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In fact, using display ads, paid search or paid social as a way to generate instant results for brands or organizations is increasingly popular. Don’t believe me? Wrap your head around these figures:In its Q4 2016 fiscal year results, Google’s parent company Alphabet reported a whopping 17% increase in advertising revenue compared with the same period the year before. When Facebook published its fourth quarter and end of year results, it also reported an increase in revenue from advertising, up 12% year on year. Statista estimates we’ll all be spending more this year – with paid advertising expenditure soaring to $92.4 billion worldwide in 2017. Marketers are now branching out to new ad formats, with the IAB calculating that mobile advertising grew massively in the first six months of 2016, with a total spend increase of 89% or $15.5 billion. Big numbers, for sure, but are we missing a trick here? While there may be plenty of plus points to paid advertising and paid social – and it most definitely plays a role in a well-executed marketing strategy – it might be time to take back ownership of your marketing....
In order to attract customers in today’s world you need to give them more than what they would expect. This is common sense nowadays as gone are the days when you can just say whatever you want and the customers will believe you. Today, customers are more savvy and more demanding which means that they demand more than just the most basic – they demand more depth and more engagement.
That’s where content marketing comes in. That’s because content marketing is a way of interacting with the customer without any selling. It’s a marketing technique wherein you offer relevant and valuable content to a pre-defined audience in order to attract them to you and convert them into potential customers. The point is to give potential customers more than they expect in order to lure them in.
That said, doing content marketing can be quite confusing to a beginner. Not surprising since a lot of people who have been doing it for a while also make mistakes. In order to jump start your foray into content marketing here are some resources that can help you plan, create and maximize your content marketing strategy....
I love case studies, and so do potential customers. In my offline portfolio I have several case studies that I walk prospects through so they can see exactly how I can help businesses with their blogging and social media. Case studies are powerful because they allow the customer to visualise the success you bring easily, and it makes you memorable.
You have a blog and you share content on your Facebook page, Twitter account, and the next step is to convert some of those fans to customers without going all scary-sales on them. That’s where the good ol’ case study on your blog comes in....
This is not another article about content marketing. It’s not intended to convince readers that content marketing can help differentiate them from their competitors, showcase thought leadership, drive traffic, or engage their customers. A quick Google search of the phrase “content marketing for small businesses” yields more than 200 million search results, meaning that there are already plenty of people out there talking about these things (and probably trying to sell small businesses something in the process).
So who is this article for? Anyone who’s convinced, but not sure how they can make it work for their business. It’s for anyone who’s ever wondered whether it’s possible to have a content marketing strategy without creating any content.
While the short answer to this is no, there is good news. The first is that the investment of time and money it takes to create great content doesn’t have to be a barrier to entry. Almost any small business that really wants to get into the game can do so by being smart about how they’re allocating their resources and maximizing the content they do have.
The second piece of good news is that the sheer amount of free content online makes activities like curation arguably more important than content creation itself.
That said, content creation still needs to play a role in your strategy. Original content--whether it’s in the form of a blog, case studies, videos, infographics, etc.-- will help you define the point of view you want to convey and should help set the tone for all of your content marketing efforts. The key is to maximize the ways in which you distribute and supplement it with other, lower touch tactics. Read on for five of the best....
The young girl in T-shirt and shorts paces up and down her dorm room, occasionally stopping to vault herself on top of the bunk bed and then back down again.
For four days last month, Target live-streamed five YouTube personalities as they mused, joked, ate, slept and generally passed the time in makeshift dorm rooms outfitted with products sold by the Minneapolis-based retailer.
Not quite commercial, not quite reality, Target's digital experiment, dubbed Bullseye University, represents its most ambitious attempt to penetrate the digital universe of college students.
By scrolling over each room on BullseyeUniversity.com, viewers could also activate pop-up boxes that give information about the merchandise and links to purchasing them on Target.com.
Brian Kelly, a retail consultant and former top marketing executive at Sears, says live-streaming Millennials interacting with Target products gives Bullseye University an air of relevance "that's not as creepy" as other voyeuristic projects....
As someone who spends most of his time talking to brands and agencies about content, I see far too many of them keeping content in a silo, rather than using it as part of a holistic marketing plan. Here are a few best practices for using content to supercharge your marketing spend....
Learn 10 principles for effective B2B content marketing, including creating content that solves pain points, and repurposing content to save time.
Content marketing does have its drawbacks. It cannot be relied upon to create a direct cause-and-effect; i.e. running a blog piece will usually not result in a direct sale. It is also very difficult to measure the results; content marketing is somewhat like public relations in this respect. However, it is not a “warm fuzzy,” either. Any marketing program should be using a variety of channels to reach customers so that its messages come from multiple different sources.
