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7 Tips for Starting a Blog

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 06:34:00 -0700

Are you thinking about starting a blog? Blogging is hot and research backs the buzz around it. A February 2010 HubSpot survey of 231 marketing professionals titled, The State of Inbound Marketing reported “fully 85% users rated company blogs as ‘useful’ or better in 2010”. In the 2010 Social Media Marketing Industry Report sponsored by the Social Media Examiner, nearly 1900 marketers surveyed indicated ”blogs were the top area in which they planned on increasing their social media efforts. But if you haven’t started, how do you go about it?

Where to Start?
While a lot is written about blogging once you’re taken the plunge, it’s not very helpful if you’re still contemplating how to do it. Below are key pieces of advice I was given along with things I learned with my own blog at Global Copywriting.

Trial Your Blog
My friend and fellow copywriter, Kevin Walsh from Copy Unlimited in the United Kingdom, advised me to try writing my blog for a month before I started publishing it. It was good advice. I found out very quickly I couldn’t keep up with the pace I had planned. By running a trial with myself, I understood better what was involved and how much time I could commit.

Stick to a Schedule
When I first started my blog, I published a new post every 10 or 11 days. As I became more proficient and focused on the purpose of my blog, I increased it to once a week. This year I decided to double my output to twice a week. No one complains when you increase your frequency over time but sporadic postings lose readership.

Read
I wasn’t sure where I was going to find inspiration for a regular publishing schedule. I spend a lot of time reading and, as a result, find a lot of topics for my posts while I’m trawling around the internet. I’m not talking about plagiarism or the annoying habit of recapping another post. Writing from an angle of personal experience always puts a fresh point on any topic.

Google Alerts
I subscribe to a lot of newsletters and blogs. I also set up Google Alerts on topics of interest to me. It’s a great way to find a new voice, an article in a newspaper or journal I didn’t know about or coverage on an issue from another country. Yes, it often lists content I already know about but it’s the 'unusual' I want Google to identify for me.

Public Speaking
If someone in my audience asks the same question at more than one event, I know it’s the perfect topic for a blog post. When you’re immersed in the same field all day, it’s easy to overlook holes in general knowledge. If someone raises their hand and asks a question, whether you’re the speaker or not, you can usually bet several more people have the same question. Write a blog post to answer it.

Make Lists
My desk is littered with notepads, many of which have lists for ideas of future blog posts. When I get an inspiration, I’ve learned it’s best to write it down immediately and capture as many of my thoughts in bullet-point format I can. These moments of clarity have a nasty habit of evaporating just when you need to get something on paper.

Carry a Voice Recorder
As corny as it sounds, talking into a voice recorder can be the best way to capture an idea for a blog post. It’s a great way to make your commute more productive, especially if you’re spending time alone in the car. I find the detail I include in a voice recording is usually enough so writing the post is more like transcribing my notes.

The Take-Away
Starting a blog can seem like a daunting task, one that never manages to get crossed off the “to do” list. If you’re contemplating a blog, get into the rhythm of a writing schedule before you ever make a single post. You’ll find out what you can manage in the time you have available. Inspiration can be found in many different avenues. Pick one or two of the suggestions above and start a new habit.

What blogging advice have you received?

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Are You Mixing the Right Online Marketing Cocktail?

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 21:25:00 -0700

Have you figured out the right online marketing mix for your business? Do you know exactly where your online activity should be focused? Or, have you been utterly confused by the vast amount of expert opinion telling you what you should and shouldn’t be doing? Don’t feel bad if you answered yes to that last question.

Where to Start?
You know you should be “engaging” with your prospective customer base. You’re getting advice at every corner to “start a conversation”. You’re being bombarded with statistics proving the importance of blogging, social media, and search engine optimisation (SEO). In my own business, I’m constantly juggling priorities trying to give equal attention to all these areas. I bet you are too. As I write this, I’m already two days behind my own blogging schedule.

Online Marketing Opportunity Report
One thing I know for certain; different industries behave differently when it comes to online marketing. Twitter is full of marketing people. Travel companies spend a fortune on Pay-per-click. Retailers love Facebook. LinkedIn is popular with the professions and a haven for recruiters. Each industry seems to have its own personality making it difficult to have firm rules on how to implement a digital marketing strategy. If you’re not working in the marketing field, it can be overwhelming to know what to do.

I came across a fantastic ebook from HubSpot titled Online Marketing Opportunity Report: Social Media, Blog and Search Engine Activity by Industry. It’s the first free segmented industry report I’ve seen giving detailed information and measurements on online activity.

So What’s the Big Deal?
The beauty of this information is, once you understand how your industry best operates in an online environment, it’s easier to formulate a marketing strategy for your particular business. While a healthy mix of original content, social media and SEO is the backbone of a good content marketing campaign, how you allocate your time and money to each of these areas can make a big difference in the overall success of the project.

The Take-Away
Once you understand the general philosophies behind a digital marketing strategy, you need to understand the intricacies of your own industry. Broad category industries like Hospitality prove there can be significant differences within a grouping, e.g. airlines are far more dependent on SEO than hotels while restaurants find success in blogging. Armed with the right data based on solid research, you can then prioritise your budget to obtain maximum results. Grab a copy of the HubSpot report. It might just change the way you manage your business, gaining competitive advantage in the process.

Where do you find the most success in your online marketing?

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*Image courtesy of JohnONolan at www.flickr.net

4 Ideas for Getting More Bang From Your eNewsletter Buck

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 02:28:00 -0700

Do you have an eNewsletter for your business? If you do, you’re probably already aware an eNewsletter is an extremely effective way to build brand loyalty and connect with your customers and prospects. Many people neglect a newsletter in favour of a website or a blog. If you’re one of those people, consider this one truth. Not everyone surfs the ‘net every day; nearly everyone – young and old – opens their email.

I wrote a post at the Content Marketing Institute titled, Five Essential Elements to a Great Newsletter. But if you have an eNewsletter, what can you do to get more mileage out of it?

Post your eNewsletter to your Facebook Page
Every issue of your newsletter should be posted onto the wall of your Facebook. A fan page is a fluid group of people “liking” you with no obligation. Some of them will probably receive your eNewsletter but some of them will not. Put it out there for everyone to see.

