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Email Marketing: Write a Subject Line that Delivers
Nicolas Cage had 60 seconds to steal a car. You wish you had half that long to get someone to open your email. In truth, most readers will give your subject line less than 3 seconds before they decide to delete or open. How do you make the most of those 3 short seconds? Write a subject line they can’t resist. That means your subject line has to achieve two goals: First, it needs to grab their attention. Second, it needs to motivate them to click. That’s a lot of work for only 6 to 10 words to do – or more precisely, not more than 60 characters. (That’s the length of email subject line that gets the best open rates.) So let’s get to it. Second that emotion Hitting the right emotional note achieves both goals of a good subject line. Emotions move people. Fear is one of the best motivators. There are a number of ways to combine fear with another emotional motivator to write a subject line that pulls a reader in. Here are some examples: Fear + Urgency: Don’t lose your spot in next week’s “Noobie Cupcakes” class Ah, FOMO: the “fear of missing out.” We all suffer from it in one form or another. This type of subject line is best for time sensitive emails, say one about an event or a special sale. Here’s the golden rule about using Fear+Urgency subject lines – don’t abuse them. If these are the only type of subject lines you send, or worse – if you’re lying about the urgency – you’ll lose the trust of your reader. Fear + Pride: Are you making these 3 common icing mistakes? Everyone wants to do a good job, whether it’s a personal or professional endeavor. People are always interested in learning ways to do better or to avoid making a mistake. A Fear+Pride approach is great to use when you’re sending a piece of educational content. Of course fear isn’t the only strong emotion that motivates. It has its place and can be used well and wisely. However, you definitely want to tap into other emotions as well. Using only fear as a motivator can just start to make your emails look too depressing. One positive counterbalance to the fear motivator is joy. Like fear, joy comes in many different flavors. Joy+Surprise: The most fattening cupcakes you still have to eat Go against the grain. Give a little license. Say something unexpected. Shock people out of the mundane and conventional for a moment. This type of subject line is a great approach for informational emails based on trends, newsjacking, or statistics. The sort of “fun stuff you should know” emails that add variety to the flow of educational and sales emails. Actually, it’s also a great approach for your educational and sales emails. If you’re hitting the Joy+Surprise just right, you can really use it for any email. Joy+Hope: Watch a toddler discover his yummy cupcake was made with beets Enjoying a moment of fun and light improves everyone’s spirit. And sometimes, we can all certainly use a little emotional pick-me-up. This is another subject line type that can be used well for any type of email. (And yes, I know that example is 61 characters long. So shoot me.) Personalize and specify Writing subject lines that are personal and specific taps into another critical emotion in marketing and relationship building – trust. One of the goals of running an email series in the first place is to develop the trust and relationship that makes it more likely a reader will buy from you or share your content. Use these tips to establish and build that trust: 1. Use the word “you” or “your” 2. Use a person’s name for the “From” field – people like emails from other people. You can add the company name as well, but lead with an actual human’s name. 3. Include a specific geographic location if appropriate. 4. Be exact. If your email discusses 3 solutions or will improve results by 48% – say so. 5. Ask a question that you really want them to answer: “How can we help?” “What did you think of our last webinar?” One last note Email open rates vary greatly by industry. One of the best ways to write subject lines that work for your email list is to track and test which emails they’re actually opening, so you can use those as models for future emails. Your list is unique. If you don’t look at which subject lines are motivating your readers to open your email, then any list of subject line tips is only going to get you so far. Always remember you’re writing to real people, so stay on top of what those people want. By: Elisa Silverman
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Amid Social Media Buzz, Don’t Forget Email Marketing