Content marketing is one of the many tools with which a company can deliver messages to its customers and prospects to “condition” them to purchase...
Social media has a problem and it needs to be addressed now. The truth is that a majority of social media strategies employed by some of the best brands out there aren't linking activity to business ROI...
What are the 7 Success Factors? There's a difference between a social media and social business strategy. Social media are the channels where information and people are connected via two-way platforms. Social media strategy defines programs specific to networks and the corresponding activity within and around each. Altimeter's definition of a successful Social Business Strategy (SBS) is one that aligns with the strategic business goals and has alignment and support throughout the organization.
You don't need to get the book to learn what the most advanced companies learned to prioritize. Following are the 7 aspects each shared to successfully champion and scale social media through the organization and earn executive support along the way...
Content Marketing is the New SEO. Having a Content Marketing strategy for your online business is key to SEO success in 2013. However, Content Marketing should be done correctly by following certain guidelines. Below is an infographic which shows the Do’s and Dont’s of Content Marketing....
...It’s the stuff of every content marketer’s nightmares – this never-ending demand for more content. Despite all our best intentions, we never catch up. There is not enough time, resources, or budget to get ahead of the curve. Instead of an inspired chef creating delectable dishes to delight our audience, we become short order cooks, ceaselessly churning out quick-fix meals that the beast swallows whole without so much as a thank-you-very-much.So how do you keep ahead of the “beast” and save yourself from getting trampled or devoured?...
In this age of noise, it’s critical that your message cuts through the static and connects with customers.That’s why persona research is an essential part of your overall content marketing strategy – to ensure your content is speaking to, and connecting with, the right people.
Persona research is as much an art as it is a science. In Raven’s recent post “48 tips for SEO newbies from 48 experienced SEOs,” Sarah Peters says this about content: “Know your audience/customer, first and foremost. What do they need? What are they searching for? How much do they know already? Where do they gather? What do they value? Find out, and then give them that.”That’s awesome advice, and it’s really the core concept behind persona research. In this post, I’d like to walk you through my process of using this research to create targeted content....
...The latest research from the Content Marketing Institute showed us that everyone is creating content and yet only about a third of us have a document content strategy. We’re struggling to rise above the marketplace noise and we need a plan to get there. So, we have all have a content problem, whether we have accepted it or not. We need to create more of the kind of content our customers are looking for and less of the stuff no one reads, or acts upon. Are you looking to define your content strategy? Before you start, it’s important to identify the questions you need to ask before you can really get started? In my latest presentation, I outline the questions you need to ask before you can define your content strategy. I have embedded the slides here and also will provide a high-level overview of the main points....
The Customer Journey to Online Purchase: an interactive infographic that explores typical customer behavior to improve marketing programs. These days, the customer journey has grown more complex. Before making an online purchase decision, a customer may engage with your brand through many different media channels over several days. This tool helps you explore and understand the customer journey to improve your marketing programs....
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It doesn\'t matter how strong, loud, or long your message is - it\'s all about how relevant you are to your audience.
Whether we're talking to our 90-year-old grandmothers or our 3-year-old children, we all subscribe to a simple theory: if they can't seem to hear us, we need to talk louder. Nursing homes and preschools across the nation are plagued by well-meaning shouters who are dying to be heard.
Sadly, our retail spaces and marketing outlets suffer the same fate. Companies assume if consumers aren't responding to their messages, it's simply because they haven't heard them yet. But yelling louder isn't necessarily going to bring customers in the door.
Digital marketing offers greater opportunities for businesses over the next year than more traditional channels, according to a new report.
When asked to identify which three marketing channels offer the greatest opportunities, half of brands (50%) mentioned social media followed by email (43%) and websites (35%).In fact the top 10 most cited channels are all online, with the most popular offline channel being direct mail at 8%....
There are two types of social network — sharing tools and content tools. Find out how social media content tools can complement your sharing strategy. Use these tips to get in the game...
...Who doesn’t immediately share their Vine videos to Twitter and/or Facebook? Relying on Vine alone to get your six-second video to the masses would completely miss the point of why Vine was created in the first place. Vine is meant to create content for those other networks.Vine, Instagram, and others are smartphone apps first and social networks second.
And that changes how we should approach them from a social media content strategy standpoint. By all means, create away using these tools, but do so with these recommendations in mind...
You devour online marketing lessons. You feast on articles, reports, books, and eBooks.
