There’s now a realization, a mind shift for businesses that it’s no longer about you, or your products or services. It’s more about offering your customers exactly what they want, this tailored to their needs. The once traditional marketing methods are no longer effective.
The result is more targeted content creation and curation methods which are now undertaking a shift in the process. This is what the savvy marketers who are considered ahead of the curve, are now embracing and leveraging to their advantage.
They’re doing so to heighten awareness while forging strategic partnerships which improves their bottom line. This because of the realization that consumers will become more connected to a company which delivers precise customized content, making them more likely to buy.
So they’ll proceed to continuously update their sites and blogs which generates targeted leads. If you’re responsible for growing your business online, looking to retain customers while creating new ones, then it’s recommended that you add new and relevant content on a consistent basis.
Creating Better Content
Curration involves creating and sharing from other online sources, which could be articles, news, or information sites which you think your readers might find informative. Any company who has an online presence on the Internet can and should become a curator.
The biggest shift is how businesses are now marketing themselves online for relevancy. It’s no longer about forcing your products on the consumer, but more about giving what they want. This paradigm has shifted, the roles have reversed.
But there’s a good chance that your online site is still mired in the traditional stagnant marketing mentality, so what’s recommended is you taking more of an active role.
Choosing Your Channels Properly
What a small business should avoid is attempting to be all things to all people. Instead, perform the diligent research that’s required to find out which of the most popular online forums in your niche receives the most traffic.
Make sure that you have an interactive “About Us” page about your company which lists all of the key personnel including the executives, and then build and publish their profiles. Join all of the relevant networks while routinely sharing their insights and opinions through their status updates.
If there’s a high profile industry blogger or publisher who’s influential, then make a point of following them. Share and respond to their content and post your feedback. They’ll most likely begin doing the same in return.
Refining Your Audience
According to a recent study, there’s now close to 75% percent of all working adults who now have some type of a social media presence. So it’s vital to know the exact social media channel that your customers visit.
It could be Facebook, LinkedIn, a Google Hangout, or a specialized forum or trade journal. It’s important to familiarize yourself with all of the trends and issues which are currently being discussed, and then think about how you can participate and solve them.
The same is true for the customers of any B-to-B organization. What they’re actively doing is gathering information while sharing their issues, and then making the best possible informed decision available.
It’s your duty to find out the exact ones that they’re using. Then find the most relevant content that your audience would benefit the most from once reading it.
Creating A Platform For Attraction
The majority of professional service niches will publish and distribute white papers and opinion pieces. They can usually be edited and sent out regularly via Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter feeds, forums, and blogs, or wherever else your audience engages in, this based on your research.
Whether it’s a blog post, an infographic, or some other form of creative, your custom content should then as a result be shared by your target customers, analysts, reporters, and other influential professionals.
You can also search for and share relevant news and analysis from secondary sources which you know your audience would find interesting. Just do the research to compile the most interesting and compelling news sources online.
Always Be Commenting While Providing Feedback
Make sure that you get your entire company involved by commenting wherever interesting pertinent discussions are happening around the Web. The smart savvy entrepreneurs will have account teams which are always listening and participating on the most targeted online destinations which are most likely visited by their customers.
Think about all of the interesting information which you can offer whenever your attending events, trade shows, or industry conferences. If you read or hear something which you think would be of interest to your target audience, then tweet about it or share it.
Keeping Tracking Of The Impact
Connect with your audience by using all of the social media influences. It’s known that LinkedIn, for instance, generates more leads than Facebook or Twitter does for the typical B-to-B business. But there’s only around 45% percent of businesses who uses it actively, as they would rather use Facebook instead, which is a missed opportunity for them.
What content creation and curation does is it drives the bottom line. The average cost of generating an actual inbound marketing lead is costly, while an outbound marketing lead can be around 3X times higher.
So do your diligent research by accurately tracking the traffic that comes to your site, as well as the exact number and type of inquiries which you receive, and the meetings that you setup as a result. Make sure that you always track qualitative feedback.
Instead of they seeing a traditional website that’s all about you, while providing little to no input, wouldn’t you rather want to be known as an influential interactive content creator and curator, this across multiple platforms instead?