You’re a business owner with limited marketing dollars, but you feel you should crank up your content generation. Every article you read says “Content is King!” However, you’re not really sure where to get started.

Need Content Generation Ideas? Just Look in the Mirror…

As a very experienced (a.k.a. “old”) copywriter and content marketer, I can tell you that one of the best places to start is actually your mirror.

OK, I’m not saying you need to physically get up and walk to your bathroom mirror. But by taking a good look at yourself, your company/team, your products/services, and your industry, you should be able to find inspiration for a variety of content pieces to use in your marketing.

Start Producing – 4 Content Generation How-To’s

1. Be the star of your own show.

You might have told your story 10,000 times – but that just means there’s a few billion people who haven’t heard it.

Write up a press release on the anniversary of the day you founded your company. Heck, it could be something like “Smith Widgets Celebrates 10 Months of Success” – and talk about your growth in that time.

Turn that press release into a blog post, then share it on your social media accounts. And you’ve got some usable, sharable content.

Another thought-starter:

– An “interview” with yourself (conducted by your marketing person or a fictional “interviewer”), talking about your company’s history, growth, news, etc.

2. Pump up your team.

Whether you have two employees or 2,000, there’s always good content to be found among your staff. Plus, it’s a morale booster when you highlight someone and/or their achievements.

Maybe a regular “Employee Spotlight” showcasing employees’ work anniversaries, professional accomplishments, new certifications/licenses… anything positive you can share is great.

Pro Tip: Give the showcased employee a printed/framed copy of the content, and consider having their photo taken professionally for mounting on a building at your location.

3. Brag about your products/services.

If you’re not regularly publishing new content on your products and services… why not?Even if you haven’t introduced any new products or services, you could be writing about the ones you already have.

Talking about your product line/services can range from unique features and benefits to case studies or testimonials from satisfied clients.

And if you do have new products or services to showcase, that’s awesome. Take that information, write it up and run with it!

4. Examine your industry.

There’s always something going on in your industry. (If you don’t agree, you might not be as tuned-in as you should be.)

That big merger of two leading companies? The latest product innovation that everyone is copying? The new regulations that affect manufacturing or product quality? It’s all gold, Jerry!

And if you really want to go for the “thought leader” and “influencer” titles, take a step back and look at the big picture. Put together a thought piece on the state of the industry and/or where you think it’s headed in the next 5, 10, 20 or even 50 years.

For Effective Content Generation, Remember Your Readers

From the natural starting point of being the star of your own showto the morale-boosting benefits of using an Employee Spotlight feature, and of course, the never-ending changes and fluctuations in your industry (and that’s ANY industry), you have some great places to start generating usable, quality content.

Remember too that you want your content to be relevant and newsworthy – so make sure it’s of interest in some way. Think like a journalist and have a solid “hook” that will catch a reader’s attention and get them reading.

Who knows – that reader could go from prospect to customer very quickly in this day and age. If you give them a worthwhile reason to read, they’ll see you as a worthwhile option for business. So go ahead, take a look in that mirror – and get started!

Crank Up the Content! Start Producing w/ these #Content Generation Ideas by @HDRubin #RocksDigital
Click To Tweet

Have you created any recent content you’re proud of? And do you have a plan for developing regular content? Post in the comments below and please share with your social networks if you found it interesting!

The post Want to Crank Up the Content? Start Producing with these Content Generation Ideas appeared first on Rocks Digital.

Let’s go on a little customer journey, and here’s how it starts: We recently moved. You know how you end up realizing you have a lot of junk that you don’t want or need – but it’s way too much to fit in one trash can? (Or two, or three, or four?) Yep, that’s what happened with us.

So with all this stuff and no easy way to get rid of it by ourselves, I turned to the smartest friend I have – my smartphone.

The Customer Journey? There’s an App for That!

I actually had a home services app on my phone already. A few years back, I’d downloaded it for the very same reason – trying to get rid of our junk – but never followed up on it.

But this time we were serious. So I posted my project, and got a bunch of automated estimates back in minutes. (Ten estimates, to be precise.)

Some were suspiciously low. And one guy’s estimate was more than twice the price of most of the cheaper companies.

Digging Deeper

Next step? Posting a follow-up note with a complete list of everything that had to go. Three of the companies responded with follow-up questions, automatically jumping to the top of the list of contenders.

