People are interested in expanding their skills. They want to boost their chances at finding a higher-paying job or landing a promotion. Many hope to acquire new abilities based on marketplace demand. Still, despite the interest in adult education programs, it can be hard for providers to find an audience.

If you're in the adult education market, how can you tap into the immense demand for skill-building programs? More importantly, perhaps, how will you stand out from your competitors?

Armed with a savvy approach to content marketing, you can spread the word — and the buzz — about your programs. The right approach will help you increase enrollment and simultaneously help your students embrace new, exciting futures.

1. Be a myth buster.

There are plenty of different reasons that adults consider going back to school or entering a training program. The flip side to that is that there are at least as many reasons why they express some hesitancy about the process.

One way to break through that anxiety is to address some of the major myths and misconceptions about adult learners and education programs. For example, it's common for older adults to worry that they'll be the oldest person in the classroom. They also worry that taking on new skills later in life will be too difficult.

In reality, students return to school or enter training programs at all ages and from a variety of backgrounds. It's important to stress that everyone can be successful. When students feel like returning to school won't cause embarrassment or frustration, they're more likely to enroll. After that, they're more likely to express the kind of excitement and determination that will help them meet their goals.

2. Find your audience.

Another critical element to successfully marketing your adult education programs is knowing your audience and where to find them. However, this is easier for some programs than others.

For example, if you offer a CPA exam prep program, you'll want to market it through related channels. These might be through the schools where prerequisite courses are taught or in partnerships with exam registration sites. You can highlight the statistical benefits of taking such courses, present testimonials from other students, and outline your offerings. The same is true for any other kind of test prep course.

Of course, other adult education programs can be much harder to promote because your audience is more disparate. If you offer training in a trade, where should you market that? To get the word out about your program, you may want to connect with job listing sites, local career centers, and even more traditional educational venues.

Don't adopt too narrow a view of who might be interested in your adult education program. With more degree holders pursuing certification in a trade, now's the time to acknowledge that your target audience may be changing.

3. Promote progressions.

Many adult education programs can be described as "one and done." However, the reality is that — no matter someone's career path — there is always room for growth and progression. Growth often entails taking more courses for advancement and continuing education purposes.

In traditional settings, we might talk about this approach as driving re-enrollment or matriculation. However, in marketing language, this means that you need to use your content to drive customer retention. What can you offer that will keep them coming back?

Among the most important aspects you'll want to highlight when working to encourage repeat enrollments is how students can benefit from further coursework. Be careful to showcase the interesting options available to more advanced students as well as changing workforce requirements. This means doing some research. What are the industry standards for promotion or continuing education?

It's easy to keep students coming back when it's absolutely required by their employers. However, you want them to be excited by your services and offerings without a need for prodding. Coming to you out of stagnation or compulsion doesn't provide a great source of motivation. That means making your services stand out in quality, cost, and overall experience.

4. Embrace the power of partnerships.

Among the many ways that adult education programs today expand their reach and communicate their services to their target audience is by building connections with other organizations. For example, some adult education programs are collaborating with major corporations to offer their employees opportunities to pursue college degrees or certification programs.

Though most programs don't have the scale to make such large connections — could you handle the volume if hundreds or thousands of students signed up for your programs all at once? — partnering with local businesses that want to help staff develop advanced skills might be a viable option.

You provide the background information and the courses. Businesses bring in the students, many times with the prospect of obtaining a raise or advancement. We are living in a moment of "upskilling" and "reskilling," equipping people who have jobs with new or more advanced skills for a changing marketplace. Partnerships such as these are ideal drivers of engagement.

5. You might have a shifting market, but the process is the same.

Marketing adult education programs may involve presenting content that's different than marketing other services. However, the processes are fundamentally the same. Whether you're sharing your message via blogs or newsletters or in infographics on social media, content marketing typically embraces the same core approaches and platforms.

Your goal, then, is to optimize the educational content you offer rather than just flooding the field. And most importantly, at the end of the day, it's all about knowing who your audience is. You need to learn how to connect with them. You want to be sure that they can see the benefits of what you're offering.

Some people have a deep and abiding love of learning, no matter what the topic. However, others require a tougher sell to engage, even when your offering is to their advantage. Arm yourself with the facts about what learning a new skill, taking a test prep course, or earning a degree can offer. With that knowledge, you can connect with even the most reluctant students, encouraging them to expand their minds and pursue what motivates them.

