The benefits have been discussed in the past…

• Attract Traffic
• Gain Brand Awareness
• Get More Leads
• Get More Sales
• Establish Yourself as an Expert
• Earn Trust
• And the list goes on and on…

But to get all of those benefits from a single piece of content is very difficult to do. It’s certainly not impossible…but I’ll make the claim that it is impossible to do so on a consistent basis with every piece of content you create.

Focusing on a good mix of content, on the other hand, is much more sustainable and realistic.

The Three Types of Content

With every piece of content you create there should be an end goal in mind. It could be to get more subscribers, to entertain your readers, to share an opinion, to start a discussion, to send your brand message, etc. I can keep going, but you probably don’t have all day (and there’s other great content here for you to read! ).

I would place content into three main categories based on the desired outcome: informative, persuasive and exposure-oriented.

Informative: This is the type of content that shares information. It can be about industry news, or about your product, or a piece of how-to content teaching the reader. Informative content lies in anything from blog posts to “about” pages.

Persuasive: This is the type of content where you try to persuade a visitor to take a certain action. It could be to subscribe to your list, or to purchase your product, or to respond to a survey…or any other action you would want someone to take.

Exposure-Oriented: This is the type of content that you create to try to expand your audience and give yourself a momentum boost by attracting a lot of traffic. While you certainly can’t guarantee that a piece of content you create will go viral, there are certain methods that will ensure that you get that extra boost.

Hitting on all three types of content is what I would call a content mix bulls-eye. But focusing on at least one, or preferably two, of these with each piece of content you create will go a long way.

The Content Mix Timeline

When you can formulate and plan out a good mix of the the three content types, you should experience steady growth in your online business presence.

The growth should look something like this:

The Content Mix Colors…

In the not-so-scientific graph above, I’ve color coded the three different content types and how they contribute to online business growth over time.

The blue line represents informative content, the red represents exposure-based and the pale-greenish color (good color choice, right?) represents persuasive content.

The majority of the content you create should be informative. It should teach and share valuable information. This builds trust in you as an expert on the subject, and steadily builds a reader base as you go about promoting that content.

The red spikes are the exposure-based content that you want to throw into the mix occasionally. This is the kind of content you create with the intention of increasing your site’s/blog’s exposure. This type of content usually results in short-term traffic spikes. The important thing is to come out the other end of the spike with an increased audience. Although you won’t keep all of the new visitors on board, it is an accelerant in your steady progress.

And finally, the beautiful pale green line is the persuasive content. This is the type of content that asks your audience to complete a certain task. This usually won’t help you grow your audience. Rather the idea is to try to get your existing audience to do so something.

A Couple of Stipulations

I’ve created the image above in order to simply relay the message of a content mix contributing to steady progress and growth. But there are two stipulations to keep in mind…

1. I’ve simplified “growth” to mean traffic/readers. There are of course many more metrics that matter. But as a general rule, if you are getting more exposure you should be growing your business. Feel free to substitute “Traffic/Readers” with whatever label you’d like .

2. I’ve completely separated the three different content types in the graph. In reality, there is a lot of overlap. Even when you focus on being informative, there can be persuasive elements. For example, all of my blog posts have an opt-in form at the bottom. This automatically places a “persuasive” element into my “informative” content.

Speaking of which, now that you have gone through this post, and hopefully enjoyed it, you may want to sign up for future updates below .

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How to Grow Your Presence with a Formulated Content Mix is a post from: Content Strategy Hub

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It’s snack time. I’m currently eating a Siggi’s yogurt. Well…apparently it’s not really yogurt. It’s more like an Icelandic skyr.

Before eating a Siggi’s I had no idea what “skyr” even was.

So how do I know it’s skyr? Because it told me.

Both the front and reverse side of the label tell a story. The front of the label is how I got this yogurt in my fridge in the first place.

Rather, that’s how my girlfriend got the yogurt in the fridge. She’s a dietitian. And although I feel as though I can live off of cheese, bacon and coffee (I add condensed milk to mine making it even more “nutritious”)…she seems to think otherwise.

The label told enough of a story to get her interest. No additives, preservatives, sugar, etc. It was compelling enough to be willing to pay a premium for the product. Can’t put a price on health after all, right?

But the reverse side of the label (which you can see in the image) is where the real genius is. I know because I got a text one day telling me to grab a Siggi’s out of the fridge and read the inside of the label.