Then I read the reviews. Only one company had more than 10 reviews, and in fact actually had 94 reviews… which were all 5-star.

Now usually, I’m  a skeptical marketing guy – and that sounded REALLY fishy. But I scrolled through them, and they all seemed legit.

So off to their website for more info!

The All-Important Website

I made my way to the top contender’s website, and learned the following things:

• It was a nationwide franchise. And the overall experience on their site screamed trustworthy.
• They had a pretty cool tagline, and even a well-written mission statement. (Passing the “hypercritical writer” test.)
• That mission statement was all about how they do their best to donate and/or recycle anything that’s usable. We had several older appliances that I’m sure could have been repaired and put to use. (We didn’t want to deal with the hassle of selling them.)

Call Me, Maybe

And then the almost-unthinkable happened… the franchise owner called me on the phone.

An old-school phone call, in which he was friendly, asked the right questions, and basically gave me the I will do what it takes to earn your businessline. (Which in this case worked well.)

When I saw that his last response on the app had been sent after 8:00 p.m., I asked if he was a night owl like me. He said sure, and that if I had any questions at night, to feel free to text him.

My Final Decision and Our Experience

So while the Top Contender wasn’t the cheapest, they won my business. Yep, they earned the right to carry, pack, and dispose of my family’s junk. (So lucky!)

And he did a phenomenal job. Pete and his crew even came to our house TWICE – once on Thursday to take the bigger appliances, and then on Friday for the official job. With no extra charges.

And that’s How a Great Customer Journey is  Handled

So when considering your customer journey:

• Be everywhere that prospects might find you. Make sure you’re available via relevant apps. And that your website is user-friendly, well-branded, and up-to-date – and that you’re well-reviewed on apps, websites, Yelp, Google, etc.
• Be responsive. Pete was on it via the app, and then later via phone. Any time you make a prospective customer feel important and attended to, that’s a great thing.
• Be proactive. A simple phone call can be that personal touch that convinces a prospect to choose you. If it’s not a phone call, maybe it’s a personal email or direct mail, or even a personalized estimate and note and refrigerator magnet, and whatever else you can think of. (Maybe even a personalized estimate sent as a PDF?)
• Go the proverbial extra mile. Whether it’s online or offline, going above and beyond can make a world of difference in earning new business.

Also… happy to share the company’s name and info if you have a need for junk removal! (See? Positive word-of-mouth, created by a great online and offline experience!)

My Customer Journey: From #App to #Website to Phone to Yay! by @HDRubin #RocksDigital
Click To Tweet

Have you experienced  a great customer journey recently? Was it online, offline or both? Feel free to post in the comments. And please share this blog with your social networks if you found it interesting!

The post My Customer Journey: From App to Website to Phone to Yay! appeared first on Rocks Digital.

Before jumping into frequency, let’s go shopping… I went into one of the big membership-based warehouse stores the other day. On my way to the first section I had to visit, I was halted by a smiling young lady standing in front of a big display selling hairbrushes or curlers or something like that.

After I politely rebuffed her – smiling and pointing to my balding head – she wisely tried the “makes a great gift” tactic. I said no thanks and went on my way. But because I had to go to several different sections of the store – and back again – I kept having to go past her and the display. The second time, she looked at me, took a moment, realized she’d already spoken to me and smiled, then left me alone.

The Three-Word Lesson about Frequency

That’s how it’s done, people. The lesson is simple: Don’t overdo it.

And while this lesson can be applied to almost anything in life, this is especially crucial for your online marketing efforts.

Fine-Tune Your Frequency with these Tips

1. Balance is Key

Mr. Miyagi was absolutely right – balance is key. (Remember the film, The Karate Kid.)

You don’t want to be pushy or annoying, especially with customers and prospects. They’ve invited you into their world – via email inbox or website visit or mailing list – and that’s a privilege they can take away if you’re too overbearing.

HOWEVER, you don’t want to be forgotten, either! Staying “top of mind” does mean some sort of regular communication.

Finding that perfect balance is tricky, and there’s no single solution for every digital marketer.

So let’s get to it. But I’m not going to give you a fully-researched infographic or lots of data to back it up. I will give you my common-sense, 23-years-of-communications-experience, laser-focus-on-the-customer recommendations.

