Tag : content marketing agency

M3 Publishing >
31Oct
differentiationWhat is the Lasting Impact of Differentiation?

What is the Lasting Impact of Differentiation?

Differentiation can give your business a competitive advantage with prospects and customers, but only if you choose the right kind of differentiation and you have the right marketing strategy to achieve it.

For many companies, their focus is on making minor adjustments to products to try and differentiate them in the marketplace. This is very much a “new and improved” approach.

However, it is unlikely to yield lasting results.  In fact it can become a one-hit wonder, and end up negatively impacting how target audiences perceive your brand.

There is a way to look at differentiation differently and to use dynamic content to turn it into something with lasting impact.

 

Raising Awareness and Changing Perceptions

If you tell your story powerfully and differently enough, it can help to attract your target audience while building your credibility.

This is differentiation through strategic positioning, using content marketing as the means to achieve this.

 

Good quality, properly targeted content has the potential to engage and connect with audiences and help build and shape a brand’s personality

 

This is likely to have a more lasting impact than individual product differentiation because it is about your entire brand and what it represents to your audience.

What does this involve?  It means shaping narratives that are appropriate to your target audience, and that identify with their issues, needs, fears and pain points.

 

It is crucial to creating powerful story arcs that emphasise your expertise while focusing on what your audience wants to know

 

It is a measured, consistent process of disseminating information about you, creating a positive impression of you that stays in the minds of your audience.  It is not a hard sales message, nor is it to do with publicising your achievements.

What will differentiate you is depth. The more your audience feels it knows you, the more it will feel it can trust you, and, ultimately, buy from you.

 

What Could Differentiation Mean For YOU?

M3 Media Publishing hosted one of their regular, dynamic breakfast workshops in Central Manchester, which explored how differentiation can help your business to thrive.

For more information about these events, or to book your place, please watch the video below or click here.





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22Feb
linkedin content strategyHow Crucial is LinkedIn to Your Content Strategy?

How Crucial is LinkedIn to Your Content Strategy?

LinkedIn is a social media platform for business. It was launched in 2003, with a focus on career-development for its users. However, since then, things have changed.  What LinkedIn now offers is an excellent platform for B2B content marketing.

However, to use it effectively requires that you first have a content strategy.  If you do not, you risk treating LinkedIn too randomly, casually dipping in and out, without making any kind of impact, or, more importantly, the sort of connections that will mean more business for you.

 

What is Content Strategy?

A content strategy means working out how to use content to engage with others. Your content must have value for this to be effective, and you should be measuring the value of its effectiveness.

What is your strategy for?

 

You should be using content to achieve specific objectives, whether this is raising awareness of your brand, driving more sales or building useful relationships Click To Tweet

 

To meet these objectives with your content strategy requires you use certain tactics.

This is where LinkedIn can play a key role, as a social media channel to help you reach your objectives through the tactical use of content.

 

The Value of LinkedIn for Content

LinkedIn is not the biggest social media network, but it is full of business leaders, professionals and entrepreneurs. It is where you find decision-makers, people who are otherwise hard to reach.

How can you build relationships with these people? By engaging with them.

This is how to use your content on LinkedIn.

 

Your content is an asset, and it’s up to you to use it properly Click To Tweet

 

There are over 500 million LinkedIn users worldwide. On the one hand, that’s a lot of opportunity; on the other it presents a challenge. Where do you start?

The good news is that LinkedIn enables you to develop a targeted reach. Its members have profiles, CV details. You can set your parameters and filters. And you can connect with selected individuals.

Then you can strengthen these connections, and broaden your base, using carefully constructed content.

 

The right content can help position you as an authority in your field and help you attract interest from your target audience by addressing issues they are interested in Click To Tweet

 

Remember, LinkedIn is a platform especially for business people and professionals, therefore your content should be useful to them. Unlike on other social media platforms, business and work-related issues are the main reasons why they’re here. This should give you an in-built advantage with your content and how you shape and distribute it.

 

Visibility and Attraction

Being active means people are more likely to find you. This is a guiding principle behind using content online.  Fundamentally, creating content should give you greater visibility and attract people to your brand.

LinkedIn is a gift in this respect, because the more active you are on it, the more likely it is that prospects will find you.

Content will help them to do this, but first you must get it right.

 

The Tone of Your Content

B2B customers are people too. LinkedIn members are individuals, with emotional responses to content.  Just because LinkedIn is a social media platform for business doesn’t mean you should neglect the social aspect.

 

Your content must be engaging on a human, emotional level. Yes, it can still have weight, carry substance, but keep it readable and, most of all, make sure it resonates with its readers Click To Tweet

 

Posting content that reads like a dull, corporate report will not engage your target audience.  Content that makes them feel something, that stimulates their thoughts, will.

What are their pains and problems? What slant can you take on business issues that will appeal directly to their emotions, that will make them think you understand their needs?

Use your content to share the experiences that will be relevant to your target audience, inform and inspire them with your insight.

