Your Content Must Answer Questions

Create Content That Answers Questions

Often, when creating content, marketers grasp at trying to come up almost anything that will be considered content, be it a blog post, a Facebook post, a tweet, news announced on their website or through another channel. All of that is content and it is great. However, is it answering your customers’ questions?

Like any other company product or service, your blog must give answer questions that customers have and meet their needs – in short, it must solve their problems, or point them to a solution.

It’s imperative that, when creating content, marketers should don the hats of their customers and ask themselves questions that customers are asking. Bloggers must ask whether they are helping their readers. Readers want content that they can glean information from when they go to a company website.

Autozone is a good example of doing this; their repair info page gives car owners information about how to diagnose and solve car problems, possible taking away the need to go to a mechanic, if they are mechanically inclined, or at least to go to a mechanic with enough information to explain the problem. Of course, if you need parts, AutoZone desires that you purchase them at their stores. By being helped, customers may be more inclined to do so.

Safeway is another example of providing recipes for quick meals on their website.Don’t know what to cook for dinner? They’ve got a variety of recipes to choose from. As well, they supply all of the ingredients.

So it’s not that difficult to create content. Remember, however, beyond it being content that people will like, it must be useful and it should answer their questions.

5 Tips on How to Network like an All-Star

Author: Jane Daniel, Director of Social Media & Client Relations at SPARKS!

Go alone

Going alone forces you to spend your time talking to someone new which maximizes the number of connections you make. When I have brought friends I’m usually left worrying if they are entertained and distracted from being present in the moment. Dave Kerpen, Founder & CEO Likeable Local, says “Show up alone, and challenge yourself to seek out others who are alone. They’ll thank you for approaching them.”

2. Build your credibility

There are basic body language tips: limit fidgeting, eye contact, and focused stance etc. In addition, building credibility is about being an active listener– showing them how you can solve their specific “pain-points” after listening to what they have to say about their business.

At a networking event, a woman came up to me to tell me about her services which was sales training, something that I was actually already in the market to buy. Instead of asking me about myself and my needs she went into a rehearsed elevator pitch, gave me a business card and moved on to the next person. I didn’t use her sales training course; there was no connection or relationship built.

3. Give before the ask

People are expecting for the ask– after all we are here to push our product and grow our business. Therefore, it’s unexpected when you offer to help first and will inspire devotion in others that will pay you back later down the road. Once you build your network up it becomes easy to connect people to the people they need to meet to accomplish their business goals.

4. Build rapport quickly

Zig Ziglar said “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” You have to project the “I care about you” attitude before people will even consider doing business with you. You can wow them with your track record or the roster of clients you have, but it means nothing if that person doesn’t feel like you “get” them.

If you still feel shy when talking to people for the first time, Leil Lowndes, author of “How to Talk to Anyone,” suggests imagining the potential client is an old friend “How sad, the vicissitudes of life tore you two asunder. But, holy mackerel, now the party (the meeting, the convention) has reunited you with your long-lost old friend!” Framing the situation in this way will soften your demeanor and help you relax– it will also invoke a quicker kinship from the other person. That kinship will build trust, which is the foundation of any business relationship.

5. Follow up in email or LinkedIn with everyone and snail-mail those who you think could be a real lead

This is the part everyone forgets. You spent all this time talking to each other, but you can’t convert them into a sale if that’s the last interaction you ever have.

A great follow up I received was a hand written card from someone I met at a Network Under 40 event. I loved that he took the time to write and mail that card. It made me feel like he cared and that I was special. We met for coffee the next week and although I was not a potential client, I will recommend him to my friends looking to buy a home.

Business cards are crucial to receiving or making follow-ups. It kills me when people don’t have business cards. Some forget them, which is understandable, but I have heard the “People find me” line (emphasis on the me). I respect that people may be afraid to be put on email lists, but hearing that says you don’t care about following up with me. Jon Gordon, author of “The Carpenter,” puts a new spin on the famous Steve Jobs quote and says, “Stay Humble, Stay Hungry.” Don’t be lackadaisical in your approach and expect people to seek you out. Gordon continues, “Live with humility because the minute you think you have arrived at the door of greatness it will get shut in your face.”

Read the post on LinkedIn Pulse here.

Social Media’s Influence on Consumers

Companies know they cannot survive without social media.

Social media, as we think about it, is about online platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, etc. Whether it is B2B marketing or B2C, or a company just wanting to establish its brand, social media is vital. We know it influences consumers.

Although social media is not the be-all and end-all of marketing, we cannot escape the fact that it drives so much of consumer behavior. Companies, non-profit organizations, schools, government agencies, politicians, Hollywood, etc. depend heavily upon social media to influence their target audience. It’s important because:

1. Word of Mouth Marketing. Yes, word of mouth marketing is the oldest form of social media. Reputation has always been an important factor in whether or not a consumer decides to patronize a company, vote for a political candidate or attend a specific school. Other people’s opinions influence, especially those whom we respect. That’s why brands aim to reach Innovators, those who are respected in a specific community, because those people’s opinions will then influence then next group, Early Adopters, who then influence the Early Majority.

