Content Marketing Archives - Serious Startups

Blogging For Business: Your Startup Can’t Afford to Miss Out!

The benefits of blogging for business have been well proven, however it’s still something a lot of smaller and medium sized businesses have not harnessed the power of. If you haven’t set up a business blog then you’re missing out, here are just a few of the reasons you need one for your startup.

It Makes You Look Trustworthy and Reliable

One of the hardest things for newer businesses is competing with more established businesses. As a rule, people prefer to shop with companies they have used before or are well known, as they trust that they will get the product or service they have paid for. Due to things like scams and counterfeit goods, people can be way about shopping with newer companies. However, having a well written blog can help with this. Customers will be able to see that you know what you’re talking about, and are an expert in your field. They will be able to see the effort put into every post, and will know that a scam company wouldn’t go to this kind of effort. If you sell clothes for example, you could blog about trends, styling tips, catwalk shows and much more. It’s another way to connect with your readers and shows them that you’re trustworthy, knowledgeable and not just a scam website!

It Builds a Readership/ Fans

Write engaging content that offers something to the reader, whether that be knowledge, humor or anything else and they will keep coming back for more. Over time you can build a readership, a tribe of loyal fans. Having fans of your company is always useful, these are the people that will recommend others via word of mouth which is something that’s difficult to do in marketing. Build up genuine followers and they’re more likely to recommend you to others, as well as stay up to date on what’s going on in your company. Chances are you’ve already browsed IT companies and might have outsourced to ensure your business has the right support. For blogging, consider outsourcing again by hiring freelance writers online.

It’s Free Promotion

When you have a business blog, you can write about whatever you like. This means that if you have a particular brand, offer or product that you’re trying to push, you can work it into a blog post. It doesn’t have to look promotional since anything too ad- like might be seen as spammy. But going back to the fashion example, if you have a new range of dresses out you could write styling tips for one of them and show how you would dress it for different occasions. Include a link to the product and if the post is engaging it might well grab the attention of keen shoppers and lead to them clicking through and purchasing. Blog posts are also very share- friendly, and are more likely to be shared across social media than simple links to your site or products. Go for appealing, click worthy titles that will pique people’s interest.

Dynamic Content Strategies That Will Get Your Startup Noticed Online

The Internet, it seems like we just can’t enough of it. So much so that we carry instant access to it around in our pockets each and every day. Capitalizing on this is, of course, essential to the success of your startup you and to do this, you need to create fantastic content that will grab the attention of the consumer and put your brand and product in the forefront of their mind. To find out how to do this read on.

Advice is good for brand awareness

One of the best content strategies that you can use to get your startup noticed is proving advice, tips, and information to those that fit your customer demographic.

Why? Well, the reason is that it allows you to reach them without having to advertise directly to them. Something that can easily put people off. Instead, by offering them something of use you can create in them a positive opinion of your company, as they are receiving something helpful from you, without having had to make a purchase first.

To do this, you may choose you may choose to offer instructional videos, webinar, forums, or even blog posts. Just make sure to do your research to check which format would most appeal to your demographic.

Vital statistics

If Content is king, then the analytic is queen, and anyone trying to get there startup noticed online would do well to remember this. In fact, they are like two halves of the same thing, with statistics and metrics informing and allowing improvement of content so it can be made more effective.

Of course, not everyone loves or can even make sense of statistics, so it’s always a good idea to use some Solid SEO Tools as part of your content strategy. Then at least you have some chance of drawing out the meaning from your analytics and putting it to good use.

Funding and marketing go hand in hand

What if I told you that you could fund your company while marketing it, and get your first production wave paid for all in one go? Sound like a dream doesn’t it but with crowdfunding sites like Indiegogo and Kickstarter, it is actually a reality.

Funding sites combine the customer role with that of company sponsor. They offer the opportunity for normal folk to back ideas that they like, usually for exclusive early access to the product or special bonus features or items linked to how much money they put up.

Yes, your campaign will need a few additional marketing materials such as websites, professional photos, a video and a logo to be used in addition to your post on a funding site. However, remember that you will gain backers directly from the sites itself, and like anything that is to do with social media and sharing, once your proposal gains a little momentum it has the potential to go viral and come to the notice of many other potential customers ( and backers in this case) too.

Why Storytelling is Such a Powerful Tool for Brand Creators

Stories are ingrained in the lifeblood of human civilization, from primitive cave paintings, to the Epic of Gilgamesh; Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, all the way to the modern development of film and television. We’ve always been compelled to relate and intake, cultural wisdom in the form of stories, myths and legends.

