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How Creating a Holiday Content Marketing Strategy Helps Your Business

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Holiday Content Marketing Strategy Header

The holiday season is a special time of year. Many of us spend time with friends and family, give thanks for the things we have, and share gifts with our loved ones. But when you run a business, the holiday season is likely the busiest time of the year for you. Planning in advance and creating a holiday content marketing strategy can help take some of the stress out of the holiday season for your business. Quality holiday content marketing can help you connect with your audience, appeal to new customers, and increase your brand awareness. If you are unsure where to begin with your holiday content, this guide can help you get started. What Are the Benefits of Having a Holiday Content Marketing Strategy? If you’ve never put together a holiday content strategy or tracked the analytics of your holiday content, you might not realize that there are a number of benefits for your business. Here are a few: 1. Increases Demand for Your Products and Services Consumers spend more during the holiday season than any other time of year. This naturally leads to an increased demand for products and services. With consumers in an active buying stage, this is an ideal time to roll out time-sensitive offers. These deals also work well with Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotions and give customers an increased sense of urgency or a fear of missing out (FOMO). With the right holiday content marketing strategy, you can showcase high-value products and cater to customers who are ready to buy or could be ready more quickly. 2. Improves Brand Awareness With clever, memorable content during the holidays, you can give your brand awareness a boost. By creating customer-focused, engaging content for each holiday between Halloween and New Year’s Day, you can find a new target audience and build your loyal following. 3. Unleashes Your Creativity Customers respond best to creative, relatable content. The holiday season is the perfect time of year to show off the more personable side of your business. This type of content presents the chance to add some fun to your brand image. While you might not use this relaxed type of content any other time of year, the holidays give you more freedom to try new strategies and new content types. The addition of personality may earn you new customers and brand fans. So, don’t be afraid to take some risks. With so much holiday content out there, you don’t want to get lost in uninspired content. 4. Grows Your Business With a creative holiday content marketing strategy, you can potentially attract and retain new customers. This makes the holiday season the ideal time for business growth. In addition, keep an eye on the performance of your content during the holiday season and then implement some of the strategies that perform well in other parts of the year. This will be especially important if you discover a new strategy for your content. 5. Offers Opportunities for New Product Launches The holiday season gives many businesses the unique opportunity to release new products and services. That’s why you’ll often see big tech innovations come out near the holidays. Plus, many consumers enjoy holiday-themed products. If this is something your business can offer, consider releasing some limited-time products. Promote these new products on social media and through your other holiday content. Customers who are drawn in by your fresh products might be enticed to stay and buy other non-holiday products. You’ll find this is true if the new product performs well for them. 12 Content Marketing Strategies to Try During the Holiday Season Since most folks celebrate something during the winter holiday season, not having a content strategy for the holidays really isn’t an option. Take advantage of the buzz and popularity with a few different strategies. Here are 12 specific actions you can take to improve your holiday-themed content. 1. Start Early You might still feel the lingering heat of the summer, even if the leaves have already started changing color. No matter what season it is, you can never start planning too early for your holiday content. Do some market research to see what people are interested in this year, check out your competition’s content, you can even start planting hints of your upcoming content months in advance. It’s important to carve out plenty of time to craft creative, engaging content that will help you stand out from your competition, especially if your sales pick up in Q4. 2. Capitalize on Black Friday and Cyber Monday Consumers and businesses have long been conditioned to expect great deals and compelling offers during the holiday season. If it’s difficult for you to give customers a significant discount, think of a way to add value to your products or services. For example, if you are a B2B business, you could offer a free consultation with the purchase of a corresponding service. Use the first tip and start teasing your Black Friday/Cyber Monday offers in advance through email marketing. This will build anticipation. Then make your deal even more enticing by offering it for a limited time. It’s a great idea to include a countdown timer on the offer page to increase the FOMO. You could even take the opposite route like outdoor brand REI did with its #OptOutside campaign. It closed all its stores on Black Friday and encouraged people to head outside. Even though it was a controversial choice, it got people talking about the brand and made them a little more human. 3. Be Inclusive While the holiday season is packed full of traditions, you should consider moving beyond the norm to be more inclusive with your content. Many customers will quickly turn away from a brand if they feel its messaging excludes certain groups. Target did a great job of creating inclusive content with its 2021 holiday ad. To be more inclusive with your holiday content, consider: Staying neutral: Instead of focusing on and naming specific holidays, focus your … Read more

