There is no shortage of blogs, guides, how-to articles and ebooks about marketing to millennials, but what about marketing to baby boomers? Even though millennials (defined as people who in the mid-2010s were between the ages of 20 and 36) are now the largest generation in the U.S. at over 72 million members, the baby boomer generation is still a considerable force at over 71 million strong. A little research and insight can show you to how to market to baby boomers effectively.

 

What Are Baby Boomers?

The term “baby boomer” refers to a person born in the years just following the Second World War, when there was a temporary spike in birth rates. Currently, boomers make up nearly 20% of the American public and a substantial amount of the entire global population. They have been around to witness the incredible leaps and bounds of technology: from the landing on the moon to the development of virtual reality and AI assistants. They have seen a lot during their lifetimes and are prepared to see even more global advancements in the years to come.

 

What Age Group Are Baby Boomers?

The baby boomer age group is defined by people born between 1946 and 1964. This would put the baby boomers ranging from 56 to 74 years of age. Do you fit into this age group, or do you know someone who does? Chances are that you have more than a few baby boomer associates, which means marketing to baby boomers can be a realistic target market for your company.

 

Where Do Baby Boomers Spend Their Money?

Baby boomers are a large and diverse group with individual needs. Just like any generation, they are seeking businesses and services that can help them. But here’s the catch; they’re actually spending more money than the younger groups that many companies are scrambling to target with their advertising. In fact, many are using the internet more than ever to make purchases, so now is the time to market to baby boomers online.

Because of the size of the generation and the amount of buying power they have, it’s crucial that companies find a way to reach this group and target content and marketing to baby boomers in a way that’s authentic.

 

How To Market to Baby Boomers

The foundation of any successful marketing strategy is to connect with your target market. Those who see your ads, find your website or learn about your services need to feel like you have their needs in mind. This is where content marketing to baby boomers can really come into play.

Content marketing is the link between businesses and potential customers. The articles, social media posts and landing pages you create inform, persuade and build brand image. The content you create should be catchy and informative, while personally reaching your target market. When marketing to baby boomers, you can use content marketing to help them realize how their services can help them.

Not sure where to start? Here are some insights into what the baby boomer generation wants and how you can speak to them through your marketing content.

 

1. Understand Their Financial Needs and Concerns

The first way to market to baby boomers is by understanding what kinds of things they are looking for. The baby boomer label covers a wide range of ages and lifestyles, but many of the people in this group are retired or are approaching retirement age. By 2030, every baby boomer will be at least 65. Other statistics show that this generation is more frugal when it comes to entertainment, though more of them may be supporting an adult child than previous generations.

According to the National Center for Policy Analysis, baby boomer spending on food, clothing and furnishings fell by large amounts from 1990 to 2010. Spending on food and restaurants saw the smallest decline with an 18% and 20% drop for 45-54-year olds and 55-64-year olds, respectively. The largest decrease in spending was seen for clothing purchases by 55-64-year-olds. This group’s clothing spending decreased by 70%. If these are the types of products you offer, it’s important to find creative ways to market to baby boomers.

However, none of these statistics mean that baby boomers don’t want to spend money or can’t spend money. As mentioned above, they have more disposable income than any other demographic group. Still, with retirement saving and adult children to think about, they may need to be more selective how they spend their money, which means your content marketing has to work twice as hard to convince them that what you’re selling is worth it.

Marketing to baby boomers includes focusing on how your product or service offering can make their lives better, more fulfilling or easier, and highlight the value that they receive when they choose to spend their hard-earned and hard-saved money on your services.

 

2. Don’t Be Patronizing to Baby Boomers

Growing older isn’t something to dread, it’s just another upgrade in life. People in their 50s and 60s have a lot of living under their belts, and they are by no means done learning new things, having new experiences and finding more ways to enrich their life. Don’t talk down to baby boomers or diminish them by thinking of them as old and obsolete.

Though this group is starting to age physically, they are interested in finding ways to continue the things they enjoy and learn how to embrace their later years gracefully and safely. When marketing to baby boomers, help them see how your products will benefit them in their journey. Even with the less glamorous parts of aging, look for ways to present your products in an attractive, persuasive way.

As people near retirement, they may also be more interested in services and products that make life more convenient, such as home delivery of products, easy-to-use tools, or all-expense-paid trips. Although these types of services can be appealing to anyone, market to baby boomers with their interests in mind. Create content that shows how the added convenience of something is worth the extra money.

People in the baby boomer age group are vibrant members of society, and your content and marketing should reflect that you understand that by showing them how your products and services can help them keep living their own individual lives and achieving their goals. Relate with them, offer solutions and use content marketing to baby boomers as your biggest marketing weapon.

 

3. Reach Baby Boomers Through the Internet​

While baby boomers might not be as likely to use social media platforms like Instagram, Snapchat and Reddit as younger groups, they still heavily interact online. The internet offers plenty of resources and channels of entertainment, not to mention the chance to stay in touch with friends, family and coworkers. According to the Pew Center, 83 % of younger baby boomers and 76 % of older baby boomers are also internet users. This isn’t as high as millennials, (97 %) but it’s still a large majority.

In addition, the internet is the most common way baby boomers research information on a topic, meaning you need to be ready with outstanding content to inform them about your company. Marketing to baby boomers includes using Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to improve your digital strategy. Rank for keywords that potential customers may use, and don’t forget to create quality content that answers questions and encourages readers to act.

Like most groups, baby boomers like to be entertained online. They use social media and conduct research on the internet. Remember this as you create engaging content and media for baby boomers.

 

4. Don’t Forget About Traditional Methods When Marketing to Baby Boomers

Although baby boomers are quite digitally savvy, more old-fashioned tactics like direct mail still work on them. Consider as an example, the popularity of the AARP Magazine, which had over 23 million subscribers as of a couple years ago. If you have products or services that can benefit baby boomers, delivering persuasive content right to their doorstep can be an effective strategy.

Just make sure that the materials you send are targeted at their interests and needs. There aren’t many people in any age group that actually like receiving junk mail. When marketing to baby boomers, use attractive pictures, keep the format simple and consider offering coupons or discounted services.

 

5. Don’t Make Them Work Too Hard

For baby boomers (and really for people of all ages) you need to create content that’s easy to access and engage with. Always provide a simple way for readers to take further action such as purchasing from your company. People have packed schedules these days, and if you make them jump through too many hoops in terms of poor website speed or user experience, they might find that it’s not worth the effort and leave your brand for another competitor.

While boomers are active internet users, they might not have as much patience with confusing or hard-to-use websites. Ensure your content is easy to find and consume on all devices, from laptops to smartphones to tablets. Here are a few ways to make this happen:

• Make fonts a comfortable size for reading
• Keep CTAs simple
• Use bullet points, headers and shorter paragraphs
• Utilize white space
• Stick to one or two fonts
• Include images, videos and infographics

Effective marketing to baby boomers takes work. Try to be as convincing as you can with your content by incorporating both quality design and text.

If you really want to get the attention of your target market, your content needs to be seen on search rankings. Getting on the first page isn’t a guessing game, carefully used SEO practices can improve your rankings. With keywords, meta information and quality content, Google can start ranking your content higher when baby boomers search related keywords.

 

6. Remember Baby Boomers Are a Diverse Group

Are you exactly like everyone else in your age group? Of course not. With any marketing content you create, it’s important to keep in mind that baby boomers aren’t a homogenous group. They have different wants, needs and concerns, and what works on one group of baby boomers might not work on another.

If you really want to understand and market to baby boomers online, survey them. Everyone likes to be appreciated, and a survey on baby boomer preferences is a way to show that you’re interested in really understanding their wants and needs so you can provide content and services tailored to them.

The more accurate you are when you market to baby boomers, the more results you’ll get. Be thorough with your research, and always strive to improve. Who knows how the future will continue to mold and shape the needs of baby boomers?

 

Marketing to Baby Boomers Can Be Done!

Baby boomers aren’t simply another faceless consumer group. They’re a mix of working professionals, retirees, athletes, artists, grandparents, couples and other individuals who all want to be able to enjoy their lives. Spend as much time and thought creating content and marketing to baby boomers as you would for any other demographic. Before long, you’ll see the rewards when baby boomers start responding to your marketing content, identifying with your brand and buying your products and services.

Do you want to create amazing content that people will remember long after they’ve left your site? Are you interested in producing marketing deliverables that are shareable, unique and engaging (and can easily be branded to increase exposure for your company)? If these are your goals – and they should be if you care about bringing more traffic to your site and increasing leads – you need to create an infographic.

 

What Is an Infographic?

An infographic is a graphic that displays useful data in a creative way. With a unique representation of data that you or other sources collect, you can portray information clearly and artistically. A professional graphic grabs the attention of readers and helps them understand the knowledge you want to present.

This style of imagery isn’t just a way to mix things up, there are proven benefits of including infographics. A HubSpot study found that articles generated 178% more inbound links than normal when they included an infographic. That’s huge in the SEO world! Articles with visual representations of data also got a whopping 72% more views on average.

 

Why Are Infographics Useful?

Blog content is a great foundation for a content marketing strategy. However, people will only remember so much of the text content they read, while 80 percent of information conveyed visually is retained. Infographics still require the great writing and research that you use in your written content, but they’re laid out and designed in a way that allows people to quickly understand information and remember it for longer.

 

How to Make a Good Infographic

If you’re new to creating infographics, you may wonder how to make a good infographic. Don’t worry, there are plenty of tools out there to help even beginners create nice-looking graphics. And our guide can help you decide what to include.

If you’d prefer to stay hands-off, these tips are still helpful for compiling research, creating written content and working with a designer to bring your idea to life. With that being said, here are the seven elements used to create effective infographics for your website.

 

1. A Well-Thought-Out Infographic Topic

Choosing a topic for an infographic is really not that different from choosing a topic for a blog post. In fact, one great method of choosing topics is to USE the information from your blog posts. Go through some of your top-performing blogs and consider how you’d break out the information into an infographic format. Any blog post that has well-structured lists, factual or numerical data, or tells a story are great places to start.

Aside from that, you should select an infographic topic that will matter to your readers and that hasn’t already been overused by others. Think about your industry and come up with infographic topics that people should know about. Whether you’re answering a question, displaying important new research or explaining a difficult concept, it can be useful to readers.

Make sure that whatever infographic topic you choose, you take a structured approach to presenting it to your readers. Instead of simply throwing together a bunch of statistics on a topic area, aim to find the story or the unique focus within the data. When appropriate, give context to the data you’re displaying and show your readers why it’s applicable to them.

 

2. Infographic Structure

So how do you create the actual infographic? Essentially, infographics are about telling a story with data, but you don’t always have to take the same approach. According to Alberto Cairo in this Marketing Land article, infographics need structure, but not necessarily a narrative structure. Basically, your image needs to make sense in terms of what information you include and how it’s arranged.

This infographic from Funders and Founders, for example, presents productivity tips broken up into a variety of categories depending on what the tips pertain to.

