Successful Blog

3 Lessons B2B Content Marketers Can Learn from B2C Content

by Leave a Comment

Of course, any content produced by businesses, for businesses is bound to be more factual and professional and “safe for work.”

There are limits to what B2B marketers can say without compromising their professional image, and that’s understandable. But in the world of content marketing, it seems like too many B2B marketers are playing it safe.

Some of the most creative and high-impact content marketing efforts are coming from the B2C world—maybe that’s because talking to consumers often gives companies more of a chance to be “fun” instead of just factual. But no matter what we sell, the evolving demands of the content marketing world are opening up new possibilities to tell stories in more creative and engaging ways. B2B marketers can learn a lot from the B2C content marketing world.

Here are three lessons that B2B content marketers can learn from B2C content.

Be creative

Look for ways to get out of the traditional B2B content marketing box of white papers and blog posts. Most B2B content marketing is focused on the written word—but not everyone prefers to get their information in writing. Instead of penning another white paper, consider creating colorful infographics that convey your statistics and survey results in a more visually-interesting way. All of those content assets make great lead magnets, so they will help in your sales generation as well!

Has your business ever thought about a podcast? Podcasts give you the chance to create your own online radio show where you can share stories with your clients and prospects in a personal and educational way.

Be entertaining

Most B2B content marketing is focused on educating the prospect and sharing thought leadership with the market—and that’s fine! But what if you could take things to the next level and create B2B content that was not only informative, but also funny, exciting, suspenseful or otherwise entertaining?

The B2C content marketing world is doing a great job of this. It’s getting to the point where some B2C content marketing is becoming increasingly indistinguishable from “regular” non-marketing content.

For example, Chipotle once made an original 4-part comedy series about factory-farmed beef called “Farmed and Dangerous.” This was a compelling and effective way for Chipotle to communicate its brand values of using sustainable agriculture and humanely raised meat, while also making something to keep the audience entertained.

What could your business do that might be similar to this strategy? How could you be informative AND funny? How could you convey your company’s brand values or competitive advantages while still making a fun, thought-provoking comment about the larger industry?

The answer might not be the same for every company or every industry, but I’m sure B2B companies can do more to make creative, entertaining content. Why not borrow a page from the B2C playbook? What’s stopping you? Hiring a creative content marketing service will make your content diverse and effective.

Be mobile-friendly

B2B content needs to be delivered to audiences in a way that is relevant to people’s preferences. Today, that increasingly means “mobile devices.” This is one area where B2B marketing is still catching up—many B2B marketers have assumed (wrongly) that B2B buyers don’t use mobile devices to the same extent that consumers do. But the truth is, B2B buyers engage with content and make purchasing decisions in similar ways to their lives as consumers.

For example, according to research from Panvista Mobile, 59 percent of B2B purchase decision makers and influencers use smartphones to gather information about B2B products and services, and 65 percent of executives are “comfortable making a business purchase from a mobile device.”

Make your B2B content mobile-friendly. This can be as simple as making your white papers more concise. According to the Pardot State of Demand Generation Report, 70 percent of B2B buyers prefer to see white papers, case studies and eBooks that are less than five pages in length.

Takeaways

B2B buyers are “people” too. The same time crunch and short attention span and need to “get to the point” that we experience in our daily lives as consumers are also part of life for your B2B buyers.

This makes it more important than ever to make sure our B2B content marketing efforts are a relevant fit for the needs of B2B audiences. There are a lot of lessons that B2B marketers can learn from the consumer marketing world—be entertaining, be creative, and deliver the content in a way that is most relevant and engaging to the audience.

What other lessons can B2B content marketers learn from B2C content?

Image source

How to Attract Guest Post Invitations from Authority Publications

by Leave a Comment

By Ankit Singla

We already know that publishing high-quality content on your website can do wonders. But did you know that writing for other websites can help your business, too?

I’m talking about guest posting. Otherwise called guest blogging, guest posting can help bolster your brand and grow your audience. 

But in order to maximize its potential, your guest posts should be seen in authority publications. So, how can you do just that?

In this guide, I will show you how you can attract guest post invitations from credible and recognized websites as a way to grow your business.

Why is Guest Posting Important?

In the competitive landscape of online marketing, you have to maximize all your digital channels to stay ahead. According to the Content Marketing Institute (CMI), guest posting or offsite thought leadership plays an important role in your marketing funnel.

