James Farley certainly gets it … probably had it down before anyone else? What you may be asking? The concept of what it takes for content marketing success, of course. The concepts, no, laws of content marketing. Getting people talking about your content and your business. And certainly essential for success.
You just can’t say it. You have to get people to say it to each other.
James Farley
Most of all, great publishers lead. People like Helen Gurley Brown, Henry Luce, and Anna Wintour created legendary brands by driving trends, not following them. They do not seek to merely join the conversation, but to lead it. If you expect people to listen to you, it’s best to have something meaningful to say.
If marketers are ever going to be successful at content, the first step is to start thinking more like a publisher.
Marketing used to be pretty simple. You developed a compelling message, used mass media to broadcast that message to large audiences, and grew market share. Mostly, you aimed for the meaty part of the curve, where the law of averages conspired in your favor.
Then came the cable TV era. Audiences fragmented and targeting became the order of the day. Instead of starting with the message, marketers thrived on consumer insight and tried to identify a specific emotional trigger that would win them loyal customers.
Now mass marketing has shifted to mass personalization and messaging and targeting have given way to activation. It is no longer enough to simply grab attention, we have to hold attention. Today’s marketers need to inspire movements in which their customers become their best salespeople. We need to make a fundamental shift in mental models.
Content marketing tactics such as blog posts, feature articles, optimized website copy, white papers, social media content, and press releases move consumers along a specific path.
The role of a great publisher is not to predict what readers may want to read, but to help them form their opinions through strong, authoritative journalism. You win in the marketplace not by chasing readers with algorithms, but by attracting them with a superior product. Great journalism can’t be automated, because it is among the most human of endeavors.
It generates awareness of your brand, product, or service; inspires consumers to engage and consider you; converts them into leads and sales, and creates advocates. Lots to gain, yes?
But there is a tremendous and ever-growing completion for these gains, isn’t there? Often it seems almost a bridge too far. So we need to know how to write the best content. It starts with a subject told in a different way and a catchy headline.
But you must hold the audience with useful details throughout your article.
See our article on the secrets to a winning social media marketing strategy.
So you need to work hard to go after these potential gains. Discover how content marketing exposes consumers to your brand, engages potential customers, and converts them into leads and sales.
The following are 12 laws of content marketing for ensuring the success of an online content marketing strategy that even small businesses can successfully implement today:
Do your homework
Start with a plan and process for researching the market and knowing your customers. This will provide many ideas for developing compelling, relevant content of interest to your specific market’s customers.
Listening
Success with social media and content marketing requires more listening and less talking. Read your target audience’s online content and join discussions to learn what’s important to them. Only then can you create content and spark conversations that add value rather than clutter to their lives.
Gain trust
Content marketing faces the same reader scrutiny and skepticism as traditional advertising. Being genuinely helpful is the only way to engage prospects to gain their trust and build strong relationships.
Content personalization
Content must be personalized to increase its consumption and influence. It must inspire the actions you desire. Your goal? Get the right information detail to the right decision-maker on a just in time basis.
Collaborate
As a content marketer, you need to find partners to help you spread your message. Whether that’s a business partner, a co-marketer, influencers, or bloggers when you collaborate more people get in the know about the work you are trying to do.
The other neat thing about collaborating is that by working with different groups of people, you potentially will introduce your story to a whole new audience of people who are not familiar with your work.
Influence
Spend time finding the online influencers in your market who have quality audiences and are likely to be interested in your products, services, and business. Connect with those people and work to build relationships with them.
If you get on their radar as an authoritative, interesting source of useful information, they might share your content with their own followers, which could put you and your business in front of a huge new audience.
Timeliness
Nothing beats timeliness in terms of the value of information. Timely insights score big with your content consumers. Stay on top of your market and continually refine your ability to report on what is going on now.
Original thinking
Content readers are searching for new ideas not rehash. They value original thinking highly. Offer it. Create well-conceived original themes and content. Original thoughts trump quantity any day.
It’s better to have 1,000 online connections who read, share, and talk about your content with their own audiences than 10,000 connections who disappear after connecting with you the first time.
Reciprocity
Don’t expect others to share your content and talk about you if you don’t do the same for them. So, a portion of the time you spend on social media should be focused on sharing and talking about content published by others.
Simplicity and clarity
Does your content meaning jump out to the reader? Can they get the meaning easily without deep thought? Simplicity in understandability and readability are essential factors that will drive your content’s success.
Learn as you go
Don’t think you can execute ‘drive-by’ content that will succeed. Plan and refine continuously. Use analytics and reliable tracking tools to know what is working best and follow these paths.
Compounding
If you publish amazing, quality content and work to build your online audience of quality followers, they’ll share it with their own audiences on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, their own blogs, and more.
This sharing and discussing your content opens new entry points for search engines like Google to find it in keyword searches. Those entry points could grow to hundreds or thousands of more potential ways for people to find you online.
Accessibility
Don’t publish your content and then disappear. Be available to your audience. That means you need to consistently publish content and participate in conversations.
Followers online can be fickle and they won’t hesitate to replace you if you disappear for weeks or months.
This is your time to create successful content marketing. With good continuity and persistence helpful, relevant content will be able to develop lasting relationships with your customers.
Lead with initiative and own the moment. Dive in today and notice how much your business improvements grow.
Remember this simple fact. Stop interrupting what people are interested in and be what people are interested in. Let your content marketing success be your difference-maker.
From maximizing quality to increasing your online entry points, abiding by these 12 laws will help build a foundation that will serve your customers, your brand, and — perhaps most importantly — your bottom line.
So what’s the conclusion? The conclusion is there is no conclusion. There is only the next step. And that next step is completely up to you. But believe in the effectiveness of word of mouth marketing. And put it to good use.
It’s up to you to keep improving your creative marketing efforts. Lessons are all around you. In this case, your competitor may be providing ideas and or inspiration. But the key is in knowing that it is within you already.
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new lessons.
When things go wrong, what’s most important is your next step.
Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
Are you devoting enough energy toimproving your marketing, branding, and advertising?
Do you have a lesson about making your marketing strategy better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?
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.
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