Content Marketing Archives – Michael A. Cousin

Content Marketing Marketing

What’s the Big Idea?

Do you really need a big idea in digital advertising?

Not long ago I read an article on a particular online marketing blog (that shall remain nameless) and the writer of this article says that advertising agencies were obsolete in todays market because there was no need any longer for a ‘Big Idea.’ I disagree.

I don’t disagree solely on the fact that I own an agency and have worked the agency side of things. I have also worked on the client side. The purpose of a big idea, whether done by an agency or in-house, is to solidify a brand image and unify a brand or campaign. Even digital marketing efforts can fit into a big idea. If your big idea is ‘milk deprevation’ like the famous “Got Milk” campaign you can get people involved by doing something such build a Facebook game where people have to battle through obsticles to get to milk, which gives them strength to keep playing. Ideas like this fit with the big idea and move the campaign in a way that you could only accomplish through an online medium.

A point made by the author of the article in questions was that businesses need to be able to change things quickly and a big idea is something invented by ad agencies to slow them down. In today’s instant gratification world I agree that you have to be able to react and change quickly, but I also think that having a Big Idea will help keep you focused on plan. There is a certain amount of flexability that a company needs in its marketing, but there is a lot to be said for having a plan and following it. You do not want to be blown to and fro by every wind of marketing doctrine.

What I tell clients is that we must have a plan, an editorial calendar, a 6 or 12 month media buying plan, and also some room in the budget for new ideas, new opportunities and just a general willingness to embrace something three months from now that we may not know about today. Being nimble and prepared are not mutually exclusive in today’s marketing world.

Content Marketing Marketing

Writing for People, Not Search Engines.

Not long ago I was able to hear a brilliant presentation on Search Engine Optimization given at my local chapter of the American Advertising Federation. There, in a room full of local marketers and media reps, Marshall Simmonds (@mdsimmonds) gave a great overview of the various things he has learned and taught clients in his experience in this field, which is about as long as anyone’s experience in this field can get.

He touched on a few good points with titles, keywords, alt-text descriptions and such. The single most important thing that I think he said, was that the actual text of the article was one of the last things that you should worry about in thinking about the search engines. Why would this be the case? Haven’t we been taught for years that search engines look for keywords and rank you page based on that? Yes, but that isn’t necessarily the most important thing about your content. Your content is made for people, not bots.

People are who read content. They are your audience. It doesn’t matter if you are a news outlet, or a business publishing content about your industry. If your content is written for bots, real people won’t find it as engaging, entertaining and informative and are less likely to share it. In this social age of the Internet it is important to make your content sharable. I tell all my clients and I work with my copywriting team to make sure that we have keywords and phrases where we can, but it must be readable and be written first for the audience, second for the bots. If you don’t, then only bots will be likely to buy your products or services, and last I checked, Google bots don’t make a lot of purchases.

This post originally appeared on the Star Moose Blog.

Content Marketing Marketing

5 Reasons Your Business Should be Creating Content

There are lots of people out there talking about how to make your website cooler, drive more traffic, get more ‘likes’ on Facebook and Twitter followers, but there is one thing you should be doing that can help meet most of those goals and more. You should be creating content for your target audience. Not just any content, but quality, relevant content that helps solidify your position as the expert in your field. It doesn’t matter if you sell sprockets or consulting, content is king and this is why.

1. It builds credibility.

When you are consistently creating relevant, quality content related to your field and your target audience you will make yourself a credible source for information in your industry. People trust those whose information is accurate and useful. Make your content fit that and your are on your way. Sara Wachter-Boettcher (@sara_ann_marie) of @OffMadisonAve recently created a great slide show about using content as an asset. She said, “Content Marketing creates and publishes content to attract and engage with valuable, relevant information. It drives action by building credibility and loyalty between businesses and their target audiences.”

2. It positions you.

Creating a position for your business can be difficult if you don’t have a medium to convey it in. Through your ads and other traditional marketing efforts you can position yourself, but if you are consistently creating content on the web you can fine tune your position and get feedback from your audience to know if you are communicating it effectively.

