Content Marketing - Express Writers

How to Use a Content Target to Fight Writer’s Block & Produce Better Content

December 31, 2020June 12, 2015 by Tim Matthews

No wordsmith is a stranger to writer’s block. The onset can be even more common when writing on assignment on a new topic. Using my “content target” concept may help. The content target is a tool I developed to help inbound marketers understand the topics that are the most interesting to their readers. I developed it after struggling to get business-to-business marketers to stop writing only about their products, and start writing about what their prospective customers really care about. I had tried everything from gentle admonition to coaching, but nothing stuck. I decided I needed a picture to illustrate what was apparently so elusive. Hence the target visual. The circles on the target represent areas of customer interest, and their relative size is important. The Job Skills ring is larger than the Product Knowledge ring because job skills are more important – or more interesting – to a worker than details on any particular product he or she might use. An accountant, for example, needs to know much more than how to use Microsoft Excel to be a good accountant. Likewise, if that accountant wants to make partner some day, he or she needs to think about the skills or certifications needed for Career Advancement. Continuing out to the Industry Knowledge and General Curiosity rings, the size increases with people’s range of interests. Think about the target analogy in two ways. First, compared to a target that’s only about your product – a single, small circle at the bullseye – the overall content target is larger and easier to hit because there are more things for you to write about and a larger potential audience. (For those who know darts, think of it more like Cricket, where the whole board is in play.) A few topic ideas to help you “hit the board” and interest your buyer: Industry Knowledge—Almost everyone is interested in their industry. Content at this level is easy to come by. I like to invite an industry expert to write a guest post. Or you might present budget or spending data for an industry by sponsoring a study and then writing about the results. Career Advancement—Think about your buyers and what would help them advance their careers. Are there certifications you could help them prepare for by offering a study guide? Or maybe you could conduct a salary survey, identifying skills that lead to higher pay. Perhaps you might provide high-value content about changes in laws or regulations that lawyers or accountants could use to build their practice. The possibilities are endless, and this content performs really well. My current company just published a salary survey for one of our key buyers and it worked really well. Job Skills—Start writing content that helps readers do their jobs better. Instead of “How-to-use-my-product,” write “How-to-accomplish-this-task” blog posts. You can continue to use your product as an example, as long as the content remains valuable to readers without having to buy it. Here is a good example of a job skills blog from Salesforce. You will note that I left out the outermost ring – General Curiosity. I’m not against writing on general topics, and I consume much of it myself. I just think that for marketing purposes, the range of topics is too wide and varied to be effective in promoting a sale. You can, of course, get the occasional win by turning something about a company or product into a general interest story. I just think it’s harder to get a hit and hard to connect to a sale. Now, coming back to the bullseye. Think of hitting it as the sale. If someone is interested in knowing more about how to use your product, they are probably a good lead. The idea behind the content target is that you write content that is of broad interest, like career advancement for paralegals. Then you follow up with a piece about, say, about the legal discovery process used for evidence collection – a common task. With all those pieces in your blog, attracting readers, then it’s time to write about your legal discovery software and how it can be used to make the job of a paralegal easier and give them more time to focus on skills that will help them advance. So you are progressively moving them toward the bullseye with your content. Hope the content target helps you with your next assignment. Have other ideas? Send them my way. Follow Tim on Twitter, or contact him.