Keep in mind that nice infographic structure is all relative. Some really great infographics are simple and easy to get through, others are more colorful and data-heavy. As far as deciding what design elements to use in order to create a structure, the sky really is the limit. One starting point is to find other good infographics that have resonated with you and follow a similar pattern or style.

 

3. Legitimate Research and Facts That Wow

Thorough research is important in all content, but in an infographic where interesting facts and figures are usually the main focus, it’s mandatory. After you’ve chosen a subject and a focus, find the data that supports your facts.

If possible, find statistics that your company has already gathered. Check out interesting analytics or surveys you have conducted, and put them into a graphic. However, it isn’t a prerequisite to create your own data for an infographic. Find interesting facts from others who have taken the time and effort to conduct surveys and tests. When possible, find the primary source of the research instead of citing a secondary source (someone who mentioned the primary resource on their site or in their content).

Prioritize NEW Statistics in Your Infographics

With so many infographics out there, you’ll probably notice that a lot of them repeat the same statistics. Some overlap is inevitable, but you should make an effort to find information that is new or surprising to your audience.

Find something that helps them or enriches their life in some way whether that means improving their work strategies, helping them do something better or more efficiently, or informing them about something they didn’t know. Ask yourself: how does this infographic help my target audience?

Include Sources

It’s also good to include a list of all your sources at the end of your infographic for two reasons: first, so you can give proper credit to the people that did the work to find those statistics; and second, so people that enjoy your content can find out more about it from the sources you consulted when making it.

 

4. Write Quality Infographic Content

Whether you’ve created content just for this image or you are taking from an existing article, infographic content needs to be altered to fit the format. Flowing sentences don’t work for this style. Instead, stick to strong verbs and concise wording. For example, if you’re writing about the process of putting on a mask, make each step comprehensible but short. People want to absorb as much information as they can in as few words as possible.

A quick review of the examples out there shows that there’s a lot of variation in how much text infographics contain compared to the amount of visual imagery. There’s no one right answer to how much text you should include, but it does need to be high-quality and error-free writing.

Pick Good Data

If you’re reusing content from a blog post to make your infographic, the most important task is to pare that content down and use only the most impactful sections for the text of your image. A smart method is to find sections that are data-rich and group those stats together in an image. If your infographic isn’t focused on numbers or data, pick content that is useful and relevant to the topic you’ve chosen.

Create an Infographic Outline First

If you’re creating an infographic from scratch, consider writing up a bare-bones outline for the information you want to include. Write small blocks of text and bullet points that could be used to introduce your content and state your data. Then during the design stage, you can take the outline and rework it into a full infographic, making any needed changes at this point.

 

5. Thoughtful, Innovative Infographic Design

Whether you’re designing your infographic or you’re handing that part over to a professional designer, have an open mind to all sorts of design, from photographs to flat design to illustrations.

There are many ways to categorize the information you gather. Visme recognized the five most common ways:

• Alphabetically: Just like this bullet point list, you can categorize the information on your infographics A-Z. This helps readers follow without too much effort, and it’s a great way to know what to put first.
• Categorically: Put data in categories, so readers know where to look. If you are looking at a variety of data, this is a great way to organize your thoughts.
• Chronologically: If you are creating an infographic about history or have specific dates, a timeline or other chronological order is the way to go.
• Geographically: Studying demographics in specific areas or gathering surveys from different cities? Group by city, state or nation.
• Hierarchically: Readers easily move from each item to the next, and they know exactly which pieces of information are the most important.

With these types of categories in mind, you can start designing in a creative way. No matter how you organize data, design your infographic in a way that is engaging and original. Here are a few examples to give you ideas for your own project.

Great Infographic Examples

This example from Optics Central discusses the different phases of the moon using Oreos as a visual. Similar to an object lesson you’d use in a child’s classroom, this infographic teaches concepts in a simple (and delicious) way.

Here’s another example of using photographs (and food references) to display information. This infographic, from LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, based off of content from HubSpot, shows how to create the perfect mix of blog content.

This example from DesignMantic features a pleasing, retro-style design and a warm, slightly muted color palette.

Another important thing to remember about infographic design is that it should bear some resemblance to your branding. This example from Classy shows how fonts and colors in an infographic can match your brand identity.

When you’re ready to design your infographic, you have a lot of options. If you have a graphic designer on staff, work with them to translate your ideas into a graphic. If you don’t have access to an in-house designer, you can find a freelancer or use a web-based infographic-making tool such as Canva or DesignWizard.

The Right Design

Each design approach has pros and cons. The main con to hiring a designer is that their services may be costly, though if you want professional, high-quality design, the cost is probably going to be worth it. Making the infographic yourself will be much cheaper, but if you don’t have strong design skills, the quality of the finished product might not be what you were hoping for.

Whether you get the help of a professional designer or use your own team, it’s a good idea to have a brand style guide. This is a thorough explanation of your brand: the colors, fonts and styles of the company as well as the voice and tone you are trying to portray. Designers will use this as their resource as they create infographics, making the image fit naturally with the rest of your website. This is a great way to develop your brand as you continue to add more content, graphics and videos.

 

6. A Thorough Review Process

Typos aren’t acceptable in infographics any more than they are in written blog content. Before you deem your picture ready to publish, make sure it has gone through just as much review as any of the other content you put out. In addition to proofing grammar and spelling, make sure that your infographic is fact-checked and has a logical flow.

It can be helpful to pass your content off to someone who’s not as familiar with it for review and to get a sense of how your infographic will be received by your customers.

 

7. A Promotion Strategy

The best infographics won’t get any traction if you don’t have the right promotion strategy for them. There are several sites that you can submit infographics to for wider reach, and of course, you should include your graphic on your blog, in addition to promoting it on social media and via email. If you create a joint infographic with a business partner, your options for promotion double as you can both use all the options at your disposal to get more eyes on your image.

 

Start Creating Great Infographics!

Infographics are great as standalone content, as a complement to another piece of content or as a way of recycling old content. They’re attractive, popular, shareable, engaging and can reach and influence people in a way that text content can’t. Use the tips above to come up with great infographic topics and start producing more effective visual content for your company.

And in case you’ve already forgotten what you’ve read, here’s an infographic to remind you of what to include in an infographic:

Running a business is a big undertaking. Managing every facet of operations can be daunting, especially in areas out of your professional comfort zone. This is one major reason to outsource blog writing, but we want to get into it. Why is outsourcing such a great option for a company like yours?

Why Outsource Your Blog Writing?

Digital marketing is an area that can be difficult to tackle alone. Content marketing plans are imperative in this internet age, and blogs have become a huge part of these strategies. If you’re not a writer (or don’t have one on staff), you may quickly get left behind in this crucial strategy. As the digital world revolves faster each day, it may be time for your company to outsource blog writing to professional content creators.

But before we get into that, let’s take a look at the major reasons to engage in blog writing for your business in the first place.

The Far-Reaching Impact of Good Blog Content Writing

A succinct, analytical definition of a blog describes it as an internet document set up in the form of an ongoing diary with the most recent entries listed first. However, its role is far more complicated and important than that makes it seem. Digital marketing guru Neil Patel describes blogging as a long-term relationship that, if constantly maintained, can yield rewards—lots of them:

Blog Writing Increases Brand Awareness

Despite whether you outsource blog writing or write it yourself, when you post quality blog content regularly—at a minimum weekly—your brand becomes more recognizable to potential customers. Blogs are prime areas for using SEO tactics such as including strong keywords to boost your rankings in Search Engine Results Pages. The higher you are ranked, the easier it is for search engine users to find you in the busy world of the internet.

You can use blog posts to explain your product or service, describe how it works, and offer suggestions for the best ways to utilize it. The more people know about your brand and what it offers, the more likely they will be to remember it and think of it the next time they are ready to make a purchase.

Blog Content Writing Helps Build Authority

A blog allows you to set yourself up as a knowledgeable expert in your specific niche. Craft your blog posts well and keep them rich with details and unique information that readers will not find from other sources. Give your audience value and a reason to keep coming back, reading the content you publish, and sharing that content with others.

Be sure to respond in a timely manner to comments, questions, and complaints left on your blog posts. When people feel they are considered important and that their communication matters to you, they are more likely to develop a sense of loyalty to you and your brand.

Well-Written Blogs Aid in Promoting Products and Services

Customers and potential new clients enjoy unique and interesting ways to interact with you, such as contests, games, and special promotions. They also appreciate informative events such as question-and-answer sessions. Your blog can be the perfect platform for this back-and-forth by including links to contests and promotions and providing space for comments and discussion.

Consider posting interviews you conduct with experts in your specialized area or do regular posts of FAQs highlighting the questions you get from customers and answering these common inquiries for everyone who accesses your blog. These sorts of blog posts offer readers added value and can help build an audience and expand the one you may already have.

Blog Content Writing Drives Traffic to Other Pages on Your Website

Blogs can provide a natural segue to other areas of your website. The longer visitors stay on your website, commonly called the Average Session Length, the more successful you will be in engaging them. Interested people may return to your website, which is another sign of success. These people also may share your website with others who could eventually become customers. A good blog provides a great way to tell people what they will find on your website and make it easy for them to reach areas that interest them with relevant links.

Blog Writing Can Help Build Backlinks From External Sites

For this to work to your benefit, you need to communicate with other website owners who offer services or products related to your own. Build a relationship with them and ask them to link back to your website from theirs. A link of this sort is called a backlink. When a successful website owner links back to your site, this helps your search engine rankings and can lead to increased traffic and potentially to new sales.

The only way you’ll get other business owners to link back to your blog posts is if you offer something really valuable and informative to their reader base. You could either write a guest blog post for that business owner to include on their own blog or pitch to them the value of linking from one of their blog posts to yours. The better your blogs are, the easier this strategy becomes.

Why Outsource Blog Writing?

Business managers and owners make an effort to bring in dedicated content professionals because they understand some of the points discussed above. Bottom line: high-quality blog posts published regularly bring the best results. If you are not experienced with current best practices, or if you do not have time for creating well-written, thought-provoking, search-engine-optimized articles, it may be time to hire someone to write blog posts for you.

Hiring an individual or a content company with writing and search engine optimization expertise to produce quality blog material for you can be an important part of a sound business plan. Content veterans with time to research and carefully craft pieces in line with your business persona can help you achieve important sales goals without demanding more of your time. When you outsource your blog writing to the right partner, the benefits quickly become clear:

Outsourcing Article Writing Saves Time

It generally takes 2-3 hours to write a 500-1000 word blog post. Ain’t no business owner got time for that! You need to spend time working on the things that make your business great in order to survive long-term. The answer is to hire someone to write blog posts for you who has dedicated themselves to the craft of writing. They’ll likely be able to say it better than you could while saving you a ton of time in the process.

Outsourcing Blog Writers Saves Money

It makes sense that saving time also saves money, but typically you’re the highest-paid worker you have on staff. Outsourcing article writing to professionals who can do it quickly and expertly will save you money over what you’d have to pay yourself – which is likely much more than you’d pay bloggers for hire.

