Welcome back to Copyblogger!
Thanks for taking a moment to check in with our community for writers ...
I'm Stefanie, Copyblogger's Editor-in-Chief, and below you'll find your weekly dose of tips to help you transform from an ace writer into a full-fledged content entrepreneur.
Scroll on!
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The Type of Content That Grows Your Business
Today we're going to start with a brief geometry lesson, but I promise it'll be gentle ...
Squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares. Similarly, content marketing is content, but not all content is content marketing.
In the past, I've referred to informative content as bland and boring, but those are just labels.
The crux of the matter is that creating strictly informative content will make you think content marketing doesn't work.
Both content and content marketing can aim to serve your target audience, but if you only create content, it's not going to make a direct impact on your business.
Content may give someone the information they need, but it doesn't help form a bond between a visitor and your website.
It may attract traffic, but that traffic doesn't build a community.
Content marketing gives someone what they need and a reason to stick around.
Maybe they add a comment. Maybe they subscribe to your site because they like your point of view. Maybe they share your content to show that your worldview aligns with theirs.
Content marketing has long-term effects. It attracts traffic — then interested prospects, then customers — as you grow an audience who supports the product or service you sell.
Stay tuned to the end of this email to find out why content marketing is actually easier to produce than content. :-)
Reasons to Build Your Own Brand
On this episode of The Copyblogger Podcast, Tim Stoddart and Ethan Brooks talk about the recent controversy between Substack and Twitter, and what it means for you as you build your brand.
Click here to listen to the episode.
10 Content Marketing Goals Worth Pursuing
written by Sonia Simone
To make content work, you need to understand your marketing and business goals. Then you can create content that serves those goals, instead of just giving your audience something to pass the time.
Your blog post ideas, email marketing, ebooks, podcasts, advertising ... all of it needs to fit into a larger picture.
Now, if you blog purely for creative self-expression, go ahead and write as the spirit moves you.
But if you're blogging for your business, you need a strategic framework so you can get the most out of your time and hard work.
Here are 10 of the business goals that drive content marketing at Copyblogger.
You might focus on just one or two, or you may use all 10. As you read through the list, see which of these you can apply to your own content marketing plan.
Click here to read the article.
'Everything Is Broken' Content Marketing
If content marketing helps you more than just content, then it must be more difficult to produce, right?
I'm going to say No.
Here's why.
Many people who already have everything they need to write effective content for their businesses limit themselves because they're preoccupied with first becoming an "expert."
They:
- Obsess over covering a topic from every angle, which leads to a sporadic publishing schedule
- Try to please everyone with their tone to avoid criticism
- Write belabored, convoluted articles because they're afraid shorter blog posts with focused points will look incomplete and discredit their authority
Those three habits both make the creation process more difficult and lead to strictly informative content.
However, if the goal is content marketing, the writer's intention shifts to serving their target audience.
They:
- Help their audience by publishing on a regular schedule
- Choose who they want to attract and accept that trivial criticism from the wrong prospects is inevitable
- Know that their point of view is more meaningful than trying to compete with an encyclopedia entry
Content marketing is easier because you don't have to know everything about your topic to get started.
The audience you'd like to nurture on a regular basis wants to hear your voice, not the same information they can find in mere content.
Let's look at an example from songwriting.
In "Everything Is Broken," Bob Dylan wrote:
"Seem like every time you stop and turn around
Something else just hit the ground.
Broken cutters, broken saws,
Broken buckles, broken laws,
Broken bodies, broken bones,
Broken voices on broken phones,
Take a deep breath, feel like you're chokin',
Everything is broken."
He didn't then go on to say, "Well, I mean not everything is broken. It's important I point that out. There are some good things happening for me. You probably have some good things happening too. We're all probably okay."
That wouldn't express a strong position. It wouldn't empathize and connect with the person who is feeling like everything is broken. As a result, that wishy-washy song would be forgettable.
Now, content is actually a great starting place.
You need to have something useful to share with your audience, so it's smart to care about creating a clear and complete presentation.
And once you weave in elements that make your content memorable, you activate its marketing power.
Whether you're just getting started or thinking about revamping your editorial strategy, see if these five qualities are a part of your content marketing mix:
- Perspective. Why do you care about your topic?
- Values. Are your beliefs apparent?
- Significance. What's at stake?
- Community. How can someone join you?
- Offer. What's the idea, product, or service you sell?
The art of content marketing transforms easy-to-come-by information into a special platform that enriches people's lives over time.
Talk with you again soon,
Stefanie Flaxman
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, COPYBLOGGER MEDIA
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