If I were to say that I remember the days of tag team wresting,
I would be aging myself greatly, or maybe I could just refer to the musical
group Tag Team in the nineties, with their one-hit-wonder, “Whoomp, There It Is!”
In any event, just like a successful wrestling duo or
orchestrating a hit song, getting a marketing plan to play nicely with a
content strategy can be challenging, but there are some tips to getting them
both on the same page. Content marketing is still extremely effective since statistics for 2015 show that 72% of marketers
believe that branded online content is more effective than traditional print
media ads and 69% say that is is superior to direct mail or public relations.
Come Together, Right Now
Some recommend mind mapping when it comes to
organizing any campaign regardless of type or purpose and this is certainly an
excellent place to start. Although this practice dates back to around the third
century B.C., there has been many advancements in using this powerful tool
since the ancient days of Porphyry of Tyros who is believed to be the first
to use mind mapping to form his ideas and thus making following along easier
for others.
Creating a
mind map will literally put marketing technology and a content strategy on the
same page. Technology you say, with pen and paper? Yes, technology, since you
can use a number of different low-cost and free mind mapping
sites online.
Imagery Investment
In a recent Forbes
article, “The Only 6 Content Marketing Tips You’ll
Need for 2015,” the author recommends investing in imagery and visual
content. The same statistics as cited above also predict that by 2017, online
videos will make up for 70% of all consumer traffic on the internet. But you
don’t have to spend an arm and a leg on an expensive, studio-quality piece, as
long as it is genuine, interesting or unique.
Testing, Testing
After Forbes
recommends imagery, the article states that 2015 will be the year that people
will be testing everything, including their content marketing strategies. The
most popular form of this examination is through A/B testing, where one example
is pitted directly against another and measured for success. There are also a
variety of low-cost and free A/B testing sites available on the internet.
According to Chris Delany, founder of
SEMGeeks, a popular digital marketing agency, “The top social media platforms being used by marketers are LinkedIn,
Facebook and Twitter. Use for both SlideShare and Google+ has increased, but
marketers are still most likely to put their time and dollars into the top
three social media channels because of their potential for engaged, targeted
audiences.”
If you’re
not already on Facebook, you should definitely have a presence there and be promoting your brand and business on this
platform. Once
comfortable there, branch out to the others, especially LinkedIn, since it is
the leader in B2B marketing on social media. As you already know, content
marketing on all these avenues are free to explore.
Using
marketing technology, along with your content marketing strategy to play nicely
together, can be as carefree as a day at the beach as a young child. So use
your proverbial bucket and shovel to make the best content sandcastle on the
internet shoreline.