The post Back to School: Tips for Marketing Adult Education Services appeared first on RELEVANCE.

If you want to know the cold, hard truth, getting to the top of page one of Google in a highly competitive niche such as yours is challenging. It's going to require thousands of dollars and months of hard work. You'll need to hire an SEO expert. You'll need to invest in strategic content creation and link building. After that, you'll probably cross your fingers that you've done enough to please the search engine gods.

Even then, there are no guarantees that you'll get the results you're looking for.

So: Is Service Business Content a Waste of Time?

In light of what's just been described, it's easy to assume that content is a waste of resources for the average service business in a highly competitive niche.

However, that's not true at all. SEO is just one aspect of content creation. You need to shift your view of content. And a simple change in perspective could be the game-changer you need to get your service business content strategy back on track.

Content as an Authority Builder

Let's assume, for a moment, that you're a financial advisor in the suburbs of a major city. While you know you're one of the best in the area, the reality is that you look just like the 25 other advisors in your zip code. You operate XYZ Wealth Management Firm while your closest competitor operates ABC Wealth Management Firm. You're wearing a navy suit in your LinkedIn profile picture and so is she. You offer retirement planning and 401(k) rollovers, and so does she.

Truth be told, there isn't a whole lot that separates the two of you.

And if we're being honest, this is the case in almost any local service business niche. Whether it's HVAC, plumbing, landscaping, financial advisory, bookkeeping, house cleaning, or general maintenance, it's challenging to stand out in a field where everyone is offering the same basic services. You're forced to compete on price, which drives profit margins down. Someone else is always willing to go lower.

Service Business Content Must Set Your Company Apart

Herein lies the true power of service business content. When leveraged effectively, content has the ability to differentiate you from the competition by amplifying your authority in ways that few other marketing investments can.

Think of it like this. All else created equal, which of the following companies is a cold prospect going to trust more?

• ABC Wealth Management Firm: Has a basic website, simple LinkedIn profile, and created a three-page retirement investing PDF seven years ago.
• XYZ Wealth Management Firm: Has a clean website with 25 blog posts, a LinkedIn profile that shares valuable content once per day, and a library of retirement investing guides and books available for download.

The choice is clear, right?

ABC Wealth Management Firm might have a slick logo and clever website, but everything is generic and replaceable. XYZ Wealth Management Firm has a marketing strategy with teeth. If everything else is created equal, 9 out of 10 cold prospects are going to call XYZ to set an appointment.

While visibility obviously matters — and you can't convert a prospect into a client if they don't first find you online — the reality is that content should be viewed as an authority builder. When created through this lens, you're much more likely to generate high-quality content that resonates with your target market. Plus, you'll see some residual SEO results on the back end.

Tips for Developing Authority-Boosting Service Business Content

Once you start to look at content as a conduit for authority, rather than SEO collateral, you'll suddenly see new opportunities that you were never focused on before. And if authority is the play, here are some simple ways you can maximize the value of content marketing and use it to your advantage.

1. Create better landing pages.

Most service business websites have a home page, an About Us page, and a basic What We Do page. But if you want to stand out and build authority within your niche, start by creating robust landing pages for every individual service/market. Check out this Katy Property Management page from Green Residential as just one example. They've dedicated landing pages for every one of their individual markets in the state of Texas. Pages burst with social proof and detailed information. This establishes instant credibility with visitors, as opposed to one big generic page that makes it look like they try to serve everyone.

2. Author a book.

Writing a book is easier than ever before. Thanks to online tools, self-publishing platforms, and Amazon, you can write, design, publish, and even print books with a very low overhead cost. Consider writing a short, 50-100 page book on a topic that your audience finds valuable. Most people will never read it. But the fact that you have a book instantly bolsters your credibility.

3. Share useful content on LinkedIn.

Your business should be zeroed in on the LinkedIn platform. This is particularly true if you're in a B2B service niche and/or work with a lot of white-collar professionals. However, regardless of who your niche serves, LinkedIn is a good place to build up your circle of influence with other businesses in the area. Share well-written content, connect with people, comment on posts, and otherwise make yourself known.

4. Seed your blog with pillar content.

You don't need dozens of blog posts on your website. However, it's a good idea to have a handful of “pillar” pieces. These are long, in-depth posts that touch on the biggest pain points and/or solutions in your industry. All of your marketing and traffic acquisition efforts will center around these pieces of content.

