Tag Archives: content marketing

Make today your new day

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I was recently invited by the team at Digital DNA to contribute a guest blog in advance of the upcoming conference in Belfast on 8th June 2016.

The focus for my article was the opportunity for us as marketers to seize the new opportunity that exists for us to not only be content producers but also to be the distribution channel in this new digital world.

You can read the full post on the DigitalDNA website.

You can read my thoughts on the DigitalDNA conference here – penned after a previous visit.

 

The importance of context in social media advertising

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I’m about as passionate about all things marketing as is healthy (and maybe just a little more) – but a recent experience has firmed up the importance of context.

Let me explain.

In trying to determine where is the best place to promote your products or services the conversation must extend beyond just where your customers are. It must also ask ‘why are they there?’

I’ve been subjected to an assault recently when on Facebook by a crowd who call themselves ‘Luv for Marketing’.

Firstly, I’ve (almost) forgiven them for their ‘down with the kids’ name and since they’re appearing on my news feed I’m assuming that even as a 40 year old they do think they have something to offer me.

This is not the problem however.

The problem is that when I’m on Facebook that’s not what I’m there for.

I’m there for lots of other reasons – the vast majority of them recreational. Latest sports news, checking the build up to some upcoming events and – let’s be honest – being nosey.

Luv for Marketing appear on the surface to have got everything right – I’m interested in their subject matter and they’ve crafted concise yet descriptive ads which indicate to me that they’d be worth looking into further.

But the fact is that I’ve seen the ad more than 50 times now and haven’t once clicked the ‘learn more’ button.

Why?

Because in that place (Facebook) at that time (downtime after work) I’ve had my fill of marketing for the day.

If, on the other hand, they’d got at me through LinkedIn while I was updating my company page it’s more than likely that I would have acted on their prompts before now.

While this is just my own personal experience with one particular advertiser I think it raises some interesting questions around context and timing when considering our marketing messages.

Disclaimer:
This post is in no way a negative comment on the services that Luv for Marketing offer or their marketing approach. It is simply my own experience of their Facebook marketing which I hope is working fabulously well for them.

If anyone from Luv for Marketing should read this post – get in touch. I’m interested.

If you’d like some help defining the necessary context for your social media advertising then get in touch.

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The 3 C’s of a successful content marketing strategy

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We’re all producing new content on a daily basis which we hope will be eagerly consumed by customers. This involves the distribution of this content to our target media – both online and offline so what is it that will get our content selected for publishing?

The Chartered Institute of Marketing in Ireland (CIM) held an event in Malmaison Belfast today which sought to address this very issue and one of the contributors was Gavin Walker. Editor, Business First of the Business First publication. As the gatekeeper who is in ultimate control of whether our content gets the airtime we desire when Gavin (or others holding editorial positions) speaks it’s worth listening.

What I took away from Gavin’s presentation was the 3 c’s to a successful content marketing strategy:

  1. Context
  2. Content
  3. Conversations

Context in content marketing1 – Context

The first point in relation to context refers not to the subject matter of your material but instead focuses on the infrastructure and resources available to the majority of publications that we target.

Gone are the days when editorial teams are staffed with an army of willing copywriters and journalists who will have either the time or the inclination to redraft your content to make it suitable for publication.

Therefore, in order to maximise the opportunity for your content to get published you need to think about how it will be formatted.

The copy that you send to your target media will have a much greater chance of success if it can be lifted and placed with minimal additional editing.

This requires you to make sure that your copy does not make unsubstantiated claims about how good your product, service or company is.

A simple way to overcome this is to first write about yourself in the third person. Construct your copy as if it is being put together by an impartial journalist – this ensures a focus on the facts and the key messages you want to get across and avoids it reading like a paid for advertorial (which won’t get published – unless you’re paying for it).

Another key element of context is an understanding of where the content will be published.

Is it for a magazine or newspaper or is it for an online publication?

It’s increasingly likely that it’s for both as most print publications will have a website as well.

If the content you’re sending is specifically for print or online then specify this within the release.

A technical article or detailed project case study is probably best suited to a print publication where people will most likely give your content some more time.

A release about the event you’re hosting, a new product launch, new appointments may be best suited to the online publication as a result of the immediacy it offers.

Gavin made some very interesting points about the formatting of releases destined for online publication:

Headlines – keep these to 65 characters or less to ensure search engine optimisation and make sure they include relevant keywords

Description – include a meta description of 160 characters or less which is keyword focused and can then be used by the online publication to describe your content.