Include a share widget in your eNewsletter
Make it easy for people to circulate your newsletter. By putting a widget on your eNewsletter, each one of your readers is a possible distribution channel.

Archive every eNewsletter on your website
Developing a regular newsletter requires planning and the development of a lot of content. It’s also chock-full of keywords related to your business. If you archive every issue of your newsletter on your website, you’ll gain SEO benefit from the keywords and links contained in each issue.

Collect email addresses
There are several ways you can build your subscriber list:

Put a subscription form on the Home Page of your website.
Tap into your Facebook community for more email addresses
Research the interface applications supported by your email marketing provider
Hire a telemarketer to contact customers from the past – before you were keeping record of email addresses
Add a link to your subscription form in every blog post you create

Publishing a regular eNewsletter is a lot of work but the benefits are worth it. Each issue is an asset to your company. The digital format means you can extend the life of your content, repurpose it into other areas and use it to influence the search engines. An eNewsletter campaign doesn’t have to end when you distribute it to your list.

What other ways do you squeeze more life out of your email campaigns?

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*image courtesy of krooclub at www.flickr.com

Advocating Change with Social Media and Content Marketing

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 05:22:00 -0700

Why do you run a content marketing campaign? When do you use social media? Most businesses have the same answer for these questions and it always concerns getting more customers to spend more money. What if your business had all the customers they need? What if those customers were unlikely to spend much time using social media tools? What if you had little control over how much money you could earn. Would it make sense to invest in a digital marketing strategy? You bet.

A Case Study: The Aged Care Industry
I’ve always marvelled at the aged care industry. Like maternity hospitals, there’s not a great deal they have to do to get people through the door. With the first Baby Boomers reaching retirement age, they’re in the uncomfortable position of knowing they cannot keep up with the burgeoning demand for services. At least in Australia, the industry has discovered modern techniques to help solve these problems.

Influencing Social Policy
In a post at the Content Marketing Institute, I wrote about how the aged care industry in Australia is using a strategically crafted content marketing campaign to effect social policy. Titled, What Content Marketers Can Learn From an Australian Non-Profit, the article describes how the The Grand Plan is encouraging people to take action at the government level on their behalf.

Raising Awareness
The precursor to The Grand Plan was a wildly popular campaign known as Kevin87. Referring to the campaign slogan of Kevin Rudd during the 2007 Australian federal elections – Kevin ’07 – Aged & Community Services (ACSA), ran a video of Rudd morphing from a relatively youthful politician to an 87-year-old man. When the video went viral, ACSA got busy and made sure the opposition leader along with the deputy PM were given the same treatment. It helped give focus to the shortage of aged care workers in Australia.

Fostering Groundswell Support
Nearly a year after the Kevin87 project – an unthinkable passage of time in “web world” – aged care advocates are participating in a daily online newspaper services called paper.li Publishing what looks like an old-fashioned broadsheet online, the service collates all Twitter activity containing the hashtag #agedcare. Every day a new paper is published printing all the tweets, linked articles and Twitter ids of people actively using the hashtag. It’s a great way for all the advocates of the aged care industry to find each other and band together.

Listening Posts
Twitter remains a valuable tool to advance their agenda, provide avenues to inform the public and even influence politicians. A recent #agedcare tweet caught the eye of the The Australian Sex Party who took note of the issues in the industry. Organising meetings to gather more information, the Sex Party was able to glean vital information to craft their own policies on aged care.

Generating revenue has always been the topic of popular business discussion and nothing will ever change in that regard. Using content marketing and social media to advocate change and influence social policy is worth a consideration. The aged care industry has provided a great case study – and they have all the business they need.

Have you used social media or content marketing to effect change?

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7 Great Places to Register Your RSS Feed

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 05:38:00 -0700

Do you have an RSS feed on your blog? My web and graphic designer, Ryan Briggs, insisted I put an RSS feed on both my news items and my blog. I didn’t think I needed one in either place but I took his advice. Or I should say, I didn’t make a noise about it and he implemented his own recommendation. I’m really glad he did.

It took me awhile to figure out the power behind the feed. One of the first things that happened is James Bull contacted me and scheduled a meeting. James runs a web content strategy company and is founder of Perth Web Industry News Digest (aka PerthWIND), a news aggregator from over 40 sources of the Perth web industry.

PerthWIND has news and opinion from all sources in the digest. All items link back to the original publisher’s company website or blog, and there is also a list of all sources. Ryan had plugged my RSS feed into PerthWIND. From my very first effort, my posts were being syndicated and gaining additional exposure on the website and through the PerthWIND twitter activity.

In recent months, I’ve really come to understand how to exploit my feed. In addition to PerthWIND, here are some great places to register your feed.

Wot News www.wotnews.com.au – A news aggregator for the Australian media, when I found out about Wot News at the Media140 conference, I immediately registered both my feeds.
Technorati www.technorati.com – A blog aggregator connecting bloggers with media and advertisers, my blog was selected as one of the Top 50 Australian Writing blogs due, in part, to my Technorati ranking.
Networked Blogs www.networkedblogs.com – An extension to the Facebook application, Network Blogs allows your feed to be automatically published on any Facebook page.
MailChimp www.mailchimp.com – Mailchimp allows you to publish your blog for delivery to an email address. It’s a great way to ensure readers never miss a post. Set the RSS Feed campaign up once and never worry about it again.
Social Media Today www.socialmediatoday.com If you write about social media, Social Media Today is a fantastic place to register your feed. Every post is reviewed by their editors and the best ones get published on their influential website.
Linked www.linkedin.com If you manage a discussion group on LinkedIn, you’re able to include up to 25 different feeds for the group.

I’m on the lookout for new places all the time. I’m sold on the idea of syndication and the power it has to spread my posts around the globe. While some people feel an RSS feed is far too technical, if you’re spending the time writing a blog, why not make sure it gets maximum exposure?

Where have you registered your RSS feed?

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*Image courtesy of Stylianos Mystakidis at www.flickr.net

Why Print Still Matters

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 14:34:00 -0700

Last night Joe Pulizzi, the co-founder of the Content Marketing movement, published a blog post at Junta42 titled, 7 Reasons Print Will Make a Comeback in 2011. It was an interesting commentary from a guy who spends nearly all of his time speaking about online marketing.

