5 Content Marketing Tactics That Will Fail you Every Time

Content marketing is one of the most effective ways to promote a business online; but only if it’s done correctly. Content is used all over the world by business owners to attract new customers. Creating quality content regularly will definitely pay off, but it takes a whole lot of valuable time and resources. I don’t know about you, but I don’t know many business owners with that kind of time on their hands! For this reason, it is important to do it right the first time and get the most out of your efforts. This article covers five commonly made mistakes when it comes to content marketing. If you want to benefit the most from content marketing, be sure to follow these basic rules: Find your audience before you start writing to the wrong one. Even if you are a dynamite writer with all the best tactics, your content could be geared toward the wrong people. If your content is being published to engage an older crowd when you sell belly button rings, you will have no success. One of the main purposes of starting content marketing is to generate leads and sales. So it only makes sense to target people who want or need your product. If you are addressing the wrong audience, it’s time to shift your focus toward the people who are actually going to help you reach your goals. You may have to change your tones or wording when you find your true audience, but it will definitely pay off when you get there. Don’t jip on your headline; it’s one of the most important...

How you can Benefit from LinkedIn

Are you new social networking? Even if you aren’t new to marketing online, using LinkedIn is a great way to show potential customers what you know and an even better platform for creating new business. LinkedIn doesn’t just display your business’ information like as a resume would; this network contains more valuable information about a contact than you could imagine. With all this information displayed for your potential customers to see, pieces can be used to start interesting conversations that could turn into leads that could turn into transactions, and then be converted into loyal customers. We’ve compiled a list of 4 tips that can help your business benefit from using LinkedIn. Before creating a presence on LinkedIn, there are a few setup decisions that need to be taken care of. Decide on an overall campaign goal, and ensure all employees are on board and well-informed. Make sure your business profile is findable and presentable and your employees’ profiles are linked to the business.  All employees’ profiles need to be consistent sources of valuable content. Once you have these initial duties out of the way, commit to a schedule that will be constant enough to maintain the profile. Things that need to be done at least weekly consist of posting new content, answering questions, participating in LinkedIn groups, converse in others’ posts, networking and much more. Figure out what works for you and cut out the things that don’t so you can constantly find new ways of spending less time social networking. Engage in relevant groups. On LinkedIn, multiple exposures make an impression on potential customers. If you are...

Identifying and Engaging Your Audience

The best path to online marketing consists of identifying your target audience and getting your brand message in front of them to drive conversation and leads. The whole plan is done in one sentence; so it should be simple enough, right? Wrong! This pathway is easy to conceptualize; but is definitely more difficult and time consuming than just stating the plan. We have compiled a list of 5 steps that might make your journey of identifying and appealing to your target audience a little less bumpy. Identify and categorize your existing audience. Talk to your current customers and really get to know them. Knowing who currently loves your brand will give you an idea of who you should be reaching out to. Define your prospects that matter most using analytics. Analytics help you to determine the demographics or your audience such as identity, job position and company size. Analyze your social media followers to figure out where they are coming from. This will enhance your buyer’s profile and determine which customers are actually engaging with you. Once you have identified your actual current audience, focus on identifying target markets that you aren’t reaching successfully, or markets that you are reaching- but aren’t converting. You might find that your message and tactics aren’t going out to the right audiences. Change around your branding message to appeal to your audience. Campaigns are great for creating a buzz among audiences you haven’t touched. Campaigns also increase interest and engagement among your existing customers as well as letting others know how your business is perceived. The goal of any campaign is to get...

In a Time Crunch? Launch Your Holiday Campaign Using PPC!

During this time of the year, it seems that Christmas shoppers and last-minute Christmas card senders aren’t the only ones rushing around to get things done. Business owners scram during the holidays trying to get out that last minute campaign before everyone settles to enjoy Christmas day. Organically ranking for keywords can be too involved when you’re stretched for time, but luckily there is another way to get some quick returns this year- PPC! Pay-per-click (PPC) is an advertisement that is paid for to pop up in search engines. These ads are typically displayed in the top and right sides of search results. PPC has immediate results; therefore being perfect for a last-minute campaign before going on Christmas vacation. You can set up a campaign and within a few hours, people are able to see your ads and click through to your website. Targeting your ads is also made easy since you can display different ads for each keyword you choose to bid on. Optimizing your ads to cater to holiday shoppers can help you quickly increase the effectiveness of your campaign. The first thing you should do it attempt to get inside your target audience’s head. Figure out what they search for and when they do it the most. Then, identify your audience’s wants and needs. A great thing to advertise during the hassle of Christmas is that you promise fast shipping or a guarantee that their products will arrive before Christmas. Your initial thinking would be to bid on keywords such as “Christmas” and “holidays,” but if those keywords aren’t all that relevant to your business, then...

Trusting Relationships: The Key to Successful Social Media Marketing

When your business starts social marketing, there is a long list of things that need to be developed for success: a plan, a platform, a brand presence, engagement and a goal. After putting in so much time and effort in online marketing, it should be devastating when results aren’t what you want them to be. There are several things that can go wrong, but one of the most common reasons is that your potential customers just don’t trust you. You could have everything going right for your company; but if your online presence lacks credibility, no one will trust you to do business with. Before social media, trust was built by word of mouth. If a customer had a great experience with your business, they would share this with friends and family. Businesses earned their reputation by people with actual experiences with your company. Now that social media has become one of the only ways to establish your reputation online, businesses are struggling to create that credibility. This is a topic that we have discussed before, but building trust doesn’t happen overnight, and it is crucial to your business. Here are some more things you can do that will help you attain the trust factor you need with customers. Know your stuff. It is easy to validate who you are online, so make sure you really know your stuff! Faking it won’t get you far; and the second you give false information, you are tuned out to anyone who sees it. The content on all your social platforms must scream that you know what you’re talking about. If you...