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Success Through Strategy!

Strategy Matters delivers news, tips and strategies for effective communications through traditional and social media. 
Social Media and Content Marketing: It's a Journey, Not a Race!

Small business owners and entrepreneurs can often be impatient when it comes to watching their businesses grow. That's understandable. Many have left good-paying jobs, with benefits and other perks, to pursue their dreams. The financial strain of striking out on one's own, and the desire to see that dream grow, would make most people a little impatient. This is especially true when it comes to waiting for marketing activities to pay off. But, especially in the world of online marketing, patience pays!

We've often touted the benefits of using social media as an efficient and cost-effective marketing strategy.
Unfortunately, achieving results in this realm does take time, particularly when starting from scratch. It's a bit of a chicken-and-egg conundrum. It's tough to build followers without good content, and it often feels like a waste of time to generate content for an audience of only a few. Results are not going to happen overnight.

However, just because social media marketing isn't the fastest way to attract new customers, the process can be expedited! There are a few key tips and strategies that can help any small or medium business pick up steam on their social media marketing efforts:
  • Targeting very specific audiences with shared interests.
    This will help to ensure that your content is on track and meaningful to that audience. If you can get some lively discussions going with recurring visitors and contributors, even better!
  • Creating and sharing content that is unique
    and likely to be highly valued by that audience.
    You can get a head start here if you already have content available (e.g. through newsletters, brochures, articles or books you've written, presentations you've done, etc.) That content can easily be multi-purposed across social media sites, blog posts, e-letters, whitepapers, e-books and more.
  • Finding people/companies representative of your target audience and engaging with them. This could include having guest bloggers on your website or cross-promoting via Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Social media marketing is a great low-cost way to get your message out, and when it's done right, it can have some real staying power over the long term. It does take some patience to get going, but the cost efficiency and customer loyalty can be well worth the wait.
The key, again, is committing to be in it for the long haul. Brands that start, stop or stall fail to send a positive and consistent message to their audiences. That can be even more detracting than never engaging in these forums in the first place.

Consider how social media and other online marketing practices can be tied into your other ongoing communication activities. All of your communication efforts should work together, in concert, to achieve the results you desire. 
  
Podcasts Offer Potential for Advertisers

Nate Teplow is marketing programs manager at Continuum Managed IT Services, with offices in Boston and Pittsburgh. Teplow is the host and producer of MSPradio and uses podcasts regularly in his marketing efforts. "I think podcasting is one of the most under-utilized channels in content marketing," says Teplow. Podcasts, he says, provide an opportunity to reach new audiences who can listen to content while doing other things-e.g. driving to work, mowing the lawn or working out at the gym.

"No other content marketing channels can really compete with that," he says. "They all require a user's full attention to consume." Additional benefits, he says, include a less cluttered marketing space for podcasts than, for example, for blog posts. In addition, he says, podcasts provide an opportunity for listener intimacy-there's just something very personal about listening to the voice of the podcast host.

NPR Digital Services has done some experiments with podcasting to determine what really resonates with listeners. Eric Athas, with NPR, shared what NPR has learned in a recent blog post. What resonates? These are the types of podcasts that NPR's research suggest generate the most social shares:
  • Audio explainers. Helping to make sense of a news story for listeners.
  • A "whoa" sound--sounds that provide unique listening experiences. One example: the sound inside a hummingbird's chirp, currently at about 77,000 downloads.
  • Storytellers--not just the subject of the story, but the way the story is told.
  • Snappy reviews--creative twists on the traditional review delivered in compelling sound bites.
Another big benefit for busy marketers is the speed and efficiency at which podcasts can be produced and ready for distribution. 

"We have a weekly half hour radio show," says Teplow. "I spend about 30-45 minutes prepping questions and then 30-45 minutes recording and editing segments." It's content that can also be multi-purposed, he notes. "We publish the podcast, post it to our blog, and we transcribe the recording, which comes out to over 5,000 words per episode. That's all quality content we can use for ebooks, white papers, future blogs, etc.

Podcasts Generate Results! Read more here.
Best "Hack" for Planning/Running Public Relations Campaigns

The idea of hacking used to be associated almost exclusively with the computer industry. A hacker was someone who found clever or clandestine ways around computer safeguards. But more and more, hacking has acquired a broader application, associated with developing and exploiting unconventional means to accomplish a task in a variety of industries and settings. Public relations (PR) campaigns are no different.

When it comes to PR campaigns, one of the best hacks that's overlooked by most businesses is to focus on the interests of the audience. 

This sounds obvious until put into context: most marketing focuses on the product or service being offered. Sure, the messages are directed at the audience, but the audience isn't the focus. The concept is simple: give your audience something they're interested in. Become the source of that information, and they'll start to visit your platforms more often, become familiar with your brand, see you as a trusted industry expert and, ultimately, provide you with business.

Content marketing is a great example of this tactic. According to the Content Marketing Institute, "Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience - and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action."

So, if you own a beauty salon, don't talk about your salon, its services or your beauticians-offer some unique and useful beauty tips. If you're a law firm, offer specific advice aligned with your areas of practice.

This isn't a difficult hack to master: get a firm grasp of the audience you have in mind (the readers, viewers, listeners, etc. of the specific media outlet); consider what's important to them or what information might be valuable to them; and, in your pitch, make sure to incorporate these points. 

Yes, your goal is to advertise/promote your product, service, or yourself, but they're not really interested in you-only in what you do, or can provide, that would be useful to them.

For further reading, Marketo provides a great infographic about the use of content marketing by businesses, and Forbes has an interesting article discussing the basics. 

Featured White Paper

"Small Businesses and Content Marketing: Best Practices"

Content marketing is a big deal these days. Content marketing is unlike more traditional forms of advertising because it's accessible to anyone with any size budget, which is good news for small, even solo, businesses. 

Small businesses can leverage the power of content to get noticed, gain connections and customers, and build business through the strategic use of content. We'll show you how.

Request a copy.
Volume: 7 - Issue: 12
 December 2015
Strat Comm logo
In This Issue
LinkedIn Accounts
Technology and Storytelling
Brand Ambassadors
We're In the News! 

How to Make Your Seasons Greetings Stand Out From the Crowd

Putting the "Strategic" Into Strategic Content Marketing

Collaborative Storytelling

How Small Companies Can Share in Community Success

Blending Old and New Media for Advertising Success

Your Business Needs a Checkup

50+ Entrepreneurs Explain How They Came Up With Their Business Name (#11)
Research Matters
Some recent news and  research you may be interested in--we were!  
     

 EContent: "Newsjacking": New Term, Big Opportunities