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How To Storytell In A Boring Industry

I met with a client last week and outlined a content marketing strategy for his company over the summer. He was concerned that there would not be enough content for a series of blog posts considering the boring nature of his industry.

My answer? Storytelling! Regardless of the industry, there are always stories to tell and problems to solve.

Here are three companies that are doing a fantastic job with content in—what most of us would consider—boring industries:

1. TD Bank – Banking
Content marketing in the financial industry is extremely difficult because more often than not, the content has to comply with regulatory statutes and be approved by a legal department. No wonder most financial content is boring!

But TD Bank found a way around boring with an innovative video called “Automated Thanking Machines.” The video was successful in giving back to their customers and in catching the attention of new ones.

This website and app offers a list of the nearest bathrooms with reviews, an invaluable tool that every traveller needs. Not only are the website and app relevant to the product, but both build a relationship between the consumer and seller on a different level. It’s not all about the product. It’s about helping the consumer.

Have another great example of content marketing for boring industries? Tell us in the comments below!

By redefining the ATM, TD Bank created a publicity stunt and viral video in one campaign. And, it paid off in spades, garnering over 22 million YouTube views and a prominent hashtag: #TDThanksYou.

2. Blendtec – Kitchen Appliances
You may not think that there’s anything exciting about kitchen appliances or blenders, but don’t tell that to Blendtec. Blendtec has reinvented the “infomercial” by demonstrating its blender’s abilities to blend in quirky ways.

Blendtec’s famous “Will It Blend?- iPad” video from 2010 has over 17 million views3

But the iPad video is not a one-shot wonder. Recent Blendtec “Will It Blend?” videos quickly garner hundreds of thousands of views within days of them being released.

3. Charmin – Household Products

Great content does not always have to be focused on a product or service. Sometimes a better solution is to focus on solutions to your clients’ pain and problems. The power of providing your audience with valuable content cannot be overstated.

One of the best examples of that is the Sit or Squat by Charmin.

Have another great example of content marketing for boring industries? Tell us in the comments below!

Content Amplification: How to get more people to read your content

Recently, I was listening to an Ask Gary Vee Podcast(AskGaryVee), and Vaynerchuck made an interesting argument that most people/companies/brands are one piece of content away from hitting it big, from having something go viral.

What I found really fascinating was that Vaynerchuck (I am paraphrasing here) said that most people are not good enough to do that. Further, he added, that most of us are not willing to push the envelope on our content and that we settle for the same and true instead of making it personal and insightful.

In other words, we don’t allow narratives into our content. Stories get lost in the name of numbers and product information. I was recently talking to a prospective client about content marketing, and he remarked that his website was already producing content with hundreds of articles.

The problem was that the content was all product information. It was what everyone else in that industry was doing. It wasn’t personable or personal. There was no story. Nobody could relate to it.

Don’t Hesitate. Tell Your Stories.

When I started writing, my copywriter would edit my posts and ask me the same questions: “Why does this matter to me?” and “Why should I care?” The questions made me realize that I had to stop writing about SEO and inbound marketing in the abstract and instead make it personal to the reader. While talking about increasing website traffic, linking, and buyer personas, I started to include stories about tactics that worked and strategies that didn’t. The change in my blogging strategy appears to be working; when I review my Google Analytics report for the last six months, my most read post is “My $95,000 Linking Mistake”. The blog post features an anecdote of human error (which is relatable) and learning from that error (which is progress), and it has a title that hooks and a story that interests.

How Can You Add Storytelling into Your Blog Posts and Content Development?

I focus on the fact that my readers are real people with online marketing questions and/or problems. I try not to focus on selling a product or service but on helping them by solving a problem for them.

If you’re looking for a content marketing agency that can help you achieve your business goals, contact Braveheart Digital Marketing today. We’ll be happy to discuss your content needs and provide a content strategy that aligns with your overall business goals.

What Does Mark Cuban Know about SEO That He Is Not Telling Us?

I have been a huge fan of ABC’s Shark Tank since it first aired in 2009. The show quickly became the most-watched TV show in our home as we discussed valuations of the companies and what we thought of the products and sales pitches.

Shark Tank made becoming an entrepreneur cool, and when ABC announced the spin-off series called Beyond the Tank, I was really excited to watch it.

As the name suggests, Beyond the Tank shows what happens after a deal is made and how the investors, or—the “Sharks,” work with the entrepreneurs to expand their businesses.

