In our last Small Business Strategies series post, we discussed content marketing and what exactly this popular marketing strategy entails. If you didn’t get a chance to read it, you can do so right here.
But today, we’re going to talk a little more about content marketing and explore the question – does it really work?
The answer is yes, it definitely works. But let’s dig a little deeper and take a look at some of the cold hard facts.
When it comes to marketing, as a small business owner, you have two main options. The first option involves more traditional marketing, like paid advertising, commercials, and cold calling – whether that be in person or over the phone or email. These strategies work to some extent, but there comes a point when your potential customers simply start to ignore these traditional methods. They’re busy, and they don’t feel like being interrupted to look at an ad that they may or may not want to see.
Thankfully, there’s option two – content marketing.
So…what is content marketing?
Planning on a complete overhaul in 2016? Don’t hit the self-destruct button yet. Your brand may be salvageable.
Too many small businesses give up on (what they perceive as) an underperforming brand image. So, they invest thousands of dollars in a lengthy re-brand. They never realize they could have saved their old brand with a few cheap (or free) tweaks to their current marketing.
Here are a few things to try before writing your brand off as a failure.
Webinars – you’re probably attended one or two in the past. Perhaps you’ve even learned a great deal from them.
But have you ever thought of personally hosting one?
Before you start making excuses and feeling nervous about speaking in front of (digital) people, think about this:
Over 60% of businesses are already using webinars as a big part of their content marketing strategies.
Plus, studies have shown that 20% – 40% of webinar attendees eventually turned into quality leads for businesses implementing this strategy on a regular basis.
Those are some pretty awesome statistics.
But the benefits of hosting a webinar don’t stop there. Take a look at our top three reasons why you should kick off the new year with a webinar for your business:
I have a very fat toad that lives near my house – see the picture on the right. I was looking at him (or her) after a walk the other day, and I realized that as toads go, my little friend was very successful. That got me thinking. Why was my friend so successful? I realized this toad could teach me a lot about small business marketing, and I want to share those lessons with you.
I don’t know anything about toad gender, but I’ve decided to call my toad “she” for the rest of this article. ☺
Business is all about location, location, location, right? It’s important to be at the right place at the right time. If you have a physical store, you want to be at a good intersection, where there’s a lot of traffic and it’s easy to get in or out. Not only that, your ideal customers have to frequent the area.
The sheer volume of expectation business owners feel surrounding social media can be very overwhelming. There are new apps every day, and many small businesses feel they need a presence on every one of them to be legitimate.
In addition, it can be hard to create a routine for social media without feeling inauthentic. Many small business owners hate scheduling social media posts in advance, because it feels contrived, and because it doesn’t seem to build the relationships they need.
These frustrations are easy to understand. Fortunately, it is possible to create an authentic, effective social media routine. Here’s how.
No time to read right now? Click below to download this post as a PDF!
Let’s say you’re a small business owner. Maybe you have a few employees. Maybe you work alone. But either way, you’re wondering – does market research matter for me? And if so, what do I need to do?
Great question! The short answer is, yes, market research matters for every business. Large or small, every company has to sell something to someone. How do you know what to sell, or who to sell it to, if you aren’t aware of your market?
Let’s face it – just creating something and putting it out into the world isn’t enough. It was never enough. You have to connect your product or service with those who need it. So, that means you have to know what you’re creating, who needs it, where those people hang out, and what kind of outreach they respond to.
Doing market research gives you access to the data you need to answer those burning questions. Once you know the answers, you’ll be able to position your product or service in front of the right audience, in a way that they will receive it and be ready to purchase. Continue Reading →
A while ago I was jarred by one of the most “what the heck?” commercials I’d ever seen. Taylor Swift was drinking a Diet Coke. And every time she took a drink there would be more white kittens in her living room. So she took a lot of drinks, and played with the kittens.
End of commercial.
WHAT? Continue Reading →
Social Media Examiner is one of my favorite marketing blogs, and the article I’m highlighting today is exactly why.
How to Improve Your Email Marketing with Social Media hits on two of my favorite topics – email marketing and social media marketing – and brings them into one. Not only that, it specifically dives into promotional options on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Now, if I could just get the author to deliver me fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk while I read… but I digress.
Let’s look at what makes this post so awesome. Continue Reading →
Now that you’ve defined your Marketing Map, it’s time for the real work – doing it. I’ll be honest – in the early days of this business, that was the hardest part. I had presences all around the web: a blog, a profile on Facebook, on Twitter, on LinkedIn, and more. Unfortunately, all of those profiles had one thing in common – very inconsistent usage.
The truth is that an inconsistent presence is worse than no presence at all. That’s why I encourage all small business owners to start small. Focus on one social media site, and grow from there. When you have mastered one platform, move on to others. Today I’ll discuss three primary marketing outlets, and how to be consistent on each one. Continue Reading →
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