Creative Marketing Channel

Best in class companies utilize content marketing for brand awareness, customer acquisition, lead generation, and customer retention. It’s no surprise more than 60% of ALL companies plan to substantially increase their content marketing efforts in 2012.  Why is content marketing so popular? What content marketing tactics do best in class companies employ? Here, in part six of my six part content marketing series, I answer these questions and more.

Why is corporate content marketing so popular?  Great content ranks well in search and a good search ranking leads to more traffic, leads, and conversions. Google’s Panda update in 2011 changed SEO forever declaring content the primary force responsible for best rankings.

What kind of corporate content does Google like best? According to Rand Fishkin of SEOmoz, Google rewards interesting, unique content because this type of content fosters visitor happiness. Yes, Google actually looks at visitor happiness now. Is your content engaging? Do visitors spend time reading it? Does your content answer visitor queries? Does it motivate visitors to perform an action? Does it inspire them to return to your site (your content core)? If you answered yes to these questions then Google is already giving your content and your search rank a big thumbs up. “Think more broadly about on page optimization – not just keywords,” explains Fishkin. Compelling images and creative content encourages a deeper experience for your visitors. (From Advanced On-Page Optimization – Whiteboard Friday by SEOmoz). Big takeaway: More relevant, unique and interesting content directly correlates with higher rankings and a deeper visitor experiences.

How do best in class companies create all of their great content? Producing enough engaging content continues to challenge most companies to some degree. One way they meet this challenge is outsource their content marketing to businesses like mine. Take a look at the percentage of companies who outsourced content marketing in 2010 and 2011:

(Data from MarketingProfs B2B Content Marketing: 2012 Benchmarks, Budgets & Trends).  Since 60% of all companies intend to increase their content marketing in 2012, I predict outsourcing percentages will grow as well.

What content marketing tactics do best in class companies employ? According to the MarketingProfs /The Content Marketing Institute’s report ” B2B Content Marketing: 2012 Benchmarks report, Budgets & Trends,”  best in class companies share 7 content marketing practices:
1. They invest 31% of their marketing budget into content marketing.
2. They segment their content based on the buying cycle.
3. Content marketing is C-Suite supported.
4. They plan to increase their content marketing over the next 12 months.
5. They use at least nine content marketing tactics.
6. They outpace less effective companies adopting blogs, articles, videos, eBooks, social media, and mobile content.
7. They have an effective distribution network using at least 3 – 4 social channels at a higher rate than their peers.

The Creative Marketing Channel specializes in optimized corporate content marketing and distribution. Improve your Google rank, deepen visitor experiences, and increase brand awareness, leads, and conversions when you hire The Creative Marketing Channel to create your company’s content.  Connect with us on YouTube, Linkedin, Twitter, Google+and Facebook. Email us at cl@2designs.com.

Social media marketing, part of digital marketing, is a great way to build relationships and grow your business. It’s no surprise Linkedin recently ranked as the second most popular social media platform in the world. If you’re not making the most of your Linkedin account, here are 7 steps to grow your business on Linkedin.

1.  Professional profiles only
Have you ever Googled your name? Nine times out of ten the very first thing you’ll see is your Linkedin profile. Linkedin has some powerful SEO mojo so think of your profile as your resume to the world.  Be sure it touts a decent photo of you, at least 5 glowing recommendations from others, and links to your professional websites.  Use keywords in your summary, link to your Twitter account if you have one, and link your business name to your Linkedin company profile listing.

2.  Regularly Share an update
Sharing an update is one of Linkedin’s best networking features. If you’re not using it, you’re missing out.   Why? Because every time you share an update your connections are notified via email as well as on Linkedin’s home page.  My recent update states, ” Training two PA and one MD company to blog using search engine optimized content.” In just a few words I let my connections know details about several services my company provides without the hard sell.  Social media is all about pull, not push marketing.

3.  Comment on an update
Respond to updates from others and show them you’re not always thinking about yourself.   Connecting with others is why Linkedin is social media. Remember, your comments mean something to the person who posted. Everyone loves to be noticed.

4.  Use a Linkedin app or two
For profile wow effect, as well as to better explain what you do, employ one or several Linkedin apps. If you have a Powerpoint presentation, load it to Slideshare and use the Slideshare app. If you blog, use the WordPress app.  Linkedin offers a variety of useful apps to choose from -  explore them and determine which best reflect you and your business.

