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What good on-site content and biking have in common

By Grant Boelter | Published February 21, 2012

Two summers ago, I fell back in love with biking. I hadn’t owned a bike in years and decided to start small and pick up an old Schwinn 10-speed off craigslist. The old Schwinn reminded me how fun and practical it was to commute by bicycle. But after riding it hard for a year, I realized that if I was going to commit to this cycling thing, it might be time for an upgrade.

Keeping in mind the strengths of the old 10-speed and picking out things I liked about other bikes I saw on the street gave me an idea of what I was looking for – I wanted the classic road look and a steel frame, but beyond that I was fairly clueless about what the market had to offer.

A few of my more in-the-know friends recommended Surly bikes, so I decided to give their website a look. I consider myself someone who relies on word-of-mouth marketing above all else, but I will freely admit that the content on the Surly website influenced my decision to buy one of their bikes. I eventually settled on a Surly Pacer, and wouldn’t dream of parting with it.

Now that I think about it, good website content has a lot in common with what I look for in a bike and what I like about cycling in general. This is why.

No frills

The more bells and whistles on a bike, the more there is that can go wrong with it. Even if I had an unlimited budget, I’d sacrifice the seconds I’ll gain from a space-age ultra-light frame for the durability of a steel frame. Your Web content should also get straight to the point and be presented in a logical and clutter-free format. Using fancy interactive graphic displays may be pretty, but ask yourself if it’s helping lead the customer where they want to be.

The simplest route from point A to point B

I enjoy commuting by bike because it takes a lot of variables out of traveling. I never have to  fill up the gas tank and I always have a good idea of when I’ll arrive at my destination because I’m not fighting traffic. Your onsite content should also be arranged in a way that takes readers from one place to another easily. This is one of my favorite things about the Surly site. Information on their products is easy to find and all of their useful content that relates to how to use their products and general biking is organized on one page.

Responsiveness

A well-constructed bike will respond well when you decide you want to turn, stop or accelerate. Good Web content should respond to the questions you might have. This is why I love thoughtfully designed FAQ sections. In the latter stages of my bicycle buying decision, I couldn’t decide whether I wanted a Pacer, Long Haul Trucker or a Cross Check. I didn’t have to ask Surly – they answered the question for me in one of their FAQs. An added bonus of a well-constructed FAQ section is the benefit of gaining traffic through long-tail searches asking the same thing.

Purity of the experience

Traveling by bike is a naturally pleasing experience for me – knowing you relied only on yourself as the source of energy to travel is quite gratifying. If your customers come away from reading your site feeling like they’ve interacted with real people, it’s a win for you. Being honest about your products’ capabilities and even adding a little humor can help you connect with your readers on a more personal level.

If you need help, ask some of your regular customers what they like about your site and what they might change. Then, get on your bike and go for a ride.

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Building “Pinterest”: Pointers from a longtime user

By Gina Czupka | Published February 7, 2012

PinterestThe scramble to build a presence on Pinterest is on – and it’ll probably be a major focus of attention in the social media world throughout the year. But, as a longtime Pinterest user, I’ve got a warning for you: Approach it thoughtfully, or don’t bother at all.

People have fallen in love with Pinterest because it’s so useful and practical. The site’s tagline “Pinterest is an online pinboard. Organize and share the things you love” sums it up fairly simply. Users can organize and store images they like from around the Web – the digital equivalent of tearing pages out of a magazine.

Here’s how it works: Instead of tearing out a page, you “pin” an image to one of your “pinboards,” which you can divide into categories like “food” or “home décor.” You can also “repin” something from someone else’s board onto your own pinboard. To see what other people are “pinning,” you can “follow” them, and other users can follow you – that’s where the sharing comes in.

As the site has gained notoriety, its user base has expanded pretty dramatically – it’s a totally different animal than it was when I joined more than a year ago.  What used to be a space almost exclusively for creative professionals and aesthetes is now quickly becoming much more diverse.

From a business perspective, Pinterest gives you the opportunity to connect with a wide array of potential customers, particularly if you keep your “pins” varied. But before you jump in, make sure you keep these tips in mind. They can help you build out a Pinterest presence that makes good on the format’s potential.

