by Leonie Seysan | Jul 4, 2017 | Business Strategy, Business Website Help, Content Marketing, Inbound Marketing, Small Business, Traffic Generation
If you’re a service based business without any means of lead capture on your website, then you’re probably allowing many prospective clients to slip away. Perhaps you’ve come across the term ‘lead capture’ while reading up on content marketing, but aren’t quite sure what sort of difference it would make to your business, or how you would implement it. Let’s take a look at what lead capture is, what the benefits are, and what’s involved in doing it. What is lead capture? Lead capture is the practice of inviting website visitors to register their details in order to receive content and/or further communication from you. In the simplest form, lead capture is that ‘subscribe to our newsletter’ or ‘subscribe for updates’ option you see on many sites. However, unless your content writers turning out highly unique material and you have droves of people wanting to sign up, this doesn’t go far enough. One reason this isn’t sufficient for most service businesses, is that not all their prospective clients have precisely the same interests, challenges, pain points and buying motivations. Unless you’re able to segment your database into buyer types, and deliver the most relevant content to each, results with a newsletter subscription alone are likely to be mediocre. Another issue is in the timing. When someone subscribes to your blog or newsletter, that action doesn’t indicate what they’re interested in right now, or how you might help them. However, if they download an eBook related to a specific challenge, it’s a different story. What you have then is often a genuine lead – someone who has identified themselves as a...
by Mark Amdur | Aug 31, 2016 | Small Business, Traffic Generation
In today’s online obsessed world clients and agencies apparently think radio advertising does nothing to lift sales or improve brand perception, so they steer clear of using the medium. They seem to believe that radio advertising is just a waste of valuable dollars. Why is this so, when more than half the population are listening every day? Unfortunately, most radio advertising is boring and annoying to listeners, and without an emotional spark between your radio commercial and the audience, you will never sell anything. Much like good content marketing, the most appealing and memorable radio ads are those that are insightful, tell a compelling human story and aim to create a strong bond with the audience. Although there are hundreds of creative spots written and on-air, only a very few have the magic ingredients needed to cut through the clutter, and those commercials can make your bottom-line jump with joy, as well as build your reputation. These gems are the ads that people remember. Whether sales promotion or image building, no matter what you’re selling, your target audience is listening and a remarkable radio idea is waiting to be born. Writing memorable radio advertising is only one part of the equation; writing a concise piece of communication that delivers both sales and higher brand awareness is even more challenging. With sound effects, music, brilliant scripting and creative production, a well-crafted radio spot can stir response like no other medium. Be Inspired. Dramatize the proposition Here is what you need to aim for as you develop your radio scripts. The entire thing should be framed as an experience for the...
by Pat Briscoe | May 27, 2016 | Content Marketing, Inbound Marketing, Marketing Online, Small Business, Traffic Generation
If writing is not your thing, you might want to consider producing vlogs – or video blogs where you talk about a topic or viewpoint rather than outlining it in written form. On the other hand, you might be thinking about producing some how-to videos to enhance your written content, increase engagement and grow new audiences. MORE: Engaging All the Senses With Content Marketing Video Whatever your motives, the same general content production principles apply – such as quality, consistency, and relevance. And while you don’t have to be a budding James Cameron or JJ Abrams, you will need some basic equipment to ensure your videos are an acceptable standard. After all, poor lighting and bad recordings are not a very professional look! Here’s a quick look at what you need to get started. Camera: As for just about anything else, when it comes to video cameras you get what you pay for. A basic video camera with a built-in microphone for instance can be bought for a relatively low price ($300 or less) and can be a good place to start out. If you want to use your own microphone however you will need to make sure that the camera has an external mic port. If you intend investing in regular video production for your business, you might need to spend a bit more for a professional model – which will probably cost you at least $1,500. Tripod: A tripod allows you to operate the camera hands-free and also keeps the camera steady. If you don’t have a tripod you will at least need a surface on which to...
