Are you making one of these 7 content marketing mistakes?

May 29, 2012

It seems like everyone is talking content marketing these days, like it’s it hottest thing since sliced bread.

Of course, for many businesses — this is just a new name for something they’ve been practicing for eons.  They’ve been creating valuable newsletters or writing white papers for years.

Which does not mean that you’re doing it as well as you could or should be.  Are you happy with the amount of people and the kinds of people your content marketing efforts are attracting?

Bigger question — how purposefully are you weaving a content marketing strategy into your overall efforts?

I’m betting your company is not harnessing the real power of content marketing because of one or more of these reasons:

  1. It’s something that happens every once in awhile but not on a regular basis.
  2. You create some content but don’t promote it well across all of your digital and analog channels.
  3. You create content but you talk about yourself, your products etc. more than you should (you are selling, not teaching).
  4. You produce some content but not in a format that is easily shared by your audience.
  5. You do it in a silo, it’s not woven into all your other marketing efforts.
  6. You don’t use an editorial calendar so your production schedule and topics are usually by the seat of your pants.
  7. The visual presentation of your content is boring or worse — off-putting.

Recognize yourself in any of those issues?  This isn’t all new stuff.  MMG has been around for almost 20 years and we’ve always preached the power of content marketing –even before we had a name for it.

But thanks to our universal access to the internet and our ability to easily share files, visuals, etc. — this marketing best practice has taken on a life of it’s own.

If you’re not doing more of this than ever before — I think you need to ask yourself why.  And what it is costing you.

How are you implementing a content marketing strategy for your business?

 

 

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What can content marketing do for your business?

May 22, 2012

Content marketing.  It seems like everyone’s talking about it. But what exactly is it and what can it do for your business?

Odds are, if you’re doing any marketing at all — you’re at least accidentally dabbling in content marketing.

First — it goes by many names.  Some people call it custom publishing or branded content.  Other people slap the label of social or digital marketing on.  And all of those names are accurate.

Content marketing is a broad term for any marketing technique that creates and distributes valuable, helpful and relevant information that demonstrates that you know your stuff.  These tactics draw the attention of people who are already your customers or could be your customers and they consume, share, and value the content.

The ultimate goal of content marketing is to create a sense of trust and comfort that will lead to someone making an initial purchase, making an additional purchase or referring you to someone who’s ready to make a purchase.

There are other benefits as well.  It’s a powerful way to establish yourself as an expert, to shorten the sales cycle, to impact SEO results and depending on your business – to educate, entertain, and inspire your audience.

I found an infographic from Visual.ly that I think does an excellent job of not only demonstrating many of the different possibilities when it comes to content marketing — but also gives you a sense of which tactics deliver what outcomes.

Check it out! (click here to download larger version)

Browse more data visualizations.

With all those possibilities — are you confident that you’re doing all that you can to harness the potential and the power of content marketing?

Are you doing some things that you could be doing better?  More often?  More intentionally?

I want to challenge you a little — are you really leveraging this marketing strategy to the extent that you should?  If not…why not?

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Content marketing is important but not free!

May 21, 2012

One of the things that irks me is when I hear a marketing “expert” extoll the virtues of content (or social or digital) marketing and to close the sale — they remind their audience — “and best of all, it’s free.”

Poppycock. (I know…such language!)

At MMG, we believe there’s not really an organization in existence that can’t benefit from a content marketing program.

But like most good things — it’s not free.  Access to some of the social networks might be free — but creating compelling content that demonstrates the value of working with you is going to cost you time, attention, dedication, money, and a host of other things.

I elaborated on this thinking over at the MENG (Marketing Executive Networking Group) Blend.  Check out my post (by clicking here) and let me know what you think.

 

 

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Photo courtesy of BigStockPhoto.com
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But where do you find all the content?

October 17, 2011

 

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Challenges related to a content marketing strategy

In August of this year, HiveFire surveyed marketing professionals to better understand the state of the B2B marketing landscape including what was really creating the biggest challenges, how they were choosing to market and what they saw on the horizon.  (get a copy of the survey results here)

One major theme surfaced from the results: content marketing (the creation and publication of original content, such as blog posts, photos, videos, website resource pages, case studies or white papers to enhance a brand’s visibility) is changing the way B2B marketers work. More and more marketing effort is being channeled towards content creation and curation.  But it’s not without its challenges.

