article writing

3Apr

When Can a Proven Thought Leadership Strategy Also Impact Your Customer Conversions?

In the realm of customer conversions, a proven thought leadership strategy holds immense potential to elevate your approach and enhance credibility. David Lomas, CEO of M3 Media Group, advocates for leveraging thought leadership articles as tools to not only add credibility but also provide valuable insights into one’s character and expertise.

“The strategic introduction of a published thought leadership article into a conversation can set the stage for meaningful interactions with prospects,” David underscored. By referencing an interview in a reputable publication, business owners can establish themselves as authorities in their field, earning the trust and respect of potential clients.

“This approach goes beyond traditional sales tactics—it’s about building rapport and establishing a foundation of trust.” – David Lomas, CEO of M3 Media Group

By sharing valuable content that addresses the prospect’s challenges, business owners can position themselves as trusted advisors rather than mere salespeople.

The impact of a proven thought leadership strategy extends beyond individual interactions—it influences the entire customer conversion process. From initial engagement to final decision-making, thought leadership plays a pivotal role in shaping perceptions and driving conversions.

In conclusion, a well-executed thought leadership strategy has the power to transform customer conversions by infusing interactions with credibility, authenticity, and value. By harnessing the influence of thought leadership, businesses can cultivate lasting relationships with their audience and drive sustainable growth.

25Oct

By David LomasIn Content Marketing, Marketing Strategy

Unlocking Sales Success: The Power of Thought Leadership in Engaging Prospects

In the fast-paced world of modern business, making a lasting impression and capturing the attention of potential clients is a challenge that every company faces. The traditional ‘sales pitch’ is losing its effectiveness, as prospects are becoming more discerning and selective about who they engage with. To succeed in this competitive landscape, businesses need to explore innovative ways to stand out, add value, and establish credibility from the very first interaction.

How do I stand out more?

This is where the “Profile Booster Package” offered by M3 Media Publishing really comes into play, revolutionising the way businesses engage with their prospects. At the heart of this strategy is the creation of insightful and compelling thought leadership articles. M3 Media Publishing’s approach involves interviewing business clients to gain a deep understanding of the challenges and pain points their customers experience. These interviews lead to the creation of three thought leadership headlines, which become the focal points of the subsequent articles.

The choice of magazines for publication covers a broad spectrum, including Business, Property & Construction, HR, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Export, Marketing, Social Impact, and an Over 50’s lifestyle magazine, ensuring the right audience is reached. The impact of this approach is profound. By providing thought-provoking and solution-oriented content, businesses can not only demonstrate their expertise but also offer something of value to their prospects. Each article is meticulously crafted, with links to the client’s LinkedIn profile, website, and a corresponding case study, creating an internet funnel to measure response—an invaluable tool in modern marketing.

How can it grow my business?

The real magic, however, happens when these articles are strategically integrated into sales conversations. Instead of the traditional sales pitch, businesses can engage prospects by sharing their thought leadership content. This approach shifts the conversation from a ‘salesy’ interaction to a meaningful discussion about the challenges and solutions presented in the article. It provides a non-intrusive way to establish credibility and demonstrate value.
The result? Prospects are more receptive, as they appreciate the thought leadership offered by the business. They are more likely to exchange contact details and set up a subsequent consultative discussion. This approach not only increases the chances of conversion but also builds trust and fosters long-lasting client relationships.

In an era where authenticity, value, and credibility matter more than ever, M3 Media Publishing’s Profile Booster Package can be a game-changer for businesses seeking to elevate their sales success. It transforms initial discussions with prospects, making them more engaging, insightful, and effective, while removing the traditional sales pitch from the equation. By offering valuable content and expertise upfront, businesses not only stand out but also win the trust of potential clients—a winning strategy for today’s competitive market.

To find out more, please get in touch by emailing david@m3publishing.co.uk.

2May

By David LomasIn Content Marketing

Content: Are You Writing for Humans or Robots?

Do you consider this a strange question? It is not really, if you understand how the internet works.

When writing content, it is vital that you communicate with ‘people’ rather than ‘search engines’.

Over the last decade or so, Google has steadily been improving the way they respond to and, in turn, value well-written, natural content

We have come a long way from heavily-keyworded content, that did not make any sense whatsoever. These articles were written, in many cases, to accommodate the requests of the search engines.

We can still spot content that has been written “for SEO purposes” but they are sometimes uninspiring.

Grammatically, they may be well written, and contain the relevant keywords and phrases that will attract the search engines. But from a customer’s perspective, they are as dull as dishwater.

Who cares? you may ask. Well as website owners, we all should…

How Valuable is Engaging Content?

Next to unique & relevant content, Google also measures your website’s ‘popularity’.

We recently spoke to a business that was paying an agency for over 20 articles each month, to be published on their website.