Guest-contributed content allows you to reach a new audience, strengthen brand awareness, and bolster your ties with niche influencers. In fact, if guest posting is done right, it could even generate quality leads and increase your revenues. 

content marketing funnel

How to Entice Guest Post Invitations from Authority Sites

It’s pretty clear why you should add guest posting as part of your online marketing strategy. So, without further ado, here’s a list of the things you need to do to gain guest post invitations:

Optimize Your Social Media Accounts

First things first: You have to optimize all your social media accounts. 

Consider listing all your social media profiles – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+ and LinkedIn. Then, set them up accordingly.

You can follow these steps to make your profile optimization much easier:

  1. Pick a stand-out profile picture and/or cover photo.
  2. Clearly explain what your brand is about.
  3. Avoid too many buzzwords in the description section. 
  4. Include crucial bits of information such as location and business hours.
  5. Create a timeline for your social media sharing.

Your social media accounts are a crucial part of your online marketing efforts. So, make sure that people can search you on the social platforms I’ve mentioned, and optimize them well.

In addition, make sure to put your social media buttons on your website smartly. They should be clearly visible and accessible for your site visitors.

Position Yourself as an Authority in Your Niche

If you want authority publications to seek your content, it is essential to position yourself as an expert in your niche. You can begin by writing and publishing ten in-depth, relevant, and high-quality posts related to your industry.

To do this, you have to think of real value. Keep in mind that people are always thinking what’s in it for them. If they don’t find your content useful, it’s more likely they leave your page and find another source. 

Simply put, before writing, think from your readers’ perspective.

Writing high-quality content is one thing. Knowing what to write about is another. If you’re running out of ideas for content to write, it helps to visit Q&A websites such as Quora. 

In the search box, type your keyword, and see what people are curious to know. Read related articles about hot topics and find a new angle. 

Tip: You can provide additional depth for your readers by combining concepts and ideas. 

screenshot from Quora

Make sure to include statistics, and only link to credible sources. Remember, you want to position yourself as an expert, so your content needs to be truthful, informative, and useful for the readers.

Also, keep in mind that your efforts should not stop with publishing insightful articles. To cement your position as an authority, you have to engage with your community as well. 

While it helps to answer questions and respond to comments, don’t forget to stay transparent. Admit if you’re uncertain, but offer to look into a query, and actually return to your readers with answers. 

Authority publications wouldn’t only appreciate your honesty and effort but will also more likely think highly of you.

Publish High-Quality Content

Crafting high-quality content is non-negotiable when it comes to online marketing. It’s one of the most effective ways to build credibility for your brand. Additionally, it is important if you want to position yourself as an expert in your niche.

Essentially, valuable content has the following characteristics:

  • It has insightful and interesting information about a particular subject
  • It follows proper grammar and spelling
  • It is easy to read and understand
  • It has quality images or video embeds on it

Again, the users should be on top of your mind when crafting a piece. Monitor social media so you can pick up the hottest topics and trends people are raving about. Then, research thoroughly about it and write an engaging, informative article that discusses it further.

And of course, don’t forget about the other essentials: keyword research and a “can’t-miss-it” title. Ideally, your headline should contain your keyword and spark interest to get users hooked. In short, you need a high-quality title, too.

Even if you have a top-notch blog, it would be pointless if it doesn’t have readers. So, make sure that your titles are engaging enough to trigger readership.

I find the Headline Analyzer by CoSchedule very useful in gaining actionable insights about my titles. It scores my headlines based on several factors such as word balance and user sentiment. 

headline analyzer from CoSchedule

Share Your Articles on Your Social Media Profiles

Every time you publish an article on your website, share it on your social media channels, too. Make sure that it comes with an engaging copy that follows your brand’s voice as well. 

If you’ve already contributed articles for other websites, be sure to thank the editor. This will allow your target publications to know that you’ve already contributed content for others.

It also helps to know what’s the best time to post on social media. You can use Sprout Social’s key data points about social media posting as reference:

  • Best day and time to post on Facebook: Wednesday at 11 am and 1 pm
  • Safest times to post: Weekdays from 9 am to 3 pm
  • Times with least engagement: Early mornings and evenings before 7 am and after 5 pm

Facebook global engagement from Sprout Social

To reach more audience, try repackaging your posts for different networks. Remember that each social media platform is unique, and you’d want to make the most out of them.

One great example is turning your old post into a slideshow, voice over or a video tutorial that would go on YouTube. Otherwise, you can create infographics, which are perfect for direct uploads on Pinterest and Twitter.

In a nutshell, create something new from your previous posts. It’s a great way to maximize your content and expand your reach.

Track Your Progress

Many marketers and entrepreneurs tend to overlook this step, which is very crucial in your marketing strategy. Tracking your work and progress is just as important as the other strategies mentioned above.