....Perhaps it’s so important to you, you spend some of your precious time attending webinars and conferences and you can’t help but join the conversation on blogs and via social media.Good for you. There’s a ton of information to take in, the rules change daily, and if you’re going to succeed with online marketing, you must master a good many practices, techniques and tools.
The experts keep serving up specialized dishes: content marketing, social media marketing, search marketing, permission-based marketing, inbound marketing and any (fill-in-the-blank-here) marketing. The more these ingredients get heaped onto our plates, the more the meal calls for a bowl and spoon. It’s digital soup, my friend....
Social media marketing is a critical piece in the online marketing puzzle for local businesses today. But it’s just one part of a successful online marketing system, and some days, there is so much to juggle that you just need a quick, easy way to fill your social media feed with interesting, engaging content. So, here are 10 ideas you can use to keep your social channels full of relevant, timely, and useful content – fast!...
Facebook’s efforts to simplify marketing and advertising on the social network took a giant leap forward with Thursday’s launch of the Facebook for Business page, a single destination for all of the information brands need to tap into Facebook’s...
Corporations are expanding efforts for a breakthrough innovation in social media to beat the heat on the competition mapping. Usage of social media is changing enormously as days pass and so does the marketing gimmicks. So, what’s hot on the table for the second half of 2013?
Some of the TOP social media strategies to look for the rest of 2013...
A comprehensive study from market research firm Vision Critical indicates just how important social media is (and will continue to be) for brands, especially when considering product sales. Called From Social to Sale: 8 Questions to Ask Your Customers, the report reveals — based on 6,000+ survey respondents — that consumers are often more likely to purchase items after seeing them and/or interacting with posts about them on the social media platforms Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
More specifically, “4 in 10 social media users have purchased an item online or in-store after sharing or favoriting it on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest,” according to the report. Additionally, it found that Pinterest is the site most likely to drive “spontaneous purchasing.”
An article about the report on Cantech Letter summarized some key findings, noting that “social media drives both in-store and online purchases in almost equal numbers. 38% of people who have liked, shared or commented on a product on Facebook have gone on to buy the product. And 43% of people who have favorited or shared a product on any social media platform ultimately purchased it. Facebook is still king in terms of volume, with 75% of respondents logging in daily, compared with 17% for Twitter and Pinterest.”...
Continuing with our series of educational resources for internet marketers (view our last post on 10 eBooks Internet Marketers Must Read in 2013), we’ve put together a list of our 10 favorite blogs. These are the blogs that share the latest research, thought leadership and best practices from some of today’s most respected marketers in landing page optimization, content marketing, search engine marketing and analytics.
Put these in your RSS reader and check them daily.Here’s the list...
Sure, you have a business, but whether you sell a product or a service, you must provide SERVICE. What makes you so much different from your competitor that your prospects are knocking down your door? Or are they?
Solving problems is your real product not your widget or your services. Anyone and everyone does that. It is you, your service and your ability to meet the customer/prospect needs that will drive your business.You already know that people buy from people. You are “people” not just your brand or your company. It is your responsibility to meet needs, solve issues and instill a level of comfort and trust with your audience.
The buying decision occurs in the emotional environment.“Too many business owners and sales people try to sell their product or service, neglecting the fact that their customer is a person. In fact, the customer is a person who has feelings, influences and a mind of their own. They want to be connected with, and to trust and believe the person from which they are buying.” Rebecca Wilson....
As a content marketer, there are always questions you need to ask yourself and your clients in order to maximize your content. Ross Simmonds shares his. One of the ways I’ve helped clients achieve success is by really getting into the weeds of their work. I try to immerse myself into what they’re doing and what people think of them so I can identify what content is actually going to move the needle.
Here are three of the questions I always ask...
You may come to understand which types of content drive more leads and conversions for your business, but another factor to consider is the time and money that goes into different types of content. I recently read an estimate that content marketing is now a $44 billion industry. This got me thinking – what does that even mean? Did “content marketing” even exist ten years ago? The reality is that content marketing has always existed. It’s the labelling of it and the tactics within it that have evolved over time. Thirty years ago a big-time professional services firm (accounting, law, consulting – pick your poison) still put together whitepapers, articles, graphs, and videos for the purpose of positioning themselves as thought-leaders and to ultimately drive leads. Where things have changed is the delivery of such content. Whereas before content was delivered primarily through ads, mail, memos, and events, today content is delivered digitally. It’s delivered through email, social media, and search engines (SEO). It’s delivered across device platforms, browsers, screen sizes, and even countries....
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Paid advertising is great for short-term visibility, but runs the risk of leaving no digital footprint. It’s time to own your marketing with content.