BLOG

Have you ever had the feeling you were on to something? You know, that moment when all the cogs line up and you start to gain traction with what you’re doing? I had that experience about nine months ago when I started to understand how content marketing could help my business. Since then, I’ve dedicated my blog to providing useful posts on how original content, social media and SEO can work together to create profitable marketing campaigns. As it turns out, I wasn’t the only one who thought it was a good idea.

Thought leader
Joe Pulizzi, the man behind the Junta42 blog, launched the Content Marketing Institute (CMI) this week to do exactly what I’ve been trying to accomplish with my own blog – take the theory out and focus on what works. In an inspired effort to explain his new approach, he penned a blog post titled “How to Launch the Content Marketing Institute (in 6 Steps). Joe promises each blog post will be instructional or describe a specific case study where content marketing was used.

Practical Advice
I know the CMI will be wildly popular. My blog only started getting regular traffic when I began writing posts that gave practical advice. While I still read a lot of theory – and plenty of mumbo-jumbo in the process – what most people want to know is how to advance their business without wasting a lot of time and money. I’ve tried to be as open as possible about what works for me and candid about my failures. Joe Pulizzi has always been one of the first places I look for help. He’s one of the founders of the content marketing movement.

Savvy Communicator
I encourage you to visit the CMI website and subscribe to their content. The Executive Editor of the CMI, Michele Linn, is a woman I met through social networking after years of narrow misses while crossing paths in the corporate world. You may know her from the Savvy B2B Marketing site. She’s an amazing communicator with an uncanny ability to make difficult concepts seem easy. If you’ve ever read her posts, you’ll know what I mean.

Expert Advice
Lastly, I was right about being on to something. The CMI has asked me to be a regular contributor to their blog. I’m over the moon to be involved and have been doing a little happy dance in my office all week. While I’ve been writing and speaking about content marketing here in Australia, it’s an obvious chance for me to reach a wider market. But don’t let my involvement put you off. The CMI has a serious line-up of the best marketing minds in the world working for them. I’ll be a regular reader too.

Have you ever had the feeling you were on to something?

I’m speaking on the topic of Content Marketing around Australia over the next couple of months. You can find me at these places:

• The Big Fat Marketing Day for Small Business Perth, 15 June
• SmallBizOnline 2010 Perth Joondalup Resort, 25 June
• Online Retailer Conference, Retailer’s Essential Guide to e-Retailing Sydney, 6 July

Have you ever considered what your signature says about you? One of the most famous signatures revealed a courageous patriot. John Hancock intentionally signed his name to the Declaration of Independence with a flourish, indicating his support for the American Revolution from British rule. Even now, “putting your John Hancock” is an expression for signing your name. While it’s unlikely any of our digital signatures will pack that much punch, we can definitely make good use of the real estate under our name.

The Power of Buckshot
Think about how many emails you send out every day. How many go out in the course of a week or a month? Does every recipient know all the places you inhabit? How many times is your email forwarded to someone you don’t know? Have you ever considered that your email signature might be a great way to further your marketing efforts by spreading your digital details around?

Signing Off
Start to think of your email signature the same way you would your letterhead. Make sure, where appropriate, your details include a hyperlink so the reader can get to your information in one click. Here are a few of the ways you can promote your business every time you send out an email and it won’t cost you a thing.

1) Put your company logo under your name.

2) Don’t forget your title or role in the company.

3) Add your website.

4) Include all of your phone numbers.

5) Include a link to your main social media profiles.

6) Add the title of your current blog post along with a link.

7) List special events.

8) Don’t worry about including your email address. They already know that information from the headers on the mail.

This is what my signature looks like this week:

Read my latest blog post, Speaker’s Corner: 7 Ways to Extend Your Influence After You Stop Talking

Sarah Mitchell
Copywriter/Consultant
office: (08)9336-2439
mobile: 0410 024 405
website: http://www.globalcopywriting.com
Twitter: twitter.com/globalcopywrite
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahcmitchell
Join the Global Copywriting Facebook Page

Repeatable Process
Your email signature can be captured in a file and automatically attached to every email you send out. Most email services have the ability to store several different versions of your signature allowing you to tailor the information as necessary.

