The key to selling is to not ask how you can sell, but to ask… “How can I HELP?” Here are 8 key tips for companies looking to authentically engage their customers: 1. Offer value Engagement marketing means leading with content, not products. Let’s say you offer a product, but you are not sure of the extra value you can offer. One easy way to assist is creating a blog with helpful tips. One example: Let’s say you own a local flower shop, to add value, maybe you offer ideas on what to write on a sympathy bouquet sent to a friend who loses a loved one. For every transaction or pre-transaction - blog or no blog...ask how you can add value. 2. Build a community A critical part of engagement marketing is giving customers an opportunity for a dialogue—and there’s nothing easier these days than with social medial. People love to have their opinions asked. So ask away? Do quick surveys! So an example would be, if you brew your own craft beer. Possibly ask - What’s the craziest flavor you’ve ever had? This does two things: 1.) It engages your customers and 2.) It also might give you ideas on your next creative creation. This can also work on the flip side too. Let’s say you own your own athletic gear story. Possibly offer advice on fitness and nutrition. Customers want value. And they want tips...aka content they haven’t heard before. So be innovative and creative! 3. Inspire others If people say they don’t want to be inspired, they are lying. It’s engrained in us. We want to be fed and nourished. So when building a relationship with your customer base, make sure you are sharing your vision. And most importantly, share your “Why you do what you do!” People buy from others they feel a connection to. And on that note… One way to inspire others is to build an emotional connection! Customers want to know they are dealing with an actual person. An easy way to implement this is - reaching out directly to a customer. If a customer posts something on your social wall, reach out to them privately, thanking them for their input. This may not seem like much, but people love when they are acknowledged. 4. Hold a contest This is one of the easiest ways to engage with your customers. And, let’s face it... Who doesn’t enjoy getting free stuff? We all do. Take advantage of that and hold a contest for your customers. For example, you could ask customers to share creative photos and tag your business. The chosen winner receives a product or a free one-year membership to your service. 5. Make your customers a part of your team We all like to feel like we’re part of a team. And your customers are no exceptions. If you notice a customer has launched a new charity, don’t hesitate to promote them on your social media accounts. 6. Create a product tour Product tours are one of the best ways for your customers to learn everything there is about your product or service. Not only is this an effective way for you to reach out to your customers, product tours are also a great way to engage them. You can record a product tour and place it onto your website and YouTube account. Animoto is a great company that makes it easy to turn your photos and video clips into a professional video to showcase your products. Plus, they have a free version. 7. Provide entertainment value - aka Have Fun. In addition to being inspired, customers like to be entertained. This could be done quickly just by creating a fun video of your employees lip-syncing to a fun song. And last not least…. 8. Keep the conversation going Part of what it means to have an “always on” approach to marketing is that you are in constant dialogue with customers. This means staying relevant and responsive to customer issues as they arise. Highly responsive companies are the ones that win, and most important the people they serve.