Heck, I’m a consumer too – I know I get annoyed when someone inundates me with marketing messages. And I also know how they “lose” me if I don’t hear from them for a while.

Here we go.

2. To Blog, or Not to Blog

So you think you want to be a blogger? A personal blog is fun – you say what you want, whenever you want, and if people read it? Great.

But a company blog? An entirely different story. It takes planning, strategy, skill, and time to create an interesting blog that people will actually want to subscribe to.

What they say: Opinions on blogging frequency vary from “once every two weeks” to “three to five a day.” Those on the high end believe that the more blogs you post, the more traffic you get; some believe that there’s a magic number (400?) that increases your presence exponentially.

What I say: While it depends on your industry – and quite frankly, how often you (or your marketing team) can commit to researching, writing, editing and posting a blog – I usually advise my clients to post one every other week. However, they need to be flexible and willing to do more. If there’s big news regarding the company or industry, they need to be ready to post about it.

Pro Tip: Have something to say. Don’t just blog for the sake of blogging. For example, everyone does a holiday blog – so make yours more personal. Talk about your company’s charitable activities, or share a happy story about one of your employees.

3. Demented and Sad, but Social

Being an over-sharer on social media can make things awkward. Most folks stick to photos of their dinner or kids at soccer practice, or funny memes.

But those folks who post everything – from problems with their spouse to their bratty kid’s bad behavior to their opinions on every subject – we simply don’t need to hear from them that much.

What they say: Do a search for “social media frequency” and you’ll see plenty of charts telling you to post anywhere from once a week to once a day, to 3–5 times a day. I saw one chart that recommended up to 30 tweets a day!

The thing that almost all the charts had in common? They recommend posting at least once to each social channel every day.

What I say: I’m just not sure every company in the world has something to say every single day. Instead of scraping up something to say just to fulfill a goal of “we posted today,” focus on qualityrather than quantity.

Facebook and Twitter? I’d say 3–5 original posts a week. Share relevant news/posts that you see whenever you feel like it. (Make sure to add a comment/viewpoint though.) And “Like” as much as you want, as long as it’s relevant and professional.

LinkedIn? That’s a little different. You’re talking to your professional network, so it really better be important. So in my mind, you can be a little less active – if that helps ensure that what you dopost is interesting to both your customers/prospects and your peers.

4. Inbox Hero

Email is the most personal online marketing you can do, because unless your customer/prospect has separate personal and business accounts, your email will be there next to their bank statement, the latest matches from their favorite dating site, and that encouraging note from their mom!

When someone subscribes to your email list, they’re saying “I’m interested in what you have to say – so much, in fact, that I’m letting you into my personal inbox.”

You’re basically an invited guest, so don’t track mud all over their (virtual) carpet.

What they say: Many agree that 2–3 emails a month is about right. Of course, there are more aggressive marketers who send out 6–8 emails a month, as well as more conservative folks who keep it to one message a month. A few marketers make a case for reaching out on a daily basis, because there’s a segment of the population that doesn’t mind that level of frequency.

What I say: Your email list won’t remember you if they only hear from you from time-to-time. But most people will unsubscribe if you send too many emails. (I do this, and plan on doing it more often.)

One idea I love is offering your subscribers different email options, perhaps letting them choose between daily, weekly, monthly, or even quarterly emails.

Also awesome is the ability to tailor your emails to a subscriber’s interests, past purchases, and any other data you might have on them. Showing them you care enough to personalize their email can go a long way to building loyalty.

5. Upload Updates to Your Website

I’ve said it a million times: Your website is the online face of your company. And it’s very likely the first place a prospect will see you, learn about you, and hopefully interact with you. So, it needs to be up-to-date in every way.

That said, you don’t need to rebuild or redesign your website frequently – we’re focusing on the content. News, your About Uspage, your Products/Servicespages, your Careerspage… these are the areas where fresh content is needed on a regular basis.

What they say: While daily updates don’t make sense for everyone, adding new content on a schedule can be very effective for SEO purposes. Plus, it tells frequent visitors that you’re actively and continually improving.

What I say: This is super-common sense. Don’t redo the whole website, but add (or edit) content frequently enough that a regular visitor will see the new/changed material.

