Lucidpress is great software and it will help me to create an extraordinary content article. The template I have choose contains of 6 pages, but I will try to fit my article to 4 pages including the cover of the magazine. Here I add the link to the 2 minutes video "Easy design + Brand management: What is Lucidpress? 

                                                                 What is Lucidpress

Another software I will be using is Microsoft Word. This program is a word processing software. 

                                                      Screenshot 1 - Microsoft Word

For me Word is well-known. I used it to write in high school. Microsoft Word is an excellent tool because it allows one to type fast, and it is simple to correct mistakes by simply pressing the backspace or delete keys. There are templates for any type of document, I can align the text to the center, right, or left margins, or justified with just one click, spelling and grammatical errors are highlighted immediately, I can easily correct any mistakes. Also, I can change the fonts, size of the text, add a table or picture. In my opinion, this is fantastic software and if I want to be a content writer in the future I should know this program perfectly. 

Screenshot 2 - Testing Microsoft Word

 Also I will be looking at Flipsnack. With this software I can create a flipbook of my magazine. The definition of Flipbook is: "series of illustrations of an animated scene bound together in sequence so that an illusion of movement can be imparted by flipping them rapidly" (Merriam - Webster, 2021). 

 

                                                               Screenshot 1 - Flipsnack

After I sign up I have to choose the size of my flipbook

                                                            Screenshot 2 - Choosing size

Also I found there few guides that I can know how to edit the text for example

                                                     Screenshot 3 - How to guides

From today's lesson I know I will have to upload jpg files from Lucidpress to create my flipbook in Flipsnack software

                                              Screenshot 4 - Uploading images from Lucidpress

To summarize in my opinion this sort of software is proper for writing a good content article. The advantages of this software are that they are free to use, easy for beginners, and convenient. Now I know how to create my magazine with an article. 

Sources:

Merriam-Webster (2021) Available at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/flip-book (Accessed date:12 November 2021)

Soffar, H. (2014)) Online sciences. Available at: https://www.online-sciences.com/technology/what-are-the-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-microsoft-word/ (Accessed: 12 November 2021).

Research Class Exercise

 Research Class Exercise

The definition of the research is a "systematic investigation into, and study of, materials and sources in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions" according to the Oxford English Dictionary (2021).
Today we are going to do research class exercise. I will answer following questions:

 

Digital Arts - Power Point

I have researched the Duane Michals photographer for Digital Arts. I have chosen few websites and books where I found useful information about the photographer and his work. After that I started to write my post with hope I will have good examples of explanations of his work. 

What facts did you discover?

I discovered that Duane Michals:

• was born in 1932
• is a well-known American photographer
• is a narrative photographer
• he creates images in the style of a film
• he frequently marks photos in poetry writing
• is inspired by others like Magritte or Balthus
• his images are related to gender, death and sexuality

What new conclusions did you establish?

I looked at his images, I reflect the tone and style of his work.

Research into my Major Project

My project is about Polish traditions and culinary heritage of Silesian cuisine. I will research into food articles. These will be an article from online Delicious magazine "The UK's best apple orchards to visit this autumn" written by Phoebe Stone and "World's 50 best restaurants for 2021" written by Maureen O'Hare from CNN Travel Food and Drink. I was interested how the article is constructed and what is its style. Also I will look at step-by step guide how to write an article. Here is an example of food article:

                                                                  Delicious Magazine

Research through my major project

I will be researching and testing Lucidpress software to use as basis of my article however I will also research other online tools. I will try Flipsnack as well to test this out. 

I will also be creating a draft of my article using Driftin software. Also I will be using Canvas mind maps to organize my ideas. 

I will experiment all of these and create posts to show how I tried and tested these before I will complete my project. 

                                                                         An apple

Research for my Major Project

For this area, I will be looking much more deeply at the content of food articles. I will look into online article from Delicious magazine "The UK's best apple orchards to visit this autumn written by Phoebe Stone and CNN's Travel Food & Drink article: "World's 50 best restaurants for 2021" written by Maureen O'Hare. Also I have an idea of storytelling and I will include an interview to my father in article. 

Major Project Research

Major Project Research

My Major Project Article about World Food & Food Culture starts with a research. Today I will be looking at two articles that are in my opinion related to the topic. Firstly I will read the articles, later look into its language, structure and style. The first article that I want to discuss is the article from online Delicious magazine. 

