If you want to develop your content marketing strategy in a company, from scratch, starting from the blog, publishing content based on SEO or also establishing a company profile on social media, including on Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin or YouTube.

Why is it worth having a content marketing strategy?

Content specialists will surely give you many reasons. However, if no one has ever tried to convince you to create a content marketing strategy for your company – here we are!

Having a clear content marketing strategy is much easier to present and explain the activities of the marketing team to other teams in the company that often do not understand or see the benefits of strictly content activities. A clear strategy gives them the opportunity to engage in various initiatives and facilitates communication between departments, e.g. sales and marketing. If you still think that not everyone in the company may be interested in what will be published on the company’s blog or Facebook, I present an example:

A. Your company sometimes publishes something on a blog, usually when the copywriter had a moment off. The person commissioned to take care of the fanpage uploads a maximum of two posts per week on Facebook – but these do not collect much likes (and no one even dreams about comments). Your company on both Google and Facebook has a maximum of 5 reviews – three written by friends of employees and two negative (of course, no one answered) – does this remind you of something? This is a very common example of a company that does not manage its content activities and does not have any pre-determined content marketing strategy. This can be changed very simply. How several guidelines will improve communication that will positively affect the content delivered to your company’s recipients? – about this in example B.

B. With the help of the Content Marketing guide, step by step, or using other sources and your own experience, you create a content marketing strategy – you specify a group of recipients, audit existing activities and check what should be improved, and what went well, you dedicate specific people who will posted on social media and on the blog, you set the publication schedule and distribution method. Finally, this strategy is also presented to other departments, which will most likely add some of their comments and inspiration.

Effect?

People dealing with publications have in store ideas for content (in addition in various formats), what’s more, the sales department eagerly uses published content and uses the more interesting fragments, e.g. sharing them with potential customers who may be interested in given issues. The analytics department sends some nice data from which you can then create an interesting infographic or blog entry. Both the website and fanpages notice more traffic, and customers encouraged by the sales department write some positive reviews. It doesn’t stop there, of course.

Of course, the presented scenario only looks simple. To create a content marketing strategy, and then to enforce it and improve the published content over time, you need to work a bit. Nevertheless, you can start with small steps.

Benefits of having Content Marketing strategies in a company

We marketers are well aware of the benefits of our activities. We know perfectly well that thanks to our publications traffic on the site increases, and this translates into an increase in requests for an offer or an increase in purchases. We also see that the original texts on the site and communication tailored to recipients in social media brings an ever wider group of readers and gathers more and more active fans who read eagerly browse company profiles. It’s logical for us! However, for people who do not deal with marketing on a daily basis, our work often seems incomprehensible, and its benefits are often questioned and undermined. That is why we decided to convince the doubters, including this entry.

Here are the benefits for which you should have a content marketing strategy:

– building the company’s image and recognition (in a relatively cheap way),
– strengthening the position of the website in Google – by providing more content, well optimized for SEO,
– complementing other marketing and sales activities,
– positive impact on relationships with customers: brand fans, brand followers and potential customers,
– strengthening the company’s position as a leader among competitors (maybe your competition is still conducting its activities as in example A),
– as a result of these actions: increasing sales.

And a lot more! You can convince yourself of them only if you finally start acting!

Content Marketing – discussed forms of publication

Let’s start with the fact that content can take many forms. So we are not only doomed to simple blog entries, although these never go out of style. Definitely, in 2020 you need to be tempted to diversity and provide information to recipients in various forms, such as:

– blog entries,
– interviews,
– checklists,
– short entries, e.g. in social media,
– guides
– ebooks
– presentations,
– graphics,
– infographics,
– pictures,
– collages,
– Memes,
– short video formats,
– longer video formats,
– live video,
– webinars,
– podcasts,
– case studies,
– reports,
– sheets,
– reviews,
– diagrams,
– games and quizzes,
– competitions,
– UGC – that is all forms related to your product or service that your recipient / customer creates.
– and others that creativity will allow.

Since there are so many options, how to decide which channels and formats will be the most suitable for a given business and target group? Calm head, we are already answering!

Content Marketing activities

There is nothing to hide, this post is also a content marketing activity. We want to give knowledge, but also create a community of marketers around us. Maybe today they do not need our support, but maybe in six months they will go to a new company, they will be faced with new challenges and then they will remember us.

At Paraphrase Online, we’ve focused on several transmission axes, the key to providing industry knowledge.

