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Be consistent in publishing content to be effective 0

Consistency is one of the key components in an effective content marketing strategy.

contentmktg_artIt’s one thing to write the occasional blog post or article promoting a new product or upcoming campaign. If content is posted infrequently, days or even weeks apart, potential customers take notice.

The effective approach is publishing smart, informative articles and posts that draws the consumer’s attention, retains it and gives the consumer something to pass on to others through social media channels.

Producing good content takes time, and it can be a challenge. But the benefits to a business are substantial and not to be taken for granted.

Consistent content, for one, builds familiarity and trust. It demonstrates that the business can deliver products and services well, that it is interested in engaging the consumer and earning the consumer’s trust.

To be consistent in creating and publishing relevant content means planning ahead. An editorial calendar gives the marketing pro the opportunity to plan content in advance, make note of trends in the business, and take control of its distribution on a daily basis.

Finally, the publishing of consistent content gets the word out to your target audience on a regular basis, leading to more traffic, leads and potential business.

The bottom line for content marketing pros: Effective, engaging content produced and published on a regular basis draws interest from potential customers. Companies that can deliver it in a steady stream will have the means to build upon their brand.

Creating a workflow for your content campaign 0

The development of a good content marketing strategy should include how the content will be produced and published. The workflow for your content creation efforts should be unique to the needs and goals of your business or organization.

This article by Business 2 Community boils down the workflow planning process into five key steps, as summarized in the infographic here. Study the steps, then find a way to incorporate them into your content marketing campaign.

workflowchart_art

Content marketing mistakes, and how to avoid them 0

There are four key points to remember when it comes to effective content marketing: educate, entertain and engage.

The fourth point? If you focus on yourself, that’s the fourth point: extremely boring.

In this segment, David Gould of Vertical Measures goes over three common content marketing mistakes, and what you can do to fix them. It’s about three minutes, and if you’re a content marketing creator, it’s worth a look.

How to get eyes on your blog content 0

You’re creating and publishing consistent, engaging and educating blog content for your brand or business. The articles are short, concise, shareable on social media.

But is anyone looking?

contentmktg_artThere are 2 million blog posts published daily, according to Digital Buzz Blog. That’s 2 million efforts for a writer to get noticed. For a marketing pro, the post he or she publishes becomes a needle in an enormous haystack.

As a content creator or marketing pro charged with the numerous daily posts about your product, business or brand, a blog marketing strategy helps.

Here are some suggestions, courtesy of the Content Marketing Institute, to get potential customers talking about those few hundred words for the Web.

  • Set a clearly defined goal for the blog post.
  • Do your research for find the ideal audience for your blog content.
  • Come up with a unique selling position, the reason why a person should purchase your product or follow your brand.  the reason why a person should buy your product or service, rather than that of your competitors
  • Be effective in the distribution of  your blog post.

Your blog is a key component of your content marketing strategy. It should be seen by more than a few people. Follow these tips, and get the word out.

Headline tips from a tabloid classic 0

The importance of an effective headline is key to content creation, especially when the content is created for the mobile device.

headless_artAn effective, informative headline helps generate the desired content marketing results: attracting, engaging, informing and keeping the reader interested on the online article or blog post.

More readers mean more interest in the brand, and potentially more customers and exposure.

This 2012 post from Content Marketing Today offers some tips on effective content headline creation by drawing inspiration from this classic newspaper headline written three decades earlier.

To summarize, headline content must:

Be brief in the description.
Lure the reader into the story.
Don’t give away too much of the story.
Be precise and descriptive with the words, without ambiguity.
Make it memorable.

 

 

Content marketing words from a pro 0

In this segment created by Vidyard, Content Marketing Institute founder Joe Pulizzi offers tips to enterprise and small businesses on how to make the most of their content marketing efforts. If you’re in charge of your brand’s strategy, and want it to be successful, these next couple of minutes will be worth a listen.

Stagecoach tales: The storytelling content of Wells Fargo 0

Much of content marketing is about brand storytelling. The creator’s role is to weave compelling narratives about the product that connect with the customer, and inspires brand loyalty.

