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What comes first, design or content? I seem to be getting a lot of calls from people who have invested in a website with no content. They call me at the end of the project because they “need some words” on their site. Invariably they need it done fast. They always want the content optimised to attract search engines. I can also predict, with certainty, they will be surprised at the investment required to develop the content for their site.

Content: The Great Afterthought
You might think I’m talking about start-up companies, but I’m not. I see this problem across all industry sectors, government agencies, not-for-profit organisations, and even businesses developing their second or third website. I have never had someone contact me about content before speaking to a website designer. This tells me people are more concerned about how things look than what is being said.

Traditional Approach: Property Development
I do understand why this is happening. In a bricks-and-mortar business, getting your property is usually the first step on the road to a Grand Opening. Once you have secured a building or a piece of property, you start the construction/renovation phase. The next step is to fit it out and furnish it. The last step is to bring your stock in. Now you’re ready for trade.

The Online Conundrum
But here’s the problem. You can’t equate a website to a physical place of business. Why? In the digital environment, your content is what attracts search engines. Your content is also what keeps people drilling down into your website. In a virtual world, the design can help improve the user experience. It can promote your company branding. It can present an attractive and desirable door to your business. Good design, however, cannot keep people on your website.

Digital Approach: Publishing
Here’s another analogy to consider: Imagine a book publisher designing a book cover, choosing a winning title and having the book bound and the cover printed before an author is even selected. What sort of sales figures do you think that book would generate? How effective is the story going to be if the author is bound to the whims of a printer? When you have a website designed and developed without a content strategy in place, that’s essentially what you’re doing. A website is not an asset to your business if the content does not support what you’re trying to do. When you leave content development until the end of the project, you’re unlikely to realise the full potential of your website.

The Takeaway
Remember, your website is an asset to your business. Content is equally important to design. Developing a successful online presence means you must develop a strong content strategy to keep both search engines and visitors interested in your site. Developing content takes both time and money and must be considered in tandem with website development. Your investment should be driven by publishing, NOT property development.

What’s your opinion? What comes first, design or content?

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*Image courtesy of playingwithbrushes at www.flickr.net

Good marketing campaigns are rife with challenges. Content marketing, in particular, presents the added difficulty of putting you in the role of a publisher. Unless you’re in the writing and publishing industry, creating great content doesn’t always come naturally. A new report out this week from Junta42 and MarketingProfs offers insight. Titled, B2B Content Marketing: 2010 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends, the survey polled over 1,100 marketers unaware the focus of the study was on content marketing.

Content, Content, Content
I was drawn to the section on challenges. Producing great content and producing enough of it occupy more than half of the marketers responding to the survey. That’s no surprise. We all struggle with trying to find a new spin on tired topics, getting the right content to the right people or even anticipating what is going to excite our customers. Over 11% of respondents indicated getting executive buy-in to a content marketing strategy was tough. This is definitely one area where SMEs have an advantage.

Lower Rates of Outsourcing with SMEs
I work with a lot of SME organisations who don’t have the luxury of big staffs and budgets. Smaller companies are using content marketing with success and the report bears this out. What it also shows is that SMEs are less likely to outsource their content marketing activities. Companies with less than 100 employees are well under the 50% mark, while 77% of large companies outsource some or all of their content marketing. This surprised me. The general perception is bigger organisations have more time and money to spend working “on” their business. The study shows what they’re probably doing is working smarter.

Takeaway
First and foremost, download the report. It’s the most comprehensive study I’ve seen on a segment of the marketing industry getting a lot of attention. The B2B Content Marketing: 2010 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends report isn’t theory or philosophy but hard data showing what’s working and what’s not. Secondly, consider ways you can be more effective in producing the content you want. Working harder doesn’t always take you where you need to be. And, yes, this is the voice of experience speaking on that topic.

What challenges are you experiencing in your content marketing strategy?