  1. Be authentic. I have an unshakable belief that the central element for success of any kind on the Web is authenticity. Savvy internet users can smell a rat from a hundred miles away, which is why hard sells often fall flat.  On Pinterest, don’t force something into a pin that isn’t worth pinning. Do some critical thinking before you pin – ask yourself whether an arbiter of taste would find what you’re pinning clever, beautiful, useful or inspirational.
  2. Think associatively. Here’s a mistake a lot of companies might make: Simply pinning a picture of a product. It might be a good, nicely staged photo, but it’s only one pin. Get your creative team involved and talk about what related pins you could add. Say, for instance, that you’re selling paint – think about the inspirations behind a new color palette. Maybe it’s a tropical beach scene or a luxurious velvet dress or a Persian cat’s soft grey fur – all of these could be pinned on a “color inspiration” board and make the paint colors you’re pitching look even more enticing.
  3. Go beyond the pin. One of the genius elements of Pinterest is its linking ability. It’s a visual bookmark; users can click on an image, and if it was pinned from a blog or website, they will be linked back to the original source. It’s true you can just upload, but a linked image is far more useful for a user. Make sure that link takes users back to a content-rich page where they can get more information and ideas about the pin they’re interested in.
  4. Don’t just use – participate. It’s analogous to Facebook and Twitter – having an account and letting it sit there, or filling it with banal, insular content is a bad idea – and it’s the ultimate in looking inauthentic and misusing social media. Participating on Pinterest goes beyond pinning – it means following, repining and “liking” other people’s pins. If you’re pinning relevant, useful and beautiful things, and connecting with other users, you’ve got a recipe for success.
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Harness the scanners and entertain the in-depth readers

By Jeni Jonett | Published February 1, 2012

Content MarketingAre you a scanner? Are you only going to catch the photo above, the headline, the first sentence, and any subheads before cruising on to the next website? Or are you an in-depth reader, one who sees and comprehends every word in this paragraph, and is always catching the minor errors like misspelled words, or the use of “for” when the writer really meant “from.”

A marketing content writer needs to write for both reading styles. You want the scanners to come away with accurate information, even if they don’t read every word. And you want the in-depth readers to stick around until the last period in your piece of content. Good online content needs to have excellent photography or engaging graphics, a stellar headline, a strong lead-in sentence, bolded subheads and quality text that hold a reader’s attention. If you don’t have any of these items, or your text is poorly written and overly promotional, you’re going to lose your audience. A lost audience means lost business.

Even if your goal of content writing is to help your SEO program, it still needs to be good. What makes good content?

Keep the reader interested

Scanners rarely settle down to read an article thoroughly. And in-depth readers will leave after the first paragraph if your content doesn’t interest them. But, if your content is informative and presented in an interesting way, even skimmers will stick around. There are many ways you can make content interesting.

  • Try breaking your material into lists or bullet points.
  • Use graphics to illustrate a point.
  • Tie in a common theme throughout the content.
  • Use quotes to help tell the story.
  • Skip the techno jargon and use everyday language. Nobody wants to try and figure out an alphabet soup of acronyms just to keep everything straight.

Keep your readers in mind when you’re creating content, because readers who stick around to read your blog or website might also head over to your shopping cart to make a purchase. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

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Know the copyright rules when it comes to images

By Jeni Jonett | Published January 26, 2012

copyright lawsPinterest, Facebook, Twitter and all other forms of social media have businesses scrambling to make their name and products known to online buyers and browsers. Someone in your office is probably continuously monitoring your social media accounts, reviewing posts, responding to questions and uploading the latest and greatest information your company wants to promote.

There are some important questions your social media coordinator must be able to answer. One of the most important relates to images, copyright issues and potential restrictions on what you can and cannot post.

Images are everywhere, and so easy to copy, save and repost. But when your company uses images in a social media setting to potentially sell or advertise something, you really need to be absolutely certain about the rights for those images. And there’s a chance that if you’re reposting an image, you don’t have the rights to use it.

I recommend that companies develop their own internal photo library, but also maintain good documentation of the sourcing behind the images in that library. For example, in the digital photos folder on your server, save a copy of the licensing agreement your company signed with the professional photographer you hired, or with the photo vendor you purchased the image from. Keep that document with the images that were procured under that agreement. I also recommend you date everything so it’s easier for you to track down the sourcing information, even if a question is raised several years later.

It’s way too easy to save an image on your desktop or server, and rename it something that can help you remember it. Then a year later, you don’t have a clue where the image is from, and if you can legally post it.

Or maybe you’ve moved on to a new company, and the new hire is attempting to find a great image for a media campaign on your former company’s Facebook page. If the new hire is good, she’ll ignore the images that are sitting on the company’s server with no sourcing information and start fresh. But I’ve seen it happen time and time again that someone will want to save money and reuse that image. That’s when the problems start.