I’ve always felt content marketing described both online and print collateral. Most businesses I speak to, especially SMBs, are reluctant to dispense with physical documents. Why? Because they work. We no longer have to convince people an investment in online content is important – even necessary – but I don’t know of a single company that’s made a complete switch from print to online marketing strategies.

Everything Old is New Again
Something I’ve seen recently, however, supports Joe’s theory. Soggybones is about to launch a print version of their popular online magazine. A lean outfit run by a couple of young guys, Soggybones is breaking rules and redefining journalism while maintaining a culture of excellence in design and photography. Their strategy to go to print is indicative of a bigger trend.

I’m happy to see Joe’s prediction. Personally, I enjoy holding something in my hand while reading. I like being able to walk out the door with a sheaf of material I can peruse while waiting or drinking a cup of coffee. I absolutely love to see a brochure with beautiful images like Premier Studio distributes to describe their outdoor photography studio. I get excited when I see a clever design implemented by a graphic designer that understands the power of traditional print.

The Take Away
As Joe astutely points out, there’s a lot less post coming through your mailbox. We all agree receiving a handwritten letter is a joy in the age of email. Why not explore ways you can deliver your marketing message through the mailbox instead of the inbox? Look for a graphic designer with both print and web competencies and start working on an online/offline campaign.

What do you read “in print”?

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*Image by Mercedes at www.flickr.net

Spelling It Out

Sun, 08 Aug 2010 20:57:00 -0700

Advice abounds concerning the importance of spelling. Starting at about six years of age, most of us begin learning how to spell and endure weekly tests to prove the lessons filtered into our general knowledge. Unfortunately, many of those lessons are ignored when it comes to modern content creation. While much has been written about the importance of spelling – Copyblogger tackled it here and Problogger here – I haven’t seen much about the impact poor spelling can have on your business. Hint: It’s big.

Brand Damage
I encountered this sign during a recent holiday to Indonesia. The first time I saw it was on a poster-sized board propped on an easel, prominently displayed in front of a Ralph Lauren retail shop. Kicking myself for not having a camera with me, I was extremely surprised (and pleased) it was still in use three days later. The Ralph Lauren brand is strong enough to withstand an embarrassing advertisement for “Strippers”. Is your brand that resilient?

Over the past week, I’ve collected spelling errors found in my normal business dealings. I’m detailing them here with the residual impression they create.

Disregard for Clients and Partners
This disaster of a sentence was found on a networking group’s website, listed as a benefit for paid membership:

Thanks to the lovely folk at Xxxxxxx Restauarnt you will rceieve 10% off your next meal.

The actual name of the restaurant was spelled wrong, too. I counted four errors in only 16 words. Why, on earth, would I pay to join a group with so little regard for accuracy? Getting the name of their sponsor wrong indicates a lack of respect for them, too.

Overpriced
A reply from a professional organisation had this doozey in it:

In regards to your enquiry, you are elidigble to gain XXXX membership.

I was wondering if this very expensive membership would provide enough value to justify their fees. When their communication to me showed an obvious spelling error, it made me feel like they probably weren’t worth the money they were charging.

Careless
A receipt for a paid invoice contained this heading:

Date Service Amount ($) Discription

Since the company sending out the invoice has hundreds of thousands of customers, I wonder what sort of quality controls they have or if their business processes are in order.

The Take-Away
Spelling is an important aspect in your business dealings. My concentration is interrupted when I come across a spelling error. I’m not the only one. What you may perceive as an unimportant detail, is likely being addressed in a broader context by the audience reading it. Whether you like it or not, you and your business are being judged on the quality of spelling and grammar in your business communications.

What spelling errors have you noticed? What did it tell you about the company

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The Website Conundrum: Design vs. Content

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 06:51:00 -0700

What comes first, design or content? I seem to be getting a lot of calls from people who have invested in a website with no content. They call me at the end of the project because they “need some words” on their site. Invariably they need it done fast. They always want the content optimised to attract search engines. I can also predict, with certainty, they will be surprised at the investment required to develop the content for their site.

Content: The Great Afterthought
You might think I’m talking about start-up companies, but I’m not. I see this problem across all industry sectors, government agencies, not for profit organisations, and even businesses developing their second or third website. I have never had someone contact me about content before speaking to a website designer. This tells me people are more concerned about how things look than what is being said.

Traditional Approach: Property Development
I do understand why this is happening. In a bricks-and-mortar business, getting your property is usually the first step on the road to a Grand Opening. Once you have secured a building or a piece of property, you start the construction/renovation phase. The next step is to fit it out and furnish it. The last step is to bring your stock in. Now you’re ready for trade.

The Online Conundrum
But here’s the problem. You can’t equate a website to a physical place of business. Why? In the digital environment, your content is what attracts search engines. Your content is also what keeps people drilling down into your website. In a virtual world, the design can help improve the user experience. It can promote your company branding. It can present an attractive and desirable door to your business. Good design, however, cannot keep people on your website.

Digital Approach: Publishing
Here’s another analogy to consider. Imagine a book publisher designing a book cover, choosing a winning title and having the book bound and the cover printed before an author is even selected. What sort of sales figures do you think that book would generate? How effective is the story going to be if the author is bound to the whims of a printer? When you have a website designed and developed without a content strategy in place, that’s essentially what you’re doing. A website is not an asset to your business if the content does not support what you’re trying to do. When you leave content development to the end of the project, you’re unlikely to realise the full potential of your website.

The Take-Away
Remember your website is an asset to your business. Content is equally important to design. Developing a successful online presence means you must develop a strong content strategy to keep both search engines and visitors interested in your site. Developing content takes both time and money and must be considered in tandem with website development. You’re investment should be driven by publishing, NOT property development.

What’s your opinion? What comes first, design or content?

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*Image courtesy of playingwithbrushes at www.flickr.net

6 Website Design Mistakes to Avoid

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 05:10:00 -0700

What do you expect your website to do for your business? If you’re like me – and I bet you are – the ultimate goal of your website is to drive more business through your door. Whether it’s an e-commerce site, an outbound marketing site used to generate leads, or an inbound marketing site designed to establish your authority, the real reason to have a website is to promote your business. Did you ever consider you website might be losing business for you?