Don’t assume all your contacts know everything about you. Consider having your email signature professionally designed and standardised across all email accounts in your organisation. Make it part of your brand. With just a little bit of effort, you’ll be in a position to promote your business even further without spending a great deal of money.

How do you sign off?

What do you want when you go to a conference? What do you hope you take away with you? These two questions have cycled through my mind for the past week. I’ve been speaking a lot lately and, more than anything, want to provide relevant information the audience can put into practice as soon as they leave. If you’ve ever been in a “death by Powerpoint” presentation – and who hasn’t – you can appreciate how much I don’t want to be responsible for a mass destruction of brain cells.

The Challenge
While the last thing I want to do is bore people, I also don’t want to invest a lot of time researching, developing, practicing and delivering a presentation and not get any benefit for my business. It’s a labour-intensive process but the time spent in front of an audience is fleeting in comparison. Speaking engagements are a great way to establish authority, but how do you go about promoting that authority after the conference is over?

The Goal
As I struggled to construct a presentation on Content Marketing for the Fitzgerald Photo Imaging “Breakout at the Breakwater 2010″ conference, it dawned on me what I really wanted to do was load the audience with Word of Mouth (WoM) recommendations. The theme of the conference is “Education & Inspiration”. It’s easy enough to educate but if I really want people to go back to work the next day and implement my suggestions, they need more than just theory or a bunch of snazzy slides to look at. If they are going to remember my talk, I need to do a bit more.

Hand in hand
Obviously, the presentation would be more powerful if I developed supplemental content to go with it. This approach packs a wallop as I can construct the additional content with my branding and contact details on it. It’s also a great opportunity to promote my business partnerships and make recommendations on where I think the best practitioners and businesses are operating. While I may spend an hour on the stage, the content I distribute lives on the desk of the audience long after the conference is over.

These are my recommendations on things to do to give your presentation legs:

1) Upload your presentation to SlideShare.

2) Produce a handout listing detailed references and recommended resources to distribute after your talk.

3) Make a quick-reference card attendees can use at their desk.

4) Develop a formal case study around the examples used in your presentation.

5) Write a white paper at the same time you’re researching your topic to add depth and expand your ideas behind the time allotted on stage.

6) If your presentation is captured on video, upload it to YouTube.

7) Post a review of your presentation along with links to the handouts on LinkedIn discussion groups or on your website.

The Pay-off
It might seem like a lot of work when you’re already dealing with the stress of public speaking. By providing additional resources and information, you’re establishing your willingness to participate in a solution. In turn, your reputation as an authority on your topic will increase. If you’ve bothered to produce additional content, your company branding becomes more widely distributed. By asking the attendees to contact you directly for valuable pieces of content like white papers and case studies, you can build your marketing database with qualified leads in your targeted audience.

Developing original content is a great way to nurture and generate leads. If you can incorporate content marketing techniques to complement your speaking engagements, you can maximise your effectiveness and even reach people that didn’t make it to your talk.

What techniques have you used to extend your influence at conferences? If you’ve had a great experience as an audience member, tell us about it.

Related posts:

• Public Speaking: The Ultimate Terror or Extreme Lead Generation?[*]3 Components of Content Marketing

You’ve heard the adage about advertising, right? The “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted, I just don’t know which half” quote is often attributed to Henry Ford, Lord Lever and John Wannamaker, among others. They probably all said it at one time or another. I’m reminded of it when a prospective client tries to quantify how effective a content marketing strategy will be for their organisation. Last night I heard about an exciting initiative to prove just how powerful it can be. The Great Content Marketing Experiment is running on 19 May. I can’t wait.

The Project

Content Marketing is comprised of three components: original content, social media and SEO. Each piece enhances and supports the other two, forming a tight cycle of marketing goodness. John Bottom, Head of Content Marketing for Base One, is running the experiment at the IDM B2B Marketing Conference in London next Wednesday. His goal is to prove content marketing actually works.