18 Ways to Grow Your Traffic Through Blogging

December 31, 2020June 11, 2015 by Adam Oakley

Blogging is such an incredible tool within content marketing—one of the most powerful ones, too. It gives you a unique ability to reach out to a wider audience and gives you the chance to write on a variety of things from why people need your product to what colors a dress might be. Most importantly, it also gives you the ability to grow your traffic and bring in new visitors, giving you the possibility of increasing revenue. Let’s look at just how you can do this with a few excellent blogging practices. 18 Incredible Ways to Increase Traffic With Great Blogging Practices Just how can you grow your traffic through your blog? Let me walk you through some great points that can help you improve your overall content marketing campaign! Be sure to let me know which of these practices reach out to you in the comments. Blogging Can Increase Rankings and Bring in More Organic Search Traffic. A great reason why blogging can be great to grow your traffic is because it helps you rank higher on the search engines. Organic traffic is great, and the more you blog, the more likely you are to increase that. Remember that each blog you write is just one more landing page that gives readers and visitors a chance to see your web page and products. The more you write, the more landing pages you create, which helps you create more opportunities for your site to rank and be found. Write Different Content Types to Drive Traffic. A good idea to help create blog posts that help drive traffic is to follow some of the findings from Newscred’s social media study. Researchers found that things such as “how-to” posts and lists brought in more social media traffic, as did blogs with evergreen topics. One thing the study also noted is that content types tended to be shared differently at different times throughout the year. This is a good reason as to why you should always research your audience and pay attention to your analytics. You can figure out which blog topics will do best at which times, giving you the chance to create great blog posts that increase traffic. Share Your Blogs on Social Media to Increase Traffic Even More. Increasing traffic to your blog isn’t going to happen as soon as you write and publish. In fact, you are going to need to do a little more work to drive traffic through blogging. A great place to start with is social media. Social media is an incredible way to help boost blog traffic to your site, and you can do so in many different ways. Just work with your social channels and research your analytics to see what things you need to tweak and which things are working well for you. Never Ever Forget About Email Newsletters. Another way to bring in more traffic with and to your blog is to send out information about your blogs in your email newsletters. You can promote a wide variety of things in your newsletters, and your blogs should be one of those items. Encourage readers to click and read your blog postings, and encourage new visitors to your site to sign up for a newsletter to know when you’ve posted a new blog. Write On the Latest, Trendiest Things to Bring in Viewers. Something that can really help drive traffic with your blogs is when you blog about the latest, trendiest items out there. You can blog about new films and how they can inspire people in your industry, use memes that have gone viral, or any other currently trending item to help bring in visitors. Remember, you shouldn’t only focus on viral, trendy content. But it is a great idea to boost traffic. Always Make Sure Your Blogs Have Epic, Impactful Headlines. According to Lindsay Kolowich over at HubSpot, headlines are a vital part of every single content marketing strategy. A headline is what convinces someone to click on your link, which then helps to improve traffic. If you want to boost your traffic through blogging, then always make sure you are creating powerful headlines that encourage people to click. This could be your only chance to bring in new viewers. Utilize Different Keywords, Especially Long-Tail, In Your Blogs. Neil Patel points out that keywords, especially long-tail keywords, are vital to your blogging campaign. You need to make sure you are using excellent keywords that can drive traffic, and you should also make sure you use a variety to bring in a wider audience. Patel shows that you can increase your traffic and clicks by 78 percent when you use long-tail keywords, which is truly remarkable! Use your keywords, and bring in more traffic. Make Sure Your Posts are Perfect for Your Audience. In the article I shared above, Neil Patel also points out how important it is to know your audience and have posts that are specifically for them. Research your demographic and the clients you already have to gather information on what your audience will like and want to see. You can also send out questionnaires and ask your social media followers what type of posts they’d like to see. The more you write posts that are perfect for your audience, the better your chances are of increasing your overall site traffic. Have a Stunning, Professional Blog Layout and Design. Written content isn’t the only thing you should consider when trying to use your blog to drive traffic. You should also consider making sure you have a great and professional blog design with an easy-to-follow layout. This can help encourage your readers to come back and read future blog posts, and can even encourage them to read your past pieces. If your blog looks like it is thrown together, your readers aren’t likely to stick around for very long. Utilize Images, Videos, and Infographics in Your Blog Posts. Along with a great design, you should also focus on visual … Read more

A Guide: 37 Ways To Write Content That Converts

June 19, 2024June 4, 2015 by Adam Oakley

Creating content that converts is something every single website and business owner wants. You want people to come to your site, read your content, and click links to buy services or products. However, you might find it difficult to create content that converts your visitors into leads. I want to share some excellent ways that you can ensure you get great content that will convert your readers into clients, as well as keeping them for the long-term. Let’s take a look at the various aspects of content and specific points within each that can help you craft expert content that helps to generate leads. I. Blogging Blogging is an important aspect of any online campaign because it can bring in visitors and convert them quickly. You need to make sure you add a blog to your website to help generate engagement with your client base, as well as creating something that directs people to the rest of your site. You can do a number of things with a blog, and I am going to look at some of the elements you need to consider when blogging. 1. Use WordPress Only for Blogging. WordPress is a great blogging tool that can help you get some powerful results. There are many reasons why I think this is the best to use for your blogging needs. Some of the reasons are that it is SEO friendly, you can have a great blog design, and WordPress has been around long enough to be a trusted blogging resource. I would suggest using WordPress only for your blogging purposes, but you can use it for your static website, as well. They have a great selection of SEO plugins that help you get the most out of your blog, and so much more. Take a look at their blog platform to see just how easy it is to use and which aspects will benefit your business’s site. 2. Optimize Every Single Post. When you use WordPress, make sure that you optimize every post. WordPress makes it easy for blogs to be optimized to their fullest potential, and you need to take advantage of that. In order to get great optimization, do keyword research and use your low competition keywords in your posts. Make sure you optimize any and every image you use and select a good link name to use for the blog. How can you optimize every single aspect of a blog post with WordPress? I am going to look at that in my next point. 3. Use SEO Plugins On WordPress. As I mentioned earlier, one of the best parts of WordPress is the ability to use SEO plugins to optimize your blog further. There are several great plugins out there, but you need to choose the ones that will benefit you the most. WP Beginner highlights some of the latest SEO plugins you can use such as WordPress SEO by Yoast, SEMRush, and Google Keyword Planner. Take a look at the others listed to find some that can help your blog! You can also choose other plugins that aren’t specifically for SEO; just choose wisely and only choose the ones that will help your site and blog. 4. Use Big, Awesome, Colorful Adjectives in Your Headers. Your headlines and headers are crucial to convincing people to click and read through your blogs. When you create headlines or headers, make sure that you use amazing adjectives that capture attention. As you can see, I used a few in this header, illustrating how powerful, excellent adjectives can make a header. If you are trying to come up with great headlines or headers, you can follow a few suggestions of some of the hottest headlines out there to get started. 5. Use Action Words in Your Headers. Action words in headers are just as important as colorful adjectives because they convince readers to do something as they read. You can use action words in all of your headers, or you can wait until you create your call to action. Whichever way you choose, just keep in mind that you need to convince people to do something more than just reading your post. You can also do a mix of action words in a few headers throughout your blog and at the end for your call to action, which can be quite powerful. 6. Do a Controversial Blog Every Now and Then. Get your readers to sign up for something or go to a page by sharing a similar hatred or anger for something. Humanity is interesting and weird, isn’t it? We tend to do more when we connect with something, and many times that can be something we all feel strongly about and stand against. For example, how many people were willing to do whatever it took to stop the process of major corporations being able to take over the Internet? Several people and it was something that made all Internet users quite angry. When something like Net Neutrality comes up, you can use that as a way to write a blog and get people to act, no matter what the item is. You can also utilize trends like #WheresNatasha or other trends that have people angry or upset about something. 7. Do an Occasional Blog that Revolves Around Humor. Along with focusing on a controversy, focusing on humor is another way to get people to open up their wallets and buy your product. People love to laugh, and if you can make them laugh they will be more willing to buy items or services from you. Always make sure you are following some basic guidelines for using humor in your blog to ensure you have an impactful piece. A few things to remember are to be respectful, know your audience, and stay true to your specific brand. Once you incorporate humor, you will start to see many of your visitors starting to turn into leads. 8. Write Fun, Exciting Blogs On Seasonal Topics. When you … Read more