We create customer guides, blogs and educational entries, we share infographics, we are transparent as a company. Of course, each form also has preferred channels. For example, about transparency, payroll and results are best shared on Linkedin, where the business environment involved is particularly interested in such data. Infographics are great sellers on social media (including on Facebook), and e.g. blog provides us traffic straight from the search engine.

You can use our knowledge and experience, their cumulative dose has been made available on our blog.

Regardless of whether you run a clothing store, an automotive parts store, a gardening equipment store, a health food store, you have one specific goal – for example, getting customers and increasing sales. An online store advertisement comes in handy, thanks to which you can reach a wide audience. This is the beginning of the road, but you are not far from success.

Online store advertising – possibilities

Wondering what online advertising options you have? Internet marketing is a very broad concept, thanks to which you will choose solutions adequate to your needs and expectations. Importantly, online store advertising should not focus on just one tool at all. To increase your chances of success, it is worth acting on many levels. Many forms of online advertising complement each other perfectly, thanks to which a larger group of potential customers can get to know you.

– Google Ads
This is a paid online store advertisement that gives quick results. Therefore, it will be great when you are just starting a business and your brand is not yet known.

As part of Google Ads, you can use, among others from sponsored links. They are displayed in the search engine – above the organic results – after entering specific keywords. After clicking the user is redirected to your store. This is a very effective method of advertising because for the average user Google Ads do not differ from organic results. It is also worth adding that they are well-matched to the client’s queries and thus get what he expects.

Another option is given to banner campaigns, which are implemented with the participation of portals cooperating with Google Ads. The banner is displayed on the given website – after clicking on the graphic the user is redirected to the online store.

The third option is Google Shopping – a tool with which you can promote specific products in the search engine. The user entering the product name receives the results in a special box – a link to the product appears along with the name of the store, price and photo.

– Advertising on Facebook
Statistics show that most people use at least one social networking site. Facebook is the most popular and, among other things, you should mark your presence there.

One of the forms of advertising is your own fanpage, through which you can establish long-term relationships with customers and engage in dialogue with them. It is also a good way to build brand awareness.

The fanpage itself is not enough – especially if the store takes its first steps. Facebook campaigns come in handy to help you adapt to your needs. The form of advertising can be, for example, sponsored posts appearing on the board of potential customers or in Messenger. There are a lot of advertising formats on Facebook, from static to carousels and movies.

– Content marketing
Content marketing is not direct advertising. It is a series of activities on the Internet that primarily allow you to increase brand awareness, build an image of an expert or gain leads.

These activities can be carried out in many ways, however, the publication of thematic articles on external websites and the publication of articles on a company blog plays a major role. These are content activities that we know widely, but there are many more and they can also be much more sophisticated. Let store actions serve as an example. A simple loyalty mechanism (stickers = reward) was turned into a content self-play. Such action provides a lot of sought after content. Thus, a powerful envelope of content is created around the programs.

Online store advertising – why is it worth it?

The need to incur financial expenses for advertising on the Internet raises many questions – including those related to profitability. Although it’s hard to get a clear answer, one thing is certain: online store advertising has many advantages and is extremely measurable. So you can make budget transfers to the most promising channels in real time!

– Wide range
Internet advertising is distinguished by a very wide range. It allows you to reach hundreds of thousands of recipients – not only in your country, but also in the world. This is especially important if you are considering selling products also abroad. A wider reach means reaching more users with more potential customers among them.

– Unlimited access to the offer
Unlimited access to online stores means that an online store ad does not have to be displayed at certain times. It reaches the recipient virtually 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

– Precise targeting
Online store advertising – regardless of the tool chosen – allows you to precisely identify the target group and then reach it. This increases the chances of the recipient carrying out a specific action, e.g. placing an order, subscribing to the newsletter.

– Speed of campaign launch
An online advertising campaign can be launched very quickly. What’s more, it is possible to reach a wide audience as soon as the campaign starts. This works great for online stores starting out, which – in the case of offline advertising – would have to wait much longer for results.

– Affordable costs
Traditional forms of advertising can cost a lot – unlike online advertising. It is much cheaper, which allows you to achieve your business goals with a lot less money. Thanks to this, every online store has a chance to appear on the web – regardless of its scale.

– High flexibility
Online store advertising is characterized by great flexibility. You can modify the parameters of individual campaigns – so that they bring the expected results. And all this without having to increase advertising expenditure.

– Possibility of constant monitoring of effects
Internet advertising is fully measurable. It is possible to systematically monitor effects using various tools. Thanks to this – if a given form of promotion does not meet expectations – it can be modified or completely eliminated.

