7 Reasons you need a Content Strategy


Wondering why you might need a content strategy?
  1. To stay current, sharp, and develop opinions
  2. To build your reputation by demonstrating your expertise
  3. To inform about your products and services
  4. To get found when people are looking for the services and products you provide
  5. To have consistent messaging everywhere that people may run into your brand and where they expect to find your brand
  6. To provide direction to your team, such as your social media manager or email marketing campaign manager
  7. To have a reason to connect with potential clients

Click to Tweet this Article

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Content Ideas for Consultants - Getting Started (Part 1)

Image
Just this week I heard it again: “If I start a newsletter, what would I put in it?” While I can think of lots of content ideas for just about any business owner I meet, it’s not so easy for everyone. In fact, it wasn’t always easy for me either. It gets easier, and you get better, with practice. For consultants, there’s an added bonus to spending time creating marketing content and that's learning . Benjamin Franklin said, “There is no better way to learn than to teach.” Sharing valuable content is teaching and, when you’re creating content for your blog or newsletter, you’ll also be doing research, checking assumptions, and developing opinions . If you’re a new business owner, or new to developing content, finding a place to start might feel like picking a needle out of a haystack. In this series of posts, I'll explain how to get started and accomplish other goals, too. Build Your Confidence Since confidence comes from writing about what you know , start with crea...
Keep reading »

7 Out Of 12 Small Business Bloggers Agree On This

Image
When I teach marketing courses, the group eventually tires of seeing this list come up on the screen in every class: Build relationships, community Grow your reputation, sphere of influence Be seen as an expert Share valuable info, products, services Increase your social media following Give value to your customers, prospects and colleagues on a regular basis Get found - SEO The items on this list are key reasons for publishing a blog or newsletter . Yes, of course, the ultimate goal is sometimes - but not always - an increase in sales. The problem is, you (and me) can't meet all the goals on that list at the same time. We'd become unfocused and demotivated. So I 'force' these small business folk to pick only two goals  to focus on. Last week I noted the two goals each person called out as we went around the room. I added my own two goals, as well, to round the group off at a dozen. Seven of us chose #2 - growing our reputation - as one of our two ...
Keep reading »

What were you doing on Boxing Day?

Image
Were you reading my blog on December 26, 2013? Maybe not but someone was because I had over 800 pageviews that day. Up to that point, it was the most pageviews I'd ever had in one day. In fact, it was 10% of the monthly total - significant for one day. graph of blog pageviews by month Those of you who take time off from online marketing on the holidays are leaving ripe pickings for those of us who don't. You might think there aren't as many business people online on days such as New Year's or Easter, and you'd be right. But those who are online are there to browse;  they read more deeply . That means they might read your whole blog post instead of scanning it. They might click on embedded links and read several blog posts.  They might tweet about it.  They might even respond to one of  your calls to action . Thanksgiving is coming soon. Go ahead, disappear. I'll be quite happy to pick up the slack. Click to Tweet this Article
Keep reading »

What Will You Write After the Conference?

Image
Many business people are busy preparing to attend large conferences this fall. It can be quite an expense and a lot of hard work to prepare for these big events... booking sales meetings with other attendees, preparing marketing collateral, booking flights and hotels, and maybe even training in sales skills. Certainly when you return from the conference, you'll have lots to write about for your blog or newsletter. 1. Summarize the overall experience of preparing and attending. Perhaps include 'what to do or not to do' tips for future attendees. 2. Summarize the conference itself , highlighting key learning points. 3. Write articles about each of the presentations , focusing on what's important to your readers. 4. Capture and share the data , the important statistics and trends impacting your industry and customers. 5. Interview presenters and attendees. Prepare a series of questions in advance. This could be video or audio transcribed into text. The re...
Keep reading »

Favourite Free Image Sources and Graphics Tools for Small Business Marketing

Image
Wondering where to find free images for your newsletter or blog? These are the most common sources we use for free images: FREE: http://pexels.com http://pixabay.com http://gratisography.com https://www.goodfreephotos.com http://www.freeimages.com https://morguefile.com http://unsplash.com FREE with Attribution: https://creativecommons.org Here are some graphics tools we use often: Create favicons for your website or blog  http://www.favicon-generator.org Create buttons easily  http://dabuttonfactory.com Convert graphics files from one version to another  https://cloudconvert.com Colour picker for Chrome  http://eye-dropper.kepi.cz Compress images  https://tinypng.com Of course, snapping your own photos is always a great choice! photo by Live to Create Photography / Flickr Click to Tweet this Article
Keep reading »

