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Knowing what matters in content marketing is one of its core principles. Without measures, you don’t know if your efforts are helping to move your business forward.
Whether you’re creating content because you feel inspired or because you think that you should be doing so. There is no way to tell which types of campaigns are working until they're over.
That’s why there’s an emphasis on tracking vs. trying to track everything. You can measure lots of things but there's not always a right way to go about it.
For example, you might be tempted to put a link to your website from your social media posts to gain traffic. However, that doesn’t really matter whether you want people to buy something or not.
What matters is how many people visit your site, where you put a call-to-action (CTA), and whether or not they act upon it.
You can add 1 CTA anywhere on your page and see changes in brand awareness (which is how much more likely someone is to click on a product after seeing it on your page). You can have 2 CTAs and see differences in conversions. And you can have 3 CTAs and see even bigger differences in conversion rates.
It all starts with testing when it comes to content marketing. Don’t just do something because you believe in it; test to make sure it works.
Welcome to your strategic spark. Your goal is to help people understand their problems and consider solutions. You do this by providing insightful conversations and presenting questions that force participants to think deeply. These are often big ideas that can change how someone sees themselves or the group they belong to.
A Strategic Spark conversation takes place here, online, or at one of our public events where there are ample opportunities for participation. The key is in finding other people who want to join in and talk about what matters to them.
These can be topics like culture, leadership, politics, environment, projects, books, movies, music, or forums. There are many ways to provide insight through questions as well as stories that trigger thought processes.
The hardest part of creating a Strategic Spark is keeping an open mind without letting your thoughts get closed off. This is because you will be dealing with sensitive subjects that may have different implications for each person.
All of these issues can affect things such as race relations, nationality, religion, immigration policies, environmental concerns, budget priorities, healthcare, education, and consumer protection.
In order to succeed with a Strategic Spark event, you need to ensure that anyone attending will know exactly why that individual is interested in those topics. A few minutes information can make all the difference.
That means considering what people already believe and
John Janssens is a writer and content strategist who has helped hundreds of organizations across several sectors — from small businesses to global corporations — with their stories, anecdotes and ideas. His popular eBook “Storytelling Tips for Business” contains dozens of tips on writing effective business stories including how to start a story, how to build tension and momentum, and how to make the ending sing. He also offers advice for being a better listener to help you get more value out of your stories.
Janssens says that today's trending digital storytelling tools can help us tell our stories in new and creative ways.
He introduces his audience-based toolkit featuring free templates and tutorials to help people create stories using social media, blog posts, videos, and other formats. Plus he shares some tried-and-true techniques for gathering data so you can deliver a true and authentic story through your marketing and advertising efforts.
This book helps you find new ways to look at your existing content and methods by showing them all in an interesting way. By taking what you have been doing and adapting it to work with what you are trying to achieve, you will learn where there is room for growth in your field.
Blogging is about sharing information with other people. It’s about bringing value to the world. If you are looking for more guidance around content marketing, there are many ways to do it.
One way is to read. Read books, of course, but also magazines and newspapers. Follow blogs and forums. All of these avenues offer chance to educate yourself on new techniques, tricks, technologies, tools, and resources to help you develop your business website or brand.
The most important thing to remember when reading all types of content is that what you read should be good. It should help you improve your website or business and make you feel comfortable.
If you need some assistance in making this determination, then pay attention to how much time you have available to spend reading (and learning from) different material.
Also consider whether you focus better while reading certain types of materials. Does they challenge you or motivate you? Are they practical or academic? There are numerous options across various media to find exactly what you want.
Finally, keep in mind the level of expertise of the author writing the book. Not only can authors bias their views, but they may also know who you could turn to for advice.
This is one of the most popular books ever written on content marketing. By taking a wide-ranging survey of people, from top authors to bloggers to users of social media, the book identifies 48 different types of “human beings” who create content.
Then how does author Dan Heath organize this diverse collection of ideas? He breaks down the core concepts of what it takes to become a successful creator (or consumer) of content.
These include: reading as a narrative vs. reading for information; writing with purpose and creativity; sharing your own stories and knowledge; and networking through commenting and contributing.
He emphasizes that you need to read content for pleasure, but there is a difference between reading for fun and reading to get info or improve your memory. The latter is where education comes in.
Content marketing focuses not only on producing useful information, but also on communication and interaction. This topic is covered at length in his newest book, which adds his latest research on conversation topics, podcasts, and more.
By having content that solves a problem or inspires people to do something, you’ll build trust among your readers and boost your SEO (search engine optimization). People will start looking up how to accomplish goals you have given along with them."
This is because they know there are ways to achieve any goal we want. Your job in this era of content marketing is to provide solutions to problems that attract your target audience.
You can do this by creating helpful guides and resources for others. There are many free sources of information available online too at no cost.
Everyone is so accustomed to getting things for nothing that it seems weird to give things away for free. The trick is to make the experience worth it for your user.
They need to get some value out of the experience before their eyes light up with inspiration.
Value = benefit / effort
Evaluate every download related to your product by considering the effort that was put into promotion – what’s the effort like vs what’s the expected outcome? Is the potential future customer going to pay $100 for the product you’re offering right now?
Consider all of those questions before taking any action. Don’t keep doing promotions if nobody is responding.
Content marketing is built upon good relationships you have with other businesses. We all work together to promote one another’s products and services.
It’s important
In his latest book, “Power Words” by Bruce Clayton describes how leaders can use rhetoric to inspire change in others. Rhetoric is the skill of using words to achieve an effect on listeners. This could be through persuading people to your side of the argument, or even simply encouraging them to play along with what you are saying.
According to Clayton, we create power when we speak at two levels: the word and the audience. You should consider your own ability to communicate, but also how well you connect with each individual listener.
Whether you are speaking to one person or millions, there is a right way to write so that it inspires confidence and leaves everyone feeling involved, enthused and eager to learn more. You can transform yourself into a rhetorical master by reading books like “How To Inspire Innovation In Others” if you feel stuck in your writing.
Given that most people have little time for conversation, let alone prewriting, this book teaches you to focus on talking less instead of doing all the things you usually do to get your message across.
By being aware of the importance of language as early as possible, you can make any communication more efficient and successful.
By Seth Godin
“Don’t tell me what to do, show me how to do it.”
That phrase comes from one of America’s greatest authors and speakers, Stephen King.
Many times in business we see results that lead us to believe they must be due to our talents or hard work. But is there something beyond your talent that is responsible for getting you into this situation?
While people are spending time reading blogs and articles and looking at ways to influence others, you could be doing any number of things- maybe including writing books.
Why not use your success with online content as a guide for where you should focus your energy next?
There are several reasons why creating content is a good path to take for your career right now. Here are some more tips for becoming an influencer.
Be sure to check out my list of over 80 possible jobs other writers have done over the past few years.