Poor website design will drive your customers away. While it might seem odd to hear a copywriter talk about the importance of design, I know a poorly conceived and implemented website will pretty much guarantee no one will ever read the web copy. It’s in my own best interest to share some of the more annoying attributes that could be losing you customers.

Music
When I took to Twitter complaining about websites with automatic music on them, I immediately received eight replies confirming it was a bad idea. Every person said they immediately leave a site with music. Me too.

Automatic Video
Nearly as annoying as music, websites that automatically download and play a video also raised the ire of the Twitterverse. Video is a great addition to any website but let people decide if they want to play it or not. Don’t worry, people love to do things on a website. More than that, they like to be in control of their own experience.

Flashy Stuff
Unless you’re running a special effects company, avoid Flash and flashy features on your website. People visit your website to get information. When they have to deal with flipping tabs, new windows opening with every click or icons tumbling around the screen they give up and go somewhere else. Don’t you?

Small Print
Cramming more content onto a page by reducing the font size might sound like a great idea. It’s not. If you want people to read, make the type easy on the eyes.

Poor Colour Choices
Colour can be subjective and I’m not about to start a debate about it. However, if your print is similar to the background colour, you won’t have many people reading your page. Grey on grey, yellow on silver and red on purple are all difficult to read. Don’t do it.

Busy-ness
More is not always better and that’s certainly the case for websites. Position your content so it’s the obvious feature on the page. Filling up every bit of space with images and copy detracts from what you’re trying to accomplish.

This is a relatively short list of pet peeves but every one of them is guaranteed to provoke your prospects to move to another site before they’ve even read a word. Your website needs to support the goals of your business, not the whims of your web designer. Ensuring your website “looks” attractive will give you a better chance to influence your current and potential client base.

What annoying features make you abandon a website?

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*Image courtesy of briannaorg at www.flickr.net

3 Light Bulb Moments That Helped My Business

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 02:46:00 -0700

Do you ever get to the bottom of your "to do" list? Like most people, I know what I should be doing. I have a long list of things I want to do, as well. While it’s much easier to “say” than to “do”, I’ve been making inroads into some important areas of content marketing. I’ve had a few “light bulb moments” along the way.

Facebook Fan Page
I’m one of those people that hasn’t quite understood all the fuss about Facebook. While I appreciate the social aspects it provides, I’ve always considered LinkedIn and Twitter much more valuable to my B2B business. Report after report, including the 2010 Social Media Marketing Industry Report sponsored by the Social Media Examiner point to an explosion on Facebook making it an undeniable tool for business. As a result, I’ve launched the Global Copywriting Fan Page. Like Twitter, it took me awhile to hit my rhythm. Once I decided it was the perfect place to curate content and share all the good articles I’m reading, it came together. Sue Hickton, owner of The Strategic Learning Curve, left this post on the wall:

I need to spend more time on your FB page Sarah - although we already had a conversation about this, ie traffic and I am an established "Convert" I still habitually stalk your blog. I just had a trawl in here and found some of the most fantastic information. I really like how the page is coming along now - it's really fleshing out beautifully! Well done, you are rocking it!

eMail Marketing
I was confused why eMail Marketing was important. With healthy networks on Linked and Twitter and increasing blog traffic, I didn’t see the point. Even when readers asked for “posts by email,” I was reluctant to add one more thing to my own marketing list. Then it dawned on me. Social media is still being debated. “Surfing the ‘net” is an inconsistent activity fluctuating wildly with time and location constraints. Everyone, but everyone, regularly checks email even when on holiday. If you want to receive future posts from Global Copywriting by email, subscribe here. I have no idea what took me so long.

Public Speaking
Hands down, the best way for me to generate leads is through public speaking. As a writer, it pains me a little bit to say this but it’s true. Getting up in front of an audience is the absolute best way to establish your authority and expertise on a topic. Thankfully, I enjoy doing it. I’ve been speaking a lot on Content Marketing and Social Media for Business. If you have an event and need a speaker, contact me and I’ll be happy to come along. I’m working on a new marketing theory and will be happy to speak, in public, about my idea.

What marketing activities have you been planning on doing but haven’t gotten around to?

*Image courtesy of Thomas Brightbill at www.flickr.net

4 Ways to Improve Your Customer Experience with Content Marketing

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 19:26:00 -0700

As some of you may know, I’ve just returned from a week-long vacation at a beachside resort in Bali. The goal of the trip was to escape the Perth winter and entertain my little boy in the process. I didn’t expect to do much except sit poolside with a book in hand, soaking up the sun and rejuvenating in the process. Surprisingly, the week turned out to be a case study in how good content can improve the customer experience.

Resort hotels pretty much have a captive audience. The trip is planned before you get there. Most people don’t bother to move hotels unless something terrible happens. Essentially, the holiday spirit dictates you relax and ignore minor annoyances in service and delivery. While your expectations are high when you arrive, a poor experience simply means you won’t return the next time. The place I selected was intent on making sure they would get repeat visitors. Their content reflected that.

1. Cater to Your Influencers
My six-year-old cares about one thing when he’s on holiday. If he can swim, he’s happy. When I booked my break, I made sure the hotel had a big pool. It helped when the website showed photos of three swimming pools complete with waterfalls, slides and fountains. In our case, they didn’t need to do much more, but they did. At check-in, he was presented with the following:

Schedule of activities
Special menu
Branded, “unfinished” postcards ready for a colouring in activity
A brochure describing the Kids Club

Before we unpacked, he knew far more about what was going on in the hotel than I did. The content he was given was presented in an easy-to-read style with graphic design attractive to little kids. Nothing he was given would have influenced my decision to stay there. Everything he was given convinced him it was the only place to be.

2. Segment Your Market
While he was studying the children’s menu, I rummaged for the spa brochure. Before we hit the pool for the first time, I’d booked my services. Later in the week, I picked up another spa brochure in the lobby and leafed through it. I was surprised to discover that while the content was largely the same, this brochure was positioned differently to appeal to couples and honeymooners. All the treatments were offered in tandem. If desired, each one could be performed outside the spa – in a romantic outdoor location or the privacy of your room. It wasn’t something that appealed to me on this mother/son trip but I bet a lot of brides insisted on a dual massage.