On the face of it, this is partly what the search engines wanted to see. But when we looked at how many of these articles were actually being viewed and shared, the results were very disappointing.

From a count of say 50 articles, only half a dozen of them had actually been shared on social media and none of them more than twice.

When you realise that one of Google’s methods of measuring the popularity or ‘value’ of a website is in the number of times others share their content, this is a content strategy that is having a negative influence on their rankings.

Again, the content was informatively written, and served its SEO purpose but, frankly, it was dull.

So, if you are going to get your content written by others, ensure that they aim it at humans and not just at the internet spiders.

26Mar

M3 Media Publishing content in magazines

By David LomasIn Content Marketing

Why is Third Party Content Marketing So Powerful?

The real power in marketing yourself and your business using content, is to have it written and published by someone with real credibility in your sector.

If your prospects and customers can get to read and even see you being asked for advice on issues relevant to them, it can create confidence in you and helps develop real trust. In part, the helps towards their perception of you being a thought leader.

Prospects and customers need to learn about you first, before they consider whether to conduct business with you. They then need to ‘like’ what they see or hear in order to trust you

It is actually your ‘behaviour’ that people are watching, even though many of us do not realise this.

More importantly, the last thing that they want to hear is a sales message from you. Instead, they want to hear and see your expertise.

They just want to hear solid advice and to see your ‘understanding of their business‘ and it will be much more powerful if it comes from an independent and credible source.

Within our portfolio of magazines, we are able to show your thoughts and your expertise with an assured confidence that sits comfortably with your audience.

It is the first step in attracting a customer – showing your expertise in their sector.

One of the most important issues for decision makers is that YOU understand THEIR business sector, not just your own

This is what you must convey to your prospects and customers in your content whether in your articles or on your website.

If you get some third party content, published and positioned elsewhere, in front of your chosen target audience

All that remains is to complete the route to setting up a conversation by using conversion techniques that helps to trigger a response from your target audience.

To discover how we could position you as a thought leader in third party content in our portfolio of digital magazines, please contact us.

25Sep

By David LomasIn Content Marketing

Content Marketing: What are its Opportunities for Attraction?

Content marketing has its supporters but some of them, in their zeal to describe its benefits, may be over-selling it. It is not a magic bullet, and it is not the only marketing strategy you should ever consider.

There are lots of hidden benefits to content marketing but one criticism centres on the fact that its ROI comes in the form of increased engagement with target audiences, as opposed to dramatic sales figures.

Behind content marketing is the concept of pre-qualifying opportunities by building up a dialogue with them using content

While it does represent one strand of what should be a holistic marketing approach, it also has a unique quality in its ability to harness third party authority in pursuit of prospects.

The Means of Delivering Content

One of the key aspects of content marketing is the means of delivering it. Plenty of businesses write and distribute blogs designed to attract targeted visitors to websites and landing pages.

However, one of the most powerful forms of content is third party. It marks the difference between you doing the talking and you being talked about.

If content is presented in the form of a third-party article, blog or news story, it adds authority and credibility to the subject, and it has the potential to attract a wider audience

This brings added value, because along with a target audience, third-party content can attract interest from places you might not have anticipated.

Attracting Interest with High Visibility

While it’s true that, in part, content marketing is about devising means of attracting interest from target markets, it has other benefits in reaching further afield.

Earlier this year, we highlighted the growing debate on what should, or could, replace the current business rates system, which many see as deeply flawed.

Our article, on the alternatives to business rates, featured Paul Giness from The Beattie Partnership and was published in our Property Aspects Magazine. The article caught the attention of contacts in both the Houses of Parliament and the Irish Government.

This is one of numerous occasions where our content has brought visibility to tangential links, and helped to crystallise connections.

Done well, content has a wide reach, and the potential to help you make powerful, and profitable, inroads into markets which might otherwise be closed to you.

To discover how you can generate opportunities, using third party content, please contact us.

31Jan

By David LomasIn Content Marketing

Content: How Can You Convert it into Business?

Content is a serious marketing tool that can generate considerable sales results. It is not a luxury or an add-on to your core business if, or when, you have the time or resources for it.

Content adds substance to a business’ online – and offline – presence and does so in such a way that it attracts interest. It engages and, ultimately, helps to convert people into qualified prospects.

Attraction and Retention

SEO can get you ranked higher on search engines and it can encourage clicks onto your web pages. Once you have attracted your audience to you, does your content keep them interested so that they don’t simply move onto something else? Online attention spans are notoriously short.

Content works strategically. It enables you to allow people find you online and, once they have found you, to want to find out more about you. This provides you with opportunities to engage with those prospects.

M3 Media Publishing’s methodology is to combine high quality, powerful, content with psychological insight and the use of social media and other channels to distribute it, to attract customers

The essence of great content is storytelling. This can make your brand and your business stand out from the competition, while exploring the kinds of issues and problems your customers have.