20 Excellent Content Marketing Tips You Can Learn From Tide

January 1, 2021June 2, 2015 by Adam Oakley

Content marketing is such a fun, interesting part of creating a website that converts. It can be daunting at times, but there are some truly excellent places to garner inspiration from. Sometimes inspiration can come from unexpected places, like the laundry and cleaning products brand, Tide. Let’s look at how they approach content marketing, as well as what you can learn from them. I promise you’ll learn some excellent tips that can help clean up your content marketing approach and make it sparkle. 20 Amazing Tips You Can Apply to Your Content Marketing Tide is a great company with excellent product, and this company is one that knows it needs to focus on content marketing to bring in more clients—and creates great things in their content marketing space. Tide Creates Ads Based Off of Common Problems. When you head over to the Tide landing page, you will see a great section with different blocks of content. There are a wide variety of content pieces, and each one has a chance to answer a problem you have. For me, it addresses how to wash certain types of clothing, which is very helpful. For parents, it addresses things like how to keep your Tide products in an easy-to-reach place while also being out of reach for children. No matter what, Tide has made sure to answer your common laundry questions all on the landing page. Tide Personalizes the Landing Page To You. They do this by showing you a simple weather-in-your-area box. Heading over to Tide’s web page won’t just show you items that address your problems or needs. It is also personalized to show weather in your area. It is awesome to see my town’s name with a little weather widget on a huge brand’s website. Even though I know it is something built into the website, I still feel more of a connection with Tide by seeing something personalized. You Can Go Coupon Crazy on the Site. Who doesn’t like coupons? They help you save money on items you want and need, and we can all use some money saving techniques at some point. Tide knows this and the company makes it easy for you to click on a coupon box and be taken to a list of excellent coupons for your favorite Tide products. You can keep these coupons on your phone or print them off to take with you. Either way you are able to save money on products you need, which can really help lower that grocery bill when you’re checking out. Are You Washing Denim Wrong? As I mentioned in point one, Tide has many content blocks that help with problems you may have. One of mine is knowing just how to wash certain clothes, especially denim. Right there, on the home page, Tide links you to an excellent piece giving you tips and pointers on just how to wash your jeans and other denim products. I find this immensely helpful since washing jeans is something I do quite a bit of. It is great to find this, and while Tide would love for you to choose Tide products for washing clothing, the tips can work with other laundry detergents. This is a perfect example of giving your clients something useful instead of just focusing on selling your product. Tide Utilizes Multiple Content Formats. While perusing through Tide’s website, I realized that there isn’t just one type of content. Tide utilizes multiple content formats to give clients access to every aspect of the site no matter what the client is doing. The company shares videos, images, and written content for clients, which is absolutely perfect. This helps to give clients content they can consume no matter where they are and how much time they have. Help People Out and Look Great Doing So. People love to give back and help others in need, and Tide understands this desire. When you head to the website, you are given the chance to help someone out while getting an excellent, vintage-inspired t-shirt. When you buy a shirt from Tide’s Loads of Hope charity, $4 of your purchase will go towards helping people after a disaster. This is a great idea because it gives people something tangible to have while also helping others after terrible disasters take over their lives. You Get Even More Tips for Keeping Fabrics Safe. Remember how I mentioned that the landing page links to a great denim “how-to”? Well, Tide doesn’t stop there. In fact, the company has a whole list of helpful tips for washing any type of material. No matter if you are washing specific fabrics or need some help with how to de-clutter the laundry you have, Tide is ready with excellent, helpful tips for anyone. This is excellent because the company doesn’t always focus on the products, and readers who don’t purchase Tide products can still get help. This can eventually lead to those readers becoming clients simply because Tide gave them free help. Garment Stories Offer Excellent Advice for Style and Fashion. Tide also gives some fashion and style advice, because that is something clients will love. No, it isn’t specifically related to cleaning materials, but fashion obviously requires clothes, making this a great branch of content inspiration. You can see different “Garment Stories” from Tide, getting excellent tips for what to wear as well as how to care for your clothing. The Site is Laid Out in an Easy-to-Understand Fashion. Something that I really enjoy about Tide’s home page and landing pages is that it is all easy to understand. I can quickly find exactly what I am looking for, and not be inundated with a bunch of content that doesn’t interest me. My eyes scan over the site quickly and naturally, helping me skim until I find something I want or need. What a great example of how a website should be laid out! Tide Gives Helpful Tips for Parents. While not everyone who purchases and uses … Read more

