Posts tagged content marketing
Are you a content marketer or a content carnie?
Sep 23rd
One sign that your blog is becoming successful is that it begins to attract attention from all sorts of spammers who want to buy back-links on your site, place promotional content through guest posts, or even pay you for favorable reviews.
That is certainly not my game and the spam has gotten so bad that I don’t even read the email “pitches” any more. But I recently responded to one particularly nagging spammer and asked him to take me off his mailing list. He was an SEO gamester who was trying to get me to feature his lousy self-help infographic on my site.
After I asked him to take me off his list, this how he responded:
As a marketing professor and writer of Tao of Twitter I’m surprised that you aren’t impressed with real content marketers.
You could at least give me a tweet, maybe?
Content marketing? Really?
Here’s the reality. Deluging bloggers with desperate attempts at content placement is not content marketing. That is being a pain in the ass.
If you’re engaging in this practice, you’re having about the same impact as a carnival worker shouting on a crowded midway hoping that somebody will look your way and toss you a link.
I’m not against featuring new ideas and perspectives, and run at least one guest post per week on my blog. In fact, I LOVE to help people who are part of this community by giving them the exposure they deserve. This is what the SEO spammers are missing. The new world of content marketing is not about building links, it’s about building relationships.
Real content marketing places helpful, useful, and entertaining content in the path of potential customers to help them make money, save money, or live a happier life. Successful content marketing results from putting on the shoes of the customer and asking yourself — “What content from my company will help you, entertain you, or answer your questions?”
Over time, if you consistently produce content that is RITE — Relevant, Interesting, Timely, and Entertaining — it will result in the small interactions that eventually lead to trust, relationships, sales, and loyalty.
What do you think? I’d love to hear your comments on this topic. Are you trying to place content? What are you learning? Or, are you on the receiving end?
Illustration: Photo by Jack Delano: Sideshow barker at the state fair, Rutland, Vermont, 1941, no copyright restriction
Marketer claims SEO as we know it “is dead”
Sep 13th
Click here is you cannot view this video interview with Lee Odden.
When it comes to SEO insight and tactics, the Top Rank blog has always been a go-to source. But now Lee Odden, the author of that blog and a new book Optimize
Lee is the CEO of TopRank Online Marketing, a Minneapolis based digital marketing agency specializing in strategic internet marketing consulting, training and implementation services including: Content, Search, Email and Social Media Marketing.
The dramatic changes in the search and the rise of social media content marketing have obliterated the landscape. Find out more in this brief video interview.
The link to Optimize is an affiliate link.
You have no excuse not to do content marketing
Sep 6th
Click here if you can’t view this video interview with C.C. Chapman.
Budget cuts? Low on resources? Those no longer can be excuses to avoid a content marketing plan according to blogger, author and consultant C. C. Chapman. In this brief video interview, C.C., a co-author with Ann Handley of Content Rules
The link to Content Rules is an affiliate link.
Case study: Medical practice increases revenue, conversions through content strategy
Aug 28th
About a year ago, I introduced you to Lisa Reath, who is the business/marketing manager for a nearby medical clinic.
Lisa faces an extraordinary marketing challenge — engage customers with a medical practice, which of course is surrounded by patient privacy issues. To make things even more difficult, the practice specializes in cosmetic surgery — not a subject people usually want to discuss in a public sort of way. Add in a recession and some intense competition, and you have yourself one massive marketing mountain to climb.
Unless, of course, you possess the business savvy of Ms. Reath. A few years ago, Lisa took my social media marketing class and just caught fire with new ideas. “I realized that I needed to stop selling so much and just be helpful and available,” she said. “That was a new mindset for me and our business.”
Since I first wrote about Lisa a few years ago, she has continued to make exceptional progress and I wanted to report on her results. But first, let’s review her strategy. The medical practice deploys a variety of content marketing methods:
eBook
“I think our most successful marketing effort is a 33-page Girlfriend’s Guide to Breast Augmentation,” she said. “It is designed to be read online or on an iPad, downloaded free, easily forwarded and linked to.
“Our idea was to offer patients free information about breast augmentation that is helpful but not easily found online. Chapters are informative but also entertaining. We went out of our way to try not to directly sell our practice.”
The eBook recently was named a “Magnum Opus” award winner and will be highlighted at the upcoming Content Marketing World.
What’s cooking
One of the most creative content marketing applications I have seen is Lisa’s publication of a high-quality, hard copy family cookbook that she distributed to friends and clients at Christmas. Again, the medical practice is not even mentioned, but you can’t help but think about it every time you open the book … which is often because the recipes are excellent! Quite a brilliant idea.
Facebook
“Given the privacy expectations with plastic surgery, we have had surprising success with Facebook,” Lisa said. “It’s largely because of a quiz game we play every week with our fans. We came up with the ‘Truth-O-Meter’ to establish ourselves as an authority and sort through all the misconceptions surrounding plastic surgery.”
Every Tuesday morning Dr. Reath posts a question on the Facebook page. A winner is randomly chosen from the correct answers and announced by a short YouTube video every Wednesday. Prizes include gift cards, skin care products, and contributions to charity in honor of breast cancer awareness month.
Blogging/video
Dr. Reath keeps patients current by blogging on hot topics in plastic surgery. He also comments on current events that affect women’s health. The practice has more than 120 videos on their YouTube channel covering common plastic surgery procedural issues and the the “Truth-o-Meter” game.
The results
There are measurable gains from the social media exposure:
- Revenue up 19% YTD vs 2011 in down economy (no open surgery spots in Dr. Reath’s schedule.
- Conversion rate is up from 55% to 70% because “Patients feel they know us and come in ready to schedule.”
- Today 2,082 Facebook fans with 203 regularly engaging.
- 9,027 downloads of Girlfriend’s Guide so far
- 109.5 percent increase in referrals to website from Facebook. #1 site for referrals after search engines
- Provides forum for good reviews which is becoming increasingly important for doctors.
- Top ranking for all key search terms
I’m proud of Lisa and think this is an enegerizing success story in an unlikely place. Agree?
Welcome to {grow}
You’re in marketing for one reason: Grow.
Grow your company, reputation, customers, impact, profits. Grow yourself. This is a community that will help. It will stretch your mind, connect you to fascinating people, and provide some fun along the way. I am so glad you’re here.
-Mark SchaeferFollow Mark
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