Some of the more interesting findings of the survey are wrapped in the challenges of actually creating the content.  Few argue about the tactic’s value — it’s the how to get it done on a consistent basis that seems to be causing the most trouble.

Driving leads is the number one objective of B2B marketers but they are challenged with having the resources to accomplish this goal.
  78% of respondents cited driving sales/leads as the most important marketing objective for their organization.

But they have to do it without a lot of help: working with a limited budget (28%) and limited staff (23%) were the top two marketing challenges cited by respondents.

I think most businesses have more content than they know.  They just aren’t looking in the right places.  If you’re trying to implement a content marketing strategy — you can probably re-purpose content found in:

  • Annual reports
  • Sales proposals
  • Marketing materials
  • Sales presentations
  • Orientation manuals (lots of good stuff about the company here)
  • Sales fliers
  • Instructional documents
  • Emaiils to/from customers
  • The FAQ section of your website
  • Diagrams/charts of your product/service (think infographic!)
  • Customer service manuals/instructions

And that’s just scratching the surface.  Remember — the content shouldn’t be all about you.  In fact, if it is — your audience will run kicking and screaming.  Broaden your scope by asking “what does my audience care about?” as opposed to “what can I tell them about us?”

By asking the right question — I suspect you just made finding content to share a whole lot easier.

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Content marketing playbook

August 22, 2011

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...get a playbook to help you create content that matters

The idea of creating content to establish your expertise, influence the search engines and create a community has been an evolution of one of the oldest marketing tactics out there — sampling.

If I share with you what I know and you learn from it, value it, want more — then in theory, you’ll eventually move from the sample table to the real deal and hire me to give you the full benefit of my expertise.

In the good old days, we might have done that through demonstrations, speaking at conferences or printed newsletters.  (All still viable methods, by the way).

But today — we have lots of new avenues, thanks to digital media and our ability to produce and publish content in a much wider variety of ways.

Every year or so, the Content Marketing Institute (brainchild of Joe Pulizzi) puts out a very informative ebook that outlines some of the best and most effective ways to create content that will connect you with customers.

The best thing about this ebook is that it’s loaded with examples that you can study, learn from and of course, adapt to work in your marketplace.

The 2011 version is out and you can download it absolutely free by clicking right here.

 

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5 ways to stay creative

February 25, 2011

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How do you stay creative?

You write.  You design.  And most likely, you do it on command.  There’s no waiting for a muse.  You have a deadline.

As we talk more and more about content marketing and the power of using our expertise to impact search engines and woo potential clients — we have to write even more!

So how do you stay fresh?  How do you create when you don’t feel particularly creative?  I’m going to share a few of my favorite techniques but I am hoping you’ll jump into the comments section with your own tricks of the trade.

Read: I try to keep my brain well fed.  I read/skim about 100 different blogs a day, try to read a book a week and check out several newspaper websites every day.  Surprisingly, this doesn’t take as long as it sounds — my iPad has apps that collect and coordinate it all so I just have to quickly flip through and see what catches my eye. (I read these smart people, you should too!)

Write/Design every day: I try to stay limber by never putting down my proverbial pencil.  Sometimes I am at it for hours and other days, maybe only 30 minutes.  Even if it’s just answering e-mails to friends — I rarely take a day off.

Tunes: There’s something about music that fuels me.  It’s an energy that I can channel into my writing.  I’ve discovered that I turn to different styles of music depending on what I’m writing and if I need a boost or need help staying focused.

Fresh air: When I am really stuck, I head outside.  (Unless it’s ugly hot) The crispness of the air and just stopping to close my eyes and inhale deeply refreshes and calms me when I’m feeling jittery about a deadline or am stuck in some way.

Partake in witty banter: One of the best parts of the Internet for me is that there are playmates available 24/7.  I can hop on Twitter or Facebook and find someone smart to chat with.  Smart people bring out the best in my thinking, writing and outlook.

Your turn.  How do you stay creative on demand?

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