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Content Marketing 101

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What’s known as “content marketing” is actually the art and science of building true relationships with your prospects and clients by sharing informative, actionable, free information — usually via digital means — to show them what your company offers and what your brand stands for.

In short, it is “show, don’t sell.” In fact, I like to compare content marketing to party conversation…

Content marketing starts with strategically understanding your own brand and the unique value proposition of the services you deliver. Then, it involves targeting the audiences for your services — figuring out precisely who they are, where they are, and by what means (digital, video, print, etc.) they are best reached.

Content marketing tools

An overarching tool for content marketing is the:

  • content marketing calendar (see screenshot, above)

This calendar is used to keep track of when and how each piece of content (or “asset”) is sent out. The calendar is developed with an eye towards critical promotional dates, such as holidays or tentpole events that are important to the specific business.

The content marketing calendar may look daunting, but it really just a guide to help keep track of good, strategic and timely “conversational” topics you want to have, where you want to have them (social media, newsletter) — and to keep track of what materials you have or might need to develop (videos, blog posts, etc.) to help spur those timely conversations.

Other tools are used to “deliver” the content and each has their own specific uses and best practices.

  • website – to provide a firm foundation for your information
  • blog – to demonstrate your expertise on an ongoing basis and (with SEO), help ensure search engines find your website. 
  • newsletters – to stay in touch with current and potential clients
  • social media – to create awareness and engagement among various audiences
  • video – a key information delivery mechanism, to be deployed on all of the various other tools
  • list building & lead nurturing mechanisms – digital forms and automated responses to help draw people into your newsletter
  • ebooks or other “lead magnets” – robust content delivered to help capture leads
  • virtual press kits – used to target media for PR

One non-digital tool for content marketing is a:

  • book – which can be an effective brand extension that lends authority and creates a reason for media opportunities.

SEO and content marketing

As you send your content out into the digital world, you need to optimize it so search engines can more easily find it. This search engine optimization (aka SEO) is a critical element of digital marketing success.

Part of an overall marketing strategy 

Content marketing should be deployed to work in tandem with all promotional and brand efforts, such as:

  • collateral – brochures, flyers, etc.
  • advertisements – print, radio, television
  • public relations & media outreach
  • events – trade shows, fairs, conferences
  • environmental – signage, posters, trade show booths

Working cohesively, all parts of the marketing mix can amplify each other, to most effectively attract prospects and clients.

Need content marketing campaign strategy or development? ContentMeant can help. 

Whether content marketing strategy or implementation, if you need guidance, get in touch.

Content Marketing as… Party Conversation?

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Content marketing is the “show don’t sell” of promotion, based on communication of useful information and mutual discovery.

For your prospect: Is this service or author’s work right for me?

For you, the service provider or author: Am I targeting the right audience?

I like to think of content marketing as beginning like a party conversation, one that helps create more meaningful relationships.

Content marketing is “show, don’t sell.”

One common beginner content marketing mistake is to assume a “sales pitch” is “content.” This is not only incorrect but can actually be harmful to the content marketing effort.

Here’s what I mean:

Imagine you’re at your friend Mary’s huge bash of a party and her friend Georgina accosts you with, “Hey, Mary told me you have a dog. Did Mary tell you I take dog portraits?”

Georgina shoves her card at you, “Give me your information. It’s time for holiday dog photos. I’ll text you tomorrow and follow up. We can set up an appointment.”

Now, Georgina might be the most brilliant pet photographer that ever snapped a pooch but chances are, after that interaction, in the future you’ll be ducking behind the ficus tree to avoid her.

How the conversation should happen

Imagine you’re at the same party, petting Mary’s dog Rufus. Georgina approaches you and comments on the delicious hors d’oeuvres as Rufus tries to grab them. You mention your own dog’s fondness for table scraps and Georgina says, “My dog, too. I can manage other people’s dogs when I take their portraits, but…”

Oh? Dog portraits?

“Yes, in fact” — she points — “I took those pictures of Rufus, there. Here’s my card — if you’re planning on taking pictures of your dog for holiday cards, have hints on my website about how to take great pet photos.” Mary then tells a funny anecdote about her latest client, a French bulldog …

You don’t need a pet portrait but…

… now you have a rapport with Mary, you’ve seen examples of her work. You go to her website — cute pet portraits! And there’s a picture of Rufus! You sign up for her newsletter, take her up on that bit of free professional pet photo advice.

And then your cousin calls and tells you she’s just adopted two pedigree pugs from the same litter and she’s going to try to pimp them out as twin pug clothing models and they need a portfolio…

And you mention Mary and forward her the latest newsletter …

Content marketing translation

The big bash is the social media-verse — at first, it seems overwhelming and amorphous.

But social media behavior (akin to your obvious fondness for dogs in the party example) sends signals. By interacting and engaging and using hashtags, people reveal their interests, their likes and dislikes.

Social media casts a wide net. In order to get the most out of it, you need to “listen” and interact and learn as well as “put out” your message.

An email lead nurturing campaign creates a relationship where there is meant to be one. This warms potential clients up to your services, warms readers up to your voice. It helps everyone get to know each other (the regular content selection and reader clicks reveal insights) and what you’re offering. The campaign also leads people to…

Your all-important website gives deeper information about product and service offerings — and gives all potential clients “social proof” —  examples of work and client testimonials — which (like Georgina’s IRL portrait of Rufus) reveals whether vendor and client are a fit.

Regular email newsletters keep your clients or audiences in touch,

Search-engine optimized blog posts keep the conversation fresh, keeps you “discoverable” by search engines.

