by tradesmeninsights | Jan 21, 2014 | Marketing Trends, Social Marketing, Traditional Marketing
Content marketing is becoming more of a focus with all of us, and for it to be effective like any other tool, you need to have a plan and strategy.
Content can be developed in many forms and this can be an overwhelming task, all the more reason to have a plan.
I recently read a post by Heidi Cohen, 2014 Content Marketing Predictions that I thought was interesting and wanted to share some of the highlights of her 7 points:
- Content Marketing should be part of an integrated program – content needs to be created in different formats as people take in information in various ways and we need to make sure we’re touching them several times.
- Content Marketing expands to all corporate communications – it’s no longer limited to marketing.
- Managing Content Marketing assets – track and maintain assets identifying those that need updating and those that need to be created.
- Track Results to sales – start by nudging readers to some call-to-action to start an engagement and then follow it through to a sale.
What kinds of actions are you taking in 2014 to improve your content marketing?
by tradesmeninsights | Jul 10, 2013 | Marketing Tips, Marketing Tools, Social Marketing
Although the manufacturing sector usually lags behind in newer marketing tools, it’s time for you to embrace some of them, namely social media.
I’m not saying you have to be active in every venue, but in the B-to-B world there are certain elements like YouTube, SlideShare, LinkedIn. I’m also not saying that social media will be that silver bullet that will have customers lining up to buy your products. I will say that you probably won’t sell anything from being on social media. Then why waste your time?
The key to any tool is to know how and when to use it. Manufacturers are used to having control of the message and where it goes to which is fine. Social media is just a different way to gain exposure and increase traffic. A recent post by Heidi Cohen, 31 Actionable Social Media Marketing Tips Based on Research outlines the benefits of using social as well as tips that might help you. Here are some helpful hints from Heidi:
- share content across social media platforms
- make sure social sharing buttons are on blog and website
- write guest posts
- nudging customers to rate your products
- ask customers to share their photos using your products
- educate the market and continue to be a thought leader
What are you doing to maximize social media in your business?
by tradesmeninsights | Jan 16, 2013 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing, Traditional Marketing
You may have some of the best content in the world, but if no one reads it, what’s the point? I recently read a post by Heidi Cohen, 13 Ways to Maximize Content Marketing Effectiveness that got me to thinking about getting back to the basics and making the effort of writing posts to pay off.
Here are some thoughts:
- Come up with a strong headline – we have less than 3 seconds to capture attention. Make your headline make the reader stop.
- Use images – a picture or graphic is worth its weight in gold. We are a visual society and the right image will help keep the reader on the page.
- Get to the point – now that you’ve captured their attention, dive into the meat of what you want to say at the beginning.
- You don’t have to have all the answers – link to relevant content. It reinforces the point that others share your point of view.
- Get them to react – we need to add a call-to-action or ask for comments to get the readers involved. If they share the same opinion on the subject, I’m sure they would have something to contribute to the conversation.
Those are my thoughts. I’d like to hear what you’re doing to get more readership.
If you like this post, you might like:
What Are You Doing to Ensure Your Content Marketing is Selling For You?
Is Content Marketing the New Branding?
How Are You Managing Your Content Marketing?
by tradesmeninsights | Dec 4, 2012 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing, Traditional Marketing
Content Marketing is developing useful information to various questions a potential customer might have about your product or application. When someone goes to Google and types in a question, hopefully you already have an answer waiting on page 1 of the search results.
If not, you’ll be missing a big opportunity. If you haven’t capitalized on things like case studies, white papers, newsletters and blogging, you should consider trying some of them. They are content rich and will help you gain credibility.
So the question arises, what do I write about or how do I know what they want? Here’s a way to start. Ask your sales force, customer service, engineering and product management what are the top 10 issues you continually get asked. That should be a start.
Ask the question on some of your social media sites, like groups on LinkedIn. You might be surprised at the feedback you get. If you have the opportunity to visit customers or go to trade shows, ask the same type of questions. Then when you have all the questions, answer them!
The key to content marketing is how you present your info. Storytelling is one of the best ways.
I read a post by Heidi Cohen, How to Create B2B Content Marketing That Sells that highlights ways you get to tell your stories. Here are some highlights:
- Use show and tell – use photos or videos to show products and features.
- Become a teacher – offer training by providing them info on why to buy or use it more effectively.
- Answer questions – this will give your responses more life.
- Interview others in your organization that might not think they have valuable info to contribute, and then you write it.
- Interview existing customers – get their perspective (good and bad) and address them.
- Offer insights from senior management – on industry trends or issues.
Content is king and we need to do everything we can to make sure that we get GOOD content out. If we do, you’ll be surprised at who will find it.
by tradesmeninsights | Sep 26, 2012 | Marketing Tips, Social Marketing
As you get more involved in social media, you need ways to manage all your activities. Social media can and is time-consuming, and you really need a plan to help you manage your time and resources.
I recently read a post by Heidi Cohen, How to Develop a Social Media Editorial Calendar, that brought up some good points on how to organize and manage your time.
Here are some highlights:
- Set goals – Be realistic and start small, but if you don’t set goals, what do you measure it against?
- Know your target audience(s) – You need to talk to each of them in their persona.
- Build an editorial calendar – Coordinate it around other marketing activities like trade shows, association meetings or new product launches.
- Integrate with other marketing promotions – Social can stand alone and by integrating it into your other marketing activities, you get more bang for your buck.
- Determine appropriate content categories – Identify and regularly write on these topics. Some examples would be new products, industry news, training, installation tips, etc.
- Allocate appropriate resources – Remember, if you’re the quarterback of this, you don’t or shouldn’t have to do all the heavy lifting. Lean on internal experts from engineering and product management to help out in their areas of expertise.
Those are some tips that I use. What are you doing to help manage your social media?
