Why not take your time reading this post and find the real score from the shared views of these 11 successful individuals, whether to blog or not to blog is really a good idea. Don’t waste your time procrastinating, here are some of their comments on blogging and if you still want to get more of their ideas, continue on the resource link below.

Here are 2 of the 11 ideas:

 “IT’S DEPENDENT ON THE STARTUP

Blogging can be a great tool if the startup has a lot of education associated with it or has an audience that reads a lot of content of a longer form. However, blogging for a startup can be really bad if the team is way too busy, and is only opening a blog because they think they should. If no one really wants to write it, it will end up neglected.” The idea is from Caitlin McCabe (Founder of Real Bullets Branding)

IT’S A TIME KILLER!

My experience has been that because there are now millions of blogs, their impact has gone down significantly. If you enjoy blogging as a hobby, go at it. But as a business strategy, it will take a lot of energy and hours of your time before it can scratch the service of making an impact. There are so many other effective ways to grow your business. Why blog? This one is shared by Raoul Davis (CEO-Ascendant Group)”

Blogging tip advice:

Blogging is the most cost-effective tool to market yourself and your upcoming business plan. If you haven’t given this amazing opportunity a fair consideration, now is your chance to get started and be noticed on the web without breaking your budget. But, remember, for a content to cause viral effect online, it must have that conversational tone that will attract online users to read and share it to their circle of friends in the community.

If this kind of online marketing appeals to you, then, grab your pen and paper and start making your first draft. Practice makes perfect. Don’t get discouraged if you went blank, pause and get some inspirations. Soon you will master this craft and write like a pro.

Full eleven advises here: http://theyec.org/to-blog-or-not-to-blog-11-entrepreneurs-weigh-in

1.      Advertisements don’t promise 100% trust rating

Nowadays, consumers don’t just rely on banners, ads and other forms of paid advertisements. They don’t easily give their 100% trust rating on these forms of promotions, but rely most to their circle of friends on what is highly recommended on a particular brand. Individuals have become wiser on what to believe and not on any sales message, that’s why content marketing is more favorable when it comes to earning a client’s trust. In content marketing, word-of-mouth is the usual form to promote a product or service where consumers can have the chance to communicate, share and provide a feedback, which later could help increase your branding awareness campaign.

2.      Good source of relevant leads

Whenever you write a compelling post and more online users will get the chance to read and share it with their friends in a particular community, this is already a good source of relevant leads that turn out to be your real prospects. Just keep in mind, dedicate quality time to create engaging contents where your target readers could get informative ideas or find inspiration, for sure they will come back for more and even refer you to others. Content marketing will in fact narrow down your consumers into a more specific group who will most likely make that direct move on whatever you are offering them.

3.      Provide valuable information

In every sense, content marketing can provide the valuable information that every online users need. Remember, consumers will not look particularly on your name, but will conduct research based on certain keywords related to an industry, so if you include those keywords on your content, finding you isn’t hard on the part of your target audience. Build a content which is indeed enjoyable to read, educational and can be a true source of sharing new ideas.

4.      Enhance your SEO

When you think of content, your concern is also focused on your SEO motives. If you know how to strategically position certain keywords on your content, you have bigger chances of getting indexed easily on Google searches and landing a higher ranking position. Great contents which are relevant to your niche will bring better results on SEO.

5.      Increase branding awareness

Too much self-promotion will do no good to one’s image, but providing quality contents to all your target consumers will increase your branding awareness without being too obvious. Content marketing will give you the opportunity to talk about your product’s best features or the benefits that one could get from purchasing it. A sales campaign expires and if your target crowd didn’t click that ad, your money is put into the drain unlike a quality post it stays there, doesn’t expire and gain wider exposure as more satisfied readers share it to the public.

6.      Compel a consumer to make a decision

An engaging content is like a magnet that draws or compels the reader to make a decision now and not later, either to buy your product or avail your service. Whenever you stir a client’s senses from the ideas he/she gets in reading your content that creates a certain level of attachment or feeling of closeness that no other marketing approach could deliver.