Not only that, but if you decide to use an agency for content outsourcing, you could also benefit from account management. In this example, you’d likely be able to set the blog writing campaigns on autopilot and avoid the stress, costs and communication that comes from vetting, hiring, training and managing multiple freelance writers concurrently.

Outsourcing Blog Writing Increases Diversity

If you’re writing all your own blog content, you can only ever pull from your own experience and knowledge. When you have large projects, or you have products and services that appeal to multiple target markets, you can benefit greatly from getting bloggers for hire who already have experience or knowledge in those fields.

For instance, an outdoor company may sell skis, snowboards, hiking boots and camping gear. To think that all of those things apply to the exact same people would be a big mistake. Instead, you could outsource your blog writing for each of those target markets to individuals who know, understand and have a passion for each of those things. Your ability to reach your audience will be increased by pulling from the diversity of a wider net of blog content writers.

The Biggest Reason To Outsource

Let’s face it: The biggest reason why you should outsource blog writing is that it makes sense. Consider your options today.

We’ve all heard that the “cream of the top rises to the top” and that you should “work smarter, not harder”, but there’s a lot more to business marketing than following marketing quotes that probably hung on the walls of your middle school classrooms. While these two pieces of advice are great, we thought we’d treat you to twenty-five insightful quotes to improve your marketing from some of the top business brains in the world.

---

'The cream of the top rises to the top!' See 25 more insights from business professionals.
Click To Tweet

---

 

25 Best Marketing Quotes

While some of these marketing quotes may not apply exactly to your company, there is likely something to be gleaned from each of them. One of the fastest ways to get better at content marketing is to learn from the mistakes and successes of those who’ve gone before you, no matter what industry they’re in, and use that knowledge to make your content awesome. This is the way of the wise marketer.

So, let wisdom prevail, and enjoy the following business marketing quotes:

1. “If dogs don’t like your dog food, the packaging doesn’t matter.” – Stephen Denny, author of “Killing Giants”

2. “Good marketing makes the company look smart. Great marketing makes the customer feel smart.” – Joe Chernov, content team manager for HubSpot

3. “All the creativity books in the world aren’t going to help you if you’re unwilling to have lousy, lame and even dangerously bad ideas.” – Seth Godin, launcher of Yoyodyne and Squidoo and author of “All Marketers Are Liars”

4. “It’s not what you know or who you know, but who knows you.” – Susan RoAne, author of “How to Work a Room”

5. “Marketing is not the art of finding clever ways to dispose of what you make. It is the art of creating genuine customer value.” – Philip Kotler, professor of International Marketing at Northwestern University and author of over 55 books

6. “The art of marketing is the art of brand building. If you are not a brand, you are a commodity. Then price is everything and the low-cost producer is the only winner.” – Philip Kotler

7. “The only thing more expensive than hiring a professional is hiring an amateur.” – Red Adair, innovator and oil well firefighter

8. “Content is king, but marketing is queen and runs the household.” – Gary Vaynerchuk, business builder and owner of VaynerMedia

9. “The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.” – Peter Drucker, the “founder of modern management”

10. “Don’t build links. Build relationships.” – Rand Fishkin, Wizard of Moz

11. “Whether B2B or B2C, I believe passionately that good marketing essentials are the same. We all are emotional beings looking for relevance, context and connection.” – Beth Comstock, vice chair at GE

12. “Social media is about the people, not about your business. Provide for the people and the people will provide for you.” – Matt Goulart, founder and CEO of Ignite Digital

13. “Transforming a brand into a socially responsible leader doesn’t happen overnight by simply writing new marketing and advertising strategies. It takes effort to identify a vision that your customers will find credible and aligned with their values.” – Simon Mainwaring, marketing expert and founder of the concept of We First capitalism

14. “Pinterest is the new Google.” – Guy Kawasaki, author of “The Art of Social Media”

15. “If I’d have asked my customer what they wanted, they would have told me ‘A faster horse’.” – Henry Ford

16. “Creativity is one of the last remaining legal ways of gaining an unfair advantage over the competition.” – Ed McCabe, founder of McCabe & Company

17. “In network marketing, duplication is what success looks like.” – Michael S. Clouse, MLM expert

18. “The story is what’s going to get people excited.” – Blake Mycoskie, founder of TOMS

19. “Nobody cares about your products except you. Create interesting content!” – David Meerman Scott, author of “The New Rules of Marketing & PR”

20. “By publishing content that shows buyers you understand their problems and can show them how to solve them, you build credibility.” – Ardath Albee, author of “eMarketing Strategies for the Complex Sale”

21. “If your stories are all about your products and services, that’s not storytelling. It’s a brochure. Give yourself permission to make the story bigger.” – Jay Baer, founder Convince & Convert strategy consulting firm and five multi-million dollar businesses

22. “Content builds relationships. Relationships are built on trust. Trust drives revenue.” – Andrew Davis, founder of the first marketing thought leader talent agency, Monumental Shift

23. “Nobody reads ads. People read what interests them. Sometimes, it’s an ad.” – Howard Luck Gossage, founder of Mander, Freeman & Gossage

24. “Content is fire, social media is gasoline.” – Ryan Kahn, founder of The Hired Group

And finally, to put the cherry on top of this feast of marketing quote wisdom (and prove that business brains come in all different shapes and sizes) ….

25. “It will work. I am a marketing genius.” – Paris Hilton

 

What Are the Best Marketing Quotes You’ve Heard?

These are just a few of the best marketing quotes to keep in mind when trying your hand at marketing with wisdom. Are there any other amazing quotes about marketing that we missed?  If you have any other tips or business wisdom to share, please send it our way in the comments!

When you think about how often you come across written content throughout your day, it’s immediately apparent how priceless the skills of reading and writing really are. While favorite childhood books and stories tend to spring to mind when people think of writing and reading, those are far from the only products that take root from a writer’s hand.

There are myriad types of writing that serve a specific purpose, and anyone who owns a business may benefit from the skills of a talented copywriter. As you launch your search for professional copywriting services, it’s important to understand what these types of services are, who can benefit from them and how to find the best ones. Here is an actionable guide to professional copywriting services.

 

What Are Professional Copywriting Services?

Professional copywriting services provide high-quality content that benefits and/or promotes a brand. These businesses work with professional copywriters to create content for your website, and they typically fall into the realm of content marketing because the intention is ultimately to convert online traffic into sales. Copywriting services provide a wide range of content such as the following:

• Landing pages
• Blogs
• Product descriptions
• Ebooks
• White papers
• Advertisement text

But wait, you might think; isn’t this the same as SEO writing services? Yes and no.

 

Different Kinds of Professional Copywriting Services

The content a copywriting service produces does overlap with other types of writing and can even include some editing. For this reason, SEO writing and copywriting are similar in many respects. They are both working to help people find a specific website online and hopefully encourage visitors to the site to use the goods or services offered. However, copywriting and SEO content writing also serve different purposes, and some professional writing services provide specific types of content.

 

SEO Content Writing Services

Search engine optimization looks at analytics and applies the findings to a website to help it rank higher organically in online searches. Usually, this is done through the strategic incorporation of specific search terms users use, called keywords, into the written content on a website. However, the use of keywords alone is not quite enough these days to make certain types of content rise in search rankings. The content must also be of good quality and informative to the reader. Generally, content writing with the specific purpose of optimizing a page’s content for search engine visibility is defined as SEO content writing.

SEO content writing services are equipped with the skills and talent to create informational content for a business that includes SEO techniques. Along with proper formatting and keywords, this kind of content needs to be engaging and interesting to readers. Most often than not, these types of writing services focus more on informational content than promotional content (i.e. a blog series vs. an email campaign).

 

Copywriting Services

Professional copywriting services illuminate a brand’s unique voice and entice readers to learn more or to take the dive into purchasing a product or service. A skilled copywriter either creates or mimics the voice of the brand the content is being created for. You can find the works of these writers just about anywhere you go:

• Advertisement Spaces: If you pass by a billboard, poster or another type of advertisement that has words on it, a copywriter probably had something to do with that. While the writers don’t necessarily have a hand in the visual design, they may be responsible for creating a hook through word choice in a limited space.
• Audio and Visual Spaces: The commercials that you hear on the radio or see on the TV also included writing at some point. Since these mediums are specifically for promoting brand awareness, copywriters are an important component for ad creation.
• Print Media: Articles that you see in newspapers and magazines most likely went through the hands of a copywriter at some point. In journalism, copywriters and copyeditors may work closely together or even be the same role. Whether the copywriter created the content or looked it over for approval, this role is essential in creating engaging printed content.
• Online Content:  Online content overlaps with the copywriter roles above as online videos, website banners and articles all live on the internet as well.

Professional copywriting services offer a variety of content that professional copywriters can write. When it comes down to it, copywriting can have a hand in almost any type of online content the same as SEO-focused writing. Informational content can be just as persuasive as a deliberate advertisement campaign, and that’s where BKA Content comes in. We can do both kinds of writing, and we have the skills to reach a variety of businesses and industries.

 

Businesses That Need Professional Copywriting Services

Any business that wishes to market and promote its brand can use professional copywriting services. Building a strong online presence is becoming increasingly important for even small businesses. Nearly half of online searches are looking for information near the user’s location, and a majority of users won’t scroll past the first page. This means if you want potential customers to click on your website, you need a lot of quality content.

Industries That Benefit From Professional Copywriting Services

The truth is that professional copywriting services can help just about any industry. Here are a few examples of how content writing can do wonders in any type of niche:

• Retail: Product descriptions, landing pages and blogs can increase visibility for special sales or even the use of specific products. There is a lot of competition online with different websites that may be selling the same products, so uniquely written content that still centers on high-ranking keywords is essential.
• Manufacturing: Everything from aviation to tool and die production can also benefit from a solid online presence. There may be a lot of do-it-yourselfers out there, but the need for manufacturing professionals and products is still vital. Hiring a copywriter to detail the specifics of your proprietary products and services can help turn your brand into a go-to for other pros in your industry.
• Services: If your business focuses on providing a specific service, you can still benefit from professional copywriting. Such services may range anywhere from coaching to taxes to consulting and beyond. Quality content that explains what you do can make your business easier to find and aid in convincing readers that you are the premier choice for their needs.
• Niche: Sometimes, your business might not fall neatly into a well-known industry. If the service you offer to your clients is a little harder to find, you probably fall into the niche category. This is where professional copywriting services become particularly important as you need to convey your product or service in a way the reader will hopefully understand.
• Consumer-Facing: Any consumer-facing business stands to benefit from good content, and so can use the services of a talented copywriter. If your goal is to increase conversions on your site, copywriting services may be able to help you to focus and fully realize your content marketing strategy.
• B2B: Even if your business is less involved with the consumer and more focused on providing products or services to other businesses, you still need professional copywriting services. Other companies still need to be able to find you and want to work with you, so it is imperative that you sell yourself as necessary for other businesses’ success.

