Article Contributed by Michelle Laurey
Your marketing content may be designed to spur direct action, such as to appeal to a direct need so that your customers make a purchase. It may also be created to improve relations, such as by offering product-related tips. In some cases, it may even develop your brand’s image.
When you spend the time, energy and money creating exceptional content for your marketing campaigns to achieve specific goals, it only makes sense that you would take every reasonable step possible to promote it. Through promotion, you may be able to extend your marketing reach and get your content the attention that it deserves. You may think that this would cost a fortune, but there are actually multiple steps that you can take at little to no cost.
Sharing Is Caring
Your content isn’t worth much when it’s not seen by the target audience. Fortunately, you can increase its reach by sharing it multiple times on various platforms. Simply change the teaser for maximum appeal and increase the chance that your potential clients will see it and pay attention to it. Sharing your content on Twitter, Facebook, and other platforms is free and simple: you can automate it using tools like Buffer. Another wise idea is to ask your close contacts – friends and family – to share the content. It’s enough that just a few of them do it to reach hundreds of other people.
Online resources, such as Open Site Explore and Ahrefs, can tell you which websites linked similar content, and you can personally reach out to the owners of these platforms to ask for a direct link to your content. Likewise, you can research who shared similar content via Twitter or Facebook, and you can contact those individuals directly with a similar request. It may be wise to offer the similar effort in return so that the other party gets something beneficial out of their actions.
Another smart idea is to keep track of influencers. Rather than contacting them directly to request content sharing, mention something positive about them in your content. Then, create a link to their page. Through this indirect method that appeals to their self-image, you may generate a share from a major influencer. This may even be viewed as a testimonial by some of your customers. If this happens, you may essentially be getting spokesperson-like benefits from an influencer without having to pay this person a penny.
Do Some Volunteer Work
Research industry blogs that appeal to your target audience. Ask the bloggers if you can create a guest blog for their website. It might seem like a waste of your time at first (since it won’t earn you anything), especially when you’re first starting your business. You are still paying off your office space, worrying about paying the taxes, trying to see if you are actually making money. Yet, you must be willing to sacrifice time to later reap the benefits. You will reach more people, people who maybe wouldn’t usually visit your blog. Do your best to create great content even if it’s for someone else’s blog.
You also should ask readers to share comments and testimonials directly below the blog post. This strategy typically will not result in a huge number of sales immediately. However, you will gain more recognition, and this can pay off with long-term gains.
Use “Old-Fashioned” Methods
While there are many new technologies available to help you get the word out about your business now, remember that there are also tried and true methods that marketers have been using for years. Specifically, be aware that email marketing continues to be more effective than social media marketing. In fact, you are six times more likely to generate a response from an email campaign than from a Twitter comment. Remember that your email subscription list is a list of people who have specifically asked for information from you. They are interested and engaged.
Also, don’t disregard the older customers who maybe don’t feel comfortable in the online world. These are individuals who may not regularly check email or who even maybe don’t use email. That is why you should also consider printing hard copies of your marketing material to directly hand to your older consumers or to snail-mail to them. On these hard copies, you may include a call to action to visit your website for more information. If you have many older customers in your target audience, this is a veritable necessity.
Final Thoughts
It can take time and resources to create interesting, engaging content. Therefore, it makes sense to maximize the mileage from each piece that you create. Use these tips to expand your reach in the most cost-effective ways possible.
Author bio:
Michelle Laurey is a freelance writer who enjoys fitness, relaxing in the fresh air, trying to live a healthy life and daydreaming about visiting new places (and actually visiting them). Her best ideas and problem solutions appear while she’s riding her bicycle. You can reach her via Twitter.