10 Most Read Blog Posts from 2017

Image
It's always a good idea to review your stats, so you know what people are interested in reading. You might want to spend more effort promoting your top posts - use your best value to attract new readers (something like this article). #1.  Is Your Canadian Small Business Compliant with CASL Yet? The Canadian Anti Spam Legislation came fully info effect on July 1, 2017. Here are the 4 most obvious ways businesses aren't yet fully compliant. #2.  Favourite Free Image Sources and Graphics Tools for Small Business Marketing Wondering where to find free images for your newsletter or blog? These are the most common sources we use for free images. #3.  LinkedIn is a Resource, Not a Mailing List "Can I add my LinkedIn contacts to my email list?" I get asked this a lot with regard to the Canadian Anti Spam Legislation (CASL). Find out if you can, if you should, and if it's legal. #4.  No Love from your Newsletter? Here's Why A newsletter does not make a...
Keep reading »

Small Business Blogging Tools and Resources

Image
Whether you're getting started or have been blogging for awhile, you'll find this collection of all my favourite business blogging resources here in one place. Idea Generation Tools hubspot.com/blog-topic-generator creativity-portal.com/prompts/imagination.prompt.html workbetternotharder.com/2014/04/reusable-content-ideas-to-get-you.html Outlining and Writing Resources Quick and Easy Content Creation Workbook podiumcoaching.com/store/free-resources/#!/Tighter-Brighter-Writing/p/45076103/category=11489027 hemingwayapp.com Headline Analyzer coschedule.com/headline-analyzer Image Sources and Tools workbetternotharder.com/2017/03/favourite-free-image-sources-and.html Creating Graphics twirp.ca/2017/01/social-media-image-sizes/ pablo.buffer.com snappa.com canva.com crello.com spark.adobe.com typographyeditor.com Recycling Content workbetternotharder.com/2016/04/my-blog-post-recycling-process.html twirp.ca/2016/06/recycle-content-infograph/ Do you h...
Keep reading »

Ideas for Your Holiday Email Campaign

Image
It’s that time of year when our email boxes quickly fill up each day with special promotions – Black Friday will kick it all off. Depending on your type of business and target market, you may be (should be?) considering doing some extra promotional emails leading up to the holidays. This is something you need to plan now and start executing very soon. I'm not encouraging you to start blasting your subscribers with advertising. I am suggesting that a well-planned email campaign can be very effective at this time of year. To get you going, here are some ideas to work into your plan: If you sell gift certificates , you'll definitely want to promote them. Recommend who they will be suitable for. Insert Buy Now buttons directly into your newsletter with an immediate call to action. Do a holiday countdown with the number of shopping days left and something special for each day. Create special offers or promotions only for your email subscribers . This can also help to get new subscr...
Keep reading »

5 Ways to Grow Your List this Summer

Image
Your contact list doesn’t grow on its own and summer is when we all tend to slow down. Here are some practical, yet easy ways to grow your contact list over the summer months and still enjoy some time off. eMail Auto Responder When you set up your ‘out of office’ vacation notification, include a call to action and link to your newsletter sign-up form. Scheduled social media posts Set up a series of posts using Hootsuite or similar to encourage sign-ups . You can direct people to your sign-up form, to your archive, or to specific past issues that still make good reading. Review your current and prospective client list When you’re preparing for your fall sales activities, also note those that aren’t already receiving your newsletter and encourage them to sign up by sending a personal note. Review not only the contacts in your CRM system, but also those you’ve connected with on LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. You could also consider mailing a copy of your most recent newsletter. Net...
Keep reading »

Quick Update on the Canadian Anti Spam Legislation

Image
It's been 3 years since CASL came into effect in Canada and the grace period ends on July 1, 2017 . I know, it's an icky subject but I want to keep you informed. There's a lot to know but I'll keep this really brief. Here are the two most important things you need to know about CASL right now. First, if you own a business and use email for business, every email sent is governed by CASL. It has nothing to do with the application you use, or how many people you send to at a time. Many business people seem to think CASL doesn't apply to them. It definitely does! Second, the good news. Even though CASL applies to your email communication, unless you have many thousands of subscribers, you're unlikely to ever garner enough attention to warrant an investigation by the CRTC. There is possibly some new legislation coming that will allow civil cases although I have a hard time imagining the grounds for any such cases. For some businesses, such as mine, it'...
Keep reading »