The marketing world is fully enamored with social media. But with all the focus on social, author Dale Traxler of practical eCommerce, reminds fellow ecommerce marketers not forget about email marketing. “Email may not be trendy,” says Traxler, “but it’s cheap, easy to measure, and easy to target. It’s a good place to do testing, it keeps your brand visible, and at the end of the day it delivers results.” – We like the sound of that! Some of the Traxler’s reasons for keeping a focus on email marketing? Click through rates are still higher than online advertising. Lists are easy to build. Traxler says, “ For online retailers, it’s easy to grow your email list by promoting it on your website and through your social media channels. Unsubscribe rates are typically low, so your list will almost always grow.” List segmentation is easy and great for targeting customers. Conversion rates are high. A/B testing is easy. It’s inexpensive. Email adapts well to mobile. There’s isn’t any conversation to monitor. Email is easy to measure. Templates are easy to build and customize. To deliver effective content to your customers, Traxler suggests sending more than just email promos. “Talk about your industry, trends, new products, even what you did on your summer vacation. Use emails as a way to connect more personally with your customers. You have more space than you do on Facebook or Twitter — take advantage of it.” You know what’s the perfect example of this? An email newsletter! And, we’ve got just the post for you to read: 5 Gold Rules to Creating a Significant Email Newsletter. The best way to use email marketing – according to Traxer – is to integrate with other tools and platforms. “When you send an email, use Facebook and Twitter posts to direct people to a copy of it. Or, use Twitter to solicit email subscribers by offering a benefit to sign up. Because Twitter is a viral platform, the offer to subscribe may reach hundreds of people that haven’t heard of you.” With all the attention being paid to social media lately, how have you been adjusting your marketing strategy?
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9 more reasons to market via SMS
1- Reach and speed – your SMS is sent to a countless number of people at the same time and wherever your client may be in the world, he will receive your message almost instantly, and all of this at a low cost. This fast character of SMS marketing allows receivers to instantly opt in or out; all it takes is a keyword and a short code to send it to. It’s an unstoppable way to your customers; it meets no obstructions in its way, no filters. 2- Scheduling – when you have something to announce, you can schedule it anytime, to be sent anytime (7 days a week, 24 hours a day)! 3- Return on investment – every received message is read and 96% of these are read within 4 minutes, making them highly convertible and SMS marketing highly profitable. 4- It’s eco-friendly – it is an environmentally friendly medium, which helps you brand your company as oriented toward sustainable development. 5- Simplicity – sending and managing your campaigns is very simple through our web platform. 6- Interactivity – you can make messages interactive, enabling recipients to reply to them via short code and keyword. 7- Flexible platform – you can send as many messages as you need, text marketing being an incredibly adaptable tool. It has been successfully used to complete email marketing and fax broadcasting efforts. 8- Character limitation – text messages are limited to the length of 160 characters. Though your first thought might be that this is a bad thing, permit me to contradict you and try to make you understand the perks: your audience does not have enough patience to read all you’d like to write and this limitation will force you to get your message across fast and effectively; communicating only what is relevant and clearly stating what the receiver needs to do in order to profit from your offer. 9- Huge potential – every individual has a mobile phone and the probability of repetitive orders is very high. By: Alexandra Rogin
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Benefits of ecommerce websites for consumers
E-commerce has been with us a long time now. It has improved its payment gateways and it has completely changed e-commerce consumer experience. And with the smartphone market booming, a new branch of e-commerce emerged – mobile commerce. Smartphones and tablets have become the mobile devices consumers use to shop in virtual stores. Mobile commerce offers mobility, it’s time-saving and it doesn’t require a fixed internet connection. But let’s see which mobile platform is used the most for virtual shopping. According to a recent study from Forrester , Apple tablet and smartphone users are 30% more likely to make purchases using their mobile devices, than Android users. Nevertheless, this data also shows an increasing interest in mobile commerce by Android users, whether it’s performed through a mobile website or an application. This is why 99% of companies claim that they will develop an application for iOS and 96% say that they will develop one for Android. Windows Phone and BlackBerry will stand apart, since companies intend to invest only in apps used on popular platforms with millions of users. Companies seem to bet only on iOS and Android, the 2 platforms that cover almost all the market. Until BlackBerry and Windows Phone increase their platforms’ popularity, the number of apps won’t grow. Ecommerce at consumer level Although e-commerce is in constant growth and its revenues are reaching insane numbers, there’s a problem in the textile sector: product return. But apart from product return there’s other enemy – the checkout process. A recent study from the developer and provider of virtual fitting room solutions, Fits Me, showed that 1 out of 3 consumers don’t actually finish the checkout process. One of the main reasons is the fear of acquiring the wrong size. Since the product return rate is quite high, companies are developing a new tool – virtual dressing rooms. After carrying out a poll, 37% of the respondents said that this tool would help them choose the right item with the right size. With mobile commerce there’s another problem: fear of entering personal data on mobile devices since they are more likely to be stolen and the long and complicated checkout process. 