Pro Tip: Let them know you’re active – make sure it says “Copyright 2018” in your footer!

The Golden Rule of Frequency

It all comes down to this:

Be present – but not TOO present.

You want your customers and prospects to know that you exist, what you’re about, and what you offer. You want them to recognize your brand when they see it – but you don’t want them getting tired of you either. The goal is to find the posting frequency sweet spot for your brand. Use the tips above, and strive always to follow that golden rule!

Turn Your #DigitalMarketing Dial to the Best Frequency by @HDRubin #RocksDigital #Business
Click To Tweet

How often do you send emails or post blogs? Do you have a “calendar” to regulate frequency? Post in the comments and share this with your social networks if you found this interesting!

The post Turn Your Digital Marketing Dial to the Best Frequency with 5 How-To’s – Plus the Golden Rule! appeared first on Rocks Digital.

While creating a LinkedIn profile, accepting a connection and using LinkedIn messaging is somewhat simple, the strategy and content used within all of these makes for a big difference.

Today we are going to focus in specifically on LinkedIn messaging.

Let’s look at an example of a LinkedIn message to get started:

“Hi there, New LinkedIn Connection! While we’ve only just connected, I know that by inviting you to meet up tomorrow and sending you new messages every single week – even though my product offering is not something you will ever need – we’re going to have a terrific, mutually beneficial relationship! So… what’s a good time for you tomorrow?”

—Not a Real Person

While that’s (thankfully) a fictional message I just made up, I’m sure that you’ve seen snippets of that kind of communication in your LinkedIn inbox.

LinkedIn Messaging Affects Brand Identity

Of course, nobody sits down and wants to write a message that will annoy or anger the recipient – at least not in the digital marketing world!

But it happens – thousands of times a day – on every single social media channel.

And on LinkedIn, it’s 10 times worse. Because the person you’re writing to is, usually, some kind of colleague, vendor or supplier, or a respected figure in your industry.

The 7 Deadly Sins of LinkedIn Messaging

The truth is that the way you get your message out reflects back on your brand identity. So the next time you’re writing a LinkedIn message, beware these Seven Deadly Sins:

1. Not knowing me.

If you tell me you’re looking for a senior marketing executive position, you didn’t read my profile.
If you’re offering me products/services that I have absolutely no use for, you didn’t read my profile.
If you offer me services that I offer, you didn’t read my profile.

Please – if you really think I’m a prospective customer, take 20 seconds to skim my profile and make sure of it.

2. Using an obviously generic, copy-and-paste message.

You know what I’m talking about – I’m sure you’ve gotten (or even sent) a few of these messages yourself.

Fact: I’m guilty of this sin on occasion. However, I will then take the time to customize it somehow to include the person’s name and/or company name.

3. Being pushy.

Sending frequent Linkedin messages can get annoying fast. If we’ve connected on LinkedIn, I’ve invited you into my LinkedIn stream and even (when it’s relevant) into my email inbox.

But it can feel intrusive if you’re popping up in my inbox every week – it’s like Kramer sliding through Jerry’s front door all the time. Kramer can be a fun guy, but the shtick can lose its luster.

4. Being REALLY pushy.

I can see asking for a call to get acquainted, but an immediate request for an in-person meeting? Or the slightly “less forward” message asking “are you available today for a quick chat?”

Slow down, pal. You may be one of those Always Be Closing kind of people, but not everybody can (or wants to) start shaking hands and making deals an hour after connecting on social media.

5. Being too vague.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are those LinkedIn messages that aren’t specific enough. Just sending a “Hey there! How are you today?”message is an invitation to a much-longer conversation that not everybody has the time for.

Please save us both time – be direct and get to the point. You sell software that’s affordable and does a super-smart quality analysis of my content? I’m intrigued.

6. Using LinkedIn like it’s Facebook.

Confession: I don’t like having birthday announcements on LinkedIn. And just like the real office, I avoid talking politics, religion, and most other topics that can start controversy or offend people.

IMO, we’re on LinkedIn to network and to learn from each other. Maybe some folks join to make friends, but there are plenty of other social media channels for that.

7. Not using spellcheck.

Typos happen. But really badly written messages with tons of typos and grammatical errors do not help represent you as a competent professional.