7.      Perfect for your native advertising

A wise move in content marketing is to distribute your content through paid advertising products called “Native advertising”. This is a good alternative for unreliable banner ads. Good native advertising works alongside with your quality contents because these native ads will always lead your target audience back to your contents.

8.      Promise higher ROI

As I’ve said, a quality content will stay there for an indefinite period of time, unlike a paid advertisement where there is limited period for it to be aired or distributed. With an engaging content, people will talk and share it to more followers, giving you all the needed exposure, absolutely free and promising higher ROI.

9.   Content marketing works with your social media campaign

Another great way to share your content is linking it to your social media platform for more people to get the chance to read, like and share it with their friends. Earn their trusts by giving them valuable contents that they will find useful in the end.

10.  Your target consumers will surely love you

If you maintain your objective of providing only top quality contents for your target crowd, they will return that big favor by loving you, since you make an effort to inform, educate and even bring changes to their lives. An effective and well-thought content will bring you closer to your target audience. Give them contents that they will give them every reason to come back to you.

Let me give you more tempting reasons why you need to concentrate first on blogging, rather on setting up your business:

• First reason, blogging is a good venue to increase your web presence if you wan to carry on with your business plans. Keep in mind, online visibility is a must in today’s digital age and the best way to capture a target consumer’s interest in you is to establish a close relationship with each one of them. One way to achieve this online goal is by creating blogs that will provide relevant content, information, inspiration or be the start of sharing ideas through the comments.

• A unique way to market yourself and your potential business is through blogging. Yes, definitely true in every sense of the word “marketing”. If you know how to make compelling blogs that really stirs a reader’s attention, blogging will help you increase your brand awareness campaign and connect whatever marketing message you wish to impart with your chosen niche. Gone are the days when a newbie entrepreneur must literally knock on every consumer’s door just to promote or push a certain product and make a sale. Nowadays, consumers have become wiser to whom they will entrust their hard earned income. They don’t like to be pushed around and would likely to give a fair thinking before opening their wallets to make that purchase. Blogging helps you to get a knowledgeable feedback from your consumer’s behavior or buying habit. You can get this vital information through the comments they leave on your blog section.

• Setting up a blog isn’t expensive. You can use a free WordPress version first and once your blog is up and running, you can later upgrade it to a higher paid version with minimal monthly subscription fees for you to enjoy those vital plug-ins that will boost your blog in Google searches for certain keywords you have used on your blog. Imagine the potential increase of your number of followers and other online users visiting your blog and learning new ideas from you and later you can little by little incorporate some introduction about your upcoming business launch.

• Blogging creates credibility. You feed your potential clients with relevant blog contents where they become educated or updated with what’s hot in a particular industry or community. This will build your credibility as a person and an entrepreneur the moment you are ready to launch your product or service. These same people who have enjoyed reading your blogs are already your real prospects and this is your chance to make that offer. For sure they will find it hard to resist your offers because you have already established your credibility before as someone real, sincere and reliable to do business with.

Do you want a fair share of this success?

If your answer is a big “Yes”, start now writing your blogging plans. You can follow these simple steps to blogging effectively:

• Know your target niche first for you to come up with clear ideas on what blog topics that will stir a reader’s senses. Choose those topics related to your intended business.

• Create quality blog posts that are fun to read and share to the community.

• Contact well-known blog sites related to your industry and ask their permission if you could do guest blogging. Thus is the surest way to build your audience.

I do hope you have now a clear clue on why blogging should be done first before you even set-up any business for you to succeed tremendously in your chosen market. Start now your blog creation and build the momentum as more followers will have the chance to read your blogs.

Always remember, blogging can help you find out what makes your customer’s happy or discover their personal likes or dislikes. This could be your key in making an irresistible product or service in the market.

