Tag: digital marketing content

  • Tips For Content Optimization by Platform

    Creating content is hard. Between staying true to your brand values, cultivating engagement, and being creative, you’ve got your hands full. Even harder yet is keeping your content fresh across platforms. Why is content optimization so important and how do you do it? Let’s examine!

    Selecting the Right Platforms For Content Optimization

    a person consuming too much content

    Part of the challenge of consistently creating engaging content is selecting the right platforms. You have to not only know who your customers are and what they want but also where they spend their time. The latter part is especially important; you don’t want to be wasting time creating content few people will see or interact with. 

    Selecting the right platforms for your content goes beyond posting on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. It’s choosing the most effective media types to raise brand awareness, drive engagement, and engineer more conversions. That means taking advantage of things like videos, blogs, events, and even interactive content. 

    For example, maybe a blog would help interested customers move closer to making a purchase. But creating and implementing a blog on its own isn’t going to move the needle. What you need is content optimization. That means creating the blog post as part of a series directed at specific customer personas–and supplementing it via other platforms and channels. 

    Content Optimization Tips

    The most important thing to remember about content optimization is that you’re creating content not for your brand but for your audience. That means what you find interesting might be boring to your audience. Know your customers inside and out. That means knowing what they want, why they want it, and who they want to be. You’ll get more people interested in your content, which will ultimately drive more folks through the conversion funnel! 

    an infographic showing the different kinds of digital marketing content across channels like social media and email marketing.

    In terms of content optimization, be sure you’re using the right platform for its intended purpose. For instance, blog posts don’t belong on Twitter. A blog would be better suited to your website, supplemented by links and posts on Facebook or Instagram. The actual copy itself stays on your website.

    Another way to keep your content fresh and interesting is to lead with emotion. Whether that’s humor, empathy, or something in between, getting your customers emotionally involved is the key to creating an effective relationship with your brand. After all, emotion is the most important driver of purchasing decisions! Look to connect with your customers beyond their wallets and create emotionally-driven content. 

    Properly optimized content is effective content. If you plan your content optimization strategy in advance, however, you’ll be able to stick to your calendar to help create an effective plan. For example, you might want to improve website traffic and unique visitors–content optimization will help ensure all the content you create aligns with these goals. 

    Don’t Forget About User-Generated Content!

    The best part about user-generated content is you don’t have to create it yourself. The next best thing is, if properly optimized and implemented, it can be more effective than branded content.

    an infographic displaying the power of word of mouth marketing as a branding tool

    Plus, user-generated content shows that there are others with a connection to your brand. Real customer testimony is many times more likely than any brand messaging to inspire other customers to take action because it’s impartial. Why else would word of mouth advertising be so effective? While customers may doubt the authenticity of branded statements and messages, they’re more likely to believe the objectivity of a random customer who isn’t being paid to create that content. 

    User-generated content captures the attention of both your brand’s followers and the creator’s following, which means it’s a great way to boost your visibility! While you might not be able to nab a big-time influencer to create content on your brand’s behalf, sometimes quantity can trump quality. In other words, if you can create buzz around your brand from average people, it’ll be just as effective as if you landed a celebrity spokesperson!

    No Content is Bad Content

    Your brand can’t survive if your customers aren’t aware you exist. You also can’t expect to build a relationship with customers without having a personality for your brand–a personality you build through effective content marketing. Your content tells your customers not only what you do but who you are and why you do it, both of which are significantly more important than what products or services you offer. 

    Unless your content is out of left field, hypocritical, or contradictory, it’s probably not bad content. But if you can optimize your cross-channel content to drive customers through your conversion funnel, you’ll essentially be automating the sales process and building relationships simultaneously!

  • Five Ways to Make Your Brand More Memorable

    Let’s face it: most people don’t remember most of the content they interact with. So what do they remember? Let’s examine five proven ways to make your brand more memorable!

    Talk The Way Your Customers Talk

    an infographic displaying how marketing is listening, as a marketer is listening to a group of customers.

