Let’s face it, your content will not always attract leads. Meaning it’s just that – content. It does not have any other purpose than to just educate people. You don’t want that. You want content that lures people in, snaps and traps their attention, transform them into leads – then finally get them to convert as a customer. This entry is part of our Breaking Down Content Marketing Series Sometimes Content is just Content When you don’t purpose your content to do anything else than just to be read by your visitors, that’s what it’s going to be. Content Marketing starts with great content but does not end there. Great Content Marketing gets to hit the company’s goals – leads, sales, branding, etc through content. It’s not ‘just content’ . How do you do this? Start with going through the first three of our Content Marketing Series: How to Write Powerful Outlines and Why you should give a Fluff How to Integrate Low-Hanging Keywords from the Global Market Writing for a World of 36-hours-a-day readers Then go through our Content Strategy Series: Why is Content Strategy Important? Establishing your Content Identity Developing a User Centric Content Strategy Training your Content to Look for Users Using “Yes” Content for Effective Emotional Content Strategy and SEO Action-Focused Always keep in mind that every content should have a goal – something useful to you and to your readers. Usually this comes in the form of email subscription where both parties benefit. Your readers get more stuff from you and you get to increase your email list. It’s a win-win that is sure to work. Here’s a great example of action-focused content from Copyblogger (from their Email Marketing ebook page ): Email Marketing strikes many as old-fashioned. More fashionable venues like social media and mobile marketing get all the attention, and some people will even try to tell you that email marketing is dead. Unfortunately, reality doesn’t agree. In fact, with a strong content marketing approach, email is more powerful than ever thanks to social media. Why? Because it moves the conversation about your business to a more personal environment — the in-box. Email provides you the most direct line of communication for conversion to sales … which is why the most savvy online marketers have no intention of giving it up any time soon. It’s also amazingly cost-effective. With an ROI of around 4,300% (according to the Direct Marketing Association), email practically pays for itself … and saves a tree or two. It’s what you use when you want to move from “conversation to commerce.” What makes email content work? All of us are far too familiar with email newsletters that waste our time, pitches that annoy us, and downright spam. Those don’t work. What works is a value exchange — your valuable information for your prospect’s valued time. Your subscribers need to know they can trust you … that you’re not a soulless self-promoting spam-bot. Good email content deepens your relationship with your audience through effective subject line writing (getting your messages opened), your distinctive voice (getting those messages read), and delivering quality, niche specific content your prospect needs and shares with others (inspiring referrals and word-of-mouth). Story (and) Context A Booby-Trap Content does not work without a great Story and Context behind it. Brian Clark, the owner and founder of Copyblogger writes this copy on email marketing and furnishes it with data, commonality and authority to make way for the crown. Data – Writing a context without data is like sun without heat. It’s like clouds without rain. It’s like tornado without…. You get the point. Data makes your context powerful. It makes it more believable. It makes it concrete. Commonality – You are not writing for yourself. You’re writing for your readers. As such, you need to touch base with them. To tell them that “we both know” or in this case, Brian uses the phrase “All of us are too familiar…” Authority – Let them in a little on what they’re going to get when they perform the action you want them to take. Show them a little of what you know. Brian gives you a hint of his authority when he writes: “…effective subject line writing (getting your messages opened), your distinctive voice (getting those messages read), and delivering quality…” Then they crown that copy of content with this: Let’s break it down, shall we? Headline I just can’t stress the importance of headlines enough. Take a look at how Copyblogger uses the headline: Very simple, short and concise on what the ebook does for you. It is a one-liner on the benefit that you’ll get when you download their ebook. It’s an attention-grabber that takes you no more than 2 seconds to read. Benefits You may not realize it on first glance but the 8 chapters of the ebook that is outlined here is meant to increase its value and justify your opt-in to their email list as you download this free ebook. It’s not directly telling you “DOWNLOAD ME” , rather it’s telling you, “Don’t you want this? And this? And this?” and you nod your head and look for the button that will lead you to the candy. Call to Action This is where you clinch the deal. A little push and all the context and story of your booby-trap content will have worked wonders. Scroll down a little and you’ll see how Brian Clark inches you on to click on the exact button he wants you to click: See that “Register Today!” Button over there? It stands out, it’s loud and it’s very, very enticing. Go ahead and click on it why don’t you? People Power Another Example of an action-driven page is our very own 8 Actionable On Site Optimization Techniques ebook page . It has a limited copy but it deals with one more principle: Testimonies – Believe it or not, testimonies on action-driven pages are powerful. They are ‘the crowd’ and they speak for you. If you can get happy readers to give you a testimonial or two, it creates a world of difference for people to take your action. Content Marketing for SEO