#ContentWritingChat Recap: Developing a Content Strategy in 2022

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Content Writing Chat recap

Does your brand have a content strategy in place for the year ahead? If not, it’s time to make a change! A content strategy encourages you to have a purpose behind the content you’re posting, while also helping you reach your business goals. Plus, it’ll help you stay consistent. When your content is already planned out, there’s no need to question what to post next. So, you may be wondering… How do I create an effective content strategy? Well, we have some answers for you in this #ContentWritingChat recap. #ContentWritingChat Recap: Developing a Content Strategy in 2022 Happy February and welcome to #ContentWritingChat! 😊 Today, we'll be chatting all about developing an effective content strategy for 2022. 📝 pic.twitter.com/HZfBrVKt6B — Express Writers | Your Content Writing Partner (@ExpWriters) February 1, 2022 To ensure 2022 is a success for your brand, it’s time to take your content seriously. For this month’s community chat, we went over some key elements of crafting a content strategy. Q1: What are the primary benefits of having a content strategy for your brand? A1. The primary benefit would be that having a content strategy allows you to consistently create quality aligned with the values of your brand and you can build a credible reputation with your audience that should keep them coming back. #contentwritingchat — Andrew C. Belton, MBA (@AndrewCBelton) February 1, 2022 As Andrew pointed out, it’s all about consistency. Having a content strategy allows you to be consistent in your posting frequency, but it also helps you to be consistent in creating content that’s aligned with your brand. What you publish online should be a reflection of your brand’s mission and its values. A1: The main benefit of having a content strategy is consistency. When you have your content planned out, you'll know what you need to be posting. No scrambling to come up with ideas or complaining you don't know what to post. #ContentWritingChat — Rachel | Mindset Coach + NLP Practitioner (@rachmoffett) February 1, 2022 With a strategy in place, your content will be all planned out. This means you’ll never have to wonder what to post about, nor will you be scrambling for ideas at the last minute. A1. Having a content schedule increases the chances that you’ll consistently add value for your audience. I’m all for inspiration, though I’ve found it’s more likely to happen when you’re not worried about filling space or meeting deadlines. #ContentWritingChat — Dana Lemaster (@DanaLemaster) February 1, 2022 Dana feels inspiration is more likely to strike when you aren’t worried about filling a content calendar or meeting deadlines. So, don’t be afraid to plan ahead to create more consistency in your posting schedule. Q2: Creating a content strategy starts with knowing your goals. How can you ensure the content you publish online will help you achieve big things? A2: Start with your audience goals, then look at your goals (your goals should be a sub set of audience goals) Make the match and use connect as a channel to get the message across #ContentWritingChat — Kushlani De Silva #fitmarketing (@kushlani_ds) February 1, 2022 You definitely want to keep your goals in mind when it comes to planning out your content. You can use your goals to shape the kind of content you’re publishing in terms of formats, topics, etc. A2. Identify what topics are interesting to the target audience as well as identifying pain-points that they may be concerned about and want to learn about. The content would be informative, build credibility and tie into business objectives #contentwritingchat — Andrew C. Belton, MBA (@AndrewCBelton) February 1, 2022 It always goes back to finding ways you can serve your audience. Create content based on what’s interesting to them and what will address their pain points. Q3: Where do you get fresh content ideas that will appeal to your audience? a3 i follow content creators that really inspire me to get fresh ideas. ⚠️ we don't have to invent the wheel, we just need to associate things, create new connections#contentwritingchat — joana rita sousa 🦄 💩💎 (@JoanaRSSousa) February 1, 2022 Sometimes it’s as simple as seeing what your favorite creators are talking about. That can help generate tons of new ideas! A3: Social Media, articles, and as of late challenges cited by clients. Best way to appeal to your audience is to learn about what they want to learn/do #ContentWritingChat — Kushlani De Silva #fitmarketing (@kushlani_ds) February 1, 2022 Kushlani finds that scrolling social media, reading articles, and talking to her clients about challenges can be a great source of inspiration for her content strategy. A3. Research studies/reports, polls, news, industry changes oftentimes provides me with content ideas. #contentwritingchat #contentmarketing — Andrew C. Belton, MBA (@AndrewCBelton) February 1, 2022 Andrew turns to research studies, polls, and the latest news to help him generate content ideas. A3. I’m a voracious reader, watch all kinds of films & TV shows, do online chats, talk with people. And I’m a big believer in asking your audience what they’d like-it’s usually the easiest way to find out. #ContentWritingChat — Dana Lemaster (@DanaLemaster) February 1, 2022 Dana said watching all different genres of TV and movies is helpful for her when she needs to get the creative juices flowing. And of course, you can’t go wrong with simply asking your audience what they’d like to see from you. They’ll share their thoughts. Q4: How do you decide if it’s worthwhile to invest in a new content format? Do you follow the trends or stick to what you know? A4: When it comes to choosing your content formats, go for something that appeals to your audience and showcases your strengths. However, you shouldn't be afraid to test out something new! #ContentWritingChat — Rachel | Mindset Coach + NLP Practitioner (@rachmoffett) February 1, 2022 The content formats you choose should fit two main requirements: it should showcase your strengths and appeal to your target audience. This will increase your odds for success. a4 … Read more

7 Ways Content Is Setting the Trends for SEO & Google Algorithms

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7 Ways Content Is Setting the Trends for SEO & Google Algorithms

There’s just no veiling this fact, folks: Content has been king for a while now. Bill Gates forecasted this all the way back in 1996. In 2013, Entrepreneur told us to ditch the cold call sales technique and invest in blogs and Twitter instead. Notable sources like Copyblogger forecasted 2013 would be the year of the writer. There are over 6 billion web pages in existence, both active and inactive. About half a million new pages are created and published daily. That’s a lot of web content to sift through, and Google is there to make sure specific pages get to the top. That begs the question: How is content impacting it all? How Is Content Setting the Trends? So how exactly is content setting the trends for how Google looks at, ranks, and values their indexable pages? Worthy question. Let’s take a dive through that sea! ? [bctt tweet=”About half a million new web pages are published daily. That’s a lot of content to sift through, and Google is there to make sure specific pages get to the top. ? @JuliaEMcCoy asks: How is content setting the trends?” username=””] 1. People Want Relevancy They want topics relevant to their likes, as well as topics that flow with current trends. If you’re still busy waxing eloquent on how amazing Brave was while everyone else is going on about Frozen, you’re like the person who wears socks with their sandals. Relevant topics are the only way you are going to gain and maintain readership. This might seem a little frustrating, especially if your topic doesn’t seem to be the most relevant out there, but finding ways to make it mesh with its surroundings will help immensely. You can use some SEO copywriting tips such as creating an eye-catching title, having a strong start to your content and having a strong call to action. This will help readers feel your topic is relevant, get you further up on that Google search page, and, in the end, get you more readers. 2. People Want Content Content is important to the average web browser and internet user. Information — literally on any topic under the sun — is all around us and out there for the curious. We can google any topic or question and get an answer in seconds. In today’s information explosion, good, trustworthy content matters. It satisfies our curiosity, answers our questions, alleviates our fears, and eases our pain. Readers like to get information quickly, but they also want to know they’re receiving it from a knowledgeable source. If your content is too short, people may suspect you’re not as knowledgeable as you seem, especially in the age of article regurgitation. It seems everyone is an expert on spitting out the informational bare bones, but not many are experts in delving into the juicy meat of a subject. “But what about those casual browsers?” you ask. By offering a heartier wealth of information, you have the potential to turn those casual readers into intent readers, hungry for more information. 3. People Love In-Depth Discussions You’re used to hearing that you need to have short and concise blogs to attract more readers, but the reality is Google ranks blogs with higher word counts and quality content. This is because they believe people are more likely to stick with an article that’s longer than the short, concise article we’ve all been told is important. People want to see that lengthy post. They may not read every single word, but they’ll believe you are the authority on your topic if the post is longer. That might seem strange, but think about how you feel when you search for an article. Do you prefer a site that seems much more knowledgeable, with lengthy descriptions, or one that barely gives any discussion on the topic? 4. Quality Is Mega-Important in the Game of Google While long, in-depth content is a factor in ranking with Google, another important factor is the quality of your content. If all you do is write specifically for the search engine and sacrifice quality in hopes of getting more viewership, you’ll find that you rank a lot lower than you initially thought you would. Google wants to make sure the content they rank is quality, something that is filled with interesting and engaging information. Whatever your niche, make your content incredibly valuable to people interested in your product or topic. Give facts that aren’t too well known, try to stay away from the generic, overdone articles. Find ways to implement relevant pop culture references to connect what you are discussing with something that the majority of people love. If you are a little confused as to what’s relevant, just pop onto Facebook, wade through all the Buzzfeed quizzes and find the stuff people are posting about. When it comes to finding your site at the top of a Google search, the more quality blogs, or content, you have is important. It is another part of the new Google algorithm, according to Jeff Quipp over at the Huffington Post. You also want to be seen as an authority on your topic. Need more insight on ranking in the top of Google? Get our in-depth checklist right here. 5. Authorship Matters In the game of Google, you rank, or you lose. There is no middle ground. Well, OK, it isn’t as intense as Game of Thrones says it is, but close enough. You want your page to rank in order to get those readers. Readers don’t like to sift through page after page to find what they are looking for, so eventually they will give up the further down the search page they go. If Google sees you as an authority in your field, they will rank you higher than those whom they do not deem to be experts. By combining quality content with Google authorship, your page will surely find itself ranking high. 6. Blogging Is Important for Gaining (and Keeping) Customers … Read more