7 Ways to Show the World You’re Worth Listening To

December 31, 2020May 29, 2015 by Sarah Shade

You know that there is no business like show business, right? But who is to say exactly what is meant by “show business”? When you create content, you do so in an attempt to show readers that you know what you are talking about and that they should go to you if they want to learn more or use your service/product. So when it comes to the show business of content creation, how can you make sure your writing is a box office smash? (Or at least a cult hit or award favorite)? 7 Methods To Shout From the Rooftops (Or Get Your Content A Lot of Viewers) There are actually a lot of things you can do to make sure your content is seen by a whole lot of viewers, but here are seven good places to start. 1. The Preview Looked Good: Use Social Media to Attract Readers. Have you ever determined whether you would see a movie based off of its preview? There is a good chance that you have. Here are some things that my friends and I have been known to say after a preview: “I didn’t think I would want to see that, but the preview looked good.” “The preview looked funny, but they probably put all the funny parts in it. So it’s probably not going to be that good.” “I’m disappointed. I thought I was going to like it, but not if the preview is anything to go by.” You have probably said something similar at some point too. So what does that mean for content production? It’s not just the writing itself that counts, it is all the small, social media content you do along the way to advertise for your content. What you say in the Tweet, Facebook post, or summary can be just as important as the actual content. Because it is what viewers are most likely to see first, it is the main component in deciding whether they are going to read on. So you have to grab their attention there if you want to have any chance at grabbing their attention in the long-form post. Moral of this point: If you can’t catch them in the previews, then you are not likely to catch them at all. 2. Be the Headliner: Create Good Headlines. Just like it is the star headliner that is going to draw a lot of the crowd, it is your catchy headline that is going to get people interested in reading your content. So you know that you need to work hard on crafting a great title. Knowing you need a good headline and actually being able to come up with one, though, are two very different things. Not only do you have to get your creative juices flowing in order to write a good title, you also have stop trying so hard because people can always tell when you are trying too hard. Luckily for all of us, there are all sorts of tools to help us create amazing titles. Advanced Marketing Institute. The AMI has a headline tool that allows you to enter your headline and have its Emotional Marketing Value (EMV) ranked. It then walks you through how many EMV words a good headline should have and what type of EMV words you are using (e.g., intellectual EMV). Crazyegg Blog. This post walks you through several ways almost guaranteed to convert readers and tells you why they are successful. The Future of Ink. This post basically gives you some fill in the blank headlines that you can use with your own content. Moral of this point: If the headliner isn’t drawing in crowds, then everything else had better be a hundred times better to make up for it. 3. Open Strong: Create Catchy Intros. After the opening night of a movie or play, reviews are going to come in. That opening could just make or break the show because if it gets all bad reviews, people aren’t likely to come back for the rest of the performances. Think of your opening paragraph as the one that is going to get you the initial reviews. People are going to read it, and then they are going to determine whether they want to read more. If your intro paragraph is getting bad reviews, then no matter how good the rest of the content is, people likely aren’t going to be reading it. On the other hand, if you capture the attention of your readers from your opening lines, then you have a better chance of making it to the end of your run (i.e., getting people to read the entire article.) So don’t ignore that opening paragraph or rush through it to get to the meat of what you are trying to say. Moral of this point: If you want a long run, make sure you get good reviews from the opening. 4. You’re Gonna Be in the Pictures: Use Images. I’m making a long, drawn out analogy here comparing writing to show business, so you can see why images are going to be an important component to what I am saying. If you want to be a success in show business, then you need to actually show something. People like pictures. It’s just a fact of life. That’s why they say a picture is worth a thousand words. A good image will draw the eye so that the potential reader can see that great headline you created, which will cause them to read that opening line that is going to get you great reviews, which will make them read whatever it is you have to say. And all because you caught their eyes with a good image. Images could even help your SEO ranking because Google loves images as much as us mortals. You can find free images on places such as Wikimedia Commons or by searching Flickr’s creative commons images. You can also set up accounts on platforms such … Read more

