Content Marketing in a Month

I have spent the past month learning about content marketing and using what I learned to create projects. I was challenged to create three different projects, each one requiring different skills and knowledge. This was a task I was given while in the Praxis program (learn more about the program here).

What I Created

For this project I worked with Toasty-Mallows, a business recently started without any marketing team. This company was in the process of launching its first-ever product, a unique marshmallow roaster. The goal over the month was to create content that would establish the brand and get people's attention.

Landing Page

The first project I started with was creating a landing page for the company website. While researching, I learned many things about what makes a landing page effective.

What I’ve Learned

• Keep it Simple: A landing page should be able to stand on its own, and a viewer should know what you are selling at a glance without any confusion.

• Make it Easy: Keep the copy short and easy to read for faster understanding. Use the fact that people absorb visuals faster than words to get your message across.

• Eliminate Obstacles: Make sure your CTA is obvious and doesn't require unnecessary scrolling to find. The more distracted or confused someone is, the less likely they are to follow through with the CTA.

Skills I Practiced

• Leadpages

• Creating an obvious CTA

• Designing a clean and professional-looking landing page

• Using visuals to influence people's decisions

What I Would Do Differently

• Spend more time on the copy

• Have a clear plan before starting the design

Social Media Campaign

The goal for this campaign was to create 15 social media posts for Toasty-Mallows. While working on this project, it was important to keep in mind the audience and what they value. My goal was to create something valuable for both the consumer and the company.

Goals of the Campaign

• Find the Right Audience: The first thing I did for this campaign was consider what type of people would be interested in the product we were selling. People who enjoy:

  • Camping

  • Outdoor cooking

  • BBQ

  • Family cookouts

  • S’mores/desserts

  After considering this, I was able to come up with ideas of what else (other than our product) they might be interested in. This inspired the topics for the social media posts.

• Practical Tips/Immediate Value: I wanted to make sure that some of the posts provided tangible value for the viewer. One of my ideas to achieve this was to share s’mores-related recipes they could use.

• Establish a Brand Image: Another goal of this campaign was to create a general brand feel and highlight some of the company's values. Since quality time with family, s’mores, and time outdoors are a common theme for the company, I tried to stick with that theme throughout the campaign.

Skills I Practiced

• Creating a social media campaign with a common theme

• Designing on Canva

• Identifying an audience

• Making posts visually appealing

• Providing value through content

What I Would Do Differently

• Use more brand-specific images

• Include more video posts for variety

Email Campaign

The final project I completed was creating a welcome email campaign consisting of five or more emails. While researching and doing this project, I learned many new things about what it takes to create an email campaign.

What I’ve Learned

• Start Off Strong: When it comes to an email campaign, one of the most important features is the subject line. The rest of the email doesn’t matter if it gets deleted, so having an eye-catching subject line is crucial.

• Always Include a CTA: Usually, the call to action is the purpose of sending the email in the first place. Without it, you’ve given the reader information but nothing to do with it. You should always provide an action to take at the end of the email.

• Know What Problem You Are Solving: Part of the format I used for Toasty-Mallows’ welcome campaign involved identifying what problem the product solves. This included figuring out why someone would be interested in our product specifically over a more generic marshmallow roaster. Problems Toasty-Mallows’ roaster solves:

  • Uneven cooking

  • Safety concerns

  • Food falling into the fire

  • Messy s’more assembly

  • Roasting stick breaking

[Check my writing for the email campaign here.]

Skills I Practiced

• Creating a welcome campaign for a specific product

• Identifying a problem and the solution

• Writing copy for emails

• Understanding the psychology of a potential customer

What I Would Do Differently

• Add more variety to the CTAs I used

• Ensure each email has value for the reader beyond just advertising the product

Tools I Used During This Month

• Canva: I used this for designing all of my social media posts and loved how intuitive it is.

• Trello: This organizational tool helped me stay on track and ensured I didn’t miss any deadlines.

• Substack: I published weekly newsletters here, which allowed me to solidify everything I learned on a weekly basis. [Check out my Substack here!]

• Google Docs: Where I drafted and wrote copy for the projects.

• Leadpages: I used this tool to design the Toasty-Mallows landing page.