    One of the best ways to make your brand more memorable in the minds of your customers is to talk like they do. Using relatable language will make your communications more like conversations than sales pitches. Since customers don’t like being overtly sold to, part of providing value is how you speak to them in the first place. 

    Instead of making generalized claims, such as “we are the best at what we do”, put your customers in the driver’s seat. Talking exclusively about yourself only plants the seeds of doubt. Is everything you’re saying true? 

    Focus on your customers and how they can benefit from your content, products/services, and brand as a whole. It’s a lot easier for people to remember how they can personally benefit, as opposed to an obscure accolade or accomplishment. 

    Create a More Personalized Experience

    Is every customer exactly the same? Then why should they be treated exactly the same?

    Your customers have different interests, needs, and expectations, which means a “one-to-all” form of messaging simply won’t suffice. Sending the same messages to everyone is akin to throwing darts at a wall and hoping one sticks. 

    Instead, develop detailed customer profiles to gain insight into how to really appeal to your customers’ unique personalities. Use data to figure out customer habits and create personalized messages–especially using email. 

    Something as simple as a product recommendation, “you may also like”, or “customers also bought” can go a long way. So can including your customer’s name on a marketing email. Don’t be afraid to solicit feedback. It may help you understand how to better serve your customers’ interests. 

    Appeal to Emotions

    a group of happy customers showcasing positivity

    People don’t always remember the words you said, but they remember how you made them feel. The same can be said about marketing communications. Remember, emotion is the primary driver of sales decisions!

    Take for example a television commercial that tugs at your heartstrings or makes you belly laugh. You might not remember the exact specs of the ad, but two things should stick out: the brand and the emotion you felt. 

    When creating content, think about the emotion you want to affect in your audience. How can you tweak your language, delivery, style, or any other component to better draw out that emotion? 

    If you can successfully appeal to your customers’ emotions, you’ll also simultaneously differentiate your brand–which can also make your brand more memorable. Customers will start to associate your ads and content with those emotions. 

    Be A Thought Leader

    Is your brand a leader or a follower? Do you come up with new, innovative products, promotions, or ways to appeal to your audience–or do you do what your competitors are doing?

    Being a thought leader is a great way to both differentiate your brand and make your brand more memorable. If folks look to you for new ideas and inspirations, it means they both trust you and they’re impressed by what you’re doing. 

    It also sets a standard for your competitors to follow. You don’t want to compare yourself to the benchmark, you want to be the benchmark. Look for new, creative ways to break through to your audience and offer value in ways your competitors aren’t. 

    Deliver Consistency

    an infographic displaying the power of word of mouth marketing as a branding tool

    Being consistent is a great way to make your brand more memorable. Whether it’s delivering consistently valuable content, a consistently positive personalized customer experience, or a consistently superlative product or service, you want to reinforce your customers’ buying decisions. What better way to do that than putting your money where your mouth is?

    From a visual standpoint, keep your designs, copy, and content thematically and visually consistent. If you have a brand color scheme, don’t create a piece of content with a whole new color scheme–it’ll just confuse your audience. Stick to using the same language, messages, and themes and you’ll build a rapport with your customers. 

    That should extend across your digital content. For example, if your website has a number of different pages, those pages shouldn’t all have different designs and layouts. Keep things steady and consistent across all media and platforms and all you’ll have to worry about is the content itself! 

    Make Your Brand More Memorable!

    There’s no secret magic to make your brand more memorable. It takes hard work, consistency, and a fundamental understanding of your customers’ wants and needs. However, if you can deliver a superlative experience, you’re already on your way to cementing your brand in the minds of your customers. To really make your brand more memorable, keep doing what you’re doing! 

  • Marketing Doesn’t End With a Customer Purchase!

    5 Post-Purchase Marketing Strategies to Create Loyal Customers

    Your job as a marketer is not finished when a customer buys from your brand. In fact, some might argue your work is just starting. While acquiring a new customer is no longer five times more expensive than keeping existing customers, the importance of customer retention can’t be understated. Let’s take a look at five easy ways to create loyal, repeat customers with crafty digital marketing efforts! 