By the way, connect with her on LinkedIn, maybe she’ll help you kick your bacon addiction too.

So this got me thinking…

Content Marketing Goes Far Beyond Online

When talking about content marketing most people think of it in terms of online content. On occasion offline content marketing is discussed in terms of publications.

But that’s a very limited view.

This situation is proof that the potential to create and share content is pretty much everywhere. You just have to be open to seeing it.

Content Marketing Goes Beyond the Sale

Few things are as important as sales in business. So it’s no surprise that the majority of the focus when it comes to creating content for business is in reference to driving sales.

But it doesn’t have to (and shouldn’t) stop after the sale.

In this case the sale happened at the store. But the additional content was delivered after the fact.

Something like this not only adds value but also builds brand loyalty – creating more sales in the future.

Stories Give You Something to Talk About

Let’s face it…talking about a dude from Iceland who missed home and made this product is more fun than talking about how my yogurt has good bacteria so it’s good for my stomach.

It’s also more exotic. Oh, you eat Yoplait? I eat Iceland skyr! 

That’s probably part of the reason I received the text. But you can ask her..

Of course the other reason for the label excitement is…

There Can Be Value in Novelty

The idea of content inside the actual product isn’t something new. Snapple gives fun facts on the inside of their bottle caps. Magic Hat Brewery gives little words of wisdom in a similar fashion.

But this is something new for the yogurt world. I don’t see any other yogurt companies doing this (of course I’m no yogurt aficionado so correct me if I’m wrong).

It’s easy to write off these other companies as not having an interesting story to tell. But that just wouldn’t be true. Everyone has an interesting story. It’s just a matter of finding the right angle. Want help finding yours? Contact me.

Telling a story on the inside label is just plain cool. And doing something different further gives people a reason to talk about you.

The Real Lesson

You may not have a cool product like “skyr.” And you may not have a cool name like “Siggi.”

But that doesn’t mean you don’t have something interesting to share and a whole range of interesting places to share it. How much white space do you have on your business card?

Want to create a killer content marketing strategy? Let’s work together.

My Yogurt Tells Me Stories: Content Marketing Beyond The Sale is a post from: Content Strategy Hub

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Then some of that information contradicts each other. And now you’re in real trouble. You start analyzing. You get paralyzed.

As a part of this month’s “Word Carnival” I am to pick ONE piece of advice to give to new entrepreneurs. Something I wish I knew on my first day of business.

I had to rattle my brain a bit…because boiling it down to just one thing is really freaking hard. But then it hit me like a brick. Because it’s something I still struggle with to this day (and probably always will).

You see, I’m a thinker. “Thinking” might not sound like something that someone would “struggle” with, unless you lack the capacity to do so, but it can be problematic…especially in business.

I think and analyze, then analyze some more. When I do something I want it to be great. Or at least very good.

The thing is, business is fluid. It changes. It’s flexible. And it’s fixable.

There’s No Such Thing as Perfectionism

It’s easy to write off delays in attempting or launching something new as “perfectionism.” Sure, you want it to be perfect. But there’s no such thing. Perfect doesn’t exist.

There is always something you can test and improve.

That’s the beauty of business and marketing (by the way, every business is in the business of marketing). It’s a living thing. Even the slightest change, like a different punctuation mark, can have a strange significance.

“Perfectionism” is really a fear of failure. It’s just easier on the ego when you tell yourself you are a perfectionist.

Honestly just go for it, because….

You Need a Baseline

You can’t improve your business when you have nothing to improve upon.

I recently ran a promotion for a friend in the real estate industry. We were targeted a specific type of worker in the industry. And they had to meet certain requirements.

The campaign was a simple one. I ran ads pointing to a landing page. The goal was to collect these individuals’ contact information to call them about an opportunity.

The initial page was extremely simple. And it got fair results. Until someone submitted their info with a comment about how they don’t want to be put on any mailing list and get bombarded with emails. They just wanted to know more about the opportunity.

This signaled a concern in the marketplace. So I added a section to the landing page addressing this concern. It clearly stated that by submitting their contact information, applicants will not be added to any mailing lists.

This increased conversions significantly.

And I would have never known to add this section specifically without putting up something simple, getting feedback, and improving on a less-than-perfect baseline.