In fact, a lot of people will see you as someone to avoid – because if you’re making these kinds of mistakes on simple email messages and not doing a thorough proofreading, they’ll think that your lack of attention to detail could mean your products/services are not top-quality either.

Gordon Ramsay is Right

While celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay is often guilty of one of the Original Seven Deadly Sins (Wrath/Anger), he’s right about compliments vs. criticism.

Chef Ramsay always says (not quoting verbatim) that we don’t learn anything from compliments – other than we’re doing a good job. We learn much more from constructive criticism. It helps us grow and improve and do better.

Use LinkedIn Messaging with Care

LinkedIn and LinkedIn messaging is an integral part of your brand’s online footprint, so use it with care. Let this constructive criticism keep you on track. And if you’ve committed some of these sins in the past, let’s wipe the slate clean starting now. You’re forgiven – just please remember to avoid these “sins” the next time you’re typing in a LinkedIn message!

Dump the Seven Deadly Sins of #LinkedIn Messaging to Protect Your #Brand by @HDRubin #RocksDigital
Click To Tweet

Do you commit any of these “sins” with LinkedIn messages? Have any others that I missed? Feel free to post in the comments.

The post Dump the Seven Deadly Sins of LinkedIn Messaging to Protect Your Brand appeared first on Rocks Digital.

Before we look at the components involved when you write a creative brief, let’s take stock of where we are, marketing-wise. Thanks to amazing technology and intelligent software, it’s easy to track the results of our marketing campaigns. So when we set goals for our campaigns, we can check the data to see if we reached those goals. That’s great, isn’t it? (And that determines how we create our next campaign.)

Is it Necessary to Write a Creative Brief?

But one of the biggest issues we face today is creating and maintaining a focused marketing campaign – one that reaches the target audience with a highly specific message.

The solution? Yes, you know it – a great creative brief.

6 Elements to Include When You Write a Creative Brief

Here are the important elements that you need in a creative brief that provides your writers, art directors, web designers, illustrators, photographers, and anyone else on the team with the information they need to achieve your desired results. (As long as they’re realistic!)

Goal

Gotta be smart here. Don’t set out to “Increase revenue by 300%.” If it helps you, follow the SMART Goal-Setting method to ensure that your goal is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results-Oriented, and Time-Based. (There are many versions of the SMART acronym, but I like this one best.)

Sample goals might focus on awareness, education, foot/web traffic, “Likes,” Retweets and Shares, or overall branding.

Features & Benefits

Make a list of the features and benefits of the product/service you want to market. Remember that whatever information you give your creative team needs to be accurate and thorough. Think about your customer’s WIFM (what’s in it for me?) and how/why they might need your product/service – from both rational and emotional perspectives.

Target Audience

Define your target audience(s) very clearly. Think about who you really need to reach, because that’s your “universe” of potential customers – basically, anyone and everyone who might purchase your product/service.

And do some research on these people! You may think you already know them inside-and-out, since you’ve been in your business for awhile now. But people are funny. They change and grow and adopt new technologies – so if your audience is 65 years old and up, it might help you to know that almost half of them now have smartphones!

That information has all kinds of ramifications, such as your website requiring responsive design and an easy-to-read, appropriately-sized font. It also creates new marketing opportunities, such as adding a text/SMS element to the campaign, relevant near-field communication at your location, and a loyalty/membership rewards app.

Single Message & “Proof Points”

Ah, the heart of the matter. I’ll put this in bold and italics AND give it its own line break with asterisks to bring it home:

*** You cannot have multiple messages in your communication. ***

Why not? Because it will dilute all of the messages, and even confuse the audience.

You need a single-focused message like “Our Temperature-Controlled SuperSox™ (patent pending!) keep your feet warm in the cold and cool in the heat.”

That’s it! ¡No más!

Of course, you do need to provide your team with the ability to prove it. So list your proof points that back up your claim – your patented technology, your 100% customer satisfaction rating, etc.

Call-to-Action (CTA)

This is where the magic happens. Give your audience a clear, succinct call-to-action, whether it’s a shiny red “ORDER NOW” button on your website or a “Call 1-888-SUPR-SOX today for your FREE pair!”

Because that’s how you make money AND track your results. So it’s pretty important!

