Thought Leadership
Marketing Mondays with Marci B.
I used to work for a guy named Tom and he taught me the importance of thought leadership within your industry. We used to have hours-long brainstorming sessions, complete with easels, whiteboards and Sharpies. No matter what I proposed, he always wanted to know, "How does this give us a unique perspective in the industry? What does the competition have to say about this? What problem does this help our customers solve?" He was adamant about being "first to paper," and differentiating ourselves within the industry through thought leadership.
Here are a few ways to share a unique perspective:
- New industry segments
- New uses for current products
- New product developments
Here are some of the most common forms of content to develop thought leadership:
1. Infographics
Infographics, like the name, are a combination of information and graphics. Though they vary in size, they are most often created as PDFs and posted on websites or social media platforms. Vector illustrations, geometric shapes, graphs, statistics and hyperlinks are all popular infographic content. Be sure to connect your content with a customer pain point and offer a call-to-action with contact information.
2. Webinars
You've seen an ad on LinkedIn or Facebook for free information on a topic, and before you knew it you were signed up for a webinar. You shared your name and email, and maybe even your phone number and job title to reserve your space. They give you great information, and at the end of the webinar let you know how their services can help you solve your problem. Shortly after, they contact you via email or telephone to see what you thought of the webinar and schedule and appointment to learn more about you or your business. That's a lead generation process for webinars.
It's that easy for your business to generate quality prospects through webinars. You can create a high-end webinar with professional videography, but plenty of businesses have found success with PowerPoint presentations and narration.
3. White Papers
Much like webinars, white papers attract qualified leads. Instead of focusing on graphics and visuals, white papers focus more on content. These content think pieces are usually a few short pages, and can be formatted in PDF form or even produced as a long-form blog. Utilize proper formatting such as headings, image titles, page titles, and metatags to maximize SEO opportunities.
4. eBooks
eBooks focus heavily on content, but are much longer than white papers. They can vary in size, from small chapbooks to digital versions of full-length models. eBooks provide the most opportunity to share thorough information with prospects and customers. The versatility of eBooks allows authors to use them as a lead generation tool or offer it as a revenue-generating product. You have the flexibility to embed media such as images, video and website hyperlinks. eBooks can be interactive or static. Many authors use eBooks as a launch pad for offering additional products such as online classes, coaching packages, consulting services, hidden bonus content and other marketing materials.
Set yourself apart from the competition and become a thought leader.
For more information on developing athought leadershipcontent strategy, contact Marci B. Marketing & Management at 248-838-9458 or marci@marcibmarketing.com.
Further reading:
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/250414
https://marketinginsidergroup.com/content-marketing/what-is-thought-leadership-and-when-you-should-u...
http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/9253-thought-leadership.html
https://imagebox.com/industry/thought-leader-become-one/
http://www.cio.com/article/2867406/marketing/how-to-use-ebooks-to-improve-your-content-marketing-str...
Webinars offer business owners an opportunity to interactively engage with many customers at once, which saves plenty of time on individual consults. You also have the ability to host a Q&A session where prospects can answer questions that can be applicable to other webinar attendees.
A strong digital footprint is a great way to attract attention to your business. Although social media presence is good, it is important to have a website when establishing credibility as a business. Here are a few web design fundamentals to consider when creating or updating your website.
Creating marketing messaging should make a business owner wonder what their customers would do, and it is essential to have the answers before heavily investing in ads.
Consider the different types of customers you have or want, and how their needs for your product may differ.
Creating buyer personas and tailoring messages to each customer segment will help you increase conversions, reduce churn and increase brand loyalty.
Despite many options for digital marketing, email remains a fundamental part of any campaign. Email marketing is one of the easiest ways to get your content directly to traffic you own,
whether your message is promotional or conversational. You can easily share information such as corporate updates, sales, product launches, free downloads and more.
Key Performance Indicators are aligned with high-level business goals, ensuring that marketing efforts contribute to overall business success. In order to have proper marketing KPI, you should also have a business plan, as it is the main reference point for indications of marketing KPI.
