5 Additional Ways Content Marketing Can Take You To The Promised Land

May 17, 2012 By Leave a Comment

We talk a lot about content marketing around here.

In fact, it is so important, we’ve created a email-based content marketing course for you, at no charge. Sign-up for our Workingman’s Content Marketing Course here.

Content marketing is a CRITICAL component to your customer acquisition and revenue generation efforts. Of that, there is NO doubt. And yes, you should effectively integrate a content marketing strategy along all of the stages of your sales process.

But it is more than that. By far.

1. Content marketing has an important role to play in your public relations (PR) efforts. You can newsjack your way into important global conversations in your market space, but only if you are contributing (read: making content) to the conversation in your market.

2. Content marketing can be an essential piece in your investor relations efforts, to keep them up-to-speed on what is happening with “their” organization. This can be internal content, too.

3. Most websites have a FAQ Sheet, where you address the most commonly-asked questions your organization receives. Your content marketing strategy can be a very creative and memorable way to fulfill this purpose.

4. You have customers. You need to maintain those very important relationships. You want to deepen their loyalty. So, a content strategy can be a really fun, and helpful, way to provide continuing education and support to your customers. This can be internal too.

5. You have a very specific customer you are looking for, but it is never a bad idea to provide general knowledge to a broader market place. This can help build goodwill, and generate referral opportunities. Here’s an example of a little project along this score.

So while your content marketing strategy is an important piece to your organizational sales and marketing efforts, it can also play a mission critical role in many other communication essentials too.

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Sign-up for our FREE Workingman’s Content Marketing Course here.

Drawing by Hugh MacLeod.

Filed Under: Content Marketing

The only e-book you’ll ever need???

May 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The Yellow Pages.  When I was a kid, the Yellow Pages fascinated me.  I recall being amazed that every year somebody would just give us this amazing book – for free!  “They” would leave it on our front porch.  If my family ever needed anything, we could “let our fingers do the walking” and find it in just a few minutes. So just to recap what to me was amazing:

  • Has everything (not really, but as an 8 year old, it seemed like it)
  • Updated every year
  • Free!

Yesterday, while using the weather app on my iPad, up pops an ad for the Real Yellow Pages.  (Yes I’m still hooked on the “free” thing and have not upgraded to the ad-less version.)  Downloaded that Yellow Pages rascal tout suite!  After a few minutes of nostalgia – the pages look exactly they way I remember them from the 50s – I concluded…

The Real Yellow Pages iPad app is awesome!

After flipping through a few pages though, it dawned on me that for the most part the only info I was getting was a business name, address and phone number.  That’s it? I’m expected to make a purchase decision based on that?

The Real Yellow Pages iPad app stinks!

So which is it?  A brilliant reincarnation of an iconic brand? Or the pathetic, low-budget appeal of a dying business model aimed at techno-phobic baby boomers?

More digging convinced me that it’s a little bit of both, but sadly, mostly the latter.  I really, really like “flipping through the pages.”  Gives me a warm, fuzzy, remember-my-childhood feeling, and it does in fact enable some intelligent shopping.  For example, I’m looking for some water-proof pants designed for a bicycle rider.  Looked under Bicycle Dealers and there was a listing with a link to bike dealer’s web site.  Found ‘em!  Success!  Ummm….

Except it was just one bike dealer; more focused on bikes than on apparel.  So I went to Google.  Typed in “bicycle rain pants.”  In 10 minutes I had ordered exactly what I wanted; the highest rated pants from the highest rated supplier at the lowest cost. They’re scheduled for delivery to my house tomorrow.

The point of the story?  Examine your business model!  Yes, it might still be working. But it might be working like the Yellow Pages.

Filed Under: E-Rep Tagged With: , , ,

Flying Amongst The SoundClouds: Podcasting Made Simple

May 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Our mission here at DLI is to help you build your e-Rep, and develop the best, most impactful content marketing strategy you can to jack up the results of your sales and marketing programs.

As we’ve explained countless times on this blog, podcasting, audio, and radio shows are a big piece of the puzzle as to how we go to market, but how we help our customers go to market, and ramp up their business development efforts.

As promised, from time to time, we will share other tools and platforms to help you do your thing. Here is one you should take a look at. Just press the orange play button:

One such tool that we want to bring to your attention is SoundCloud.

If you think podcasting, or generating any kind of audio content is too hard and requires expensive tools and equipment, you are wrong.

From SoundCloud

You can create your FREE SoundCloud account in seconds, and within minutes, you can record and publish audio content to your website, like you see above.

In fact, once you record content, as you can see from the image to the left, SoundCloud makes it very easy to share to the social web as well as embed an audio player to your website and/or blog.

Honestly my friends, you no longer have any excuses. You now have a new tool that can make an impact on your sales and marketing program. All you need is the commitment to making it happen.