Media

Before you start thinking about a global marketing campaign with new websites and TV spots and airport billboards and direct marketing with promotional items… think about your budget.

There are tons of great – and effective – ways to “go to market” without spending millions of dollars. Of course, if you go too cheap, you risk not reaching your audience.

Ask yourself:

• Which media channels do your prospects use regularly?
• Can you leverage these channels cost-effectively?
• How will your campaign “translate” to all of these channels?

When You Write a Creative Brief with the Steps Above…

I believe you’ll have a well-thought-out creative brief that enables your creative team to develop some clutter-busting marketing ideas. And once you reach your audience with your powerfully persuasive and single-focus message, they’ll heed your call-to-action and make a purchase. So do your thinking and analysis, make your lists, and build that creative brief!

Use your creative brief like a trusted roadmap and do follow it, because when your team is all on the same page, everyone benefits – business and consumer alike.

Build a Roadmap to Success – Write a Creative Brief by @HDRubin #RocksDigital #Marketing
Click To Tweet

Have you written a creative brief before? Did it help to achieve the desired results? Share your experiences in the comments.

The post Build a Roadmap to Success – Write a Creative Brief and Stay On-Course appeared first on Rocks Digital.

In a personal email, there’s no limit to how long you can go – well of course, you actually are limited a bit – by your mom’s patience for reading. But what about for a marketing email?

Well, a marketing email is a totally different thing. Even if you’re writing to a willing subscriber, you’re invading their inbox with a message that is at the very least unwelcome and annoying.

Do Consumers Want to Read Your Marketing Emails?

To be compelling, make sure that every marketing email you send is short, to-the-point, and as relevant as possible. Here are the three keys to writing the perfect marketing email.

Take 3 Steps to Create a Great Marketing Email

#1: Subject Line

This is pretty much the most important part of your email, because if it doesn’t get the recipient to open and read the main message, it’s all over. You’re then headed to the virtual trash can.

To avoid being dumped, create a relevant, attention-getting message. Give your target audience a compelling reason to click it open and read the message.

• Do you have a product that will save them time and money?
• A brand-new kind of service that nobody has ever offered?
• Are you giving them an exclusive offer?

Lead with the message that will get them curious enough to open the email!

PRO TIP #1: Try to abide by the “billboard” rule here – 7 words or less.

PRO TIP #2: There’s a long list of words that you need to avoid to keep from being labeled as spam. Skip words and phrases like “Free” or “No Cost” or “Save $.” (You can search and find long lists of these words.)

#2: Brief Body Copy

I’ve been lucky to work with several email experts over the past few years, and they taught me an extremely important lesson about a marketing email’s body copy:

Keep it short. Like really short.

The point is to consider your email as one step on the journey you’re trying to provide for your reader. And what is this step? Getting them to react to the Call-to-Action (see below).

So, give your reader a healthy taste of what you promised in your subject line, then get them to click the CTA and go for more information.

PRO TIP #3: Your email copy should be no more than 3 short paragraphs. And when I say “paragraph,” that’s basically one or two short sentences.

#3: Strong Call-to-Action (CTA)

This is it. It’s all about the CTA.

Maybe it’s a big shiny red button that says “Learn More” or “Visit Our Site” or “Start Saving Now,” or whatever else you can fit inside.

If they don’t click your CTA button or link, you’ve lost them. But you had them! They opened your email, they’ve even read your copy.

So bring it home. Convince them that the answer to whatever question they have is just one more click away. And once they give you that click, you’re one step closer to success.

PRO TIP #4: Don’t provide more than one CTA, or multiple links. Keep consumers on the path to one single destination.

Commit to Marketing Email “Best Practices” for Success

So that’s the 1-2-3 of crafting an appealing marketing email that your audience will want to read. It sounds simple, because it is – and you can start to implement these steps today!

Make it your goal to keep your marketing emails highly focused, relevant and brief, and you should be able to keep your target audience on the path to wherever it is you want them to go.

The 1-2-3 to Creating a #Marketing Email that People Want to Read by @HDRubin #RocksDigital
Click To Tweet

Have any other email marketing tips? Feel free to post in the comments. And please share this blog with your social networks if you found it interesting!

The post The 1-2-3 to Creating a Marketing Email that People Want to Read appeared first on Rocks Digital.