Online advertising of an online store is a profitable investment. Compared to other forms of advertising, it provides the best ratio of campaign costs to results.

1. A negative approach to marketing in social media itself

If you think social media is not suitable for your industry and its associated demographics, then you are probably wrong. Many people still think that social media is only interested in teenagers and technology fans. However, this situation has changed a long time ago. For example, one study found that the fastest-growing Twitter age group is between 55 and 64 years old. In turn, the fastest-growing demographic group on Facebook is in the range of 45-54 years. Social media has penetrated all layers of our society. That’s why you can use them to reach virtually any target groups that are relevant to you.

2. Lack of goals and target group arrangements

Knowing who your audience is can be the biggest challenge you face. When creating a campaign, it is important that you identify your target group and tailor your activities to it:
– Who did I create this product for / I offer the service?
– Do I try to reach adults, adolescents, men or women?

All these questions are important from the point of view of identifying the target group, so you can set your initial campaign goals. Once you have defined your group, you should determine how to measure the success of the campaign. To do this, set parameters and define your goals and KPIs:
– How many customers do you want to reach and with what commitment?
– Is your attention just focused on increasing brand awareness or do you want to direct traffic to the company website?

The more you specify your goals, the better!

3. Lack of measurement of results

Social media marketing is a powerful way to promote your brand. In addition, you can track all your activities and progress in real time. This allows you to make strategic changes to your campaign over time. You can stop inefficient advertising to save your budget until it is re-optimized. Expecting amazing results from the first post or campaign is a bit too optimistic. To succeed, you’ll always need a series of patches and tests to get the results you want.

4. Vague and overly general actions

Should you be on all social platforms? Probably not.
If you want to conquer all platforms, it will be rather difficult for you to create unique and high-quality content on each of them. The mere handling of profiles and interaction with the target group also takes time. You also need to choose your marketing channel accordingly. If you operate on one platform, but your target group is on another, you won’t do much. You can choose to choose only one or combine several. Remember not to overdo it and consistently generate good content for selected platforms.

5. Avoiding, deleting and counterattacking negative comments

Negative comments give you the chance to improve the quality of services and build trust in your brand’s community. When a customer is dissatisfied with the service and makes a sharp negative comment, many brands decide to ignore it, and some even try to remove it or respond with even harsher statements. Look at it from a different perspective.

This situation is an opportunity to turn a complaining customer into a satisfied customer – one who will remember your culture and patience.
Therefore, take negative comments seriously and try to solve the problem the client is facing. Reply directly to the comment, and then move the matter to a private channel.

6. Too many self-promotion

– Buy it.
– Download it.
– We were here.
– Wait for our latest offer.

Imagine you are following a brand that publishes only this type of content. Each individual post is self-promotional – it adds no value to you. Nothing fun, nothing motivating, no interaction with customers.

Would you be honestly interested in such a brand?

Social media is a fantastic place to build and develop your community. This is where you can get feedback and establish long-term customer relationships. Therefore, follow the 20/80 rule, where 20% of your posts are self-promotion, and the remaining 80% is a specific added value for your recipients. This balance will help you subtly promote yourself while not overwhelming with your messages.

7. Not using different content formats

Is your fanpage not like a boring history book?
Large blocks of text without graphics make the content monotonous. The text itself is not engaging enough. If you want to effectively attract attention, in addition to text, place photos, infographics and videos. Facebook users watch over 100 million hours of movies a day. Individual content formats also have different results in terms of engagement. In a survey prepared by Paraphrase-Online, marketers determined which forms of content brought the best results:

– 40% – original graphics (e.g. infographics).
– 23% – movies and presentations.
– 20% – charts and data visualizations.
– 12% – stock photos.
– 5% – gifs and memes.

People love graphic content because they are easier to learn than just reading text. Therefore, try to combine it with photos and videos.

Summary

Promoting your company on social media is an activity that will definitely bring benefits. Therefore, avoid the mistakes listed here, and you’ll see the results you want much faster.

First a good word

First of all, it is worth realizing that March was dramatic only for a few industries, such as catering and hotel industry. Services also started to slow down considerably, but the first two weeks of the month allowed a slight amortization of the financial result for the whole month. However, there were a lot of industries in our online garden, which even soared up and pulled the overall picture hard enough to relatively even the results of all campaigns.

An online business, before it decides to limit or suspend expenses as a result of emotions, should first consider whether it makes sense. In many cases, irrational decisions can result in the forfeiture of earning opportunities. In other cases, there may be opportunities for savings. All this requires deep analysis and embedding it in the entire economic context. Before you make a decision, think over the topic twice and consult the topic with your agency or freelancer.