 

Qualities of Good Copywriting Services

Poor marketing contributes to a lack of sales, which contributes to the failure of many startups. You may understand how important it is to have content to help your business grow organically online, but it is just as important to make sure your content is good. Professional copywriting services should be able to provide you with the following:

• Website Content: the writers you work with should be able to create landing pages, blogs and any other kind of website content that you may need. It is a good idea to look over a writer’s portfolio or see examples of what a copywriting service has done for clients in the past to determine if they will be able to meet your needs.
• SEO Content: While general website content and SEO content can be the same thing, SEO is also anything that aids in organically promoting the rise of your website in search engine searches. This can include product descriptions, emails, newsletters and advertisements, among other types of content. These days, it is essential for a good copywriter to at least have a basic understanding of SEO.
• Technical Content: Technical writing is its own can of worms that may also overlap with more niche products and services, but a solid copywriter should be able to help you in most cases. If you work with SEO writing companies that have teams of writers to choose from, you are more likely to have access to a writer who understands or can properly research your needed content.

Qualities of a Good Copywriter

Good writers should make good business partners, so make sure your copywriter of choice also embodies these qualities:

• Is knowledgeable about the topics
• Can research more difficult topics and properly cite sources
• Submits content by the requested deadline
• Asks for and applies feedback
• Uses ethical (white hat) means of creating content

 

Where To Hire Professional Copywriting Services

You know why you need copywriting services and the qualities to look for, but where do you actually find professional writers for hire? You have two main options: employ your own or go with a third party.

 

Insourced Copywriting

An in-house copywriter can be beneficial if your business has the means to onboard an employee for this specific purpose. This can be a good investment if you will be needing a lot of copywriting in the long term and you generate enough business to maintain the position. Employing your own writer also means you can more easily train the writer to match your brand voice and understand your product or service. Essentially, with an in-house writer, you have more complete control over the content produced.

The main drawback of hiring an in-house writer is the cost. You need to be able to pay an attractive wage to keep a solid writer on your payroll, and that may mean supplying benefits, too. If the cost of adding a permanent copywriter to your team does not fit your budget, then you may be better off using a third party.

 

Outsourced Copywriting

There are usually two choices if you decide to use a third-party copywriting service: freelancers and content companies. Whichever option you end up using, it’s essential to do your research like you would if you were hiring a new employee. Check out reviews, ask for samples if available and compare prices. With the pricing, remember that you are likely to get what you pay for if you go with the lowest price. Conversely, a higher price does not always equate to better content.

A freelancer, or independent contractor, is someone who usually works for themselves. A freelance copywriter may charge an hourly or a per-item rate for writing services. One of the advantages of working with a freelancer is that you are more likely to get to know the writer personally and build a good rapport. However, expect to pay a higher rate for the services of the best professional freelance writers.

 

The Benefits of Working with a Professional Copywriting Agency

As a content company ourselves, we know how useful a professional copywriting service can be to both your company and your budget. A content agency tends to offer a balance between hiring an in-house copywriter and working with an independent contractor. Most copywriting agencies supply their own employed writers or teams of contracted writers to meet your needs. This takes out the time and effort of hiring someone on your own (which can take a painstakingly long time as you commission samples and negotiate prices, not to mention the overhead prices for in-house writers).

Additionally, if you want to write a lot of content to improve your marketing strategy, a professional copywriting agency can handle the large order in a timely way. You’ll likely have a point of contact with the agency who can work with you to customize your project and content to meet your specific needs, but the company oversees the actual writing so you don’t have to. High-quality copywriting services are reasonably priced for the level of quality you’re looking for, but overall, this may be the most affordable option.

Here at BKA Content, we care about the relationships we create with companies using our services. Our writers are trained to write engaging, error-free content that contains SEO techniques and formatting. We also have teams of writers for specific niches such as legal or financial writing.

 

How Hiring Professional Copywriting Services Benefits You

Writing seems like a simple enough skill, so you might be thinking, why not tackle the job yourself? If you have plenty of experience with writing good content, this isn’t a bad idea – if you don’t need to focus on other aspects of your business, such as serving clients and creating or maintaining inventory. There’s a lot of responsibility that comes with running a business, so having someone else manage the production of your written content can be advantageous.

Whether you are looking for a blog writing service or an ebook writing service, there are agencies out there that take care of the writing and supply quality content according to your needs. A professional copywriting service includes writers who are using their skills regularly, and just like any muscle, writing is a skill that requires regular practice and use.

Hiring a professional copywriter can be cost-effective for you depending on how much content you need and whether you hire an in-house writer or use a content service. It also takes the stress of producing content off your plate so you can focus on running your business.

 

The Bottom Line of Professional Copywriting Services

A good copywriter is a skilled writer who can produce and possibly even edit any written content designed to promote or market a specific brand or voice. Copywriting is similar to and overlaps with SEO content strategies. Every business in every industry is likely to benefit from using a copywriter in some way. If you are looking to grow your company online and still need to produce regular, quality content using the unique voice of your brand, it’s time to look into professional copywriting services.

​Enter the age of millennial marketing. Millennials have overtaken Baby Boomers as America’s largest generation. A recent census showed that there were 75.4 million millennials, defined by those born in 1981-1996, while Baby Boomers totaled 74.9 million. Between their numbers and their buying power, which is estimated at $1.3 billion per year, many companies have started to focus their marketing efforts on millennials.

 

How to Be Successful at Millennial Marketing

Millennial marketing is not like traditional advertising. This makes sense, as each generation has different needs and desires. Along with this, new technology being developed changes the way marketers reach their audience. Millennials have grown up learning how to use and manage digital means of communication. More and more companies are focusing their efforts on the digital sphere and content marketing because these are effective ways to speak to their audience.

So, to be successful in marketing to millennials, marketers need to understand who they are marketing to and make each marketing effort deliberate and meaningful. Just like with baby boomers, there are a few things that you can focus on to improve your millennial marketing efforts.

 

7 Ways To Market To Millennials

Of course, there are certain aspects of a marketing campaign that determine whether or not it will speak to millennials and thereby be successful. As mentioned before, content marketing can play a big part in your efforts. A great way to reach people in the millennial age group is by offering useful, informational content without any strings. They want to know why they should buy your products or services.

And the more people can learn about a business or company, the more trust is gained. Content can also be used as traffic grabbers and can help build up a business’s credibility and expertise online.

With a few guidelines, your content can be specific and directed towards millennials. Here are seven ways to use content in your millennial marketing strategy:

 

1. Target Your Audience

Millennials may consistently be lumped into one large group, but it is important to remember that this generation is actually quite diverse. In addition to the age differences between those born in the early 80s and those born in the 90s, there exists diverse interests, backgrounds, income levels and more. Thus, it is important to find your target audience and create content that really speaks to them.

So, before you can really market to millennials, you need to narrow it down. Here are a few questions you may need to ask yourself and your marketing team:

• What do you want your target market to do? Is it to buy a product, use a service or support a cause?
• What are the demographics of this group? Where and who is willing and capable to do the desired action?
• What are the interests, likes and dislikes of this group? What is important to them?
• Which platforms does this specific group get information from?
• How does your product/desired action help this group solve a problem or dilemma they have?

Many of the factors involved in marketing to millennials work across the board, but it is important to also combine them with personalized, targeted content marketing. Focus on engaging with a niche rather than trying to generally grab as many customers as possible. When engaging in millennial marketing, finding ways to connect on a personal level with your customers strengthens the impact.

The more you know about your target audience, the more competent you are in reaching them and making an impact.

 

2. Demonstrate Engagement with Your Community

As a whole, millennials tend to care deeply about social issues. This also impacts their decision of what businesses to patron, with 70 percent spending more money at companies that support a social issue that they care about. Furthermore, 9 out of 10 will actually switch brands in order to buy from one that is associated with a cause. To gain the benefits from this, you must demonstrate that your company is authentic in its support. Here are a few examples of companies that support a social cause:

Part of the reason why millennials are so invested in companies that support good causes is the heart behind it. There is a lot of emotion behind many purchases they make, so supporting causes as part of your millennial marketing is a great way to fuel that emotional connection.

 

How To Support Causes

Supporting a cause means that your company must do more than simply provide donations once a year to a random charity.  Some ways to give back in a more meaningful way that speaks to millennials include:

• Have your staff members volunteer at a local soup kitchen or your chosen charity.
• Organize a clothing, food or toy drive and make it easy for customers to join in.
• Instead of a company BBQ, have a company-wide day of service.
• Go “green” and make all the changes you can to attain a LEED certification.
• Only use recyclable materials and/or organic products.
• Reward your staff members who volunteer outside of the company.

With a little content marketing, you can share how your company supports causes and contributes some good to the world. These are great topics to write about and can help convince readers that your business is reliable, good-hearted and a great place to buy from.

On top of helping people in need and being a way to market to millennials, supporting causes in your community is also a great team-building tool. Giving back is not only good for business but good for your business.

 

3. Show Love to the Mobile Devices

Over 85 percent of millennials own smartphones, making them the largest group to do so. It is common for them to use these devices to access the internet, shop, check email, access social media accounts, compare products and search for businesses while on the go.

And with the 2020 pandemic, purchases online are becoming more and more common. Not only are they popular, but they are also much more convenient than traditional shopping. Therefore, when employing millennial marketing campaigns, it is vital that your company has mobile-friendly web pages and advertisements.

If a page takes too long to load or otherwise is not compatible on a mobile device, the consumers are five times more likely to quickly bounce and go somewhere else. Develop your digital properties with responsive design to mitigate this problem and keep millennials from bouncing away from your pages.

Along with making your website mobile-friendly, make sure each piece of content you write is SEO-friendly as well. This means you should use headings, bullet points, pictures and metadata (such as a meta title and meta description). This can improve search engine rankings and the overall quality of your blog posts and articles. This increases the readability for website visitors, making it more likely that they will read through your content.

 

4. Show, Don’t Sell

Millennials were raised on advertisements, so they are very savvy of being sold to, and they are very tired of it. In fact, 84 percent of millennials do not like advertisements and many are much more likely to trust sources that provide information rather than simply selling. Anything that appears “salesy” and not authentic will quickly backfire.

Instead, create millennial marketing material that provides something of value to a particular group. Consider who your customers are and the needs that your products or service fulfills. Then, develop content marketing that demonstrates how your product provides something your customers need. Show how to do something and empower your consumer base to trust you as a helpful authority on the subject. Give them a list of top things to know before buying your product, or top uses for it once it’s been purchased.

If you can convince your readers that you honestly want to help them and offer useful services/products, they will find their way to your products. But there are so many benefits of providing content that is for the benefit of the reader and adds to your overall credibility as an expert in your field.

 

5. Quick and Fast Solutions

In addition to demonstrating what your products or services offer to millennials, it is also important to provide quick and fast solutions. As a whole, this generation expects to find quick answers to their problems. This is because the millennial brain is used to taking in a large amount of information from different sources and then acting quickly. They reach for the nearest internet access to find answers to their questions.