Why Does Content Work? Plus, 39 Reasons You Should Invest in Content

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Why Does Content Work? Plus, 39 Reasons You Should Invest in Content

You’ve heard content being praised time and time again by marketers. (Myself included.) But, why does content work? In today’s shifting business world, they say, content marketing is the way to go. It beats paid ads and other forms of traditional marketing by a long shot. (90% of consumers find custom content useful. Compare this to Facebook ad ROA, which sits at .66x. What kind of content works? Educational, useful, blog content. 3 out of 4 of internet users read blogs regularly.) We know content works. And although you believe what the experts are saying, you wonder: why? Why does content work? What’s the science behind it? Should you start your own content marketing campaign? Let’s dig into the data to find out! Why Does Content Work? Plus, 39 Reasons You Should Invest in Content – Table of Contents What Kind of Content Works? 1. Content with a Strategy 2. High-Quality Content 3. Consistent Content Why Does Content Work? 40 Reasons to Invest in Content Marketing Does Content Work? How to Move Forward with Your Marketing Goals [bctt tweet=”Why does content work? What’s the science behind it? ‍ Should you start your own content marketing campaign? Dig into the data with @JuliaEMcCoy via the Write Blog ” username=”ExpWriters”] What Kind of Content Works? Before we dive into why content marketing works, it’s important to point out that not all content works. You can’t just get on your keyboard and type up a frenzy of random blogs to publish online. Doing this is a waste of time, energy, and even money. So, what kind of content should you be producing? Here are three things to aim for. 1. Content with a Strategy Approaching content marketing without content strategy is like going on a trip without a destination. No matter how many miles you travel, you’ll never reach your goal because you don’t know exactly what your goal is. To keep your content from going in circles, you need to develop a content strategy. This is your master plan and blueprint. It’ll guide you on what type of content to create, the target audience to create it for, where to publish it and how often, and all the details that’ll make your content unique, purposeful, and powerful. 2. High-Quality Content When publishing content, remember that quality trumps quantity every single time. And when I say quality, it’s not just making sure your blogs are free of grammatical errors. It’s superb content. Share-worthy content. Content that gets your audience hooked. So, if you’re tempted to click publish on the mediocre blog you wrote, just stop. Publishing a day or two late is better than damaging your online authority with low-quality content. 3. Consistent Content That being said, try your best to stick to a regular schedule. Your readers will lose interest if you publish content randomly and inconsistently. If you’re having trouble writing everything yourself, hiring an awesome content writer is a promising and profitable step. [bctt tweet=”What kind of content should you be producing? 3 things to aim for: 1) Content with a strategy 2) High-quality content 3) Consistent content ⌚” username=”ExpWriters”] Why Does Content Work? 40 Reasons to Invest in Content Marketing Let’s start with exactly why content works, then explore statistics that’ll get you excited about content marketing. 1. Why Does Content Work? Content works because of what the buyer’s journey is like today. Buyers nowadays can’t be bullied into an old-fashioned sales funnel. They don’t like feeling “sold,” or “closed.” Instead, they want to feel powerful. They want to be in control during every step they take towards the solution they’re looking for. So no, you can’t put your audience into a rigid, linear sales funnel. What you can do is offer them value. For instance, let’s say your potential client wants to feel attractive and confident with a flashy white smile. If you’re selling teeth whitening products, you can do two things: Bombard your prospect with paid ads, or Teach your prospect how to whiten his teeth through quality content. As you’ve guessed, your prospect will respond positively to your brand if you choose the second option. He’ll see you as an authority in your industry. He’ll trust you. He’ll consider your expert advice and feel attracted to your product. That’s how content marketing works. [bctt tweet=”Buyers nowadays can’t be bullied into an old-fashioned sales funnel. They don’t like feeling sold or closed. Instead, they want to feel powerful. ” username=”ExpWriters”] 2. Your Audience is Constantly Online In the U.S. alone, 81% of people go online on a daily basis. Of this number, 28% are online constantly, and 45% go online more than once a day. 3. The Number of Internet Users is Growing Each Year Today, there are 4.54 billion internet users worldwide. That’s more than half the total population of the world! 4. There Are Six Billion Searches on Google Per Day That’s 230 million searches every hour, and two trillion searches per year. 5. Google Is the Number One Place People Go When Searching for a New Product or Brand Every single day, hundreds of millions of people go to Google to perform shopping-related searches. 6. People Are Spending More and More Time on the Internet Source: thenextweb.com The Philippines leads the pack on total time spent on the internet with a whopping nine hours and forty-five minutes per day. Worldwide, it’s six hours and forty-three minutes per day (the same number with the U.S.). 7. 90% of B2B Marketers Use Content as Part of Their Strategy The brands using content for marketing aren’t all small. In fact, hugely successful brands like Toshiba, Cisco, and Marriott all take advantage of content marketing. 8. A Huge Chunk of Marketers are Investing in Content Marketing It’s not just B2B marketers, it’s B2C marketers as well. 70% of all marketers now invest in content marketing. 9. 3/4 of All People Who Use the Internet Read Blogs Regularly That’s 3.4 billion people who’d potentially be interested in reading … Read more

