Content Marketing
Turn Internet Content into new business.
Content Marketing Services
Online content marketing services are designed to help small businesses communicate with customers and prospects in ways that encourage interaction and build their personal brand. With content marketing it will help most overcome frustration by knowing it has superb products and services. At Content The Movement we have a new approach.
Content Marketing Approach
At Create The Movement our approach to content marketing is highly strategic and designed to communicate the vision of your business. We come along side of you to partner together where we will determine the best way to communicate your vision but also ensure it is found on the search engines. We develop content to effectively communicate the vision and proactively foresee the response the customers and potential customers may have.
Depending on your resources, you may look to us for various levels of ongoing content for your:
- Content Writing
- Internal Blogging
- External Blogging
- Content Editing
- Syndicating Content
- Engagement Efforts
- Press Releases
- Social Media Content
Why Hire Create The Movement for your content marketing?
At Create The Movement we will help you paint a captivating portrait of your business, and also make sure the right people find it and respond. In short, we will help you turn your Internet content into new business.
How To Make The Right Content
Content is king. This might be the truest statement in marketing. Without quality content, your marketing effort will most likely fail miserably. Before we get into why content is so important and how to make the right content, let’s define the word.
Content is a very broad term that refers to anything you make that your potential customers see. This could be blogs, webpages, infographics, videos, quizzes, emails, and more. One of the biggest misconceptions about content is that it only refers to blogs. While it is true that blogs are a very common form of content, it’s not limited to just blogs.
It’s also worth mentioning that content typically refers to what’s known as inbound marketing, which is a marketing strategy that tries to attract visitors to your website organically, instead of paying to promote the site.
Now that we’re all on the same page, here’s how to make the right content.
When picking a content strategy it’s important to consider three things: attraction, interaction, and reaction. These steps will act as our sales funnel, and it’s vital that you develop content for each step.
Attraction
This is the first step in the funnel so it’s where every one of your customers start. These are the consumers who don’t even know your business exists. Content for this stage needs to be pretty broad and not very salesy. If you’re a plumber, attraction content could be a blog or video going over “the worst plumbing mistakes a homeowner can make.” You’re not selling to them, you’re educating them.
Doing this builds trust and makes you look like an expert.
The goal here is just to let the customer know who you are and what you can do for them. That’s it. Don’t try to close the deal here, because they’ll see right through it and walk away. Instead of closing, lead them to other content that is designed for the interaction phase.
Interaction
Once they know who you are it’s time to give them content they can interact with. Interaction content for people who are actively looking to solve a problem in your field. They may not be ready to hire someone, but they at least have a problem that needs to be solved.
This is when “how to” content is golden. Having content that answers the exact question this person is asking will score you major brownie points. It’s important to remember that you’re still not closing the deal here, you’re pushing them to more content that they can use when they make their reaction.
Reaction
This is it. You’ve attracted them, interacted with them, and it’s time to finally close. When making content to cause a reaction, the best thing to do is think about the factors the consumer will be weighing to make their decision. Once you know the factors, make that content that addresses those factors.
One way to address those factors is to make a comparison chart that compares you to your competitors and shows why you’re the clear choice.
To put it simply, make content that screams “THIS IS WHY YOU SHOULD HIRE ME.” Harness your inner Alec Baldwin from Glengarry Glen Ross (although you should probably use less F bombs) and close like your job depended on it.
Today we used three steps in our sales funnel, but you can find funnels with as many as eight or ten steps. It doesn’t matter how many steps are in your funnel, just have content for each step of the process and you don’t skip steps. Make sure you’re always pushing the consumer to the next step and you’ll do fine.
This doesn’t mean you can’t have a sales pitch attached to all your content, it means you shouldn’t only make content that’s purely a sales pitch.
Your Story Vs. Marketing Ad
At The Movement when we look at working specific projects we believe your story is powerful, especially when they are personal. Your story can help build movements, but these stories are not your next TV ad. They are not there to be exploited and they probably wont be your next marketing ad.
Because stories live forever. Ads live until the marketing team gets tired of them.
Stories are real. Ads are just made up.
Stories pull you in. Ads try to push out a message and make you act.
Stories can be deep. Ads can be shallow.
Stories can be personal. Ads can be impersonal.
Stories are passed on by word of mouth. Ads are forced on us by marketing and social media.
Stories are a part of who and what we are and what we are becoming. You don’t tell ads to your grandkids.
Some people feel the need to have an ad, and understandably. At the Movement we would rather hear a story and make our project decisions about what your company means to us, instead of a company (that you may not trust) trying to force their ad and ideas of who you are.