5.  Join groups and interact appropriately
Although it’s a business oriented platform, Linkedin groups span both personal and professional interests.  A few of my favorite groups are Linked Locals Adams York, Martial Artists Black Belts, and Digital Marketing.  How does joining groups benefit you? Each group gives you the opportunity to meet new people who share your interests.  Often, group members pose discussion questions or post articles of interest. If moved, you should comment on group discussion posts as well as create discussion posts of your own. Avoid spamming, arrogance, or the hard sell. Social media doesn’t approve of these behaviors. Special bonus: After you comment on a discussion, Linkedin allows you to invite discussion participants to connect with you.  I’ve made a lot of interesting friends this way.

6.  Share blog posts with your groups
I consider this my best kept secret (until now). If you’re a blogger, share your blog posts with some or all of your Linkedin groups.  A notable one quarter of my blog traffic comes directly from Linkedin.

How do you use Linkedin to grow your business?
Linkedin is not a simple platform; rather, it is complex with many options and so I ask my readers this question:  How do you use Linkedin to grow your business?  Sharing your answers here is good for everyone, including you. 

About The Creative Marketing Channel
The Creative Marketing Channel belongs to oz 2 designs LLC – a small, flexible, full service digital marketing agency.  Inquire about hiring us. Connect with us on Linkedin, Twitter, and Facebook. Email us at cl@oz2designs.com.

“Facebook took something that even a novice could understand and have turned it into something that even to someone who has programming experience, is a confusing mess all for the sake of more ad space. Way to alienate your users Facebook! Social media is impatient and fickle, best get things simplified or people are going to split! P.S. It shouldn’t be all about the money. You either want businesses to use FB or you don’t.” – Heaven Graphics

Facebook’s recent pages upgrade has left a lot of small business owners reeling. For those businesses who rely solely on Facebook instead of their own brand, the fallout from FB’s upgrade has just begun and it’s looking uglier with each passing day.

The Problem: Customers and friends no longer see business page comments, links, photos, and status updates. Why? Because along with the new Facebook came an automatic new default setting placed on everyone’s newsfeed.  The new newsfeed default setting shows you comments, links, and status posts ONLY from those people you interact with most.  This means, if you’re a business, people who normally don’t interact with you will not see you anymore. Feeling invisible on FB lately? It gets worse.  Facebook has decided relevancy is what matters. Therefore, even if you change your newsfeed settings,  your newsfeed will never ever be the same as it has now become part of The Borg – I mean Facebook’s new relevancy algorithm.

The Partial Solution: You can change your newsfeed settings and see more filtered, relevant posts.  This will make more people visible to you but will not make you more visible to them. Will all 600 million people on FB make the effort to do this? I think not.  But, here’s how you can do it:

Step One: Go to your home page and click the little blue triangle next to “Most Recent.”

Step Two:  Choose “Edit Options.”

Step Three: Click the little blue triangle next to Show posts from …  and choose  “All of your friends and pages.” Click Save.

To all  businesses suffering under Facebook’s upgrade it’s imperative you understand the following distinction: Facebook is not your brand. Facebook is Facebook’s brand.  Your blog and your website are your brand. Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are places where you can share your brand. If you put all of your marketing eggs in Facebook’s basket then you’re in trouble.

It’s easy to wonder whether Facebook knew all along small businesses may not like their upgrade.  If they did, then they’re willing to take the hit and nothing will change.  If they didn’t,  then perhaps these pages will matter: Bring Back Chronological Posts,   You Are Invisible, and  New Facebook Settings Affecting You.  How do you predict Facebook’s new default newsfeed settings and  relevancy algorithm will impact brands? How do you predict they will impact Facebook?

To contact oz 2 designs LLC to handle your digital marketing and design email Catherine Lockey at cl@oz2designs.com.

Small businesses know “… the current shift in geotargeting, mobile marketing, and online reputation management require small businesses to modify their plans and surpass competitors.”  – Susan Gunelius, Reuters. Companies on the losing side of digital are under great pressure to claim some online territory.  Yet, catching up to one’s competition takes months of time, precious budget dollars, and real skill.  Last month I published a two parts of a three part Digital Marketing Study Primer for C.E.O.s.  Part I explains the fundamentals of social media marketing and Part II teaches C.E.O.s how to vet a social media marketing agency. The bottom line, C.E.O.s cannot make smart digital marketing decisions if they don’t grasp the basics.