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I spend a lot of time speaking about, writing about and advising my clients about content marketing. As a writer, I know original content is the most powerful way to gain influence and establish your authority. I’ve always felt that providing consultation and practical advice is the best way to attract prospects and keep my clients happy. Lately, I’ve been feeling like something is missing in that equation. Guess what? It’s got nothing to do with content.

Curb Appeal
If you’ve ever sold a house, you’ll know the importance of what Americans call “curb appeal”. Essentially, a house that makes a good impression from the road has curb appeal. Real estate agents counsel sellers to invest in a bit of landscaping, slap a fresh coat of paint on the fence and make sure the windows sparkle. Why? A large percentage of home buyers decide whether or not to look inside a house or take it seriously based on what they see when they drive by. What does that have to do with content marketing?

The Design Element
I’m discovering business content needs curb appeal. The most fabulous subject matter will go unnoticed without a good reason for someone to open it up. Headlines do their part in getting people to start reading. Reams of space and paper have been dedicated to educating writers on the art of writing the perfect headline. But what possesses someone to pick up a brochure and actually read it? What never fails to encourage someone to linger at a website? Design. Good design attracts people.

Content without Design
From my own experience, I know quality content often languishes. Unless you give it curb appeal, you must be prepared to have your content ignored. It’s why blog posts contain more and more images in them. Humans are visual creatures and plain type on white paper doesn’t inspire anyone. Take the same information, format it with good colours, attractive images and an easy-to-read layout, and the document no one was interested in suddenly starts to get a lot of traffic.

Creating Assets for Your Company
Content without design is often nothing more than stagnant content. Design is what gets noticed and is the first important step to having your information digested by the people you want to see it. While I’ve been focused on delivering valuable content, I’ve come to realise quality writing and good research aren’t enough. Even with mature social media and SEO campaigns, a document with a dull appearance isn’t going to be successful. If it’s not successful, it’s not an asset to your company.

Asset Based Marketing
I now consider design an essential element to the success of a content marketing strategy. I consider it equally important to the content itself. It’s why you’ll hear me talk more and more about something I call “Asset Based Marketing”. I’m most interested in developing products for my clients that become assets to their businesses’ websites, white papers, case studies, blogs, and newsletters among others. Nothing I write classifies as an asset unless it has curb appeal.

Collaborative Undertaking
A critical part of my epiphany is the importance of collaboration with professional designers in the content strategy. Yes, I can cobble something together using wizards supplied by whatever software I’m employing. It’s not the same thing. Original content deserves custom design. Both a talent and a discipline, design requires distinct skills and training. To produce real assets, design needs to be given equal consideration in the long-term strategy and budget of a marketing effort.

The Takeaway
Good content will prevail but it can take a long time. To maximise the success of your content marketing strategy, you need to invest in professional design and make it a collaborative exercise. By giving design and content equal consideration, you begin to create assets for your company that are able to build influence and pull prospects and customers into your sphere. Your content isn’t truly an asset without it. Remember: “Asset Based Marketing”, you heard it here first.

What is your opinion about the value of design in your marketing strategy?

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*Image courtesy of Wonderlane at www.flickr.com

In the past couple of weeks I’ve noticed an annoying trend around dubya-dubya-dubya-dot town. Social media usage has hit the mainstream. I would argue it’s even gone past “trend” status and is becoming a normal part of daily life for more and more people. Not convinced? Check out the article in Marketing Magazine titled, Over 65s Flock to Social Media. I think it’s a great thing but evidently not everyone shares my opinion.

I’m beginning to see an increasing amount of finger wagging and sophomoric “rules” thrown around. It’s often coming from dedicated social media users and pointed at the novices. We’ve all seen a plethora of articles about what to do and not do when using social media tools. I weighed in on my own list titled, Social Media Dos and Don’ts. I’m not talking about instructional advice. I’m seeing a lot of playground antics and downright rudeness.

For example:

Hey Twitter newbies, put your comment BEFORE the RT.

Who says? I always put my comment at the end of my retweet.
Or

If you’re going to post a news article on LinkedIn, you’re supposed to start a discussion to go with it.

