Whether you write it or pay someone else to write it, the purpose of writing articles for marketing is to generate or improve sales and subscription rates. If you have a product that is released on a regular basis, you would prefer to have a steady base of subscribers rather than relying totally upon individual sales each time you have a new release available. Article marketing is an efficient method of attracting subscribers and allows you to build a targeted customer base. This allows for more consistent planning.
Once you have a subscriber base, it is important to keep them happy and interested in what you are doing. Subscribers tend to be loyal if you give them quality content on a regular basis, otherwise they loose interest fairly quickly. By giving subscribers something free on a regular basis, that is available only to your subscribers, this allows you to maintain contact and good customer relations. It also affords you the opportunity to introduce new offers, advise them of changes to existing products or policies as well as alert them to changes in your business that may affect them. Article marketing is an effective way to accomplish this.
However, it does not stop there. Should the visitor consider that your article is of sufficient merit to warrant them using it as content on their own website, they are entitled to copy it so long as they include your name as author, and your author's resource box, complete with webpage URL. You then get a one way link back from all the sites that use your article, and also visitors that click on your link from these sites.
Just because you have taken steps to try to keep your existing customers, does not mean that you can ignore the possibility of gaining new customers. Use article marketing to entice new customers with a free gift or reward for subscribing to your web site or service. This is a good way to let them know you value their business and want to reward them for their support. Free articles are great for promotions and are very effective for the cost. These articles can promote your products while also providing useful and valuable information to your subscribers. It's a great tool that you should definitely consider.
Either way, information is at the heart of marketing. Good marketing creates information that people actually search out and want to see - not bland advertisements that they do their best to avoid. Needless to say, that raises an important question: what kind of information do people actually want?
People like news (kind of): People do like being ahead of the game and knowing what's going on in the world around them. That's why people read the paper, watch the 10 o'clock news and listen to gossip. If you have an inside scoop to share or a loyal brand following that is interested in every development then news can be the perfect kind of information to share.
Where it doesn't work is where businesses that don't have that kind of brand or brand following still think news about them and their business is interesting. It's not. The kind of news people are interested in is the kind that (a) they want to share and discuss with others or (b) affects them. Your company's new widget or corporate logo don't fit that bill. Unless, of course, you make it more relevant to your audience's particular needs - or make it worthy of sharing.
People like to be entertained: People like being entertained but not every business is all that entertaining. People are entertaining. Thankfully, businesses are full of people. Assuming a new life as a stand-up is off the cards, try incorporating your own voice and that of your staff into your marketing communications and the information you publish. Not only will it make your communications more engaging but it will also help put a human face to your organisation.
People like actionable information that's relevant to them: We all remember sitting in certain classes at school thinking, "how are I ever going to use this information?". Make your information actionable, and show people how it will make their lives, personal or professional, better. Just to be clear, it's not how your product or service will makes their lives better but how engaging with your content and information will makes their lives better.
Tall order? Perhaps, but that's what required to make your information stand out. Imagine a wine shop that runs free classes on how to choose the perfect wine. That information is, in itself, interesting, relevant to the market and usable. By getting involved with the (free) information the customer becomes more likely to buy from that wine shop. Contrast that with another flyer offering 5% off.
The key point throughout? People don't really want to hear about you and your business at all. They're not interested in you - they're interested in themselves. Simply put, why should someone pay attention to you, what's in it for them?
Information can be the answer to that question; specifically, newsworthy, human and usable information that's relevant to them. Create that kind of information and people will search you out.
Both Amar Singh & Mark Nagurski are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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