This is the eighth post in the new blog expert series called: Successful Corporate Blogs and again we talk about something many of us don’t do and we should.
When the internet first started out there was only one place you could advertise and that was on your website. That changed rapidly, and today with the advent of so many different social media sites as marketing platforms, it’s pretty hard to keep up.
What you should be aiming to do is to get as much exposure as possible, and this means using all the different media available. This doesn’t mean you have to restrict yourself to online marketing; carrying a business card with your web address is an effective way of promoting your business.
Put a link at the bottom of every email you send out. Using print ads and other methods off-line to promote your business is another great way of gaining exposure, although considerably more expensive than online marketing.
Content can come in many flavors – written, auditory and visual.
Webcasts and videos occupy visitors and keep them on your website longer, which is great if you want to improve your “bounce rates”.
Podcasts are also useful because people can listen while they do other things.
Video can explain aspects of your product and service by demonstration. Perhaps explaining how an electronic gadget works on video will help your visitors enough to convince them to buy.
Content should be written for people to read first and foremost.
Perfectly optimized articles, especially if you’re building them around ridiculous keyword phrases, are not going to hold the reader for too long. It may take your article to number one in the Google listings, but when people see a phrase like “make money online home business” repeated continually, they’re probably going to stop reading, try another keyword phrase and go elsewhere.
When people are looking for information about a product or service they will use offline methods:
- Television
- Radio
- Magazines
- Newspapers
- Word of mouth
Online they will use:
- Articles
- Website Content
- Social Media
- Blogs & Forums
- Video sites such as YouTube
By using as many of these different media regularly to connect with your target audience you will gain greater exposure.
By interlacing them you can capture an even larger audience. You can use the same video on YouTube, your site, and in email campaigns. Podcasts can be used on your site and in emails.
It’s not good to use the same articles on your site and in article directories but you can “spin” them either manually or using good spinning software.
Social media buttons will get the machine running if you use as many of these different media regularly and effectively.
How do you use different media?
Please share you thoughts in the comments below.
Previous posts in this Successful Corporate Blogs series:
Successful Corporate Blogs: Are You Really Writing For YOUR Audience?
Internet Marketing Is Easy When You Use This Technique
Internet Marketing Is Easy When You Use This Technique Part 2
Successful Corporate Blogs: The Technique That Sells More
Successful Corporate Blogs: Build Loyal Relationships
This is so true! It can seem like a hassle sometimes to organize so many different types of media but the marketing payoff is worth it, no question. It’s also important to note the importance of consolidation when working across various social media platforms.
Relevancy is key. Whatever content you produce, it should be relevant to the audience.
Jon,
Excellent point!
Andrew
I’m such a fan of social media but that doesn’t mean I use social media alone to promote my small business. Indeed, getting everywhere, whether online or offline, has much to offer and yields a much better result in terms of building followers and increasing sales.
It is always good to use different media to connect with the audience and in the long run will reduce the dependency on just one media. At the same time, not all media will be affective for all blogs. For any blog, the content should be well written and the focus should not be just for good search results.
I use blogs and social media mostly. I think these days social media is the key to success. If you don’t have a Twitter, then what are you doing??? It is the future.
I recently discovered the power of continually sending relevant content to my audience. It can be a little difficult to stay on top of though. Linking everything to Twitter has been a big help though. I just schedule tweets and it gets sent to multiple channels.
Podcasting is the next thing that I am going to tackle, along with getting more videos into my YouTube channel.
Hugh
Good luick with your podcasting. I hope it works out and becomes a new habit!
Andrew
I agree that content must be written for people because it is those people who will make your online business flourish, not the search engines. I also agree that offline promotion such as print ads and flyers is more expensive, but including your email or website URL can be very helpful if you consider using print ads. As a customer, I check out a certain company online whenever I get a flyer or brochure from them that surely interests me.
The media can connect with people in any parts of the world. Offline promotion plays an important role but the internet is one such source of communication which is becoming very popular since we can obtain any information in a matter of seconds.