68% of mobile users don’t finish their purchase because of the poor checkout process. The first thing you have to include on your mobile store is the guest checkout option. Registration might seem a long and tedious process for lots of users. So include only relevant fields for the checkout and don’t forget to include a ‘guest checkout’ option, which will allow users to optimize the process of making a purchase. This will increase exponentially the possibilities for consumers to actually perform purchases on your website. Ecommerce consumers protection You know that shopping online is fun, whether you do it on your PC, smartphone or tablet, but although consumer protection has increased due to the constant growth of e-purchases, consumers should know the basic rules when shopping online in order not to be the victims of fraud websites: Shop on secure websites. Secure web pages use encryption technology to send information from your computing device to the online merchant’s computer. Encryption blends the information you send, such as your credit card number, in order to prevent hackers from getting it. Do a little research on the website before you order. Make purchases from companies you already know. If the company is unknown, do a little research on their website before buying their products or hire their services. If you want to purchase a product from an unfamiliar company, don’t buy something expensive. Buy something cheap in order to make sure that the website is trustworthy. Reveal your basic personal data only. When making a purchase, you must provide certain information, such as your name, address and date of birth. Some websites will try to get more information from you. Some may ask questions about your lifestyle or monthly income. This information is used for targeted marketing. This can lead to spam or telephone solicitations. Read the company’s return policy. Even in the best cases, consumers sometimes need to return merchandise. Check the web page for cancellation and return policies. Ecommerce consumer trends E-commerce profits are reaching huge numbers, so if companies want to keep these numbers up, they should keep consumers happy and constantly change and adapt their strategies according to technological and lifestyle changes. Let’s see what are the main e-commerce trends: Informed consumers. Consumers read reviews from several sources before they make a purchase. According to the practical market research company, Dimensional Research, it was found that 90% of consumers who affirmed reading reviews said that good online reviews influenced their decisions, whilst 86% said their decisions were based on bad online reviews. Make sure that your e-commerce or m-commerce offers consumers an opportunity to express their opinion about all the wonderful things being said about your products and customer service. Mobilize your business. Users spend a lot of time on their smartphones and tablets, so while companies acknowledge this and make their websites mobile friendly, many of them don’t do this and thus lose clients and brand awareness. Mobile commerce sales are reaching their heyday. In 2012, the multinational computer technology corporation, Oracle, made a study according to which 46% of the respondents are prefer optimizing their websites for mobile devices, rather than creating apps, although lots of well-known companies prefer creating both. Interactive product display. Pictures aren’t always a satisfying tool for online shoppers to appreciate online products. That’s why product demonstration videos are becoming the best tools for fulfilling these needs. Social media integration has helped e-commerce and m-commerce websites to share video clips through Twitter, Facebook YouTube, etc. By: silvia
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How to Improve Online Shopping User Experience
Summer is already here! The busy holiday season with lots of things to buy is fast approaching. Yes, everyone wants to look good on your photos on the seaside or in the mountains. But how will your website handle this crazy shopping season? Here you have some juicy recommendations you have to benefit from, some marketing methods that will create a better online experience for your shoppers. First of all, you have to personalize online experience for both, a first time and a returning visitors. The most difficult is to do that with a first time visitor as still you don´t have any activity to track. But there´s one tip that may be helpful: you can identify the referring site (the previous page they came from), using their search terms you can easily start to understand what their interests can be. Welcome message on your website can be used as an email acquisition tool. Choose your target users and create this message which can include a discount and, for sure, email address capture. You won´t believe your eyes how the engagement and drive conversions will increase. When talking about a returning visitor, the things are not that complicated. Even an anonymous visitor can be identified as a return visitor. Look, how it works. When they visit your website, you can see that and recognize them as “anonymous visitor XXX”. Moreover, you are informed about the clicks