How to Influence Your Readers & Create Successful Content

June 19, 2024May 28, 2015 by Adam Oakley

Ultimately, with content, blogs, social media – any aspect of maintaining a marketing presence online – the goal is to influence people. Whether you want to coax them to your side, convince them to buy your products, or convert them into loyal followers, your influential power matters. In the beginning, it can feel like a tall mountain to climb. How do you build your reputation, your authority, and your presence so you can reach people in the first place? How do you appeal to them, interest them, and move them? This is a question people have been asking forever. Everybody wants to be liked and respected. We’re all human, and it’s a basic human need. As Dale Carnegie says in his iconic, best-selling book, How to Win Friends and Influence People: “Dealing with people is probably the biggest problem you face, especially if you are in business.” Turns out, the way you approach your online communication is everything. Every single blog post, social media update, direct message, email, comment, and tweet matters. That’s a lot of pressure, but it doesn’t have to be difficult. Instead, focus on a few key areas, and you’ll naturally build up your influence so people will gravitate to you without thinking about it. Consider this your guide to creating successful content that will influence readers positively. Your Guide to Influencing and Winning Over Your Audience with Amazing Written Content [bctt tweet=”How do you build your reputation, your authority, and your presence so you can influence your audience? @JuliaEMcCoy discusses her 7-step guide to create influence with amazing written content. ?” username=”ExpWriters”] Ready to get into how to grow your clout and influence your audience with successful content? Follow these steps: 1. Know Who You’re Talking To First thing’s first: It’s impossible to influence anybody without a tailored, personalized approach. Who are you targeting? Who are you talking to? Without this knowledge, you’ll have no idea how to frame your messages and make them relevant to your readers. So, before you ever begin thinking about how to win people over, first identify who those people are. According to G. Riley Mills for Forbes, there are three main aspects of audience discovery to consider. He applies these to public speaking, but they also may apply to any type of marketing communication. They are: Demographics – General statistics pertaining to your audience group and identifying factors including gender, age, marital status, level of education, occupation, etc. Psychographics – Personal information such as beliefs, values, opinions, loyalties, and feelings. Situational factors – The factors that may change on a day-to-day basis that influence why your audience might seek out your solutions, products, services, or content. Research each of these factors and build your understanding of your audience before you move on to writing content or communicating with them. [bctt tweet=”‘It’s impossible to influence anybody without a tailored, personalized approach. So, before you ever begin thinking about how to win people over, first identify who those people are.’ – @JuliaEMcCoy” username=”ExpWriters”] 2. Know Your Objective (What You Want from the Interaction) What do you hope to gain from posting that new blog, social media update, Instagram photo, or email? When you have a general goal or objective in mind, tailoring your content to perform and complete that goal is much easier. I shoot for three different “goal buckets” whenever I post a new piece of content. If the content won’t fit in one of my buckets or help me to advance toward a goal, I scrap it and move on to the next. [bctt tweet=”‘I shoot for three different ‘goal buckets’ whenever I post a new piece of content. If the content won’t fit in one of my buckets or help me to advance toward a goal, I scrap it and move on to the next.’ – @JuliaEMcCoy” username=”ExpWriters”] 3. Write Content That Moves, Inspires, Entertains, or Educates Your Audience Ultimately, content that’s moving, inspiring, entertaining, or educational is going to be valuable to your audience. If your content doesn’t accomplish any of the above, stop. Re-evaluate your content goals, and set some if you haven’t yet. Then, try these tips in your content. A. Get Personal Getting personal in your content doesn’t necessarily mean sharing every tiny detail of your life (TMI much?) – although you can share relevant experiences, thoughts, and ideas. Instead, it mostly means talking to your audience on a personal level. It means empathizing with them, speaking to their concerns, and relating to them. B. Add an Element of Surprise or Delight Injecting your content with surprise or delight will go a long way toward moving your readers. Use these suggestions to bring more light and life to your words: Use opposites – To jerk your readers out of reading by rote, introduce opposites in your writing. This can apply to anything, including descriptions and metaphors. For example, when describing a problem, compare it to falling into a patch of prickly thorns. Then, flip the script and compare the solution to a cloud of feathers. Embrace the one-liner – When you want your words to throw a punch at your reader, put them on their own line, in a one-sentence paragraph. For great examples of this technique used right, look at Seth Godin’s blog: Share personal anecdotes – Put humanness back in your writing and describe personal examples of whatever you’re writing about, where relevant. For instance, perhaps you experienced the problem you’re discussing or maybe you have a good learning experience to share that relates to your topic. Be yourself – Don’t write to impress. Instead, be yourself. Use idioms and turns-of-phrase you would insert in your speech when talking out loud. Crack bad jokes, litter your writing with puns, or include nerdy Star Wars references, if that’s your M.O. You do you. C. Include Research, Data, Statistics, and Studies Want to truly inform and educate your audience? Turn to research to ensure your content is stuffed to the brim with value. Don’t … Read more

