On Words and Business

At least once per week, and usually more than that, I receive an email offering me a free magazine subscription from a service that provides free business magazines to professionals.

The thing that amazes me is how far off these offers are. Other than being free subscriptions, which as a magazine lover is something I am most definitely a target market for, there isn’t much about these offers to suggest they know anything about me. To be fair: they do give me the choice to opt-out and I haven’t done that (what am I holding out for, I’m not sure, other than the fascination factor as each new offer arrives).

In this day and age of target marketing to the level that ads on web pages are for things you’ve purchased and stores you shop in, what do you think about a company that in the last 20 days has marketed the following magazines to the same person?

• Spin Magazine
• Super Street
• Tennis
• Electronic House
• PC World
• Practical Horseman

Stuck for content and need a quick fix?

Take a topic from your editorial calendar, filter it through these article types, and out should pop a few good, creative ideas for your upcoming piece, whatever the format–blog post, article, e-book, video, etc.

• How to–guide readers step by step through a process or activity
• Roundup–get thoughts and opinions from several experts or gather statistics and other useful information
• Profile–paint a picture of a person or product
• Short summary–hot topic, recent news, something to use as a filler piece
• Feature–longer piece, usually based on original research
• Review–discuss advantages and disadvantages of new product, service, book, etc.
• List–brief descriptions of several ideas or concepts, like this article
• News–straightforward accounting of facts

When it comes to creating content, have you ever considered getting someone from the outside to help? It might not be the right option for every company or every type of content, but it’s worth considering.

Pros of an outside contractor or freelance writer:

• Experience with other companies and with the business world outside the doors of your company
• Skill in telling stories
• A new perspective
• Great content

Cons:

• Time (not usually a lot) for the consultant to get up to speed
• Time on your part to define the project and your expectations

True, I’m not objective. As a writer who helps companies create content, I have a stake. But I’ve seen how getting a writer from outside can breathe new life into a project, take a load off someone’s plate, and generally help a marketing program keep on track.

Building trust with customers take three steps:

1. Provide useful content on a regular basis
2. Follow through on promises
3. Listen

Simple enough in concept. Sometimes hard to fulfill.

How do you get and keep your customers’ trust?

1. Keep up with the Joneses. Figure out what your competitors are focusing on and see what light that shines on the market.
2. Keep up with your customers and prospects. Look deep to find out what they’re struggling with and consider how that affects the whole market.
3. Keep up with the news. Think about how events and activities, even those outside the business press, may impact your customers or your customers’ customers.
4. Read analyst reports from as many different agencies as possible These people get paid to figure out the markets for you.
5. Ask why and how at every turn, with customers, prospects, analysts, industry experts, conference goers, on your social media sites, etc. Figure out what they see as the biggest challenges and ways to overcome them.

Once you find a challenge, go forth and create content to solve it, mitigate it, or make it disappear.

what is it, exactly?

Content marketing is…”anything an individual or organization creates and shares to tell their story.” Content Revolution Tour

Short and sweet. I like it.

If you need to add a bit of business speak or ROI, content marketing is…

• “a marketing technique of creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience - with the objective of driving profitable customer action.” Junta42