One of the companies showcased on a Beyond the Tank episode is the Red Dress Boutique which is an e-commerce site that Mark Cuban invested in.

Cuban has made his fortune in technology and the Internet, and I wanted to see what advice he had given the Red Dress Boutique to improve their online sales. What Internet marketing tactics was Red Dress using?

When I pulled up their home page, I was ready to be wowed, but when I hit “view source,” boy was I disappointed!

Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram have helped fuel Red Dress’s growth in part because these are platforms where they can shape the conversation with their audience (with the clothes they use) and interact with their community via comments. The main focus of the Beyond the Tank episode was the desire of the owners to redesign their site to make it faster—not to help with their Google rankings, but to improve the user’s experience. The Red Dress owners were concerned that the slow loading site was causing some of the images to pixelate, decreasing the user’s experience. My takeaway from the show and the Red Dress site is that Cuban is focused on Red Dress maintaining its hockey stick growth. He does not want anything to get in the way of that. Cuban is extremely intelligent, and if he thought there was an opportunity or market that the company was not targeting, then he would mention it. An analysis of the Red Dress Boutique website indicates that search is just not a key component of their growth plan. And that has to worry Google and the SEO industry. It is clear that Cuban is perfectly fine with the Red Dress Boutique’s current online marketing strategy of using social media to grow its brand, control the message, and interact with its community without the sudden curveballs that Google has been giving website owners the last two years. Will we see more e-commerce sites turn their attention and advertising dollars away from search and toward social networks? And if we do, what will that mean for search practitioners?

If you’re looking for help with SEO, contact Braveheart Digital Marketing today. We are a leading SEO Agency in Manchester NH that can help you to improve your website and reach new customers. Contact us today

What are the benefits of marketing automation?

The Market research firm MarketsandMarkets estimated that $3.65 billion was spent on marketing automation software worldwide in 2014, and that number is expected to grow to $5.5 billion in 2019. But what is marketing automation and what are the benefits of using it?

According to Google, marketing automation includes: software platforms and technologies designed for marketing departments and organizations to more effectively market on multiple channels online (such as email, social media, websites, etc.) and automate repetitive tasks

Why should you incorporate marketing automation in your marketing strategy?

Using a marketing automation platform like HubSpot and Marketo improves lead management (scoring, nurturing, and segmentation), email and campaign management.

A March 2014 study by Regalik Regalik found an overwhelming percentage of B2B marketers worldwide benefited from marketing automation with measurable results, enhanced targeting and personalization, and improved lead management and lead nurturing.

In October of 2014, Forbes Insights and Turn surveyed more than 300 US marketing executives and found that marketers proactive in leveraging data-driven marketing were “three times more likely than laggards to report achieving competitive advantage in customer engagement/loyalty (74% vs. 24%) and almost three times more likely to have increased revenues (55% vs. 20%).”

Marketers also benefit from marketing automation with swifter sales cycles and faster deal closes.

“We’re focused on closing the deal. Shortening the sales cycle comes up, but the primary objective is ‘let’s close the deal’ and identify those prospects and customers who are a good fit for this product. “Let’s nurture them to the point that they’re actually buying.”

Lawrence DiCapua

Global Leader Revenue Marketing GE

Have you incorporated a marketing automation platform into your sales strategy? If so, how are your results? If you’re not happy with your current marketing automation platform, or if you aren’t currently benefitting from one, let us help you get started! Contact us today to start reaping the benefits of marketing automation.

Study Suggests Marketers Rely on Instinct Over ROI

I was surprised by an article on eMarketer recently titled “Do Marketers Rely on Instinct Over ROI?” According to a study by Webmarketing123, marketers are still struggling to measure return on investment (ROI).

The report found that 33% of US business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing professionals still don’t know which channels make the biggest impacts on revenues.

As the below graph illustrates, the percentages of B2B and B2C Marketers who can determine the ROI of the most popular marketing channels are relatively low.

Those who cannot determine the ROI of their marketing efforts are often left to rely on “gut instinct” to determine which channels are most remunerative. Although relying on gut may work for some, it does not provide clear insight as to which channels are most time-worthy and cost-effective.

Marketers, ROI, and Social Media:

One of the biggest areas where marketers are not tracking the results of their campaigns is social media. While 87% of B2B marketers use social media, just 17% were able to prove its ROI.

Similarly, 87% of B2Cs use social media, but only 27% are able to measure the financial effect of their social media marketing efforts.