Yeah, I don’t think so. I often post news on LinkedIn groups with no discussion at all. It’s a great way to share information. I’m not sure you need to discuss every single thing.

Or
I don’t appreciate the language you’re using on your wall posts. Facebook should remove it.

Really? A Facebook wall is like someone’s house. If you don’t like the language, leave. I wish I could print the reply posted, but I’m still blushing and laughing from the pure profanity and creativity behind it.

Here’s what I think. Social media has created a humongous culture extremely inclusive in nature. One of the best things about it is you’re not faced with “Conditions of Entry”. As long as people aren’t breaking criminal laws, if you don’t like what you’re seeing, change your settings, connections, and followers. Build a new patch where everyone interacts the way you want them to. Don’t kill the party for the rest of us by telling us how to behave.

What party killers have you noticed on social media?

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*image courtesy of CarbonNYC at www.flickr.com

Are you thinking about starting a blog? Blogging is hot and research backs the buzz around it. A February 2010 HubSpot survey of 231 marketing professionals titled, The State of Inbound Marketing reported “fully 85% of users rated company blogs as `useful’ or better in 2010″. In the 2010 Social Media Marketing Industry Report sponsored by the Social Media Examiner, nearly 1,900 marketers surveyed indicated “blogs were the top area in which they planned on increasing their social media efforts. But if you haven’t started, how do you go about it?

Where to Start?
While a lot is written about blogging once you’re taken the plunge, it’s not very helpful if you’re still contemplating how to do it. Below are key pieces of advice I was given, along with things I learned with my own blog at Global Copywriting.

Trial Your Blog
My friend and fellow copywriter, Kevin Walsh from Copy Unlimited in the United Kingdom, advised me to try writing my blog for a month before I started publishing it. It was good advice. I found out very quickly I couldn’t keep up with the pace I had planned. By running a trial with myself, I understood better what was involved and how much time I could commit.

Stick to a Schedule
When I first started my blog, I published a new post every 10 or 11 days. As I became more proficient and focused on the purpose of my blog, I increased it to once a week. This year I decided to double my output to twice a week. No one complains when you increase your frequency over time, but sporadic postings lose readership.

Read
I wasn’t sure where I was going to find inspiration for a regular publishing schedule. I spend a lot of time reading and, as a result, find a lot of topics for my posts while I’m trawling around the internet. I’m not talking about plagiarism or the annoying habit of recapping another post. Writing from an angle of personal experience always puts a fresh point on any topic.

Google Alerts
I subscribe to a lot of newsletters and blogs. I also set up Google Alerts on topics of interest to me. It’s a great way to find a new voice, an article in a newspaper or journal I didn’t know about, or coverage on an issue from another country. Yes, it often lists content I already know about but it’s the ‘unusual’ I want Google to identify for me.

Public Speaking
If audience members ask the same question at more than one event, I know it’s the perfect topic for a blog post. When you’re immersed in the same field all day, it’s easy to overlook holes in general knowledge. If someone raises their hand and asks a question, whether you’re the speaker or not, you can usually bet several more people have the same question. Write a blog post to answer it.

Make Lists
My desk is littered with notepads, many of which have lists for ideas of future blog posts. When I get an inspiration, I’ve learned it’s best to write it down immediately and capture as many of my thoughts in bullet-point format as I can. These moments of clarity have a nasty habit of evaporating just when you need to get something on paper.

Carry a Voice Recorder
As corny as it sounds, talking into a voice recorder can be the best way to capture an idea for a blog post. It’s a great way to make your commute more productive, especially if you’re spending time alone in the car. I find the detail I include in a voice recording is usually enough, so writing the post is more like transcribing my notes.

The Takeaway
Starting a blog can seem like a daunting task, one that never manages to get crossed off the “to do” list. If you’re contemplating a blog, get into the rhythm of a writing schedule before you ever make a single post. You’ll find out what you can manage in the time you have available. Inspiration can be found in many different avenues. Pick one or two of the suggestions above and start a new habit.

What blogging advice have you received?

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