    Actively Post (And Encourage) Customer Reviews

    How important are customer reviews?

    a robot and a human, symbolizing automated marketing

    More than one-third (38%) of customers agree they wouldn’t buy from a brand with less than 4-star aggregate reviews. But what is most important to customers? Believe it or not, it’s not functionality, quality, price, or availability. The most important part of the customer process is the overall customer experience. 

    That means brands with an overwhelmingly-positive, visible customer review presence will fare far better than their counterparts. People trust other people’s opinions when making decisions. When a close confidante isn’t available, we turn to online reviews. 

    It’s not enough to simply encourage and collect reviews. It’s imperative to both respond to them and optimize their visibility. That means responding to as many reviews as possible–both positive and negative. It also means it’s okay to post reviews on social media. 

    In fact, the latter is a great way to generate new leads. Show potential customers what existing customers are saying about your brand. Start conversations and encourage people to learn more, visit your site, and engage with your content. 

    Personalize As Much Communication as Possible

    When it comes to communicating with your audience, you’re communicating with a complex, diverse group of people. That means a one-size-fits-all style of communication won’t cut it. Whenever possible, look to personalize every communication with your audience–from social media DMs to customer service chats to automated emails. 

    In fact, according to data from SalesForce, more than one-quarter of marketers saw an increase in revenue of over 20% from focused personalization efforts in 2020. Data from KO Marketing shows that over 70% of brands who ramped up their personalization marketing efforts over the past couple of years have seen a more than twofold increase in their ROI. 

    Personalization is not just knowing your customers’ names and where they live. It’s knowing their buying habits, their personality types, and so much more. The more you zoom in on each customer’s personal preferences, the more you’ll create a personalized experience. 

    Create an Experience to Create Loyal Customers

    Digital marketing is a great way to augment sales efforts. At the same time, it shouldn’t be the sole focus of your marketing efforts. In other words, instead of creating sales content, create marketing content

    an illustration of how paid social media can positively impact your marketing efforts

    That means your marketing presence should create an immersive customer experience. Since you won’t be selling all the time, you can make good use of the rest of your content. For example, some content can entertain. Other content can engage and educate. As a whole, your content should move your customers through the sales cycle. 

    Create an experience and take customers behind the curtain. Show them the nuts and bolts of your operation, including the faces behind the brand. Create a wholesale customer experience with your content and they’ll keep coming back for more!

    Build a Community

    Here’s where social media is so valuable. You can leverage your pages on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, etc to build a passionate, loyal following of superfans!

    Of course, it all starts with building a page and maintaining your content. But if you can encourage folks to follow, like, and engage, you’re building the foundations for long-term success. 

    The more you can get people involved with posting, responding, tagging, and otherwise engaging with your page, the more you’ll build up your community content. And when your customers see other customers happily engaging with your brand, they’ll know you’re doing something right. They’ll then want to experience it for themselves! 

    Appreciate (And Reinforce) Every Purchase

    This one might be pretty simple, but it goes a long way. A sincere show of gratitude for every customer transaction can pay major dividends. You can also integrate your appreciation with a solicitation for feedback, comments, and advice. 

    “Thank you! We hope you enjoyed your experience! Please let us know how we can improve!”

    a clip art representation of hands joined together, meant to symbolize one of the content archetypes: the helper

    Add it to a receipt, automate it in an email with every digital sale, or just post a variation on social media. Some brands even go as far as to weave their brand story into their show of thanks. For example, if a portion of proceeds go to a charity, let your customers know what their purchase is supporting. 

    If possible, show pictures and videos of the people directly impacted from your brand’s generosity. Some people are more than willing to spend an extra few bucks if they can see where the money is going. 

    Plus, it shows the human side of your brand. Supporting public causes can help people see what you stand for. That can help them better relate to your brand–building crucial loyalty. 

    Start Creating Loyal, Long-Term Customers Today!

    The work of a marketing professional is never over. By using digital marketing content to create an immersive, personalized, appreciative, communicative brand experience, you can turn a one-time purchase into a lifetime of brand loyalty and create loyal customers!