Every business owner has to invest to acquire new customers. Maximize your opportunity to interact with excited customers who already have their credit cards in hand. Recommend other products to enhance your customer's buying journey and increase your return on investment for customer acquisition costs by upselling customers with impulse buying.
Many companies spend money on advertising but fail to benefit from a profitable return on their investment. They lose prospective customers when they fail to provide a funnel for nurturing leads. The two biggest pitfalls for an advertising campaign are tracking results and converting leads. Landing pages give customer more information specific to their promotion of interest and capture customer information.
Today's customers are bombarded with marketing messages all day, every day. They have learned to easily tune out traditional advertising such as radio and television by changing the station or choosing commercial-free stations. In
a digital age where everyone wants information at their fingertips but no one actually wants to be "sold", how does the business owner connect to an audience to give them information on demand without being "salesy"?
Marketing and advertising are terms that get easily confused or misunderstood.
Advertising is an element of marketing, but it does not encompass how broad marketing can be.
A common mistake is developing a marketing plan that only consists of advertising. A true marketing strategy impacts many departments including product development, research, sales, customer service, operations and more.
Traditionally, creating an ad for television costs customers thousands of dollars for production and distribution. Cable providers and streaming sites are offering customers the option to remove or fast-forward commercials. Mobile devices, tablets, and the growing popularity of new media has given business owners the unique opportunity to produce distribute video for little to no cost. Technology, editing software and video-based websites have made it easier than ever for businesses to create and share videos. According to HubSpot.com : 2016 saw a surge in the popularity of video as a content marketing format. From 360-degree videos to Facebook Live , marketers are responding to audiences' shorter attention spans by making content more interactive and visual -- and it's paying off. Video is growing to dominate your audience's online activity: 78% of people watch videos online every week, and 55% watch videos online every day. If you don't already have a video marketing strategy in place for your website and social media, you're missing a tremendous opportunity to reach and engage with your audience. Consumers are bombarded with marketing messages all day long, and as a result have become increasingly impatient when it comes to advertising. Videos are a quick way to share lots of information. They let you communicate through words, images and motion all at once. You can even include typography and imagery to insert things like websites and logos. According to Dan Griego with Video Editing Sage , there are five main uses for video. Corporate Webinars Company Culture Videos Event Videos Video PowerPoint Presentations Sales and Marketing Online Marketing Videos Promotional Videos Testimonial Videos Giveaways Videos Product Videos Information Training Videos Video Tips Series Animated Explainer Videos Educational Videos Entertainment Music Videos Travel Videos Documentary Videos Legacy Videos News Digital (Online) Journalism videos Interview Videos Video PSAs (Public Service Announcements) Here are a few different styles of video to consider: Animation: Uses illustrations and special effects. Often used for corporate branding, entertainment or information. Presentation: Uses presentation software such as PowerPoint for creation. Often used for education, sales and news. Photo Collage: Uses photographs with transitions and narrations. Often used for entertainment and news. Motion Picture: Uses video footage to create video, may include narration and photographs. Most used style of video. For more information on how to integrate video into your marketing strategy, contact Marci B. Marketing & Management at 248-838-9458 or marci@marcibmarketing.com Further reading: http://www.videoeditingsage.com/types-of-video-productions.html https://blog.hubspot.com/ marketing /2017-year-of- video - marketing http://www.huffingtonpost.com/swati-joshi/why- video - marketing -is-th_b_9230342.html https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/02/03/ video - marketing -the-future-of-content- marketing /#6e0422c86b53 https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/blog/5-secrets-super-successful- video - marketing https://www.forbes.com/sites/ajagrawal/2017/02/01/lights-camera-engagement-2017-is-the-year-of- video - marketing /#692848832315 https://www.wirebuzz.com/video-marketing-trends-2017/ https://www.martechadvisor.com/articles/ video - marketing -ads/4-predictions-for- video - marketing -in-2017/ https://blog.bufferapp.com/video-marketing http://www.socialmediatoday.com/marketing/7-video-marketing-trends-2017-and-what-they-mean-you