The Content
He’s running a workshop to create a piece of business content in one day, from scratch. The result will be an e-book titled “Threats & Opportunities: the Future of Social Media as viewed by the UK’s most Senior Marketers.” Once the ebook is complete, a text version and a video version will be posted with the hopes of getting 1,000 social media clicks, tweets, likes, follows, whatever you want to call it.

Creating the Buzz
One thousand hits sounds like a lot to achieve in one day, but I’m confident it will be successful. Using content marketing to promote the project, John already has some of the best people in social media participating in his experiment. I intend to be clicking away on the 19th to assist with John’s goal and be part of a global initiative.

Is it a stunt?
The first criterion for content marketing is to provide valuable content. By assembling 150 senior marketers and getting their opinion on the best and worst of social media, John is going to produce an interesting and insightful document that I, for one, want to read. So, no, this isn’t a stunt. It’s a well-orchestrated example of content marketing. It will also be a fantastic case study for business to consider when they’re trying to decide how much time and money to dedicate to content marketing. I encourage you to have a look at his website and join the party.

Do you think The Great Content Marketing Experiment will be successful?

I’m speaking on the topic of Content Marketing around Australia over the next couple of months. You can find me here:

• Breakout at the Breakwater 2010 Perth 18 May
• The Big Fat Marketing Day for Small Business Perth, 15 June
• Online Retailer Conference, Retailer’s Essential Guide to e-Retailing Sydney, 6 July

When I first started Global Copywriting, I reckoned I would target big companies and leverage my 18 years of corporate experience to build a freelance career. I had visions of working with companies like IBM, Microsoft, Telstra and iiNet. When I was selling software, I learned quickl ythat  it took the same amount of time to close a small deal as a big one, so I always went for the big ones. A bigger deal paid more commission. Since the only reason I was selling was for the paycheck, I got very good at doing big deals.

You might not be surprised to hear the same strategy didn’t translate so well into my own business, but I was. I discovered very quickly working with SMBs (or SMEs, as the Americans say) is far more satisfying and productive for a sole proprietor like me.

1) You work with the decision maker.
Fitzgerald Photo Imaging is a fabulous SMB run by the same family for over 30 years. Paul Maietta, the head of Fitzgerald, is involved in strategic and operational decisions. I’ve worked directly with Paul on a number of different projects and have never had to deal with anyone but him.

2) They make decisions quickly.
When you’re working with large companies, it’s almost always necessary to meet with people at many different levels and in multiple departments before getting agreement to do a project. SMEs usually only need one meeting to decide whether or not they want to work with you.

3) They tend to be collaborative.
Clayko Group is a classic example of the collaborative nature of SMB. Through my work with Clayko I’ve been involved in a number of speaking engagements, networking groups and philanthropic activities.

4) They take advice.
Gillian Rossouw from Jill of All Trades revamped her website and she knew that meant new web copy as well. I had some specific suggestions I thought would improve her business, including changing the names of some of her services. She listened to my reasoning and gladly accepted every bit of it.

5) They don’t waste time paying their suppliers.
Small and medium sized businesses are closer to their budgets and cash flow than big businesses. It’s not unusual to receive payment from an SME within 24 hours of invoicing.

6) They’re passionate.
Some of the best brains in business work in small and medium enterprises. HiLighter is a perfect example of two really successful people, Maud Eijkenboom and Astrid Fackelmann, recognising a need in the Innovation market and creating a company to fill the gap. Just one meeting with them makes you feel like you should go out and invent something.

7) They’re creative.
SignIQ is a software company specialising in shelf-edge marketing for retail stores. Their management team is exceptional in their desire to think outside the box and explore disruptive techniques to make software interesting. I walk away inspired every single time I deal with them.

If you had asked me a year ago about working with SMEs, I probably wouldn’t have had much to say about it. Interestingly, any way I evaluate my business, SMBs are at the top. Sure, I don’t have the glamour of big name gigs, but I’m far more stimulated, my invoices are paid quicker and the work comes with a lot less hassle. What else could the owner of an SMB ask?

What advantages do you experience working with small and medium businesses?