There comes a point in everyone’s content marketing strategy where you just want to take a nap.
That point where you yawn at the overwhelming boredom that has occurred. More importantly, the overwhelming boredom you feel about doing it again and again and, oh my god, again!
However, it is during these times we must set an alarm clock in our content marketing to wake up our marketing strategy. WAKE UP!
We have all been there: the sales letter where you want to curse the Norse Gods of bad humor, the video that makes Greek Tragedy looking excitingly upbeat, or perhaps the repetitive blog that makes Roman Senators look like oratorical legends.
It is ok! You can say it with me if it makes you feel better. What matters is that you repeat the words below to kick the funk out of your marketing slam-dunk.
“Hello my name is (fill in the blank)! I have produced some really boring marketing in my day. It is ok! I know by admitting this I am making a pledge to clean out my content for my readers, my clients, family, friends, and most importantly myself.”
Wow! I certainly feel better. How about you?
Now for those who may be wondering why this pledge is so important, let me back up for a second.
Your content marketing strategy is –
the way you use online content, such as blog posts, videos, podcasts, webinars, and other medium to drive quality traffic and build relationships with your prospects.
While this might seem like a herculean task, the information below will help you improve your odds of success.
Fortunately, we have a 6-step plan that can accomplish this task. Even better, you already completed the first step. You did repeat the words above, correct? Awesome! High Five!
Content Marketing Strategy: The Other Steps
Step Two: Be Real! No, not whatever wives of whatever town gets the most ratings real. When you use content marketing, you need to talk like yourself. Be the person you are when you are not marketing.
For example, I tell bad jokes. I know, I know. If you have read this far into this post you would be shocked and surprised I could ever tell a bad joke. It is true, however. Ask my wife, she will tell you.
However, when I tell bad jokes my writing gets better. You should have seen it before. Yack! My style developed from how I talk in everyday life. You need to do this as well. Write like you speak. Act naturally like you do without a camera.
Step Three: Tell your nerves, you do not want them around. Tell them to “shoo fly don’t bother me.”
We get so nervous when we create content. How does everything sound? Will we piss anyone off? What happens if no one reads our material? So much consternation about things we cannot control. Insane! At a certain point, you have to tell your nerves: “nerves, I would appreciate it if you stopped this nonsense.” Tell the butterflies, you are their boss.
Step Four: Look at your content through the eyes of your readers. We all have our own point of view. However, when you use content marketing strategies for small businesses, you need to consider the readers point of view first. What will inspire them to take action with your content? How can you motivate them to do more with the information you provided. Can you provide them with easy steps to start? The biggest is question is how you will benefit your readers, so they come back to your site repeatedly.
Step Five: How can you provide massive value? In days of yore, salesmen would walk down the street with a briefcase in one hand, and a fair amount of rubbish tales in another. Sales today happen, because the buyer believes in the value of the items purchased. To do this any service provider worth their salt, must provide the value that warrants the purchase price. If they do not, then they will limit their ability to succeed.
Step Six: Do something different with every post. In my social media community on Google Plus, I designed the logo as follows: Be Bold, Be Brave, Tell Us Your Name, and How Can We Help? It is the ugliest logo you have probably ever looked upon. I created it in Photoshop in 5 minutes. However, it works.
Everyone else is using generic pictures as part of their social media and content marketing plan. I use some weird saying, and now we have over 800 community members in two months.
Content Marketing Strategy: Be Yourself!
In the end, being boring is about being yourself. As you might have inferred from this post, I do not write like most bloggers. My grammar can be a bit rough, but gee whiz do I have style. In the end, you learn that the more you write like yourself, the more clients you find that are just like you. Hopefully, those are the ones you want to work with in the first place.
Share your experiences in the comments below.
Are you ready to learn more about developing your content marketing strategy?