If you aren’t sure how to use podcasting and the resultant content generated from it, you should join our mailing list about e-Rep, or sign-up for our FREE content marketing course.

Feel free to email us if you want to better understand how to integrate a tool like this into your program!

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Filed Under: Podcasting Tagged With: ,

I just got another slap up-side the head

May 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment

This is one of those blog posts that tells you something you already know.  You are probably like me though, and sometimes forget the basics.

Almost two years ago, I was in Milwaukee doing some work for a client.  Since I was out there anyway and business was good that year, I accepted a long-standing invitation to speak – unpaid – to a CEO networking group in the area.  I had stopped dong unpaid speaking gigs eight or nine years back when I concluded they were rarely worth the time and effort.  It’s “you get what you pay for” in reverse.  Members of the group get your consulting for free for a few hours, and value what they get according to the cash investment they made – zippo.

Sound a bit cocky?  Yup.  But hey, Mr. Big Shot here figured the only other option was sitting at the Milwaukee airport bar waiting for the only flight back to Atlanta.  So the dog and pony show was on!

Speaking in front of groups is something I truly love doing, and I think I did a pretty good job of it that day.  Even remembered to ask the group to opt in to our e-newsletter.  Of course 100% of the hands went up signaling agreement.  (They’re CEOs after all, so they’re polite.)  The ONLY reason I followed up though, and entered the names and e-mails into the system to complete the double-opt-in process, was a rain delay at the airport.  Otherwise I’d have blown it off.

This past Friday, I re-learned – yet again – how vital it is to get subscribers to your e-newsletter.

Got a phone call out of the blue from one of those CEOs.  This woman had not only read all the e-newsletters, but also had been following this blog, listening to our podcasts and watching our videos.  She bought a 2-day seminar on the spot.  There’s a decent chance this thing will turn into a 6+ month engagement.

So the lesson?  Actually, there are three.  First, don’t ever get cocky and think you’re above executing all the basic blocking and tackling.  Second, make sure your e-Rep is robust and continuously feeding meaty, valuable text, audio and video content to your constituents out there in cyber-space.  And third…

Never, never, never pass up an opportunity to get someone signed up for your e-newsletter.

By the way, you might want to sign up for our e-newsletter.

Filed Under: E-Rep Tagged With: , , , , ,

You Are Now Entering The Contact Form Death Zone

April 26, 2012 By 2 Comments

Over the last several months, I have reached out to several organizations about appearing as guests on various radio shows we produce.

It doesn’t matter how I initially stumbled upon them, but usually it was through PR referrals, LinkedIn searches, HARO, word of mouth, etc.

In any event, I thought they looked like interesting potential guests for one of my radio shows. So I would visit their website, look for the “Contact Us” page, and either send an email and/or complete the suggested form.

Then I hit send.

And then?

Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Nary a peep. At least for 50% of the organizations I contacted in this manner.

FIFTY PERCENT.

What a shame. No, not for me, although sad to miss out on a chance to interview them. But a shame for them.

They missed a chance to get some additional exposure. They missed a chance to connect with a potential referral source. They missed a chance to make a connection with someone who might just talk about them to his social graph.

Why does this happen?

Well, it is possible that they weren’t interested in what I was offering. But I doubt it.

[But still, even if you aren't interested, you can still build positive goodwill by graciously declining.]

Honestly, I think they are lazy, reckless, uncaring, unaware, and missing the boat entirely.

These might be prospects for goodness sakes!

It is possible the web guy slapped up the contact form when the website was originally built. But what a sad testament to how uncaring the organization is to be so unaware of how their website is presented to the world.

And a quick, somewhat related side note. I hate seeing the “To get more info, email us at info@organization.com” email addresses. Don’t make me contact Mr. Info. I don’t want to talk to some generic intern who has been assigned the duty of answering the “info” email account.

Allow me to contact a real human being. Give me a name! Give me some hope that he or she will actually respond to me. And don’t let me worry that my email is going straight to the contact page zone of death.

Here is a customer of ours using a contact form as not only a means of establishing a connection, but also to attain some critical information about how he can potentially serve them.

Bill is a conscientious fellow. I have no worries that people who contact him there will never hear from him. But why do so many organizations fail to respond?

Why do they miss opportunities to connect with people who are reaching out to them?

As there is more and more noise clamoring for our attention, why do you ignore someone who gave you his or her attention?

At the end of the day, it is always about the little things. This is one of those little things. Honestly, if you mishandle this little opportunity, how carelessly might you handle my business?

Don’t ignore the real people reaching out to you on your contact pages. You do all this work to get the attention of people who want to connect with you. And then you ignore them when they tap on your shoulder.

You never know, you might just end up on a radio show. And famous!

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Drawing by Hugh MacLeod.

Filed Under: Sales
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