Having a spreadsheet where you can record the URL of your published articles is important for your digital marketing efforts. Whenever you contribute to other sites, you can refer to the spreadsheet. 

It would serve as a reference for your previous works, which you can include in your contributed content. Not only will your articles get more visibility, but it would also help bolster brand awareness.

As you strengthen your ties with certain publishers, you may offer to contribute regularly for them – say, one article per week. Update your spreadsheet every time you contribute a guest post, and monitor your progress. This way, you will be able to gauge how far you’ve come, and how else you can improve.

Conclusion

While guest blogging isn’t something all entrepreneurs are used to doing, it’s definitely worth it to give it a try. It’s a great way to expand your network and reach more potential customers for your brand.

To gain advantageous results, remember to optimize your social media accounts and publish high-quality content. This way, you can also position yourself as an authority in your niche. Then, share your work and track your progress.

With consistent effort, your marketing strategy will surely bear fruit, leading to more traffic, leads, and even revenues.

 

Author Bio:  Ankit is a professional blogger, affiliate marketer, consultant, trainer, public speaker and founder of MasterBlogging, where he is passionate about helping people generate a full-time income with blogging. You can follow him on twitter at @iAnkitSingla

The long and short of successful blogging

by 1 Comment

Ernest Hemingway was once challenged to write the world’s shortest novel. He did it in six searing words: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”

I share this factoid as an illustration that the length of your blog post doesn’t really matter. The only thing that matters is that you effectively get your point across. After all, Hemingway is also famous for the extreme length of his sentences!

Successful Long-Form Blogging

If you’re approaching a difficult topic, you may need thousands of words.

Take, for example, the amazing deep-dive posts of Tim Urban at Wait But Why. He has half a million subscribers, and his posts often run into the tens of thousands of words. He also doesn’t follow the oft-prescribed “write consistently” advice. His posts are published when they’re ready, and when he has something to say. (Warning, some of his content is NSFW.)

Another great example of long-form, successful blogging is Avinash Kaushik’s Occam’s Razor. When you read his detailed posts on analytics and digital marketing, you’re essentially getting a free college level course in the subject. I often read his posts with notepad on hand, so I can go back and use the suggestions.

On the corporate blogging side, you have the professional team at Buffer’s blog, who have been publishing fantastic long-form content for several years. I often envision them as a team of thousands, researching, editing, and uploading blog posts like a highly efficient Borg. (Just kidding, I’ve met some of their team and they’re actually human and very nice.)

Do long form blog posts work? Yes, if you’re delivering exceptional value with high quality content, according to TheNextWeb.

Successful Short-Form Blogging

Let’s talk about some of the short post publishers.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t first mention Seth Godin, the godfather of the pithy post. He’s also a rule-breaker because he doesn’t even really promote his posts…his Twitter account is set up to Tweet out the link when it’s published, but he’s not active on Twitter at all. However, if you subscribe to the email notifications for his content, you can easily reach him by replying to the email. For real, I’ve done it, and he’s responded.

Another very popular use of short-form is listicles and ranking posts. This fascinating interview on the Kellogg Insight podcast describes how lists and short bursts of information help us remember better, and help us cope with the massive amounts of data coming at us every day. We might mock the Buzzfeed-style, “10 ways to groom your dog with a toothbrush” article, but we’re still clicking on those headlines.

One of the most recommended Medium blog posts of 2017 is a five-minute read. Why is it so short, but so effective? It packs a powerful emotional punch, peppered with supporting stats. It’s intensely shareable.

Looking at those three short-form examples, if you want your brief posts to perform well, follow your own muse, say something useful, and make a strong emotional impact.

Finally, remember that you don’t have to stick to one side or the other. Plenty of successful bloggers alternate long-form and short-form articles.

What is your blogging style? Have you mixed it up lately?

 

 

Featured Image by Vincent van Zalinge on Unsplash

Let Guest Posting Market Your Brand

by Leave a Comment

blogging-1168076_640Are you at a loss for words as to why your brand is struggling these days?

If so, the answer might be right in front of you.

For many business owners, their brands have trouble getting traction as a result of inefficient and/or ineffective marketing.

As a result, there is missed sales revenue, revenue that could very well be the difference between a solid month of sales and a lackadaisical one at best.

With that in mind, what should be you doing to give your brand a boost?

While there are a myriad of options available to you, some typically prove to be more successful than others.

One such option is guest posting.

Between guest posting on other blogs and allowing relevant and authoritative authors to provide your site with guest posts, you can oftentimes increase your site’s traffic before long.

