How a Pomegranate taught me the three most important lessons of Content Marketing
It was a lazy, Sunday afternoon. I didn’t have much in my mind, and I was desperately looking for something that will keep me occupied. It was then, when my eyes fell on my sensei; a fully grown, bulgy Pomegranate.
Slowly, as I started peeling it, every seed inside seemed to like a piece of content with a story of its own. It made me ponder and as I started eating it, I could relate it more to content marketing. That day, I learned the three most important lessons of content marketing and my learnings ultimately, inspired me to write this blog post.
Sometimes the teachings of nature come in different sizes and shape. My teaching came in the form of a Pomegranate.
If you’re a marketer like me or an entrepreneur, I hope you’ll also find these lessons useful, and never look at a Pomegranate, the same old way!
The taste matters
It does. A lot.
While I put the first seed into my mouth, its taste struck me. Sweet, a little sour, a bit crunchy, but nice.
After I picked up a few more, I realized, no matter what the size was, each of them had a taste!
Imagine, if the seeds of the pomegranate(which is known as arils, btw) have no taste at all. It will never be sold in any market, you will never bring it home, and you will never be able to reap the benefits of this fruit.
Something similar happens with content as well. If each blog, article, landing page, and video; don’t have the quality and knowledge to offer, the reader will never take the effort to read the content, engage with the content, and they will never be able to comprehend the learning from the content.
That was my first lesson from the Pomegranate.
Keep the content tasty and meaningful.
Just like the arils of a pomegranate, the content needs to be sweet and savory, with the three essential vitamins
So, with half of the pomegranate in one hand and a pen on the other, I managed to scribble down my three takeaways to make content effective—
- Crispness — Like the pomegranate seeds, it doesn’t matter how big or small the size of the content is. What matters is how clearly the objective of the content is communicated to the reader. It takes a second to gulp down a seed, but it leaves a good after taste. Even if the content is short, if it has the right punch, a reader will retain the learning from the content. Here are some ingredients which will make your content crisp.
- Relativity — We try to tell a story with our content. But, what if it doesn’t relate with the reader? With the massive amount of content available online, if your content is not relatable, your readers are leaving you and not coming back. Check out these 15 tips to create relatable content and find out how many of these do you actually follow now.
- Engagement — Do you know even the pomegranate peel has amazing benefits to your skin, hair, and health? So, does your content if you make it more engaging and shareable. After a visitor has read through the entire content, they can willingly share it with their friends and colleagues or even bookmark it so that they can refer to it from time to time. This way your reach is increased and it does excellent word-of-mouth for your brand as well. Even after the content has been consumed by one reader, it can still be shared and kept for future use, much like the peel of a pomegranate.
Learn from the cohesion
If you cut the top of pomegranate and peek inside, then you will look at something similar to the image above. Look at the bonding these arils have between them. The space between them is not even as wide as your fingernails.
They stick to each other like they have been molded together and fit inside into the peel. There is so much to learn for a marketer from the cohesiveness portrayed by Pomegranate.
A content strategy which can bind together your individual piece, connect them with a common theme, and have great learning to offer to the reader; will surely engage the reader for a long time, and compel them to keep coming back for more.
When the content is well connected, there is also a high propensity that the reader will follow up one blog or video or article with another one. It’s similar to the experience of eating a bunch of arils altogether. It gives a greater delight, almost like multiple tiny balloons filled with sugary syrup bursting into your mouth all at the same time.
If you’ve not tried doing it yet, I recommend you to do that next time. It’s totally worth it.
With a few last seeds remaining, I wrote down my next set of learnings on my notepad which had already picked up some red smudges from the pomegranate.
I gave it a new title, Keep the content cohesive and tightly gripped.
I made two points underneath this to put down the points which can achieve this objective.
Making a series: This works better with videos, but even a series of blog based on a topic can help generate some attention from the target readers. Ideas like weekly tips or how to videos can widen the attention span of the customer and can keep them hooked for a long time. Much like the arils a chain of content connected to each other, almost as if telling a story can benefit a business for the long term.
Internal links: A good way of keeping your readers on your webpage for a long time is by including the link of your already published content into the new content that you’re about to publish. If you had already written a blog post on the benefits of eating leafy vegetables earlier, then you can add that link into your latest blog which is based on the theme of five vegetables that you should definitely include into your diet. The link can be added at the end as a suggested reading or can be infused in the body of the content. And, as a cherry on the cake, it benefits your SEO ranking too
It takes time
It took me a good 20 minutes to finish the pomegranate.
One aril at a time, sometimes two, ok, maybe three; I finished it in a slow and a steady pace. And, all I can say is that I enjoyed it so much
Sometimes, its good to sit back, relax, take one thing at a time, and live your life. Being too fast can spoil the fun or ruin your content marketing efforts
A good content marketing strategy is one which is continued for a long time, in a steady way, emphasizing on the quality.
Once you push out your content through any medium it’s necessary to wait for at least fifteen days before you start analyzing the statistics of its performance. Once, it starts getting the visits and engagement, wait another fifteen days to generate some actionable insights. A decision too early can cause harm to your plans.
I couldn’t write much for this point into my notepad, but this
PATIENCE
To reap the benefits from your content, you need to be patient and persistent. The clicks, sign-ups, conversions or even the bounce rate; all of these statistics will start making sense only when you wait for them to start performing.
Ending note
Content marketing is more like a study of psychology. You can create a great piece of content only when you know your target audience really well. They will read, engage, and share your hard work with others, only when they feel connected with your content.
But, that’s not the only connection that you can establish.
Look around you. Look at the different signs that prompt you to think a little deeper and find out the connections.
Does it tell you a story? Can you relate to it?
I found a connection in the Pomegranate. I was able to relate to it and this was my humble story. This compelled me to look at the minute things in my profession and try to find out if it can help me to tell a story that can benefit the reader.
To summarize, sometimes the best answer is around the corner. You just have to look for it
