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Content Marketing Analogy: Parties & Pugs

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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.

Content marketing as party conversation

At its core, content marketing is the “show don’t sell” of promotion, based on communication of useful information.

Imagine you’re at your friend Gary’s huge bash of a party and you meet his friend, Georgina — and the first thing Georgina says is “Hey – I heard you say you have two dogs – did Mary tell you I take dog portraits? Do you need pictures of your dogs?” Georgina shoves her card at you and says, “Do you have card? Can I have your information? It’s time for holiday dog photos – I’ll call you tomorrow and we can set up a time.”

Georgina might be the most brilliant photographer ever but chances are, after that interaction, in the future you’ll be ducking behind plants to avoid her.

Now instead imagine you’re at the same party and, as you’re petting Gary’s dog Rufus, and someone named Olivia approaches you. You and Olivia gab about the delicious hors d’oeuvres as Rufus tries to grab them, you discuss your dog’s fondness for table scraps – and Olivia says, “My dog doesn’t wait – he jumps right up. I can manage other people’s dogs when I take their portraits, but…” Oh? “Yes, I have a business taking pet portraits – in fact” — she points — “I took those pictures of Rufus, there. Here’s my card — I have hints on my website about how to take great pet photos.” She tells a funny anecdote about her latest client…

Well, you don’t need a pet portrait but now you have a rapport with Olivia and you know you’re on the same page about a number of things, you’ve seen examples of her work — and she’s offered you a bit of free professional advice, no strings attached.

You go Olivia’s website — cute pet portraits! And there’s Rufus! You think you can use her pet photo advice and you sign up for her newsletter… 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 Olivia and forward her the latest newsletter …

Content marketing translation

The big bash is social media – at first, it seems overwhelming and amorphous. But social media behavior (akin to your obvious fondness for dogs) is a signal – by interacting and engaging, people reveal their likes and dislikes. Olivia knows that the party is a wide net – and she’s there to listen as well as interact. You have given the signal that you’re a dog lover — Olivia knows to approach you.

Like Olivia’s strategic party chitchat, a newsletter warms potential clients up to your services, helps you get to know each other (the regular content selection and reader clicks reveal insights). The 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 Olivia’s IRL portrait of Rufus) reveals whether vendor and client are a fit.

Here’s a more corporate example.

photo credit: AnnMarie Spinella

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.

I often 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 digital means 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
  • 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.

CM as part of an overall marketing strategy 

As with any marketing, content 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 help with your content marketing strategy or implementation? Feel free to reach out at valeriepeterson6 [at] gmail.com.

Resources for Building Your 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 this weekend, 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 author needs a website (it’s the cornerstone of an author platform) – and there are some good resources.

StudioPress Sites and theme templates for just about any business. For years, I’ve been really happy with the Genesis platform and their themes for my own author-writer site (customized from Feast Design’s Foodie child theme). StudioPress Sites include hosting, and themes are mobile-responsive (critical for today’s authors), modern, and have lots of built-in widgets, so basic set-up requires no coding. The theme set-up instructions are good, and their customer service is great — so I stuck with them for this site, as well.

StudioPress even has a template called Author Pro, which has a built-in widget for selling books… woo hoo!

Author website elements & “the guts”

What are the critical things to include on an author website?  Elements of an Author Website — one of my articles from my days running About.com / The Balance Book Publishing site — will get you started.

How to Write A “Selling” Author Bio – I wrote this recently for the Mystery Writers of America NY Chapter’s blog. Since you’re writing the website for your author platform, write your bio and get this up, first.

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 – I find that 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 with a bit more 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.

Author website cautions

Also from Mystery Writers of America NY Chapter blog — The 7 Common Mistakes of An Author Website. Read through these to make sure you’re not making them.

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

Full disclosure: For some of the products or services I personally use and/or believe in, I have established affiliate relationships — for example, bn.com, amazon.com and the aforementioned StudioPress. That means if you like and buy something from a link on this site, I might get a bit of a commission. And, if that happens, it also means that you are a patron of my arts. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Content Marketing Example: Samsung

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Here’s an example of content marketing in action.

Samsung content marketing case study

Samsung wanted to drive consumers to learn more about their products via their 70+ regional websites around the globe.

My client approached me with a list of 18 Samsung products and asked me to create a strategic project brief around each. The ultimate 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. The piece didn’t specifically mention the Samsung air conditioners (which automatically adjusted room temperature when it sensed someone was sleeping) — but the A/C units that appeared next to the article 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.”

These 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, you can try this content marketing “at home”

Sure, Samsung’s a huge corporation. But substitute “blog post” for “article” and the principles are the same for any-sized effort. You 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). And you keep doing it!

Of course, there’s a bit more to it (cross linking, etc.) — but the basics are all here.