Provide these answers in your content marketing and demonstrate how your products or services also help, and you will be a long way towards bringing in more customers. But how do you get the attention of millennials quickly and effectively? Here are a few options:

• Utilize proper blog formatting with headings and bullet points to help millennials quickly navigate your content.
• Invest in listicles (i.e. “Top X ways to do this…”) that give millennials an idea of how much content they’ll be encountering before getting lost in an endless sea of marketing content.
• Use action words in headers to help them feel that you have actionable content that is useful.
• Include photos that are engaging and relevant to your content. These can help guide readers while they scan your content, and it can also help catch their attention when scrolling on social media.

Millennial marketing is all about finding the best shortcuts and easy connections that guide your target audience towards a purchase. Part of this is by making your content just as snappy and fast-paced.

 

6. Be On Social Media

Because social media was born during the younger years of millennials, this generation is more heavily involved with social media and expects to connect with brands there. Therefore, when marketing to be millennials, be active on as many sites as makes sense for your company, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat and LinkedIn. Do not simply post on these sites; actively engage with the consumers. Ask for feedback, reply to comments, follow some of your customers back, and actually interact with your followers.

As part of the narrative your millennial consumers crave, social media should highlight your company’s values, efforts and valuable information about the industry you are in. Rather than use posting on these sites for advertisement, use them to tell the story of your brand and continue to create your brand identity.

Being able to relate to brands on a personal level is one of the most effective millennial marketing methods at your disposal. With social media, you can connect with followers and encourage them to comment, like and share posts you publish. This sense of engagement can do a lot for your company and help build a relationship with your millennial audience.

 

7. Showcase Real Relationships

Use your social media and content marketing to showcase relationships that you have with customers in real life. This helps build trust with millennials since they tend to trust real people rather than companies. Include testimonials and have customers create content from time to time as guest spots.

Millennial marketing should include featuring industry authorities on your blog or social media account. Find a way to have user-submitted content as a feature on your website and/or social media accounts. This extra validation from customers can be a great way to build trust in your audience.

 

Marketing to Millennials: Be Authentic

The defining theme underlying the ways to successfully engage in millennial marketing is to illustrate authenticity and facilitate engagement. Use your content marketing campaigns to develop relationships with your potential customers and create a brand identity that actually speaks to, and with, them. Do you have any other tips on how to market to millennials? If so, leave them in the comments below!

 

Over the past few weeks, it has become clear that COVID-19’s impact will be far greater and far more devastating than any American could have anticipated. While everyone has been affected in one way or another, many families have peace of mind that the world will return to normal, and that, before it does, the government will step in to help them.

But what about small businesses? Unfortunately, for those companies affected by the economy while dealing with the coronavirus and business, peace of mind remains elusive.

 

Can Aggressive Coronavirus Marketing Help You Weather the Storm Caused by COVID-19?

In a matter of days, millions of Americans were asked to do the unthinkable: Stay home. Don’t go to work. Don’t go to school. Don’t go out for any reason other than for basic necessities and medical attention.

Some of the nation’s largest economies have been shut down completely, including Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, San Diego, Chicago and Seattle. As of the end of March, 163 million people throughout 17 states, 14 counties and eight cities were asked to stay home.

As a business owner, it’s easy to go into panic mode over those numbers, especially if you live in one of the hardest-hit cities. However, while you may be tempted to focus only on staying afloat during these tough times, now is the time to look ahead.

By taking a progressive approach instead of a preventative approach, you’ll fare better when times get better – and they will get better. Using the resources you do have to create a recession marketing strategy is one of the best ways to ensure business recession survival.

 

Businesses That Refocused Spending During Recessions Outperformed Others

While you may be tempted to make sweeping cuts and to halt all marketing efforts during the coronavirus pandemic, history says you shouldn’t.

According to a Harvard Business Review study that analyzed the performance of 4,700 public companies both three years before and after a recession, firms that cut costs at a hacksaw rate didn’t necessarily flourish. In fact, businesses that opted for a prevention focus had the lowest rates of profitability post-recession than businesses that chose a more aggressive, forward-thinking approach and continued advertising during a recession.

---

A Harvard Business Review found that companies that cut costs during a recession had the lowest rates of profitability post-recession. #Coronavirus #COVID19
Click To Tweet

---

Findings from a Bain report back the findings from the Harvard study, and actually take the concept one step further. According to the report, successful leaders know that more discipline during boom times can provide for greater flexibility during lean ones, and that companies that get it “just right” during the lean years have a better chance of pulling ahead of the competition when things improve.

Unfortunately, not many businesses – large or small – anticipated something as economically catastrophic as COVID-19 when going about their day-to-day dealings. If your company didn’t set aside an emergency fund for the coronavirus and business, you may be operating on a very limited budget.

The good news is that thanks to the internet, marketing in a recession doesn’t have to be expensive. Read on for effective and cost-efficient coronavirus marketing tips.

Marketing Strategy Tips During a Recession

Your marketing strategy during a recession should include some of the same principles you’d employ when marketing on a tight budget – namely, that you want to get the best bang for your buck. This means you need to think outside the box and implement economic marketing strategies that are cost-effective to execute and extremely targeted. Here are some of our best tips for business recession survival:

1.     Reach Out to Your Customers

COVID-19 has impacted everyone’s lives, whether they tested positive or not. We’ve all been asked to stay home. We’ve all been told not to eat at our favorite restaurants, shop at our favorite stores or socialize with others. We’ve all worried about where our next roll of toilet paper will come from.

Though these are all minor inconveniences (and jokes aside), they’re jarring nonetheless. Use this time not to push sales or bemoan your bad luck but rather to set your business apart from the others.

Call your customers and check in on them. Use social media to keep them updated on your business and your employees, and to spread good cheer in general.

Blog about how your customers can use your products or services to make sheltering in place less difficult, or how you plan to do so through your own efforts.

Many brands have expanded on this last idea and are reaching out in a big way:

• Bank of America is calling all 66 million of its customers to check in on them and make sure they have the resources necessary to get through the coronavirus outbreak.
• U-Haul is offering displaced college students 30 days of free storage.
• MGM Resorts International has donated 480,000 pounds of food to food banks and communities across the United States.
• Several grocers throughout the nation have dedicated certain hours to senior shopping and/or essential personnel only.
• Major cosmetic brands have shifted gears and are now focused on making hand sanitizer amidst the shortage.
• Burger King is giving away two free kids meals for every purchase made via its app.
• Uber Eats is donating 300,000 meals to health care workers and first responders.

You may not have the capacity or the money to help out in such an extravagant way, but you do have the capacity to help. Something as simple as what Bank of America is doing – calling customers to see how they’re doing – can go a long way toward reassuring your customers and keeping you top of mind.

If you own a restaurant, consider making a few meals for needy families in your community. Regardless of what industry you’re in, you can offer to bring groceries to the elderly and immunocompromised, volunteer your time at a food bank or make masks for health care workers.

Use social media, your blog and videos to promote your good deeds and build your brand. This is good advertising during a recession. Your acts of kindness now will pay dividends in the future.

 

2.     Perform a Mini-Audit of Your Content Assets

When you’re not checking in on your customers or volunteering your time, do those things you always put off for another day, such as performing a content audit.

A content audit can give you an idea of what type of content assets you currently have floating around the World Wide Web and, more importantly, how hard (or how little) each is working for you. You may discover that you have dozens of so-so pieces that aren’t doing anything for you and one stellar piece that’s full potential hasn’t been realized.

Performing a content audit is a tedious task. However, it’s essential if you want to improve your content’s performance and make the most of your content marketing efforts. In fact, a thorough content audit is one of the best ways you can improve your content marketing on a budget. To begin, start a new Excel or Google sheet and create tabs for each type of content:

• Blog posts
• Emails
• Webpages
• Landing pages
• Ebooks
• Whitepapers
• Infographics
• Presentations
• External articles and guest posts

Next, evaluate each piece with a critical eye. Note pieces that receive the most and least social shares, and which garner the most and least amount of traffic. Are there pieces with great existing content already that you can repurpose to use on other channels?

Do you need to reoptimize some content for different keywords, and can some pieces use more internal links? Make notes under each tab so that when you have the time or the help, you’ll know where to focus your efforts. 

 

3.     Make Sure Customers Can Find You Online

The truth is that consumer spending habits during a recession or pandemic can change quite drastically. People are consuming online content at a faster rate than ever before. The reason behind this surge is obvious – people are stuck at home and are using their smartphones and computers to pass the time.

Though many individuals are constantly looking for updates on the pandemic, many people are also attempting to ease their stress and alleviate their anxiety through online entertainment, content and shopping. The numbers don’t lie:

• Social media usage has increased by 27% among Gen Z, 30% among millennials, 29% among Gen X and 15% among boomers.
• 66% of people who have yet to be confined to their homes anticipate they’ll up their online consumption if asked to stay home.
• 99% of social media users anticipate they will make an online purchase once confined to their homes.
• 79% of consumers with children between the ages of three and 17 anticipate they will purchase DIY items or home improvement materials while confined to their homes.

As the numbers suggest, now is not the time to be an online recluse. If your content marketing efforts were mediocre pre-COVID-19, ramp them up via strategic search engine optimization efforts.

---

Brands are reporting as much as a 76% increase in daily accumulated likes on ad posts since early March. #SmallBusiness #COVID19
Click To Tweet

---

What does the coronavirus and business marketing online look like? The methods don’t look much different than pre-coronavirus days – you just need to implement these economic marketing strategies with greater zeal:

• Push out content – and a lot of it. In the week of March 9-15, 2020, top retailers saw the most digital visits in a single week than they have seen in all of 2020, with approximately 74 million more visits.
• Go social. Brands are reporting as much as a 76% increase in daily accumulated likes on ad posts since early March.
• Play with video. If you haven’t already been using video, now is the perfect time to give it a whirl. Museums are hosting virtual tours, would-be partiers in China are socializing via “cloud-clubbing” and groups throughout the U.S. are experimenting with virtual social distancing via events such as online yoga, virtual dinner parties and virtual church services. Video is a great way to connect with customers on a meaningful level and to up your SEO game, as videos help you target long-tail keywords, appear in relevant YouTube searches and complement text-heavy content.
• Plan a webinar. While the majority of consumers will turn to YouTube and online chat platforms during the quarantine, professionals will turn to webinars. Approximately 91% of B2B professionals say that webinars are their favorite type of online content format. If you’re in the B2B business and have suddenly found yourself with a bunch of free time, plan that webinar you’ve been meaning to host.

If knowing that your customers will be online more than ever isn’t enough to motivate you to boost your content marketing efforts, knowing that your competitors plan to implement aggressive coronavirus marketing strategies may be. 

Ad spend is expected to increase by 22.2% in the coming weeks.

Analysts anticipate that ad spend across all social media channels will increase by 22.2% in the coming weeks. If you’re not online, your customers may fall into the grips of your competitors. 