Let us first discuss SEO, its strengths and weaknesses:

SEO (search engine optimization) is well-known and widely used to websites who aim to get a higher page ranking, either at Yahoo, Google, Bing and a lot more smaller search engines coming out almost everyday.

Strengths of SEO for marketing

1.      Content creation generates other marketing leads

When you speak of SEO, you also need quality content wherein you need to insert or add on specific keywords for your type of business. If done by SEO experts and an experienced content developer, the use of SEO for your marketing efforts could be used in generating other marketing leads like email marketing, lead nurturing, lead generation and social media platforms as well.

2.      Benefits of exposure are endless with SEO

With a good SEO content, the benefits of your website getting maximum exposure is endless which may stay there for a long period of time. Proper used of keywords and strategic positioning of them in your content or web pages will give you more possibilities of getting indexed in search engines result pages (SERPs). For example, if you created a general content that could be of great source of valuable information for the readers, then, your SEO purposes are not wasted. You will surely gain better ROI (return on investment) from traffic lead in many years to come.

3.      Boost overall business’ goal

Whether, you are concentrated in gaining a remarkable inbound links, getting huge traffic or just having a competitive edge among your rivals who haven’t use this type of marketing technique, focusing on his area will give you a good lead when it comes to getting searched.

Weaknesses of SEO for marketing

1.      SEO is time consuming

It is a fact that SEO takes a lot of time and dedication before you can see positive results. First of all, content creation is not an easy task to do. You must be truly good in writing quality blogs, articles or web pages before you can use it for your set of keywords. Another concern for you should be   thorough keyword research for you to come up with suitable keyword combinations appropriate for your business. Keep in mind that nowadays, as the web industry gets smarter, over crowding your content with keywords is no longer applicable, they have a way of finding it out or you will end up getting penalized or ranking yourself at the bottom.

2.      Hiring a SEO guru is expensive

If you don’t have any clue about SEO and its technicalities, then, you need to hire a SEO guru or SEO technical expert which could be expensive because most of them do charge by the hour or offer fixed rates for any SEO work. You must have enough capital resources for your SEO efforts to work alongside your marketing plans.

3.      SEO needs constant monitoring

There are cases when huge traffic going back to your site could become uncontrollable leading to possible increase of spam or getting unwanted leads. All these SEO issues require constant monitoring, update and consistency. If you cannot promise 100% focus in getting your web content optimized and producing the desired inbound links, then, your SEO efforts could result to being ranked the lowest.

Now, let’s get to the other marketing method, the use of Social Media:

Social Media has indeed dominated the entire online community, not only for personal use but also on the aspect of promoting any business. In fact marketers are now discovering the powerful advantage of the use of Social Media like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and a lot more. Read below the strengths and weaknesses of Social Media for marketing and assess why it is considered to be the most influential online marketing tool in today’s advanced technology.

Strength of Social Media for marketing

1.      Increase product and brand awareness campaign

Many dedicated promoters have seen the value of social networking sites in increasing product or brand awareness campaign program to a chosen niche. Website owners wanting to introduce a new product or service found it easier to connect with their target consumers with the use of social media sites.

2.      Build-up long lasting consumer relationship

Social media tools are the best means of reaching out and connecting to targeted groups. Take note that too much self-promotion is a big “No” in these communities, so you have to be creative on how to tap their interest and make them see you not only as a marketer of a product or service, but as a real person wanting to share something of great value to them.

3.      Social Media could lead to more clients

The main purpose of social media is to start a conversation and know the needs or wants of your target clients. Being part of their community and showing your interest on their behalf could lead to more clients and even repeat costumers in the long run. Present yourself as someone to be trusted or a provider of relevant content and updates, for sure you are on your way of getting noticed and getting a good return on investment.

Weaknesses of Social Media for marketing

1.      Social Media cannot function without fresh content

Like any marketing strategies, getting yourself involved in social media requires fresh content all the time in order for your followers to keep coming back to your site. Remember, that online users are now a lot wiser and know exactly if you are just bluffing or making false claims. So be wary on what you post, publish or share that might lead to a negative feedback to your site. Use relevant and up-to-date contents that are beneficial to your followers or visitors.