Images – name your images with relevant keywords and include the caption to accompany the image as separate text within your release.

Links – if you would like your content to link to a specific landing page on your website rather than the home page then include the details within your release.

Social links – include details of the links to all your relevant social media channels so that if (and when) the publication decides to share your new content they are able to include you in the post.

the content in content marketing2 – Content

Now we’ve got the structure sorted it’s time to focus on the content itself.

Gavin observed that too much content is focused on what the MD wants to talk about rather than what our customers will actually find interesting.

With editorial departments being swamped by over sterilised corporate releases a little bit of extra thought and consideration for your copy can greatly improve not only the potential for it to be published but for it to have real impact.

This links nicely with the other contributor to today’s CIM
event, Chris Fielding-Martin, from UK hotel chain Malmaison.

Every piece of content Malmaison Belfast produce has an edge to it. From their new approach to ‘do not disturb’ signs to how they encourage breakfast room service orders to the signage they use to brand construction works at new or existing hotels.

They are able to do this successfully because they understand what their value proposition is, they understand their target audience and they understand the importance of consistency in all their communications.

As Chris pointed out during his presentation, as they’re in the hotel game what goes on behind the bedroom door is very much their business.

Of course we can’t all be as edgy as Malmaison but we can learn from their approach.

Understand what the objective of the content we’re publishing is. What are we trying to achieve? What do we want the customer to do once they have consumed our content?

Does the content we’re producing make it clear what our value proposition is in relation to the product or service that we’re promoting? Does it answer the ‘what’s in it for me?’ question.

Is the content we’re producing consistent? This is fairly easy to achieve if you have one person producing all of your content but if this is not the case you need to take steps to ensure this consistency.

This will require that you have clear brand guidelines which include a ‘tone of voice’ element.

What sort of language will you use – will it be formal or informal?

How do you describe what it is that your company offers?

What words or phrases do you use to describe the value that you are adding for your customers?

While it can all seem a little daunting it is essential that you take all of these steps to maximise the return from all the content development activity that you are involved with.

With the volume of content being produced across so many channels on a daily basis it’s essential that you take the time to carefully consider your content strategy as this will ensure you stand out from the crowd.

conversations in content marketing3 – Conversations

Maximising the success of your content marketing strategy is an ongoing process that continues well beyond the placement of your material in your target publications or on your own blog, website, social channels.

As a marketer I believe that the biggest potential benefit of the rise of social media is the ability for us to speak directly to our customers.

If our content marketing strategy is successful the result will be an increase in the volume of conversations about our product, service or company online. These conversations will happen whether we are involved or not so it is incumbent on all of us to make sure we are aware of all the conversations that are going on.

It’s important to stress here that this doesn’t necessarily mean we should get involved in every conversation – there are some conversations that we should take a step back from if they have the potential to damage our brand. There may also be cases, as highlighted by Chris from Malmaison today where getting involved may just be adding fuel to the fire.

While we should be a aware of these conversations sometimes it’s best to say nothing.

Negative feedback is probably impossible to eradicate so we need to know how to deal with it. This has to be considered on a case by case basis – some issues may be quickly sorted out in public on social media but in other instances it may be best to show an initial response in public but encourage the individual concerned to take the communication offline where it can be dealt with better.

Thanks to the CIM in Ireland for organising another great event today. I found it a very useful session and hope that this post gives those that didn’t attend an opportunity to be benefit from the presentations given by Chris Fielding-Martin of Malmaison and Gavin Walket of Business First.

I’ve included the Twitter handles for the relevant contributors to today’s event below:

Malmaison Hotels on Twitter

Business First Online

Chartered Institute of Marketing (Ireland)

Make truth your guiding principle

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Make truth your guiding principleHonesty is the best policy. It’s one you’ve probably heard before. Here’s another one – the old ones are the best.

While this isn’t a new concept if you’ve been watching any of the coverage of the British General Election recently you would think the concept of truth is an alien concept for those standing for election. I’m also fairly sure that this isn’t an exclusively British phenomenon.

I have come across those who believe that the purpose of marketing is to con people into buying your product.  It seems that the major political parties in the UK (and even the not so major ones) also subscribe to this view.

Staged election canvassing events where small crowds of party activists are crammed together with the photographer told to get in nice and tight so that it looks like a huge crowd.

Completely unsubstantiated claims about cuts to this, extra funding for that.