BY DALE HARRIS - Article City Did you know that 77 percent of American adults go online every day? And, of that 77 percent, 26 percent spend almost all of their day online. Americans are plugged in more often than not — that means you have a lot of opportunities to share content with them and market your business’s products and services. To generate more leads and see conversions from your content marketing efforts, you need to make sure you’re using the right promotional approach. Read on to learn about some effective promotional tactics that will help you market your content and spread the word about your business. What Is Content Marketing? Content marketing is a marketing approach that involves creating a variety of online content (blog posts, social media posts, videos, etc.) with the intent of building and retaining an audience. The goal is to provide your audience with useful, valuable content to build trust and increase the likelihood that they will purchase products or services from you in the future. Importance of Content Marketing There are a number of benefits that come with having a strong content marketing strategy, including the following: Improve trust and build brand reputation Improve website conversions Improve search engine rankings Bring in new leads in a cost-effective way Content marketing also helps you to establish yourself as an expert or authority figure in your industry. This, in turn, increases your conversions and helps you to build a solid reputation for your business and brand. Promotional Tactics Every Content Marketer Should Use As you can see, good content marketing is essential if you want your business to succeed long-term. Here are seven promotional tactics that you ought to use when marketing your content. 1. Reach out to Influencers Some people scoff at the idea of working with social media influencers. In reality, influencer marketing can lead to some incredibly high conversions. Influencers who have spent time building a loyal following can be a great asset to your company and can really help to spread the word about your brand and the content you’re working hard to put out. Reach out to an influencer and ask for a quote to find out how much they’ll charge to share your content on their social media profiles. 2. Mention Your Sources If you’re quoting professional sources in your online content — and, if you’re not already, you definitely should be — mention and tag those sources when you share your posts or videos on social media. Often, your sources will see the mention and check out what you’ve created. They may even share your content on their own social media profiles. This helps to expose you to a much wider audience and can increase the amount of engagement and the number of followers you get from a single post. 3. Email Your Sources If you really want to ensure that a busy individual sees your content, try sending them an email. Let them know that you’ve written a blog post or created a video in which you mention them or their research. Many professionals have busy social media profiles, and there’s a possibility that they might miss your mention or tag. If you email them directly, they’ll be more likely to be on the lookout for your post and may be more inclined to share it with their followers. 4. Submit to Content Communities There are lots of websites on the internet dedicated to helping content creators grow their following and expose their content to a wider audience. There’s a lot of competition on these websites, but they can be very helpful, especially if you’re putting out high-quality content. If you join one of these communities, it’s a good idea to do more than just self-promote. Share other people’s work and engage with others who are posting on the site — remember, this is a community. It’s a good idea to share only your best content, too. You don’t necessarily want to use these sites for every piece of content you create. 5. Send Content to Your Email List Don’t have an email list? Create one as soon as you can. An email list will provide you with direct access to people who are already interested in what your company has to offer. Once you have your email list, start sharing your content in regular email updates. Don’t spam the people on your list — limit yourself to a maximum of one email per day. 6. Use Paid Ads Strategically You can always go the paid route when you’re trying to promote your online content. Be smart about the way you do this, though. Otherwise, you could end up spending a lot of money, and that’s money you might not necessarily get back. Pay to promote specific pieces of content, the ones you really want to get out to a wider audience. Make sure you label your content clearly as being sponsored, too. This helps to establish credibility and prevents you from being penalized by the platforms on which you’re advertising. 7. Hire a Professional Finally, you might want to consider hiring a content marketing expert, like the ones available at this website, to help you get your content out to a wider audience. There are lots of content marketing professionals out there who know the latest tricks and tools necessary to share your content with as many people as possible. Just be sure to do your research before hiring one of these professionals to make sure they’re trustworthy and have a good online reputation.

And How to Create a Stellar Online Content Marketing Plan for Your Ecommerce Site BY DALE HARRIS Consumers spend billions of dollars shopping online each year. Are they spending any of that money on your site? If you want to rake in the cash online, you need to implement a top-notch online content marketing strategy. Without a proper strategy in place, you will miss out on thousands of dollars – or even more! Continue reading this article to learn how to craft the perfect online strategy for your company so you can get a bigger piece of the pie. Online Content Marketing That Works If you’re tired of wasting your time on strategies that don’t work, follow the tips below to get the results you’ve always wanted. 1. Do Your Research Before you start working on your content, you should research your competition. Let’s say you’re in the home decor niche. You would look at sites like Primci to see what strategies they use and if they are successful. 2. Share a Bigger Story There are many websites online, and it is easy for your customers to get distracted. If you want to create a loyal customer following one of the things you can do is share stories. Sharing stories will help your customers build an emotional attachment to you and your company. You may want to replace your traditional blog, include it in the blog or make it a static page. See how many stories you have to share and how much time you have for storytelling. Paying close attention to how you position your stories and blog content will keep you from making major blogging mistakes. 3. Build Relationships Building relationships is a powerful part of online promotion. When you build relationships with companies that are similar to yours, you can reach more of your ideal clients. Make sure to provide value for the other person in the relationship to ensure your relationship continues to grow and strength for further collaboration. 4. Offer Potential Customers Offline Perks Instead of getting lost in the online world, you can offer potential customers offline perks. You might send them coupons in the mail or even offer free products to introduce them to your brand. Once people are familiar with your brand, it makes it much easier for them to do business with your company. People do business with those they like, know and trust. When people have something in their hands they can connect to you; it is easier for them to trust your company. 5. Be Consistent When you create content, you need to be consistent. People need to know what they can expect when they come to consume your content. The consistency should go beyond the type of content you create and flow over into the format, voice and look of the content. Use these tips to create a strategy that will give you the results that you need to boost your company to the next level.