How a Content House Sets a Foundation for Consistent ROI (Plus, How to Get Your Own House Started)

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How a Content House Sets a Foundation for Consistent ROI (Plus, How to Get Your Own House Started)

You’ve heard it countless times: Content is king. But what if I told you this isn’t true? To explain that further, what if I told you royalty-level content simply isn’t enough to make you win online? No matter how great your content is, it’ll get you nowhere unless you know where to focus when you publish it. Content might be king, but your audience and your place of publishing is what rules the kingdom. And wouldn’t you rather own a castle in a kingdom, rather than wear an empty crown? I call this concept a content house. (I teach this original concept in my book, Practical Content Strategy and Marketing, and in my 6-week educational Content Strategy & Marketing course.) In today’s blog, I’ll give you a sneak peek into my original concept and answer questions including: Why is a content house important? How do I build my own profitable content house? Is there anything to avoid when building my content house? Ready to dive in? Let’s go. ⬇️ [bctt tweet=”@JuliaEMcCoy has a sneak peek on the Write Blog at an original concept from her content strategy course: the content house. Why is a content house important? How do you build your own content house? Learn more ” username=”ExpWriters”] How to Build an ROI Foundation with a Content House (Plus, How to Get Your Own House Started) – Table of Contents What to Avoid When Building Your Content House What Exactly is a Content House? How to Create a Solid Content House in Three Steps 1. The Foundation of Your Content House: Knowing Your Audience and Creating a List of Long-Tail Keywords 2. The Walls of Your Content House: Quality, Consistent Content and Optimized Web Pages 3. The Roof of Your Content House: Measuring Success (And Failure) What to Avoid When Building Your Content House What you shouldn’t do when creating a content house is build it on someone else’s property. Facts here, family. Think of it like real estate. You get a lease on a piece of land and lay the foundation for a house. Slowly, you work on the house until it’s strong and beautiful. You furnish the house to make it unique. But what happens when the landowner decides to end your lease? You guessed it. Your house comes crashing down. All those years of persistent effort to build it boil down to nothing. Today, it’s tempting to focus effort on building a content house on someone else’s property. For instance, there’s social media. Since there are 3.8 billion social media users, why not create a ton of content for Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter? Source: We Are Social Or why not focus on guest blogging to gain credibility, leads, and higher ROI for your brand? The answer is the same for all: These platforms don’t belong to you. And since they don’t, you never can be sure they won’t change in the future, leaving you to scramble for another platform to start from scratch. [bctt tweet=”What you shouldn’t do when creating a content house is build it on someone else’s property. #contentstrategy ” username=”ExpWriters”] As an example, consider what happened with HuffPost. In January of 2018, HuffPost announced it would close its contributors’ platform. This came as a shock to the 100,000 writers who owned accounts on HuffPost. As a contributor myself, I lost my HuffPost login overnight. Did I panic? Weep because I lost years of hard work building content on the platform? No. Far from it! My hard work was safe. In fact, Express Writers lost no traffic with the close of my HuffPost contributor account. Why? Because I had a solid content house built on the right platform: my own website. What Exactly is a Content House? Your content house is your presence online. It’s filled with consistent, quality content created to fulfill, enrich, and educate your audience. Of course, your content house needs real estate to rest on. This real estate is your website. You need to have your own domain first, and then to focus on building it up like a house with content your audience can use to improve their lives. When you start with this and treat social media marketing and guest blogging as secondary, you’re on your way to achieving huge ROI for your brand. [bctt tweet=”What is a #contenthouse? It’s your presence online. It’s filled with consistent, quality content created to fulfill, enrich, and educate your audience. #contentstrategy” username=”ExpWriters”] How to Create a Solid Content House in 3 Steps To build a content house, you need to start with your foundation: knowing your audience and researching long-tail keywords. Then, you need build upwards from there, crafting quality content and optimizing your pages with keywords. Finally, attach metrics to your house to track how well it’s doing and find out which elements need to change and what content needs to be updated. Let’s get into each of these steps one by one. 1. The Foundation of Your Content House: Knowing Your Audience and Creating a List of Long-Tail Keywords Before you start writing anything, you need to know who you’re addressing and what you’ll write. Without these two key elements, your content will be flat, generic, and useless. A. Who to Address When Crafting Content The main goal of your content is to enrich people’s lives. Your readers should see you as an authority in your industry, and trust that you have what it takes to solve their problems and help them reach their dreams. The problem is, what are these people’s problems and dreams? If you don’t know your audience on a personal level, it’s impossible to reach out and help them better their lives. So, the first step you should take when building your content house is to find out exactly who your audience is. You can start with a tool like Google Analytics. This tool helps you track your site visitors and gain information such as their age, gender, and location. Next, you want to … Read more

How to Create a Content Strategy for Your Content Marketing (Video)

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How to Create a Content Strategy for Your Content Marketing (Video)