The complete exploitation of any statistics that exist and the twisting of the facts to suit their own agenda.

And even when the supposed ‘experts’ reveal that their plans aren’t affordable, achievable or even believable they adopt a policy of continuing to peddle their untruths in the hope that we all fall in line.

Truth has always been the core ingredient of successful marketing. Truth around the capability and performance of our products and services. Honesty and integrity in how we treat our customers.

The same is true in how politicians market their policies. They seem to forget that we are operating in a time when voters / consumers have never been as well educated about our policies / products.

When working to create any marketing collateral the question I ask the most is ‘where is the evidence?’

Where is the evidence that your product will cost less to run than the current one?

Where is the evidence that your product is easier to use?

Where is the evidence that you’re better than the competition?

Successful marketing isn’t about bold statements with no substance.

Successful marketing isn’t about making claims that simply don’t stand up to challenge.

Successful marketing is about building products / policies based on an understanding of what will make your customer’s life quicker, easier, more efficient.

If you are not able to make honest claims about what your product / policy can do for your customers / voters then maybe you don’t properly understand your product? Maybe you don’t properly understand your customers?

Or maybe your product doesn’t meet your customers’ requirements and needs a redesign.

Marketing isn’t alchemy. Marketing isn’t a con game – it’s simply a mechanism for showcasing your product or service in all its glory.

So stay honest and make truth your guiding principle.

Choosing the right social media tools for your business

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social media marketingI was talking to a guy recently who told me that booking a conference room in a hotel and delivering a sales presentation worked really well for his business.

So here’s what I’m going to do.

There’s a really nice conference centre in a hotel near our offices so I’m going to book it for next month. We’re going to put together a killer presentation, build a stage, make a video, lay on some nice food. I’d say 100 people should cover it.

That’s it organised – all systems go.

What’s that you say? What about the audience?

Not a problem – sure that guy told me it worked really well for his business.
I hope you’ll agree that this is a completely ludicrous idea. Ill conceived with no consideration for the requirements of my business.

Yet people are doing this day and daily in marketing departments all over the world.
Maybe not with the conference room booking but instead with their choice of the social media channels that they use.

Like magpies people are drawn to the latest shiny new toy in the pursuit of the coolest way to deliver their marketing messages.

People flock to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn with no knowledge of whether their customers are using this media.

Across the board there seems to be a universal reason for this behaviour – because they’re free.

They only way they are free from a direct financial cost is if you are working for nothing (which I’m guessing that the vast majority of you are not).

Even if you are working for free then there is the cost in terms of your time to consider. Time that you would surely prefer to be spending on activities that will add some value to what you are doing.

And then there’s the opportunity cost – what new business are you missing out on by wasting time on marketing tools that will deliver no results?

How much more business could you win by stopping focusing on all the shiny new toys and narrowing the focus to tried and tested channels that you know will bring you results.

You wouldn’t deliver a sales presentation in an empty room so don’t use any marketing tools until you know your customers are there.

Stop using delivery channels for your marketing messages based on how new, how cool they are or based on other trendy, cool people and companies that may be using them.

Do your research. Understand your customers. Select the right channels. Clearly define the message you want to communicate and the customer interactions you are seeking.
Only then will you be extracting maximum value from every penny in your marketing budget and making the most efficient and valuable use of your time.

What’s your most effective lead generation tool?

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email marketing petrac marketing

Email marketing remains one of the most effective lead generation tools

This isn’t a rhetorical question. It’s just a question. What’s your most effective lead generation tool?

Of the many functions that we as marketers are involved with I personally believe that lead generation is the single most important activity.

This is the first stage in the sales process and allows us to help the sales team to build the pipeline that will lead to future sales.

So how do we know which is the best tool when there are so many available to us?

The cost of generating the lead is obviously a very important factor in assessing whether it represents good value. However, the cost of acquiring the lead isn’t the only factor to consider. It is also essential that we understand the potential for that lead to convert to a sale. It’s only when we understand both of these factors that we are able to make a proper judgement on whether our lead generation activity represents good value for money.

For the purposes of this post I want to focus on email marketing and explain why I believe it represents one of the best value tools on your kit bag when it comes to trying to generate new leads.

It starts with your list

Your list building activity should be focused on developing a subscriber base that you know has an interest in your products or services. By doing this you are maximising the opportunity for a high conversion rate from your email marketing campaigns.