Save your company legal troubles and hassles down the road by organizing your image files. And start learning about copyright and image release rights now, because ignorance isn’t a valid excuse when copyright infringement happens.

For more information, I recommend you check out James Maxon’s post titled, “Do you really own the rights to your photos?”

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Secrets to Social Commerce: Content is Still King

By Jessica Gaumer | Published January 23, 2012

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend MIMA’s (Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association) Secrets Revealed: Social Media Grows Up, speaker event held at the St. Paul Science Museum. Speaker Ponara Eng, Social Commerce Strategist from 8th Bridge, delved into what’s happening in the e-commerce world and how it’s integrating with social media.

Very soon, shopping on your favorite sites will feel more like you’re on a social platform. For example: If you’re on Hallmark’s website you’ll see more social actions, beyond the “Like” button, so you can easily share what you’re browsing, purchasing, or your  review of an item. It’s an advanced way to connect and share a lot more with your friends on Facebook (if you so choose), which could influence their buying decisions.

Eng gave a brief summary of this growing trend in social commerce. “Social commerce will move beyond Facebook.com. So-called “f-commerce” drove most of the stories on social shopping last year, but thanks to the new Open Graph (revealed at f8), brands will begin to define their own social actions in an effort to influence purchase decisions wherever the customer is – the .com, mobile or tablets. Interest-graph sites like Pinterest will also gain attention as a social commerce channel.”

Here are a few of my takeaways from the meeting:

1. The real value is in the share. What better timing for Eng to introduce his secrets than the week of Facebook’s Open Graph extensions that are all about sharing and referrals. If you’re not up to date yet on the Open Graph additions, here’s a little review. The announcement unveiled 60 new apps that will function with Facebook and let users share more of their lives on the social networking mega-site. For instance, if you watched a good movie, bought tickets for an awesome concert, or purchased a sweet jacket – now you can share all that information on Facebook. But not everyone is into that sort of lifecasting, so there’s an opt-out option on the site. So starting now, instead of “liking” a book, you can tell friends you “read” or “own” it through Facebook’s new vocabulary of actions. But you’re not just telling your friends; you’re telling Facebook and Facebook’s vast network of advertisers and brands. This will then result in the advertisers sending you tailored messages or advertisements according to your actions.

2. Referral or word-of-mouth. This brings me back to my marketing 101 days. Since the Open Graph strategy will help with sharing, you and your FB friends will become more acquainted with one another’s: “Likes”, “Wants” or “Owns,” depending on the action provided. For example: let’s say I really want a flashy expensive watch I’m seeing on the Rolex website, but it costs $1,200 so it’s likely that purchase won’t happen. With these new actions, I can still express my interests or wants by clicking the social plugins, therefore spreading the word to my network. So, if I choose to click the “Wants” plugin, this product that I “want” becomes visible to all my friends which helps give it exposure and could possibly lead to a purchase. Since I clicked, the cycle begins by hitting my ticker, my friend’s ticker if they clicked “Like” to this post, and my timeline. Here’s a short video from Facebook that shows how an action can evolve: Apps Bring Your Timeline to Life

3. What does this have to do with content? Well, great news, content plays a substantial part in e-commerce too. According to Eng, the connection between social commerce and content marketing is huge – good copy and content prove your worth. Park and Bond is a good example of how an e-commerce site can use content. It provides fashion and how-to advice, designer interviews, and information on upcoming trends to help build relationships with visitors beyond just shopping. Bottom line is, content is still king and we’re happy to see it latch on to other current trends.

Other interesting stats:

  • E-commerce spending is up 15 percent year over year.
  • Mobile buying traffic was up 18 percent this year during the Christmas season.
  • “Like” is a post-purchase action; 57 percent of those who clicked “Like” are actual owners of a particular product.
  • Friends value recommendations – 90 percent of purchases are a result of recommendations

Before buying, I like to do my research, especially before making a costly purchase. Reading reviews or learning about new products from members of my social network does seem like a good option, particularly when it’s detailed. What do you think? Are you influenced by your social network?

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The Human Touch: Who Are You Really Marketing To?

By Evelyn Pimplaskar | Published January 17, 2012

Content MarketingDo search engines buy products and services? Or do people? Who are you really marketing to? People? Or search engines?

“Well, duh!” you say.

Of course your marketing efforts are aimed at people, because, of course, it’s human beings who are going to buy the products and services you’re trying to sell. But my question isn’t as obvious as you might think, given the ever-growing emphasis on search engine optimization.

