The From Line
Sending, Managing & Monetizing Email
Marketers often get sidetracked in the day to day tasks of content marketing such as planning, writing, engaging and publishing that sometimes makes them forget the reason why they are doing it in the first place. The main goal of content marketing is to promote your business, receive more leads and make more sales.
Content monetization is an important part of this process. Below are some tips to make the most of your content monetization strategy and to help with your overall content marketing efforts.
Co-Registration & Native Advertising
With co-registration, marketers are able to monetize their content by trading their leads or content registrations using a permission-based process. Through this process, prospects and customers can opt in to receive information from brand-enhancing partners. The same holds true for native advertising, where contextually relevant information such as articles, infographics, and videos from brand-enhancing partners are embedded into newsletters, blogs, etc. This increases the overall experience and value for prospects and customers.
Video Monetization
Video monetization is a very popular form of targeted advertising. It is a great way for business owners and marketers to earn revenue from their content and is economical for advertisers ensuring them decent exposure to their advertisements. The most important rule of monetizing through video is to keep it natural. Slamming your audience with product promotion will not just turn them away from your content, but it certainly will not help the advertisers either. Be sure you are partnering up with brands that offer products that will fit easily with the content of your videos and will appeal to your visitors.
Delayed Selling Monetization
If people are reading your content regularly; they will be more likely to buy something from you in the future if you happen to promote a product or service that is interesting in your content. However, in order for this technique to work efficiently, regularly becomes challenging. Be sure you provide content that is high quality and offer people multiple ways to consume your content such as an email signup or an Atom or RSS feed. Make sure your email marketing tools allows you to easily perform split tests and list segmentation so you can optimize your sales efforts to your readers.
Mobile Monetization
People who use mobile devices are typically focused on a specific reason such as finding a restaurant and are usually time-constrained. If they aren’t instantly informed or engaged, they are quicker than desktop users to abandon their current path. Therefore, providing them with the right type of content that is exactly what they are interested in and are looking for referencing their location is essential. Understanding how your readers are using their mobile is vital too. One way to monetize mobile is to offer premium memberships to mobile content. Mobile users will pay a premium for convenience on the go. They react well to time-based offers and exclusive content. Lastly, always be sure you make your mobile content social.
For more information on content marketing and monetization, please contact us.
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If you're using content marketing nbsp;on a regular basis to promote your business, don't forget the importance of eye candy. If you've been relying solely on the written word perhaps it's time to explore the use of visuals. Consumers have limited time and easily digestible graphics can be just as effective as an article or whitepaper.
Here are some ideas to incorporate visuals into your content marketing strategy:
1. Create infographics. If you're not a professional graphic designer, then you'll need to outsource this step to someone who is experienced in graphic design (preferably in infographic design). The actual content of the infographic, however, is up to you. It should include information that others will find helpful and specific to your area of expertise. Your infographic should be structured in such a way that people can learn a lot in a few seconds by just glancing at it. Above all, it should reference your brand and website.
2. Use memes. Some business owners may need to divorce themselves from the "get these kids off my lawn" mentality that they have towards Internet memes. Memes are not just for teens with nothing to do. They're frequently used by adults and represent a significant slice of Internet culture. Feed off of that by using them in your own content.
3. Animated GIFs. Want to add some spice to your content so that it's a little more shareable? Don't neglect the use of animated GIFs. They're like videos, but the reader doesn't have to click "play". BuzzFeed has mastered the use of animated GIFs and now it's a household word. You can find plenty of animated GIFs which represent a particular mood by simply Googling the mood name, followed by the words "animated gif". Also, check out reactiongifs.com.
RegReady makes your content marketing go further by helping you find new cutomers. Join RegReady today and recoup the value you're losing from traditional content marketing efforts.
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A recent article at Forbes states that marketing is out of step with the consumer. Businesses must understand that consumers are in control through information sharing and social media recommendations and other behaviors. We are in an era where consumers are developing an interest in a brand’s activities. In designing a successful permission-based marketing strategy you can leave no gaps between what you say and what you do. Permission marketing must be transparent to secure a meaningful consumer-brand relationship.