2.      Social Media requires longer process

If you want to focus on social media for your marketing, then, you must be willing to spend quality time to keep your followers updated with what is hot, new or trendy. The whole marketing takes a longer process before you can see remarkable results. This is the type of marketing that requires dedication and hard work, since you need to monitor your marketing efforts daily, whether you are performing well or not.

Conclusion:

The use of SEO and Social Media are in demand now in today’s stiff marketing competition among online businesses and website owners. Most marketers try to use both in their marketing motives, but in some cases, there are those who opt to focus on one aspect, either on SEO or Social Media only. Depending on your promotional needs, I think it would be more efficient if you weigh first all your goals and from there, decide which one can work well on your agenda. Remember, no marketing method contributed to an overnight success. Every task, no matter how big or small your business underwent long hours of hard work, dedication and patience to achieve the most favorable results. Believe in yourself and with a lot of creativity, whether you use SEO or Social Media, you have a fair chance of making your business grow. Carry on. Assess and act right.

photo credit: Interact Egypt – Play Innovation via photopin cc

1.      Attach social media shared buttons

Be sure to set-up social sharing links to your landing page in order to cover a bigger percentage of potential clients. Social media sites have been popular in spreading through word of mouth about what is new, hot or trendy at the moment, so if you make your landing page easily accessible to these social networking sites, then, you have more chances of getting your voice be heard in the communities where your target buyers thrive most.

2.      Optimize the use of tweets in your shared links

One social site that is gaining popularity and draws more followers is the Tweeter. Customizing your tweets will allow you to give clearer information or updates of anything you have to offer to your targeted individuals and this serves a great tool for your visitors to either sign-up for it or download it. Keep in mind that even though you are only limited to tweet in 140 characters, you can always include in your tweet the following:

-          An @ Mention of your company is essential for your branding awareness campaign and this is a better way to relay your messages or offers.

-          Include a name or use a clear description of your offer about the real benefits that any viewer could get from reading your tweet.

-          Attach a link in your tweets for you to lead more visitors back to your landing page.

3.      Use a good lead nurturing campaign

Although, your landing page is performing at its best at this time, your marketing campaign doesn’t end there. You have to continuously update your lead nurturing campaign strategies and find out which among your leads are responding positively. There should be proper timing and targeting. You should act fast in your lead generation plans and don’t wait too long. For example, it is better to send an email within a day to any visitor who had browsed your site that may eventually lead to consumer conversion rates.

4.      Conduct the A/B testing

In most cases, A/B testing is conducted to see the overall performance of a landing page, how online users may respond to the two versions created for testing and what are the means needed to do the refinement of the various elements of your landing page. All these actions are done to assess the usability, conversion rates and return on investment (ROI) of your landing page. The A/B testing will lead you to a wiser conclusion on which is doing better and giving the highest visitor-to-lead conversion rates. A/B testing can be done on the following elements: content, offer, title or heading and banners. The use of colors may also affect the success of a landing page or the type of images shown could dictate the call-to-action on the user. For example, using a bold color outside your color scheme may attract one’s attention or may cause distraction resulting to the user leaving your landing page. Keep in mind that when performing the A/B testing, only one element should be tested during the entire testing process, so that you will arrive into a more verifiable result. To check if your testing is relevant you can use the free A/B testing calculator available online for your quick access.

5.      Bring your users to the “thank-you page”

Your next move is direct your users to the “thank-you page” where they may perform the call-to-action response or avail other offers. Include in your “thank-you page” the heading of your offer to prevent any confusion on the user. The “thank-you page” may be in the form of a link to the PDF of a whitepaper or it can be a downloadable video. Again, it must also have shared links to social media sites for them to easily share whatever they have watched, read or signed-up with their circle of friends or group in a specific community. Don’t forget at the end part of your “thank-you page”, you can either include a call-to-action which may be: sign-up for a 30 day free trial or a subscription to your newsletter or blogs.