Considering how convoluted the whole page-ranking process is, and how few people (other than Google engineers) fully understand it, it can be easy to lose sight of who you’re really marketing to. You could be forgiven for thinking that things like quantity, keyword combinations, and SEO are all more important than whether or not your content is well written and compelling.

You could be forgiven, but you would still be mistaken.

Of course SEO and all those other technical considerations are vital to the success of your online marketing efforts, but so is the quality of the content itself. And by “quality,” we mean first-rate, engaging storytelling, clearly expressed original ideas, proper punctuation and good grammar—all the things that have been making the written word a useful medium for communication since the first caveman put charcoal to stone.

Why is all that still important? Because once the search engines are done doing their thing, and you’ve successfully convinced them to incorporate your pages in their search results, your message still needs to resonate with the human being who went looking for it.

Human beings react to good storytelling on a visceral level. They may not be able to define for themselves what it is about a particular headline, paragraph or turn of phrase that appeals to them, but they will be able to recognize their connection to it.

Ultimately, the human beings on the other side of the computer screen are who you’re marketing to. And if you provide them with engaging, well-crafted content, they will respond to it with an eagerness and receptiveness that no search engine will ever be able to mimic.

What kind of content works the best for you?

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Do all the players know your keyword focus?

By Troy Lightfield | Published January 2, 2012

SEO Game Plan

Today it’s anyone’s guess what Google will use next to rank websites. With the Panda update, they started to weed out the bottom-of-the-barrel content. The message sent by the Panda update was clear: Write great, useful, unique content. There has also been a lot of speculation about how Google is treating social media and the queues that Twitter, Facebook and now Google+ may provide.

With all the questions, hypotheses and conspiracy theories being thrown around by search marketers and Google fanatics, it’s logical to question whether you have all your bases covered in the event of a big change. Do you know what your writing team is doing? Do you know what the social team is doing? Most can probably answer yes to these questions because this type of work is often done in-house.

What about your third-party firms? Your PR firm? Your content development company? Have you looped them into your SEO strategies? My guess is that they’re not doing as much as they could. From what I have seen as a search marketer, very few firms have enough information and resources to take good SEO strategy into consideration when scripting their campaigns.

In an effort to cover all your online bases, get them involved. They are creating online campaigns that can benefit your search efforts. Let them know that search engine optimization is important to you. A first step is to let them know what key phrases your SEO team has deemed important.

If they are promoting a particular product for you, make sure they are using a generic term that is tied to it. There is a difference between promoting “The new XDAC4 from Genocorp” and “The new XDAC4 energy efficient dishwasher from Genocorp.” What if Google raises the stakes and starts using conversions to determine which keywords are related to particular branded products? You want those generic terms in place.

Get your third-party firms involved, educate them and share your online goals. Giving them your keywords and phrases is a start. If they know they should use the keyword phrases on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and in any links they may acquire, it will only strengthen the relationship with the rest of your marketing initiatives and benefit your online efforts.

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Do you really own the rights to your photos?

By James Maxon | Published December 28, 2011

copyright - all rights reservedIt would be an understatement to say that we live in a digital age. With computers, smartphones and tablets, the average consumer has access to multiple forms of media at all times. While watching a video, posting to our favorite social media site, or browsing current headlines, we are constantly connected to a vast network of information.

Smart businesses take advantage of such technologies by getting information about their products in front of this ever-growing consumer base. Whether through social media, blogs, newsletters, press releases, feature articles, or one of the many other forms of marketing, there’s a good chance some form of visual imagery will be used in a campaign.

During the 10 years that I have spent as a designer, it has become apparent that a large number of users simply do not understand the legal ownership of their photos. It is natural to think that having an image in your possession means you own it, but that’s often not the case. With advancements in image identification technologies, many photo rights owners are scanning the Web in search of offenders. Once found, steep fees are assessed for every violation. This can be extremely costly to advertisers who post their ads on multiple networks. Think a $1,000 fee is bad? Try multiplying that by several hundred.

All this can occur without the offender knowing they were in violation to begin with. So how do you prevent this from happening? Here are a few basic tips for understanding who owns the rights to your photos:

The photo was sitting in our internal archives

Archives are typically a collection of photos that a company has acquired throughout the years. Unless each image is clearly labeled with the original rights, you risk violating the agreement of the true copyright owner. Be sure to do a full background check on every image before using it. It’s possible that the correct licensing wasn’t acquired to begin with, or a more limited license was purchased that does not apply to your situation.

