Halona Black – Page 2

October 2, 2013October 2, 2013

5 Questions to Ask Before Creating Your Content Marketing Strategy

New and established healthy brands alike find themselves in an ongoing cycle of marketing their services. Customers are no longer paying as much attention to traditional advertising and are now looking for information to solve their problems. That is why content marketing has become so popular.

Content marketing is the process of creating and distributing content to attract your target customer to your services or products. If you want to use content marketing for your healthy brand, don’t do what many companies do and just start writing random blog posts with no focus. You need a strategy. Here are 5 questions you need to ask yourself before creating your content marketing strategy.

#1 What are your business goals?

Sounds strange, but many healthy brands don’t have any business goals at all beyond sell more stuff. You know the old saying: If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. The same can be said with content marketing. Pinpoint what your business goals are before spending any time on creating content strategy. Do you want a 10% increase in sales? Acquisition of 10 new clients? Launch a new product? Once you have identified your goals, think about a time frame. Your healthy brand may choose to forecast 3 months into the future while others are looking at one to two years.

#2 What do you know about your customers?

Your customers are the reason you’re in business. So it is imperative that you do a little research to find out why they choose to buy from you, or at least why they are interested in your company. If you already have an email list, try creating a survey of 5 to 10 questions inquiring about their experiences with you. If they have made a purchase, why did they choose your company over others? If they have NOT made a purchase as of yet, what is holding them back?

#3 How did your customers find you on the internet?

Do some keyword research to figure out how your customers and enthusiasts found you on the internet. You may already know this intuitively, however using tools like Google Keyword Planner can give you some insight into the various combinations of how people phrase their questions. The latest Google search algorithm updates emphasize the use of natural search language and longtail keywords. Here is an example of keywords vs natural search language for an ayurvedic herb company:

Keyword: ayurveda, herbs, ayurvedic herbs, bulk herbs, wholesale, Portland OR
Natural language/longtail keywords: Who sells ayurvedic herbs in bulk in Portland, OR?

#4 What kinds of content do your customers need?

Once you know what kinds of questions your customers and enthusiasts are asking, and you know the words they are using to find you on the internet, you can now start to brainstorm the kinds of content your customers need to make an informed choice about your brand. Here are some content ideas to get you started:

Education or training – How can you teach your customer to need and want your product or service?
Discounts or coupons – How can you use this to lure customers in to try new products and services?
Thought leadership – How can you reframe old ideas about your industry and bring more people into your “tribe?”
Giveaways – Can you offer people a mini experience representative of what you offer?
Testimonials – How can you use the experiences prior satisfied customers to your advantage?

#5 What is the best way to meet your content needs?

Now that you’ve done all the prior work, you can now figure out how to take your content ideas and figure out what is the best vehicle to deliver your message. Is it a series of blog posts — either on your blog or elsewhere? Is it a well researched white paper? Is it an e-book? Is it a presentation that can be displayed using Slideshare or Prezi? Is it an infographic?

Content marketing can be simplified with the proper guidance. If you are a new or established healthy brand seeking support for your content marketing, I am available for consultations and creating content.

What’s the hardest part about creating a content marketing strategy for your healthy brand?

October 1, 2013October 1, 2013

How to Turn Your Fans and Followers Into Subscribers

Are marketing companies beating down your door promising to bring you 1000+ Facebook followers in a day? Do you think you need 20,000+ Twitter followers in order to be relevant? Let me be honest with you. The number of Facebook and Twitter followers you have is only half the battle. Getting them onto your email list is what matters.

I watch a lot of healthy brands spend a lot of time on building their following online without the use of a blog or email list. You create crafty posts that people comment on and share with others. You take lots of beautiful photos personalized with quotes of the day. Then what happens? Your Facebook or Twitter account disappears, or somehow your content gets lost. And all those likes and followers you worked so hard to build up are now — GONE. Now what?

Now you’ve got to take the time to build your community all over again. Oh, how it sucks to be you.

This is one of the main reasons why creating a blog with an email list is so important. You own your own website and your website list. The company you pay to host your website and manage your email list backs up your information so that the information you need will be there when you need it. You are not at the whim of some outside social media company who will be gone tomorrow with all your followers in tow.

People who are on your email list are worth way more than your social media followers. People who actively make the decision to spend a quick minute to join your email list are making a strong commitment to learn more about you and what you can do for them. They are saying, “Yes, I like you and welcome opportunities for you to sell me stuff.” This is way more powerful than someone who just pressed the LIKE button.

So how do you lure your followers to your email list?

Give them a preview of what’s coming up next week on your blog. On the day before your next blog post or newsletter comes out, tell them about the new piece of content you have coming out tomorrow with a link that will lead them to your subscription page. Plain and simple.
Have a juicy lead magnet. A great lead magnet is what you are giving away for free in exchange for their email address. This can be a mini e-course, an e-book, a quick recipe book, a series of short videos, etc. Be creative and remember that your giveaway should give your subscribers a taste of what it is you can do for them.
Share exclusive content with your list. What can you give your subscribers that no one else will have access to? Will you be giving them first dibs on a coupon code to purchase items on your site? Will they learn about special classes that will give them an opportunity to learn directly from you?

