In a previous post in this series, I talked about developing a process to keep delivering great marketing content. Great content is all very well but it’s not going to do you or your business any good if no one sees it. You need to get your content out there and content promotion is a vital element of any joined-up marketing process.
Focus content promotion on your website
Although there are myriad online channels for marketing content, the one you have most control over is your website. As discussed in this post, your website is the place where most potential customers will go to check you out. You should be proud of your website and your website should be up to date. When you create new content, make sure it goes on your website, either in full, or at least as a link. This means that everyone visiting your site all your content including the most up to date giving the picture of your business now. Furthermore, regularly adding new, relevant content is a great support for SEO. Concentrating your content onto your website also means that all your content promotion can focus on one primary objective – driving people to your website – where they can find the information they are looking for or even, if they have some time, browsing more widely across your site
Pick your Content Promotion channels
In those far off days before the internet one of the biggest marketing barriers for SME businesses was cost. If you wanted to promote your message all of the channels were owned by someone who charged you to use their media:
- Yellow Pages/Directories
- Press
- Magazines
- TV
- Radio
- Royal Mail
All of these have costs to use which could end up being a significant part of any marketing budget. The internet changed all that. Now there is a whole range of online media where the communication cost is (more or less!) zero. You can focus on which are the best channels for your marketplace and contacts
E-newsletters
For most of your business contacts, email newsletters offer great opportunity. You can get communication direct to people’s in-boxes and you can say as much or as little as you like; a range of 3 or 4 articles or a specific message. You will find a lot of information on email marketing across this site. One thing to remember is that more and more people are accessing their email on tablets and smart phones. You need to make sure your email can be read on a small screen. Ideally, you can make your email responsive so it adapts automatically to the screen where it is being read – check out this post for more details
Social Media
Some people would have you think you need accounts on every single social media site, but remember, if you have an account you must use it! Facebook may claim 1 billion users but how many of them are active? I come across many business FB accounts which are just not used. Certainly Facebook can be a powerful marketing tool for some businesses but when considering any social media you must ask yourself if a particular platform fits with your target audience and their motivations – check out this post on ‘Work Hat and Home Hat’ A beauty of Social Media is the potential reach it offers. Where email and e-newsletters are great content promotion tools to people you know, social media allows you to engage with a wider audience as your contacts share content with their contacts letting the reach of your message snowball. One issue can be trying to keep on-message with an audience you don’t control. This may not be so much of an issue for retail/consumer businesses but it can be important in business to business. By tweeting or posting your content you can spread the word and encourage people to visit your website and (hopefully) contact you. You can also start discussions and integrate content from your site into these (where appropriate and relevant!)
Same content, different formats
Don’t forget that different people prefer to consume web content in different ways. You can take a message and format it as a blog post, a video and even as a PDF ‘White Paper’ for people to download (TIP: ask for their email address when they download – a great way to build a relevant contact database) Video used to be an expensive medium but not any more. Simple short videos can be produced on you phone and even if you feel you need to get the professionals in, this does not have to cost the earth. Video makes for powerful, attractive content which can score well in SEO too. Give it a go.
And finally…
Never forget that content promotion is a vital part of a joined-up marketing approach. Pick your channels, create a schedule and stick at it. In my experience – when you do stuff, stuff happens!