7 Content Marketing Lessons Your Business Can Learn from Marvel’s Superhero Movies

January 1, 2021May 18, 2015 by Josh McCoy

Marvel is one of the biggest, and hottest, production companies right now. It is an incredible place to seek and gain content marketing inspiration from, too! This company has an excellent approach to content marketing, as we can all see with their ad campaigns for their films, including the latest The Avengers: Age of Ultron. (If you have yet to see that film, take the chance to go and have a fun, summer movie experience, all while learning from some of the top marketers and writers in the comic industry.) Just what can you learn from Marvel for your small business and content marketing? This blog is going to look at that and how it can help you create an excellent, effective content marketing strategy that will bring in tremendous success. 7 Tips from a Giant in the Content Marketing World: Marvel What are the lessons you can expect to learn from Marvel? There are many different ones, but I take a look at a few of the top ones that can really help to impact your business. Get ready to take some notes and learn just how to improve your content strategy, and bring in new clients with a superhero-sized plan! Marvel Builds Their Brand Through Content, Constantly. When it comes to the content marketing world, Marvel can’t be beat with their epic content strategy. Their main way of survival is to, obviously, create excellent content, and they make sure that they are always doing so while building their brand through it. The Marvel brand isn’t exactly as it was ten or twenty years ago and this is because they’ve taken the chance to build and grow their brand over the decades. Their superheroes have taken on different elements and have had mega life changes throughout the comic books, and when it comes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we see even more changes to characters and their stories. Marvel has multiple universes with multiple hero and villain story variations, making their content very strong, which helps to make their brand incredibly powerful.How can you apply this to your content strategy? You can easily use your content whether for web, blogs, social media, or any other type to help build your brand and make it better. You can create an incredibly, strong company that people trust just through content, which is what Marvel has been and is doing with their client base. Start working on your content to help create and improve your brand to bring in more clients, as well as helping you keep your existing ones for many years. Marvel Provides Multiple Content Formats for Fans. I’ve mentioned this multiple times when it comes to creating content; multiple formats are vital to your content marketing, and Marvel understands this. If you aren’t a big fan of reading comic books, you don’t have to worry because you can easily go to many different Marvel films to watch superheroes battle it out with villains. In addition, if you prefer comic books to movies, then you are perfectly fine there. You can also watch various Marvel television shows ranging from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to Daredevil, and soon there will be even more Marvel television taking over the TV world. Marvel doesn’t just limit themselves to story-based content, however. They provide access to a variety of things including conventions for their fans and are constantly growing and evolving to meet the demands of the comic fan world.Providing different formats for your clients is a great way to not only give existing customers easier ways to consume content, but also to bring in newer clients. You will be able to reach a wider customer base by doing so, and you will see a significant increase in your views, clicks, and revenue just by providing different formats to your clients. The formats can be anything ranging from YouTube videos to social media content and infographics. Don’t limit yourself; be like Marvel and allow your content to develop in order to grow your client base and business. They Approach the Entirety of Their Universe. Marvel doesn’t just pick and choose which aspect of their universe they will promote and provide content for – they approach it all. They take a holistic type of approach, which helps make their various universes feel consistent. When you approach the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you will see an overlap of heroes and villains throughout several movies, bringing stories from different films together to create a larger, more impressive story. No matter which Marvel film you see, you will see reference to another and another. This is mighty impressive as they have a huge cinematic universe, but it helps make it an incredible experience for fans. This is a great example of what a holistic approach can provide to your content marketing strategy. You aren’t necessarily keeping stories together to create an impressive universe, but if you approach your marketing holistically, you will notice that you have a higher chance of being incredibly successful with your content. A great way to start approaching the entirety of it is to sit down with people in your business to brainstorm ideas across all content formats and fields, helping create a consistent strategy. Once you do that, you can then implement it and watch as the success starts increasing. Vision Isn’t Just an Awesome Avenger. The Avengers: Age of Ultron was an epic film that introduced a few new characters to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including Vision. Vision is a pretty cool character, but his name is also a great example of what Marvel has. When it comes to making films for their cinematic universe, Marvel has an incredible vision and is planning all the way to 2020 and beyond for their releases. If you aren’t sure of just all that Marvel will be releasing, you can take a look at the full calendar. Remember, Marvel does keep releasing news about upcoming films in various phases, and we might just hear of more … Read more

The Great Content Roundup, Week 11: How To Create Engaging Blogs

January 1, 2021May 12, 2015 by Adam Oakley

So I was visiting a toy library with my little daughter (11 months old) last week and the owner was a really neat lady who had a fantastic business model. She had started and now owned and managed this toy library herself (Toybrary, Austin). You pay a monthly fee and check out any toy you want, three at a time. Great idea! She and I eventually got on the topic of blogging, and it was interesting. She already held the prize many bloggers seek—high website Google rankings, exactly where she wanted to be. So, what were the other reasons to blog, if she already had that? She asked. My immediate answer? Engagement. After talking to her and writing a follow-up email, this inspired me to delve into this topic a little more while working this week. How does one create engaging blogs, if that is their goal? And that thought led to…shouldn’t that be the #1 goal of bloggers? Ranking, last? Sure. We blog to rank—no, I mean I really do with our own blog—but how do rankings really bring us actual income? If people convert. And isn’t income and the ROI our goal? So, to get them to that point of conversion, you want them to engage with your content. Therefore, engaging content really should be the #1 goal of blogging, regardless of a ranking goal. (I feel like Sherlock Holmes right now. Elementary, my dear Watson?) Week 11: Creating Blogs That Will Be Read, Loved & Shared Now creating engaging content can be simple, or difficult—depending on your process. Luckily, it doesn’t have to be dependent on your knowledge level! All you have to do is find a writing solution. I think this is a must. Why? Writing your own blogs will KILL your time. Literally. You need to build your business. Not write the blog. So, hire Express Writers. ‘Nuff said. Besides that shameless plug (not really, we prize quality, so you’re actually getting top notch bloggers here)—here are some top-notch resources you can read to get familiar with the whole concept of creating fantastic, awesome blogs. Read and enjoy! ProBlogger’s resource center on blogging: from how to actually craft the post to length, effective titles, schedule suggestions, guest blogging, and more, this is the master resource for those delving into what the meat of actual blogging is all about. I might add the RSS guide is good – always want to have that going for your readers. Hubspot’s A Simple Formula For Writing Kick-A$$ Blog Titles: Excuse the sailor’s mouth, but, this piece is gold on the foundational point of engaging blogging—the title you use for the post. The author outlines exactly how I like to do it: a) actually write your topic (even if it’s bland): get one going b) be accurate c) become sexy d) SEO it e) Shorten f) get another brain involved. Inc’s 74 Blog Titles That Actually Work: This is killer – an infographic, or visual, with 74 working hot title templates. All you have to do is plug in your nouns or subjects into most of these and they will instantly work for you. Wordstream’s How To Write An Awesome Blog Post In Five Steps: Basic, but basically awesome. How do you write awesome blogs? Plan, stay relevant to what interests you (and therefore your readers), research research, fact check, then the headlines & writing, imagery, editing, and there’s more good tips here. 4 Ways to Create an Engaging Blog Experience by Rachel Sprung, on Social Media Examiner: This is definitely for the serious blogger, someone who’s ready to get their web developer involved in making even the whole layout perfect. Interesting how she begins talking about the visual blog layout and responsive design you show people. On our very own blog home page, my designer has worked quite a bit on the unique, responsive design you see. Matching people to their interests is definitely a plus, this will require some building as well on your developer’s part; lastly, she talks about being interactive throughout with yet more visuals (GIFs, etc.). Good tips here, again for the serious blogger. There’s much more out there if you spend a little time on Google, but these were some of my faves on this topic. What are your resources for creating awesome blogs? Please do share in the comments!

