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

Being a Rebel (Book Review)

Image
Interesting and frustrating. Those are the two best words to describe my reaction to Rebel's Guide to Email Marketing by DJ Wadlow and Jason Falls. The book was interesting because it was well-researched and full of case studies and examples. It explains a lot of aspects of email marketing in great detail. In particular, the authors do a good job of describing how email and social media work so well together - calling them Batman (email) and Robin (social media). Their definitions of social connecting, social sharing, and other social terms cover the basics but they fall a bit short of offering unique ideas about combining the two. The book was frustrating because it was about email marketing in general and I specialize in enewsletters. I kept thinking, "But that's not true for newsletters" or "I wouldn't do that." Much of the information referred to promotional marketing rather than content marketing . While some things hold true for both, ther...
Keep reading »

5 Ways to Polish your Online Presence

Image
When people meet your brand online, they are judging you . We all do it and, based on those judgments, we make assumptions about: what it’s like to work with you the quality of your products and services your prices your commitment, integrity and trustworthiness if you care about your online reputation Below are 5 ways to make sure your online presence is polished so people will make the right judgments and assumptions about you and your brand. #1. Monitor Conduct quarterly audits on your website and social profiles. This means reading all the text, clicking all the links, and making corrections and improvements. This is a great task to outsource to a virtual assistant because an impartial eye will see things you won't. #2. Be found Make sure you can be found where people expect to find you. Often it's easier to find someone on LinkedIn than to find their website. There are a multitude of social media sites where having a profile makes sense even if you aren...
Keep reading »

Finding a New Angle for Your Best Information

Image
Stuck, uninspired, unmotivated, feeling stale - anyone who blogs regularly is going to experience those things from time to time. Especially when we're busy, it's hard to take time to get inspired. Sometimes I don't need inspiration so much as a new angle - a different perspective or approach to information, advice and ideas I've already covered. And that's where  answerthepublic.com comes in. Its insights are based on the data of web searches and it shows you results graphically. In no time you'll pin down an approach, and be writing and done. The image above (cropped) is from my search of the term "enewsletters". The next time you just need the spark of an idea to get going, try answerthepublic.com . Click to Tweet this Article
Keep reading »

Make it Obvious

Image
“Put a sign-up form on every page of your website.” You’ve heard this, right? Well, it’s good advice… sort of. Half the story is missing. Here’s the other half, with context. Imagine that your best friend has just forwarded to you a newsletter that they’re raving about. You have a look and realize that you really like it too and want to subscribe so you don’t miss future issues. (This happens to me a lot.) You scroll around and can’t find anything about subscribing. Being tenacious, you click through to the website and spend a couple of minutes scrolling around and clicking. Still no sign-up form. I once called a lady in New York because I could find no way to subscribe to her newsletter, either in her newsletter or on her website, although apparently, it was there somewhere. If you ask people to 'subscribe', in your newsletter or anywhere else, you want to send them to a webpage where they can’t miss your sign-up form. If you don’t have it on a page of its o...
Keep reading »

Search for the Best Blog

Although I've set up the odd blog for other people, I've never really considered having one myself... until 2 days ago.  My friend, Danielle, convinced me to contribute to a 'photo a day' blog.  In 2 days, we've explored WordPress, Tumblr and Blogger, but ended up liking Blogger the best.  It was the easiest to set up and navigate.  Of course, I'm happy as long as I can manipulate the colours and fonts!  So, after the learning curve was done, I decided that Daley Progress deserved a blog... and here you are.  Check back or subscribe because I'll be posting technology tips and other ideas for busy people. Click to Tweet this Article
Keep reading »

The Best Reading of 2013

Image
The best reading from our newsletter contributors during 2013... Does your writing pass the $1-a-word Test? by Neil Everton, Podium Media & Communications Coaching If you are looking for a quick and certain way of giving your words more impact, look no further than your purse or wallet. Take a look at the last thing you wrote. It doesn't matter if it's a letter, email, report, newsletter, web content or promo script... read more Marketing to Your Tribe by Stephanie Holmes-Winton, The Money Finder This just in: some people don’t like what I have to say. They might unsubscribe from my newsletter, or they might make a snide comment on social media... read more Anyone Can Find Business on Twitter by Anita Hovey, Twirp Communications That’s right... ANYONE. The next time someone says “Twitter is just a bunch of nonsense” I want you to share a link to this post... read more 6 Ways to Become Part of Your Customer's Story by Bernadette Jiwa, The Story of Tell...
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 »

Selling your Newsletter on Social Media

Image
Once you've started your mailing list and are working to turn subscribers into fans , don't stop selling your newsletter. You'll lose about 30% of your subscribers over a year, so continuing to build your list is important. One way to encourage sign-ups is on your social media accounts and profiles. "Please sign up!" doesn't cut it. You need a compelling call to action . Here's a great example I found on Twitter from my friend and organizing guru Jane Veldhoven. Dare you to Go Ahead and Get #Organized by signing up for my monthly #newsletter http://t.co/ZRH8cwCMg1 — Jane Veldhoven (@organizerjane) February 2, 2015 Click to Tweet this Article
Keep reading »

Where's the Value?

Image
Some of you might remember the old Wendy's ad, "Where's the beef?" I was reminded of that when I saw these 3 examples back-to-back on Twitter. What's missing from the middle post in this screenshot? The beef. People are picky about what they subscribe to. If you don't give them a good reason to sign up, they won't even get to taste the beef, no matter how many patties there are. Good calls-to-action are not easy to construct but it's important to make the effort. Click to Tweet this Article
Keep reading »

Think About Your Reader

I advocate reading what you share but, to save time, I have a short list of experts that I share without reading first. They are experts I have vetted and trust. For the most part, they have the same philosophy that I do. One of the experts on my list was a bulk email software company that shares great statistics, infographics and a few good tips. I received an email from them that had an awesome download full of updated email statistics. I was immediately excited to have something to share quickly. Ooops. No sharing buttons in the email - which meant I did not share it. I went on to the next email. I can't afford to get distracted from my inbox. I went from excitement about sharing their content, to not sharing it at all. In 10 seconds. Later, I came back to that email and clicked through to their website. My intent was to follow them on social media to easily share their content that way. It took me far too long to find their buried social media links and when I did, there ...
Keep reading »