With over 78 million people in the US alone blocking ads, garnering the term “adlergic,” creating smart content that reaches our target consumers has gotten more critical than ever. Content marketing is smart marketing in an age where our consumers are looking for what they want, when they want it. Content marketing WORKS tremendously well. But, it doesn’t hit those HUGE return numbers without a smart content strategy. The best content marketers use a strong content strategy. It’s true – Content Marketing Institute’s benchmark study says the most successful content marketers are far more likely than their less successful peers to have a documented content marketing strategy (65% vs. 14%)! So, you have to know your content strategy to achieve real content marketing success. Not sure how to do that? You’re in luck! Learn how to put together an effective content strategy for powerful marketing, in my new video. [bctt tweet=”Watch as @JuliaEMcCoy discusses the 6 cores involved in a high-performing content strategy for your #contentmarketing ” username=”ExpWriters”] How to Create a Content Strategy for Your Content Marketing (Video)  Video Transcription: How to Build a Strong Content Strategy for Your Content Marketing If you know me, you already know how much I LOVE content marketing. I’ve been preaching it, writing books about content strategy and marketing, and practicing it since 2011. Heck, I’ve got ‘serial content marketer’ and ‘content hacker’ in all my social media bios. I believe in content marketing and a smart content strategy because, simply put, it WORKS to build a real audience today. Content is one of the LOWEST-COST, highest-ROI marketing efforts you could be doing, especially if you focus on your onsite presence. SEO content leads have a 14.6% close rate, as opposed to outbound leads (1.7% close rate!) Through a smart content strategy and content marketing, inside eight years, I’ve built a seven-figure digital agency. I haven’t had to show up to any office – at all – in those seven years. I haven’t had to cold call. I fired my commission sales rep over three years ago because content marketing works so well! Our story of growth through content has gone around town. Neil Patel has featured it on his site (this study is fairly old – we’re at 2,500 visitors/day organically now), and we were even interviewed and featured on Forbes. BUT – before I got smart on my content marketing strategy, let me tell you, my content was a HOT MESS! I was publishing with no results, just hitting publish, publish, and in a hamster wheel of content efforts. After figuring out our content strategy, I almost TRIPLED our agency’s monthly income! Keep watching for the full story, and the lowdown on the six content strategy cores I still use today for powerful results. Before we go any further, hit that subscribe button! I want you back here! Click on the banner below to visit my YouTube channel and subscribe. The Backstory: Before I Put a Content Strategy In Place, Here’s What My Content Marketing Results Looked Like Okay, so quick backstory before I go into the six content strategy cores you should be putting into practice for real content marketing results. From my beginning year of 2011 all the way up until about 2015, I was a stressed-out, struggling marketer. I was producing content in a whirlwind of deadlines, just to keep my “online presence” afloat. My agency made money, and we got leads… but not enough. It always seemed we’d ride by with nothing to show for it each month. Why can’t my marketing WORK? I’m creating content daily! I was thinking to myself. Fast-forward to 2016. After working for five years in my agency, I decided a “spray-and-pray” approach just wasn’t good enough. I settled in, stood back, and taught myself how to be strategic. I tested, analyzed, and surveyed. Then, I applied a series of strategic moves to my content marketing, started publishing less, and focused on the right things. And it paid off… In less than 18 months, I reached 150% MONTHLY revenue growth. Our team and client base grew by 25%, we now have almost 90 team members, and we have new clients coming in every week after finding us through our content. Getting strategic with our content has truly paid off. We don’t have to sell ourselves anymore — our content does the selling. These six content strategy cores are the reason our marketing is so successful. Let’s get into them. The 6 Cores of a Successful Content Strategy At a birds-eye, here are all six: Your Content Marketing Fundamentals Your Audience and The Sales Cycle Know Your SEO Build Online Authority Consistently Create Content that Actually Works to Build Your Audience, Presence, and Revenue Budget, Promote, and Maintain for Consistent Success Did I mention that these aren’t quick overnight hacks? They truly aren’t. Let’s get into a bit more detail. First, fundamentals. Everything you create in content marketing is stronger with a good foundation. You should spend a minimum of one week just planning before you create. Here are a few fundamentals to know. First, know your topic area to build content inside of. Or, if this is for a client, this is their topic area. Center this around your expertise, and then branch out to what your audience wants to hear from you about. So if you sell shoes, don’t talk about shoes. Talk about health and fitness apps, knee health maintenance, and warmup exercises for runners. Also, know your Content Differentiation Factor. What makes you different from the rest of the crowd? How can your content stand out? I talk more about this here: How to Find Your Brand’s Unique Content Differentiation Factor and Use It to Your Advantage Secondly, get to know your audience and be able to connect them to the sales cycle. Build a real audience persona by conducting market research surveys. Get to know your audience like you would a friend. Then, find out what interests them at the three stages in the … Read more

The 6 Steps You Need to Build a Rock-Solid, Lucrative Online Content Strategy Framework

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The 6 Steps You Need to Build a Rock-Solid, Lucrative Online Content Strategy Framework