they made the last time they visited your page. What does it mean? It´s not an absolutely “anonymous visitor” for you any more, you have some data about them. Don´t take your time to present them personalized language and offers focused on the product they were interested in the last time. That´s how you start improving your chances of making this visitor your client: by simply showing them what they want. Welcome Back message – include messages based of their past behavior (a personalized coupon or discounts for a specific item your visitor was interested in). They don´t have to forget aboutyou. But, please, don´t be annoying. Guide your visitors and help them create better customer experience: geolocation can help you (use a banner with the nearest store location, for example). Promote store openings, sales or organize events for your clients and promote them as well. Someone has visited your website but they don´t act. What is your reaction? Ask them is they need any help via live chat, create a sense of urgency because only today, only now you have these incredible discounts and free shipping. Don´t lose a client when they already have items in their shopping cart, offer a deep discount while they are on your page. This tactic will decrease abandonment. Mobile shopping experience You have already engaged you website shoppers. What about mobile shopping users? Transact with them as well, cover all the customers across multiple devices. The keyword here is the same: personalization, but it´s different. For instance, a customer can make a specific order while in traffic, present their phone, make the payment (or use mobile wallet which is even easier) and get their order without having to wait in a line or whatsoever. Moreover, Deloitte estimates smartphone influence on department store sales to grow from up to 27% by 2016: so for every $1 that you spend on mobile, it is influencing $13 in store sales. I think it´s necessary for us to deliver an exceptional mobile experience. In a world dominated by the internet and mobile phones, we don´t have the right to forget that the shoppers seek for excitement and engagement which we can provide to them via this new technology. More and more shoppers nowadays prefer to find product info on their mobile internet, check reviews, and search for comparative prices. That´s why mobile optimized sites are critical for brands that want to retain customers. And they didn´t make us wait. Because of the visible high traffic flows from mobile, the majority of retailers already has mobile-optimized sites (IAB survey: 74% of the top 50 retailers). Multi-channel shoppers are more valuable than single channel shoppers, in every aspect: shopping frequency and basket value. It is one of the vital questions to verify whether the person browsing your company´s mobile site is a new customer or the same one. And then it´s quite important to have this mobile customer an active social networks user to share your ads and information at no additional cost for you. Don’t let your customers have a mediocre shopping experience this hot and awesome summer. They should find what they are looking for. Just help them a little bit, guide them through this boring buying process, add behavior-based web personalization into your holiday marketing mix. And don´t forget to have online presence everywhere: on all your customers´ devices. BY: lia
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How to create a successful mobile marketing campaign
For every online marketing campaign, there are some key elements to be addressed. It’s always great to try out new campaigns, but having a framework in place will make sure you have a gameplan so you know how to improve your success for the future. Create a mobile website Consumers expect virtually every business to have a Web presence these days, and it won’t take long before they feel the same way about the mobile web. People want to find whatever they want to know at any time. So if they go onto the mobile Web, you want them to find you and your business. Mobile Search Mobile search puts your mobile Web site within reach of your customers so they can find you when they are looking for your company or what you offer. Much like desktop search optimization (doing what you can to be listed closest to the top of theresults on a search engine), mobile search is important to your marketing. Social Networking Social networking is all about people connecting with other people. Keep this in mind when deciding what to do to facilitate or participate in social networking. Also, social networking will likely be a tool for marketing your mobile campaign. Mobile Advertising Mobile advertising, placing either graphic banner ads or text ads on mobile Web sites other than your own, is an excellent mobile marketing tool. It is easy to think of mobile advertising as the perfect tool for brand awareness because it is that and so much more. Be sure to add the next step of direct response to your mobile advertising campaigns. Mobile Publicity In mobile publicity, your target audience is the media: journalists, reporters, bloggers, and producers who are looking for an expert or a source of information for a current assignment with a fast approaching deadline. If they are searching for sources via mobile, it is likely a breaking story or very timely, or otherwise they would do the search from their desktop computer. Create