4.     Be Considerate

Yes, you need to be visible online during the coronavirus, and yes, you need to ramp up your content marketing efforts. But please, be considerate in what you publish.

As a business owner, you have a unique responsibility to be conscious about the type of content you publish during these trying times. A recession affects marketing in that the messages you share need to be carefully tailored and prepared. Consumers need support right now more than ever – from friends, families and the brands they trust – and your digital platforms provide the perfect vehicle through which you can deliver it.

Consumers are turning to the brands they trust for content that shows true consideration for their well-being. Callous content – even if unintentionally so – can really turn off, or even anger, members of your audience. To ensure your brand’s message is authentic in all the right ways, you may have to turn to a vetted network of content creators for help crafting the perfect message.

Your coronavirus marketing should center around maintaining one’s mental and overall health while in quarantine, topics that greatly interest readers right now. Also, please inform them how the economic crisis affects your business in such a way that you can explain how you’ve taken proactive approaches to have their safety and well-being top of mind in your day-to-day processes.

Of equal importance is content that keeps consumers busy, puts a smile on their faces and fuels their excitement for the world, regardless of its current state of panic.

 

5.     Focus on Local SEO

Local search was already on the rise, but now that consumers can’t leave their homes, it’s more relevant than ever. When consumers do leave their houses, they’re going to local stores and restaurants that offer the supplies and services they need. This is another major way that consumer spending habits during a recession can be altered.

If your business hasn’t already done so, optimize your content for local search.

Local search strategies, which entail implementing phrases with “near me” into your content, can help audiences in your geographical region find you quickly and easily online.

When people are scared to travel outside of their communities, and when convenience is not simply desired but critical, optimizing your webpages and blogs for local search is one way you can assist your community during the outbreak.

This is also the perfect time for you to leverage digital marketing to sell your products and services. To make the coronavirus and business work for you, use online marketplaces such as Amazon, Etsy, eBay and other ecommerce sites to sell your products.

If you have the capacity to do so, set up your ecommerce site during this economic hiatus. You can ship local, or consumers can come directly to you to pick up their orders.

 

6.     Update Your Google My Business Profile

It’s not enough to optimize your website and social channels for local search. A common theme we’re seeing for coronavirus and business is hour changes. Businesses across all industries, from grocers to veterinarians to laundering services, have shortened their business hours to accommodate shelter-in-place orders and to allow for more time to clean at night.

If you’re able to keep your doors open, or even if you’ve had to close temporarily, update your operating hours on your Google My Business profile.

In addition to changing your operating hours, you should also update your profile to reflect other noteworthy changes. For instance, you may have changed up your product or service offerings to reflect consumers’ needs during the outbreak. Or, you may be unreachable at your storefront, but customers can still reach you on your home or cell phone. You might consider letting them know how your business is on top of safety and protocol guidelines and what they can expect when they do business with you. Update your listing to reflect these changes in information.

 

7.     Work On Your Online Review Strategy

Another great recession marketing strategy is to pay attention to your reviews. If you don’t have an online review strategy, develop one.

89% of consumers read business’s responses to reviews

Online reviews about your company are crucial to your business’s success, both during this outbreak and going forward. You can easily find reviews from past customers by typing in your brand name + “reviews.” Chances are there are dozens, if not hundreds, out there that you haven’t responded to.

The first part of your online review strategy should entail responding to all those unanswered reviews. While you don’t have to – and probably shouldn’t – respond to those from years ago, you should type up thoughtful responses to more recent reviews. Don’t be defensive, petty or condescending. Instead, always err on the side of being, level-headed and informative.

In addition to reading the reviews, 89% of consumers read business’s responses to reviews, so this is a crucial piece of your overall digital marketing strategy.

Once you do this, devise a review strategy. Some things to consider doing are as follows:

• Identify review networks, carefully assess the pros and cons of each, then decide which to leverage.
• Create template responses that are in line with your brand messaging.
• Devise a policy for dealing with negative reviews.
• Implement a means of monitoring reviews and receive alerts when new reviews come in.

Business recession survival can often depend on maintaining an active approach to customer feedback and being able to adapt and respond quickly.

8.     Update Your Website

It is common for small business owners to take the set it and forget it approach to their websites. This is often because small businesses rely on word of mouth and passersby for business.

However, both sources of leads are hard to come by when people are being encouraged to stay home and distance themselves from others. If you never took full advantage of your website before, use this downtime to change that.

Updating your website doesn’t have to involve a full-scale redesign (though a redesign may be in order if your site is sorely outdated). For many businesses, adding new website content to static pages, updating stale content and optimizing pages for new and more relevant keywords is enough to breathe new life into an underperforming site and qualify as superb marketing in a recession.

Some other easy and inexpensive ways to show your website some love are as follows:

• Update your header photo.
• Update your galleries.
• Optimize your photos and videos.
• Add a FAQs page.
• Use widgets to highlight updates, upcoming events and things your business currently loves.
• Add meta descriptions and title tags to each page.

Minor tweaks to your content, design and backend SEO can drastically improve your website’s performance. These updates are also simple and inexpensive fixes, giving you no reason not to invest in them during this time.

 

9.     Start Working Through Your Digital To-Do List

Dealing with coronavirus and business does not mean the latter automatically comes to a complete halt. However, without in-person meetings, a commute or even the need to get dressed in the morning, your schedule likely has much more time for you to tackle those to-do’s you’ve let fall through the cracks.

Use this time to pay particular attention to your digital to-do’s.

Though we’ve mentioned a few of them in this post – including performing a content audit, upping your SEO efforts and updating your website – there are likely dozens of things you can address while working remotely. All of these would qualify as economic marketing strategies you should be focusing on.

For instance, you may want to reach out to a conversion rate optimization specialist to ensure all your CTAs are yielding the maximum possible return.

Go through your website and sniff out unnatural links, broken links and link building opportunities.

Research new keywords, update your social profiles, create profiles on relevant sites and start an email newsletter campaign.

10.  Be Deliberate in Your Coronavirus Marketing

In the months since COVID-19 first made headlines, the world has been characterized by panic and mass hysteria. These emotions have caused many people to act without much thought or consideration for themselves or others.

Though it’s only natural that you will feel panic on some level during this whole ordeal, the worst thing you can do is let that panic dictate your business decisions. You need to approach your coronavirus and small business marketing with a level head and use best practices, metrics and data to inform your strategies going forward.

Acting on a whim – whether that whim tells you to shut down all marketing efforts or drastically increase marketing spend – could prove to be a costly mistake. Take caution when deciding how to react to a sudden change in the economic climate and be deliberate in how adapt and implement your marketing strategy during the recession.

Marketing Must Go On

At this point, when we’re far from flattening the curve, it may seem impossible to look to the future and see the light at the end of the tunnel. After all, China was on lockdown for three months – select cities in the U.S. have only been on lockdown for a fraction of that time.

How can you continue to run a business in these conditions?

It may reassure you to know that the economy isn’t stopping, it’s just changing.  While many individuals and companies have been affected by the economy, people still need goods and services. Homeowners still need home service providers. Money will continue to change hands.

You can remain an active participant in this evolving economy by maintaining your internet presence and revising your overall marketing strategy to be more in line with consumers’ current needs. 

---

The economy isn't stopping, it's just changing . All businesses will need to adapt, so get started now. #Coronavirus #SmallBusiness
Click To Tweet

---

 

Content Marketing on a Budget

Digital marketing doesn’t have to break your budget. Let us know below what ways you plan on taking advantage of the increased views online and see how we can help alleviate the stress of creating some of that content for you.

Despite the move from paper to digital in media and marketing, writing as a skill is as relevant as ever. To get ahead, quality copy is a must on your website, blog, social media channels, emails, e-commerce content, app and more. To accomplish this, you can enlist the help of talented writers, who are not as common as you may think. Here are the non-negotiable skills and characteristics that you should expect from any modern copywriter you work with.

 

Modern Copywriters Understand Modern SEO

High search rankings have a key role in any digital marketing strategy. To gain momentum online, your website needs to be one of the first results users see when they search for industry-related keywords. Unfortunately, this is also the goal of your competitors, so how can you improve your Google search rank?

Well-written content plays a large role in both search rankings and reader retention. When your content offers something of value in a readable way, this adds big points towards your ranking. However, quality isn’t the only ranking factor. This is where SEO comes into play as a modern copywriter: attention to keyword placement, format, structure, hierarchy and internal and external link building are important, too. Search Quality Senior Strategist for Google, Andrey Lipattsev, confirms this in this 2016 Q&A.

​

 

Google will pick articles that will be highly relevant and engaging to readers. If your modern copywriter is truly skilled at their job, they should already know this and many more SEO factoids like it. Ranking well in Google search results is key for businesses that want to get ahead, and a good copywriter that understands and can implement this will help you improve your rankings.

They will also understand that the definition of good SEO can change rapidly. What worked and was a best practice a decade ago no longer is effective, and what works today may not be beneficial tomorrow. While keyword stuffing was a common practice years ago, content writing has evolved to be query-based and focused on providing valuable, well-written information through web copy, blogs and SEO articles. The best copywriters are constantly learning best practices to help content to rank all the while refreshing their writing skills.

 

Modern Copywriters Feel Comfortable Writing for Multiple Platforms

Not every business can afford to work with writers who just focus on social media posts, who just write web copy, or who just write case studies. A modern copywriter should be skilled in all writing mediums and capable of switching effortlessly from one to the next.

For example, did you know that the optimal LinkedIn post length is a mere 25 words, while the best blog post length is a whopping 1,600 words? Or consider that most product description writers keep their copy to about 100-200 words while category pages demand 200-400 words.

Ebooks may run about 2000-3000 words while focusing on small, 300 word pages at a time while a video script may only be 75 words, but the deliverable states to keep the video under two minutes. Understanding all of these different content types across multiple mediums is a must-have for a good copywriter.

A modern copywriter will be able to write both short, pithy snippets for social media, long, research-backed visually engaging blog posts and multiple other kinds of written deliverables. This calls for a creative thinker. Skilled copywriters adjust and format content according to their needs.

 

Modern Copywriters Have High Digital Literacy

George R.R. Martin, author of the wildly popular Game of Thrones series may be able to get away with doing all his writing on an archaic word processor with a computer that’s not even connected to the internet, but a modern copywriter simply can’t. You should expect a quality copywriter to have a high level of digital literacy and comfort with using technology and working in a digital environment.

For nearly every area of copywriting, there is an accompanying software, from Buffer and HootSuite for social media writing to WordPress for blog writing and website copy. Content copywriters recognize these types of digital helps and typically use the software that will best help them create quality content.

Skilled content writers also look for ways to improve the quality of their writing. Grammarly and Microsoft Word Spellchecker are must-haves for the best copywriters and most use some sort of plagiarism checker to ensure their content is original and unique.