3. Translate Your Content
It’s common to see hospitality documents translated into Japanese. What surprised me in this resort was everything was also presented in Mandarin, Korean and Russian. Additionally, the television had channels dedicated to French, German, Russian, Indian, Japanese, Arabian, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish, Korean and Portugese. (And much to my chagrin, five dedicated children’s stations.) Having lived and travelled in countries where English is not the first language, I can attest to how attractive it is to know you have at least one outlet for your native tongue.

4. Little Touches Can Make A Big Difference
It’s easy to think of content as being either print or digital. One brilliant piece of content I discovered at the hotel was the employee nametag. Under each name was a single sentence starting with, “My passion is”. There were many tags with “sport” or “travel” listed as the passion, as you would expect in a seaside destination. But there were gems like the young man serving coffee who had designated “classical music”.

How could a nametag be considered a content marketing strategy? Think about it. The resort wanted their employees to engage with their customers. By providing personal detail, it encouraged conversation. What it said was the resort was interested in me and was providing a data point for me, pulling me into their sphere. The employees, to a person, were wonderfully adept at making you feel like whatever you had to say was the single most important thing they had to hear. Even the gardeners would drop tools, bend down and ask my little boy a question when he said hello to them.

The heat of the sun and the sound of the ocean are distant memories a week after my return. My feet are back to their normal ice cube status for the Australian winter. The content marketing strategies, however, have stayed in my mind. Midway through our trip, my son and I were walking along the path running in front of the beachside resorts. I mentioned on our next visit we should try a different place. He gave me a puzzled look and said, “Why would we do that?”

How do you use content to improve your customer experience?

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Image courtesy of Tanti Ruwani at www.flickr.net

The ProBlogger 7 Link Challenge

Sat, 17 Jul 2010 17:55:00 -0700

Darren Rowse from ProBlogger challenged his readers to a 7 Link Challenge. I was in the middle of writing another post but that can wait. This is a fun exercise and I don’t often take time to participate in the many blogging activities crossing my desk.

Darren asked bloggers to write a post containing links to our own posts in seven pre-defined categories. Here’s mine:

1. Your first post
I wasn’t sure I would ever have anything relevant to say and worried about it in my first blog post published on 4 May 2009, Entering the Land of Blog. Regular readers will know it didn’t take me long to get over it.

2. A post you enjoyed writing the most
After I attended the Media140 conference in Perth, I knew I wanted to write about it. I guessed (correctly) there would be a lot of blogging chatter about the social media event, which is on a worldwide road show. My post Media140: The Troggs, Westpac and Kanye West was a lot of fun for me because I had to really stretch my noodle to add an original thought. I also used lines from the song “Wild Thing” as headlines to carry the thread. Fun.

3. A post which had a great discussion
Hands down, 6 Reasons for Refusing LinkedIn Invitations garnered the most comments, positive and negative. The result was a lively discussion both on the blog and in one of the LinkedIn discussion groups where it was also posted. It hit a nerve, for sure. I’d never been called a “purveyor of negative ideas” before!

4. A post on someone else’s blog that you wish you’d written
I smiled at this category because it was a line I used in BRIEF: FAQs Fact. I read a post by Michele Linn at the Savvy B2B Marketing blog titled, 5 Reasons to Include FAQs in Your Content Marketing Strategy and wanted to cry. FAQs are a topic I discuss often with my clients but it never occurred to me to write a post about it. Michele said it all - and probably better than I could have - so my post was in the Global Copywriting BRIEF format.

5. Your most helpful post
Judging from the comments, 9 Tips That Improved My Blog was a useful post for a lot of people. I felt like I achieved the goal of my blog with this post, sharing practical advice often learned through my own experiences.

6. A post with a title that you are proud of
Titles are often a mystery to me. It’s one of the parts of blogging I struggle with. I liked Customer Lip Service: Scripted Responses, Broken Promises and Other Bad Ideas along with Please Change My Sheets: Dirty Laundry in Marketing Communications. They’re both probably too long but they manage to escape the ubiquitous “list” format.

7. A post that you wish more people had read
7 Surefire Way to Increase Your Copywriting Fees fizzled – a disappointment because it was loaded with a lot of beneficial insider information on pricing. Shortly after I read How to Avoid Being a Difficult Client (and Get More Bang for Your Buck) at the WebCopyPlus! website. It had a better title, better images and way better writing than my effort. Go read it and see what I was trying to accomplish.

What are some of your favourite blog posts? Have you taken the ProBlogger challenge?

Image courtesy of Eurritimia at www.flickr.net

Blog Logistics: A Key Insight for Your Content Marketing Strategy

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 01:38:00 -0700

Where does your blog live? I’ve been speaking a lot lately about content marketing and the importance of blogging. A company blog is one of the most effective tools in your content marketing strategy. It classifies as both content and social media. It has more direct impact on your organic SEO than almost anything else.

Location, Location, Location
I’m frequently asked, Where should I put my blog? Initially I was surprised by the question. As blogging becomes a strategic tool, more and more people are entering the blogosphere. With many popular blogging solutions available, people want to know what software to use. I always answer the question the same way, On your website.

It’s about SEO
Blogging helps you establish your authority and expertise. Every blog post should contain valuable information relating to your products and services resulting in keyword-rich content. If you host your blog on an independent URL, you’re missing a huge opportunity to improve the traffic to your website. The more people visiting your blog, the higher the search engines will rank your site.

The Take-Away
Location trumps software when it comes to blogging. Make sure your blog resides on your website. Think of your blog as a table and your content as the food. You want people eating in your company dining room and not at the food court down the road. Why? Because once they’re done, they may want to graze some more and you want your content to be the next stop. If your blog is hosted somewhere else, chances are most readers won’t take the time to go find you.

Where does your blog live?

*photo courtesy of Rick Audet at www.flickr.net

Please Change My Sheets: Dirty Laundry in Marketing Communications

Mon, 05 Jul 2010 04:44:00 -0700

In a former career, I travelled the world as an international representative for a multi-national software company. I had a big quota and the expense account to match it. A lot was expected of me and, in return, I stayed in the best hotels, ate at the best restaurants and worked with some of the best people in the world. It was a luxurious backdrop to a gruelling job.

Today I dipped my toe back into that life with a cross-country business trip to Sydney, a city I haven’t visited since 1995. I’m an Australian resident now but flying across the country sort of feels like an international journey. I was surprised at how easily it all came back – packing business clothes, flying alone, grabbing a taxi from the airport, and checking into an upmarket hotel designed for business travellers.