Another key element in a subscriber list that will add value (sales) is to remember a phrase critical to email marketing success – permission marketing.

Your list is only a valuable resource if your subscribers have opted to receive information on the products and services you are offering.

List building is easy if your focus is on the wrong thing. If your focus is solely to build your list to 10,20,50 thousand subscribers then I can’t imagine your email marketing campaigns will deliver any significant value.

If on the other hand your metrics involve not only the size of your list but also monitor open rates and click through rates then you are building your list with quality subscribers – all of which combines to deliver higher conversion rates.

Understanding specific customer needs

If you’re selling a range of products or services then it’s unlikely that everyone on your list wants to receive the same content.

It’s going to offer a far better return if you send your email marketing campaigns to smaller groups with a specific interest.

All of this information is easy to obtain at the subscription stage – whether that is through a web sign up form, leads from an exhibition or registrations for an event you are hosting.

By focusing on product, service or market specific campaigns you are further increasing the potential for your lead gen activity to convert to a sale.

The delivery mechanism

Loads of great tools out there – Mailchimp, Constant Contact. Dotmailer are just three that spring to mind.

These packages have such a broad range of functionality that it’s difficult to imagine why you would try any other option. They will all manage your lists – new subscriptions and unsubscribes – produce easily digestable reports outlining your key metrics and most importantly help you to optimise your campaigns to ensure maximum open rates and click through rates are achieved.

As well as all this boring (but critical) mechanical stuff they also offer a superb range of email templates from which you can choose. If you have your own design team – that’s no problem either as you can create your own email marketing templates quickly as easily.

In summary..

Email works

This may surprise you given the volume of the stuff that we all seem to receive on a daily basis but if you get your list building strategy right then you will have a very good chance of generating leads and converting sales from your targeted email marketing campaigns.

As trade magazines (eventually) move into the digital arena they are offering expensive email blast campaigns to their large distribution lists. In my experience you can generate the same number, if not more leads at a fraction of the cost if your email marketing activities are organised in the right way.

If you would like some help developing your email marketing strategy – list building, campaign design and delivery – then get in touch:

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How to Diagnose Your Funnel to Create Predictable Growth

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Why wouldn’t you click on a headline that includes the words ‘predictable growth’?

It’s what we’re aiming for every day – a way of optimising the sales funnel so that we are able to confidently predict what our sales numbers will look like in the future.

The article linked below is one of the best I have read on this subject and after reading it you’ll wonder how you didn’t already know this?

Not only does it break the sales funnel down into 3 easily understandable sections – top for traffic, middle for lead conversion and bottom for sales – but it identifies every possible scenario that will help you to identify where the inefficiencies lie within your sales funnel.

Then it only goes and tells you exactly what you should be doing to combat the inefficiencies you have identified.

If you have been baffled by trying to analyse your sales funnel and confused by the thought of how you go about working out where the problem is then I suggest that you read this article. Things will appear a lot more clear afterwards.

How to Diagnose Your Funnel to Create Predictable Growth | Marketing Automations.

Thanks to HubSpot for the original post.

Forget logic. Make people love what you’re selling

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make people love what you're sellingWe all like to believe that we buy stuff sensibly. We carefully consider all the options available. We weigh up the pros and cons of each available choice.

And the use of return on investment calculations isn’t the preserve of the B2B market – think of the last time you bought a car. I’m sure you considered running costs – fuel consumption, tax implications, service and maintenance charges.

So we’re all driven by logic and reasoning and as long as anyone trying to sell us something convinces us that theirs is the most cost effective choice or the choice that will last the longest or simply makes the most sense then they’re onto a winner.

Wrong.

In the centre of all of our brains is an area called the limbic system. This is where all our emotional experiences start. It’s where we experience love, happiness, joy. It’s also where we experience pain, hurt, anger.

And it is here that the vast majority of the buying decisions you make are made. The exact number is subject to some debate but it’s somewhere between 80% and 90%.

So our buying decisions aren’t based on logic at all but a simple desire to have something – that beautiful car, the stylish house, a new coat.

What then happens is we try to rationalise the desire we have for the new thing which is when we start using the neocortex – the part of the brain responsible for information processing among other things.

The car – 30mpg isn’t that bad and I don’t really do too many miles anyway so it won’t hurt that much.

The new coat – I haven’t got a blue one and it’ll go with loads of my other clothes so I’ll definitely get my money’s worth.

