We’re all very busy, and unfortunately one of the first things we let slide is updating our own content, and managing our own marketing programs. At Grapevine Marketing, we’ve been guilty of this as well, and that is why we are always looking for simple ways to update and promote our programs without adding on hours of additional work to our already-insane schedules.
So if you’re like us, and most of the businesses we speak to, you know how important it is to write content for your blog and develop new marketing campaigns. You just don’t have enough time in the day to reach these goals while also keeping up with daily tasks and client work.
Not to worry, we can make it easy for you. The 3 tactics below can be used at any time to create and publish content for your blog, and help you easily manage your distribution and promotional efforts, since you’ll have access to plenty of new content that you can promote via email newsletters and social media. And you can do it all without adding a ton of extra work to your schedule.
Here’s how.
1. Get Others To Do the Work For You (and I promise, they’ll be happy for the opportunity!
Want to add new content to your blog, keep things interesting, double your exposure and traffic, and give your clients and business partners a unique opportunity to achieve all of these goals for themselves? Then ask them to write a Guest Post for your blog. They’ll get exposure to a whole new audience, an opportunity to promote their message, show their expertise, and drive new links and traffic to their own website. You’ll achieve all of the above goals, PLUS you’ll have provided a valuable bonus to your clients and partners, and you’ll have helped to build your relationship with them.
Once the Guest Post has been published to your blog, ask your Guest to share the post with their own email list by including a link to it in their own newsletter, and ask them to share the post via their social media channels.
Promote the post to your own audience via email and social media, and be sure to give full credit to your Guest.
2. Answer a Question
We bet your clients and customers have many unanswered questions. Perhaps you hear the same questions over and over at initial meetings, or concerns are brought up at the point of purchase. Whatever your business, you’re likely spending a fair amount of time responding to questions and concerns; and this means that there are MANY other prospective clients and customers who are wondering about the same topics.
When thinking about your blog posts, try to answer at least one or two questions a month. By including the actual question in the title of your post, you will also be able to capitalize on search engine traffic from the people who are looking for answers online. It’s a Win-Win for your blog and search engine optimization!
3. Share your 2-Cents
Saw a story in the news, in an industry publication, or on a social media page recently that you have a strong opinion for or against? Can you offer insight into a topic that people are actively discussing, such as pending tax increases, changes to laws in your field, or new trends in your, or your clients, industries?
Use your blog to share your opinion on these topics, offer insight into aspects that people may not be aware of, or offer your unique expertise. If you can show that you are a credible source of information and expertise, not only will they turn to you when they have needs or more specific questions, you will also be more easily found within search engine results when people are looking for information. As with #2 above, this will help you to position your business as the answer to questions posed in online searches. And that will help you generate more traffic, better leads, and a higher quality of prospective clients and customers.