Hi there! My name is “You’re such a good boy, yes you are!” At least, that’s what my human calls me.
Anyway, I’m not like most golden retrievers.
Why? Well, simply put, I’m not just man’s best friend – I’m a marketer’s best friend.
And as a successful marketer’s best friend, I’ve learned a LOT about effective content marketing strategy.
But sometimes, when I look up at my human’s computer screen, I notice a lot of companies doing content marketing the wrong way, and I’ve got a serious bone to pick with them…
So, I’m here to tell you about 5 simple ways you can avoid crappy content marketing and lay the groundwork for a successful strategy. That way, you can get better results and buy your “good boy!” some treats!
1. Take the risk of being authentic
Have you ever seen a Chihuahua who acts like he’s about 10 times his actual size?
I know I have. I’m a pretty big dog, and just last week, a 5-pound Chihuahua attacked me with absolutely no hesitation, bearing his teeth as if he were a 150-pound werewolf.
While the attack was a bit of an annoyance, I have to respect that scrappy little guy for his fearlessness. He wasn’t afraid to be himself, even if it was a big risk.
That’s how content marketers should think too. But most don’t.
Instead of being true to themselves, they settle for conformity and end up sounding just like everybody else.
What they don’t realize is that authenticity in marketing helps a business:
- Build a stronger brand
- Connect with the target audience
- Increase engagement and get more website traffic
And don’t just take my word for it – even the popular marketing blog KISSMetrics has an entire blog post about why authenticity is key to growing your business.
So, whether you’re as blunt as Brian Griffin or as silly as Scooby-Doo, let your personality shine through in your blog posts, website content, and all of your marketing efforts. You’ll attract people whose values are similar to yours – the people you actually want to work with.
2. Stop barking so much
I’ll admit – I had a lot of fun as a puppy… But I also got in a lot of trouble.
Why? Because I was protective, so I barked at people constantly. This upset my humans on a regular basis… Ugh.
Now that I’m a bit older, I’ve learned when to keep my mouth shut.
And, as a marketer, you should do the same by not overdoing it when it comes to your content! Here are a few ways you can stop “barking” so much:
Email marketing
Spam is the worst (unless you’re talking about the kind that comes in a can – love when I get a big chunk of that stuff in my food bowl!). Seriously, your subscribers don’t want to receive redundant emails from you.
In fact, TechnologyAdvice surveyed 472 adults in the United States to discover their reasoning behind marking a business’ email as spam. The results are pretty clear:
45.8% of those surveyed said that it was because the business emailed them too often. On top of that, 43.9% of those surveyed said that businesses could improve their email efforts by sending less frequent emails.
So, make sure you’re emailing strategically and providing value to your subscribers every time you hit the send button. Otherwise, your emails could easily end up in the spam folder!
Awesome Blog posts
Let me be blunt: you do not need a daily blog post. If you push yourself to publish every single day, you’ll end up burnt out and your content quality will likely decrease, resulting in disengaged readers… Not good.
Instead, write as often as you can offer something of value to your readers. That being said, you’re still going to have to push yourself to consistently create awesome content. Don’t let it become one of those tasks that take dog years to get around to, or your abandoned blog will leave prospective customers wondering whether or not you’re still in business!
Formatting web copy
As a dog, my attention span is pretty short. But my observations have taught me that humans have pretty short attention spans too… maybe even worse than mine.
My point is this: don’t think for a second that anyone is going to read a giant wall of text on your website. A study performed in 1997 showed that 79% of web users scan rather than read. So, break your text up visually into nice delicious chunks with headers, bulleted lists, and white space.
3. Use your ears to your advantage
An old friend of mine is a Doberman, and I swear – she has such good hearing. As long as I’ve known her, she’s used her ears listen for intruders and keep them away from their home. She knows that her job is to protect her humans at all times.
…Kind of like how, as a marketer, it’s your job to protect your business at all times.
And you should do so by “using your ears” to listen to your audience’s needs and pet peeves.
Because – let’s face it – if you haven’t clearly sniffed out your audience and tailored your marketing to target them, you’re setting your business up to fail.
So, get involved in forums where your audience members hang out. Figure out what they’re talking about, and answer the questions they’re asking to create more effective content.
4. Be a bff
The saying “dogs are a man’s best friend” is common for a reason – it’s the truth! I know that my human is my best friend, so I spend lots of time with her to make sure she’s happy.
As a content marketer, you need to spend lots of time keeping your friends happy too – using social media! That way, they’ll be more likely to become a loyal customer.
Here are a few of my favorite tricks:
Create social media images to share with your blog posts
I know you’re thinking –I’m not a graphic designer, so I can’t do that!
But that’s where you’re wrong. There are so many tools you can use to create stunning social media images to promote your blog posts. My personal favorite is Canva.
With Canva, all you need to do is log in in, choose a clean design, pick your favorite font, and write the title of your blog post on the image. Then, you can add in extra elements, like your website URL and logo. Save your work to your computer, and start sharing!
Choose the right days/times to post
Not sure when you should Tweet or share your latest blog posts? According to 10 studies, these are the best possible times:
- Facebook – Post between 1pm and 4pm on weekends and late into the week.
- Twitter – During the work week, tweet between 12pm-3pm or right at 5pm.
- LinkedIn – Post on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. As far as the exact time, choose 7:30am-8:30am, 12pm, or 5pm-6pm.
Remember, there’s really no magical, “one size fits all” time, so do some experimenting and test what works the best with your specific audience!
Be loyal
Even the venerable digital marketer, Neil Patel says that “consistency is key” to a successful social media strategy.
The more time and effort you put in, the greater your rewards will be! So, don’t leave your social media feeds looking abandoned. To make updating easier, use Hootsuite or a similar tool and schedule your posts in advance. That way, it looks like you’re active on social media every day.
5. Lick, don’t bite the hand that feeds you
Every morning, I wake up to a big ol’ bowl of organic dog food. Obviously, my owner loves me and takes care of me, so I take care of her too! And since I rarely misbehave, I don’t get punished very often.
If you’re a content marketer, you have an owner too – Google. And if you can’t please Google, you probably won’t be able to reach your audience.
Why? Because Google dishes out some pretty harsh punishments to content marketers who misbehave. Yikes.
Don’t let that happen. To keep Google happy and draw in the traffic you want, do this:
- Make sure all of your content is original and your best.
- Use SEO strategies while writing website content and blog posts.
- Consistently produce new content on your website.
- Create killer page titles and descriptions.
- Get people to link back to your blog posts.
And make sure you don’t stuff tons of unnatural-sounding keywords into your blog posts and website content. That might have worked in the past, but these days, keyword stuffing will just disrespect both your readers and Google. “That dog won’t hunt!” As humans say.
So, if you’ve been barking up the wrong tree when it comes to your content marketing, now is the time to stop. Follow the advice outlined here, and you’ll be well on your way to becoming a top dog in your industry.
Which of these content marketing ideas will you use to improve your efforts? Let’s talk about it in the comments section!