I found the photo on Google Images

Google’s robots crawl websites for relevant imagery and then index them. If you want to use one, you will need to contact the website owner to hopefully track down the true copyright holder (which, very likely, isn’t the website owner). From there, you will need to acquire permission from that source before you can use the image. As this can become cumbersome, I would recommend purchasing one from a stock vendor instead.

We hired a photo studio/photographer to take it for us

If you hired a photographer to take pictures of your product, it is only natural to think that you own the rights to the final image(s). On the contrary, by default the photo studio or photographer owns the rights. Only when they release them (the rights) to you are you able to use the image. This can get tricky though, as many places sell different versions of their licensing. For instance, you may have purchased an “Editorial Use Only” license, which means you cannot use the photo for advertisements. Alternatively, you may have only purchased an online license, which means you cannot use the image for printed materials. Be sure to check the type of license you purchased before using the image. If, in doing so, you learn that you do not have the correct license, or if you want to make sure you do, simply contact the rights owner and upgrade your purchase if necessary.

We purchased the photo from a stock photography site

There are many stock photography companies out there, and each one offers an array of different licenses. From Royalty Free (RF), Rights Managed (RM), Editorial Use Only, Standard License, Extended License, to many others, there are restrictions and limitations that determine how you may use the image. Remember, just because you bought it doesn’t mean you own it. It is the stock company and/or its licensor that retains all rights. You are simply purchasing the option to use the image under the terms defined by the stock provider. Be sure to check which license you acquired and verify that you are using it correctly.

We took the image in-house using our own equipment

If an employee of your company took the photo, then the company owns the copyright. This is the most ideal situation because there are no licensing restrictions to worry about. However, unless you have an in-house studio with high-end lighting and a $5,000 camera, there’s a good chance your images will not be as professional looking as you’d like.

Our graphics department created the image

The first question I ask a client is, “How did they create it?” Unless your graphics department illustrated everything by hand, or used a camera to take the photo(s), it is likely that they used parts of images taken from other sources. The most common are stock images Photoshopped to include your product. This usually blends several licenses together, which means you need to be sure the correct licensing was purchased for each image used. Keep in mind that some stock companies have restrictions as to how much you can manipulate their images.

Photo licensing can be complicated. Yet it is only fair to give proper credit to the true copyright owner, and pay them accordingly. Of course, determining who the proper copyright owner is can be difficult, which is why the safest rule to go by is: when in doubt, don’t use it.

 

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First Search, Now Publishing? The Threat that is Google

By Joe Pulizzi | Published December 14, 2011

Joe PulizziJoe Pulizzi from the Content Marketing Institute expands on a previous blog by sharing tips on how you can prepare for Google’s play in the content publishing game.

A decade ago when I worked for Penton Media, Google was a hot topic.  To partner or not?  Do we, as publishers, open up our web content to Google’s spiders?

It seems a silly discussion today, but it was big business then.  Publishers and editors were of the mindset that Google was somehow stealing their content by indexing it and serving it up to Google’s search engine.

As more publishers realized the number of relevant readers they were getting to their websites, Google turned from axis to ally.

So with publishers on board about the possibilities that Google could bring them (in both traffic and Adsense sales), it set the stage for Google’s growth.

And Google Grew.

In 2010, Google did almost $30 billion in revenue and $8.5 billion in profit.  They have $34 billion in short-term investments and cash-on-hand.

And Google continues to be the place where people from all around the world find stuff.  They are the problem solver.  They link people to other people’s content, spatter it with a bit of advertising, and make a ton of money doing it.

Google Is Changing the Model

For all of its amazing innovations such as Google Voice, Google Apps and even their Android platform, the large majority of Google’s revenue still comes from Adsense.  The product diversification has happened, but the revenue results are lagging.  For those of you who understand the stock market, Google currently trades at a P/E Ratio of 14, a near historic low.  This means that investors look at Google as more a value play and not a growth stock any longer.

So where does Google go from here?

Ah yes, to Content.

I need to find something.  I go to Google.  I do a few searches on Google.  I click on a link.  After that, for the moment, Google loses me as a revenue opportunity.

But what if?

I need to find something.  I go to Google.  I do a few searches on Google.  I click on a link.  That link is a piece of Google content (video, textual, audio, etc.).  Google monetizes that content through more advertising and sponsorship.