Recommendations:

Improving your existing landing page takes a lot of planning, assessment and thorough testing to check which among your landing page elements need major refinements or changes. Always evaluate first the overall performance of your landing page and if along the way you have found out that it’s doing poorly beyond your expectations, be open to further developments wherein your main concern should always be focused on the entire experience of the viewer during his/her visit to your landing page. Bear in mind that your main target in any landing page is to transform any first time viewer into a potential consumer. Is your landing page ready for optimization? If you haven’t started doing this move, this is your chance to design your landing page based on the general behavior of your users. Think positive and soon you will be getting those quality lead and conversion rates.

photo credit: Stuck in Customs

1.      Create a clear layout of your landing page

Know exactly what is your mission and from there make a layout of your message or anything that would give a clear direction to your visitors. Be sure to give emphasis to the importance of your offer that would encourage the users to give a response or action, either by signing-up or downloading your ebook without creating any confusion on their part.

2.      Make it simple and clean

As much as possible, remove any distractions on your landing page like navigation links. Try to make it simple and clean, meaning not too crowded by combining different offers in one page. By doing this action it will enable the user to fully concentrate in filling up your form.

3.      Attach social networking links

Another effective way to spread the news about your site and your amazing offers is through word of mouth. Ensuring that your landing page is highly accessible or connected to social sharing links would increase the possibility of more users visiting your website.

4.      Keep your forms minimal in content

In order for you to acquire a good lead of useful information, keep your forms minimal in content wherein your users aren’t bombarded with too many options or questions invading privacy before they could even complete the task of filling it up or a call to action. Direct them clearly on how they could accomplish the form without any difficulty.

5.      Conduct follow-up with your new leads

After your visitors have successfully filled-up your forms, lead them to a “thank you” page section on your website or send them personal emails through auto-responders. Your main goal here is to keep them glued to your site, so make the most of the opportunity when they visit your site, either giving the, informative news of upcoming offers that would benefit them or entice them to continually browse your website.

6.      Monitor your landing page performance

For you to find out how effective is your landing page, you can do it by monitoring your conversion rates and never stop in finding ways on how you can make your landing page attractive to all users. Conduct surveys on how you can improve your landing page that will later give you quality leads.

Creating a website really entails a lot of hard work, time and dedication. Assess all your previous experiences and find out how you can capture a visitor’s divided attention to a full stop through the creation of a unique landing page, make them browse your landing page and encourage a concrete response or a call to act instantly either by filling up your form or staying on your page for a lengthy time. Remember to put a lot of creativity to your landing page to avoid the users from hitting the “Back” button. Now is the perfect time to put into application some of these ideas. Be open to all possibilities or accept changes for these events might bring greater rewards to your business growth in the end. Give your landing page a new and refreshing look.

photo credit: angeloangelo

As Pinterest continues to gain popularity and dominate the other online marketing social sites like Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, many business owners even start-up ones see the true importance of Pinterest in marketing their products or services. With a lot of creativity and greater interest to this social media site, entrepreneurs can fully utilize Pinterest and make it more advantageous to their businesses. Here are some vital tips that any business whether small or medium size can do to get started with their Pinterest account, but before anything else, take note that unlike Facebook or Twitter, you can only become a member of Pinterest by invite only. You may send a request to the site itself for membership or if you have a friend who is already a member of Pinterest, you could ask him/her to personally invite you, the easiest route to get in. Once you are registered, then let’s get the ball rolling and use these tips:

1.      Organize your boards

For your target users to become attracted to your Pin boards, try to organize your boards in such a way there is a clear classification of what you are offering to them. Make a clear description about your company as a whole and what are the things that your online users can see from your boards.