Part III:  What should you expect to pay for social media marketing? Here I defer to longtime social media expert Mac Collier who researched and wrote, “How much does Social Media cost companies in 2011?” Collier explains, “These figures come from rates shared with me by fellow consultants and agencies that specialize in social media marketing, in addition to my own research, as well as what I charge for similar services. ”

Here’s the prices:

Blog:

Launch a blog from the ground-up, outsource all content creation (including customer interaction, handling responses to comments, etc) – $1,000-$12,000 a month

Most Charge – $3,000 – $5,000 a month

Launch a blog from the ground-up, outsource some content creation – $1,000-$8,000 a month

Most Charge – $2,000-$3,500 a month

Restructure an existing blog to improve your efforts – $1,000-$5,000 a month for 3-6 months

Most Charge – $2,000-$4,000 a month for 3-6 months

Ghostwriting blog posts – $50-$500 per

Most Charge – $100-$250 per

Twitter:

Launch a new presence on Twitter and outsource all content creation and customer interaction – $1,000-$7,500 a month

Most Charge – $2,000-$4,000 a month

Launch a new presence on Twitter and then provide ongoing training for company – $1,000-$6,000 a month

Most Charge – $1,000-$3,000 a month

Restructure an existing Twitter presence to improve your efforts – $1,000-$4,000 a month for 3-6 months

Most Charge – $1,000-$2,500 a month

Limited coaching to improve your existing efforts on Twitter – $1,000-$4,000 a month

Most Charge – $1,000-$2,500 a month

Facebook:

Launch a Facebook Page from the ground-up, outsourcing all content creation and customer interactions – $2,000-$9,000 a month

Most Charge – $2,500-$5,000 a month

Launch a Facebook Page from the ground-up, with limited ongoing training – $1,500-$7,500 a month for 3-6 months

Most Charge – $2,000-$4,000 a month

Social Media Strategy:

Comprehensive Social Media Strategy Creation, assuming outsourcing of all content creation through all channels(minimum 2) – $3,000-$20,000 a month

Most Charge – $4,000-$7,000 a month

Comprehensive Social Media Strategy Creation, assuming limited outsourcing of content creation and/or ongoing training –$3,000-$15,000 a month for 4-12 months

Most Charge – $3,000-$6,000 a month

Audit of existing Social Media Strategy Including Recommendations for Improvement – $2,000-$10,000

Most Charge – $2,000-$5,000

Social Media Consulting:

Hourly rates – $50-$500/Hr

Most Charge – $75-$200/Hr

Note: These prices are based on buying just one hour of a consultant’s time.  Many consultants also offer their consulting time in blocks of time.  These hours are usually offered at a discounted rate.  For example, a consultant might charge $100 for one hour of her time, but if you buy 5 hours of her time, she’ll give you a 25% discount to $375 for 5 hours.  Progressive discounts are sometimes offered as the volume of hours bought increases, with final discounts being as high as 33-50% off hourly rates.

On-Site Training/Workshops (All fees excluding travel expenses)

1-2 Hours – $500-$5,000

Most Charge – $500-$2,000

Half-Day (4 hours) - $1,000 – $10,000

Most Charge – $1,000 – $4,000

Full-Day (6-8 hours) – $2,000 – $50,000

Most Charge – $2,500-$5,000

Note: Keep in mind that consultants (at least the ones worth hiring) will invest several hours of prep time in assembling and customizing their training materials for you.  So while you might buy a full-day workshop, the total time investment for the consultant (including the workshop) could easily be 20-40 hours.  Plus they will likely lose at least a full day in travel to and from your company.

As with volume discounts on hourly consulting rates, many consultants will charge more at an hourly rate for workshops shorter than a full day.  For example, one consultant might charge $2,000 for a 2-hour workshop, and $5,000 for an 8-hour workshop.

A final word about prices: Don’t be afraid to negotiate.  If the quoted price is past your budget, ask for a break, especially if the project will be longer than 3 months.  A consultant might not be willing to give you a 15% discount on a 2-month project, but they might for a 6-month project.

To contact oz 2 designs LLC to handle your social media marketing email Catherine Lockey at cl@oz2designs.com.

“As the global economy struggles to correct itself, and social media marketing becomes a strategic imperative, companies will have exciting opportunities to expand in new directions this year…the current shift in geotargeting, mobile marketing, and online reputation management require that small businesses modify their plans to surpass competitors.” – Susan Gunelius, Reuters.

