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Create Your 2013 Content Marketing Year in Review

Halona Black, Health Copywriter & Content Specialist info@HalonaBlack.com 347-674-0841As December 2013 comes to a close, you are more than likely preoccupied with organizing your health business plans for the new year. Your brain is barraging you with questions about how you can increase your sales and serve more clients. However, before you take a look at 2014, take a moment to celebrate all that you have accomplished in 2013. How have your content marketing efforts  supported your accomplishments for 2013? It is difficult to make goals for next year when you have no idea what was successful, and not so successful, the previous year. Here is a list of 10 steps that will guide you through creating your year in review statement.

Your Content Marketing Year in Review: 2013

  1. Make a list of all your biggest accomplishments for the year.
  2. Did you make a list of marketing goals for 2013? Take that out and analyze how you fared.
  3. Do you have a blog? What were some of your most popular blog posts? This can be measured by the number of comments that were left, how many times was it shared on social media, and the amount of traffic your site received after publishing that post.
  4. Did you do any guest blog posts? What were the results of those posts? Did you get new business? Did your blog receive more traffic? Did you sell any products?
  5. Did you get any press mentions on the web, local, national, or international media? How and why did those press mentions happen? Press releases, personal relationships, contributed articles, etc.
  6. Did you create any new relationships with other business owners as a result of your blog, social media, etc.?
  7. What is the percentage of increase in your email list from the beginning of 2013 to now?
  8. How has your social media presence grown from the beginning of 2013 to now?
  9. What is your most successful content marketing tool? Is it your blog, newsletter, your Facebook profile, etc.?
  10. Now that you know what was successful for 2013, what content marketing tools will you use going into 2014? How will you use them to meet your goals for the new year?

If you are looking for a content marketing expert who can help you plan for business success in 2014, contact me for your free 15 minute consultation.

 

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5 Questions to Ask Before Creating Your Content Marketing Strategy

5 Questions to Ask Before Creating Your Content Marketing Strategy - Halona Black, Freelance Writer, Healthy Brand Expert info@HalonaBlack.comNew 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?

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Why Your Healthy Brand Needs a Blog

Halona Black SEO Health Writer and BloggerThere 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.