Twelve ways to turn your products and services into compelling content…

…whilst simultaneously simplifying your social media, blog, e-mail and direct marketing strategies

Why do this?

In business to business marketing you need to:

• attract and engage prospects,
• capture their interest,
• build long term relationships

Let me show you 12 ways to turn information about your products and services into one well-structured piece of content, which can:

·    be used across multiple marketing channels,

·    grow and develop your social media following, and improve their engagement,

·    increase the number of likes and shares on your business social media,

·    organically grow and develop your e-mail strategy and your prospect list,

·    deliver more targeted and successful direct mail campaigns,

·    grow and develop your business blog.

All in all, this will simplify your marketing!

Step one - plan your attack

First, write down the main products and services that you offer.  Prioritise them by importance to you.  For example;

• Which will deliver the biggest or quickest return?
• What business area needs the most growth?
• What will attract the most interest from prospects?

If you have a number of target markets, focus on just one to start with.  Once you’re comfortable with the process you can replicate it accordingly.

Step two: find the compelling R2R

Whatever you write, it needs a compelling reason-to-read (R2R). If the reader’s response to your piece could be “so what?”, then look for a better topic. Your first thought was probably not worth writing about!

It always has to be worth the reader’s time (to read it). The knack is finding a way to position the content in a way that makes them feel they have received something of value.

Now, from your list, take the top, most important item.

• go through the list of the twelve approaches that follow, and find the one that gives your prospect the best R2R.  

In the examples that follow it’s done by sharing interesting and compelling content that should enrich the life of the prospect in some way.

The twelve approaches

1. Recent changes in legislation or law: Write about any recent or imminent legal changes affecting your product or service, if that has an important effect on your prospects. Position your business as the experts.

2. Relevant and interesting news: Research some interesting and relevant news relating to your particular product, service or industry and deliver it in a fun and creative way. Position yourselves as the people ‘in the know’.

3. How to choose which thing to buy: Help the prospect through the process (impartially) by providing a guide to selecting the right product or service you offer. Be balanced, let them decide, and position your business as giving good advice.

4. Show how to DIY: Empower the prospect to do it themselves (as this article does!). Give them enough information to have a go, chances are when they get stuck, it’s you they will call. Position yourself as approachable. 

5. Discuss “what’s right for you”: It‘s similar to (3), the ‘how to choose’ approach, but suitable when you face a range of competing channels. Discuss what product or service delivery channel is right for them personally. This can be done by size of business, location, industry type, etc. Position yourselves as confident, enough not to need to hard-sell.

6. Share a case study: Take a recent case study and use it to highlight particular features and benefits of the product or service.  Try not to be too ‘braggy’ but show how your approach delivers real value to customers. Position yourselves as caring about your customers and their businesses.

7. Give an expert overview:  Give your own views, comments or predictions on the choices in your marketplace.  Try not to be too forthcoming and always try to be balanced. Position yourself as a confident, individual expert.

8. Write an FAQ: Talk about the most frequently asked questions (FAQ) and provide good answers! If you’re brave, you can even ask for questions and run them as a side-note to your main article in future editions.  Position yourselves as resourceful.

9. Share your “top tips”: This could be top tips for buying or using your product or service, but it could equally be just general help about something you provide or do. Position yourselves as friendly and helpful.

10. Find a seasonal tie-in: This works best if there is a particular time of year when one of your products or services is in demand. Have fun, but try not to be too ‘salesy’. Position yourselves as ready for the rush!

11. Use a topical news story from the media: It’s probably best to avoid political or controversial stories, but, if there is something that relates to your products or services, use it. Try and find a fun and creative way to highlight a particular product or service, but if it’s serious, be gently authoritative. Position yourselves as ‘on the ball’.

12. Announce an important change to your products and services: If you are changing the way in which you do or sell something, AND it directly affects your customers, AND there is a genuine added value as a result, then highlight these changes and explain the additional benefits. Position yourselves as customer-focused.

It’s not about being an award-winning writer and it’s certainly not how much you
     write! Be passionate about what you do and communicate that to the reader.

Now…to use what you’ve written

First find the teasers: Pull out some headlines or intriguing statements that will catch the eye, here are some ideas taken from this one:

•         “Twelve ways to turn products and services into compelling content”

•         “Just one article can grow your social media following, and improve their engagement.”

•         “Just one article can increase ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ on all your business’ social media.”

•         “Easily grow and develop your e-mail strategy and your prospect list”

•         “Develop your business blog, one article at a time.”

Next, recycle! Re-use those headlines as:

•      Posts for your Facebook business page

•      Updates for your LinkedIn profile

•      Tweets for your business’ Twitter page

•      Content for e-mail and direct mail campaigns

We’ll use this article as an example for what follows.

