Is your business using content marketing tactics as a facet of your marketing strategy? It certainly is all the rage now, isn’t it? It seems marketers are falling all over themselves to increase budgets, increase volume, and decrease the value by making content marketing killer mistakes. And the goal is to increase website traffic.
Like any other business initiative, content marketing is a STRATEGY, not a tactic. And as such, it should be planned and executed with well-thought-out processes and procedures.
Have you noticed that the world of marketing is changing? And rapidly. Traditional media vehicles are losing effectiveness as people communicate in new and different ways. Mass audiences are fragmented into small segments. Developing a point of difference is harder than ever. These examples of content marketing demonstrate that many brands have certainly noticed.
It’s true that if you were one of the big players, with a big budget to match, you could conduct extensive quantitative research to understand what type of content consumers want to see. As an alternative, you could hire the biggest and the best agencies to create high-quality videos and flashy websites. Maybe you could have an army of people monitoring and responding to comments across all of your platforms. Fair enough.
At the other end of the spectrum, you have people who think of digital as a low-cost media channel: we can’t afford TV, so let’s just “do digital.” While that isn’t the full story, it is true that there is a lot you can do with a little bit of money and a whole lot of creativity and drive. Here are some easy wins in content marketing for small businesses:
Increase website traffic fast … reuse what you already have
Before you go off spending money on photo shoots and producers and graphic designers, start by auditing the content you’ve already created. Most businesses (a) don’t have a good system to categorize existing content and (b) don’t use that content as much as they could. Make sure you’re making the most of the content you’ve already spent money on!
If you’re organizing a PR event, what are you doing with all the photos and videos? Are you keeping them for PR, or are you uploading the videos on YouTube, creating a Facebook album with your photos, and asking attendees to share their shots on Instagram?
If your marketing team is spending lots of money on a beautiful campaign video, can you cut out short clips to use as teasers? And what about all your content on previous campaigns – can you do a #throwbackthursday series? Can you ask your fans to vote for their favorite? Look first at what you already have, and only then do you need to start investing in new content.
Increase website traffic … respond to questions
Unless you’re a completely new business, you are bound to have already a list of common questions that people have been asking about your brand or product, whether by commenting on your social network posts or by contacting customer service.
That already gives you a rich set of material that you can build on with content: you can re-write your product descriptions in consumer language, you can write blog posts with top tips, and why not create some simple how-to videos?
Speaking of how-to videos, Lauren Luke started out as a taxi dispatcher who decided to sell a bit of make-up on eBay, creating a few videos on applying make-up to increase sales. She soon built up millions of views and was selected to be one of the first official YouTube partners, and today she has her make-up line and a huge following. So there is hope for even the smallest of businesses!
Instant website traffic … study what works
Great content doesn’t always come from long-term planning, and some of the best examples are the ones that are completely spontaneous. Oreo’s Superbowl tweet is a fabulous example. Sometimes, opportunities appear completely out of the blue.
When women started posting the #nomakeupselfie for cancer awareness, several charities like Cancer Research UK were smart enough to jump on the campaign and use it to drive not just awareness but also donations, raising £8 million in six days.
Listen to what’s already going on, monitor what people are talking about, and follow key influencers on social media. Which trends can you tap into? What are people already doing that is relevant to the service your business provides? Where do you as a brand have a right to play? Tapping into existing consumer behaviors will be much more efficient and effective than trying to change the world.
Crowdsourced content
GoPro is a product that lends itself to letting fans create content with it. Other examples where brands have curated content from fans include Burberry’s The Art of the Trench, a “celebration of the trench coat and the people who wear it,” and the#CoachFromAbove activity in which fans submit photos of their Coach shoes.
And it’s not just luxury brands: Asos created the #ASOSUnbox campaign leveraging Vine to engage users on a less than glamorous part of the shopping process.
Other ideas run a photo competition, take to the streets with a classic vox pop to get quotes straight from consumers’ mouths, or create a forum for your customers to talk about your products and share their tips. UGC (user-generated content) is both affordable and effective, helping you to build awareness and engagement, and to perform better in SEO. Start small and see how it goes.
Be bold and creative
One of the most iconic examples in the marketing world – for years, it was shared in each and every marketing presentation – is the Tipp-Ex YouTube experience. All they needed was a video camera along with an actor and a trained bear (okay, two actors and a bear suit). It was clever, it was funny, and it was full of benefits.
Another example is Ora-brush, which is, err, a tongue cleaner. A few years ago, they created a cheap and cheerful video called the Bad Breath Test, which reached 20 million views, built the brand’s social media following, and got the product stocked in major pharmacies. These results had not been possible with previous product campaigns with bigger budgets.
Who Are You Writing For?
It’s time to take a good look at whether you’re creating content with your target audience in mind. Many business owners make the mistake of writing for their peers as opposed to their customers.
What is Your Customer Avatar?
You’ve now made a commitment to creating content with your potential customers in mind. But do you know who your customers are, exactly?
How Can You Make Your Customers Lives Easier by Solving a Common Problem They Face?
Typically, the first thing that comes to mind when we think about our business: is the features we offer to our customers, either products or services.
Related post: Target Market … How to Target for Best Marketing Campaigns
A web designer, for example, would probably consider features such as brand consultation, requirements analysis, design mock-ups, reviews and changes, and the final product. From the client side, we’d be focused on the product: a professionally designed site that aligns with our brand and presents us well to our audience.
As you take a deeper dive into your audiences’ questions, you can start to shape your content strategy. Effective content will address your customers’ pain points and help them solve their problems. It provides simple answers to their most pressing problems while solidifying the idea that you’re the go-to expert in their minds.
How Do You Keep Your Audience Engaged?
By this point, you know who you’re writing for and the topics they’re interested in reading about. Now how do you capture their attention and keep them interested? A quick search online will reveal that certain types of content are popular.
Are You Providing a Call to Action for Readers? Will They Feel Compelled to Get in Touch?
Last but not least, you want to make sure that everything you create has a strong call to action.
Need some help in capturing more customers from your marketing strategies? Creative ideas to help the differentiation with potential customers?
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Mike Schoultz is the founder of Digital Spark Marketing, a digital marketing and customer service agency. With 40 years of business experience, he blogs on topics that relate to improving the performance of your business. Find them on G+, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way. Call us for a free quote today. You will be amazed at how reasonable we will be.
More reading on marketing strategy from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
Marketing Branding … 9 Secrets to a Continuous Improvement Strategy
11 Steps to Media Framing Messages for Optimum Engagement
12 Fundamental Laws of Content Marketing
Increase Website Traffic: How to Employ Content Marketing Tactics