How 3 Mega-Successful Companies Use Engaging Content to Make Billions

December 31, 2020May 4, 2015 by Adam Oakley

If you haven’t been living under a rock for the past decade, chances are you’re familiar with Silicon Valley’s wildly successful, technology-based startup businesses Uber, Buffer, and Airbnb. And if you have been living under a rock, welcome to a world where engaging content means billions of dollars in annual revenue for marketing savvy businesses—businesses that were a mere twinkle in their founder’s eyes just months before hitting the ever-elusive yet highly coveted billion dollar revenue mark. Yes, these three commercial venture high rollers—Uber, Buffer, and Airbnb—have a lot in common when it comes to content marketing. So what exactly do these companies have in common when it comes to content marketing? The answer to that question is quite simple—engaging content. These three multi-billion dollar businesses offer undeniable proof that engaging copy is more than just trendy buzzwords spewed forth during techy sales meetings with newbie CEOs who are barely out of diapers. Engaging content is a genuine, bonafide way for a company to gain exposure, build loyalty, and generate interest from millions of potential customers. Successful companies like Uber, Buffer, and Airbnb realize the power of engaging copywriting, and if you own or manage a business, it’s time you realized its power as well. Engaging Content: It’s More Than Just Words on a Webpage By now you’re probably thinking, “Ok, engaging content is a big deal. But what exactly is engaging content?” (Either that or you could be thinking about… “A cinnamon raisin bagel and a vanilla latte would be totally awesome right now.”) How 3 Companies Are Using Content To Kill It In Revenue But assuming you’re thinking the former, let’s take a moment to clarify the difference between content and engaging content. In other words, let’s take a moment to clarify the difference between run-of-the mill, off-target content and stellar content that engages a company’s target audience and facilitates exponential company growth. Immensely profitable companies like Uber, Airbnb, and Buffer only use content that is very engaging in their marketing campaigns, and the results are nothing short of awe-inspiring. Uber: Engaging Content Means Videos. The peer-to-peer driving company Uber uses videos as a primary source of content marketing. But we’re not talking about mundane videos of cars cruising around a city block picking up a guy in a suit who happens to need a ride to the airport. No, Uber is much too in-the-know when it comes to engaging video content to churn out something so dry and uninteresting. Instead, Uber focuses its video content on the unique and diversified people who drive for their company or who use their services as a way to get where they need to be. In one of Uber’s blogs titled, “Your Drivers. Our Partners. Their Stories.” you can watch a video that details the lives and experiences of some of Uber’s drivers. Upon watching the video, you immediately feel a sense of relatability and you gain a better understanding of how the company operates. And even though each driver mentions several times throughout the video that working for Uber is the best job they’ve ever had, it doesn’t come across as contrived or preachy. Instead, it’s done in a way that helps establish company trust and helps portray Uber as a company that listens to and cares about its employees.But the best and perhaps most engaging feature in Uber’s video is the people; the everyday citizens just like you, just like me, and just like the people who are most likely to use Uber’s services. Using real drivers instead of actors in their video helps Uber connect with their customers on a more personal level while still demonstrating the value of the service they have to offer. You get to see faces and names of real people associated with the company, and then you realize that it’s these same people who may be giving you and your toy poodle Mr. Bojangles your next ride to the dog park. You feel a sense of neighborliness, a sense of connection, and perhaps most importantly, a sense of being totally comfortable with using Uber’s service. The video’s sincere, relatable realism speaks to Uber customers, potential customers, and potential drivers alike, which is a huge factor in why the company is now worth an estimated $40 billion. Airbnb: Surprise! Print Media Isn’t Dead! And For Airbnb, It’s Actually Quite Engaging! Yes, you read that correctly. When it comes to engaging content, print media can be just as useful, worthwhile, and successful as a webpage or video. Who knew, right? Actually, Airbnb knew. The hospitality website, which connects travelers with home owners willing to rent a room in their house, recently launched their print media venture Pineapple, a magazine that caters to both Airbnb hosts and travelers. Airbnb chose the name “Pineapple” for their magazine because the fruit was a symbol of hospitality in colonial New England, and hospitality is what Airbnb is all about.But what’s so compelling about Airbnb’s first magazine addition is that it came with a simple yet poignant mission statement that tells the reader the main purpose and focus of the magazine: “to explore our fundamental values: sharing, community and belonging,” and to “inspire and motivate exploration, not just within the cities featured, but within any space a reader finds themselves.”Why is this message so important, and why does it fall under the category of engaging content? Because the primary purpose of Airbnb is to connect people who have a need for something with people who have something to offer. In other words, Airbnb’s basis for operations is human connection and bringing people closer together in the name of travel, adventure, and exploration. People who are most likely to use Airbnb’s services are those who value the importance of everything in Pineapple magazine’s mission statement—exploration, sharing, and a sense of community and belonging.You can follow Pineapple’s engaging mission statement throughout its glossy, picture-loaded pages (again, kudos to Airbnb for its use of engaging visual content) as you read articles like … Read more