Offline to Online – who can’t

Undoubtedly, each business should be treated individually. For all companies that cannot move from the Internet for various reasons, we recommend that they create various bricks, vouchers and coupons that can be redeemed at a later time. For now, it is difficult to predict how the situation will unfold, but it is reasonable to assume that in the coming months, there will be less money on the market, and the will to spend them may be less. Therefore, if you are a hairdresser, photographer, selling accommodation or undertaking other activities that need to be postponed, then today start the form of sales “for later”. The later you do this, the less customers will be able to spend money.

In addition, if your business is standing, you can successfully use this time to strengthen your competences in the area of e.g. online advertising. Once the battle dust settles – and it settles down – then the competition will be really fierce. Therefore, it is worth taking care of the tools and additional competences that will pay off later.

Transformation from offline to online – who can

Fortunately, there are plenty of businesses on the market that can at least partially transfer to online. Here are some real-life examples:

A small store in the construction category/house and garden.
This industry is currently doing very well on the internet. If you don’t have an online store, you can try your hand at online auctions with virtually no startup costs. Of course, the competition is powerful there, but you can also use the advertising system. These are internal ads that you only pay for when you switch to your offer. It’s very fair and will allow you to download (with proper design), caloric movement. Of course, online auctions will also charge a commission and you should calculate your sales well, especially taking into account the services that users like. People, taking advantage of the “opportunity” went to small or large renovations in their homes. Thanks to the favorable weather, they also decided to refresh their gardens. Everything – from flower pots to tulip bulbs, is currently selling perfectly.

A small shop from the industry category
There are plenty of stationary and at the same time small industrial chemistry stores as well as individual pieces of given products from heavier categories. Such stores should use their supplier base as soon as possible and lead their activities to the Internet. At Paraphrase-Online.com, we’ve seen a huge increase in product searches and purchases such as glove dispensers, but also power generators and portable freezers. Sale of even several dozen such products will allow you to survive the most difficult time of such small stores.

Gastronomy
Do you currently run a restaurant without customers? Already a lot of such businesses have quickly dealt with this by turning waiters into … drivers. If you do not want to use ready-made applications, you might as well create a simple promotion and post sponsored on Facebook, which informs you about the offer and encourages you to order take-out food. Believe me – if customers like your kitchen, they will successfully use your offer with delivery.

Courses
Like mushrooms after rain, companies that have so far trained only offline have grown up on the Internet. Many freelancers or service providers have joined this trend – even as hairdressers or make-up artists. They can all transfer their knowledge online. The success of this sector is also reflected by the fact that everyone sitting at home is looking for new ideas not only how to survive a difficult time, but also to get out of the intensified situation. It is therefore a great moment to raise your competences, the more that online courses are usually cheaper and often available in the on demand formula, which is when we want to. The same applies to language schools.

From online to … online

It is not, however, that only offline businesses got a slap. There are online stores which, due to their product range, have also seen large declines. In this case, it is worth considering introducing new products that are just selling well and will be somehow related to our business.

Not everyone is eager to see this because of the laboriously built brand. After all, we are building a brand based on given products. Everything depends on how severe the situation is for a given business. Brand is important, but if you are wondering whether your business will survive at all, it may be time for – at least temporarily – the evolution of the product range.

You can find the full article on the topic here.

From detail to general

Above were the specifics. If, after reading the above, you still don’t know what to do next, general tips on how to respond to changes may help you. Remember that they should be treated randomly and only part of them may be justified in your situation.

A. Move from offline to online in various ways – choose the best promotion channel for you and do anything – training in your field, voucher, delivery on the phone or quickly set up an online store.
B. Analyze data – check what sells, capture trends, learn to sew masks if you have no other choice.
C. Copy other solutions that work. Instead of finding innovative and incredibly creative processes, you can use what already works. In the short term, it’s simply worth it.
D. Try to transfer your employees to online.
E. If they are at home anyway and work efficiency decreases, it is worth creating even a mini incentive program in promoting your company or selling products. They can just as well take care of your company’s image. If your employees are at home and cannot do much for the company and its clients, then you can involve them in creating content. They can create content for your blog or website, they can expand existing things, they can respond to opinions about the company in various channels, and they can also temporarily take over your various marketing channels like Facebook, so that your profiles remain active. Here a lot depends on creativity.

We hope that every business will survive this storm and return to the strengthened market. Good luck!