Marketers, ROI, and Email:

Marketers are even struggling to track the ROI of email, which has been around for almost two decades now.

As the most-used channel among B2Bs, email is also the most-measured. However, with 93% of B2B markers using email, only 66% report being able to prove its ROI.

Email is the second most popular channel among B2Cs, as well as No. 2 in terms of its ability for its ROI to be proven. The percentage of B2C’s who can actually measure email efforts is just 44% vs. 80% who use the channel.

Are you measuring the ROI of your current marketing efforts?

To learn the true costs and benefits of your investments, contact us for a free consultation!

CMO’s Unhappy With Content Marketing Efforts

With seventy percent of B2B marketers creating more content than they did last year, you would think that their bosses would be happy with their content marketing results.

But more is not always better and that appears to be the case according to a recent survey by the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council and NetLine Corporation. The survey found that 90 percent of CMOs said they have a content strategy, but only 2 percent consider their existing approach to demand generation highly effective

The challenge for many CMOs, and marketers in general, is producing content that translates into business results. How can they do that? By following these three strategies.

Content Amplification

Only 12 percent of marketers believe they have a content marketing strategy and amplification to target the right audiences with relevant and persuasive content. They are also not using multiple distribution and syndication channels for maximum reach, impact and return.

“Generating demand and ensuring the consistent flow of high-quality, actionable leads is paramount to the success of today’s business-to-business marketer." “Sales enablement and pipeline performance remain key mandates as organizations look to fine-tune their content marketing practices to be high-performance growth engines.”

Donovan Neale-May

Executive Director of the CMO Council.

Customized Content

Seventy five percent of marketers measure the success of their content marketing efforts by the number of downloads or registrations they get.

But often those goals are not met due to:

Not developing customized content for target audiences (48 percent of respondents)
Not allocating sufficient budget to create engaging and authoritative content (48 percent)
Not producing content that is relevant or meaningful to different audiences (44 percent)
Not reaching the right decision makers across the organization (43 percent)
List ItemNot leveraging the right distribution channels and syndication opportunities to maximize reach (39 percent)

As Robert Alvin, CEO and Founder of NetLine Corporation put it:

“The quantity and quality of audience-appropriate content directly correlates to the number of leads that will end up in the sales pipeline. “Content demand generation programs start with the asset but must ensure proper consumption. Syndication and distribution to target audience groups with measurable results is indispensable for a successful content strategy.”

Robert Alvin

CEO and Founder of NetLine Corporation

How We Generated 2,680,000 Qualified Visits to Our Sports Websites

When we launched our sports network, we faced the same question you face everyday: “How can I drive more traffic to my web site?”

Sports is as competitive online as it is offline. The online world of sports encompasses teams, leagues, major publications, TV networks, and tens of millions of fans worldwide writing about their team and sport. How could we attract more web site traffic to our sports sites when the competition for their attention was so fierce?

We produced a web site traffic generation plan that focused on three channels:

We knew that by consistently and methodically executing our three-channel plan we would see results, and we did; web site traffic increased from 652,000 visits to 2,680,000 within two years!

Our Twitter accounts also grew from 111,000 followers to more than 350,000 followers. Our email list started at zero and boomed to over 25,000 subscribers.

Most importantly – our revenue reflected our success;

Sales Increased From $731,000 To $2,460,000.

Driving web site traffic is relatively easy for us with our combined 20+ years of SEO and marketing experience. The hard part was driving qualified, engaged traffic full of fans likely to buy something. Here’s how we did it:

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO was one of our main sources of web site traffic, driving 40% or over 1,000,000 visitors in our site’s second year.

We faced three major challenges:

The league, team, and major media outlets were all viewed as authority sites by the search engine, making it nearly impossible to rank for one or two word terms. We had to find a better alternative.
We wanted to build relationships with fans in the US and across Europe, so we needed a customized tactical approach for each site.
We had to remember our goal to produce 8,000 pieces of content per year while considering SEO best practices.

How did we achieve success?

By implementing the SEO best practices we made sure that the important search engines could find all the content that we were publishing on a daily basis.

We used a combination of tools and widgets to make sure that the ongoing content had optimized title tags, had all the appropriate internal links, and automatically shared via the appropriate social networks.

We took the time to research and understand our audience. What topics were fans interested in? We found out and developed content for each topic that sparked major interest. We didn’t waste time and money producing content that fans weren’t interested in.