The First Rule Of Transparency Is To Be Open And Honest
For example, if you are a startup business, be proud of that fact and don’t try to inflate experience or financial data just to get that new customer. It may work well in the beginning, but usually lies require more lies to cover them up. People who feel you are being totally up front about your business will be more likely to give you permission to send them more information about your products or services. Even if prospects turn you down, they will most likely appreciate and remember your being totally honest when you’re in a better position to serve their needs.
In Order To Be Transparent You Must Be Accessible
Can consumers contact you if they have questions or concerns? There is simply nothing worse than arriving at a business website that does not contain clear and precise contact information. It’s almost like the business is ashamed of being there. Your website may contain a lot of information, but can the average consumer convert that information into knowledge? Consumers want information, not advertising. Remember, you’re asking total strangers to allow you to provide them more information about your company. If they feel you are trying to trick them or hide information from them, they more than likely will not opt-in to your offer.
Building More Transparency Through Consumer Education And Engagement
You must use your website, blog, and social media to place your company in the position of being a valuable resource for consumer information. This can be accomplished by sharing information or just answering questions about your business or industry. You must learn that your opinion on a topic is not the only one. Always respect and respond to all comments or recommendations in a positive way. Social media audiences will learn that your business cares about its customers if you will deliver your message in a way that is open, transparent, and helpful. People want to learn more about businesses who have established their credibility.
With all the recent scandals, bailouts and financial crises that have damaged consumers’ trust in business, transparency is a critical part of conducting business. People want to buy from those they can trust. Injecting transparency in your permission based marketing strategy will show the humanistic side of your business. You can show that it’s not just about money and sales, but there are real people with real lives. To be a good marketer, you must be a good listener.
RegReady is a transparent, fair and balanced customer acquisition community helping you develop true opt-in marketing lists and sales leads. We are advocates of quality customer relationships developed through permission-based marketing and education. We help you find prospects motivated to ask for more information. Contact us today to see how it works.
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Permission Marketing is exactly what it sounds like: marketing that is executed with the permission of the individual. A marketer initiates this relationship by asking if an individual will agree to receive emails and other marketing materials from them. Only after explicit permission is gained is the marketing cycle started.
However, the basics of permission marketing grind against everything a sales person has ever learned. In the world of sales, it is never a good idea to ask permission - a sales person must push forward and state what will happen, not ask for a favor. But in this case, the difference in approach is a strong point. Permission marketing works because it flows against the sales tide. The relationship between potential customer and marketer is approached from a friendship viewpoint. As a friend, the marketer is asking the potential customer for a favor.
Asking before sending an email or other advertisement may take a potential customer by surprise. A follow up email or brochure is expected in business and in marketing. When permission marketing is utilized, the potential customer is caught off guard. The sought out permission will leave a positive impression in the consumer's mind.
Potential customers will open an email that was sent to them through granted permission faster than a cold email. Psychologically, if permission was first requested and then granted, a person will feel more obligated to review the email. The email is expected, but it has not been pushed onto the person in any way. The customer made a commitment to allow the marketer to send to them, and therefore feels an obligation to uphold their half of the deal. An expected email also has a higher chance of skipping the spam folder. The potential customer may even add the marketer's email address to their accepted senders list to make sure that their email comes through in the future as well.
Finally, permission marketing allows marketers to assess the potential customer's interest level. If a person genuinely isn't interested in the product after a friendly conversation, the answer to the permission request will be no. If the answer is no, the marketer will be able to focus efforts on those who said yes, and therefore avoid wasted resources on someone who will not be working with the company.
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According to our recent survey, Perceptions of Permission, marketers are split on the actual practice of permission marketing with 45% of marketers indicating they do practice permission marketing and 44% admitting that they don't. 11% of respondents did not answer this question. Joined with other statistics from the survey, there's a clear split between marketers' attitudes and practices with permission marketing.
Source: Determining Perceptions of Marketing Permission Impact Marketing Success
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