Evolve Your Service Business Content Strategy Over Time

There are obviously other steps you can take, but this short guide should provide a pretty good starting point. As you begin investing in service business content, you'll see new opportunities emerge. At this point, you can continue to adapt your strategy.

You don't need to publish five blog posts a week. You don't need to send out an endless stream of tweets throughout the day. Quantity is not the goal. With authority-boosting content, it's all about quality. A well-developed content strategy that accounts for this fact will get you the results you're seeking.

The post Service Business Content: Here’s the Real Reason Why It Matters appeared first on RELEVANCE.

Unfortunately, when it comes to websites such as Yelp or the Better Business Bureau, feedback tends to skew to the extremes. They rarely represent the average customer. Instead, we tend to hear from those who have had either terrible or unusually excellent experiences.

That’s not particularly helpful to businesses that want to understand their performance in a broader sense. The content represented in these posts rarely highlights the sort of reasoning and measurable insights businesses need. Luckily, there’s a better way known as Net Promoter Score (NPS).

Businesses use NPS surveys to gather standardized feedback from their customers to inform future content marketing. These surveys typically emphasize how customers feel about a business and whether they would promote that business to people they know. As such, NPS scores can be correlated with business growth, but it’s not as simple as just asking questions.

Rather, businesses need to act on the results of their NPS surveys, especially when developing content marketing. They also need to customize those surveys wisely to gain higher-quality insights. This is where NPS-informed content marketing practices can help.

NPS Content Marketing Means Asking the Right Questions

One of the best ways to ensure you’re getting the most information from your NPS survey is by customizing your NPS questions. There are a number of ways to do this. At the heart of the matter is something that every content marketer knows. How you say something is often more important than what you say.

In other words, the particular word choices or phrasing carry more weight than the message. As such, you will need to borrow from your other communication skills. Use the ones you use in content marketing to ensure you’re really hearing what your customers think.

So, what does it look like to rethink your NPS questions? Consider, for example, the common question, “Would you recommend this business to a friend?”

Businesses use this question as a proxy for factors like loyalty and word-of-mouth promotion. The problem is that, with a handful of exceptions, people don’t just walk around recommending businesses to their friends. This is true even if they like that business. There are plenty of survey takers who find that question ludicrous for this precise reason. As a result, businesses should consider that when phrasing their questions. Choosing different language could yield clearer and more valuable results.

Prioritize Problem Solving

There is a benefit to focusing on your content marketing and writing skills when developing your NPS survey. Just like standard content writing tasks, such an approach allows businesses to deliver value at the same time that they’re seeking customer insights. Ask questions that will help you solve major e-commerce problems; one of the hallmarks of the NPS approach is that it typically asks users why they chose a particular response.

Businesses also have the option to ask their customers about particular services, rather than about the company as a whole. The NPS survey can help businesses reorient a product or service and hone in on what is and isn’t working.

Turn Feedback Into Content

Sometimes, when a business is getting negative feedback from customers on their NPS survey, the issue is less with the product or service than the supporting information. Product education is, after all, an integral part of any business model, so ensure that your NPS results are part of a feedback loop that circles back to your content marketing team and customer representatives.

These are the people who need to know what’s on your clients’ minds. After all, they are empowered to use those insights productively. When customers realize that their question is not addressed in a blog, they see that their survey responses weren’t a waste of time and they feel heard — a valuable component for building loyalty.

Your Survey Is CX

Everyone knows that content marketing is part of customer experience (CX), as are elements such as average handling time (AHT), or the amount of time representatives spend working with customers. Unfortunately, most brands overlook the fact that NPS surveys also need to contribute to positive CX. This tends to become obvious in the final results. NPS surveys tend to be clunky and unattractive and, like a lot of other tasks of this nature, customers don’t find them compelling.

As such, we return to our earlier point. While Yelp and Better Business Bureau insights don’t necessarily reflect the fuller audience, NPS results may not either. That means you need to account for the issue of CX when developing these surveys, and that means selling your survey the way you sell your products. But how?

If you’re trying to encourage greater participation in your NPS survey, you shouldn’t send the survey out as a freestanding piece of content, because it isn’t. Your NPS survey can be well-designed but, lacking context, your customers don’t have a strong reason to invest their time. Other aspects of your sales process, including using a direct ask by the sales representative supporting the account, can increase engagement, especially if it’s paired with carefully calibrated AHT.