On Facebook

Discover twelve ways to turn your products and services into compelling content, whilst at the same time simplifying your social media marketing. (All of this text and any accompanying picture will link to the blog.)

Other examples:

There is a perception that you need to produce lots of individual and original pieces of content for your various social media, business pages and blogs, and keep it all fresh and up to date. Thankfully, that’s not quite true…

This week, I’m blogging about how one piece of well-constructed content can work across all of your marketing channels.

Struggling with your social media strategy?  Today I’m sharing twelve ways to improve social media, blog and direct marketing engagement, whilst actually simplifying your marketing, all at the same time!

Note: While they’re on your blog they’re not distracted by Facebook features!

On LinkedIn

Improve your LinkedIn strategy: here are twelve ways to turn your products and services into compelling content for all your social media profiles and business pages. Find out how…

Are you struggling to find enough interesting things to post, tweet and blog about? Today I’m explaining how to easily write compelling content for any product or service.

Keep your marketing strategy simple! This is essential to its longevity – the easier it is to manage the more likely it will continue. Today, I’m talking about how to do it successfully.

Note: adding a time element (“today”) implies a stream of useful knowledge. If they don’t bite at this one, they’ll watch this space for something they like!

On Twitter

Twelve ways to grow and develop your social media following and improve engagement… [Shortened link to blog]

Discover twelve ways to develop your e-mail marketing strategy and grow your prospect list organically… [Shortened link to blog]

Turn your products and service info into compelling content: twelve easy ways to do it… [Shortened link to blog]

Note: Twitter can be tough to get right. Don’t try to cram too much into one tweet!

“Recycling” for e-mail and direct mail

Rather than use a generic sales e-mail or letter, send them your latest compelling piece of content and merely encourage engagement through your blog or social media channels. No pressure often works better!

Here’s how I’ve adapted my article to run as a direct mail campaign;

Dear ,

As a business with a presence on social media I thought you might benefit from a recent article I have written on how to simplify your social media, blog, e-mail and direct marketing strategies.

Whilst I would welcome the opportunity to talk or meet with you, the purpose of this letter is simply to introduce you to my local marketing blog.

Here, I share interesting and useful information aimed at helping local business take control of their marketing, empowering you to have a go yourself, if you have the time (patience) and resource to do so.

I’ve enclosed a copy of my recent article which I hope will be of use.  You can see previous articles which cover a number of local marketing topics on my website via the blog page – here you can also sign up to my monthly marketing e-mail;  www.thelocalmarketingbusiness.co.uk

If you would like to connect on social media then please feel free to drop me an invitation, I often post links to other articles which share local marketing expertise aimed at helping local business market themselves better.

I do hope this helps you in some way.

Sincerely,
Paul Kurnyta

aul Kurnyta
ard.s, on the limited number of occasions I used your services I always found them to be extremely professional and

Here’s how I’ve adapted my article to run as an e-mail campaign

See it here 

Final Thoughts

This approach does take a bit of thought and preparation. One great article won’t do much, but a string of great articles will work wonders.

Don’t worry about duplication. If your customers see the same thing advertised in several places, say LinkedIn and Facebook, they’ll assume it’s important. That works in your favour.

Get into the habit of doing this month in, month out.  As long as you share compelling and engaging content you can’t help but see growth and success from your efforts.

Remember: to succeed in Business to Business marketing you need to attract and engage prospects, capture their interest and build relationships over time.

Get this strategy right and you’ll do just that.

I hope this helps.

Regards,
Paul

P.S. Please do share any comments or feedback as I welcome your input.  If you feel that this article helped, please tell me.  If you think it may benefit a colleague or contact, then I would only encourage you to share it with them! Thanks.

The Real Value of Social Media for Business

A short guide for those struggling with LinkedIn or other social media for business – Let’s start again

Over the past year I’ve noticed more and more businesses are recognising the potential in Linked-In and other social media as part of their marketing mix – but how many actually know how to use them properly?

Whilst there's been a shift in the number of businesses using LinkedIn and other social media, many are still confused as to its actual use and value in generating new business – many hear of success stories, few reap the rewards for themselves.

First let us understand where this shift comes from. When social media first launched we all sat starry-eyed at the ability to connect, on a social level, to anyone anywhere in the world.  Old friendships were re-kindled and our social circle was no longer restricted to those we actually saw and interacted with on a daily basis.

With this excitement came the need, for some, to build the biggest networks possible. The thinking was that the bigger the network the better connected someone would be. It's now become, "look how popular I am!"

When business social networking joined the party the same principles were applied. We just connected with as many people as possible in the hope that, at some point, just being connected might lead to new business one day . Occasionally useful things get posted too, but it's not consistent enough to warrant long-term interest – for most of us.