2.      Be creative with your brand

Spend quality time on how you will present your marketing campaign through your pin boards. Think outside of the box and avoid being too public about promoting your brand. Use different marketing strategies to spice up your boards. For example, if you are just trying to launch a new offer, why not “pin” numerous images of what you are offering your target niche. Create an interest by inviting your followers to view your Pin board and start a conversation wherein you can encourage your online users to share their ideas as well as “pin” on the products that might be of interest to them. Doing this will not only lead to an increase in your brand awareness campaign, but could also turn those viewers to potential buyers in the end.

3.      Know who are your target consumers

For you to have a clearer direction to your Pinterest account, you must conduct surveys or do market research where your target audience actually thrives most. Consider their interest as well as other areas that may draw one’s attention to visit your Pin board like if attractive colors or visual images can make a big difference. For example, you can add a photo gallery of all the satisfied clients who have used your product or service. The more online visitors get a clear picture of what your business is all about, the more are the possibilities of people coming back to your site to know you better.

4.      Reach out to connect

Like any other social networking sites, Pinterest can bring positive results to the growth of your small or medium size business, but for you to see concrete results to your marketing agenda, you must reach out to your targeted group and find a way to connect or start a conversation. In Pinterest, you can either do the following actions: “repining”, “liking” or “mentioning”. Remember, in any social media sites, there is always a two-way traffic or a give and take relationship. Always let the other person behind that PC or laptop knows that there is a real person behind that Pinterest account. Making them feel that they play a major role to the entire success of your business would make them feel oblige to do something worthwhile to contribute to your success.

Conclusion:

Using Pinterest for your start-up or medium size business could be the start of your effective online marketing plan. Bear in mind that adequate analysis, planning, time and proper implementation of the real highlights of Pinterest can indeed help you improve your online visibility and market your product or service the right way, thus increasing your brand awareness campaign program. For Pinterest to work alongside your business goals, keep in mind that you there not only to promote your business, but to interact and share your ideas as well as your experiences to your chosen niche. Be totally unique and creative when using your Pinterest account and always keep your board fresh and up to date. Never stop aspiring to become good in whatever you do. Pin your way to success.

photo credit: Jason A. Howie

Another vital issue that we still have to consider is online visibility that has been like a viral spreading endlessly in the community. This is the main reason why business owners are always on the brink of finding the correct marketing formula to gain popularity and better traffic back to their sites. In fact different social media platforms have continuously dominated the way businesses connect to their target consumers. Aside from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, one social networking site that is creating a big buzz in the online community is the Pinterest. Why so? Well, according to a survey done by Compete, the online visitors to Pinterest.com rocketed to 155% in a span of a month’s record from December 2011 to January 2012.

Maybe you are still a bit new to this kind of social media sites, let me give you a quick tour on what is Pinterest and why is it essential for your, whether you are just starting you new business or have been in the market for a long time, but still need some more info on how this site works in general.

What is Pinterest?

To make it a lot easier for you, Pinterest is a new mode of social networking site wherein online users can virtually share everything they want from amazing images, videos or inspiring blog postings, all then, pinning them to their own Pinterest accounts or to other pinboards. The users can also upload images, either from their PC or from the web resources and pin these items through the Pinterest bookmarklet.

The main function of Pinterest is to reach out to every individual all over the globe through the sharing of “things” that may be interesting.

 Advantages of Pinterest

Here are some of the amazing advantages if you open a Pinterest account:

• Increase website traffic

One of the ideal benefits that any business could get from joining Pinterest is the big potential of increasing your website traffic, then, later leading to improved sales performance as compared to other social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter.

• Link purposes

With the use of Pinterest, you can apply the “Pin It” button on your web pages and include your links that will lead them back to your site. That itself serves your link purposes which could be of great help to your marketing motives because with only one click, pinners are given the chance to view your content and visit your pages.

• Better lead generation

Eventually as this new social media tool progresses, it can be a good source of improving your lead generation, since you can now connect easily with your chosen niche that might turn out to be your good leads in the end.