To prove this point researchers at the University of Washington in St. Louis, studied levels of brain activity in the minds of participants who listening to excerpts read from a children’s picture book. Researchers found that, rather than just passively consuming the events of the story, areas of participants’ brains that corresponded to the movements of the story’s main character actually lit up. Showing that, when we listen to stories we actually see, and feel the experiences they evoke as if they were real.

For a company looking to create a unique brand, in a crowded marketplace; establishing this sort of a connection with customers is a much sought after advantage. Here’s what you have to gain, from using story telling in your brand creation.

Set Yourself Apart

In 2007, companies like Motorola, Nokia and Blackberry ruled the roost when it came to mobile technology. While Apple had gained some public attention with its wildly successfully portable iPod music player; the company was still considered a lightweight when it came to actual mobile phones.

Then, early in February 2007; Steve Jobs and co dropped this advertisement and shortly followed with a formal introduction at their Macworld Expo, later that year. Within 2 months Apple had sold a staggering 1 million iPhones, and the product was well on its way to dominating the mobile phone market for years to come.

Yet, the iPhone was not the first smartphone on the market; nor did it come from an established name in the industry; so what led to this overwhelming success? Watch that video again, and you’ll see that the answer is storytelling. From the beginning Apple had a clear story to tell about their product and through simple advertisements and on-message branding they made customers believe it.

Subtle Call to Action

At marketing firms like brandmatters.com.au, differentiating a product isn’t enough; companies their marketing efforts to actually pay off through direct conversions. Without storytelling, creating that motivation within customers can seem awkward and aggressive, but with it you can organically motivate customers to take action.

Every good story has a moral at the end, as listeners we’re trained to listen for one. So when a brand takes you through an emotional journey where they lead an audience surrogate through obstacles and problems; customers have their ears pricked for the solution. Of course those solutions are offered by your company’s offerings.

Customer Loyalty

Loyal customers are less expensive and time-consuming to retain; and they actually spend more on your products. A Harvard Business Review study revealed that customer’s actually spend more on their 6th purchase from a company than on their first, and even more on their 8th. Spend less, and earn more, who wouldn’t want to get those benefits?

Storytelling helps you create a brand that customers can relate back to their own values and experiences, and once you’re successful in forging that kind of bond, it lasts!

5 Reasons Why Blogger Outreach Should be Part of Your Marketing Strategy

Blogger outreach, also commonly referred to as blogger relations, is quite simply the business of working with bloggers to promote your service, product, or brand. This involves creating original, interesting and genuine content, which can be posted on an external blog for the purpose of generating quality backlinks while also showing your business as a trusted expert in the industry. Below, we take a look at five compelling reasons why blogger outreach should be part of your marketing strategy:

Influencer advocacy – Let’s start off by talking about one of the lesser-discussed benefits, and this is influencer advocacy. Think about it: when someone you value and trusts introduces you to something, you are more compelled to investigate it yourself. After all, this person has led you in the right direction many times before, and you like what they have to offer. So, if you get influential bloggers to talk about your brand, the same thing will happen. Their trusted followers will visit your site and check out your brand for themselves.
Fresh content – Premium content is the backbone of any successful SEO campaign. However, it’s not easy to product quality content, especially when it comes to the frequency and volume that is demanded for effective SEO. This is why it is a good idea to invest in a blogger outreach service. Take a look at this FATJOE review for more information regarding a popular blogger outreach service that helps companies take their SEO efforts to new heights. After all, it’s incredibly difficult to take on this volume of work in-house.
Develop stronger connections with influencers – We all know that networking with influential people is pivotal, and the same applies when it comes to blogging. Maintaining good relationships with influential bloggers will serve your business well in the long run.
High-quality links – Another reason to incorporate blogger outreach as part of your marketing strategy is because every blog will have a link back to your website. If there is one thing that Google loves, it is relevant and high-quality links.
Build your brand – Last but not least, it can be very difficult to get people interested in your brand if you are a small business or an up-and-coming one. If you get your brand featured on a blog that has a lot of influence in the industry and reaches your target market, you are going to get hundreds of eyeballs on your brand each and every day. And, of course, the more people who see your brand, the more people that are going to be talking about it. This is a great way to build your brand and gain greater traction in your industry.

As you can see, blogger outreach is something that all businesses should be making the most of if they want to increase the effectiveness of their marketing strategy. From influencer advocacy to gaining high quality links, there are numerous ways this approach will boost your brand online.