The 5 Best Content Marketing Tips Youll Ever Read

The 5 Best Content Marketing Tips Youll Ever Read Just a few weeks ago, I was at a social media conference speaking about one of the more advanced topics of content marketing. All went well,  until I was done speaking. As I left the stage, I was immediately greeted by an audience member who had a both a complaint and a question. The complaint was that nothing I just said made any sense to her. She was new to  this stuff. My bad. The question, on the other hand, was pretty simple how do I get started? How do I make sure my content  marketing works, and doesnt just follow the fad? Great question, and one that you should be asking as well. Whenever I get this question, there are five  best  content marketing tips  that I quickly rattle off. This  business owner was eating them up, and I soon realized that this was good stuff. More people need to know about them,  I thought. So, here they are.  This is the stuff we all need to hear  every once and awhile. This is how to write a good blog and make sure your effort actually pays off. They are my best  content marketing tips. Heres  how to write a good blog and make sure your effort actually pays off. Tip #1 – You Need A Blog To Tell Your Story Step one, you need a blog. It doesnt really matter how big you are – you need one. While youre at it, you should make sure that its built on WordPress. It will give you he most flexibility down the road. In addition, you need to know why you need a blog. If you work in a company, you are going to need to justify this blog to someone eventually. If you are a small business owner, you are going to need to justify the time invested to  yourself because lets face it – youre it. Your time is your greatest asset. Every business has a story, and its up to you to make sure your story is told. One of the first things you learn in business is that people connect to people, not your brand or a faceless corporation. A blog can tell your story, share you expertise, and provide you with a human connection to your customers. In other words, you need this. One of the first things you learn in business is that people connect to people, not brands orIn addition, your blog is one of the keys to your social media awesomeness. I often refer to this as the hub and spoke model. The content that you create on your blog  (or  website) is the hub – its the place that will set the tone for your social media messaging. Use your blog content as your platform, and let the your social media content flow from there. Tip #2 – You Need An Email Marketing Program Social media. Social media. Social media. These days, its just about all you hear about. It is super important, but it may not be the most important part of your online marketing strategy. The reality is that email marketing still converts better than social media. And, it  is easier to do well. Heres what you need to do: Make sure there is a way for your readers to follow or subscribe  to your blog when they come visit. We cover several free plugins for collecting leads  here. Connect your blog to your email marketing program. As you post new content, make sure it is sent automatically to your audience. In addition, you can also send a summary email once a week, promoting your most recent content in a newsletter style format. This is exactly what we do with our own Content Marketing Update. Another more advanced option is to work your way toward  creating an  email marketing auto responder course. These courses are a great way to build your email list and gain trust with your audience. We will often reuse our own blog posts to create these useful tools. Take note, that you can also do this with a great ebook or free downloadable worksheet. The best part of the email marketing program is that you will create constant touch points with your audience. This is good for everyone. Your audience  will get helpful and interesting information, and you will constantly ensure that your content has an audience following along. This builds trust, and thats a win-win. Tip #3 – You Need To Know What Your Customers Actually Want To Hear From You One of the biggest struggles that marketers make is not understanding their audience. What does your audience really want to hear about? What can you say on your blog that will actually  resonate with them? There are a few strategies that we emphasize here at , including using data from Google Analytics  and something that we call  expanding your content core.   Lots of new businesses get started by spending a ton of time talking about their own business. This is a mistake. Yes, you need to tell your story, but not like that. Rather, you need to figure out what your audience wants to know. There are a few easy ways to make this happen. Talk to your receptionist. What are the questions your customers ask when they first call your office? The woman I spoke to at the conference ran a salon and massage company. For her, it might be finding out the questions that her attendants are being  asked time and time again. Theres know better way to discover what your customers want to hear than asking the people that know your customers the best. Try to figure out what they are searching for. 60% of purchases made by consumers now  start with a search on  Google.  Thats astounding.  Take advantage of this and address those searches with your own blog content using a keyword-based strategy. Watch what your current customers are saying on social media. Follow your customers on social media and pay close attention to what they are talking about.  You can use a tool like Mention to monitor broad topics and industry discussion effectively. This listening strategy can be an efficient way to learn. Ask them. Sometimes all you need to do is ask  your audience what you  could write about that would hold their  interest. Their ideas might surprise you. The bottom line is that you cant do effective online marketing without understanding your audience. Spend some time researching this before you get too far. Once you can easily compile your data into reader personas youve gone far enough. Tip #4 – You Need To Learn How To Write For The Web Researcher Jacob Neilson confirmed that readers are more likely to scan our content than they are to read every word. In order to make your content consumable, you need to make sure it is properly formatted for online use. There are many ways to make sure that your content is readable. Here are a few  you can implement right away. highlighted  keywords  (hypertext links serve as one form of highlighting; typeface variations and color are others) meaningful  sub-headings  (not â€Å"clever† ones) bulleted  lists one idea  per paragraph (users will skip over any additional ideas if they are not caught by the first few words in the paragraph) the  inverted pyramid  style, starting with the conclusion half the word count  (or less) than conventional writing This is an important topic, as there are many other things to consider, such as mobile devices and outside distractions that happen when your audience is reading your content. For an in-depth look at getting your content read check out this recent post. Tip #5 – You   Need An Editorial Calendar I am a huge believer in setting goals, making a plan, and forcing yourself to stick with it. If you want your marketing to be any good, you are going to need to do  the same.  Often times, many marketers may take the more casual approach to blogging and social media scheduling – only posting when they have an idea, or at a moment of inspiration. This wont work. When you  leave your marketing up to chance, chances are it will never actually  happen. Thats why you need an editorial calendar.