Content Mastery Guide

Editor and Ghostwriter

Five reasons to write an article, not an ad

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At a recent event for business owners, a lot of people were talking about the best way to spend your advertising dollar.

My advice? Use your advertising dollar to create a blog where you post high-quality informational articles that solve the problems of your ideal clients. Bonus: You'll probably even have money left over!

Here are my five reasons to write an article, not an ad:

  1. Ads are about selling, articles are about giving. When people browse online, they're not out to spend money. They're looking for information about YOUR area of expertise. If you supply those solutions generously, professionally and effectively, they will remember you when they ARE ready to spend. 
  2. Ads are all about you, articles are all about your reader. People are focused on their own needs. When you write high-quality articles about the topics they care about, it shows that you care about them!
  3. Ads suck you dry, articles build you up. Paying for an ad dings your wallet and may or may not result in new business. Writing an article about a problem you help solve, on the other hand, helps you develop yourself and improve the services you deliver.
  4. Ads are an intrusion, articles are a solution. People mute commercials on TV, toss flyers in the trash and curse at telemarketers. High-quality information about a topic they care about will always be appreciated.
  5. Ads say you have money, articles say you have knowledge. When you reveal your expertise and your personality in your writing, people will come to know, like and trust you. If you've shown you're a good match for their needs, then when they're ready to purchase a service, they will think of you first.

Content marketing is a highly effective form of promotion that works to attract your ideal clients. Before you decide where to spend your next advertising dollar, consider spending it on content marketing instead.

The three Rs of content marketing

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As I'm getting ready for the big move from Toronto to Barrie, one of the tasks on my list is to sign up for a "peak saver" program with the electricity company. I want to make sure I'm doing everything I can to reduce my energy footprint (as well as save costs!).

That got me thinking about the "three Rs" and how they relate to content marketing.

Reduce – You can practice this concept in a couple of ways. First of all, make sure you reduce the number of ideas in an article or blog post so that you're left with ONE main topic and some supporting points.

Next, reduce your personal energy output by batching your tasks for maximum efficiency. For example, if it's "brainstorming time," and you're in the flow of new ideas and creativity, stay with that instead of trying to switch back and forth to other types of tasks.

Reuse – Revisit topics you've covered before, by updating them, combining them with links to other relevant posts, or demonstrating the ideas with a story from your own experience or your client work.

Recycle – Recycle your content into a new format. For example, tweet about your blog post or expand it into a longer article for your newsletter. Or take your email newsletter and turn it into a printed handout you can bring to a face-to-face networking event.

How do you reduce, reuse or recycle your content? Which of these ideas would you like to try? Please leave a comment below.

Busy time ahead? Don’t lose momentum on your content marketing

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The topic of last week's Small Business Buzz Twitter chat was Vacation Strategies.

While it's not a vacation, I AM looking ahead towards some down time from my business. That's because the Content Mastery Guide is relocating to beautiful Barrie, Ontario. That's right, Patch and I are moving!

Adding to the excitement (and a bit of stress) is that it's all happening relatively quickly towards the end of September. And there's a lot to do between now and then!

I knew that if I was going to keep up with my regular content marketing goals AND keep telling you about the new content writing solutions I'm putting together for you, I had better plan ahead.

First, I used Charlie Gilkey's blog post planner to plot out the categories I want to focus on over the next few months, and I filled in a few article ideas I'm already brewing for each category.

Then, I used his blog post calendar to put together a content strategy that laid out precisely which pieces of content will go out on which date. This document went beyond an editorial calendar, and helped me look at:

  • The types of content I want to be sharing, both in this blog and with the members of the Content Mastery Action Club
  • The best timing for each type of content, based on what's happening in my business
  • The different resources and services that I offer, and how to weave my content strategy through all of these solutions so that the right people hear about them   

The real bonus is that I'll be able to replicate this strategy long after I'm settled in Barrie.

How do you plan ahead when you know you'll be away from your business? Please comment below.

Conversation starters help you share your content

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I can really relate to what Lena West recently wrote about the cobbler's son having no shoes. [Update January 12, 2013 – the article is no longer posted at the original link.]

Since Kristen Beireis and I talked about conversation starters (social media updates that build on and link back to my recent blog posts), I've noticed my mentors and colleagues using them, and I've even been creating them for some of my clients!

But until very recently, I haven't been using them myself! 

While I have Typepad set up to automatically publish each new blog post to Twitter, after that the sharing stopped. My contacts on Twitter and LinkedIn had to be online and watching me in their stream the instant that I published, or they would never see it.

Now, I'm writing several social media updates about the topic of each post, and sending them out over the following days. While Kristen's stance was that you should not include a link in all of your updates, I think it's a good point of reference for the conversation you're trying to start. From there, you can engage with people directly.

Here are just three of the reasons that conversation starters are such a good idea:

  1. You'll reach more people than just those who happened to be online when you published or posted about your new content.
  2. You can learn more about your readers and what they're interested in, by monitoring, measuring and analyzing which links they click on.
  3. You can stay active and visible on social media without having to think of brand new conversation topics each time you post.