Although there are several reasons you will likely see a spike in your website traffic, one is that your site could very well improve its search engine rankings, most notably with Google.

So, has the time come to let guest posting for your brand be the possible boost it has been missing up to this point and time?

Knowing Where to Start

In order to understand why guest posting matters to your brand, start by looking at some of your competitors and their websites.

Are they running guest posts on a regular basis and/or guest posting on other sites? If they are, what are some of the topics they are routinely covering? While there are a myriad of things to discuss, search for posts that will be most useful to your regular audience.

As an example, if you work in the real estate business, consumers would tend to want to know the following:

  • Current trends – What is happening in the market as of now for both buyers and sellers?
  • Future forecast – What are experts saying about the market’s pluses or minuses over the next six months to a year?
  • Home repairs – For someone looking to sell, how much time and money should they invest in repairs? Oftentimes, repairs done prior to listing the home can increase the value of the residence.

As you prepare to do guest posts, the above-mentioned topics are just a few of the many things you can discuss on other real estate and financial blogs. Likewise, encourage those looking to post on your site to hit some of those areas and more.

Lastly, no matter what industry you are in, guest blogging won’t be all that successful for you if you don’t engage your readers.

Although some comments may slip through the cracks on occasion, do your best to read all of the remarks you get from readers. If you feel there is the need for a response and/or to continue the discussion, by all means do.

Promoting Your Guest Posts

Finally, turning to social media to promote your blog posts is imperative, especially if you are new to the guest posting scene.

For the best results possible, use a variety of social networking sites, with Facebook and Twitter the top two. You can also opt for Instagram and Pinterest, though both of those platforms tend to be more focused on imagery.

Going back to Facebook and Twitter for a moment, be sure to do some cross-promoting, allowing both you and others in your industry (except for direct competitors in most cases) to benefit from helping one another out.

As with your guest posts, be sure to engage those on social media taking the time to comment about your efforts.

If you’ve been lackadaisical about using guest posting in the past to market your brand, start changing that mindset today.

As a business owner, how are you using guest posting to bring more awareness around to your brand?

Photo credit: Pixabay

About the Author: Dave Thomas covers business and marketing topics on the web.

 

 

 

7 First Year Priorities for Entrepreneurs

by 1 Comment

I recently had the opportunity to review a book for entrepreneurs that had some great advice, a list of seven priorities for the critical first year of business. The more I thought about this list, the more important that it seemed to me. So I have decided to create a series of posts elaborating on this theme. While “Young Guns” is targeted to a just-out-of-college-and-wondering-what-to-do market, I believe that these priorities apply to anyone starting a new venture.

In the book Robert Tuchman writes:

1. Build a culture of action and enthusiasm – During the first year, you will face a lot of questions about your experience.The best – and probably only – way to overcome them is to impress your clients with your vigor and dynamism. If you want to be perceived as youthful, forward-thinking, and results-oriented, be proactive! Reward your people for taking the initiative. You’ll have a huge competitive advantage over established companies. Many cliets will pay, and even take a bit of a risk, to get young, energetic minds on their side.

Indeed. In fact, you don’t have to be young, just have that “youthful” mind-set and a good grasp of the new tools and tactics of business and marketing. If you are here reading this you are probably involved with the “Social Media Scene” and, no matter what your age, you have something to teach older companies – by way of eating their lunch.

Action and Enthusiasm Can Be Contagious

action-260Cultivating and maintaining a pro-active and empowered team in your business have the potential to take your business over and above your competitors, especially those that have been around for a while and may have slipped into some bad habits. A personal example: When I used to work for a Marriott hotel we were encouraged to take care of our guests in every way. One of our guiding principles was (I am paraphrasing here), “If you encounter a guest with a problem you own that problem until the guest is satisfied.”

In theory, this meant that the employee who discovered/encountered the problem was in charge of solving it to the guest’s satisfaction. In practice this meant that our staff went out of their way to make sure that guests didn’t have problems, and if they did every employee knew how far they could go to fix it, and when they would need to reach out for help. In any case, I saw many front-line employees handling guest issues that may not have been entirely within their job description, either by themselves or with the help of the staff members who were responsible for that area of service. I believe that this policy was largely responsble for the high level of morale and pride that the staff had in their jobs and workplace – and the Triple A 4-diamond rating the hotel received.

What are you doing to cultivate a culture of action and enthusiasm in your business? Please share in the comments.
(You can read the review and enter a contest to win an autographed copy of the book at this link Book Review: Young Guns by Robert Tuchman.)