Every Customer Can Be a Promoter

The ultimate goal of measuring your company’s NPS is that it helps your brand see whether your customers are on your side. Every customer should be a promoter and, in the era of social media, when customers are the promoters, your content marketing team can do a lot less.

When a “promoter” shares your Instagram post to their story, you don’t just reach your existing audience. You also reach all of your promoter-level customers’ friends. Remember, these aren’t formal influencers, just people who actually use and like your brand, and that’s even more powerful.

NPS surveys are just one tool among many for businesses that want to take their services to the next level. However, when you view this tool in isolation, outside of the other tools at your company’s disposal, you don’t do it justice. By combining the best of the NPS survey format with everything you’ve learned about content marketing over the years, though, you make that survey a place where information is exchanged and relationships are built.

These surveys are more than a measurement — they’re part of a continuous value loop. It’s time for more businesses to treat them that way and reap the rewards.

The post NPS Content Marketing: Drawing Connections for Growth appeared first on RELEVANCE.

So which is it?

The reality of the situation is that content is still critical to the success of your business. This is especially true when it comes to customer retention, but you can't publish just any content. No, your business needs to be providing top-quality content that adds value to your base product or service and speaks personally to your clients. Achieving this drives customer connections that last. Here are some thoughts on how to make that happen.

Effective Content Marketing to Customers Must Emphasize Re-Engagement

We are all customers who consistently need to be reengaged. Think about it. We've purchased all kinds of products in the past only to largely ignore subsequent emails attempting to sell us something else. This is an all-too-common response.

If you push too hard, especially by sending too many emails, you’re going to turn customers off. This may lead them to unsubscribe from your messages and disengage permanently. This is why it’s important to use your content marketing skills to bring them back into the inner circle of your brand.

When using content marketing to customers for encouraging re-engagement, there are several steps you should take.

First, take the time to understand the different groups of disengaged readers that you’re working with. You can do this by using past buying behavior as well as by encouraging current subscribers to refine their preferences. The latter technique requires getting consumers to open a message. However, many are actually eager to provide a little more insight if it means receiving better deals or more valuable information.

Another valuable tool you can use to drive customer re-engagement is email personalization. As mentioned above, you should be segmenting your inactive customers in order to better understand what’s happening at an audience level. With that information, along with some simple formatting and automation tricks, you can send customers personalized recommendations. You can also ensure they’re receiving relevant content and, of course, make use of basic biographical details such as their name and birthdate. Even though customers know these things can be automated, this kind of attention to detail still matters.

Maximize Measurements of Your Content Marketing

You can churn out all the content you want in an attempt to draw customers in and keep them loyal. However, if you’re not successfully measuring those efforts, it’s all for naught.

So how can you tell if your content marketing program is working? There are a number of different approaches, some of which can muddy the waters. This is why some experts recommend choosing a “north star metric” — one statistic you focus on. This metric will act as your guide when attempting to interpret your overall strategy.

To determine which metric to focus on when interpreting your content marketing program’s impact on customer retention, you’ll want to consider a number of factors. First, look into the standards commonly used in your industry. For example, when mobile games want to measure retention, they typically focus on “N Day” values. However, that’s not a particularly valuable tool for most businesses.

Instead of using simple “N Day” retention values for your business, one way you might better measure customer retention is by breaking your timeline down into three groups: short-, medium-, and long-term customers. Your goal is to turn as many customers as possible into long-term customers. That being said, some long-term customers are more valuable than others.

Do you know which customer groups have the greatest lifetime value? What percentage of customers do you need to retain over each period in order to see profit growth? Once you define those factors clearly, you’ll be well-positioned to measure your program of content marketing to customers.

When Marketing Online, "Think Beyond The Page"

Content marketing originally focused on written information and, in many cases, still does. For this reason, it can be difficult for marketing teams to think beyond that format when devising their campaigns. That can pose a serious problem, both for customer retention and when pursuing new customers. The underlying reason is that written content has lost some of its power these days. In its place, marketing teams are devising video messaging, including video specifically for email marketing.

Given how labor-intensive video can be, what are the advantages of this modality?

Ongoing research shows that video increases click-through and conversion rates and can increase visibility on search engines. You’ve probably seen this happen in your own searches. Having entered a set of terms, the first few results that pop up now are often videos related to the topic. So why not get your videos into those leading slots? Though not the same as earning the zero position in search, it's still a powerful position to occupy. In fact, it may even be more powerful as it requires a click-through.

