Think again...

What I love, and hate, about being a content marketing professional is that it keeps getting harder to be visible. The internet becomes more saturated on a daily basis. Thus, the challenges associated with managing, creating, designing, optimizing, publishing, promoting, integrating, engaging, and measuring your content are increasing at a staggering rate.

If you are big on ideas, but short on your marketing budget, don't let this discourage you. Content marketing strategies can be scaled to meet most budgets. There are many free or low-cost tools available to businesses that provide a big bang for the buck. What you don’t want to do is close your eyes and pretend that what you did ten years ago will still work today. The sales cycle for B2B business has changed, and if you aren’t on-line then you are missing out on opportunities that can grow your business and profitability.

86% of B2B Firms use Content Marketing

The Value of a More than a “Just Fine” Website

High growth firms tend to focus on their websites more than their peers. According to a Hinge Marketing study, there are high-growth firms that have grown up to 9X faster, are 50% more profitable while spending slightly less than average on business development. If you are skeptical of these numbers and think your website is just fine, answer the following questions.

• Does your content successfully communicate your firm story, unique selling proposition, value, and benefits?

• Have you integrated your blog, social media, and CRM?

• Do you even have a blog?

• Are you using high impact headings, great visuals, forms and a call to action so you can engage and grow your client base?

• Do you use URL's, keywords and tags that will maximize SEO?

• Do you provide targeted information to multiple client personas, meeting the needs of your clients with different interests and who are at various stages of the purchasing cycle?

• Are you are tracking ROI and other metrics through analytics?

If the answer is no to most of these questions, it is time to re-evaluate your sales and marketing strategy.

Blogs vs. Proposals

Is your marketing staff is doing little more than cranking out proposals? Is your project hit less than 10%? If you answered yes to either of these questions it is because submitting proposals is not the way to build visibility and trust with potential clients! Firm leaders need to recognize that the most effective way to increase profits and grow their client base is to propose on only the projects with a high probability of winning. Then they will be able to free up marketing resources to create digital content that will increase visibility and trust.

Blogging is one of the most cost-effective and high-value strategies your firm can employ. Buyers want content. They are time pressured, need to do more for less and want solutions NOW. The best strategy is SHARING. Create and publish on-line content that focuses on the challenges your target clients are facing. If you help the buyer look smart and heroic to their boss, you will have established trust and credibility without even knowing a potential buyer exists. If you keep him coming back for more information, and are providing it, chances are when that client needs your service you will be the first one he calls.

Don’t Sacrifice Quantity for Quality

Maintaining quality control is very important. My friends will attest to the fact that when it comes to details – quality, grammar, story - I go overboard. Most writers, like designers, get caught up in the never-ending quest to make their project perfect. One of the toughest challenges of content creation is balancing quality while meeting deadlines (I’ve also learned that pulling all-nighters is not a sustainable way to deliver quality on-time.) Therefore, it is very important to create a content calendar and stick to it! It is human nature to make tasks without a deadline a low priority if there is another task perceived as being more urgent. If your marketing department is already over-burdened and can only fit in content marketing when another, more pressing, deadline isn't looming, outsourcing is a cost-effective way to keep your plan on track.

Creating Content is Only Part of the Process

Content Marketing specialists recognize that getting the story right and publishing it is a relatively small piece of the online marketing puzzle.

Unfortunately, stories don't create an impression if nobody reads them. You need to make sure your message attracts your target audience. There are tools that will help you measure this. You need to choose the perfect title, URL, and keywords. You need to determine the best medium for your message. Infographic? SlideShow? eBook? White paper? Video? What about graphics? You know you can't post anything if you don't combine it with a compelling image guaranteed to induce your clients to click within their 8-second attention span.

Only after you make all these decisions can you actually publish.

* Sources

https://scripted.com/content-marketing-2/top-content-marketing-companies-tools/

http://blog.qmee.com/online-in-60-seconds-infographic-a-year-later/