M3 Media Publishing’s sector-specific, authoritative, digital magazines publish stories that highlight business leaders’ expertise and creates powerful third party recommendations.

The Legacy of Successful Content

Peter Knight, is an expert property consultant, with Knight Morris. He explains how the M3’s approach has helped his business.

“I wanted an innovative, creative and cost-effective way to raise my company profile,” he explains. “The results of my strategically-placed articles, in M3’s digital magazines, have exceeded my expectations.”

“M3 Media Publishing’s articles, coupled with engagement, offers an excellent return on investment. One piece of business per year is all it has taken for us to surpass our spend with them”

Peter Knight, Lead Building Surveying Partner at Knight Morris

“The original content has allowed readers to explore issues that affect them and seek out my professional help and advice,” concludes Peter.

To discover how content can generate business for you, please call 0161 922 8571 or visit m3publishing.co.uk.

29Sep

content marketing - are you getting it right?

By David LomasIn Content Marketing

Content – Are you getting it right?

For someone who has worked creating and publishing content for over 15 years, I consider content and, may I say, its’ subsequent communication is essential to the success of any business.

However, content is only powerful if it gets seen or heard by the target audience at which it is aimed.

Content comes in many forms, of course. This can include video clips – in both real or animated format and it can include visual content such as images, logos, gifs and infographics.

With sites like Instagram, all these different types of visual images can be a powerful tool, especially for b2c marketers.

Audio content is also an option. e.g. sound bites – maybe your own voice recording or a radio interview for example. Audio clips may be particularly useful if your prospects spend a lot of their ‘research’ time driving in their car.

Written Content – Leave it to the experts

Then we come to good old written content. It never goes out of fashion and we can all write it very easily. Is that maybe not quite true, dare I say?

It doesn’t go out of fashion – that’s true, and maybe words and styles may change.

Do we all find it easy to write? No, that’s certainly not the case with the majority of people I talk with.

One of my first clients for content marketing asked me the question…

Client: “Do I have to write our content?”
Me: “No, we will do it for you”
Client: “Excellent, we’ll go with that!” he said, very relieved

I learnt very soon, that clients did not want to have to write their own content as it was time-consuming and not their area of expertise. They also did not feel very comfortable singing the praises of their own business.

Producing good content is one thing but getting the content right is an art in itself

What is the Best Type of Content for your Audience?

A recent study into content by global research specialists Nielsen, looked at the three main types of content that we, as marketers, produce.

These are:

Branded or company-generated content, which focuses on the facts about a business, maybe including case studies highlighting work being done
Secondly, testimonial type content or product reviews from customers
Lastly, there is what we refer to as ‘third-party expert’ content.

In the survey, it was found that the 3rd-party expert content had the most impact and influence on customers.

Why is Third Party Content so Valuable?

The implied endorsement of third-party experts holds much more weight to consumers than anything a company can say about itself.

This content needs to appear on some place other than your own website of course, otherwise it doesn’t quite achieve that critical 3rd party legitimacy. The website also needs to have credibility for your content to be taken seriously by your reader.

This third-party content can therefore be very powerful if used correctly, within your content marketing & communication strategy.

If you can position yourself as a ‘quoted’ expert with integrity, within your chosen sector, your authority and reputation can acquire a real boost.

Contact M3 Media Publishing about how you or your business could feature in one of their digital sector-specific magazines.

20Mar

By David LomasIn Content Marketing

How Important are Headlines?

Headlines are really the most important part of your article writing. It is the first thing that can grab the attention of your reader or web visitor.

Your headlines, in effect, are your first real point of connection with your prospective customer, so you need to get them right.

Your headline is important to your reader as it is a great indicator of your true ‘behaviour’. It should NOT try and sell to your reader, but should draw them towards wanting to continue reading the rest of your article. Don’t try and say too much in your article – make one point and do it well!

Using a ‘question’ in your headline is the most effective way of doing this. This is also something that the search engines like – especially when the rest of your article contains the answer!

A question, if written well, should be able to attract, intrigue or even to gently provoke your readers to want to read more. Using more ‘interesting’ verbs will help you do this.

Here is a quick example of how we would aim to attract architects to an article about the benefits of using design software. In this case, we use two powerful verbs – inspire and achieve.

“New Software Inspires Architect to Achieve Top Award“

The headline is not only intriguing, but it also alludes to the success or ‘legacy’ within the story.

Writing Headlines – Keep It Simple

There are different elements within any headline that readers will ‘connect’ with. You can’t squeeze all of them in at once, otherwise you could actually lose the impact you are wanting to create.

Some people suggest headlines should contain no more than seven words, but we have had equal success with longer titles. We would, however, suggest you keep them as simple and ‘to the point’ as possible.