Remember, less-than-perfect, or even less than that, is perfectly fine…

You Usually Can’t Screw Up THAT Badly

Assuming that you don’t do something completely insane (kind of insane is OK) or illegal, you can’t really screw up that bad. And since you’re reading my blog, I’m going to assume that you’re one smart cookie and that’s not something you have to worry about .

And since this is supposed to be advice for new entrepreneurs, you really can’t screw up that bad.

If you do something that makes you look a bit stupid and 10 people see it…who cares. Those ten people aren’t going to make a difference. There are almost 7 billion people in the world. And if 10 people make that big of a difference, you might want to consider a different niche.

You should also keep in mind that everyone else is also self-absorbed and worried about looking stupid. So they don’t really care what you do. In fact, there’s a writer-downer marketing lesson for you:

I don’t want to say that’s something you can “exploit.” But…you know…

And anyway, getting publicity for doing something stupid can be a good thing in the way of publicity. Just look up “Amy’s Bakery” .

There’s Really No Such Thing As Failure

Failures aren’t really failures. They are learning experiences. They are signals that you need to change something. And often it’s not even a big change.

So the fastest way to succeed?

I will leave you with some quotes you can Tweet to look incredibly intelligent and inspire your Twitter followers (Winston Churchill gets two because I think he’s brilliant). Just click “Tweet this” by your favorite quote to send out the goodness:

1. “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” – Thomas Edison   Tweet This

2. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill   Tweet This

3. “There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” – Paulo Coelho   Tweet This

4. “Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.” – Truman Capote   Tweet This

5. “Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” – Winston Churchill   Tweet This

6. “Have no fear of perfection – you’ll never reach it.” – Savador Dalí   Tweet This

7. “Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat.” – F. Scott Fitzegerals   Tweet This

8. “We are all failures- at least the best of us are.” – J.M. Barrie   Tweet This

9. “The phoenix must burn to emerge.” – Janet Fitch   Tweet This

10. “If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.” – Ken Robinson   Tweet This

11. “The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.” – Henry Ford   Tweet This

12. “Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement.” – C.S. Lewis   Tweet This

13. “The person who failed often knows how to avoid future failures. The person who knows only success can be more oblivious to all the pitfalls.” – Randy Pausch   Tweet This

14. “What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise.” – Oscar Wilde   Tweet This

15. “All men make mistakes, but a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong, and repairs the evil. The only crime is pride.” – Sophocles   Tweet This

16. “Winners are not afraid of losing. But losers are. Failure is part of the process of success. People who avoid failure also avoid success.” – Robert Kiyosaki   Tweet This

17. “There is no failure except in no longer trying.” – Elbert Hubbard   Tweet This

18. “When you take risks you learn that there will be times when you succeed and there will be times when you fail, and both are equally important.” – Ellen DeGeneres   Tweet This

19. “Make failure your teacher, not your undertaker.” – Zig Ziglar   Tweet This

20. “You miss one hundred percent of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky   Tweet This

As Nike would say “Just Do It.” Then again, this might be more eloquent:

This post is part of the monthly Word Carnival series of posts. This month, our carnies are exploring the theme of Time Travel, specifically: from where you are now, what one piece of advice would you go back in time to give yourself on your first day in business? Check out more of the Word Carnival series at WordCarnivals.com.

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The Surest Way to Succeed as a New Entrepreneur (And 20 Tweetable Quotes) is a post from: Content Strategy Hub

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That is obviously a problem for anyone trying to start their own business. Because every business is in the business of marketing. Self-employed accountants aren’t in the business of accounting…they are in the business of marketing their services.

Making the problem worse, accountants are often put into a strange position. Many people think of accountants as simply number crunchers…a commodity left with no choice but to compete on price.

The way to get out of that trap if you own your accounting practice is to start marketing effectively.

Recognizing this gap, I recently launched ProfitCrunching – a recourse for marketing information, training and services for the accounting industry. Because crunching numbers is a lot more fun when the numbers are profits…and the profits are yours!

Good marketing can differentiate you and make you an authority; changing you from “number cruncher” to a trusted confidant. Someone to seek advice from. Someone who serves clients year round rather than getting work piled on once a year.

This differentiation thing might seem like a big deal. But in reality, you only have to pick up a few great marketing techniques because everyone else in the industry is doing the same thing: not really marketing and not really standing out.