The new 60 inch TV – I’m only getting it so I can enjoy watching the sports in the house. Think of the money I’ll save by not going to the pub to watch the game.

If we made every buying decision using only logic and reasoning we would only buy things that we need.

Every car on the road would be the most fuel efficient one available.

Every coat would be designed for a specific purpose – rain protection, winter sports – with no consideration for aesthetics.

And in the age of online reviews the only products to sell would be those with faultless 5 star reviews.

Thankfully this is not the case.

What it means for anyone selling anything is that it is essential to understand what it is about your product that will trigger the necessary emotional reaction from your customers.

Of course this is much easier for retail, fashion and mass market consumer brands than it is for those in the B2B market but with a bit of careful thought you can find your product’s emotional trigger.

It may be the design of your product that seals the deal. Go the extra mile with the design of your product – think about form as well as function and you’ll increase your chance of success.

Don’t worry if you’re selling services – you can play this game too. We’re social animals – so use the currency that your personality represents. Be transparent and authentic and you’ll establish meaningful relationships with your customers that are very hard to break.

Stand for something – display your passion for what it is you do. People don’t buy what you do – they buy why you do it. By showing that you really care about delivering the best solution to their problem what you’re saying is ‘I won’t let you down’.

So let’s put the return on investment sheet to one side for the minute and get to work on nailing down the ways that you can make your customers feel more connected emotionally to your products or services.

This requires that you have an in-depth understanding of who your customers are and what their specific needs are. This has to go beyond their job title and their role in the procurement process as this alone just will not give you the insights you need.

You need to understand their daily frustrations – the pain points in their everyday existence that your product can help to overcome. Once you’ve done this you can craft your marketing messages to push these buttons.

If you’d like to read more about the part emotions plat in your decision making then I’ve included a few links below to some articles that I found interesting:

Decisions are emotional, not logical – the neuroscience behind decision making.

Delving into the logical and emotional sides of the human brain.

If you would like some help understanding the emotional triggers that will allow you to sell more effectively then get in touch:

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Dealing with the Digital Skills Gap

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Digital Marketing Strategy Petrac Marketing

Digital marketing is an essential part of the modern marketing mix

With the amount of technology now available and the pace of change it’s never been as challenging for anyone working in marketing to understand all of the channels that are available when trying to get your product or service to market.

This has led to the creation of new Digital Marketing and Social Media Marketing roles  – but I can’t help feeling that this is just an abdication of responsibility by those in charge.

Digital is simply a delivery mechanism for all your marketing efforts. There is no digital marketing – it’s just modern marketing.

In an increasing number of organisations there is a recognition that there is a skills gap in relation to digital marketing. However, it’s the response to this problem that I think is focused in the wrong place.

For too many companies and organisations this skills gap is addressed by the creation of a new role within the marketing team – Digital Marketing Executive, Social Media Marketing Executive being two such positions.

I don’t think anyone would argue that digital marketing represents a huge part of the modern marketing mix – so surely there is a requirement that every member of your marketing team is a digital marketer?

When creating the person specifications for all members of your marketing team surely some sort of digital capability must be included in the ‘essential skills’ box?

You wouldn’t employ a software engineer without the relevant qualifications. You wouldn’t employ a engineer without knowing that they had training in the relevant engineering discipline. You wouldn’t employ an accountant who hadn’t had the appropriate training.

The same should apply with your marketing team. Creating separate digital marketing roles is simply abdicating responsibility for digital to a single person in order to avoid having to learn about it yourself.

Digital marketing is no longer a ‘nice to have’ for anyone working in marketing. It’s essential that you have these skills or you will end up being surplus to requirements.

The other side of the same coin is that by skilling yourself up in all things digital you are giving yourself a serious competitive advantage over a lot of other people.

There’s simply no excuse any more – there are shed loads of formal digital qualifications out there and as much online content as you can cope with.

As with anything though the only way to really get it and understand how you can use it to improve your business results is to get involved.

So stop passing the responsibility on to others and embrace the challenge and the opportunity that digital marketing presents.

Get started now – Professional Diploma in Digital Marketing from the Digital Marketing Institute (Ireland and UK)

If you would like some help working out how you can take advantage of digital within your marketing strategy then get in touch.

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Some great advice from none other than Roald Dahl

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I came across this little gem on Twitter recently. Jay Williams wrote to Roald Dahl in 1980 asking for some advice on a short story he had written. The response from Roald Dahl is blunt – but gives some great advice on how to write better stories.

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