Archive for the ‘content marketing’ Category

It’s long been said that everything is connected, and there’s no better example of that than the digital world. In fact, a recent study by a Facebook data curator found that social media has cut the so-called “Six Degrees of Separation” idea by a few degrees. With billions of people around the world communicating online, today’s marketing professionals need to take note.

As technology evolves, our immensely popular remote electronic devices connect us like never before. More than that, they are increasingly becoming our preferred means for communication, entertainment, shopping and research. This is something all corporate marketers need to consider when developing their corporate marketing strategies.

While creating fresh and engaging content is critical to generating interest in your products and increasing your website traffic and search engine rankings, doing so without leveraging today’s highly effective, cost-efficient social media tools that can instantly touch your audience is like shutting the shades on your many marketing windows to the world.

B2B marketers need to understand that when it comes to developing a marketing communications strategy, combining your daily marketing content with social media and all other marketing and public relations campaigns is essential to delivering a cohesive and consistent message that reaches your audience across several platforms. In other words, confining your message to your website or a newswire service alone can dramatically limit your exposure to thousands of potential prospects and customers who prefer various ways to receive their digital information.

To increase the success of your marketing campaigns, today’s marketers need to leverage the many different marketing tools and social media platforms that are readily available. Repurposing your marketing content in blogs, electronic newsletters, and social media tools like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn can help raise your brand awareness, better educate your prospective customers about who you are and what you do, and increase your chances that your important company announcements and daily activities reach as many people as possible.

The great thing about social media is that it levels the playing field for everyone. No matter how small your marketing team is, integrating your key messages with social media allows you to compete with companies that have larger budgets and more internal marketing resources.

Startups unsure of which social media tools to incorporate into their marketing strategies shouldn’t get intimidated or overwhelmed by the amount of tools out there. Instead, they should continue to add new social media components to their marketing arsenal. Sure, modifications will be made along the way as you figure out what’s working and what’s not, but not leveraging social media will only put your marketing team at a competitive disadvantage.

The bottom line is, with the world becoming more connected through technology, it’s becoming more important than ever that marketers combine their corporate communications, public relations and social media strategies in today’s digital world.

Each day, online marketers are regularly writing and publishing fresh content that, for all intents and purposes, will both educate and intrigue readers, or at the very least, generate discussions around relevant topics that everybody’s talking about. Along the way, building credibility through your expertise, unique perspective and insight is critical to making your blog one of the industry’s must reads for the latest buzz and commentary.

As one of your company’s online content developers (or maybe the only), coming up with regular content can be a challenge. Staying on top of your respective industry’s hottest topics requires a lot of ongoing research and thought, which can seem like a full-time job in itself. So, how can you keep up with minute-by-minute online dialog and develop timely material without sounding passé or completely going out of your mind? (more…)

7
Jan

Have brands become media companies?

written by Stan Carlberg

Joe Pulizzi’s article, “Content Marketing & Social Media Predictions for 2011,” brought up an interesting idea that says brands have essentially become media companies. With a growing percentage of marketing practices (and budgets) now driven by social media tools, building and maintaining your brand reputation has become a publishing game.

If this is indeed the case, what can we learn from publishers that will help us become better brand marketers? Well, here’s a few thoughts.

Write to your audience: Any niche magazine knows its audience. They know their interests (which is essential for attracting advertisers), they know industry trends and their readers’ problems and concerns. Instead of touting their products and services, publishers produce and deliver content that caters to the specific needs of their audience, not their own. (more…)

Over the past few weeks, there have been millions of blogs written about WikiLeaks. Rightly so. It’s the hottest topic on the planet. But why are so many people blogging about it? What’s the motivation? I figure there are two reasons: First, they want to get in on the conversation of the day. Second, and what might very well be the driving force behind the first, tying their content with timely material will drive higher blog traffic.

While commenting on popular topics can potentially drive more traffic to your blog, as B2B marketers, it should not be the driving force behind your content development. From a sales and marketing perspective, if your material is not attracting your target audience your efforts will be all for naught, no matter how much you increase your blog traffic.