Want to know the #1 way I grew Express Writers? Two words, five syllables: Content marketing. Or, more specifically, consistent, strategic content marketing. Online content strategy, a real, firm strategy, became my best friend to get to the “serious growth” phase. The thing is, it took YEARS to figure out and perfect. All the pieces had to come together, and I had to test, re-test, and test again to find out what worked (and, what didn’t). When I figured it out, things snowballed. Our income from Express Writers boomed to six-figures, and then to seven-figures ARR, inside just two years. Here’s the story, and how I used my experience to get clear on EXACTLY what I needed to reach bigger, better, bolder success. After that, I’m going to share the 6 steps I used to hone my online content strategy to a razor-sharp edge: the exact same system you can use to get crystal-clear on your own content and start seeing real results. (What you’re about to read is a sneak peek into the six pillars of content success that I discuss and teach at length in my intensive content strategy & marketing book and course.) Online Content Strategy Clarity Equals Success: From Near-Failure to Six-Figures after Getting Strategic I started my business, Express Writers, from basically nothing – I was a college dropout with a dream and a mere $75 of pocket cash. The beginning was hard. Here’s what that looked like, 2 years into the game: By that time I had published 215 blogs, had 141 keywords ranking on Google, about 500 visitors/day to my site from organic traffic, and was earning around $29K/month. I was creating content, but the results were lackluster. I was doing a few things wrong: My content quality wasn’t consistently high I often published content just to “get it out there” I was trying to push out TOO MUCH content (at least one blog post a day) I was doing cold outreach to get more clients – and not earning any ROI for my time spent (read: the cold emails I sent out turned up nothing but crickets chirping) I was trying to boost growth on every channel possible In short, growth from content marketing was slow. I was hustling every day, snatching at leads wherever I could. And, the leads I did get from my content weren’t that good. And, all of this was happening while I was a wife, a mom of a two-year-old, and had an understandably busy family life. Bottom line: I was overworked and not seeing the results I dreamed of from my content. The Turning Point: Enter Content Strategy The turning point came in 2016. Our low-profit, high-expense months were not sustainable. We were making an average of $65K/month, but were lucky to take home 35% of that total. Then, in May 2016, I discovered my two managers had been embezzling from the company for months. I fired them. After that, some reassessing happened. I had to rebuild my business and my team. It wasn’t until a few months later, while we were still slowly recovering, that I finally started implementing a content strategy. With the combination of that strategy and better members on the EW team, we started seeing returns, slowly but surely. We even started setting records for our monthly gross income. Before using content strategy, I was publishing an average of 4 blogs/week. We had about 3,900 keywords indexed on Google, and we were making $65K/month, with some lower months after the embezzling fiasco. One year later, and only a few months after implementing a content strategy, we hit our first $71K month in income. We also reached 6,000 keywords indexed on Google, which was nearly double the amount from the previous year. And that momentum kept building as I refined my content strategy. We continued having record months. Our Google presence kept building, and our online visibility skyrocketed. We started ranking #1 for hot keywords, and our traffic jumped to thousands of visitors per day. Today, our content marketing continues to work and build on itself. Without the strategy, though, none of it would be possible. By now, you’re probably dying to know what that strategy looks like. Listen up, because I’m sharing the 6 steps to my content strategy framework next. These steps build out the foundation of a rock-solid strategy. 6 Steps to Build an Unstoppable Content Strategy Framework This is how you do content marketing that wins. 1. Understand the Basic Fundamentals of a Content Strategy Content strategy defines as: If you don’t understand what a content strategy is, go back and get clear on this. It’s the only way you’ll also understand how content strategy fits into content marketing, and why the two cannot exist without each other. Think of it this way: It’s impossible to succeed at any activity without a thorough base knowledge to guide you. Content strategy is no different. You should also know what you’re talking about, and how to branch out into topics your audience wants to hear about. Finding your topic area is a fundamental first step in a content strategy. Along with that, know your CDF – your Content Differentiation Factor. What makes you different than all the other content voices out there? 2. Know Your Audience and How to Lead Them to a Sale (Bridge the Gap) Knowing your audience is one thing, but knowing how to turn your audience into customers is another. If you don’t understand how to bridge that gap, you’re missing out on one of the biggest first steps involved in putting your content strategy in place. Of course, before you can connect the dots, you must know who your REAL audience is – not your imagined audience (only research and having actual conversations can tell you this!). Once you know your persona, you can create content that matches the lifecycle stages of awareness, in the sales cycle. Example: 3. Use SEO (and Understand Its Importance) Want to … Read more

#ContentWritingChat Recap: How to Get More Mileage, Shares and Traction from Your Content Efforts with Susan Moeller

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#ContentWritingChat Recap: How to Get More Mileage, Shares and Traction from Your Content Efforts with Susan Moeller

How would you like to get more mileage out of your online content? If so, you’re in the right place! That’s exactly what we discussed in this week’s #ContentWritingChat. Our participants shared tips for implementing an influencer strategy, how to increase social media shares, and tips for content efficiency. Keep reading for all the amazing advice they had to share with us! #ContentWritingChat Recap: How to Get More Mileage, Shares and Traction from Your Content Efforts with Susan Moeller Join us for #ContentWritingChat on Tuesday, October 24th at 10 AM Central with @SusanCMoeller of @BuzzSumo! pic.twitter.com/nqiQbMniZx — Express Writers (@ExpWriters) October 17, 2017 Our guest host this week was Susan Moeller. Susan is the Business Development Manager over at BuzzSumo, which is a tool we love to use here at Express Writers. She had some valuable tips to share with us, which we’ve added to this week’s recap. Q1: Do you think social media shares are a valuable metric to track? Why? Do you pay much attention to the amount of shares you get on social media? Some of our chat participants found this an important metric to track, while others felt there were better things to focus on. Here’s what a few of them had to say: A1 I think they are more of a vote for the relationship than the content itself #ContentWritingChat — Susan Moeller (@SusanCMoeller) October 24, 2017 Susan feels social sharing is more of a vote for the relationship than the content itself. A1: Yes, it shows that the user deemed your content valuable enough to share with their audience. #contentwritingchat — Flying Cork (@flyingcorkpgh) October 24, 2017 A social share could mean someone deemed your content valuable enough to share it with their own audience, which definitely means a lot. A1 yes, and ideally, shares by those with authority or relevancy in your industry – shares = awareness! #ContentWritingChat — Amanda Vera (@amnda_vera) October 24, 2017 As Amanda pointed out, social shares from those who have authority or relevancy in your field can really help generate awareness. A1: Yes – shareability means you’ve created something that speaks to your audience – & gets your brand in front of them #ContentWritingChat — TouchConvert (@touchconvert) October 24, 2017 When you see people sharing your content, it’s a good sign that you created something that spoke to them. A1 Social shares are good metric to track because readers liked your content enough to share it. Endorsements are great. #ContentWritingChat — Jim Katzaman (@JKatzaman) October 24, 2017 There’s nothing wrong with an endorsement from your audience! A1: Absolutely! Each person that shares can potentially hit hundreds of new users that may never get connected with you. #ContentWritingChat — Virteom (@virteom) October 24, 2017 One great way to look at it is that social shares help you potentially reach even more new people. A1 ? Social shares ARE a good metric to track, but NOT a success metric in and by themselves. #ContentWritingChat — Julia McCoy ? (@JuliaEMcCoy) October 24, 2017 As Julia said, social media shares a good metric to track, but it’s not a success metric on their own. A1: The tricky thing about social media shares is that it doesn’t mean someone actually READ your content. #ContentWritingChat — Rachel (@redheadrachel) October 24, 2017 The important thing to remember is that a social share doesn’t necessarily mean someone read your content. They could have shared without actually reading it. A1: Social shares are worth looking at, but they aren’t the most important metric. Sharing content can be very passive. #contentwritingchat — Netvantage Marketing (@netvantage) October 24, 2017 As Lexie said, social sharing can be very passive. Q2: What is your top suggestion for getting more shares on social media? There’s nothing wrong with wanting a few extra shares on your content, right? To encourage people to spread the word, these are some great tips to remember: A2 #contentwritingchat Collaborate with influencers throughout the process. Creating with other people increases your audience. pic.twitter.com/OS2YSdU0Zr — Susan Moeller (@SusanCMoeller) October 24, 2017 Susan encourages you to collaborate with influencers throughout the process. Creating with other people can help you reach a new audience, but it also helps build relationships within your niche. A2. This could be the answer to a dozen other questions, but…Know Your Audience. Create content they’ll find relevant. #ContentWritingChat — Ken Hart (@KenHartWriter) October 24, 2017 Knowing your audience is a must! As Ken said, you need to create content they’ll find relevant. A2) Know your audience and their interests. Past sharing is indicative of future sharing. #contentwritingchat — Kyle Murray (@TheKyleMurray) October 24, 2017 Kyle agrees that it’s so important to know who your audience is. He also recommended looking at past sharing from your audience, as it’s a good indicator of what they liked and may be willing to share again. A2: Sounds obvious but, create shareable content. Before publishing, ask yourself, “Would I share/like/RT this?” #contentwritingchat — Flying Cork (@flyingcorkpgh) October 24, 2017 If you want to encourage social media sharing, you need to create shareable content in the first place. Ask yourself if you’d share your own content. If not, you should head back to the drawing board. A2 Create your BEST content. Then, be consistent w/ creating, and the days/times you tell your list. Shares will follow. #ContentWritingChat pic.twitter.com/u0yiCr47c0 — Julia McCoy ? (@JuliaEMcCoy) October 24, 2017 Julia knows it’s important that you create your best content. You also need to be consistent with publishing. Those social shares will come to you. A2: If you do want to increase social shares, make it EASY for people to do so. Add social share buttons to your posts. #ContentWritingChat — Rachel (@redheadrachel) October 24, 2017 You should also make it easy for your audience to share your stuff. Add social sharing buttons to your blog posts to make it super quick. It’s just a few clicks and they’ve shared it for you. A2: If you want more social shares, make sharing easy (i.e. … Read more