 

LinkedIn Users Trust Content

More people trust a brand’s social media content than its advertising, according to the Edelman Trust Barometer report of 2017.  Business Insider has reported that more users trust LinkedIn than either Facebook or Twitter.

People trust the information and advice given to them on LinkedIn. Trust is a powerful element when it comes to building business and winning new customers.

LinkedIn offers the opportunity to help build your reputation and build relationships on this kind of trust.

 

Content and Conversions

LinkedIn is neither a magic bullet nor a fast route to business success. It is, however, a hugely valuable platform from which to launch targeted content which can, in time, lead to sales conversions.

 

LinkedIn isn't about posting a single piece of killer content, but rather the cumulative effect of being consistent, and establishing a trustworthy presence on the platform Click To Tweet

 

This goes back to your content strategy. Treat content creation for LinkedIn as a long-term investment.

Be persistent, and patient, and then you will start to see significant returns.

To discuss how we can develop and turn your content into opportunities, please contact M3 Media Publishing.

 

For an additional read, please visit:

 





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11Jan
content marketingContent Marketing: What is Your Interest Rate? 

Content Marketing: What is Your Interest Rate? 

The internet is awash with noise from the sheer volume of its traffic and content. Everyone is vying for attention, whether it’s via a website or one of many social media channels.

All this competition has generated a certain obsessiveness over search engine rankings. In fact, a whole SEO industry thrives on it.

But the fact is, the internet is not simply the digital equivalent of the market trader’s stall, that is just a lot of banter and customer engagement, based on shouting louder than the competition.

 

The internet is a great generator of interest and continues to have enormous potential to be exploited

 

Content has become something of a watchword. But what does generating content really mean?

 

Generating Interest Around your Brand

Content marketing creates an expanding sphere of interest around something. This isn’t an intellectual exercise, rather it’s common sense.

 

Successful marketing and promotion has always been about telling stories. Content marketing takes this principle, runs with it and in doing so, increases the interest generated

 

The importance of being found on Google is an established fact. The key is in how to be found.

The beauty of generating interesting content is that not only can it result in a higher ranking, but also once users click through, they will actually find something of value to read about. This makes them much more likely to stick around.

 

The Value of Content Marketing

Our clients achieve multiple listings on page one of Google, which can be attributed to the success of the content that we generate for them.

 

It is difficult to measure the actual sales impact of content generation, but given the evolving nature of Google’s search algorithms, and the established fact that online audiences respond positively to meaningful content, it has a clear value

 

The content in our portfolio of digital magazines also has, what we call, ‘currency‘ – it has intrinsic value.

The next time you hear about the possibility of interest rates going up, think about the other interest rate – the interest in valuable content that reflects in Google rankings, attracts clicks, conversions and customers to you.

If you want to attract interest from your target prospects, using content that is valuable to them, please contact M3 Media Publishing.

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9Jul
content marketingCan Content Marketing Build Trust and Relationships?

Can Content Marketing Build Trust and Relationships?

Is content marketing a dubious concept? Some might think so, because it shifts the emphasis away from selling. However, this is precisely why content marketing can be so effective.

Content marketing is an essential means of building trust and relationships with prospects, contacts and customers in a digital age.

Imagine the traditional corner shop. It’s reputation in a neighbourhood may now be something of a cliché, but it can still be a place where the shopkeeper knows his customers well, where he has built face-to-face relationships with them, and where they trust him or her.

Content marketing helps to capture the essence of this corner shop experience and use it to help businesses reach out and connect with their target audience.

It uses three special ingredients to do this: personalisation, customer-focus, and value.

 

Make Content Marketing Personal

The digital experience, as a customer, can feel very remote and impersonal. However, using online channels can personalise what a business can offer, providing they use them in the right way.

Social media provides the perfect, organic marketing platform, providing you have the kind of content that can tap into your audience’s likes, needs and concerns.

Just like the shopkeeper talking to customers over the counter, ensure that your content makes your audience feel like you’re talking to them, directly and personally.

 

Concentrate on the Customer

Rather than attempting to sell something to your audience, your content should be empathetic, offers something of value and sees things from their perspective.

By making your audience know that you understand them, this allows them to build trust in you.

Good shopkeepers ask customers how they are, what ails them, what they’re interested in. It’s about the customer, first and foremost.

 

Give Good Value

If you give something extra, freely, people appreciate this. It’s a proven part of customer service and it works for content.

Content adds value because it addresses issues and recognises problems, and you can offer it as free advice to your prospects and customers.  What do you want in return? Enough to be able to build a dialogue with your audience.

Using certain tools and analytics, we know exactly who is taking an interest in us and, in some instances, know what their pains are before they have spoken to us.  This enables us to have a much focused dialogue.

Content marketing helps businesses build relationships and trust. By explicitly not selling, you’ll be surprised at the opportunities that you can generate.

To discover how content can build trust and relationships with your audience, call M3 Media Publishing on 0161 922 8571 or contact us.

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