Yes, this is the future.  Heck, it’s the present. The clear start of this was Google’s purchase of restaurant-review media company Zagat a few months ago. No one made a peep.  Everyone seemed happy.

And now, according to the Wall Street Journal, Google is putting up $100 million to create content for its YouTube franchise.  Google is the publisher investing in content in order to monetize that content on the back-end through sponsorship.

In a matter of just a few weeks ($125 million investment in Zagat and a $100 million YouTube content investment), Google has become one of the largest publishers on the planet.  And now there is no stopping them.

What Should You Expect from Google?

Regarding content, here are just a few possible events that shouldn’t surprise you over the next few years:

  • Google will provide customized content for both brands and media companies.
  • Google will start purchasing the leading niche providers of content in multiple verticals.
  • Google will begin to hire journalists and content creators of all types to provide content for all Google platforms.

It makes too much sense.  By doing this, Google can stay with the consumer throughout the purchase cycle.

What You Can Do!

I’m not saying that this is good or bad, I’m just making the point that this is happening…and that this will affect content creators (media-side and brand-side) in all industries and verticals.  Google will be the largest content producer on the planet. We need to start preparing for this now.

Yes, even though Google is so important to most of our businesses, we need to figure out ways to diversify our traffic flow away from Google. We can do this by:

  • Harnessing a community of content creators and influencers with our web properties. We’ve done this at the Content Marketing Institute, and been able to reap a steady flow of over 40% in referral traffic through more than 2,000 different web sites over the past year.
  • Guest Blogging. Spread your expertise by blogging on platforms where your customers are hanging out.
  • Commenting on Blogs. Insightful comments are a great way to get the attention of both the blog author (influencer) and he or she’s audience. Odds are, if the comments are consistently good, you’ll get more traffic going to your site, building your subscription base.

Good luck!

Joe Pulizzi’s new book, Managing Content Marketing: The Real-World Guide to Creating Passionate Subscribers, is now available. Joe is founder of the Content Marketing Institute, which includes Chief Content Officer magazine and Content Marketing World, the largest content marketing event in the world, held September 4-6, 2012.  Joe can be reached @juntajoe on Twitter.

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Marketing is a three-ring circus

By Jeni Jonett | Published November 30, 2011

Three Ring CircusWhat are you doing to attract your audience to your marketing message? If you need help, mimic the expert platform that has been capturing and holding audience attention for centuries – the circus.

Circuses originally had three rings designed to continuously keep your attention focused on all the action, but busy enough to distract you, so you need to come back time and time again just to make sure you saw everything. And even though many circuses have progressed from the traditional three rings, circus-related entertainment like the popular Cirque du Soleil shows present audiences with so much simultaneous activity, it’s impossible to not want to return for more.

In the marketing world, you need to design your messaging campaign based around those three rings.  Depending on your audience, you can set up the ringmaster center stage, bellowing your company’s news through a bull horn. Or you can introduce a startling distraction in one of the side rings, with trumpeting horns and flashing colors to attract your audience. For a very dramatic effect, you could go a third direction and silence everything, focusing attention on a single platform, forcing your audience to wait with baited breath to see what will happen next.

These three rings can translate into how you market your message. Do you blast your PR list with press releases, spend valuable ad dollars on TV and radio spots or plaster marketing messages on your websites and send them to your clients via email and snail mail? This can work, especially if you have a brand that is familiar to your audience. The center ring bull horn marketing approach is a tried and true method because it keeps brand names front and center, enticing your clients to use your services and purchase your products.

The flashy distraction in the side ring also works. In the journalism world, everyone knows that a headline makes or breaks a story. If you can put sex or death in the headline, you’ve got a good start in hooking the reader. The same holds true for a marketing campaign. Changing the verbiage, logo and look of your product or service can provide a valuable distraction, even if your overall messaging hasn’t really changed.

How long you’ll be able to hold customer attention can vary though. Remember the announcement about Apple’s new iPhone 4S? There were some criticisms that really the phone wasn’t “new” but just an upgraded model of the iPhone 4. Yet the flashy distraction marketing plan worked, because plenty of previous iPhone users upgraded to the new 4S model.

But what about the third ring, where silence stretches the tension under the tent to nearly a breaking point? Content marketing fits this analogy perfectly. This strong, educated but not flashy style of marketing can be the most productive, because your audience is captivated.

This kind of content is written to educate and engage an audience, while at the same time getting your name out there.  Tips and advice are the perfect way to connect your product or service with customers as a solution for a problem they may have. This is a way for your company to connect with consumers by offering them valuable information.

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