BY DALE HARRIS Seven in 10 marketers believe that relevant content creation is the best SEO strategy. But countless relevant articles get posted online each day. If you want to outrank them, you have to make it easy for search engines to find your content. Also, you must convince search engines that you’re trustworthy. That’s where content optimization comes in. When it comes to optimizing blog content, you need to do it for Google, as it’s by far the most popular search engine on the planet. In fact, some experts estimate that it gets over 30 billion search queries every month. While Google tweaks its search algorithm on the regular basis, some of their ranking factors stay the same. And if you pay attention to key factors, you can boost your rankings on Google. Read on to learn how you can craft web content that consistently shows up on first-page SERPs. Wooing Google with Your Writing If you want to please Google, you first have to know what they’re looking for in a blog post. Let’s look at some of the best on-page SEO practices you should follow when you sit down and write your content. Write Your Content Around a Keyword What specific terms is your target audience searching for on Google? The only way to find out is by conducting keyword research. Once you find the right keyword, look for ways to incorporate it into the body of your post, headline, subheading, URL, image alt text, and meta tag. This will give Google a better idea of what your content is about. Nail the Headline Over half of all social media links get shared without anyone clicking on them. This is why a mediocre headline can cause an otherwise stellar piece of content to be D.O.A. Keep in mind that the ideal headline is 70 characters or less because a longer one will get cut short in the search engine results. Long-Form Content Reigns Supreme The data shows that longer pieces of content not only rank higher but also garner more social media shares. The sweet spot is around 2k words, so aim for that number whenever possible. Don’t Be Shy to Post Believe it or not, businesses that post at least 16 blogs a month get 3.5 to 4.5 times the number of visitors as businesses with 4 or less monthly blog posts. Publishing well-researched articles regularly will give you the best SEO results. Cater to Mobile Users Creating mobile-friendly content is critical, as mobile users are responsible for nearly 60% of web traffic today. To make your content easier to consume on mobile devices, improve its scannability. Do this by keeping your sentences and paragraphs brief and using straightforward subheadings. The Next Step: Building Authority You may write excellent content, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll rank well. Google tends to rank posts from authoritative sites higher. Established SEO firms like Cloud Rock (https://cloudrock.asia/sg/seo-singapore/) make it clear that off-page optimization key to building online authority. Here are a couple off-page SEO techniques you can use to help persuade Google to trust your site. Share Your Content on Social Media Backlinks signal to Google that your content is worth checking out. To improve your chances of getting backlinks, post your content on social media. If your article is chock-full of solid info, people won’t hesitate to link back to it. Try Guest Posting Instead of waiting around for backlinks to come from high authority sites, you can do it yourself with guest posting. Look for sites that welcome guest posts and send them pitches. When you write your piece for them, all you have to do is link back to your page. Content Optimization Done Right What do you get when you put everything mentioned above together? You get keyword-targeted content that’s authoritative, valuable, shareable, and consumable on any device. In other words, it’s exactly what Google wants, so they’ll reward you with higher rankings. Now that you have content optimization down pat, are you looking for more tips on crafting top-notch web content? If so, be sure to visit our writing blog!