by Leonie Seysan | May 17, 2016 | Content Marketing, Inbound Marketing, Marketing Online, Small Business, Traffic Generation
While blogs, social media channels and video are all very effective platforms for publishing business content, podcasts and webinars can give audiences a more immersive and personal experience of your brand or business at a relatively low cost. MORE: Choosing the Best Channels for Promoting Business Content We take a look at how podcasts and webinars work, and why it’s worth considering using them to enhance your content marketing strategy. What is a podcast A podcast is essentially a digital audio file that can be listened to directly online or downloaded onto a device such as a smartphone for later listening. There are several benefits of podcasts: They are relatively easy and inexpensive to produce, especially when compared to video which requires greater investment in terms of time, money, equipment and expertise. Software applications such as Skype and GarageBand enable just about anyone to make their own podcasts without the need for complex technical knowledge. They can be used to connect with audiences using a conversational and more ‘natural’ tone than written formats. They may also cut out the need for constant grammar checking, re-checking and editing that comes with writing! Podcasts can be listened to while doing other things such as walking, exercising, resting, travelling on public transport, or even while going to sleep – providing a very accessible form of content for your audiences. Transcriptions from podcasts can be used as a form of content or as a resource for expanding on topics in future blog articles. MORE: Content Creation Tools Used by Agencies and Pros Podcast ideas Podcasts can be used in a number of ways, including to:...
by Leonie Seysan | May 3, 2016 | Content Marketing, Marketing Online, Social Media Marketing, Traffic Generation
There are plenty of reasons to use Twitter as a business publishing platform, not least because it’s very popular. Statistics indicate that Twitter has around 2.8 million users in Australia alone, and that it is used in both B2B and B2C spheres. In that sense, Twitter can provide some wide-ranging opportunities to engage with existing and potential customers, and to do some effective online marketing. MORE: Choosing the Best Channels for Promoting Business Content Why use Twitter? Twitter can be used in a number of ways: To show your business’s human side: Twitter enables you to communicate directly with large numbers of people and build relationships. To generate more leads: Business2Community claims that 34% of marketers effectively use Twitter to generate leads. To check out the competition: With Twitter you can easily track what your competitors are doing, all at no extra cost! As a multiple-use platform: Twitter can be used for a variety of tasks, including posting offers and special deals, business networking, posting job offers, directing people to your website blog, sharing relevant and valuable information with your audience, starting conversations, posting alerts, and conducting opinion polls. How to use Twitter Twitter is a microblog, which means your Tweets need to be very succinct, to the point, and without wasted characters. While the 140-character limit might seem like too much of a restriction, it can also have some advantages – an insightful pithy tweet can really impact audiences that are time poor or have a short attention span. You might want to turn your mind to how Dr Seuss wrote some of his bestsellers based on the challenge...
by Leonie Seysan | Apr 28, 2016 | Content Marketing, Marketing Online, Social Media Marketing, Traffic Generation
Facebook may have started out life in 2004 as a purely social network, but it has since branched out into a much more business-oriented platform. Its popularity makes it ideal for publishing B2C content, and its paid features can help you reach a wider audience and heighten your digital impact. There are two main ways of publishing on Facebook – by posting directly to your business page and through Instant Articles. Post content directly to your business page Once you have set up a business page, you can directly post a variety of content including plain text, photos, links, videos or events. You can also pin posts to the top so they remain in place rather than moving down the page, and promote posts for a fee, so that they reach a wider audience. Posts can be used to target specific groups, start conversations, ask questions, ask for feedback, and to promote website content. Publish in mobile Instant Articles Instant Articles are super fast-loading immersive articles that can be published on Facebook’s mobile app directly from your website or blog in a very streamlined manner. The advantages of Instant Articles are: Articles can include embedded images and auto-play videos for a richer experience for readers. Advanced features such as the capacity to tap on images in order to explore them more deeply, and to click on and explore interactive maps. Each article is associated with a URL where the original post is located. This allows you to automatically post your article to the Facebook app when you publish it on your own site. Advertisements which enable you to keep...