Changing Times
It all felt familiar until I got to my room and was greeted by a postcard on the bed. Printed on recycled paper, it told me if I wanted my sheets changed, the onus was on me to ask for the service. Couched in reasonable language, the note explained:

Together we can save millions of litres of water.

No matter where you stand on the environment, I had to marvel at this. I’m paying several hundred dollars a night for this hotel room. One of the tacit agreements about staying in a hotel described as providing “extraordinary escapes” is the extraordinary experience of having clean linens provided to you every day. While it’s not something I expect at home, at a budget hotel or in a hostel, I do expect it from a premier establishment. Why?

Nowhere on their website, in their booking process or at check-in was I made aware of an environmental campaign.
They’re asking me, their customer, to serve them.
The rates they’re charging merit excessive benefit.
The only recycled paper in the entire room was the postcard asking me to avoid clean sheets every day.

Duplicitous Message
Here’s what really bugged me. The postcard was written to make me feel like a bad person if I didn’t support this water-saving cause. While emotional appeal is the hallmark of a good marketing campaign, the reason this chafed is because they’re asking me to expect less from them to advance their own agenda. In no other way does this establishment appear to have an ecological concern. I can’t help but feel the real savings here is on operational and staffing costs for the hotel.

The Take-Away
Before you embark on an emotional appeal to your customers and prospects, ensure your message is supported by the organisational culture. I have no qualms with saving water and protecting the environment. When I see massive amounts of fossil fuel being wasted in other parts of the hotel, the request seems out of place and self-serving.

When did you suspect a marketing ploy?

*image courtesy of Ralph Hockens at www.flickr.net

Interesting Research Supporting a Content Marketing Strategy

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 23:35:00 -0700

The buzz around Content Marketing is building. I’ve been writing about it for over year but I’m sensing the bandwagon is picking up speed. As with any topic in the blogosphere, a lot is being published that’s not particularly useful. Some of it is simply flirting with the truth – making fantastical claims without any real data to back them up.

What is Content Marketing?
According to Joe Pulizzi, a co-founder of the content marketing movement:

Content marketing is the art of communicating with your customers and prospects without selling. It is non-interruption marketing. Instead of pitching your products or services, you are delivering information that makes your buyer more intelligent. The essence of this content strategy is the belief that if we, as businesses, deliver consistent, ongoing valuable information to buyers, they ultimately reward us with their business and loyalty.

What does is look like?
There are three components to content marketing. As the name implies, it’s comprised of original content, search engine optimisation and social media. If you’re interested in pursuing a content marketing strategy, you must consider all of them together. People have to find your website (SEO), they have to be informed, educated or entertained at your website (Content), and you have tell them what you have and where you put it. (Social Media).

A favourite quote of mine concerning content marketing comes from The Tippingpoint Labs:

Social media boils down to the marriage of two main concepts — content and conversation. Without content, conversation is mere networking. Without conversation, content is dead. It goes nowhere.

Still not convinced?
As I was preparing for a recent presentation, I found some good statistics from Hubspot. In a report titled “The State of Inbound Marketing 2010“, they reveal interesting behaviour discovered from surveying over 230 marketing professionals. I want to share them with you because these two graphs, more than anything, convince me it’s a good approach. (Note: Inbound marketing is another way to describe content marketing.)

The average cost per lead for inbound marketing techniques is about one third of other methods. In other words, you spend a lot less money and get better results than if you’re using traditional techniques like print advertising, radio spots or TV commercials.

Past success with content marketing is responsible for changing the way marketing budgets are being allocated.

What now?
Content Marketing is only going to grow in popularity as business discovers it is an effective and inexpensive marketing strategy. Start to think about the how you can increase your social media activity. Consider what sort of content would be effective for your organisation. A blog is a great place to start.

Have you had success with content marketing? Share your experiences.

Customer Lip Service: Scripted Responses, Broken Promises and Other Bad Ideas

Sun, 20 Jun 2010 21:36:00 -0700

Make no mistake, this is a tale of woe. I’m dumping a long-term service provider for one reason. Their customer service pushed me over the edge.

About 9 months ago, I started having trouble with my anti-virus software. I missed the first clue something was wrong when prompted to buy more online storage. I spent $50 for the extra storage required to backup my files. I received a follow-up call from the provider checking to make sure everything was to my satisfaction. She seemed puzzled I would need more capacity since I was only operating a single email account and didn’t have a significant amount of data to back up. Alarm bells should have gone off but they didn’t. Within five weeks, I was being prompted to buy more online storage. Obviously, something was wrong.

Cut to the Chase
After months of fiddling around and risking my data, I wrote to the company. Their online form was onerous and required a massive amount of repetition. Still, I managed to get through it and received a computer generated reply. Within the hour, I had an email from customer service telling me I had to buy more storage to correct my problem. I carefully explained in my reply the storage was being gobbled and I wasn’t going to buy more.

The Beginning of an Ugly Relationship
A different person replied next. The email started:

I understand how frustrating it is to have to go through this and I regret the inconvenience that it has caused.

I appreciated the sentiment but was frustrated when I was told, again, I needed to buy more storage to correct the problem. I wrote back, again, explaining the problem. I received a prompt reply from another support person asking me to delete all my backup history and rerun my backup. I did. It still failed with a suggestion I buy more online storage. I replied to the email detailing my experience with their corrective action. I explained I was now totally exposed.

Day Two
The next day I received a reply from a different customer support person. The email started:

I understand the inconvenience you have experienced. Please be assured that I will do my best in assisting you with this issue.

I was told the program was causing problems, my case had been escalated and someone would call me in 24 to 48 hours.

Day Five
Still waiting, I wrote back saying it had been over 85 hours and my problem needed to be resolved. Later that day I got a reply from a new support person saying:

I see that we’ve had a great deal of correspondence on this issue already and I’d like to apologize for the time and energy you have expended in an attempt at resolution. I want to assure you that I recognize your frustration and am committed to helping you resolve this matter.

I was told, again, my case had been escalated and someone would call me in 24 to 48 hours.

Day Nine
I sent a terse reply saying I was furious and wanted some help. I also mention I’m ready to cancel my account.