A targeted content marketing strategy helps efficiently and effectively create and deploy the above-mentioned tools — social media posts, blog posts, newsletters and lead nurturing sequences.

A strategy will help turn casual “party conversations” into deeper client and audience relationships.

Do you need a content marketing strategy?

A ContentMeant content marketing strategy can help focus and augment whatever resources you currently have with a plan that will maximize the efficiency of your staff’s or your own efforts.

Get in touch to learn more.

photo credit: AnnMarie Spinella

Content Strategy in Action

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I’ve written about “show, don’t sell.” Here’s an example of that in action.

Samsung content marketing case study

Though Samsung sells its products through retailers — not directly to consumers — they wanted a way to engage consumers with their products across 70+ “regional” websites around the globe.

The solution was to develop content that would create a need for the product in the consumer’s view — but that would actually be product agnostic.

For example, an article on better sleep habits made a strong point about room temperature. Among the many sleep hints and tips, the piece mentioned that room temperature was important and some air conditioners could automatically adjust room temperature when someone is sleeping. The Samsung A/C units with this capability appeared next to the article. Those products got a huge boost in clicks/conversion rates.

The same happened to the Samsung robotic vacuum cleaners with the no-tangle pet hair brush when they were placed next to pet-owner “Tips for A Cleaner Home.”

You get the idea.

The articles and marketing assets were translated into eight languages and used worldwide.

Because the success metrics were so compelling, the initial content strategy turned into a 3+ year engagement (for my client as well as for me and an international team of writers).

We created a library of articles, plus marketing “modules” that helped cross-promote the articles throughout the websites and drove awareness and engagement on social media.

Yes, this content marketing will work for you

Samsung’s a huge corporation. But substitute “blog post” for “article” and the principles are the same for any-sized effort.

Create informative, quality posts related to what your service or product is (making sure you use keywords) and you “socialize” it – spread the word via social media (making sure you use hashtags). Use inline links to keep people engaged with your site.

And you keep doing it.

Do you need a content marketing strategy?

ContentMeant can help. Feel free to get in touch.

Resources for Building a Website

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Excuse the “work in progress” ContentMeant site — I’m taking the time to procrastinate post about website building – specifically, to share some of my favorite free, pay-what-you-want,** low-cost and value-packed web-building resources and advice for authors and others.  I’ll be adding to / refining this list as time goes on, but for today…

Misery Web-building loves company, so if you’re not doing anything exciting right now, why don’t you buckle down and join me?

I originally wrote this article for authors — but then I realize that much of the advice applies to small businesses or solopreneurs who wish to promote themselves or their business on a website. There also is some advice and are some links specific to writers and authors.

To start: some website basics

Every business and needs a website and it’s the cornerstone of an author platform.

I chose a WordPress site because, as a writer, I like the fact that the platform is blog-centric — good for a writer.

For years, I’ve been really happy with the Genesis platform for WP. Genesis features enable someone like me (who only enough about html to be danger to myself), to have a decent-looking, highly-functional site that gets automatic updates when new WP versions are released, etc.

I customized my own author-writer site from the Genesis child theme from Feast Design Co. —  Foodie Pro), but Genesis owner WP Engine offers choice of 35 website themes and detailed theme set-up instructions. This includes a template called Author Pro, which has a built-in widget for selling books… woo hoo!

The theme choice comes with the cost of WP Engine hosting – about $30 a month for a single site. There are less expensive options, but I’ve found the service to be really responsive (see “danger to myself”).

I know people who have used and like Wix for their website, citing its free-to-start option, its clean design and drag-and-drop functionality. I’m a personal fan of the Wix Lounge and Wix meet-ups in NYC and elsewhere (where users can learn not only how to build there sites, but get other type of inspiration and instruction, as well).

For Author’s Guild members, the (very worthwhile to join) AG offers a number of website help options.

Spelling and grammar for your website

I initially had a love-hate relationship with my free copy of Grammarly, which sometimes wanted to force me to spell the Queen’s English — but a reader instructed me how to change that preference — thanks, Sveinn! Now, I’d highly recommend it as a great check of spelling and other grammar rules.

Website design & photography

I’m not a designer, but I play one when I’m building a website. Which is why I rely on free and low-cost resources like:

  • Webresizer.com – this is a free website which allows you to upload and optimize your photos for the web — that is, it makes your photo the ideal pixel size and dimensions to look great while reducing the overall KB or MB of your photo. Why is this important? It makes your photos (and therefore, your website) load faster. Good for everyone! Also, when you’re using a website template, it allows you to crop the photo size to the ideal template – so the photo spacing doesn’t look wonky.
  • Canva.com is a design site for non-designers, with templates and fonts and all fun things that send any visually-stimulated geek into a rabbit hole. But it’s a great resource for not only your website, but for your social media content needs. It includes templates for all the headers you’ll want to make – and those spiffy, pithy quotes that are easy to post and Pin.
  • Colourlovers.com – okay another geek alert – but this site (which is supposed to be spelled in the Queen’s English) is great for picking palettes (that is, colors that go together nicely).
  • Free and/or royalty-free stock photo services – Choosing photography is a highly personal matter. For example, the image at the top of this post is from Pexels.com and it took me a bit of searching to find what I was looking for. For those who don’t mind shelling out a bit of cash who want a huge selection of high-quality, professional images (for example, for their home page), I also truly love the selection at Getty’s iStock and Adobe has a price-per-month stock photo offering — and they offer a free trial.

FYI, when a service offers “pay what you want,” for creative karma’s sake, please do pay something.

Share your own web resource favorites!

Do you have a favorite website design resource? Share in the comments.

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