Some of the claims about content’s function within an online marketing campaign sound outlandish to new marketers. The studies, on the other hand, show that content is indeed essential for lead generation, social media marketing, search engine optimization, and email marketing.
Rather than retell the same story, we’ll throw out some non-traditional examples to help you better understand content’s role in online marketing.
In the days of the Old West, massive herds of cattle roamed the countryside. If you found a cow off on its own, the first thing you would do is look at its flank. If the cow belonged to someone, there would be a brand on its side to advertise that ownership. That brand represented not just a mark of property, but also a seal of approval. It became the symbol for a company, acting as a shorthand that let buyers know which outfit had raised this animal.
While we might not have cowboys heating up their branding irons the way we used to, but the idea of a brand representing a corporation’s reputation is very much alive and well in today’s world. If you’re worried about your brand, and how to make sure it doesn’t get tarnished, here are some branding mistakes you need to avoid.
No one likes ads. In fact, one of the chief selling points of a lot of our modern entertainment options is they are ad-free. Netflix and other subscription services prove that people would rather pay a small fee than deal with commercials, particularly in the case of television. The same is true for satellite radio, and podcasts; they’ve grown in popularity at least partially because there’s no advertisement for the audience to deal with. And now that we have access to programs like AdBlock, which stop us from even seeing ads when we get online, it’s entirely possible to live a life free of annoying ads.
This is a problem for companies who are trying to reach out to their audience. No matter how much cash they sink into snappy slogans and carefully crafted commercials, those marketing tools won’t do them any good if no one sees them. Like the proverbial tree falling in the forest, with no one around to see it or hear it, that commercial may as well not exist.
Content marketing is, at its core, a fairly simple idea. You create content, then put it out there for people to see, and consume. That content draws and audience, and that audience sticks around for more content. In time the audience associates you with the content they like, and thus is positively inclined toward you. That means down the line, your audience would be more likely to support you, and their loyalty to your content can translate into loyalty to your business.
That’s all pretty abstract, though, so let’s use a more concrete example. Let’s say you ran an independent bookstore, and you decided to start a YouTube channel doing bad book readings. You find the worst books that come into the store, and make a performance out of dramatically reading them for your audience. It gains a following, and pretty soon you do in-person events as well as the channel. Users who watch the channel go to your website, or walk through your doors, because they want to shop at the store that makes those videos.
You enter the marketplace knowing that you have a unique, quality product. You set up shop and nobody comes. They go by your place of business and look at you with a puzzled expression.
Where do you go to make things change? What do you do? The first thing is, you need to create a strong identity and put it out so people will know who you are when they see you. You have to become the go-to place for meeting a particular need. You have to become a familiar face in the commerce community.
Your broadcasting antenna could be working right now. But the signal could be very weak. You have to boost the signal and reach the right people with your marketing content, increase the range.
You have to get on the air and get your message out.
The internet, as a tool for business, has limitless possibilities. Companies are appearing online every day. However, while maintaining an online footprint is more important than ever, sustaining it is often easier said than done. This is especially true if you are a small business with a shoestring marketing budget or a startup with limited capital.
It can seem like the large corporations have all the advantages and limitless resources. Small companies and startups not only have an issue with humble marketing budgets, but they also have restrictions in personnel, time, and other resources. Regardless, there are many digital marketing strategies that one can use without breaking the bank.
Content marketing is a little frustrating for many small businesses. In the beginning, producing short-term results is very difficult. Depending on your methods and strategy, it can take between 3 months to a year before you see a consistent outcome and results. This is why, despite the long-term benefits, there are still many small businesses that think that content marketing is not right for them. Nevertheless, even over time, it is challenging to reduce effectiveness to a single measure.
Regardless, the best marketers understand that content marketing is a numbers game. Surface statistics, like social followers, comments, shares, and likes, will translate into web traffic. Those visitors will then manifest into a specific number of prospects and leads. Finally, those leads will convert into a specific and predictable number of active customers. In any event, since consumers don’t make decisions in a straight line, determining the effectiveness of your content marketing will need examining matrices at every stage.
Building your email list is the lifeline to your business. Leads that are properly cultivated and nurtured through your email marketing result in revenue, repeat business, and brand loyalty. The more qualified leads coming into your sales funnel, the better chances you’ll create for converting them into buying customers.
The good news is, there are a plethora of ways for generating leads in your digital marketing strategy. Leveraging a variety of techniques increase opportunities for conversions while appealing to different platforms and markets.
Here are five strong ways to grow your email subscribers and amplify your marketing efforts.
Nowadays, all companies have separate departments for various things—accounting, marketing, sales, HR, administration etc. Within these departments as well, there is a division of labour. A marketing department may consist of people engaged in different tasks like branding, content-writing, video production etc. Even when internet marketing is outsourced to an agency, it’s possible to hire someone just to do something specific rather than coming up with an integrated solution.
However, it’s a good idea to keep in mind that these distinctions between various marketing tasks aren’t necessary. In fact, they may not always be a good idea. If you hire one person to do your content writing and another to do your branding, there’s going to be a clash between the two. You’re not presenting your customer with a unified company image and your marketing strategy can appear disjointed.
Facebook is the world’s largest social media network with a whopping 66% of adults logging in daily. Honing your Facebook marketing will yield amazing returns for your small business including increased visibility, fresh leads, sales, and repeat business.
With many consumers using Facebook as a source of information and a way to connect with brands, establishing a strong presence on this network will create new opportunities that can ultimately improve your bottom-line.
If you’re looking for better ways to promote your small business or want to amplify your current Facebook strategy, here are five profound yet quick tips to achieving this goal.