3. It’s new, therefore it’s news.

Anytime you produce something new on your website you should let your followers and fans know. This is not all you should do with your social media, broadcasting in social really misses the point. Though you can start many conversations with good content and it should be interesting and applicable to your followers anyway. Stay on topic.

4. It gets your audience involved.

When you create a new post, info-graphic, or video it invites people to comment. Everywhere on yours site you should have places for people to comment, like, share, tweet, rate or whatever else is relevant. Make it easy for your audience to get involved and they will. It can take some time to build up an audience that is really interactive, but the feedback you get from those devoted followers will be worth it.

5. It keeps you thinking.

Lastly creating consistent content keeps you thinking. You will have to keep thinking of what you target audience wants to know about your product or industry. You will have to find the information and package it into a blog post or graphic and that will keep you at the forefront of your game, making you an even better expert in your field.

This post originally appeared on the Star Moose Blog.

Content Marketing Social Media

Influencers and Earned Media

I’ve been working on social strategies and campaigns for a few different clients lately and I’ve noticed that a lot of people I talk to outside of the advertising/marketing business (and some inside it) do not know the terms ‘influencer’ and ‘earned media.’ This is something that I spend a lot of time teaching people about because in the world of social media these are two of the most important terms you will come across.

First, influencers. These are the people that cause action in other people. These are not necessarily those that have the most followers on twitter, or those that have the most page likes on Facebook (though that is a good start). These are those people who get people to click on links posted, reply to their posts, leave comments, share the tweets or posts with their circles so that it is distributed virally. If you can get something to organically catch the eye of an influencer in your field you are going to see awesome traffic growth and sales from it. You can also bring things to their attention. I’m not talking necessarily about paid posts here, but just bringing something to their attention and letting it go from there. It can be a gamble, but it can really help distribute your content to a much wider audience that can be very, very, very relevant.

Earned media is the second term, and it is related to the first. This is when your content is shared organically through social networks. You can place things like online video and promote it through paid media, but that shouldn’t be the end of it. In the days where TV and print were our only media you had to pay for all the views you got (with the exception of pass-along views for print media). Online though, you should place your paid media in places where it has the most potential to be passed along, thereby generating ‘earned media.’ You earn this pass along through creating relevant, compelling content that they want to share and by making it easy for them to share it.

Those two terms are the basis for any social or online campaign that Star Moose creates. Depending on your business you influencers are going to be different. You probably won’t see @ConanOBrien hawking hair care products (but then again you might…), the important thing is to find out where your target audience goes online for information and entertainment. Then, all you have to do is have us create some content (be it video, print, interactive, or a combination) that they will actually share. That seems simple, right? It is… kinda.

This post originally appeared on the Star Moose Blog.

Content Marketing Social Media

What is the Point of Social Marketing?

Social Marketing isn’t something that will force you to completely change all your strategies or scrap your current campaigns and plans. This is something that should be added to whatever you have (that is working) to infuse it with a sense of community for your customers. You want people to be involved with your brand, so give them opportunities to be involved.

Tell them about your events, your Web site, your Twitter feed, your Facebook page and other promotions through your traditional advertising and personal contacts. Every email your customers get from sales, customer service, or as a confirmation should have a link to all your social media accounts and your blog. Use social media to get people having fun and engaging your brand in a memorable way. Build a mobile app that allows people to comment, post, add videos or pictures and share their experiences with your brand on your Web site. Have them sign up to receive a cardboard replica of one of your products that they can assemble and customize your label and post pictures online. Anything that gets them doing something out of the ordinary will stick in their mind. Then, you will have someone who will talk about your company or product and bring you sales. That is why we advertise things, right?

Use the comments section on this site to ask questions and offer examples of how you have gotten people involved with your brand and/or clients. Times have changed, the last thing you want is just a viewer/listener/reader of your ad. You really want a friend, or at least a ‘like.’

This post originally appeared on the now defunct blog, FryThoseEggs.com. It can also be found on the Star Moose Blog.