A Story Of Brand Marketing: Why GE Is An Awesome Content Creator

December 31, 2020April 30, 2015 by Adam Oakley

Brand recognition in the twenty-first century is an uphill battle, but with a bit of forethought, any brand can position itself where the users are. The hardest part is engaging the users and getting their feedback. This is something that GE has managed to do successfully. Using Reddit (one of the most difficult social media platforms for brand recognition) as its base, GE has managed to woo users to their side by providing high quality content consistently, so much so that their e-zine GE Reports is now considered as relevant and important as older publications in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) field. But how exactly did GE manage to do this? How did they place themselves in such a great position compared to their peers? Their strategy is both admirable and inspiring, doing all the things content producers should be doing right. A Big Secret: Knowing the Audience When GE set off on the task of making its brand known for something, they first had to figure out the audience they were creating content for. GE is an engineering company at heart and the obvious audience for them would be engineers and other professionals in STEM fields. The things that interest these types of readers are not what you would consider mainstream content. GE, being a leader in innovation, realized that their audience was made up of people who wanted to know what was going on in science and technology around them. And so GE’s brand marketing strategy was born. GE started producing a series of articles that recapped and encapsulated new discoveries in the field of science and technology in a way that was accessible, not only to STEM professionals, but to anyone who had an interest in new discoveries. What they discovered was that although a large percentage of their core audience were STEM professionals, there were as many readers that were laymen tuning into their content since it was so approachable. The key behind this easy entry was the type of writing that was involved to build these articles. Human Interest Factor: 3 Methods GE Won At Doing GE Reports doesn’t go the traditional route of science reporting. Rather, they focus on the individuals behind the discoveries. What motivated them? What made them decide to explore this particular field of interest? Dry science writing went out with the 80’s and more science and technology magazines were focusing on a different style of science writing: one that sees the inventors and researchers as people first. Human interest stories always get mileage, but combining it with technological breakthroughs was a master stroke of genius. Channels of Interaction: Success With Email? Marketing a brand is about marketing its message and for a brand to become recognized, it needs to get its name out there. Paid channels of marketing isn’t usually a major factor for GE Reports. Most of its users know about it from Reddit or from Twitter, thanks to the massive following on the social media sites. Facebook also figures into its equation, but the surprise factor in GE Reports marketing strategy is its use of email subscriptions.GE knows email is old school, but they also know that their impact comes from personal interaction and bringing out the human side of a story. Email allows for far more interaction with an individual on a personal level and goes hand in hand with their article style. Email gives GE Reports personality and that is something a lot of brand marketing seems to lack these days. Loyalty is a Major Seller. Recently, the thinking behind social media for large marketing companies is to sink a lot of money into a targeted ad campaign. This doesn’t win over an audience, but simply “rents” them. At the end of the campaign it’s unlikely that that same audience would care to purchase from that brand again. It relies heavily on gimmicks and the ability to go for a quick sell. GE’s strategy is the complete opposite. GE Reports focuses on building a community as opposed to simply renting an audience, something that can be very useful to GE in the long run. Why Are Loyal Users Important? Going back to the idea of understanding an audience, the more you interact with an audience is the more likely you are to understand them and the more able you are to spot content that would sit well with them. In addition to that, GE serves as a hub for the latest news and opinions on the cutting edge of science. By cultivating a community, they ensure that not only readers are able to get the information they want to read, but that media outlets are clued in to what is the “next big thing”. This makes them as much of an authority site as any other science and technology outlet that has been in existence for years, all because of their dedicated community that shares and adds to the rich tapestry that is their user base. It’s not about Quantity, It’s About Quality. The thing that sets GE’s brand marketing strategy apart from those of their competitors (and indeed, anyone else in the field of brand marketing) is their dedication to the delivery of quality content. Good content is any entry that enriches the user in some way, either by teaching them something new, informing them of a development or giving them an opinion on something that is worth talking about. GE fulfils this demand admirably, consistently delivering content that appeals to its user base without compromising the usefulness of the content. Isn’t Brand Marketing about Marketing? Brand marketing isn’t simply about marketing, and that’s where a lot of brand marketers fall woefully short. GE goes about brand marketing via another more traditional route. They include their marketing into their content, but their content comes first and the marketing aspect comes after. The idea of a marketing blog should be to inform and enrich your readers before you start working on them as … Read more