a landing page Landing pages can be used for PPC ads, mobile app downloads, promotional campaigns and more. But don´t forget aboutoptimization that is intended to boost conversion, improve quality scores, and provide a better user experience. Make it mobile friendly . Use QR codes These paper-based hyperlinks connect the physical world with the online world. For marketers, QR codes allow advertisements, brochures, posters – even clothing or billboards – to direct users to mobile landing pages that contain much more information and interactivity than can be afforded on the printed page. This integration between print and web via mobile adds a new dimension of communication to any marketing or outreach effort. Messaging apps for marketing Mobile messaging apps make it more convenient and more fun for consumers to chat with friends and relatives than the messaging tools that come pre-installed on most smartphones. Such messaging apps are already extremely popular internationally so retailers can download one of the popular messaging apps and begin to experiment with ways to add in-app marketing to their mobile strategies. If you are ready to start a mobile campaign or are just learning where to begin, choose text messaging. It is the most common use of mobile devices (besides calling), and more and more people launch text message campaigns every day. Text messaging is the “now” marketing tool of mobile. Proximity Marketing Any time you are marketing to someone specifically because they are in your proximity, you are involved in proximity marketing. This could be a Bluetooth campaign. Bluetoooth devices are invited to accept a multimedia message to their devices or are reminded to check into their location-specific mobile network (read more about an intresting proximity marketing solution -iBeacon- here). Mobile marketing works. You are savvy enough to have recognized that. By including these key elements to your campaign, you will find that you are also savvy enough to write mobile success story by yourself on your own mobile website. So it´s just one more reason to create it right now if you don´t have it yet. Because all the elements of a successful mobile marketing campaign you´ve read about are strongly vinculated with your mobile web and online presence. By : lia
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How to Identify Key Competitors in Marketing
One of the first steps in developing a successful marketing strategy is identifying and analyzing your fellow competitors. You can do this through detailed market research, including surveys, Internet searches and going through the sales process with another company. If you do not know who your competitors are, it is likely that someone else can offer a competitive advantage, for example, a better website or the same product at a lower price. After you have identified your competitors, you must stay current on their offers and products, in order to stay competitive in your business. This article will tell you how to identify key competitors in marketing. 1 Take stock of the main product or products you sell. You will compete for consumers with other companies on these products. List the products in a column on a spreadsheet and piece of paper. 2 Pretend you are a consumer. Search for those products using a phone book, an Internet search on more than 1 major search engine, on Amazon and through social media sites. Write 5 to 10 names of competing businesses in the rows on your paper or spreadsheet. Looking in the phone book may help you identify local competitors. Looking on social media accounts will help you to identify new, emerging competitors. It is important to search both locally and nationally. With the rise in the global economy, there may be a company in another country that offers the most similar product to your own. 3 Identify your competition in your industry, your market and your strategic group. You can establish industry competition based on your service, such as supplying foreign tea imports. You can establish your market based on tea sellers in your area, and you can establish your strategic groups as all stores offering the same prices and marketing strategies to sell their tea. 4 Ask consumers in your area who they buy from or which services they use. Word of mouth is often the best way to tell the success of other businesses. Ask friends and family, and then consider employing a market research firm to survey a wide array of people. 5 Take note of any competitive advantage these businesses have, once you have your list of competitors. Some may offer promotions, bundles, free shipping, extra services and more. You should have a good idea of whether these competitors offer exactly the same thing, or a slightly different product. 6 Go through the sales process with these competitors, to determine how their entire sales process works. In some businesses, such as retail merchandise, this will be easier than others. If you do not have the option to analyze the competition from website through sale, then you should read reviews and peruse the Better Business Bureau website. If you are looking at local companies that offer the same thing, you may be able to call them and inquire about their sales practices. Try not to mislead them into thinking you are a buyer, as this is considered a somewhat unethical business practice. 