To make sure that we were focused on the best performing topics and keywords, we used a simple metric—revenue per search engine visitor.

Cultivating Referral Sites

Organic search was only one source of traffic. Another potential source of quality traffic was referral sites. On referral sites, sports fans looked for ways to interject themselves into conversations and share our content. The process of identifying and researching quality referral sites is worth the time and effort.

Traffic from Referral sites has a different “feel” than organic search traffic. The ability to “feel” traffic is a benefit of years of experience generating qualified traffic. It’s a sense one develops over time and exposure to many different scenarios where audience building is critical. People from fan sites were at a different phase in the buying cycle, so we offered them chances to subscribe to newsletters or follow us on Twitter. This allowed us the opportunity to build a strong relationship with them. Relationships built over time and within the context of a common interest can lead to sales down the road.

Content as a Strategy

The best way to bring fans back to our sites was to produce interesting and engaging content.

Our content was written for fans by fans. Instead of just regurgitating the news, we gave our opinion on it. That drew fans and debate to the sites and kept users coming back for more.

The network of sports websites that we started with broad content became more niched and focused as it grew. This allowed us to reach the most passionate fans, the fans with burning interests in their teams, the fans who wanted to engage and interact with other fans.

We published great content several times a day, bringing those fans back to the sites on a daily basis.

We also used the scheduled post feature to ensure that we were publishing at the most optimal time to reach our target audience. For example, with London five hours ahead of New York City, it wouldn’t make sense to email Londoners and New Yorkers at the same time. The scheduled post feature allowed us to publish at local times and ensure we reached the most fans at optimal times.

Social Media

We used social media to promote content and engage with followers and fans.

Social media was a great source of traffic. We focused on accruing followers for our social media accounts by creating a voice and tone that resonated with fans. Our Twitter followers grew from 111,000 to over 350,000. That meant more fans were exposed to our content, which drove even more visitors to our sites.

We also used a website called Tweetreach.com to measure the effectiveness of the tweets we sent out. I am a big fan of A/B testing and we found that we could triple the number of impressions and CTR on our tweets just by testing different tweet formats.

Conclusion

Increasing qualified web site traffic from 652,000 visitors to over 2.68 million visitors in only 24 months was the result of a traffic generation plan that included performance-based organic search by a trusted, qualified SEO professional, select fan sites, well-written, on-topic content, and the strategic use of social media. Have a question on how to generate more qualified web site traffic to your site? Contact us today.

What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You

This month has been the month of audits as almost every project I have worked on this month seems to involve some sort of audit (content audits, page audits, landing page audits, etc.).

My auditing procedure begins with gathering the data I need—analytics, keywords, conversion rates, etc. Additionally, I ask clients for four pieces of information on their target audience:

I am amazed at the number of times I hear that this information is not available. Without these four pieces of information, the content recommendations switch from being highly customized to more general in nature. Instead of highly targeted content that speaks directly to the user and explains why product X meets their needs, the content focuses more on features and benefits. Although that kind of content offers useful information, it lacks the hook—the story that draws users in and makes them take the next step. The most common reason I hear why companies have not developed buyer personas is because developing them is time-consuming. While it is true that generating really good buyer personas does take time and effort, the benefit is that content that is developed with specific users in mind will result in higher engagement and conversions than content that is not. Without buyer personas, companies are losing the opportunity for more business. Do you have your buyer personas? Contact us today, so we can help you discover your audience and pitch to them directly!

How To Storytell In A Boring Industry

Recent Posts

Content Amplification: How to get more people to read your content

Don’t Hesitate. Tell Your Stories.

How Can You Add Storytelling into Your Blog Posts and Content Development?

Recent Posts

What Does Mark Cuban Know about SEO That He Is Not Telling Us?

Recent Posts

What are the benefits of marketing automation?

Why should you incorporate marketing automation in your marketing strategy?

Recent Posts

Study Suggests Marketers Rely on Instinct Over ROI

Marketers, ROI, and Social Media:

Marketers, ROI, and Email:

Are you measuring the ROI of your current marketing efforts?

Recent Posts

CMO’s Unhappy With Content Marketing Efforts

Content Amplification

Customized Content

Recent Posts

How We Generated 2,680,000 Qualified Visits to Our Sports Websites

Sales Increased From $731,000 To $2,460,000.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

How did we achieve success?

Cultivating Referral Sites

Content as a Strategy

Social Media

Conclusion

Recent Posts

What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You

Recent Posts

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