Since content is a huge part of the modern marketing environment, let’s talk about six ways that accountants can use content to market their business effectively.

Focus on the information your clients want and look for

There is a huge issue I see across the accounting industry. The good news is that it is insanely easy to fix and you will instantly stand out.

There’s this strange tendency for accountants to clutter their websites with information that no one will ever want to look at. For example, links to IRS publications and calculators on their site.

If I want to read an IRS publication, I’ll go to the IRS website. Most people hire accountants in an attempt to avoid reading IRS publications in the first place!

Leave out the information clutter and focus on providing content that people really care about.

Starting a blog is easier than ever these days. And coming up with content doesn’t have to be a hassle either.

One simple way to do this is outlined in this post from Marcus Sheridan. Address people’s questions and concerns. That’s what potential (and current) clients care about.

Another thing people want to know is why they should work with you. So…

Use Sales Copy

It’s pretty common to come across a website with a homepage that says absolutely nothing. It might mention all of the services that they provide. And it might throw in a couple of welcoming phrases like “we hope you find what you are looking for here.”

But the truth is that doesn’t do anybody any good. Not you. Not the customer.

Use sales copy to explain why potential customers should work with you rather than someone else. You don’t have to be a professional copywriter. Simply explaining the benefits of your service will instantly boost your conversions. Even if the benefits of working with you are the same as the next guy…no one else is doing it.

And as the great Drayton Bird says: “If you’re the only person saying it, you own it.”

If you want to write your own copy, but have no idea where to get started Dan Kennedy’s Ultimate Sales Letter is a great resource. If you want someone to work with, you cant contact me here. 

By the way, that goes for your ad copy as well. Take a look at these ads taken from publications like The Yellow Pages:

You can quickly see that the tendency is to focus on services. You can’t really tell one from another. At that point a customer either goes with the first service they call, or call around to find the cheapest one.

Pick a target audience, focus on the benefits you can provide for them, and they will call you.

Make your content functional

Content is not just a communication tool. It also has a functional purpose…if you structure it properly.

Instead of saying “hope you find what you need,” point people in the right direction. Show them where they should go with proper site navigation.

Plus, your content is a powerful SEO tool. Optimize your content and increase your chances of getting organic search traffic (which an obviously lead to more clients).

Use “the most powerful media”

Content marketing doesn’t have to be confined to a computer screen. In fact, in certain cases it’s more effective in print.

One such example is a print newsletter. As Bill Glazer put’s it, it is “the most powerful media you can use to grow your business.”

A print newsletter has more staying power than most other forms of marketing. People open their email inboxes instantly looking for things to delete.

But a good print newsletter gets opened. You are in the person’s home. It’s instant brand recognition. You build authority. You retain your clients by avoiding the number one reason people switch services: neglect.

And that’s how you become a trusted adviser rather than just a “number cruncher.”

By the way, I just launched a done-for-you newsletter service for accountants. Check it out risk-free and start dominating your local market.

Keep in touch

Don’t forget the power of the email.

The vast majority of people (almost everyone) that comes in first contact with you will not be ready to pick up the phone right away to inquire about your services.

But that doesn’t mean that they won’t be eventually.

By not following up with potential prospects you are actually missing out on the majority of your business opportunities.

That’s where building an email list, and providing them valuable content, really comes into play. Using a simple solution, like Aweber for example, you can build up a list of prospects to follow up with.

This is incredibly cost-effective (read: cheap) and has an incredibly high ROI if done right. Plus, these emails can be automated – giving you a hands-off client conversion system.

Bribe prospects

In most cases you’re going to have to give people a reason to sign up for your email list. This is especially true of most accountant websites where the value of signing up for the email list isn’t always clear (I don’t want to get email updates about new IRS publications).

This is where an “ethical bribe” or a “subscription magnet” comes in. Those are just fancy words for a free report.

The good news is that it doesn’t have to be very complex. And it can be self-serving if you get creative with it.

For example, you can offer a download of a free report about “The top 10 things accountants do that drive their clients crazy.”

Prospects will likely find that useful and intriguing. After all, they are probably open to hiring a new accountant (otherwise why would they be on your site?). This type of report will help you stand out from all other accountants (that drive their clients crazy) while helping the prospect choose a good one: you. 