7 Sign up to receive your competitors’ catalogs, mailings or e-newsletters. It is important to be well versed on your competition at all times, since businesses are always changing and growing. If you can mention what other companies offer, and how your business does it better, it is likely to help during the sales process. 8 List your strengths and weaknesses with each of the competitors you have researched. Be honest with how well you compete against your competition, so that you can strengthen your weaknesses and thus your marketing strategy. 9 Define your competitive advantage. Ask if there are any features that you offer that the competitors you have found do not possess. You will want to feature this in your marketing strategy. 10 Search again for companies that may offer that same competitive advantage. Before you begin developing print and online advertising campaigns that tout your advantage, you want to make sure you are the only business, or original business, providing that practice. Edited by Blink44AVA, Chris
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Pinterest Announces 2 New Businesses Tools: DIY Promoted Pins & Analytics
Pinterest recently announced the addition of two new tools for businesses: Do-it-yourself Promoted Pins to help drive visits back to your website, and a refresh to analytics to provide deeper insights into how Pins are performing. Do-it-Yourself Promoted Pins Promoted Pins were announced back in the fall of 2013, but were only available to larger businesses with the big budgets to match. Now, Pinterest is opening up the doors and allowing business of all sizes to promote pins. These DIY Promoted Pins appear in search and category feeds, which reach more people and can drive visits back to your website. So how much will these DIY Promoted Pins cost you? Pins will be on a CPC (cost-per-click) basis, so you’ll only pay when people click through to your website. You’ll also be able to see how your DIY Promoted Pins are performing, so you can make changes as you need. DIY Promoted Pins are currently being tested by Pinterest, so aren’t available just yet. Also, DIY Promoted Pins are only available to business accounts, so if you don’t have one, you’ll have to sign up before you can get access. Better Analytics = Deeper Insights Pinterest also announced a refresh to their analytics, which will provide more detailed insights into how your pins are doing. With improved analytics, you’ll be able to see what people are pinning from your website, plus, Pinterest will tell you which of your pins and boards are driving the most impressions, clicks and repins. You’ll be able to see the new analytics here. Again, Pinterest is doing their due diligence to ensure everything works smoothly before giving everyone access, but according to the company, all business accounts should get access soon. By: kim stiglitz
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9 Common Misconceptions of Social Media: Debunked
It’s no secret that by now your company should be on social media (and your boss knows it too!), so why the hesitation? Because social media is a relatively “new” medium, not all companies have cracked the code to devising a strategy and are missing out on major opportunities. Below I bust some common social media myths that will help you roll out your social program: Social media is free. In short, social media is NOT free. While you may not have to pay to create an account, in order to succeed on social media you must invest time AND money. Whether you choose to hire a social media manager or an outside firm to do your social media, whoever is responsible is spending valuable time creating and building the networks, which is equal to money. Not only that, but organic reach is extremely limited and may become obsolete for businesses on social networks. This requires creating and spending money on social media ads to expand and target your reach. Social media is easy. Nothing worth doing comes easy, and the same is true for social media. Is it easy to strategize a communications plan? To solidify brand and messaging standards? To create branded images and logos? No, it is not, and all of those smaller processes are involved in a social media plan. Like all business plans, social media requires hard work and dedication in order to find success. But if you put in the proper planning and implementation, you can succeed on social media in an impactful way. There is a direct ROI. Unfortunately, like with all web-based promotions, there is no direct ROI. However, there is plenty of measurable data that comes from social media that is useful and valuable for your business. For example, are you likely to trust a brand that has 100 followers, or 100,000 followers and is actively engaging with the community? Through social media we can track who is visiting your website and where the referral source is coming from. We can see what your target audience is talking about and how you can reach them. We can promote your product and see who is clicking through to the website or if people are skimming over your content. How you collect your social media data and analyze it is how you can see results. You don’t need a plan. Like all PR tactics, it is vital to have a strategic and well thought out plan. Creating a Twitter profile and sending out 10 tweets a day is not going to cut it. How will you build a following? Who is your target audience? What messages are you trying to