“Still Waiting to Commit to a Strategy…You’re Going to Lose” – Adam Singer
Gunelius is correct; current trends point businesses toward a holistic digital marketing strategy but, the fact is, if your business hasn’t made a commitment to digital yet, surpassing your competitors (even with a gigantic budget) probably won’t happen. Those who’ve already implemented a smart digital marketing strategy are so far ahead of their competition it’s disturbing.  Renowned digital marketing blogger and PR expert Adam Singer exemplifies the seriousness of this type of loss with a simple runner’s graphic.  In it, the newcomer to digital is running uphill struggling to make it to the top while his competition has already crested the hill and is enjoying the benefits of his win.  Stop looking for an easy way out – there isn’t one. Singer writes, “Figure out how the digital channels can best serve your brand. The net result should be a focused strategy that is based on your overall business objectives, economic value to the organization, and a tactical plan.” If you’re in the C-Suite, do your homework and understand digital marketing now, because it’s already too late.

Figure it out!
Here are some social media marketing fundamentals.  Social media starts with content and compelling content is predominantly found on blogs and websites with blogs.  Compelling content is a viable marketing tool. Gunelius on Reuters explains, “Amazing content is essential to break through the noise.” Yes, social media includes Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Delicious, Buzz etc. but before we go there it’s imperative you see the following key distinction: Your blog and your website are YOUR brand. Facebook and Twitter are not your brand – they are Facebook and Twitter’s brands. The goal is to get your friends and followers to link back to your brand.  Have social media accounts but no blog? You’re losing.  Fill your blog with compelling, keyword optimized content which inspires others to share what you write on Twitter, Facebook, Delicious, Buzz, and more. This is how you boost your brand’s visibility on search.  Are you posting weekly on your blog?  Is your content interesting enough to share? Do you regularly add fresh content to your website? Your answers to all should be YES.

Search engine attention and author authority
Compelling blog content combined with the creative use of Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and other social media channels is a good start.  Specifically, you build communities on various social media platforms, share valuable information with your communities in an interesting way, then maybe they’ll share your information with their communities.  Sounds simple, right? It isn’t. Rand Fishkin of SEOmoz writes, ” We now know that those link sharing activities on Twitter and Facebook are evaluated based on the person/entity sharing them through a score Google calls ‘Author Authority,’ and Bing calls ‘Social Authority.’” Recently both Google and Bing confessed they give more search engine attention to links tweeted and retweeted by authoritative Twitter users. Know how to leverage social and search.

Time is not on your side.
You won’t get instant gratification from a newly implemented digital marketing plan. It doesn’t matter how much money you throw at it, the fact remains, a good digital marketing plan needs to be up and running at least six months before you’ll see any benefits.  At least.  A year is a much more realistic time frame.  If you study up you’ll understand the daily commitment,  knowledge base, and creativity required to make it work.  Ready to learn more?  Keep an eye out for “A Digital Marketing Study Primer for C.E.O.’s – Part II” and find out how to vet a social media marketing agency and discover how much you should pay them.

I recently gave the presentation “Digital Marketing 101: What is it and how do I implement it?” to attendees at the Gettysburg Adams Chamber of Commerce Expo. As promised, I published it below. The rapid shift from traditional to digital marketing has left many business owners behind. This presentation gets you up to speed with an explanation of the new media mindset as well as fundamentals of digital marketing. Read the rest of this entry »

Successful online commerce means knowing critical new business practices which result in online success. Dawn M. Yankeelov, president and founder of Aspectx, shared these practices and so much more in her session “Customer Retention : Learn Critical Factors for Maintaining Online Commerce Success” at PRSA’s 2010 global conference. Below are the pearls of wisdom I gathered from her exceptional session. Read the rest of this entry »

“Every customer represents an opportunity. That customer will be singing your praises, or doing what I’m doing. Branding You.” – Angela Russell from StateFarmSucks.homestead.com.

Welcome to the Digital Age

Not too long ago, if a customer was dissatisfied with a product or service it would take weeks, months, or years for word of her dissatisfaction to get around – if it got around at all. Today, the rules of the game are very different. Welcome to the digital age where the internet is everyone’s equal opportunity forum.  With the advent of social media, bad news spreads like wildfire and negative press pops up in real time. So, how do you effectively protect your brand online?

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