Purposes Creating great content for SEO is well and good and it’s where the SEO should be founded on. However, why stop there when you can purpose it to do much more? Copyblogger has a massive email list because of the way they convert their readers to leads. From those leads, they have met a good level of success in converting those leads to customers. Booby-Trap content is all about copywriting. There is an art and science beneath copywriting. Triggering the right emotions using the right words . Building up action through story and context. It’s a whole new different world. Action Words However cliche it may seem, action words are still a powerful way in driving your readers to doing what you want them to do. Here’s a list of action words that are meant to help you out in your Booby-Trap Content from Authoritydomains : Free Cut Quick New Ultimate Easy Sale Best Buy Buy Genuine Final Powerful Buy-today Last Don’t Save Vital Lowest Download Free Trial Last Chance Most Sale Ends Tomorrow Money Off Now is Your Chance Buy Today and Save __% Marked Down You Should Offer Ends Soon Price Cut Discover Your Potential Hurry Complimentary Make Money Now Reduce Potent Faster Discover Cut Make __ Per Week Retire Show Wider Variety Improve Change Discount Boost Great Most Comprehensive Enhance Decrease Lowest Price Increase Best Free Sample Avoid The Best __Made me __ Uncover Buy and Get Buy Now Eliminate _% Off Beat Prevent Care Get Cheap Learn Certified Sale Lower Prices Smash Limited Time Prime Tell Say Raw Try Gain Seize Want Provide Refinance Develop Leverage Donate Create Extend Cash Score Achieve Guarantee Find Accelerate Take Advantage Drive Build Generate Join Obtain Profit Critical Note: Action words’ effectivity is minimized if you don’t build it up through the story and context. Booby-Trap Content is an awesome way to draw in leads. SEO is just collateral damage. Start setting up your booby-trap content NOW! Can’t get enough of our Content Marketing Series? Subscribe to us now! Over 1,700 Smart People Access the latest SEO news, tips and tricks straight in their email inbox. Now it’s YOUR TURN! Subscribe for Free! Name: Email: PS: We will never give your email address away
Assembling Booby-Trap Content for your Audience
Creativity, Serendipity, and Championing B2B: An Interview with Adriel Sanchez
Posted by Erica McGillivray I sat down to talk with Adriel Sanchez, Sr. Director of Demand Generation at SAP. Every day, he digs into how he can help B2B businesses and their marketers with database marketing, telemarketing, digital marketing, and campaign management services. Adriel currently leads a demand generation hub of 70+ people to support SAP’s Latin America business. You can find him on Twitter @Adriel_S or blogging at Marketing…pfft! What’s inspired you lately? Recently, I had the privilege of joining 60 other top marketing execs from Fortune 500 companies for a 1.5 day private event in NYC. If you can’t get inspired with that many smart people in a room, you’re either in the wrong business, or you’re a zombie. We touched on a lot of topics, but all centered around driving a culture of creativity and innovation. Some key takeaways for me? Too many people and resource can actually stifle creativity, and when innovating, think rapid prototyping and make failure an option. You need a lot of bad ideas to get to a good one. As a champion of B2B, you often rally against the notion that B2B is “boring” compared to B2C. What are some of your favorite B2B companies doing great inbound marketing out there? Our CMO at SAP, Jonathan Becher, likes to say that “Big glass buildings don’t buy software. People do…” Tragically, there aren’t a heck of a lot of B2B marketing examples out there that break the ‘B to Boring’ stigma. B2B marketers need to ‘bring the sexy back.’ (Though I’m not sure we ever had it.) That said, I love Adobe’s Metrics Not Myths campaign. Another classic example (though by a brand that’s not in existence anymore) is EDS’ building planes in the sky ad . It also broke out of that B2B creative mold. SAP is doing quite a bit around sports and entertainment these days that is anything, but ‘boring.’ We recently launched NBA.com/stats . You wrote recently about humanizing your brand through kindness. What’s a humanizing experience you’ve had with a brand or noticed from the outside? I love what the current White House administration has done with their brand. Regardless of your political leanings, you can’t deny that the administration focuses hard on managing that brand, from the President on down. Their response to the We The People’s petition to build a Death Star was brilliant. And best of all, their approach is backed by data. The amount of testing that went into the 2012 campaign’s email marketing program was unprecedented in any organization, public or private. You moved in your career from being a direct marketer to a social media marketer. What do you want to bring from direct marketing into social media? First, I wouldn’t describe myself as a ‘social media marketer.’ Any successful marketer today needs to understand social and its impact on how people engage with each other and the companies they buy from. But my biggest lesson from direct marketing was how to align my activities to business outcomes. In a world where only 3-5% of the people you contact actually buy something, you will lose a lot of money FAST unless you’re laser-focused on business outcomes. I feel like some self-described ‘digital’ or ‘social’ marketers today lose sight of those business drivers. Conversely, what direct marketing habit did you have to break to dive into social? The majority of core direct marketing tenets remain true. That said, there are three areas where I’ve had to evolve as a marketer: First, the 40/40/20 rule of list, offer creative now needs to include context . A perfectly good offer to a targeted audience may fail if it’s presented in a way that breaks accepted norms for a particular channel. Second, I’ve had