The strategy for any corporate blog should be to deliver valuable content to your target audience, whether it’s educating them about a relevant topic or generating interest in a solution that solves their problems. This works for both lead generation and lead nurturing programs. While discussing your customers’ business challenges and demonstrating how your products or services solve their problems is relevant material for your readers, attracting a broader audience sometimes requires all little creativity such as getting into the mix of timely stories that are relevant to your industry. (more…)

12
Nov

How social media enhances the customer experience

written by Stan Carlberg

As many companies are beginning to learn, social media is much more than building your brand and selling products and services online. It can also be used to protect and manage a company’s reputation.

Recently, there have been a number of articles about how social media helps businesses connect with customers and quickly resolve customer complaints before they gain momentum across the Internet.

In the article, “Turning to Twitter to fix restaurant complaints,” the popular food chain Chipotle describes how a customer Tweeted on the spot their disappointment that a Fort Worth, Texas, location didn’t have corn tortillas. Chipotle, which has employees dedicated to social media, immediately had the Denver, Colo.-based corporate office call the local manager about the situation before the customer even left the restaurant. Now that’s customer service! (more…)

I love headlines. It’s really that simple. I love reading them, love creating them, and I love to edit them. I have to say coming up with an engaging headline is one of my favorite things to do. I see headline writing as a very calculated puzzle of words that, when done right, can double your readership. Not in the way that those trashy supermarket rags do so well, but in a way to connect businesses with their target audience.

While the process of writing headlines for your B2B marketing materials is both fun and challenging, writing an effective one is not as easy as you would think.

The goal of every headline, of course, is to grab the reader’s attention. If your headline doesn’t make a good first impression that motivates your readers to want to read more, don’t get me wrong your article will still be read, but not by as many readers as you had hoped for. But a well-written headline that strikes a chord with readers can significantly increase the amount of readers that are compelled to read on. And for your B2B marketing and lead generation programs, that’s a beautiful thing. (more…)

17
Sep

See you at Wordcamp Portland

written by Scott Olson

I’m looking forward to the WordPress event this weekend, Wordcamp Portland. If you’re going to be there, be sure to look me up.

We’d all like to be recognized by our peers as thought leaders, someone who promotes innovative ideas to help others and move our respective industries forward. Building a reputation as a thought leader within your industry is not easy. In fact, it’s an ongoing process that starts with you and continually evolves through industry perception. This can be especially challenging for startups staring into a blank marketing canvass and asking themselves, “Where do I begin?”

The key to turning on the thought leadership engine is by focusing on your company’s strengths, experiences and differentiators, and delivering something of value to your audience. When developing content for a thought leadership program, there are a few things you need to consider, including:

  • Industry expertise. Having a deep understanding of your sector is the first criteria for thought leadership. Since startups are formed by individuals with vast knowledge and experience in a particular field, this is something you should focus on to demonstrate your expertise and start building confidence with your audience.
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Creating a website is one of the first startup marketing tasks. Your website is an essential element in your early sales calls and serves as a company resume of sorts. Many people get too caught up in the design elements of a website but overlook the critical content that must be present to generate interest in your product and to encourage prospects to find out more.

If you are designing a new website, be sure that your final site can answer these five key questions to visitors:

  • What do you offer? – Don’t be cute. It is essential that you plan your content strategy to clearly identify what it is you offer to customers. This is important for search marketing as well as ensuring that people that do find their way to your website stay and find out more. Use industry accepted terms for both the category your product is in and the customer problem you address.
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Everybody loves a good story. That’s why, as content marketers, we should always be on the lookout for fresh and intriguing tales that educate and entertain our target audience.

One of the biggest challenges in content marketing is making a strong connection with your audience and keep them captivated throughout the sales process. One way to do this is by telling compelling stories they can relate to. Whether it’s a tale about a particular problem they’re dealing with or an example of how someone resolved an issue they know all-too-well, when a story is crafted just right you not only have your audience’s full attention, you will leave them wanting more.

The challenge, of course, is uncovering such gems. While you may think you need to scour the globe to find great stories, the true is they’re probably hiding right under your roof. The following are a few resources you may want to ping to build a library of stories that can boost the effectiveness of your content marketing efforts:

  • Your Customers. There’s no better source to tap than your customers. Not only do they represent the audience you’re targeting, they can provide unique perspectives on issues they are facing that your audience can directly relate to.
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