Hey, want to subscribe to my list? Subscribe now and get a FREE mini e-course, 5 BLOG BLUNDERS THAT CAN SABOTAGE YOUR HEALTHY BRAND!

September 30, 2013September 30, 2013

3 Keys to Writing Quality Blog Content for Your Healthy Brand

Every healthy brand needs a blog to build a relationship with their customers. However you want to make sure you build your blog content strategically. I often peruse the blogs of healthy brands, many of which feel more like ghost towns rather than a place I want to hang out and learn more about your product or services. So how do you get your customers, and future customers, to notice your content in the first place? Here are 3 keys to get your health brand blog content started in the right direction.

#1 Answer your customers’ questions

Are you talking to your customers or clients on a regular basis? If you’re not, you’re missing out on a prime opportunity to create new ideas for blog content. What questions do you get over and over again? Chances are that if your customers are asking those questions, there are other potential customers in the world who have the same questions. Do them all a favor by turning their questions into a series of blog posts.

If you care at all about SEO, or search engine optimization, you may have noticed that Google has made yet another update to their search algorithm. The latest Google update called Hummingbird supports searchers with finding the answers to their questions using natural language. This is great for you if you follow this ESSENTIAL TIP to writing a blog post that your customers will read. If you take the time to simply answer your customers questions, you will ALWAYS be in Google’s good graces.

#2 Use effective blog post titles

The titles of your blog posts should give your readers a clue about what the post is about. Why? Think about how much information you scan on a daily basis. This includes your emails, your favorite websites, Facebook posts, your Twitter feed, etc. What do you tend to click on? You are more than likely going to click on the headline that gives you a clue about what the post is about. Take a look at the headline for this post, for example: 3 Keys to Writing Quality Blog Content for Your Healthy Brand. I identified the following information:

What am I giving away? —> 3 tips (simple and easy to digest)
What is the subject of the post? —> writing quality blog content
Who is the audience? —> healthy brands

Make life for your readers a lot easier by being as clear as possible with your titles. If they don’t click on your post right away, they will at the very least share it with others via social media to those who may be part of your target audience as well.

#3 Don’t write to go viral, write for your customers {TWEET THIS!}

New bloggers and brands put way too much pressure on themselves trying to create content marketing campaigns that will go viral. Viral means that your content gets shared across social media thousands, if not millions, of times, in a very short span of time — very similar to how a flu virus spreads. You’ve seen them: wacky wedding proposals, babies that dance, stupid animal stunts, etc. While you definitely want your posts to be seen and read, you want your content to be seen by the right people — namely people who can’t wait to buy your products and services. So do yourself and your customers a favor and write exclusively for your audience.

Do you have questions about writing good blog content for your healthy brand? Write your questions in the comments below.

September 13, 2013September 26, 2013

Why Your Healthy Brand Needs a Blog

There are literally millions of blogs and even more blog posts out there on the internet. Why should your healthy brand invest the time and energy into creating one?

Blogs help build relationships with customers

Some businesses only reach out to their customers when they have something to sell. This can be a major turn off for a lot of consumers. Blogs are a soft way of knocking on your customer’s door and reminding them that you exist.

People or businesses that have bought from you — or those that may want to buy from you in the future — want to stay in contact with you. They want to know your opinion on relevant topics, the latest on your new products, they want first dibs on coupon codes and sales, etc. Help your current and future customers stay in contact with you by offering a blog subscription via email or rss.

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Looking for an email subscription service? I highly recommend Aweber to help you create your money making email list.

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Well written blog posts can help your business rank high in Google

Blog posts can help potential customers discover you during their internet search for your product or service. For example, if I am looking for monkey trainers in Wisconsin, I would type in those keywords in my Google search and perhaps review the first two to three pages of results. If you are a diligent elephant trainer who blogged regularly, you would use the keywords, “monkey trainers Wisconsin,” often in your blog posts, making your site pop up in the Google results (alright, the algorithm for Google searches is way more complicated than that, but you get my point…). I’d be able to read the posts you wrote and decide if you were the the type of monkey trainer I was looking to hire.

Good blog content sets you apart from your competition

Blog posts are a great way to set your business apart from your competition. Just about every health company with a web presence will write a mission statement somewhere on their site. However, who really reads those things and commits it to memory? It is much easier to express your mission and values in your blog posts.

If your company sells iron pills, you may want to blog about why your iron pills are better than others. Are your iron pills suitable for pregnant women? Does your company refrain from using animal by-products or artificial binders? Are the pills easy on the digestive system? Your answers to these questions say a lot about who you are as a company and your values, much more than any dry mission statement can convey.

Are you ready to get your blog started? Do you already have a blog and want to know how you can improve it? Write your thoughts in the comments below.