The latest company to take up this approach is Wells Fargo. The financial services company last month debuted its “Wells Fargo Stories” channel that features creative content about its employees, communities and brand values. Wells Fargo calls it an online magazine that shares its stories through written content, slideshows, blogs, infographics and videos.

“Wells Fargo Stories” focuses on the people in the company, the team members who work with small businesses, volunteer in the community, and promote the company’s vision.

This is content marketing that is consistent, shareable, engages and motivates, and goes beyond Wells Fargo’s status as a banking giant.

You can see for yourself how it works in this segment here:

Five examples of unique mobile retailer content 0

What makes good content marketing for a mobile device?

It informs the consumer, and engages them. It helps the consumer make decisions and connect with the brand. The content goes beyond advice on making a purchase or finding a store nearby. Over time, it builds customer loyalty.

Content Marketing Institute recently came up with five solid examples of retail content created for mobile devices. For those focusing on effective mobile content, these should be worth a look:

teavana_artTeavana’s mobile site (shown at left) is unique and informative content for fans of the specialty tea shop found in many shopping malls, offering tips from a tea blending tool to brewing instructions for the perfect pot.

An app created for Lowe’s stands out for its “My Lowe’s” feature that helps shoppers remember what they bought at the home improvement store before.

A user-friendly Domino’s Tracker shows what stage a customer’s pizza order is in, whether it is still in the oven or is on its way to being delivered in 30 minutes or less.

Best Buy’s mobile app features content that helps educate consumers as they make their in-store decisions, like a scanner that they can use in the store to compare product features and check out reviews.

wendys_artThe MyWendy’s app (shown at left) has content geared toward the calorie conscious. Customers can set the calorie range for their meal, and they can view a list of items they can choose from to help them stick to their goal. The customer can save a customized meal that displays on the app what each item looks like, as well as the nutritional information.

These five apps have common content characteristics: They engage and inform the customer and give them a reason to stay interested in the brand. For content marketing creators, that is the goal.

Consider the crowd for content 0

Putting together a content marketing strategy for your company can be a significant task. Those charged with promoting and marketing the corporate brand have to take into account how to consistently produce high-quality, informative and engaging content with the resources they have.

contentmktg_artUnless the content is outsourced, that means the existing staff must create the narratives or blogs or video segments and identify the best platforms where the investment will best pay off. It’s a lot of work, especially when staffing and budgets are stretched.

But turning to the crowd can help.

Companies can leverage crowdsourcing in their strategy to reach a target audience. Insights and ideas can be drawn from dozens, even hundreds, of contributors. When executed properly, it can play a pivotal role in content marketing efforts in these ways:

  • Crowdsourcing can speed up the creation of content from a pool of article and blog contributors.
  • Crowdsourcing can get customers, and potential customers, involved by giving them a forum to give input about your brand.
  • It gets the contributors invested in your marketing message.
  • Crowdsourcing can present diverse perspectives that can prove invaluable in your company’s marketing.
  • Crowdsourcing can break down the content process into more manageable parts.

Skip the fluff in your content 0

Fluff. It’s comforting in pillows, appealing in clouds and essential in marshmallows.

But when it comes to content geared toward communicating your brand message, fluff is the unnecessary stuff that can block the purpose of what you have to present. That can cost you customers, which is the ultimate goal.

fluff_artIt’s always a challenge to communicate what you have to say effectively and precisely, especially when it comes to marketing a product or brand. The temptation for those creating written content is to show how much they know by producing as much as they can.

Unnecessary words creep into the narrative, clichés work their way into the presentation, concise descriptions are replaced by wordy phases.

The fluff can obfuscate the message you wish to present of your business or brand, which is not what customers seeking to be informed and educated want.

The quality of the writing and how you deliver your point is key, rather than how much of it is written. Tight, concise writing is essential to reach out to those with limited attention spans and a multitude of online distractions.

It can be a task, but the goal is getting the job done with content that connects with your consumer audience, and doing it effectively.