Later that day I received a reply from yet another support person saying:

I can imagine how frustrated you must be. I guess I would’ve felt the same as you, if this had happened to me.

It is certainly not our intension for our customers to have anything but a pleasant experience with XXXXXX.

Let me assure you that what happened in your case is not typical of XXXXXX's level of customer service. We continue to be committed to providing you and all of our customers with the highest standards of service in the industry. I apologize, if we failed to meet your expectations.

The note goes on to say someone had tried to reach me but they had the wrong number. They quoted my number on file, which happened to be correct. They requested a convenient date and time to phone me along with a primary phone number and an alternate phone number.

I suggest a phone call between the hours of 12:00 noon and 5:00 pm would be ideal. I reminded them I lived in Western Australia. I provided two phone numbers and a request to contact me as soon as possible.

Day Ten
I get a reply from ANOTHER support person saying:

I understand the inconvenience you have experienced. Please be assured that I will do my best in assisting you with this issue.

They go on to say I could expect a phone call within 24 to 48 hours. While all the platitudes have sounded like they were written by the same person, this sentence was exactly the same one used by the Day Two support person.

Day Thirteen
My phone rings at 6:45 am. It was the promised call from the supervisor. I explained it was extremely early, I was walking out the door to an all-day conference and wouldn’t be available until the next day. I requested, again, that someone phone me between the hours of 12:00 noon and 5:00 pm

Day Seventeen
I purchase a competitive product.

Day Eighteen
My phone rings at 2:23 am. It was the promised call from the supervisor.

Where Did it All Go Wrong?

No one owned the problem. Every communication from the company came from a different person. I certainly got the impression of being on the customer service treadmill.
The sympathetic beginning to every reply was rendered ineffective by the broken English used in the rest of the letter.
Every promised deadline was missed telling me there was no sense of urgency.
My details were correct but I was told they weren’t.
The obvious lack of attention to international time zones is inexcusable for a product with global brand presence.

In Summary
I really liked my anti-virus software and was willing to work through a problem. I spent 20 years in the software industry and understand bugs infiltrate even the best products. I’m currently using a different anti-virus product I don’t like as much. Due to shoddy customer service, I have been left with no alternative.

The Take Away
When you pay lip service instead of providing customer service, expect to lose business even from long-term, loyal customers.

How does poor customer service provoke you?

*photo courtesy of vlima.com at www.flickr.net

9 Essential Ways LinkedIn Improves My Business

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 00:47:00 -0700

Are you getting the most of LinkedIn? I’m always surprised when I hear people say they need to think about opening an account on LinkedIn. I understand the reservations professional people have about creating a social media persona. When it comes to LinkedIn, the benefits far outweigh the perceived risk associated with many online tools.

Defining Feature
For those of you that don’t know, the curriculum vitae (resume) of the account holder anchors each account. LinkedIn is a professional networking tool in the purest sense. The architecture of the site ensures your experience will be relevant to you because it’s based on professional accomplishments, not pop culture or social chatter.

Fun Facts
LinkedIn is one of the granddaddies of social media, launching in May 2003. It has grown from strength to strength in the seven years since its inception.

LinkedIn has over 70 million members.
Membership is across more than 200 countries.
LinkedIn supports multiple languages: English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.
More than half the accounts are from outside the USA.
Executives from every Fortune 500 company are LinkedIn members.
A new member joins LinkedIn every second.

Practical Application
Still not convinced? Here are some of the ways I’ve found benefit from LinkedIn:

1. Preserve Your Network
LinkedIn gives you the ability to establish an online repository for your business network. You never have to worry about keeping your address book up-to-date. You can throw your business card folio and rolodex out the window.

2. Find Former Colleagues
We all plan to stay in touch when a co-worker leaves or you change jobs. It’s not always easy and a busy schedule often gets in the way of good intentions. I’ve found or been found by dozens of people I’ve lost touch with as we’ve moved companies, countries and jobs.

3. Find Good People
One of the best things I’ve ever done is use LinkedIn to find prospective business partners. Since accounts are based on a resume, it’s easy to find the people you want to meet or work with. The search function is comprehensive allowing you to zero in on a specific location, company, school or industry. It's no wonder recruiters view LinkedIn and social media channels as essential tools for vetting candidates.

4. Free Company Listing
LinkedIn lets you enter your company details giving you a free listing connected to their powerful search feature.

5. Research
The Company Buzz feature keeps track of what’s being said about your specified keywords on Twitter. It’s a great way to keep your eye on the competition or track what’s being said about your own company.

6. Find Events
The Events feature will show you all the events being attended by people in your wider network. It’s a great way to keep track of what’s happening around town.

7. Get Recommendations
Word of Mouth referrals are the lifeblood of small business. I’ve yet to meet a person that didn’t appreciate having a colleague or client giving a recommendation on his or her work. LinkedIn makes it easy to request recommendations and makes it super easy to give one, too.

8. Integration with other Social Media Tools
LinkedIn is continually updating their product to provide a clearer picture of the professional qualifications of their members. Slideshare, Amazon.com, Wordpress and Twitter all have useful integration features with LinkedIn.

9. Special Interest Groups
Perhaps the most powerful feature of LinkedIn is the multitude of special interest groups. These groups allow you to meet other professionals with similar interests and participate in worldwide discussions. The discussion groups also have a feature allowing for sharing of news articles. It’s a great place to stay informed, get the opinion of your peers and network with a global community of like-minded people.

My Recommendation
LinkedIn is a wonderful tool for people from any profession. Participating in LinkedIn is a low risk proposition due to the career focus attached to the membership profiles. I consider it one of my key strategic tools for running a successful business. If you’re not already a member, I encourage you to join.

What benefits have you received from your LinkedIn activity? What features do you use the most often?

Excuse Me, That's Not a Word

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 21:34:00 -0700

It started with a little tweet about alot. Soon after, I tried to get through a post from a respected blogger and marketer who lost me with “impactful”. Not realising I was starting something, I asked the Twitterverse if “impactful” bugged anyone else and what non-words did they find annoying. It turns out I’m not the only one harbouring a few pet peeves about the English language.