• Accessibility to social sharing

Having a Pinterest account gives you the accessibility to sign-up with the use of your Twitter or Facebook profile. With its social sharing features, you can do more things at the same time, like posting your content, then it automatically post and pins to your Facebook feed, giving more chance for others to see your posts. This is another effective means of increasing your branding awareness campaign through word of mouth.

How to get started with Pinterest?

At the moment, individuals desiring to join Pinterest, can avail this social networking site through invite only. You can either send a request for an invitation by going directly to the Pinterest main website address and click the “Request an Invite” or ask a friend who is already a member to invite you, which is the fastest and easiest route to gain access, instead of waiting for the Pinterest site to grant your request. Take note that the account name you will register should be the same to your Twitter account, so that you can quickly share your pins to your Twitter account.

When your account is already set up, you can now start your Pinterest profile under the setting tabs. Use a unique username with complete profile information like a brief description of your business, your logo and a link to your website. Remember to “Hide your Pinterest profile from search engines” to “OFF” in order for your profile to get indexed properly in search.

General Rule:

Pinterest, just like any website, if you are a newbie pinner, you must always cite your relevant sources from the topics you have curated and as much as possible avoid using Pinterest for self-promotion. If you intend to follow others which is one of the special features of Pinterest, the ability to follow others, you can start by category or according to your likes and preferences. If you have seen the perfect group to follow, then, just add them to your list. This is your start in building up your connections with other users whom you will find useful later on for your business.

I do hope this topic has shed some valuable insights on how Pinterest works accordingly and how it can bring positive results to your company. Remember in any online marketing agenda, no one has ever succeeded overnight. All it takes is dedication, hard work and time for you to realize your goals and find a better approach on how you can connect effectively to your target group. With creative minds anything isn’t too hard to accomplish. Find the best social media platform that can work alongside your main purpose and that is to fit in the chosen group. Be highly motivated. Join Pinterest and see how it works.

photo credit: mkhmarketing

Offering your prospects with free content in inbound marketing is good, or bad?

The most common answer would be, “it’s foolish to provide them with free content, as it reduces the chance of sales.”

From the very general point of view, it’s correct. If you give away free content and information that your paid products/services help solve, who’s going to pay money for it, isn’t it?

Thinking like this is the worst mistake you are committing!

This article is going to change your traditional idea about inbound marketing. You will learn how giving away free content to your prospective customers can actually educate the prospects about the products and services you offer and lead to more profit for your business.

Here are some examples of how the free content offers help to educate your prospects:

1.      Building Trust On Your Brand:

Free offers always attract attention of the people. So, the primary advantage of this policy is that it allows people to spend some times with your brand. At the same time they get introduced to your business. If you posses a quality content, this will help to boost trust in and credibility for your brand. By assuring a positive impression, you can educate the potential prospects about your products and services. This will bring good result in the long run. They would possible start thinking of buying your paid services which would be equally useful to them.

2.      Prospect and Customer Evangelism:

When your prospects will find your brand unique and excellent enough for their demand, they will start sharing those. You would find this content evangelism more helpful than ever. Sharing and promoting your content by the customers and the prospects both would work to generates brand awareness twice than earlier.

3.      Increasing Traffic Rate:

It’s obvious! All these forces work in a chain method. Providing free offer makes people interest to you. If they find those helpful, they would start sharing the content and thus increase your traffic in various ways. It will increase the chance of your SEO and boost organic traffic. Again, promoting your content in the social media network would increase your referral traffic. Other offers like using content in paid marketing methods like email promotions, pay-per-click you’ll increase traffic from paid search and email marketing, at the same time.

4.      Educating your Prospects:

If you want to transform your potential leads into loyal customers, you have to educate them first. The more they will know about business, the more they will get involved with you. Thus you can secure a great number of loyal customers. It is great because these groups of leads are going to lead themselves into leads voluntarily.