2. Participation/engagement marketing. Social media allows brands to speak with their target audience, not to. It’s a two-way relationship. Consumers are more likely to respond to a brand that is listening to them, taking their considerations an responding appropriately. Having a conversation with your target audience is like having a conversation with your friend, spouse, or employee, in which listening is vital and the appropriate words are said.

3. Brief and to the point marketing. What’s great about social media is that it encourages brands to get to the point. In today’s impatient world, consumers want the information they are seeking right away. Brief descriptions of products and/or services challenge copywriters to be concise. Think of Hemingway’s style. Social media allows for only so much space to tell your story, whether it be in words, images or videos.

Email Marketing Writing Tips

First tip: Your email subject line must catch your audience.

Email marketing is an important strategy in any marketing campaign. As I wrote a while ago, email is the earliest form of social media marketing, predating Facebook, LinkedIn, and numerous populating the social media universe. Email is also the most personal, since companies, especially retailers and restaurants, can craft e-mails with interesting headlines and content that is based on each individual consumer’s unique purchasing history.

It’s also not going away. According to research from The Radicati Group, “The number of worldwide email accounts continues to grow from over 4.1 billion accounts in 2014 to over 5.2 billion accounts by the end of 2018. The total number of worldwide email users, including both business and consumer users, is also increasing from over 2.5 billion in 2014 to over 2.8 billion in 2018.” With the rise of smartphones and iPads to complement desktops and laptops, people have various devices on which they can check their e-mail.

How can marketers take advantage of this?

Short subject lines. Your email’s subject line should be short and to the point. What is the gist of the email? What are you trying to inform your audience about? Take that idea and break it down to come up with your subject line.

Be natural and personal. Your email should sound natural, instead of it being written by a robot. Of course, it should now sound like speech off the street. At the same time, your email should come across as personal, which will help you gain your reader’s trust.

Keep it short. Sometimes, marketers try to overload their readers with too much information and/or offerings in a one email, which inevitably means the length of the email will be too long. Keep it short and, like the subject line, concise. Have only one offering if there is an offering.

Let it skim. With how busy people are these days, they will not read an email all the way through if it is not a personal email. Arrange your email so that the reader can quickly grasp what you are communicating. Use bullets, lists, and short sentences to let the reader quickly get the main point.

Call-to-action. This tip is one that many people know to include, yet many people don’t. A call-to-action, such as buy, subscribe, or start now instills the urge to click.

Not sure how to reach your target audience through email? Contact SPARKS! to see how we can help you.

Google’s Mobile-Friendly Ranking

Is your website mobile-friendly? Not just, how does it look on a mobile phone, but is it being ranked by Google as being mobile-friendly?

Beginning on April 21, Google will be using mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. According to their the official Google Webmaster Central Blog, “This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results. Consequently, users will find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results that are optimized for their devices.” [Read more…]

Why You Should Have A Social Media Policy

It goes without saying that social media changes rapidly, something that was new on Tuesday could be considered ancient on Wednesday. It is a fast-moving machine. These days, almost any company that wants to reach its target audience engages in social media – Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.

However, many companies appear to lack a social media policy document that is a guide to how social media engagement should occur.

After social media session with Dena Lorenzi, we at Sparks would like to share with everyone what we learned about the necessity of having a social media policy.

Every company has an HR manual that details the rules and expectations of its employees, and the consequences of inappropriate behavior on the job. Yet, many companies do not think it is important to have a social media policy, which is a living document that can be updated regularly. It will also detail who in the company communicates via social media.

These are the stakeholders involved: marketing/communications, HR, Legal (and sometimes IT).

What should your social media policy have in it? Here are 4 characteristics of a social media policy –

Reputation – No one wants to have a bad reputation. It’s safe to say that we’d prefer to have no reputation instead. But companies need to have reputations so that customers will be able to know who they are, and having a good reputation will always go a long way. A social media policy will detail how you and your employees can maintain your company’s good reputation.

Privacy/Security – A good social media policy will also guide companies on how to maintain employees’ and customers’ confidential information, such as financials, addresses, and any other sensitive information that should not be posted, tweeted or made public in any manner.

Defining Social Media – A good social media policy will also answer and define what is social media. Social media ranges from blogging, to YouTube videos, to LinkedIn and Facebook posts, to Twitter communications, etc. And with so many new forms of communication coming out almost daily, companies can refer to their manual to determine if any of these fall under social media.

Ethics – A good social media policy will also define the ethics of behavior and kinds of communications that will contribute to whether or not your company has a good or negative reputation. Companies operate according to ethics and social media is no different – practice bad ethics and you will eventually fail; practice good ethics and positive results will follow.