Businesses have more options than ever before when they want to sell themselves to today’s customers. Some prefer to spend their time and money on traditional advertising, while others like to invest efforts into getting the word out about their business online, and each approach will come with its own benefits. This can make starting out as a business rather daunting. Not only do you have a lot of work on your plate, but you also have to think about how you’re going to sell yourself so that customers know exactly what they’re going to be getting from you. As a big part of this, it’s crucial that you think about the types of content available to you, and how you can use them to push your business further than ever before.
Physical Media
Leaflets, business cards, and posters all fall into the category of physical media. While this area is very important to a lot of businesses, it doesn’t represent the way that a lot of customers find the companies they want to spend their money with, and this makes it a mistake to focus on this as your main form of marketing. Instead, if you want to use physical materials to sell your business, it’s best to let them supplement the work you do in other areas. There are a range of different options which can be used for this, and some are more successful than others.
Information: Things like leaflets aren’t always designed to hook someone into buying something from you. Instead, they are often designed to provide information, with things like phone numbers being in easy reach when you have them in a physical form. This makes a business card the perfect way to keep in touch with someone, but will seldom be the best way to sell yourself, and you’ll need to look deeper into your marketing to achieve this goal.
Freebies: Not all physical media comes in the form of paper, and a lot of businesses choose to give things out which are a little more substantial. Pens, mugs, and even small toys can all prove to be a great way to have people remember you, but are unlikely to convince someone to buy from you without some additional support. It’s always worth being careful with options like this, as you can easily end up spending far too much on something which won’t help you.
Videos
A lot of research has been done into attention retention with digital marketing, and a lot of experts believe that the best way to capture someone’s mind is with video. In a March 2019 study, Oberlo found that around 54% of US residents would like to see more video content from the brands and businesses they like. Alongside this, numerous reports state that information conveyed in the form of a video is easier to relate to, with people finding it to be a far more personal option than simply reading something online.
The biggest challenge with something like this is making the video which you want to show your business off with. Companies like Zip In Media Productions, LLC can help you out with this, using their industry experience to give advice, assess your current marketing methods, and even help you to make videos for yourselves. Of course, though, as a big part of this, you need to think about how you’re going to show your business off in a way which makes it look truly unique. A lot of companies struggle with this, finding themselves following other people’s ideas when it comes to their video marketing.
Social Media
According to Our World In Data, around a third of the world’s population has a social media account of some sort. While this doesn’t mean that you will be able to reach all of these people, it shows just how powerful a platform like Facebook or Instagram really is. Marketing your company on social media isn’t too hard; you just need to source some high quality images, write out some posts, and submit your work to one of the many companies out there. Of course, though, it’s a lot more complicated when you’re aiming for success.
You have to learn about the platforms you’re using, figuring out which methods will be most successful when it comes to selling on them. Likewise, you will also need to think about your target demographic, along with the type of people who use the platforms you choose. This can be a challenge and a lot of people fail to overcome it. It’s also crucial that you interact with the people who follow you and comment on your posts, as this will show that you aren’t just using social media to make money, while also giving you the chance to learn more about your customers.
Written Copy
Writing is something which a lot of people struggle with, especially when they’re using a computer for it. Written copy will be the cornerstone of your website and other marketing materials, though, and this means that you have to get it right. There are a lot of websites out there which can help you with this, putting you in contact with people who have the skills to make your business stand out. Of course, though, if you have to write content for yourself, there are a number of factors to consider.
Grammar/Quality: Grammar is crucial when you’re writing content for customers to read. Some people won’t care about this, but others will find it hard to take your company seriously if you don’t stick to common writing rules. Tools like Grammarly can help with this, and spending more time reading and writing will give you the skills to improve your copy in the future.
SEO: Most of the content you write for your website or blog will be designed to give Google a good chance to find you. This means that you need to follow a strict set of rules, while also working to optimise your content to make sure that it doesn’t get missed. Websites like SEObility have all of the tools you could possible need for this, giving you the answers to questions about your SEO which you may never have known you had.
Emails
For a time, emailing was one of the most popular ways to communicate, though this has changed somewhat since the rise of instant messaging services. A lot of people find themselves trapped when it comes to their marketing emails, though, and are unsure of what to write to push their customers in the right direction. For example, it’s easy to assume that these emails need to include special deals, though you can simply send out your latest blog post if you have nothing else. It’s worth being creative with your email marketing, as a lot of companies make the mistake of making this boring for their users.
When you first start emailing people, it will be hard to make sure that you have enough people on your list. There are companies out there that sell leads, making this job a little bit easier, but it will be much better to generate your own list. This can be achieved on your website, with most modern sites offering mailing list sign ups for their customers. It will be surprising to find just how many people are willing to sign up to something like this when they buy from you for the first time.
With all of this in mind, you should be feeling ready to become a Content King (or Queen). This sort of effort can be a real challenge, with many people never thinking for too long about marketing content. Of course, though, a huge amount of time and effort goes into this field, and you need to reflect this with your own business.