Here are some simple guidelines:-

Ensure the message in your headline is clear and ‘to the point’
Your headlines should highlight the ‘benefit’ to your reader of reading your article
Get your headlines to ‘resonate’ with your reader by showing that you understand their pains or particular business issues

For help with creating powerful and attractive headlines for your chosen target audience, please call us on 08450 519 374. Alternatively, fill in your details below and one of our team will contact you.

Good Luck!

David Lomas, CEO
M3 Media Publishing

29Jan

Concept of content marketing and Google algorithm

By David LomasIn Content Marketing

Why is our content different?

Many people might ask the question: “As we already have content on our website and on our blog, why is your content going to make a difference?”

It depends whether or not the content you have already written on your website is attracting or, more importantly ‘engaging’ with your web visitors. In many cases where I assess websites, I find the content to be rather dull and uninspiring. Your content should have an impact on the reader and grab their attention with both your words and, of course your imagery.

To create ‘effective’ content, you first need to know ‘who your visitors are’ and ‘where they have come from’. You need to understand what frame of mind they are in when they reach your content.

By this I mean, are they a first time visitor or have they come to you after already having read an article that covers a particular issue?

In other words: Are they just researching or are they now ready to buy from you?

We can’t always know these answers, but if we construct a ‘route’ for our prospective customers to follow, then we have can better retain the focus of these prospects.

The way we write content is important but the overall solution for a successful content marketing strategy involves the creation of landing pages around your website, which focus on different customer types, or personas, and how to attract them to your door.

Allow me to explain…

Landing pages: How can they help to attract customers?

First you need to ‘connect’ with a possible target customer with a piece of information, a headline or an article, that is of interest to him.

It is critical that this content is published in a place relevant to your ‘chosen’ sector.

Your article needs to show an element of ‘understanding’ by the writer and ideally it should contain some research, that the writer has done – in order for it to be perceived as credible.

The main focus of your article should be on the issue that is relevant to the customer and it should stay focused purely on this one issue.

I see too many businesses trying to get multiple messages into one article, thereby overloading the reader with too much information, and thus losing his attention.

Within the article, there needs to be some mention of you or your business as someone who understands the particular issue. There should also be a brief illustration of how you have successfully helped other businesses, in a similar position, in the past.

There should also be a link for the reader to gain quick information about you, your expertise and your credibility. (Read my article on ‘The Speed of Influence’ and how it will shape business on the internet in the future)

This is what I mean by ‘effective’ content and it should now have gained the attention of your reader.

Create a ‘downloadable’ document

The next stage is to offer this reader a more in-depth report or ‘whitepaper’ style document about the same issue.

This is very powerful if it is relevant to his particular sector.

This content should be sitting on your website on a landing page that is solely focused on this same sector, so when the customer reaches the page, YOUR expertise in HIS sector is reaffirmed.

This keeps him in the state of mind that ‘you are the person to go to’ as you understand his sector.

Finally, If the headline on your document is sufficiently tempting to him, then he is very likely to give you his contact details in return for a download of your information.

For help with getting cleverly-written content in front of your chosen target audience, please contact me via: david @m3publishing.co.uk

David Lomas

27Jan

article marketing can help drive visits to your website

By David LomasIn Content Marketing

How can articles generate business for you?

Articles on their own, may not be enough to generate business for you.

The articles need to sit as part of the route that your prospective customer can choose to follow, that will eventually lead to your front door.

I refer to this route as the ‘customer corridor’ and your articles will work better when they form part of this route.

Very simply, you need to create a number of simple steps for your prospects to take to reach you.
If at each point, your prospect is given some idea that you can still be helpful to him, then the next step is for you to offer them another piece of valuable information.

Thus drawing the customer closer to you.

Think of this as if you were laying a trail of breadcrumbs for them to follow.

The final document should contain a little more ‘in-depth’ information for the reader, which follows the theme of your initial article. Thus retaining the focus of your prospective customer on whatever caught his attention in the first place.

This ‘teaser’ document, as I sometimes call it, should contain information that your reader really wants to see and it should ideally be placed within your website – and hidden from view.

This, critically, will then allow you to offer this information to your reader, in exchange for his email address.

Thereby completing the customers’ ‘route’ to your door and more importantly, providing you with a method of measuring and converting your reader into a partly-qualified prospect.

For help with writing articles that generate business, please contact me via: david @m3publishing.co.uk

David Lomas

Tag : article writing

How do I stand out more?

How can it grow my business?

How Valuable is Engaging Content?

The Means of Delivering Content

Attracting Interest with High Visibility

Attraction and Retention

The Legacy of Successful Content

Written Content – Leave it to the experts

What is the Best Type of Content for your Audience?

Why is Third Party Content so Valuable?

Writing Headlines – Keep It Simple