TopRank Internet Marketing News

When should you start with Content Marketing?  Today’s online marketing is a race where the stakes are high, competition is tough and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to create a sustainable, competitive advantage. Consider these questions to help you answer, “When Content Marketing is right?” for you:

• What’s the right time to understand who your best customers are? Who are your “worst” customers?
• When is it a good time to know what your prospects and customers care about and why they buy?
• What triggers your prospects to discover, consume and engage with content that inspires sales, social shares and referrals?

Blogs are great for promoting key messages and distributing information about a brand, company or organizations. Starting a blog can be a valuable tool to help businesses sell their products while making better connections with customers, but it’s not as simple as slapping up some content. Creating a blog that is seen, shared and respected takes some research, strategy and consistency. Here are a few tips that I incorporate at Online Marketing Blog which other companies can follow to increase the value their corporate blog provides.

LinkedIn has long been the social media tool of choice by many professionals.  In the past it was used mostly as a contact database of everyone you have interacted with on a business level.  Recently LinkedIn has added some additional features that make it easier for marketers to reach their target audience. What are some best practice approaches to using LinkedIn for engagement?

Update Your Status Frequently
Your LinkedIn contacts will be very interested to know what you’re doing professionally.  Why? The majority these contacts will most likely be colleagues, prospects, or networking contacts. Your LinkedIn personal profile is a great stage for sharing your professional development and sharing things that you think they will find to be of interest.

The future of public relations relies heavily on interacting with individuals and companies online.  Building awareness and  brand recognition is only the first step.   What are you doing to make your news content and brand story easily found and talked about online?  In order to reach journalists, analysts, bloggers and influentials on the web, it’s essential that Public Relations and Communications professionals understand the role search and social media play with influencing information discovery, consumption and sharing.

Content Marketing World 2011

While it’s important for business website content to be optimized for search engines, don’t forget that your customers are communicating and making purchasing decisions every day on social media and networking sites.  Unfortunately, few companies excel at incorporating both Search and Social Media Optimization in their content strategies.

On Sept. 6 – 9, Content Marketing World is hosting a lineup of over 50 presenters including elite B2B, B2C, small business and non-profit marketers and thought leaders speaking on using content marketing to drive and retain business.  One session will take a deep dive into content marketing for search and social.  This presentation is designed to equip content marketers with an effective process for any organization, large or small.

As with any other type of content published in support of content marketing initiatives, mobile content must be findable.  And this means adjusting your optimization and creation efforts to ensure you both identify – and produce – content that effectively reaches your mobile audience.

Because different mobile devices will render your site in different ways, it is most critical to first determine what percentage of your audience is accessing your content through a mobile device – and, of course – what type of mobile device they are most commonly using.  The ‘Mobile’ visitor segment in Google Analytics will provide you an overview of this critical data point.

The Wind & The Sun, arguing over who is stronger, decide to settle their dispute based on which can compel a passing traveler to remove his coat.  The harder the wind blows, the more the traveler clutches his jacket tightly.  The sun, meanwhile, must simply shine gently until the warm traveler is compelled to remove his coat of his own accord. -Paraphrased from Aesop’s Fables

If you are a marketer breathlessly trying to convince your C-suite of the need for content marketing, you likely identify with the wind’s role in the fable above.

One of the most common forms of online marketing for small businesses is to have a website. The problem is, with today’s increasingly social and mobile web, a web site just isn’t enough. To help website owners take full advantage of the most important online marketing opportunities, here are 3 things small businesses can do to attract and engage new customers.

1. Content Publishing & Marketing: Consumers are interacting with multiple content sources before purchase and businesses that provide useful information beyond product features and benefits can attract more traffic and referrals.

At its core, the answer to this content marketing question lies within social etiquette.

For instance, the key to ensuring a group of people listen to what you have to say at a party – or to later share what you’ve said with their other groups of friends – is to say something that they will find engaging and valuable.  And the key to determining what  others will find engaging and valuable is to listen to what they are saying – in regards to both topic and tone.

As brands adopt publishing as part of their online marketing mix, content marketing is receiving increased budgets – 51% plan on increasing in the next 12 months according to the CMI B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends report.

Our B2B Marketing SEO client Marketo believes this may be at the cost of traditional advertising. With eyeballs moving from the traditional media to digital and online ($55 billion by 2014 according to Forrester) it’s a worthwhile argument.

For even more stats, check out this handy infographic from Marketo based on content marketing research conducted by MarketingProfs and Junta42: