38 GERMINATION.CA JULY 2017 YOU’VE DONE YOUR homework on content marketing, you’ve built your schedule, defined your goals and now it’s time to generate content. But is your content “quality” content? If you’re hoping to get the attention of key decision- makers in the seed industry, you had better speak “their” language. If your content is self-evident, common and unhelpful, you will likely lose the reader’s attention. How do you avoid these pitfalls? Here are 10 guide- lines for creating quality content. Content must be: 1. Valuable – It’s nice to be entertaining, but being valuable is the first step to building a trusted relation- ship. Solve a problem or answer a question, and you will attract lasting attention. 2. Useful – If content helps your customers, it will become important to them. 3. Contextual – Is your content in the right place at the right time? How are you promoting it? Is it personalized? 4. Easy to Consume – Think about the right format (writ- ten, audio, video, visual and length). Attention spans are short, so get your message through in the first 100-200 words. 5. Visual – Quality photos and graphics are proven CANADA IS THE fifth-largest ag exporter in the world. Our vast land base and relatively small population position us to supply those around the world with high qual- ity food and feed. As the world changes and the middle class grows in countries like China, the opportunities for Canadian agricultural exports grow. In 2016 China accounted for $5.6 billion in Canadian agri-food exports, and the reality is there’s still significant room to grow. It’s encouraging to see the federal govern- ment explore what a possible free trade agreement (FTA) with China might include. One significant opportunity to improve agricultural trade between China and Canada is through the removal of non-tariff trade barriers, such as long approval timelines for biotech crops. As it stands today there is, on average, a six-year lag between Canadian and Chinese approvals. Since a crop won’t typically be commercialized here in Canada that has not been approved by one of our biggest trading partners like China, this means that in many ways China dictates when Canadian farmers gain access to new technologies that stand to help drive their CONTENT MARKETING NO CONTENT IS BETTER THAN BAD CONTENT Shawna Shimnowski Client Services Manager, CREATE by Issues Ink @issuesink • sshimnowski@issuesink.com • issuesink.com ways of increasing reader engagement. 6. Mobile Friendly – When you deploy your content, is it consumable on a smartphone or tablet? Are your web- site and newsletter mobile friendly? 7. Shareable – Does it encourage your audience to share it with their colleagues and customers? Is it thought provoking? Does it share a unique insight? 8. Findable – Content that can’t be found won’t be read. Are you amplifying your content through internal and external channels? How are you growing your audience? 9. Non-intrusive – Content marketing isn’t useful if you spam your audience. Carefully manage your inbound marketing and nurture your audience. 10. Trustworthy – Your touchstone when writing con- tent should always be: “Am I reinforcing or establishing my brand as a trustworthy, audience-focused expert? Make sure the answer is “yes,” and then keep your promise. Any piece of content that doesn’t at least tick three of these boxes should probably go in the recycling bin. No content is better than bad content. PLANT SCIENCE CHINA HOLDS THE KEY TO CANADIAN AG COMPETITIVENESS Stephen Yarrow CropLife Canada Vice-President, Plant Biotechnology yarrows@croplife.ca • croplife.ca competitiveness and improve the sustainability of their operations. Technology has long been the Canadian advantage when it comes to agriculture. We do not have year-round growing seasons like some of our competitors, nor do we — or should we — have lax labour laws or environ- mental standards. Instead, Canadian farmers have been among the first to adopt new technologies like seed, inputs and equipment that have helped them be among the best in the world at meeting the growing demand for food, feed and fibre. It will be important to encourage the Canadian gov- ernment to prioritize agriculture, and specifically, regula- tory harmonization for products of plant biotechnology. Encouraging the synchronous approvals of biotech crops between Canada and China would mean new innovations make it into the hands of growers sooner. The more the Canadian government and industry can encourage China to adopt a predictable and transparent regulatory regime for products of plant biotechnology, the brighter the future of Canadian agricultural exports will be.