                                                            Delicious Magazine, 2021

The article is about the best apple orchards to visit this autumn in the UK. It describes individual orchards all over the UK. When I read: "..and orchards bursting with heritage varieties of apple, pear, plum, quince and cherry trees, listen to live folk, dance, swing, pop and country music..."( Delicious Magazine, 2021). I can say this is definitely an article about Food and Culture. What I can see is the article has the title, which later contains little description about the topic. After that, the photo and name of the author are situated. Then I can find information that the author is a content writer. The article is divided into a few paragraphs. Yet each paragraph contains the title. Also, I noticed that the language that is used is different from Academic Language and it is General English. There we can find the use of other words. I can see also some pictures related to the topic. I would like to show my audience interesting content writing with ideas about Silesian Food and Culture through looking at Delicious Magazine article and now I can think how I can add something interesting and engaging into my own article.
.

Another article that I look into it is CNN Travel Food& Drink article - "World's 50 best restaurants for 2021".

CNN Travel Food & Drink 2021

This article is about the top 50's best restaurants in the world in 2021.
Also it is slightly different than first one. As it says: "The Art of Hospitality Award went to Vienna's Steirereck, at No. 12, where highlights might include sunflower and Jerusalem artichoke with lamb sweetbreads, or the signature char fish cooked tableside in beeswax with yellow carrot "pollen" and sour cream." (CNN Food Travel & Drink, 2021) it describes awards for restaurants and chefs. I can see that more sophisticated language is use in the article. I can see also some quotations from chefs and other people: "In the wake of this victory, all dreams were seemingly open. It also gave us a chance to be a part -- one part -- of a transformation of an entire region's food culture." (Redzepi, 2021). That gives me an idea that I would like to add the interesting interview with my father about Silesian cuisine to my article.

Sources:

Williams, J. (2014) English lessons Brighton. Available at: Writing an article: a step-by-step guide - English Lessons Brighton (Accessed: 10/11/21). and Proofed (2021) Available at: 5 Tips on How to Write About Food | Proofed’s Writing Tips (getproofed.com) (Accessed: 11/10/21).

O'Hare, M. (2021) CNN Travel Food & Drink. Available at: https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/worlds-50-best-restaurants-2021/index.html (Accessed: 10 November 2021).

Stone, P. (2021) Delicious Magazine. Available at: https://www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/the-uks-best-apple-orchards-to-visit-this-autumn/ (Accessed: 10 November 2021).

About Me Page

 About me Page

In todays blog post I will show the process of creation About me Page. In reference to the career expert Alison Doyle, writing an 'About me' page is one of the most important parts of our portfolio, website or blog. It is where prospective employers, clients, users, and other professional and personal connections go to learn about who you are and what you do (Alison Doyle, 2020). 

When we are creating our About me page we should consider and answer the questions:

                                                                 Canvas Mind Map

So now I will think about the answers. I will think about my background, think about what I love the most about my writing, think about my advantages, what I am looking for right now and what I will do in the future. Here is an example from my previous website research how About me page looks like:

Est Creative - About me Page

I can see the use of blue and white colors. According to the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science: "Through color, a brand can establish an effective visual identity, form strong relationships with a target market, and position itself among competitors in the marketplace". I think blue and white color they play together perfectly. Also, the woman has these colors on her clothes. That shows me she is professional. I will think about how to use that on my website. I can see near the picture of a woman short details about her. Underneath we can find description of her education, work, and achievements. Also, I can see the title. Now I will think about how and what information I can add to my About me page. Here I add some screenshots from the Wix.com software:

First I add the text:

                                                         Screenshot 1 - Adding text

Second I change the background

                                                            Screenshot 2 - Changing design


In the next two weeks I will be working on my professional photo and later I will add it to my About me page to the left side.

In my opinion my About me page is consistent. I choose appropriate colors to show professionalism and trust.

Sources:

Springer Link (2021) Available at: https://link-springer-com.proxy.library.dmu.ac.uk/article/10.1007%2Fs11747-010-0245-y (Accessed date: 06 November 2021)

Doyle, A. (2021) Balance Careers. Available at: https://www.thebalancecareers.com/how-to-write-about-me-page-examples-4142367 (Accessed: 06 November 2021).

Contact Page

Contact Page

 In today's post, I will show the process of my work on the Contact Page. In my opinion, the Contact page is an important part of the website. It allows our clients to contact us. It should look professional and the design should be connected to all the websites. As Peter Roesler says: "as you begin designing your contact page, there are a few must-have elements: business name, phone number, and address, email address, map, social and hours of operation"  and also: "Page layout is important. You need to ensure the content blocks on your contact page are arranged in an order that makes sense for mobile visitors. This is something you can't afford to ignore" (Roesler Peter, 2021). So now I will think how can I make my Contact Page and what I will include in it in reference to my research. 

First I choose the correct form of my Contact Page. That will consist of 5 sections: first name, last name, email, subject and 'leave me a message'. 

