Custom journalism does not need to give place to traditional writing. A gripping story written for the needs of internal communication can also be art. And hence the “Pióra Roku” competition – to show that content marketing stories can be just as interesting and valuable.

Content Marketing Polska, the organizer of the competition, is an association that wants to promote good writing practices focused on the needs of readers and to show that important messages don’t need to be boring. But to write a gripping custom story can be a big challenge – one needs to catch the reader’s attention not with their famous name or a controversial picture, but with a witty, creative or educational form. The task isn’t easy, and we should appreciate and award the effort even more.

A great majority of communication strategies experts in Poland believe the time of content marketing has come and that the trend is going to get stronger in the coming years. FCP Barometer survey has revealed that as many as 90 percent of the respondents believe content strategy is going to be dominant in three years.The results are mirrored in the quality of custom media publications, which increases each year. – Various writing forms in content marketing publications are becoming more and more professional. The level of the “CEO’s propaganda” is decreasing – such articles are usually read only till the end of the first paragraph and are not worth the effort – says Jacek Wasilewski, lecturer, Journalism and Political Sciences at the University of Warsaw, specialized in media rhetoric and media performance, head of the Jury in this year’s Pióra Roku competition.

What should a good content marketing article be like? Jacek explains:
– A professional text involves the reader not only with its form, but it also allows the reader to identify with the company’s goals and values. This partnership and emotional link is the key to a good content marketing story. Simplicity is also important – an article about complex matters that is simple and original is at a premium. It’s so easy to make things complicated.
Sounds familiar? Do you think you may have one or more such texts in your collection? If you do, don’t hesitate and register for the competition. Anyone can take part who publishes in custom and consumer media described in the competition statute. The articles can be submitted by their authors, marketing agencies and companies owning the media. One thing that must be remembered is that the articles need to be published between November 23, 2014 and November 11, 2015.

What are the criteria used by the Jury? Natalia Chrzanowska, Content Manager and Analyst for Brand24, member of the Jury, emphasizes: – To me the most important element in content marketing is delivering value for the reader. The text should meet actual and specific expectations of readers. The article should be written specifically for its target group. Another great advantage of an article is its uniqueness. We are surrounded by too much information and it’s not easy to find unique, original content. For this reason we value texts that provide information in a non-typical way. A text can be original when it comes to the questions it discusses, the style of narration, or an unconventional way of looking at a given subject.
Natalia Chrzanowska points out that taking part in the competition is a great way to compare your writing skills with other competitors’, and it is also additional promotion for the owner of the content. Jacek Wasilewski adds this is also a chance to check your talent for selecting the best material for the competition. – You can ask yourself: what good do I have and why do I think it’s good? Why is this text different to my/our other texts? When you are able to find a text like that you’re already a winner and it would be a shame not to send it in.

It would be nice if the Jury shared your opinion on that matter, wouldn’t it? Well, you won’t know until you register. Registration is free and the number of texts you can send in is unlimited. More about the event on www.pioraroku.pl.

Who knows, maybe your article is the one to win? We keep our fingers crossed!