promote? These are all questions you should ask yourself when creating a social media plan for your business. Facebook is dying. Though the organic reach may be more limited than ever, Facebook is not dying. In fact, I have found Facebook to be one of the most successful social networks for my clients. It is a great way to personalize your brand and connect with your audience. While Facebook now shows “trending topics” in its news feed, it is still less news-centric than Twitter, making it the place to connect with your followers and promote a different, more community-focused and personal, side of your brand. Everyone should be on every social network. False. While social media is a great way to promote awareness for your brand, not every company will find success on every social network, which is why there are so many of them. Each social network has a different purpose, so it is important to identify early on what your goals are on social media. Are you a restaurant trying to display the delicious menu items? Instagram is the place for that. Are you a designer trying to showcase the versatility of your work? Maybe Pinterest is where you should focus your efforts. Relationships on social don’t matter. Relationships formed on social media are just as valuable as relationships formed offline. Almost all journalists and reporters are active on Twitter, making it a great medium to connect with them. Many times I have discovered local events on social media and have created a relationship that leads to a partnership for a client. Social media takes the place of traditional PR. Social media and traditional PR work best when combined together as part of an overall communications plan. They each complement each other, as social media can promote traditional PR efforts and vice versa. Having one without the other leads to missed opportunities. Social media for personal use and for business is the same. Just because you have a Twitter and Facebook account does not mean the rules are the same when doing social media on behalf of a company. In fact, the rules are very different. Businesses must create an identified voice and position on social media with a clear line of communications. Sending out tweets that are off message will confuse your consumers and target audience. Personal social media accounts do not necessarily need a plan, as your goals are not the same as that of a business. In short: be careful who you trust with your social media channels; like traditional PR, it requires skill and strategy. Posted by: Lindsay Rauch
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How to Create a Story for Your Content Marketing
Content marketing is all about storytelling. Without a story, it’s a lot harder to create content (and it’s a lot harder to have a reason to create that content). In this post, I want to help you think more clearly about the story behind your business so you can do a better job building more impactful messages and a better content marketing campaign. Let’s dive in… Why You Need A Story First, you might be wondering what storytelling has to do with business and marketing in the first place. Every business needs a good story. The story is what connects your customers to your product or service, and it’s what helps explain what the French would call your “raison d’être” (your “reason for existence”). Without a story, you’re simply another business simply trying to peddle your products. I firmly believe every business needs a story, though the role it plays will vary from business-to-business and market-to-market. How To Create A Story For Your Content Marketing Your story can originate from a lot of different places and angles. You might literally take the story of your own life or your own success. Or you might create a fantasy that you share with your customers. For example, the story behind Starbucks based around Howard Schulz’ idea of “the third place” (not home, not work, but your local coffee shop) and how he discovered this concept in Europe and wanted to bring it to America. That story is the foundation of virtually all of Starbucks’ marketing and business decisions. It creates mystique and intrigue around the business, and it creates a unique company culture for management, employees, and customers alike. When creating your business story, look to your background and your inspiration for starting your company. If you’re not the original founder, look to the history of your company and why they started the business. Your story can and should change/evolve with time. But spend time crafting a story that has some strong, lasting elements. How To Tell Your Story Once you create your story, you’ll need to tell it. It’s not usually necessary to come right out with your story directly. It should be presented in lots of subtle ways to your customers. It should be hinted at in every email marketing message you send out, the presentation of your website, the ideas behind your blog posts, your products and services, etc. Don’t beat your customers over the head with your story. Rather, use it to inspire your marketing and your messaging strategy. The goal of storytelling in Content Marketing is to have a larger message with which you can engage your customers. Again, your goal is to create a deeper relationship that transcends a simple buyer-seller transaction. Posted by: Jason Clegg
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