#ContentWritingChat Recap: How to Create & Upcycle Great Content for More Personalized Exposure with Brian Fanzo

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#ContentWritingChat Recap: How to Create & Upcycle Great Content for More Personalized Exposure with Brian Fanzo

Did you miss #ContentWritingChat this week? Get caught up with our recap and learn all about how to upcycle your online content! #ContentWritingChat September 6 2016 Recap: How to Create & Up Cycle Great Content for More Personalized Exposure Join us for #ContentWritingChat on September 6th at 10 AM CDT with @iSocialFanz! pic.twitter.com/GJHJND38Ot — Express Writers (@ExpWriters) August 30, 2016 Our guest host for this week’s chat was Brian Fanzo. Brian is a Change Evangelist. He’s also the host of #Cloudtalk and the #SMACtalk podcast. Q1: What does it mean to “upcycle” your content? To kick things off, we asked our chat participants what upcycling content means to them. Here’s what they had to say: A1. Great Content is King! Upcylcing means taking that great content & shaping it & customizing it for other formats! #ContentWritingChat — Brian Fanzo (@iSocialFanz) September 6, 2016 Example: Great Blog: – Take data in blog create infographic – Create slideshare from facts Etc#ContentWritingChat https://t.co/kPMaXdMJ0q — Brian Fanzo (@iSocialFanz) September 6, 2016 Brian knows content is king! He said upcycling means taking great content, shaping it, and customizing it for other formats. Some examples he shared with us include turning a blog post into an infographic or a SlideShare. A1 One piece of content gets molded and recreated for various other platforms. SO many traction opps! #ContentWritingChat — Julia McCoy (@JuliaEMcCoy) September 6, 2016 Our CEO, Julia, said that upcycling content is when you mold and recreate your content for other platforms. A1 Repurpose it, update it, make it fresh for new readers @writingchat #ContentWritingChat — GraphComment (@graphcomment) September 6, 2016 You can repurpose your content by updating it and making it “fresh” for new readers. It’s a great way to expand your content. A1. Upcycling means repurposing content, finding new ways to use old content for different formats & audiences #ContentWritingChat — Matt Henderson (@eartharules) September 6, 2016 Matt said that upcycling helps you find new ways to use your old content for difference formats and audiences. A1 In simple words, Re-purposing of your best or ever green #Content in more consumable form #ContentWritingChat https://t.co/GmJ0OR41Mp — Varun Kumar (@varunkr842) September 6, 2016 As Varun said, you can repurpose your best or evergreen content. Evergreen content is great for upcycling because it will always be relevant to your audience. A1: Upcycling is reusing & revamping your material for a different purpose or to relate to a specific niche audience #ContentWritingChat — Zola Creative (@ZolaCreative) September 6, 2016 You can use your revamped content for a different purpose or to relate to a specific niche audience. A1. Upcycling can include converting a piece of successful content to a new format – infographics, videos, etc. #contentwritingchat — pamelahughes (@pamelahughes) September 6, 2016 As Pamela said, you can turn one piece of successful content into an entirely different format, such as infographics or video. Q2: What’s the difference between upcycling vs. recycling content? So, what exactly is the difference between upcycling content and recycling it? Here’s what you need to know: A2. Upcycling is customizing & personalizing great content so that it fits & works on each network your audience is on!#ContentWritingChat — Brian Fanzo (@iSocialFanz) September 6, 2016 Brian said upcycling is customizing and personalizing great content so it fits and works on each network your audience is on. A2: Upcycling content: you’re improving the value of the content in some way. Ex: Make video version of top blog post! #ContentWritingChat — Tara M. Clapper (@irishtara) September 6, 2016 Tara said upcycling content is when you improve the value of the original content in some way. You aren’t simply reposting it, but making it better. A2: Upcycling aims to optimize performance with improvements, versus simply restructuring content for a different medium #contentwritingchat — Edanry Rivera (@Edanry) September 6, 2016 Edanry knows the purpose behind upcycling is to make improvements to the original content so you can optimize its performance. @writingchat A2: recycling would be using it the exact same way, whereas upcycling makes it into something new. #ContentWritingChat — Tracy Willis (@tracywillis_) September 6, 2016 Tracy is spot-on with her answer. If you were to recycle content, you would simply be sharing it without making any improvements. When upcycling content, you aim to make it new again. A2. Upcycling is an improvement on the original material. Recycling keeps it the same, i.e. warming up leftovers. #ContentWritingChat — Matt Henderson (@eartharules) September 6, 2016 We like Matt’s comparison regarding warming up leftovers when it comes to recycling content. A2 Recycling could turn into spam. Upcycling is the way to do it – you’re recreating/tailoring for platform/audience #ContentWritingChat — Julia McCoy (@JuliaEMcCoy) September 6, 2016 When recycling your content, you want to be careful it doesn’t come off as spammy. Instead, go for upcycling and recreate your content. Then, you can tailor it for the platform you’re sharing it on and to your audience. Q3: How can you expand your content reach by upcycling what you create? Do you want to expand your reach via upcycling content? Here’s how to do it: Up-cylcing great content allows us to focus on creating more great content not for content sake! #ContentWritingChat https://t.co/gYntn7yEu9 — Brian Fanzo (@iSocialFanz) September 6, 2016 As Brian said, when you upcycle great content, you can focus on creating even more amazing content for your audience. A3: If you take content that was purely text and incorporate it into a visual, it might have more of a reach on social. #contentwritingchat — MioDatos (@MioDatos) September 6, 2016 One great idea is to take your written content, incorporate it into a visual, and then sharing it on social media. It’s a great way to reach a new audience and to grab their attention with an eye-catching image. A3: You must research to see what is required by your readers. You don’t want to create something that never gets read #contentwritingchat — Andy Drinkwater (@iqseo) September 6, 2016 Always consider what your audience is most interested in when upcycling. … Read more

