Marketing and Sales Guru

There is really only one way to ensure your marketing tactics are effective and successful. It’s a rather simply way, yet many people seem to forget this vital component, and continue to do the opposite. They avoid the responsibility and ownership of their creations, and they create things that only damage their brand. I’m talking about copywriting. Your content used in content marketing tactics is what makes or breaks the success of your efforts.

You can have awesome aesthetics, keyword optimization, and all the best product specs, but those alone can’t save you from terrible copy. Customers gauge your intelligence and ability to handle their business through the only way they can: what you write. Online, you are your words, the ones you write and speak (if you do videos). If your content is crappy, unedited, and just submitted without much thought, you can guarantee you’ll ward some potential customers off.

Here are some tips to creating excellent copy:

1. Proofread. This is a simple task companies appear to refuse to do. Reading copy that is sloppy, hard to decipher, and missing words is frustrating, and I often question the competence of the person and company writing that copy. This is not a hard thing to do, so do it! If you need help with your proofreading, hire someone to help you out!
2. Research. Figure out what people want to read about, and write about it for them. More importantly, figure out what your target market likes to read about, and create content targeted at them. This sort of research is pivotal to your success.
3. Offer something of value. In line with #2, you want to offer them something they’re interested in reading. You can also offer them something useful, like tips for solving a problem they’re currently facing.
4. Position yourself as an authority. When you write things well, cover topics that people are searching for and reading about, and offer something that they can actually use, you can greatly increase the chances that someone will come to you when it comes time to buy what you have to offer. If you can give them pointers on how to find or pick out the product you offer, or give them advice on how to use what you offer, they can see you as a more trustworthy and helpful source of information. This trust can then lead to them buying your product.
5. Tell them where to go next. Do you want them to download your eBook, sign up for your newsletter, leave a comment? Ask them to! They’ll be much more likely to do so if you make it clear to them what their next steps are.

Remember that customers are looking for help, looking for interaction, and hoping to be more a part of your company. Make them feel important (because they are), and treat them with respect. There are many more places for customers to get the same product these days, so be sure to appreciate them. Start off with writing something that they can read and process, and then go from there.

Marketing has made the move online. With so many people and customers online for everything from shopping to reading news, you had better have made the move as well. If not, you need to catch up!

Whether you plan to do a small campaign online or a large scale campaign that will last the life of the company, you need to create compelling, interesting, and relevant content for your website, blog, or social networking tools. There are many ways to write content for a website, press release, blog, etc, but here are a few tips to creating content that drives traffic:

1. Write well. This is biggest component of being successful in content marketing and online marketing. If you have nothing good to say and say it poorly, your outlook is a bit bleak. Know how to write to your target market (so, of course, you must first know who that is), and write in a manner that increase interest and also engages. This also means you need to proofread and get feedback.
2. Utilize SEO (search engine optimization) in your copy. This will greatly increase the number of search related traffic, meaning people are finding you based on what they are already looking for online. (I can’t think of a more targeted method to reach people other than advertising.)
3. Use different styles. Use lists (like this one), bold, or italicized text. These can help to draw attention to specific areas on a page, and can also help to make your information more easily consumed.
4. Make calls to action. Tell, or direct, your buyers to the places you want them to go. Where do you want to go on your website next? Do you want them to download your eBook? Make this clear and direct! People also like options, so give them many things to do on your site (but too many; there is a fine line), and offer them the ability to get in touch with you when they have a question, concern, or simply want to engage in conversation with you.

The most important thing to do with your online marketing: be there. Be available, be present, and use social media, websites, blogs, etc., as a method of communicating with your buyers, not simply to. Advertising and marketing methods of the past were very much a way to communicate to buyers, but the changing industry makes it easier, and in turn more important, to have two-way communications with your audiences.

While some companies may think online marketing is not for them, or that PR and marketing are things that only large companies need to worry about, I hope to change your mind. Marketing and PR are vital pieces to your overall puzzle and can make or break your success. Consumers and buyers want to be a part of your company, not simply someone your company sells to, so make them feel involved; they’ll reward you, and you company, for it.

How has marketing changed in your industry? Do you think you need to keep up with the ever-increasing shift to online methods?