This week we've been discussing content marketing, how it works and ways to increase your brands reputation in the lawn and garden industry.
But the one question we keep getting asked is, what kind of content works best?
There are dozens of forms of engaging content, but here are 12 types of content to focus on and how they can be used as part of any content marketing plan.
1. Blogs: #1 on the content creation list. Everytime you write a new blog post, it is an opportunity to get found online. Tell stories, share ideas, educate your customers about your products so they wull have more success
2. Press Releases: Have a new product or partnership? Something newsworthy to tell your customers? Tell the world about it in a press release. Make sure if it is syndicated, you optimize it for search engine optimization.
3. Videos: No, you can not create a video that will “go viral,” no matter how many cats or babies you inculde. Instead, use video to create awareness or show "how to" use a product. No other medium engenders emotion the way video does.
4. Webinars: Make your webinar appealing by focusing on the types of problems your prospects are facing that your product or service can solve. Also, reach out to an expert or blogger to MC, with your brand acting as the sponsor.
5. Infographics: AKA, graphics that provide information. Easily shared and fun to read, inforgraphics are the latest "it" thing. A tip from Mashable, "always post infographic's with embeded code." Read this blog post that explains how to embed codes.
6. Q&As: Again, it's all about education. What are your top 10 most asked questions? Post them on your website, LinkedIn and Quora. Provide all the help you can to customers and they will thank you for it.
7. Case Studies: Case studies allow potential customers to see or experience their problem being solved with your product or service. Focus on a simple problem that most of your customers experience, and ways you made their life easier. Make search engine optimization a priority when it comes to case studies.
8. ebooks: A top of the funnel offer for prospective customers. eBooks tend to be shorter, interactive, often include links to additional multimedia information and focus on the how-to aspect of a subject.
9. White Papers: now known as the more visual e-book, can make sense both early and late in the customer buying cycle. Early on, the buyer is looking to get educated about the category and how your product or service can solve their problem. Later the buyer is comparing your product or service to others on his or her short list. Either way, it makes sense to make a whitepaper available only after your prospect has filled out some kind of form on your site.
10. Reviews: The best reviews are objective and come from people who are seen as either similar to the buyer, someone who has expertise that the buyer values, or someone the buyer trusts. Although, it doesnt have to be any of those, Get a lot of reviews, and try to make most of them positive. Reviews can also be used on your own site.
11. Presentations: B2B buyers and consumers who are making a considered purchase will troll the web looking for information to aid them in the buying process. Presentations help buyers get the right information about your products and services. We typically recommend that you set up a channel on Slideshare to house the presentations you are doing at trade shows and other industry events. By doing this, you are leveraging the Slideshare community, which at 60 million uniques, will drive additional traffic to your website. Slideshare does a great job of optimizing the content it houses for organic search.
12. E-Newsletters: Does anyone read email newsletters anymore? Is this still a valid form of content? According to Mashable, Yes and yes. Email newsletters can be very good at generating more leads, but there are some rules. Do email regularly, so as to develop your readership. The minimum frequency should be once a month. That’s how you keep most customers and prospects interested and aware of your presence. Also, make sure your design your newsletter so it is easy to skim with click-through links that direct people back to long-form content on your website. A newsletter works to keep you top of mind with prospects and existing customers throughout the buying cycle and even after. That’ when you want to turn customers into advocates and evangelists for your brand. To measure results, you are going to need some kind of analytics software.
Aren't sure you can handle creating all this content on your own? That's OK! We can! Give us a call to discuss your content marketing strategy.