Technology is Key in Web Copywriting

Even if the web content copywriters you work with do not have access to these systems, they may still need to organize their work in a cloud environment such as Google Drive. At the very least, a laptop and an internet connection (and a savviness for learning new systems) are requirements for great modern copywriting.

If you are working with a freelancing copywriter or copywriting service as many businesses choose to, it will make life much easier for you if they are highly digitally literate. Make sure they have the tools at their disposal to get the writing job done efficiently and timely. Communicate often over email or other online platforms to ensure they are creating exactly what you need.

 

Modern Copywriters Know About User Behavior

We know a lot about how modern users navigate the web and read digital content, as well as what makes effective content that people will actually read. For instance:

• Readers often follow an F-shaped pattern when navigating a website. This image below shows a common pattern that visitors follow when reading an article or webpage. They typically read the upper part of the content, but as they move downwards, they absorb less and less.

 

(Source: Nielsen Norman Group)

This emphasizes how important it is for a modern copywriter to make incredible headers and first lines. Once your content catches the attention of readers, you have a better chance of them holding on. Here a couple more user facts:

• Users do not read all the content on a web page. This engaging article by Slate shows just how often people stop reading an article. More people are likely to “bounce” and never finish the content displayed. Readers want to be engaged, and that takes skill as a copywriter to create sticky content.
• People tune out any element that looks like a banner ad. Banner blindness is a real thing. Most readers will immediately tune out advertisements, even if they are helpful or part of the content. If your website has too many ads or pop-ups, visitors are less likely to stay.

These are just some of the pieces of information that a modern copywriter should be aware of or should be willing to research and understand. Being able to use hooks to draw people in on a landing page or delivering quick concise answers to specific questions are all products of a web copywriter’s understanding of user behavior.

Apply User Behavior In Your Content

The type of content being created as well as the behavior of the user that is being targeted are important roles in lead generation and improved retention rates. Many times, you will be providing this information to the modern copywriter to help them understand your goals, but if they’ve had experience writing similar pieces in the past it makes the content creation process much smoother and more efficient.

Knowing these facts and others can help blog copywriters become more effective writers for your organization. Encourage your modern copywriters to create catchy headers and strong introductions. Bullet points, headers and images can also persuade readers to stay longer on your page.

 

Modern Copywriters Have an Optimization Mindset

With the technology that’s available today, it’s possible to test the actual effectiveness of modern copywriting and understand why some content is effective and why other content falls flat. A/B testing software allows companies to compare different versions of headline copy, button copy, layout and more to see what is most effective at guiding users to an intended action. This is done by giving test groups two different versions of a content piece or web page, and then studying which one performs better overall.

This kind of testing can be especially effective when it comes to content. Using A/B testing on different titles, ad copy, bullet points and romance copy can help you to create a formula that works for content writing at scale.

A great example of this is an e-commerce company with thousands of SKUs, or “Stock Keeping Units.” With only limited real estate to put a product or category description into, you want to make sure you have the best formula to drive sales of products. If the bestselling product titles are ones that have the base product, brand, color, and quantity, this is something you want to know right away. Knowing this, you could duplicate it across your SKUs and see a large boost in sales.

The same can be true even for blogging and the copywriting of service pages. Certain types of blogs (like lists and how-tos) may have a better click-through rate than other less formatted articles. A/B testing can take into consideration the buyer persona as well as the product or service that’s being sold to help a modern copywriter really mold the content into something amazing.

Web Copywriters Can Optimize Every Article

All this is to say that a modern copywriter should see copywriting as an iterative process, the goal of which is to continually be optimizing copy. A skilled content writer should adapt as they go since many experienced writers have already learned how to create engaging content the hard way. With constant practice and the ability to think quickly, the best copywriters should know the basics of creating quality content. However, they can continue to improve and adapt strategies that best help your company.

One way to help modern copywriters stay consistent and engaging with their writing is to create a style guide. With specific guidelines and structural rules, each piece of content can radiate brand consistency. No matter the writer, you won’t be concerned with any compromised brand values or fluctuating format. A brief explanation of the target audience and any important ground rules can give your copywriters a head start in optimization.

 

Modern Copywriters Are Familiar With Buyer Personas

Different writing styles work for different types of people. You may like historical non-fiction, while your friend may go for self-help books or business books. You can think about buyers in a similar way. Your different buyer groups have different characteristics, pain points, needs and reasons for buying your product. Copy that will appeal to a young mother may not hit home with a recent retiree, for example.

Companies selling products and services should take the time to create buyer personas so that content can be targeted and strategic in its reach instead of just a wide-casting net. While coming up with the buyer personas is on the business to create, a modern copywriter can take their experience and familiarity to translate copy to meet those personas.

A modern copywriter you work with should know what buyer personas are and how to use them in crafting copy. Understanding the core audience that each piece of content is written for is on the list of copywriter key skills needed to create effective, engaging content.

 

Modern Copywriters Have an Applicable Degree or Experience

Notice we said degree OR experience? If education is a must-have for you, you might consider what copywriter degree you need to be on the lookout for. Many times, education in writing as well as in business/marketing helps to make an even-keeled web content copywriter.

Writers with degrees in business communications, PR/HR, and journalism should have a broad enough knowledge of both things to help them understand and explain the features of copywriting. While it may be incredibly helpful to have a copywriter with a degree in journalism, English or some other writing-heavy discipline, remember that good writers come from all backgrounds.

Applicable experience and an impressive portfolio can be a solid substitute for a writing degree. A good copywriter could come from a completely unrelated background but have a knack or passion for writing, research and telling a story. Or you may find great copywriting without a degree at all.

For instance, a motivational speaker may find out later in life that they make a pretty darn good self-help copywriter when they translate their thoughts into words rather than through a microphone.

The key is having a way to decipher copywriter key skills and the content copywriter who has them and the ones that do not. The skills above are good signs that the copywriters you work with are a good fit for your content marketing strategy.

 

Modern Copywriters Are Impeccably Good At Research

Not every modern copywriter will be an expert in your industry. One of the greatest skills a web content copywriter can have is the ability to do thorough research on the topic they are writing. From this research, they can create rich, engaging content that can bring in lead generation and significant traffic.

But how do copywriters become industry experts overnight? Copywriters have a specific plan when writing a piece of content, so they research the right topics and specific information that will help them write meaty content without the fluff. When advertising your products, they will investigate your services and learn how the product works and why people need it. They may even study competitors and decide how best to market your business.

 

 

Many content pieces are centered around valuable industry-related information. Although finding specialty copywriters or using your own staff to create these pieces may seem easier, modern copywriters are more skilled than you may think. They can reach the audience directly by incorporating crisp explanations and helpful advice that they have formed with the help of reliable research. Here are some of the questions that skilled copywriters may ask while researching to get a better grasp on the topic:

• What are the expert views on the topic?
• Why do people need the information being presented?
• What are the common concerns and desires of consumers about this topic?
• How can it benefit readers?
• What is the best way to present this kind of information?

With your feedback and a writer’s skill to find information online, a modern copywriter can create exceptional content that is accurate and entertaining. And even though they do intensive research, a skilled writer will never plagiarize. Original content that offers useful information is a copywriter’s forte.

 

A Modern Copywriter Is the Sum of Many Parts

What should you be looking for in a modern copywriter? A lot. In addition to being flexible with tone and style, the best content copywriters of today should have SEO and buyer persona knowledge and excellent digital skills. An interest in user behavior and optimization, the right experience or education and research skills all come into play. This combination of characteristics results in a modern copywriter that knows how to write for websites, how to write for Google, how to write for your customers, but most importantly, how to write for results.

If you’re looking for a good modern copywriter or copy editor, we can help! We’ve spent years perfecting the process of identifying web copywriter key skills through writing and grammar tests, sample articles, training and team building. Contact us today to see how our team of content copywriters can help!

SEO can be a confusing game at times. With so many things you can’t control, it can become frustrating to try to improve your search ranking for keywords and phrases related to your business. While it’s true that there are a lot of factors that go into your search ranking that aren’t directly caused by you, there’s a lot you can control as well. The best thing you can do for your SEO is focused on those things that you can control and make sure you’re following best practices and doing everything possible to set yourself up for SEO success.

Luckily, on-page SEO is all about the things you can control on your own site. According to Webopedia, “on-page optimization refers to factors that have an effect on your Web site or Web page listing in natural search results. These factors are controlled by you or by coding on your page.”

The definition goes on to list a few factoring elements involved in on-page SEO, including meta tags and keywords, but there are a lot of other things that can help you improve your on-page SEO. As an SEO or marketing professional, you should make it a priority to implement as many of these tips as possible on your own website and blog.

1. Focus on Providing Value to Your Audience

Value can be tough to measure, but part of good on-page SEO is making sure that your content is useful, relevant and offers added value to your audience. If, for example, you’re attempting to optimize a page for a keyword that really doesn’t have much to do with your site and content, you’ll probably get a lot of people clicking away from your site without giving your site a chance. Likewise, if your content is fluffy, repetitive or was obviously created to try and game search engines, you’ll probably see a lot of page abandonment. This can signal to Google that the content on your site is irrelevant and may hurt your search rankings.

Work to understand what kind of content your audience wants and needs and make sure that the blog posts and articles you create answer questions, provide solutions and offer novel information that your audience might not have heard before. The key part of this is to stand out among your competitors and the other results on a SERP.

Moz recommends striving to be “uniquely valuable,” which means, in short that your content should give readers something no one else on that SERP can. Analyze each piece of content you put out and ask yourself what differentiates this piece of content from all the other information available out there. Can you include your own research in a blog post? Can you present information in a new way? Can you include an infographic, downloadable resource or checklist that will benefit your audience? Consider these questions and any other ways that you can set apart your content.

2. Don’t Miss a Chance to Optimize Every Section of the Page

You’ve probably heard that “links and content” are the two most important factors Google uses in determining search ranking, as revealed by Google Search Quality Senior Strategist Andrey Lipattsev in a Q&A session earlier this year. But since quality content can be such a subjective thing, you need to understand what exactly you need to be looking at to make sure your content stands a chance.

Here’s a rundown of the main sections of a good blog post or web page and what to make sure you’re doing in each section:

Page Title

The title of your page signals to Google and to website visitors what your content is all about. In addition to being accurate and succinct, your title should ideally contain a keyword or keyword phrase you want to rank for. Although you may get good results from including related words and synonyms in the subject area you want people to find you for.

Meta Description

Are meta descriptions important? They might not be directly related to your ranking, but they are a good way to give Google searchers a brief preview of your content within a Google SERP so they can know if it’s worth it to click through. When you’re writing your description, keep it short and to the point but not so short that it doesn’t do a good job of describing the topic.

URL

We’ve all seen examples of unattractive, long, confusing URLs. With all the control you can have over URLs of specific blog pages, try to keep your URLs short, clean and descriptive, and include a keyword if you can. Google recommends that you use readable, simple URLs, break up individual words with hyphens and cut out any unneeded parameters.

Headers

Remember to include one H1 header (check to see if your titles are tagged as H1) and then multiple H2 and H3 headers where applicable. Using these headers helps Google and your audience easily get a feel for the main points of your content.