Winning the Retention Race

It’s easy to view content marketing as a key tool for attracting new customers. It’s true that many customers will look for helpful information on your site, such as blog posts or videos, when making the decision to buy. That being said, single purchases aren’t especially profitable; it costs a lot more to onboard a new customer than to drive more sales from an existing customer. That’s why it’s important to put your current customers at the heart of your strategy.

At the end of the day, customer retention is another way of talking about brand loyalty. Brand loyalty is an emotional connection, at least as much as it is a practical or logical one. Make use of that fact. Build emotional triggers into your content as a reminder that your brand isn’t just a bunch of products and computers, but real people who are committed to meeting customers’ needs, and find ways to create content that is shareable, even if that means it’s slightly less informative in the traditional sense. This is how you get all eyes on your content.

All brands are fighting to maximize the number of high-value customers on their client lists. However, it's the companies that find a way to make more out of their marketing campaigns that are going to succeed. What will you create to define your brand?

The post Content Marketing to Customers Provides the Key to Improving Retention appeared first on RELEVANCE.

This can be a risky move because speed and quality aren’t always compatible with each other. Luckily, with the right content management tools and resources, there is a way to bridge the gap that usually exists between quality and quantity.

Tips for Developing a Healthy Content Production Strategy

Scalability

Scalability is consistently a problem for businesses, even with access to new tools that support growth. That’s because there’s a gap between technical growth and human capacity, and human capacity is what drives dynamic content production.

How, then, can businesses tackle this challenge?

The first step is to develop a content strategy that helps you and your marketing team understand your current reach and how much work needs to be done in order to expand that reach.

Additionally, it’s helpful to be strategic about what new content your business adds by planning content clusters, outlining a clear content development process, and – critically – ensuring you have enough staff to develop that new content type.

Creator Collaboration

When attempting to significantly scale up your company’s content library, keep everyone in constant communication in order to avoid duplicating tasks and to ensure messaging remains consistent. This is one of the strengths of today’s content management platforms: they support collaborative workflows and communication so that creators can streamline the development process.

Supporting collaboration between content creators also provides a sense of community among team members, making managing content more efficient. This is more important than ever because more content creation is happening remotely. Creating a community of developers allows the team to learn each other’s strengths and internally delegate tasks and brainstorm composable content based on those understandings, rather than relying exclusively on a content manager to keep content workflows moving smoothly. Knowing each other makes a big difference in how people work together and the quality of the digital experience they produce.

Style Diversity

In today’s highly visual, multimedia environment, a comprehensive digital content strategy is incomplete without the inclusion of non-written content, particularly video. Even more than written content, however, video requires much greater collaboration to execute successfully.

There are visuals -- film and stills, audio, and documents containing scripts -- that need to be integrated into the final product, and different team members contribute to the process. Those distinct parts demand a strong content management system. The same goes for the development of infographics, podcasts, and even presentations.

All of these types of materials are referred to in the industry as unstructured data. Today, as much as 90% of all business content falls under the heading of unstructured data. It’s what clients view on business websites, in advertisements, and on blog posts. This is powerful because of the ways it combines promotion with added value, improving the user experience. It comes as no surprise, then, that businesses produce so much of it, or that they lean so hard on the platforms that let them organize it.

Ensuring Continuity in Content Production

Businesses used to rely more heavily on onsite data management, rather than cloud platforms. One of the biggest challenges they faced with this was data loss and inconsistency. That’s because, while they had shared access to documents, those documents weren't updated in real time. Instead, they relied on continuous reconciliation. As such, there would often be multiple iterations of documents in rotation or team members would make updates to the wrong document. Document management was a constant problem, and a barrier to quality content production.

Today’s cloud-based content management software successfully resolve the problem of multiple, conflicting files, allowing team members to feel confident that they’re working with the right information. This is a particular digital asset with the rise of remote work because, even if team members could easily access in-house server setups using a virtual desktop or other program, reconciliation is that much more challenging when not working with teammates in person.

Prioritizing Insights

One of the hardest things about ramping up your business’s content production is determining whether or not that increase is having the intended effects. After all, objective quality – content that’s free of errors and, at least on its face, compelling – doesn’t always deliver results. That’s why every business’s content marketing strategy must include an analytics feature.

There are a variety of ways to implement an analytics strategy for your business’s needs.

First, there are analytics tools that can be built into your content management software. These programs help consolidate all relevant information in one place. Additionally, it also makes it easier for team members to parse the effectiveness of specific pieces of content, as well as see the big picture. There are also a wide variety of separate social media analytics tools that can help track post performance and even monitor competitor content.