Your 12-Step Guide to A Small Business Content Strategy

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Your 12-Step Guide to A Small Business Content Strategy

Imagine this: you’re an NFL player headed into the biggest game of the season. Everything is riding on you and your coach’s expectations are high. Your teammates are depending upon you. You’re out on the field now and they all look to you for direction and, guess what? You don’t have any because you never took the time to develop a pre-game strategy. That would never happen, right? Right. In sports, strategy is everything and it would be crazy to enter a game without knowing how you wanted to play it. Believe it or not, the same goes for content. When it comes to your small business, developing a content strategy is an important step toward success. From drawing customers to helping you establish yourself as an authority, content strategy is the foundation upon which everything else is built. You can build yourself upon content, as a business–with a good strategy. A Guide to Small Business Content Strategy: 12 Essential Tips Here’s what you need to know about small business content marketing and how you can make yours better. How Do You Define Content? First things first – what is content? To put it simply, content is the material you produce to further your company’s goals. In many cases, it acts as the vessel for content marketing, a practice within which companies use content to create and distribute valuable information to their fans, customers, and readers, thus driving profitable customer interaction and helping establish themselves as authorities in the field.   According to a recent Content Marketing Institute report, 86% of small businesses are currently using content marketing and 40% say that the approach is effective for their companies.   5 Key Types of Must-Have Content: Strategy for the Small Business When you’re building your small business, one of the most important things you can do is take some time to invest in content. While it may seem more important to jump right into selling, focusing on building content first will produce higher-quality results in the long run. Here’s are the five main types of content you should build when you start your business: 1. A blog Blogs are huge right now and they’re not fixing to slow down any time soon. Companies that build and maintain a blog earn more leads, gain visibility, establish themselves as authorities in their industry, and expand their customer base at light-speed. In fact, marketers who prioritize blogging are 13x more likely to see a positive ROI than those who don’t. This is due in large part to the fact that blogs are a great way to help your company get found online. According to HubSpot, customers will undertake 85% of their company relationships without ever talking to a human by 2020. This means that it’s hugely beneficial and important for companies to start blogging as soon as they start functioning. 2. A web page Think of a web page as your home base: it helps people learn more about your company, gives you a great place to showcase new products, goods, and services, allows customers to locate your contact information, reviews, and purchasing options, and provides a platform that all of your other content can meet on. There are many different options for building a small business web page, and in most cases, it can be done for only a few bucks in only a few minutes. Most platforms today allow for drag-and-drop website building, which makes designing a beautiful page easy, even if you’re not a pro. 3. Great keywords If you’re doing anything online, you’ll need to learn about search engine optimization (SEO). Specifically, you’ll need to learn about keyword research and how it can benefit your company. In order to rank well in Google’s indexes and make yourself more visible online, you’ll need to research and target relevant keywords. This helps you appear prominently for relevant search queries and ensures that customers looking for a company like yours can find you easily. 4. Social media While Google still rules the roost, it’s important to remember that social media platforms are search engines, too. If a customer is attracted to your brand or products, it’s likely that person will search for you using social media. If they can’t find you, it’s likely you’ll miss out on business. If customers can find you, though, they’re more likely to engage with your company. For this reason, it’s important to focus on building up a social media presence from the get-go. This means selecting 1-2 social media platforms (Facebook and Instagram, for example) and building your presence there. This allows you to expand your reach with your customers and make more connections. 5. A buyer persona Before any of the above tips can work out well for you, you’ll need to establish your buyer persona. A buyer persona defines who you’re trying to sell a product to and why. It looks at your target demographic and answers questions like: who are these people? How old are they? Where do they live? How much money do they make each year? What are they worried about? Knowing the answers to these questions is a fantastic way to set yourself up for success and to target your content marketing more effectively from the beginning. Building Your Content Strategy: 7 Actionable Tips Now that you’ve got some types of content to work with, it’s time to start building out your content strategy into a functional machine that helps you drive sales. Here are seven key steps. 1. Segment your audience You used buyer personas to identify your audience, but now it’s time to segment them into individual groups. If you’re like most companies, you have several sets of populations you’re trying to target. In fact, Content Marketing Institute reports that the average small business targets four separate segments of customers. Segmenting your customer base will allow you to target each segment more efficiently and to tailor your content accordingly. 2. Decide on your topics What do you want your … Read more

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