Passionate Opinion
I’m a writer and a word nerd. I recently bought Peter E. Meltzer’s The Thinker’s Thesaurus: Sophisticated Alternatives to Common Words to keep myself entertained and inspired. It’s full of fancy-pants words I would never use in normal communication but they are all legitimate members of the English language. The respondents to my informal poll bombarded me with examples of words, phrases, common misspellings and errors in usage driving them nuts and, in some cases, spitting mad.

Public Service Announcement
As a service to anyone interested in evading the ire attached to the usage of these words, I’m providing a list. Use them at your peril. The overriding sentiment about non-word usage is it demonstrates lack of intelligence, education or attention to detail. If these words are appearing in your normal business communications and marketing collateral, my advice is to get rid of them and do it quickly.

The Top Offenders
Two words were submitted repeatedly. Obliterate them from your vocabulary.

incentivise
agreeance

Other non-words peeving the pets
In no particular order:

supposably
ideation
positivity
onboarding
de-train
de-plane
onforward
verbally facilitate
unpacking (as in “unpacking the issues”)
disaggregations
misunderestimated
conversating
embiggened
learnings
irregardless
anonymize
operationalize
Westralia

Errors in Usage
Plenty of people complained about real words being used at the wrong time or in the wrong context.

enormousness vs. enormity
thankyou vs. thank you
round vs. around
penultimate vs. ultimate
hone vs. home
momentary vs. momentarily
phenomena vs. phenomenon

The evergreens in this category:

lose vs. loose
chose vs. choose
there vs. they’re vs. their
its vs. it’s

The Crux of the Matter
Arguing the validity of a word or its modern usage is pointless. When you write or say something distracting to your audience, you’ve lost your ability to inform and influence. While military jargon and business-speak easily invade our lexicon, it’s best to stick to straight talk and common words to express yourself. (Don’t get me started on SMS text.) The best way to impress is to speak and write in a way that reaches everyone and offends no one.

What words annoy you? What would you add to this list?

*Image courtesy of Topgold at www.flickr.com

6 Lessons Bloggers Can Learn from Play School

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 02:16:00 -0700

Today is a public holiday in Western Australia. As I pottered with the breakfast dishes, the sounds of ”Play School” kept me company. If you’re not familiar with the program, Play School is a half hour children’s program aimed at encouraging a child to wonder, to think, to feel and to imagine. That’s not much different from the goal of most blogs. As I listened, it occurred to me bloggers could learn a lot from the Play School presenters. They certainly know how to hold a captive audience. Here are some of their tricks that easily translate into great blogging techniques.

Ask Questions
The Play School presenters start each segment with a question. It draws the children in and gets them interested in what’s happening. I often start and end a blog post with a question. The initial query engages the audience and the final one encourages people to leave a comment.

Focus on “How” not “Why”
The Play School audience isn’t much interested in theory. They’re at the stage in life when they’re starting to exercise some independence. Play School keeps things simple and focuses on a specific task. Whether they’re scrambling eggs or building a puppet stage, the directions are instructional and concise. Your blog readers want the same.

Stay Positive
No one at Play School ever has a bad day. Nothing is ever too difficult. All obstacles are easily removed. Blogs that keep a positive tone and solve problems are much more attractive to readers than the whinging posts.

Repeat your Message
While going over the same shapes, colours, letters and number may seem dreadfully boring, the audience laps it up because it’s all new to them. Remember your readers are looking to you for expertise. Reinforcing your ideas and repeating concepts is a great way to build trust and authority. Just because you said something in a blog post last year doesn’t mean your readers wouldn’t benefit from hearing it again in a different context. Your new readers may not have heard it at all.

Know Your Audience
Play School knows their target market – pre-schoolers – and focuses their energy on making them happy. The children keep coming back because they know what to expect. Remember who your readers are and why they’re coming to your blog. Provide them with the content they want and you’ll continue to have the traffic you desire.

Keep it Moving
Children tend to have short attention spans so the Play School segments are brief to keep them interested. Modern business people are easily distracted due to the vast quantity of information they need to decipher. Make your posts short and use headings and sub-headings to keep the skimmers moving down your page.

Play School has been around since 1966 and is the second longest-running children’s television program in the English-speaking world. Their longevity can be attributed to classic marketing techniques and consistent execution. The same winning formula can be applied to your blog. I’m all for adopting techniques that result in over 44 years of success. How about you?

What lessons have you learned?

One Magic Question That Returns Big Results

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 15:57:00 -0700

Do you know where your customers need help? It sounds like a simple question but I’m always surprised how often we, as marketing people, don’t really know. In another life, I managed sales people. To test the quality of a forecast, I would ask the sales rep, “Why would they buy our product?” It wasn’t unusual to get a blank stare in return. I had banned the “Because they want it” answer. I wanted to know why they needed it.

In a recent post at M4BMarketing,How to Improve Your Key Communication Message Susan Oakes counsels us to find out what is important to our customers. She says it’s “one of the key factors where many businesses still fall down. They assume they know without actually finding out.” Susan is right. While it may seem like a big mandate, one simple question will take you a long way to finding out the answer.

The Obvious Question
Yes, people buy things they want. But they don’t make investments in products or services just because they want them. They spend real money for things they need - things that will help them solve a problem or improve their business. Have you ever asked a prospect or client, “What problems do you face in your job?” I used to ask that question a lot. I always got the same answer. In many different variations, it boiled down to “Nothing”. I knew that wasn’t true but people don’t like to reveal difficulties or weaknesses.

The Magic Question
But here’s the thing. People do like to speak about their work. They like to portray themselves in a positive light. How do you get people to tell you what they need? Tell you what pain they’re experiencing in their work? Tell you where they need help if they don’t want to tell you? Ask them what challenges them. A wonderfully simple question producing magic results, “What are your challenges?”, will have your clients revealing their biggest problems and their most difficult goals. Once you know about their pain, it’s much easier to provide a solution.

The Take-Away
People are willing to tell you what they need as long as you’ve given them a safe way to start the discussion. When people are challenged, it means they’re in solution mode. They’re positioned as a problem-solver. They also speak more openly about their issues. If you’re asking about problems, they likely feel vulnerable or under attack. Ask one question “What are your challenges” and start taking notes. You’ll be amazed at how much people will tell you.

Do you have a sure-fire technique to get people talking?

*Image courtesy of Horia Varian at www.flickr.com