Promise Marketing Blog

I recently had the chance to hear Bob McGinn speak. Bob is a reporter who has been covering the Green Bay Packers for nearly 30 years. Now, if you’re like most people in Wisconsin, you probably think this was a great opportunity. I however had no idea who Bob was. For me, the sports section is that part of the newspaper that makes it more difficult for me to get to the business section.  Let’s just say I was not exactly excited to hear Bob speak. I thought he’d just spout statistics and I’d feel like he was delivering a lecture in Greek or something.

Boy, was I wrong! Sure Bob shared some statistics. And rattled off the names of a bunch of football players I’m supposed to have heard of. But he also pointed out how his approach to writing about the Packers is exactly like what a good content marketer does.

Bob tries to be original. There are lots of reporters covering the Packers and they’re all covering the same game. He tries to find a new approach to what he has to say so that his column is a little different and therefore, worth reading. How do you work to make your approach to sharing information different from your competitors?

He works at learning about the game. Bob admits he watches a lot of tape. He asks a ton of questions. While Bob may not actually play the game, he feels that he is doing a disservice to his readers if he isn’t well informed. So he works at understanding what’s going on both on and off the field. Do you keep up with your industry? How many blogs, articles, or books do you read? Do you attend seminars? Are you open to new ideas?

He works with experts. Bob is not a football player (see above), a coach, or a scout. He knows that there are some things he just can’t understand because he’s not part of the team. So he enlists the help of others to make sure he’s got his facts straight and that he’s sharing good information. It’s okay to admit you don’t know everything. You don’t have to know everything, you just have to figure out who to ask.

Whether you’re writing about sports, accounting, or a nonprofit cause, you can learn from Bob’s approach. Content marketing is the most important strategy you can implement in today’s digital age. But your content must be good to work. If you work at being original, understanding your industry, and aren’t afraid to bring in an expert or two, you too can succeed at content marketing.

Christina Steder is the President of Clear Verve Marketing and works with clients to plan, create and execute marketing campaigns. Follow her on Twitter as @clearverve.

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Have you heard of Vine? It’s a fun new app that you can use to make the equivalent of a video “tweet.” You use your smartphone to make a six-second video, which you can then post to Facebook or Twitter. Once your video is posted, you can get an embed code that will allow you embed the video anywhere.

Now I know you’re probably thinking, “How great can a six-second video be anyway?” Well, they can be pretty great! In fact, the Tribeca Film Festival invited people to submit Vines for judging and got some amazing super short videos. Check them out here.

So, what can you do with a vine? Lots! Obviously, vine isn’t great for explaining complicated topics or if you need to impress someone with a high quality video, but it can be used to create a fun, simple message. Check out two we quickly made at Clear Verve.
 

This week, I had the opportunity to speak at Marquette University Law School. It’s the third year in a row I’ve spoken during this particular course, and I always enjoy sharing a marketing perspective with the future attorneys I meet in the class. Of course, as future attorneys they ask insightful questions, but I did manage to raise a few eyebrows when I explained that if their marketing sounds like everyone else, there is no way for a prospective client to tell them apart from their competitors. And in that case, the prospect will always go with the larger firm, because it’s a safer choice.

Wondering what else I told the class? Here’s the presentation I shared.

Christina Steder is the President of Clear Verve Marketing and works with clients to plan, create and execute marketing campaigns. Follow her on Twitter as @clearverve.

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According to a recent survey, 79 percent of marketers are now reporting that their companies are shifting into branded content either at a moderate or aggressive pace. The portion of the marketing budget dedicated to creating content is up 13 percent over the past two years.

Content marketing is using the creation of content as a marketing tool. It can take the form of blogs, social media, or website content. It can be video or email. It also includes traditional forms of content such as books, printed newsletters, or whitepapers. Anything your organization does to inform and educate your audience, with the exception of advertising, can be considered content marketing.

In the professional services world, content marketing is something that has always been done. Most accounting firms, insurance companies, health care organizations, and law firms have been producing newsletters for years. However, the number of mediums for distribution and the speed at which content must now be created is new. This poses a challenge for many organizations, as evidenced by the fact that 56 percent of brands are now outsourcing content creation. It is a necessity, but is outside the skill set of many professionals. If your organization can afford to outsource content, it provides many advantages. Content is created consistently and is of higher quality. However, if you can’t afford outside help, you can still participate. Here’s how:

• Set realistic goals. You don’t have to blog every day. Shoot for once a week or twice a month. Just be consistent.
• Produce the best content you can. Better to produce a smaller amount of high quality content than hundreds of gobbledygook posts nobody will read.
• Remember, it’s not advertising. Inform, don’t sell. Your goal is not to make a sale, it is to educate your audience and demonstrate your knowledge.

Get multiple people at your organization involved. If everyone only needs to write one or two articles per year, it can get done.

Christina Steder is the President of Clear Verve Marketing and works with clients to plan, create and execute marketing campaigns. Follow her on Twitter as @clearverve.

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I attended the Wisconsin Assisted Living Association (WALA) last week. If you’re not familiar with WALA, its members work in independent living, assisted living, memory care communities, or nursing homes around the state of Wisconsin. One of the themes that cropped up over and over again during the conference is how members need to find and exploit a niche to market their community. This is advice that can benefit any business.

Often, there are certain things that everyone in a particular industry says about themselves. In the WALA world, members talk a lot about quality of care, compassion, dignity, and independence. Those things all sound great, don’t they? However, if you are thinking of moving your mother into an assisted living community and you visit three communities, and they all say the exact same things, how on earth are you supposed to choose which community is right for you? If people can’t understand what truly makes you different, they will judge you based upon all the things they can understand, which might have absolutely nothing to do with what you are actually selling.

Look at your business. There is probably something that you specialize in, either accidentally or on purpose. Make a lot of noise about that, especially if this service is something that is difficult to execute. If people know you can do something different, they will naturally assume that you can provide all the simpler related services. You will still get all the easier work and you will still get the work that is less interesting or not perfectly suited to you. But, you will get less of that kind of work and more of the kind of work you truly enjoy and are good at. That will make you and your clients a lot happier.

Christina Steder is the President of Clear Verve Marketing and works with clients to plan, create and execute marketing campaigns. Follow her on Twitter as @clearverve.

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