Body Content

Also, remember to keep your content on the longer side. It’s hard to give an exact number here, because every topic is different and requires a varying amount of depth and discussion. A few guidelines are to not write short, vapid content and to keep content on the longer side. This assertion is backed up by quite a few studies showing long content outperforming shorter content.

Backlinko (with SEMrush data) found that long content (around 1,900 words) is your best bet. That finding is substantiated by findings from serpIQ, showing that pages with upwards of 2,300 words saw some of the best search result positions.

Images With Tags

Your image alt text is another area where you can include keywords to influence SEO. Images are also a way to make your content more interesting, engaging and scannable, which we’ll go into more depth on later.

3. Assess the Usability of Your Site

Beyond the tips for specific elements of your content shown above, you also need to aim for usability of your content and site. This means that a user should be able to navigate any given page on your site without frustration or hassle and be able to get the information they need quickly.

Most marketers are pretty familiar with the idea of creating scannable content, which is content that you can understand and digest without reading every word. Scannable content requires ample headers that summarize each section, bullet points and lists to convey key points quickly, and images like charts, graphs and other visual elements that echo and simplify the content of your post. If your content is usually long blocks of text with no other elements to add variety, try adding one or all of those scannable content features.

4. The Importance of the Mobile Experience

Another element of usability that you should be aware of is the extreme importance of making sure your pages are optimized for viewing on mobile devices like tablets and smartphones. According to a report from comScore, mobile viewing has already overtaken desktop viewing as the number one way to access digital media, and Google already made it clear in 2015 how important mobile-friendly sites are.

If your site isn’t mobile-friendly, that needs to be changed immediately. Beyond having a responsive site, make sure the mobile experience for your users is a pleasant one. Often, excessive scrolling, annoying popup ads and poorly spaced content on mobile devices will frustrate users and cause them to leave your content without engaging.

Google’s introduction of the AMP (accelerated mobile pages) Project is aimed at fixing those frustrations and helping publishers provide a more elegant and simplified format for their content. Learn more about implementing AMP here.

AMP doesn’t just make your content simpler to read; it also makes it load faster, which is another thing you’ll have to think about related to your website’s usability. Many people will give up if a site takes too long to load, meaning that there are just seconds between keeping and losing customers. You can use this PageSpeed Insights tool to check the speed of your site and get suggestions on how to improve it.

5. Get the Most You Can from Keywords and Links

The amount and quality of sites linking to your site is a factor in SEO, but it’s not really related to on-page SEO. However, it’s also important to think about the links you’re using within your content. Make sure to use outbound links to reputable sites to support the claims you make within your content. Also, include two or three links to other pages on your site; this practice can help strengthen the internal link structure of your website and can guide readers through to other pages, which might result in them staying on your site longer and possibly up your chances of converting them.

We’ve already discussed where you should be putting keywords within your content, but as far as what keywords to use, here’s an important thing to remember. Keyword stuffing is an absolute no-no, but you should make an effort to include a variety of keywords and related words that pertain to your topic area. This helps you avoid repetitive content and results in quality pieces of writing.

6. Use Tools to Help Improve SEO and Track Progress

We’ve covered a lot of SEO best practices, and as you’re probably aware now, there’s a lot that you need to be checking to keep your on-page SEO in a good state. Because maintaining all these best practices and creating content can get time-consuming, it’s good to have an arsenal of web tools that can help you amp up your SEO and track progress toward your content marketing goals.

• Google Analytics: If Google Analytics isn’t already a key tool for measuring the impact of your content marketing, it should be. With this free analytics tool you can analyze your site traffic, time on page, bounce rate and other metrics, and track progress toward goals. If you’re new to Google Analytics, the Analytics Academy provides a lot of helpful content to teach you all you need to know.
• Yoast SEO WordPress Plugin: This WordPress plugin is an easy way to check that keywords are included in the right places on your page, that your content is a good length, and that you’re following other best practices for creating SEO content. This free plugin allows you to check all these things from the blog post you’re creating so you can feel confident hitting the Publish button.
• Keyword Research Tools: Guessing what keywords you should use isn’t a good strategy, and even if it were, there are better ways to spend your time as a content marketer. Try amping up your keyword research with these three free tools suggested by Search Engine Land. The list of related searches at the bottom of a Google results page is another place to find ideas and keywords for your content.
• CoSchedule: With all the other things you have to keep track of, you can’t let your content planning slide. A good process for planning content and a good tool to help you keep track of your schedule are both necessary. CoSchedule is a great tool for a number of reasons, including the integration with WordPress and Google Analytics.

Best practices for on-page SEO aren’t magic and you will have to put in consistent work to ensure you and the members of your team aren’t neglecting any of these tips. Start by going back through the content you already have on your site and implement all of the best practices above. Then, going forward, use these tips as a checklist for consistently producing content with great on-page SEO.

One of the greatest things that ever happened to the marketing world was the arrival of social media. People can now become famous overnight without any professional help, news stories from secluded corners of the world can spread like wildfire and little-known politicians can share their views and gain an unprecedented following without ever reaching a national stage. Social media’s effects on the business world can be equally astounding… or not. While this outlet has the ability to grow your business faster than almost anything else can, you have to know how to use it correctly. There are several things that you should NOT do when it comes to social media marketing. Here are just a few of them.

1. Separating Social Media and SEO

If you’re funding an SEO campaign (as you should be) and you’re building a social media presence, it makes absolutely no sense to keep the two separate. Ryan Kahn, founder of The Hired Group, said, “Content is fire, social media is gasoline.” Do you have a great guide on window styles for your next bathroom remodel? Tweet about it! Or maybe you’ve detailed the fastest way to organize your computer files? Let the world know! Keeping great information and content to yourself not only hurts the people who could benefit from it – it hurts you. Your company can not only gain social followers and name recognition, but also drive product sales.

2. Being Afraid to be Live

We get it, you live through a screen. Backspace and spellcheck are your friends. The thought of spurting out content in person may be intimidating when you’re completely comfortable using the written word. This common fear is justified, but can definitely be holding you back from growth you could be experiencing.

There are many ways to spread content that go beyond basic blog posts. Certain media sites have new capabilities in live technology. You can now create live videos and tweets to share with your followers. There are so many ways to use this to your maximum advantage:

• Do a live video to answer questions from your followers
• Show how to use a product live and allow customers to interact while you’re doing it
• Live tweet business and social events
• Compare your product against a competing model to show how yours is superior

Whether you choose to do a live video or post pre-recorded clips of your content, embracing new features on social media sites is a must in the ever-advancing online world.

3. Neglecting the Social Presence

So you created a social profile, posted a few links and clips, gained a following and now nothing is happening. Why is that? For starters, your page needs to be constantly updated and refreshed. Potential clients who find your profile through a google search are going to be very disappointed if they see that a post hasn’t been made in weeks and the latest information is for a sale that happened months ago. An active social presence can reassure customers about how responsive you are, how actively involved you are in the company and create a positive image in general.

The lifespan of anything posted on social media is limited. Even if users like and share your post or tweet, it’s likely to become old news in a short amount of time. There is always something new coming out, so you have to constantly post content. This can seem overwhelming, but there are several things you can do to make the task more manageable.

• Refresh old pieces: Take a great post and tweak a few things to make it like new. Maybe all you need to do is bring it up to speed with current events or updated information. A new title or updated images can also be enough. You can expound more on one section or cut out less-pertinent parts.
• Reuse great content: One great thing about social media is that you can gain new followers all the time, meaning those viewers haven’t seen many of your past posts. If you have a piece that inspired lots of comments and reactions, post it regularly to attract new clients. Obviously you don’t want to seem redundant to your followers, but posting it every couple of months shouldn’t be a problem.
• Recycle it into something new: Some pieces lend themselves easily to recycling. If you created a great video, you can clip scenes and make a blog post or Slideshare with it. You can also use infographics you’ve designed to make short clips. A lengthy blog post can also be divided into short sections, giving you several different posts to share in the future. The same goes for an e-book, which can be time-consuming to create, but once it’s finished gives you the opportunity to use several segments for blog posts and recycle it in other ways to get as much use out of it as possible.

If constantly creating products to share on your social space seems overwhelming, feel free to delegate the job. Content marketing agencies can not only deliver polished articles for your site’s blog, but also tweets, image captions and short posts, making it possible to keep your name constantly appearing in your follower’s newsfeed.

4. Making Boring Headlines

One of the best ways to ensure that nobody looks at your blog posts is to give them boring headlines. While some people might click on “Bathroom Storage,” you will likely get a lot more clicks with “Top 10 Hacks for an Organized Bathroom Storage Space” or “Creating a Glamorous Space Under Your Counter.” There are so many different tips to keep in mind when creating titles, but here are a few:

• Keep it short, no more than 120-130 characters on Twitter
• Condense, condense, condense
• Allow alliteration (“Challenging Chore Charts for Children”)
• Be accurate
• Include a keyword if possible

Sometimes the title is the only thing your viewers will see, so making a good first impression is key to boosting your clicks. Here is a great blog post that goes into more depth on how to create catchy titles that draw readers in.

5. Failing to Use Images

When users are scrolling through their newsfeed, the first thing that will catch their eye is not going to be words, but pictures. Not only do you need to use images, but they need to be awesome. You can use your own team to create these images or you can use stock photos, but just be sure that each one is visually appealing. One smart course of action is to hire a team to create a library of images that you can select from for use now as well as for future posts.

6. Focusing on the Wrong Platform

You’ve narrowed your target market, but deciding where that group of people spends their social hours can be more difficult. You may be posting three pictures a day on Instagram while your customers are tweeting it up elsewhere. Stop and take a moment to really get to know your target audience and determine where you should put your resources and energy. Some ways of doing this include sending out surveys to your customers to see which mediums they prefer and polling your current followers to find out which other sites they visit regularly. A good place to start is Facebook, which boasts over 1.65 billion users who visit at least once per month and just over 1 billion who visit every day. There are several other sites to consider as well, including:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Snapchat
• Reddit

These are just a few of the many options available for users and businesses to explore.

7. Leaving it to Chance

After you’ve put so much energy into your social media campaign, you’ll want it to be in front of as many eyes as possible, but how does that happen? There are several ways to push your profile from inexistence to front-and-center.

• Encourage employees: You know who has friends? Your employees! At least we hope so, but even if they only have a few, you can offer incentives for sharing your company profile.
• Host contests: Giveaways are one of the best ways to encourage followers to share your page. You can also offer a discount if your page reaches a certain number of followers to encourage people to share with their friends.
• Discounts: One group of people that you definitely want to be following you is your current subscribers. Make that happen by offering a discount on products and services if they follow your social media page.

Whether you’ve just decided to launch a social media campaign or you’re looking for ways to make your current strategy better, applying these tips can make a big difference. As the modern marketing world continues to blend heavily with the social media field, combining the two can lead to more followers, more visitors and more sales.