5.      Customer Satisfaction:

Every business aims at not only making profits, but also serving their customer in a satisfactory way. Free content offers are the best way to do so. People feel free to purchase products and services well acquainted to them. They will get a clear idea about your brand and will happily spend money on them by this policy. Misconception, misunderstanding, and all other unpleasant cases will remain far away from your brand. A fair brand reputation will help you to lead the market. Well informed customers are the strongest catalyst beyond your direct network.

So, what will you say? Is Free Content offering is good business policy or nor?

I am sure, you know the right answer now!

photo credit: Jiuck

Traditionally, PR people have always built a strong communication with the journalists relevant to pitch stories related to their assignments. Today, a new arena of communication has been added to the PR professionals. It is the bloggers community they have to concentrate on. They try to update the product reviews, guest posts, and other forms of editorial coverage through the communication with this bloggers. No doubt that they are getting benefitted in creating a larger group of audiences by sharing their contents online.

If you are a PR person, this article is for you! Just go through the following discussion. You will get some innovative ideas to take your PR pitches one step ahead:

Introduce the new Social Media Platform:

This is the age of technology. Everything is changing its traditional role. PR needs to change its tactics too. The sole connection with the reporters to secure reports is not enough. Even the print media is employing multimedia producers. The online journalists have to present reports with videos and slide shows apart from the traditional methodology.

What would be the role of the PR professionals?

Try to offer opportunities for reporters to generate “non-traditional” content; don’t keep it limited by offering just a story line. Again, it is not enough to add this innovation if you fail to secure a wide range of audiences. Here are some specific examples of such kind of Social Media Platforms:

Facebook:

Facebook is the most popular social networking platform. It is also true that, in case of personal branding, there are both the examples of successes and failures in Facebook marketing. In order to achieve success you have to be careful.

How to do that?

First, chose your targeted group. If your interest is on a niche subject, then target the already existing group there. Try to figure out the admin of that group. Provide him with your fresh sample of contents related to their field of interest. Winning the heart of that group can assure you bring your PR pitch popular through Likes, Comments, and Shares.

Pinterest:

An excellent and influential site to help the businesses in expanding their branding! It is growing very fast by attracting both personal and industrial brands. Here you can assure a great number of loyal and valuable followers.

How to do that?

Well, select the pinners of the topics relevant to your product. Build in a relationship with those by liking and re-pinning their contents. Sometimes follow their blogs, Twitter and Facebook accounts. Then look for an opportunity to share your content with them. Thus it is easier to build a long lasting a loyal relationship by mutual cooperation.

Instagram:

Everybody knows Instagram! It’s the greatest mobile social network. It’s a photo sharing network, basically. It is important for the professionals because of the importance of mobile marketing policy itself. It can help you grow an authentic network to explore.

How to do that?

Here are some ideas:

• Let’s plan for a “photo-a-day” program! Then invite the Instagram photographers relevant to your brand’s interest.
• You can arrange a contest with exciting prizes and invite users with relevant followings to participate and share everywhere.
• Organizing a “iPhoneography” photo shoot for local Instagram users is also a good idea!

YouTube, UStream and others:

The posting of haul videos on YouTube had been a growing trend, during 2007-2010. A haul video which displays items recently purchased, including product details or even the price is a very effective business tool for professional and personal brands. Now it has been easier for individuals to broadcast shows on YouTube and UStream.

How to do that?

You can take advantage of the brand connection of the hosts and producers of your show. But be sure to do it in a logical way. For instance, try to provide the broadcast with a high-level interview or off-scene footage of the news.

Relevancy Must Be Remembered:

So, before you ask someone to pin your image or share content with a Facebook group, do your homework. Relevancy is rewarded.

It is easy to figure out why relevancy is required. If you want to be a successful PR professional, it is your duty to utilize each option of creating a unique pitch. You can reach the target of ensuring greater media coverage and more followers only if you talk about the relevant topic. So, look before you leap. Always ask yourself whether it is your cup of tea, or not. Relevancy attracts the attention of your targeted audience.