                                                     Screenshot 1 - Contact Page form customization

Second I change the design of my Contact form - I put correct color from the palette

Screenshot 2 - Contact Page form design

Next is to add 'Submit' button and change the color of it

                                                       Screenshot 3 - Submit button

                                                     Screenshot 4 - Submit button design

Next is to add Social media links 

    Screenshot 5 - Social Media

Now I will think what kind of description I can add:                                                 Screenshot 6 - Text and the image

In my opinion the whole process of creating Contact Page run quite good, I'm happy with colors that I have used. Also Submit button looks nice. I have included all the pieces I wanted to. Also I think all my Contact Page looks consistent. 

For the next weeks I will work on my own image while writing an article. 

Sources:

Roesler, P. (2021) Available at:https://www.proquest.com/docview/2545327539?OpenUrlRefId=info:xri/sid:summon&accountid=10472 (Accessed date: 05 November 2021)

My Portfolio Website

My Portfolio Website

I will be creating my portfolio website. In today's lesson, we have discussed websites, we have watched the work of other artists to get inspiration. We discussed legal and ethical issues regarding web presence. We started to create a website using Wix.com software. Firstly I have to choose the layout that fits my progression route - English and Spanish language. I have to bear in mind that the design should look professional as this is my portfolio. My assignments for today are to create a homepage with images, write a biography to my About me page, and include copyright details on the website. I will add some screenshots from the process of my work.

First I sign in to Wix.com:

Screenshot 1 - Sign in

Later I clink on 'Create new Site'

Screenshot 2 - Creating new site

Next I choose the template:

                                                                 Screenshot 3 - Templates

Screenshot 4 - Choosing template

                                                                 

 Next part is to add Home Page, Gallery Page, Contact Page and About me Page and to delete unnecessary tools                                        

                                          Screenshot 5 - Adding pages

Screenshot 6 - Pages - final result

Next is to add the title of my website 

Screenshot 7 - Adding title

Also I add my name above the title

                                                                Screenshot 8 - Adding name

I can change the font, size and color of any text I put into my website

Now I will put the MENU bar to the right side of my website:

Screenshot 9 - Adding Menu bar

I can customize my Menu bar - change the design, size, color and font

Screenshot 10 - Menu bar customization 

Later I worked on header and footer design

Screenshot 11 - Header and footer customization

Also I will look into colors using Adobe Colors software:

Screenshot 12 - Adobe Colors

There I found color palette analogic to my dark blue color, every color has code that I can put into the design of my website

At the end I'll show how I add the copyright information:

Screenshot 13 - Copyright

In my opinion, Wix.com's digital software is easy and convenient for beginners. Especially the fact I have never created a website before my work on that run smoothly and well. There were many thematic templates and the layout of the website is easy to follow. I like the sort of colors I have used. They will look professional and trustworthy due to my work. Then I will work on the further customization of my  website. In the next few posts I will show the process of my work on Home Page, About me, Gallery and Contact Page and make further customization of my website. 

.

Website research

                     Website research 

In this week we will be creating our own website. Firstly we did some research about it. We had a look into 3 different creations of other people to get some inspiration. Here I add screenshots. 

                                              Screenshot 1 - Alex Fisher - Illustrator

In my opinion this page is a beautiful piece of art. It is because of its layout, design and features used. What caught my attention are wonderful artistic flowers. I can see Menu bar divided to six parts. The name of the Illustrator and her occupation is located in the central image. She is using Serif font, which is very coherent to all the website. Also at the top of Main page I can see a logo. Now I'm more similar to how my page should look like. 

                                                Screenshot 2 - Foster and Partners 

I'm impressed with this website. This is a website is from Architectural Design and Engineering Firm. It consist of large and high quality images and animations. Navigation is also well thought of. That gives me an idea how I can organize my own website. 

                                            Screenshot 3 - Copywriting website

I believe I need to create something similar to the website number 3. In my opinion that website looks interesting. I can see blue and white color that looks very professional. There is some kind of yellow and red color that in my opinion is well combined together. Also I can see the logo on the top left side. Yet there is a professional photo of a woman. Overall the layout and design works very well. When I' looking at this website I have a trust that this person is professional and worthy. I think in my work I will be using similar layout and colors. 

Another example of professional website is the one that former student have created. 

   Screenshot 4 - DMU Student website

What I can see is that she added her own photo, and made other images by herself. I have impression that this person is friendly and may be helpful because I can see warm color that she used in her design. Also she is aspiring writer as me. Now I want to add my own photos to the website. 

Sources:

Home | Weronika Hennig (wixsite.com)

Architectural Design and Engineering Firm | Foster + Partners (fosterandpartners.com)

Alex Fisher Design

EST Creative | Freelance Copywriter & Content Strategist (est-bostoncopywriter.com)