to embrace Einstein’s quote, “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.” This one isn’t easy for any direct marketer, but social media permeates everything . Try to quantify its cost or how much money it’s bringing in as a stand-alone activity and you’ll wind up with an incomplete picture at best. Lastly, while we know negative option offers will almost always outperform positive option in the short-term, in today’s world we need to err on the side of explicit customer permission. What’s your favorite social media medium to engage in? Definitely blogging. Writing thoughts 140 characters at a time is fun, but it just doesn’t satisfy my appetite for writing. My favorite part about blogging is actually introspection. It helps me crystallize my point of view on a particular topic. When you’re brainstorming for great content ideas, what are some of your favorite research or creative flow sources? Definitely non-traditional sources. Whether I’m watching a video on a cool new gadget or reading about a groundbreaking medical development, I’m always trying to tie it back to my day-to-day challenges. Creativity is often serendipitous. If you put yourself in an environment and mindset where creativity can flourish, you’ll notice great ideas coming from the most unexpected places. Whether it’s Grumpy Cat or the Harlem Shake, crazy social trends have caught our eye, even in the B2B space. (Heck, at SEOmoz, we did our own Harlem Shake video .) But what’s something you were shocked never caught on? I love Axe body spray’s “Nothing beats an astronaut” campaign and am pretty surprised the spoofs haven’t come in droves. Would it kill someone to create a “Nothing beats a marketing executive” version? What are some innovative ways that you’ve seen people get their entire staff involved in their social media efforts and content creation? Finding people interested in social is the easy part. What’s difficult is achieving a sustained commitment to contribute in a way that adds real value to the community. This stuff takes time. The “what’s in for me” principle is alive and well. Invest the time, and “I’ll make ya famous.” There’s a company called EveryoneSocial with some interesting technology to help empower your entire workforce to be social media ambassadors. If you’re hiring for a social media manager, what are qualities that you’d look for? Editorial background, above all else. I’d rather hire a someone with a journalism degree for this than an MBA in marketing. Find someone who can write, with a ‘punchy’ attitude, and has their finger on the pulse of current trends, news, etc., and you have a winner. Social media best practices and the ins and outs of your company’s products are easier to teach than these other core skills. A lot of people want more metrics from social media. What are three of your favorite analytics tools and what do you use them for? We use Netbase for social monitoring and listening. It’s got excellent natural language processing that takes sentiment analysis beyond the basics. It also has really good multi-language capabilities that continue improving. Then there’s a great solution offered by NextPrinciples that allows us to audit our hundreds of social media accounts across the globe against key reach and engagement metrics. It’s critical to controlling the proliferation of accounts that plagues most large companies. Lastly, social media objectives must tie to your business KPIs. We use our own CRM to track leads and opportunities that flow from social. If you could change one thing about the way we use social media, what would it be? I recently heard a story about a client of a major consulting company that reviewed the Facebook profiles of the consultants being assigned to his business before approving them. The client asked that a few be replaced because of photos posted on their walls. This isn’t just an anecdote anymore. What we share in social media is public by default. Every picture, post, point of view, opinion, indiscretion. You have to work really hard to keep what’s private private. I think it’s time to consider whether private by default is the better option. Google+ goes is headed in that direction. Thank you so much, Adriel, for a look into your world. If you’re interested in hearing more from him, he’ll be talking at the upcoming SES NY conference on the Building the B2B Social Media Machine panel. Sign up for The Moz Top 10 , a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don’t have time to hunt down but want to read!
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Creativity, Serendipity, and Championing B2B: An Interview with Adriel Sanchez
10 Predictions for Inbound Marketing in 2013
Posted by randfish As is tradition here at Moz, I’m conducting my annual analysis of my predictions from 2012 , and if I score high enough, predicting what will happen in 2013. I like to use this process because it keeps me honest – if I suck at predicting what will happen in a 12-month span, should you really listen to me for the next 12 months? This year, I’m also broadening my focus beyond just SEO to all of inbound marketing – search, social, content, PR, CRO, and email. Hence, if my predictions from last year do well, I’ll be making a few more guesses about the year to come than usual. Here’s how scoring works: Spot On (+2) - when a prediction hits the nail on the head and the primary criteria are fulfilled Partially Accurate (+1) - predictions that are in the area, but are somewhat different than reality Not Completely Wrong (-1) - those that landed near the truth, but couldn’t be called “correct” in any real sense Off the Mark (-2) - guesses which didn’t come close The rules state that if the score is lower than +1 , I’m not allowed to make predictions for the coming year. Here’s to hoping! In 2012, I made 8 predictions: Bing will have a slight increase in US marketshare, but remain
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10 Predictions for Inbound Marketing in 2013