The first thing to understand before you even begin to think about digital marketing is that your brand is a conversation.
Especially online, because it’s so social.
And that there are many different types of marketing, but for simplicity and as a basic introduction, we’ll focus on just a few here.
The first is traditional brand promotion like billboards, magazine or newspaper advertising, television or radio ads etc. This is called outbound marketing because the message is being pushed out by the brand to everyone. It’s not necessarily targeted to a specific group.
Digital marketing (or online marketing), on the other hand, leverages technologies like email, search engine optimization, and social media to reach prospective customers. Within digital marketing, there are many approaches you may have heard of like influencer marketing, content marketing, email, video, webinars, podcasts, and so forth.
For now, I want you to think of digital marketing as a holistic, interconnected network of parts that are all working together to drive the right customers to your business.
I use this holistic system to help my clients understand that one channel really isn’t enough. Think of it like a wellness strategy…all the parts contribute to a healthier whole!
And that if you’re putting all your eggs into one basket – like one social channel, just email, or just blogging, podcasting, YouTubing, whatever – one channel just isn’t enough anymore. You need a holistic system of generating authentic, memorable brand stories that speak directly to your ideal customer and empowers them to choose you.
So how do I get started?
To begin, think about your content within the Customer Decision Journey (aka “the marketing funnel”). Consider the entire customer journey and what content will be important to your client or customer no matter where they are in your funnel.
At the top of the funnel, we want to leverage channels that help us to educate our ideal clients about their problem.
Remember, they may not even be aware they need your products and services. So if you’re choosing to solve for awareness, then you’ll want to make sure you are considering the type of content you’ll post on social (of course) but also the content on your website and how easy you have made it for people to find you online.
Adding a blog or finding other ways to drive people to your site – like a podcast, videos, webinars, etc – all factor into the holistic system of content creation for your brand. Research indicates that businesses that publish blog content have 434% more search-indexed pages than those without. Content marketing like this costs 62% less than outbound marketing (like ads and events), but it generates more than three times as many leads.
The middle of the funnel is where you are going to have a more personalized conversation with your clients. Email is the best for this, but you can also present your products and services as a solution to them via webinars, article, blogs, or podcasts just to name a few.
Don’t let the naysayers tell you “email is dead”. Ask yourself, what other channels allow you to build a relationship with your audience directly? What other channels give you permission and access to talk directly to your ideal customers? Not social. That’s a one way channel because your ability to reach your audience is dependent on your time on platform and the reward systems set up by each social platform’s algorithm. Email isn’t for everyone, but did you know email generates $38 for every $1 spent? That is an astounding 3,800% ROI, making it one of the most effective low-cost options available.
At the bottom of the funnel is where you’re going to really make your case for why you (and not your competitors) are the best solution for their problem. This content can take many forms but I suggest leveraging the work you have – your best asset – YOU! Showcase your work as case studies; show your ideal clients and customers that you have solved this problem before. What are your other clients saying about your work? Promote their testimonials. Can you create demos or free consultations? Create content around this.
What you do at each stage of the funnel is important to making sure your ideal clients feel nurtured, supported, and loved – and in turn, will help them to chose you over another brand for their particular problem.
Create content pillars for your brand.
Think about the types of content your ideal clients and customers are going to be searching for as they move through your funnel, then bucket them into Content Pillars for your brand. These pillars will come from your key messages, brand mission and values, and ideal client profiles. Essentially they are ways of organizing the stories about your brand.
You should generate anywhere between 3-6 content pillars for your brand and can organize each like this:
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- Content: describes how this content distributes your key message (ie. education, inspiration, promotion, case studies, behind-the-scenes, etc)
- Funnel stage: awareness, consideration, decision
- Channels: where you will use this content online (social media, email, blog, podcasts, etc)
- Frequency: how often you will use this pillar (education and inspiration should be used more often than promotional content for example)
- Creative: what do you need to create the content (image and text, lifestyle, product details, graphics only, etc
Once you’ve created your pillars, map them to our Content Calendar (download yours here!), taking into consideration your own availability and business objectives.
Here are a few questions to ask yourself as you plan out your content:
- What messages are best on which channels?
- How often will I post on each social channel?
- How much time do I have to devote to creating and posting content?
- What is my plan for creating content? Will I create it myself or work with a designer or copywriter?
- Who will post it?
- And who will manage engagement?
Answering these questions should help you create a manageable cadence for your brand content. I recommend to be conservative in the first few months – perhaps you’re posting on your social channels 3-4x a week, writing 1-2 blog posts per month, and sending out one monthly email.
Start with baby steps so you can get used to the rhythm before you load up your calendar with content. Each of us will have our own schedule and objectives, so don’t compare yourself and your progress to anyone. Remember…marketing is a long game, so be patient with yourself and trust this system will work if you stick to it over time.
Best practices for creating content online.
Be memorable. This is so important because every day you’ll be fighting for the small moment of attention someone is willing to give you, and if you don’t capture their imagination in a few short moments, you’ll be forgettable. I love this podcast from Jason Feifer, the Editor in Chief of Entrepreneur Magazine, about how what makes you memorable might not be what you think!
Provide value always. A good question to ask yourself is what kind of value will my ideal client get out of reading, liking, sharing, or engaging with this content I’m about to create? Know the answer to that question before you start creating anything.
Be consistent. I hope you’ll read my article on Medium about this – it’s an ode to creating brand magic through consistency and I love using this sketch to talk about it. Three equal parts of what you say, who you say it to, and how you say it – over and over again. You don’t have to be fancy, you just have to be consistent.
Embrace Circular Viralocity. This is a mouthful of words coined by Brendon Burchard that simply means that one piece of content – like a video you create – can be broken into variations that you can share across different channels saving you time and effort. I love this idea because it’s hard creating new, valuable, and memorable content everyday, but this concept allows you to essentially extract and use different parts of the video, like the audio only for a podcast, then use the transcript for a blog post. From the blog you can share out a link to your email list, then extract quotes and create quote cards as graphics for social posts. Each of those posts can link to different channels – your podcast, or website, or other social channels. It’s an exciting way for us to think about content creation. Here’s Pinterest’s take on it.
Putting it all together
Creating a digital marketing strategy for your business isn’t hard, it just requires a system to keep you motivated and organized. So gather your brand’s key messages, dig into your ideal client’s profile, create your content pillars, and remember the best practices for creating content online.
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Thanks for reading. Want to take a deeper dive into the possibilities of your brand marketing? I’ve created this Brand Audit Workbook and video to guide you through the process for evaluating your current brand marketing efforts! See immediately where your current brand message might be confusing or inconsistent, and learn exactly what to do to get your story straight.
💥 Or, maybe you’re ready to learn what the best brands know about marketing that you don’t? Watch our free marketing masterclass right here.