Out With the Old, In With the New

Change is inevitable – that’s life. As adults, I think we’ve come to accept that. Or have we? Sometimes we get stuck into the same routines in the office, simply because they’re familiar and frankly, we don’t want to take the time to learn something new. But how about doing something good for your company, something that intends to educate new (and existing) customers and drive business results? That proposition might get your attention and attract you to something new.

What I’m talking about is content marketing. Following up to my last blog post about the book, “Get Content. Get Customers.”, I’ve learned that some marketers are hesitant to shift from traditional marketing strategies to content driven ones. Why? Some because they have already developed proven campaigns that seem to do the job just fine, others don’t have the staff bandwidth and some aren’t measuring their marketing efforts to even know what’s working (yikes!).

But what about the rest of us? Those of us who want to try something new, want to connect with customers more than ever before and who want to jump start their customer pipeline for the new year? According to this book, integrating a content marketing strategy into your company’s DNA is the first point of action. To do this simply and seamlessly, follow the book’s B.E.S.T. framework detailed below.

Behavioral: Everything you communicate with your customers has a purpose. What do you want them to do?

Essential: Deliver information that your best prospects really need to succeed at work or in life.

Strategic: Your content marketing efforts must be an integral part of your overall business strategy.

Targeted: You must target your content precisely so that it is truly relevant to your buyers.

Fast-forward a little bit, and your company has the mindshare and capabilities to roll out a new content marketing campaign. What’s next? According to the book, there are four things to consider when implementing a new content plan:

1. Determine which organizational goals will be affected by the content program.
2. Determine the informational needs of the buyer.
3. Determine what you want your customer to do and why this helps the business.
4. Determine the product and content mix.

Hopefully these ideas and steps get your blood flowing and brain thinking. Until the next installment, take some time to reflect on your marketing strategies and think about your content offerings. If you’re behind the eight ball, then you might want to ring in the new year with some new strategies. After all, a new year calls for some type of resolution right?

-Mary Evans