Content Marketing Today

The best small business solution is to eliminate a separate blog and website.

Unfortunately, typical small companies often misunderstand the power of a business blog--and cannot envision how it can and should be the driving force behind your online presence.  Your best bet is to leverage the power of blogging software to create an online presence which is, at once, timeless and timely.

Most of us began with a website that contains static content that was never intended to change much over time. Your static website will be an essential source of product, service, and company data to the majority of buyers that now relying on the Internet as their primary repository of information for potential purchases. Your static website is a vital beginning.  But, it's only a beginning. 

To compete for the attention of both search engines and buyers, you will need to add more and more dynamic content over time.  That's where a business blog comes into play.  If you already have a blog--or are considering one--you probably think of it as a completely separate entity with limited functionality.  That may be true for large organizations.  But, for a small business, your blog should be the engine behind a full fledged website that delivers much more clout than your old-fashioned static version.

Adventure Training Concepts(ATC) shows us quickly and precisely what they do and why should we should care

I met the founders of this company several years ago when they were just getting started. I always loved the idea of what they were attempting to do but had never looked at their website, until I reconnected with one of the owners, Michelle Jones.

ATC leverages the Armed Forces skills of its founders to teach leadership to the building of teams within a challenging adventure framework.

Of course, I knew what their company did because I had met them before. But I would have been just as clear about who they are, what they do and how they can help my company from a quick visit to their website.

Here's what works so well on their website.

How a small PR firm built an abbondonza of buzz for a Florida client with a house to sell.

Big ideas can trump big bucks.  This is especially true in the new Internet-powered world of public relations. 

Savvy marketers with minimal budgets can get pervasive press coverage that would have been impossible five or 10 years ago.  Just ask Tina Haisman, Southwest Florida PR professional, who was able to generate an astonishing amount of TV, radio, and print coverage far beyond Florida borders. 

Tina's challenge was to help a Southwest Florida homeowner that needed to sell his multimillion dollar mansion in a very tough real estate market.  The homeowner knew that he needed to reach well beyond his local market for likely buyers of his luxurious home.  So, he cooked up the idea of a $1 million coupon that would be offered to anyone who bought his house.

She began with a traditional public relations approach of assembling a list of a hundred or so media contacts that might be open to writing about the unique coupon idea, particularly in the area of real estate.  She would then plan to e-mail reporters and follow-up with phone calls.  For decades, some variation of this proven approach has worked well to get news coverage.  But, without a lot of time, a big staff, and a big-budget, she could expect good, but limited success.

Instead, motivated by the client's reiterated push for' buzz', Tina decided to make a big bet on a social media press release approach via PR Web.  This enabled Tina and her client to reach and influence a global audience with minimum effort and maximum impact.

How They Use Secret Shoppers to Catch Their Team Members Doing the Right Thing.

If you are looking for great basic meat and potatoes cooking in a casual atmosphere, you can't do much better than Five Guys Burgers and Fries. While working on a client project, I had the opportunity to learn about the way they operate their restaurants--and how they think about their customers and their employees. 

The company launched with a single restaurant in the Washington, DC area in the 1980s and expanded conservatively through the use of 100% company owned outlets until very recently.  The family that owns Five Guys were concerned that they could not maintain a high level of customer experience if they were to expand too far or to move into franchising.  Ultimately, they did make the move but have worked very hard to ensure excellence in every one of their restaurants whether company owned or franchised.

AC Transit's Dedicated Site, ACTForMe.org, Paints a Brilliant and Loving Portrait of the Benefits of Public Transit

AC Transit operates a very sophisticated bus transportation system in the San Francisco Bay area, handling more than 65 million passengers annually in an area covering 364 square miles.  That's pretty impressive. 

But what really impressed me is the fact that they also make excellent use of the web to tell a story that turns taking the bus into the obvious transportation choice.

A Company That Gets It on so Many Levels Minimizes Traditional Marketing Expenditures.

I was surprised, but not too surprised, to learn from a friend and colleague, David Drickhamer, that the famous maker of ergonomic chairs spent almost no money on traditional advertising.

Herman Miller tends to be well ahead of the curve on almost every business front.  After all, this is a company that was into sustainability before it was cool--and before Al Gore was invented global warming (or was that the Internet?). Back in 1984, they stopped using Rosewood when they determined it was an endangered hardwood.

When they introduced their new, high end and incredibly comfortable chair, the Embody, they relied heavily on the blogosphere to spread the word.  Although the traditional press would have been essential to the success of a new product a decade ago, it's the blogosphere that is overwhelmingly influential today. 

Phillywordsmith, Emily Sheetz, puts Google Docs to work with a simple, but engaging online slide show for her small business.

There’s plenty that I love about the web. Discovering new people from whom I can learn is one of the most rewarding.

Recently, I lucked onto the PhillyWordsmith blog and wrote about her powerful conceptual construct for drilling down to your brand’s core promise: And Then What? The Question to Ask, Ask, and Ask Again to Get to Your Product’s Soul

Now, I found something else that’s pretty cool on her site. Emily shares representative samples of her creative stuff with a simple slide show built with the basic Google Docs application.  She doesn’t even bother with the Google presentation application.  The link sits right up top on her blog so you don’t have to hunt for it.  Here's why it's so effective for a microbusiness like Emily’s.

Lessons for small business marketers from a very creative insurance website

You might not think of renter's insurance as an especially lucrative product.  Although it may be very profitable, it's certainly not expensive. Even so, there are plenty of renters who don't bother to buy it because they just don't see the value.  And, going after prospects for this inexpensive coverage on the phone or in-person would probably not be worth the effort.

That's where imaginative content marketing plays a key role: It sells this important insurance product to folks who need it, but don't yet know they need it.

Liberty Mutual does a fantastic job online with its YouCovered.com site that targets what seems to be an ideal buyer persona: relatively affluent young people who have a fair amount of stuff that is worth a lot to replace. You can apply the best of what they do even with a small online marketing budget.

6 Lessons to Learn from a Young Mom Who Has Built a Successful Clothing Brand While Learning Business the Hard Way

Heather Nolte is a self-described 5' 1" Texas firecracker who launched her fun and fashionable  clothing company with tons of energy, but not a shred of entrepreneurial experience.

She targets moms and their very young kids who are desperate for clothing options that are not the same old same old "mommy and me" choices. Her tagline tells the story: "From the crib to the catwalk."

Although Heather was able to get her company up and running on just $2000, she has always had big dreams. Those dreams and her business naivety led her to make some expensive and damaging marketing mistakes very early on.

Instead of conceding defeat, she immediately set out to learn absolutely everything about building a successful business with a combination of creativity and frugality.  What she learned about marketing has made all the difference.

You Don’t Have to be the Ritz to Deliver Superb In Person Content Marketing

My recent stay at the Ritz-Carlton Sarasota reminded me of all that's wonderful about every one of their hotels. In fact, this Sarasota gem just won the 2008 Florida Governor's Sterling Award for quality.

On the rare occasion when I have the opportunity to enjoy a stay at a Ritz Carlton, I grab it. Why? Although the quality of their facilities is suberb, it's the  quality of their legendary  service that creates such a talkable experience for me and for their fortunate guests. That makes for great in-person content marketing. It's the final element that makes all the rest of your content marketing completely authentic. That's what your customers will share with the world.  In fact, here I am talking about that very experience with you.

The Ritz-Carlton folks have determined that its sumptuous facilities are necessary but not sufficient to make their hotels so highly rated. Rather, it is the lofty level of customer service that makes the difference.

If you emulate their approach to hiring and looking after the right people and to developing a quality customer process, you can become the customer service Ritz-Carlton of your industry.