Baby steps…

I listed a few ideas here. And it’s probably easy to get overwhelmed by it all and not take any steps forward. The thing is, taking baby steps in the right direction can have an enormous impact because most other people aren’t even doing that much.

So focus on thing at a time and implement little-by-little. You can even start with done-for-you services. And get a bit of outside help if you choose.

Just remember, small changes can make big differences.

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Six Ways Accountants Can Use Content To Boost Their Bottom Line is a post from: Content Strategy Hub

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People have wants and needs. And if you can explicitly address those wants and needs in your value proposition, you are much more likely to get more leads, and in turn more customers.

But how do you craft a successful value proposition? You can address features, value branding. There are so many choices. But just assuming which part of the offer you should address can get you into a whole lot of trouble.

In today’s post, I want to share with you a video from MECLAB’s Marketing Experiments, in which Austin McCraw discusses testing your value proposition using email.

What is a Value Proposition?

In the presentation, Austin provides one of the clearer definitions of a value proposition hat I’ve come across. As he puts it, a value proposition should simply be an answer to the following questions:

If I am your ideal prospect, why should I purchase from you rather than any of your competitors?

The answer to this question should be both appealing and exclusive. In other words, what is it about your product or service that a prospect cant get anywhere else (something that they actually want!).

Testing Your Value Proposition with Email

One of the best tools that you have at your disposal for testing a value proposition is your email list. You can test multiple different propositions.. The amount of propositions you are able to to test at one time largely depends on the size of your email list (you want to get a statistically significant result after all).

Email is great for this kind of testing for many reasons. Austin explains four of them in the presentation:

1. Ease of changes. It doesn’t take much to change an email and test different content.

2. Large sample size. This is important for statistical significance of your test. Even if you don’t have your own email list, or at least not a list that is large enough for testing, you can always test on other other people’s lists (there are plenty of places to acquire one).

3. Highly competitive environment. The is a huge battle for attention in people’s inboxes. While this may seem counter-intuitive, the competitive environment is actually a great thing for testing because if it works in a competitive environment…then you now it really works.

4. You’re already doing it. You are likely already marketing through email (if not, you should be!). And if  you’r not marketing, then you’re definitely using email for other purposes. This isn’t a new or expensive technology that you have to learn and implement.

Value Proposition Testing with Email: The 5 Step Process

As outlined in the presentation by Austin, testing your value proposition with email involves a 5 step process:

1. Identify potential claims of value. These are your potential value propositions. Brainstorm and map out ALL the option. These can be things like reliability, ease of use/process, low rates, payments plans, service quality, etc.

2. Estimate the “Force” of each claim. Austin uses the term “force;” this is really the effectiveness. In order to be effective, the claim has to be both appealing and exclusive. The claim is even better if its is both credible and clear.

3. Testing: Round 1. The first round of testing should test the subject lines of your emails. Adjust the subject lines based on a certain value proposition, then track which ones get a better response. Which claims stand out?

4. Testing: Round 2. Once you figure out which value propositions stand out in terms of subject lines, you can move on to testing copy. Austin mentions five key places where to integrate testing of variable in the body copy:

• The first sentence
• Feature bullets
• Bolded phrases
• Call to action
• Post-script

5. Interpret and implement. Once all testing is done, interpret the results and implement your findings.

• What was the financial impact of the test?
• What did you learn about the customer?
• Where can you apply the insights? …The answer to this is really “everywhere.” You an connect better to customers on all levels when you have optimized your value proposition.

Three Things to Keep in Mind Before Testing

In order to be able to get significant results, you have to be willing to take significant risks. “Playing it safe” will only get you the same results you’ve always been getting.

That being said, you also have to be willing to be honest and admit when you were wrong. Don’t get invested in certain ideas when the data is showing you to change course.

And finally, know what you are testing. High response rates to emails don’t always equate to high profitability. Sometimes you may be better off collecting less leads that buy more. It’s important to track down the line to see which customers are the most poriftable…because that’s who you want to target.

The Value Proposition Testing through Email Presentation

And finally, I want to end today’s post about with the actual presentation from Austin McCraw. There are certainly some valuable insights and nuances in there. So if you have a spare half-hour or so, make sure to check it out:

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Value Proposition Testing: Optimize Through Email in 5 Easy Steps is a post from: Content Strategy Hub

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