Are you planning to write articles to boost the online visibility of your business? When the pandemic shutdowns began, our ‘online’ world took on new significance. It’s left many business owners with a heightened regard for the value of a strong online presence. For some types of business, publishing articles is an excellent way to attract readers in the target market, start conversations and generate leads. But before you start writing (or paying content writers) it’s important to pin down your strategy and plan appropriate topics. The best place to start is to understand how publishing articles works (when it does) and the common mistakes that could prevent you from getting results. Let’s take a look at the basics. Choosing the right article topics A common mistake we see, particularly with small business owners who are just beginning to publish articles, is that they want to write articles that are about their businesses, or that directly attempt to sell products or services. It’s a rookie mistake. That type of content typically has little appeal to readers. To be blunt about it, ‘How Great is My Business’ shouldn’t be the recurring theme of your articles. So how do you choose the right topics? Thinking about how and why people find and read business blog content can be helpful in this regard. And one of the most common ways people discover content is by searching for information online. To generate suitable content ideas for discovery by search, it pays to understand how our search habits, the ‘buyer journey’ and the sales funnel come together. Searching online for a specific product or service...
In a digital world where business is open 24/7, appearing calm and collected from the outside isn’t always simple. These marketing apps can reduce time and stress almost instantly, to keep your brand sharp around the clock. The added upside is that almost all of them are free! 1. Buffer for social media scheduling. If you juggle multiple social media accounts, jumping into each individual one to post can take all day. Buffer lets you schedule posts in every account like Facebook and Twitter. This means you can set and forget, and analyse their performance in a single clear snapshot. Social media marketing or management is a sizeable area you can automate each month to save hours. And thanks to apps like Buffer, you will never miss what your social interactions look like. Just like Google Analytics lets you track and report website traffic, it’s vital to have a way to effectively track social media. 2. Slack for communication. The last thing you want is extra emails! Slack lets you direct message your team, send and receive files and arrange and set away conversations. The beauty of Slack is it keeps work separate from your social messaging apps, making it easier to shut off at the end of the day (especially if you switch notifications off). Slack is excellent at keeping everyone in the loop so your team can collaborate without missing a thing. 3. Skype for video chat. Skype is one of several tools our content marketing agency uses to communicate with clients who aren’t local, or are temporarily overseas. 4. Lightroom CC for a cohesive Instagram feed....
Content marketing costs 62% less than outbound marketing and generates three times the amount of leads. Source: Lyfe And one of the best tools in your content marketing armory are blog posts. Blogging is an essential part of driving conversions in your B2B marketing funnel as the right kind of content can strike a chord with your target audience and effectively cultivate customer loyalty. That’s because well-researched blogs have the potential to drive strong emotional connections with target customers. The more authentic the brand, the stronger its brand recall and loyalty. 91 percent of consumers say they recommend the brands they trust to their friends and family. But before you dive into blogging, it’s important to find blog topics that can drive organic traffic. How do I Find Blog Topics? Source: Slideshare 1. Spend Time Getting to Know Your Customer What’s the point of writing in-depth blog posts if no one’s searching for the them? If blogs aren’t attracting marketing qualified leads, then tracking metrics such as increased page views and engagement won’t do much to enhance your bottom line. One of the ways you can cut through all the noise is to home in on your target consumer and understand their problems. Here are a few factors you should take into account: Biographical information: What’s your consumer’s age, gender, income level, and profession? Life Aspirations: What do they want to achieve in the medium term? Problems: What keeps them up at night and how can you help? Content: What are their go-to sources of information? Before you get started, however, dive a little deeper into business...
As 2019 gets into full swing, it’s time to refocus your content marketing efforts in order to expand your brand reach. Sure, you’re probably aware of the basic digital marketing techniques – and perhaps you’ve even mastered them. But that doesn’t mean you can rest on your laurels. Rather, you need to investigate what’s new in the digital world and use those innovative tools to speak to new audiences. Getting the basics right If you’re just starting out or need a refresher on how to market your business in the digital age, it’s important to master the basics first. Luckily you don’t have to go it alone – there are lots of free marketing tools that can make your life easier. That being said, you will need to understand the essentials in order to take full advantage of online marketing. For starters, get acquainted with: Search engine optimisation (SEO) Content creation Inbound and social media marketing Google AdWords Automation tools Press releases Digital launches These are just a handful of the most common marketing tools and tactics. So rather than taking a scatter gun approach, test a range of different methods, find what works best for your brand, and build your expertise in a few different areas. Here are five to consider. Tip #1 – Schedule Instagram Stories Every business worth its salt should be tapping into social media. These communication hubs are no longer just places where people upload photos and catch up with old friends – they are an absolute goldmine for businesses with the marketing nous to capture their audience’s attention. Instagram’s popularity has skyrocketed in...
The digital space shapes how we see the world every day. There’s a lot of clutter and a lot of competition, but when you strip it back, it all comes down to human connection. This is all crystal clear to any marketing manager. You work day in day out creating a magnetic brand which shines in all the right ways, and shows up in all the right places. Yet a business brand alone doesn’t cut it anymore – here’s why your personal brand matters. Why good personal branding is vital for marketing managers Click To Tweet 1. You don’t own the company or what you create in it. The company does. It sounds harsh, but hear us out. You should ‘own’ your work – staying accountable and embracing everything in your corner. That great work ethic will build up your reputation. But when you leave, all the work you’ve poured in stays there. You’ll have experience to take to the next job, but the only thing you 100% own is your personal brand. It’s the currency you take away that will open doors in the future. If you think you’re committed to staying in your job, consider this: you’ve spent three years at a company, pouring your heart into everything you do. You’re completely invested in putting out quality work every.single.day. Then one day, someone buys your company out and new management comes in. Their only concern is restructuring to reduce costs, so they can sell for a profit. Suddenly, everything you’ve done in the past doesn’t count towards your future. What you have done though, is built relationships in your industry,...
You needn’t be a professional copywriter or experienced marketer to write business blogs. To improve your blog posts, you just need to know how to use them to your advantage. Whether you can knock out a quick article in under 30 minutes, or spend hours agonising over the right opening line to snag your audience, the most important thing to remember is that you know your business better than anyone else. Couple that with these four essential steps, and you can improve your blog posts and increase your chances of converting readers. 1. Choose the right topics Content marketing agency professionals spend years honing the craft of topic ideation and delivery – it’s why they’re so good at taking businesses large and small to the next level. But you don’t have to be a content marketing expert to recognise the importance of choosing the right topics. After all, without an interesting topic, no one is going to read your blogs. And if no one reads your blogs, your online presence will suffer greatly. So just how do you choose the right topics? Start by asking yourself the following: What are you passionate about? If you’re not interested in the topic, or it’s not relevant to your business, that will seep into your writing and turn off the reader. Who’s the audience? As a business owner, you likely cater to multiple demographics and have more than one target audience. Do your blogs appeal to everyone, or are they niche topics where you can drive readers towards a particular product or service? Is it evergreen? An ‘evergreen’ blog is one that has long-term appeal. It’s...