Storytelling is at the heart of creating your movement. A good storyteller makes it seem effortless, but not every story should be told. Not everyone knows how to discover the stories worth telling, and not everyone knows how to tell your story best.
Okay, I Wrote My Blog. Now What?
I’m going to apologize for this analogy up front, because I’m going to compare our writing to manure. If you collect manure in one place, it won’t do anything but stink. If you spread it on a field, it helps bring life. You can see where I’m going: Don’t collect your writing on your blog and expect it to bring life. Now, the analogy breaks down because our writing doesn’t stink, but if even something that does can bring life, how much more can good writing?
The way to spread it is to make good use of facebook and twitter. If you vowed never to get on either, it’s time for a new vow. Your future clients are on facebook and twitter, and there are some easy things you can do on both that will give you real benefits. It is now officially stupid not to be on them. If that offends you, be offended, but do something about it.
Fortunately, it is easy to learn. You need to sign up for Facebook and Twitter if you haven’t already. If you need help with that, contact us, and we’ll make it part of our plan for you. We can help you connect your Twitter and Facebook accounts so that anything you tweet becomes your status update on Facebook.
My tweets have 3 or 4 components: The title of the blog post, a very brief explanation or shout-out to another person if needed, the shortened link, and 1 or 2 hashtags.
TRANSLATION FOR THOSE WHO NEED IT:
I’m going to work backwards here, so I’ll start with hashtags. What are they? It’s Twitter’s way of dealing with key words that help people find tweets they are interested in. You’ve seen it on the screen of almost every TV show, and they look like this: #hashtag. The # symbol tells twitter it’s a keyword, and the letters after it comprise the keyword. There are no spaces in hashtags, so if your keyword is “business leadership”, you’ll use #businessleadership.
If you use good hashtags, people WILL find you. Twitter’s website keeps track of what people look for, and it makes suggestions based on similar content. Hashtags are how it knows you have similar content. Twitter will actually bring new business to your door if you use it right. Pick a hashtag that isn’t too general nor too specific. If you’re an attorney, #law is too general and #pharmaceuticalplaintifflitigation is too specific. Something like #medicalmalpractice is ideal.
Shout-outs are ways to hitch your wagon to another successful person who is also on Twitter. When you type “@bradpost” in your tweet, Twitter automatically turns that into a link to my Twitter page.
Not so stupid after all
Steps to a Great Blog
Any blog is better than no blog for your website, but having a great blog requires some deliberate planning. These steps will get you there:
1) Decide your frequency
Before you post a single thing, decide how often you will blog and STICK TO IT! Daily is great unless you blog for three days and never blog again.Monthly is too infrequent, but it’s a good start if you aren’t sure you can stick it out. Ideally, twice a week or once a week on specific days is what you should shoot for.
2) Build your inventory
The surest way to fail at blogging is to have to come up with something new every time you sit down. This is like going grocery shopping every single day. If you only shop for each day’s meals (and snacks), you’ll do a lot of driving back and forth to the store. Come up with 10 or 15 or even 20 blog posts before you post a single one. That way you are feeding your audience from a full cupboard. When you have good writing days, add those to your inventory. When you have bad writing days, pull from your inventory and post away.
The best way to do this is to write in a document (Word, Pages, Works, whatever) and save it in a specific folder on your computer. Then you can copy and paste from your doc to your blog. There will be days when you have a time- or season-specific post that you write and post immediately. Good! That’s another day your inventory goes untouched!
3) Keep it brief
To get people’s attention, it is best to give them short treats more often than long ones infrequently. 150-500 words should be your guide. Use the word count tool in your document until you gain a natural feel for this length. If you have a post that just needs to be longer than that, break it into 2 or 3 pieces and post on 2 or 3 different days.
That’s it! Follow these steps over and over, and you can have a great blog without making it a second job.
Why Should I Blog?
A blog is an incredibly effective way to build your business, even if no one reads it. “How can that be?” you ask? The answer is one of the keys to search engine optimization, and we’ll be happy to explain it at our next appointment. Suffice it to say for now that it’s nearly impossible to get to the top of search results. So the answer to “Why” is “to grow your business by showing up when people are looking.”
So what do you write about?
Your thoughts, ideas, and experiences that are related to your business.
What are some things you tell every prospective client or customer?
What are the things you wish they know before they meet with you for the first time?
What nuggets can you give them to help right now that will make them want to contact you for the job?
What are your favorite success stories?
If you take a little time each week to answer these questions, you’ll have a great blog in no time.