Let’s be clear: we can only effectively manage a certain number of relationships at any one time, so the value of Linked-In and other social media is not about the size of your network, it is about the quality of that network. It’s about how well you engage with people, and how well you grow and develop the relationships.

Social media is a tool to start relationships, a place to engage business contacts and prospects and to act as a catalyst to a physical business relationship.  It won’t ever replace traditional forms of marketing—the phone call, the 1-2-1 meeting, networking or the sales pitch—but it will compliment them.

We can use social media to actively and passively engage our prospects, by offering them something of value, in effect becoming a virtual resource.

If I was starting out on LinkedIn today, here's what I would do:

Firstly complete your profile—all of it!  An incomplete profile will lose engagement in a second, and you only have one chance to make a first impression.

Once you're properly represented by your profile, make contact. Connect with your suppliers, your clients, your good business contacts and good friends who may be in business but not necessarily in a similar field. These people could be your influencers.

Start to post about your business speciality. That could be interesting or informative articles, discussions, tips, thoughts, pictures, videos or links that relate to what you do or the service you provide.  The balance you’re looking for is 85% telling and sharing and 15% selling.

Many struggle when it comes to what to post, but here lies an opportunity to do something fun, Make it slightly unconventional. Engage and encourage interaction and comment but, above all, make people think.

It doesn’t all have to be serious and direct. Business social media does have a social aspect! Most of us are happy to develop and maintain casual business relationships with the contacts we trust and consider of value to our business… so loosen up a little.

This is however, where it needs a little investment of time; finding a selection of things to post, or creating your own content from scratch, will require focus and planning.

Some people are gifted in the ability to write and craft compelling articles that engage you from the first word. For others, me included, it’s a struggle and something that doesn’t come naturally, so it takes a little longer. But, as with many things in life, practice makes perfect, and it will become easier.

If you’re not a competent writer then that’s fine, you don’t need to be.  You will, however, need to create short and interesting posts or headlines to 'hook' people to read the article itself.

In terms of what you share, it can be anything that is genuinely informative, interesting or useful to your contacts. It doesn't have to be crafted by you either: it's still useful to share a link to an external source.

Once you’ve established your basic profile and you have a number of posts or updates under your belt, it's time to identify and research your top 20 or so prospects.  If you can see their profile, look at the things they have posted, the groups they belong to and if they have shared their own comments, thoughts or problems.

This will give you an insight into them, their business life and perhaps some of the problems they experience - you are looking for an opportunity to help them.

Inviting prospects to connect – How?

Here’s where many fail: they simply invite someone to connect with a standard message that says something like, “Hi, I'd like to add you to my professional network.”  It's not likely to end well…

A normal reaction from the recipient would be to question who they are, especially if you barely know them, and probably ignore the request to connect.  In essence, there’s been no value offered in connecting.

To begin with, see if you are connected through your own network of contacts, if so, simply ask for an introduction and to open the door for an invitation to connect.

If there is no natural connection and the prospect is cold you will need to know their e-mail address, from here you can invite them to connect through LinkedIn or sent them a normal e-mail which would simply link to your profile on the site.

Which works best?  Try them both and see for yourself. Here's how I'd make the approach:

“Hi,

I regularly post interesting articles, tips, advice and discussions that relate to xyz, which I think may be of use/interest to you, now or in the future. I'd like to connect so that you can be kept up-to-date with all the latest and relevant information, as well as any important posts that I share relating to xyz.

You can see some of my recent posts on my profile or click here to link to my profile page.

I hope you find it useful.

Regards,

Paul K

Will it work every time? Perhaps not, but it will improve your chances of starting meaningful business relationships.

Of course, this approach relies on making sure you actually do post interesting and informative information, topics or articles…but that’s the overriding point.

Your social media profile is a tool to engage and develop business relationships. To keep prospects engaged, sometimes over a period of months until they’re ready to buy, you have to be able to add value through the connection you have with them.

Increasingly and sensibly, people are careful, assessing the value of the connection before committing to connect. They ask themselves, "Will this person add value through being connected or simply become a pest or nuisance?"

Social and business networking are both passive ways to encourage discussion and interaction with people, but you can make them active: If someone likes, shares or comments on one of your posts, thank them.  Send them a message and begin a conversation. Who knows where it will lead?

Sure, you may strike-out a few times, but if the quality of what you share is good, interesting and useful, you will soon start to attract and engage the right people, conversations will begin and relationships will develop.

What happens beyond this is down to you.

Social media are tools to engage and start relationships. They will never replace one-to-one real conversations and other traditional methods of connecting with prospects. They do now, however have a big part to play in how these relationships can begin.

Social Media is a journey, when will yours begin?

Good Luck!