Getting Marketing Technology to Play With Content On The Cheap

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.

 Strong on the Social Scene

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.