Circling back to the beginning. Analytics support your original content strategy by helping you select high-performing content. This will aid in repurposing and retargeting pieces that aren’t hitting their mark. This is what makes content management such a powerful process at its core: it addresses every step of the process. And, when teams look at the big picture, they’re able to shore up the weak points. This will help drive greater overall production, and encourage working together to meet goals.

Creating huge amounts of content may seem like a last ditch strategy; or a flood the streets approach to reaching your target. However, since content overruns today’s online world, it’s actually a necessary approach. Your content needs to cut through the noise, but luckily, you have the tools to do it.

The post Quality Content Production Calls For Better Content Management appeared first on RELEVANCE.

If it’s time to lower your cost of marketing on Instagram, the following strategies can help.

1. Optimize your video production costs to increase PPC spend

Spending less money on creating videos means you can spend more money on PPC ads. PPC ads on Instagram are a must – the ROI is great and conversion rates are high. According to statistics published by Promo.com, Instagram converts at 3.1%. The only social media platform that beats Instagram on conversion rates is Facebook, which converts at 4.7%.

There are two main ways to lower video production costs

You can lower your video costs without sacrificing quality. The first step is to leverage systems designed to make video production cheaper. For example, online video creation tools make it possible to create videos quickly by using pre-made templates. You’ll pay a low monthly fee for most of these tools.

The second step is to hire someone to upload your videos. Hire someone competent who can get in the groove and work quickly. Whether you pay hourly or a flat rate per video upload is up to you. However, you don’t need to pay a big salary for this task. 

The key to getting good people to perform cheap work is to make sure the work remains side work and doesn’t turn into a full-time job. You can’t expect anyone to perform a full day’s worth of cheap work, but some freelancers don’t mind an hour or two of low-paying work when they’re trying to supplement their income. 

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2. Target sub-niche markets

It’s no secret that targeting major markets costs more. Are there any sub-niches you can market to? You can reduce the amount of money you spend on Instagram PPC ads by targeting multiple narrow markets. 

For example, say you sell washable, soft, comfortable wool socks. Split your PPC ads into several sub-niches like people who live in cold climates (like Alaska) and people who want warm socks for winter. Go out on a limb and start educating people who need cool socks for summer. Since wool regulates body temperature, thin wool socks are actually great for keeping feet cool, but many people don’t know this fun fact. 

The more micro-niches you can create within your market, the more variety of ads you can create in less competitive sub-markets.

3. Know how data is collected and analyzed

The data you analyze informs your financial decisions. Are you absolutely certain that your statistical data is accurate? If your data is skewed, exaggerated, or otherwise misinterpreted by automatic programs, some of your Instagram marketing costs could be unsupported.

Computer programs can skew data

Say you look at data that says one of your sponsored Instagram posts achieved a whopping 10% conversion rate. A high conversion rate will influence your decision to:

• Continue running the ad
• Run additional ads similar to the original
• Increase your bid amount
• Run the same ad on other social media platforms

What would you do if you found out the program calculated your conversion rate by including engagement as a “conversion?” If you define “conversion” only as a sale, lead, or website visit, then your true conversion rate is much lower than 10%. 

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Crunch raw data to verify data accuracy

Do you know for certain that your Instagram data is being accurately analyzed? Unfortunately, numbers can lie. According to a Forrester report, 37% of marketers waste marketing spend due to poor data quality. Sometimes data quality is compromised by human misinterpretation or incomplete data collection, but sometimes it’s the analytics software.

In your analytics program, check out the raw data and manually crunch some numbers to verify the system’s analysis. If you don’t reach the same conclusions seen in graphs and charts, you could be dealing with a flawed analytics program.

Remember to integrate content marketing with PPC ads

You can indirectly lower your cost of Instagram marketing by integrating content marketing into your plan. Content marketing will help you gain rank in the search engines and generate organic traffic you don’t have to pay for. Both PPC ads and content marketing contribute to a well-rounded marketing plan.

The post 3 Strategies for Low Cost Marketing on Instagram appeared first on RELEVANCE.

In this guide, we’ll explore the anatomy of a domain name, why your domain name is important, vital tips to choosing the right domain name for your brand, and of course, how to register a domain name. 

The Anatomy of a Domain Name

First, it’s helpful to understand the terminology surrounding domain names. The domain name itself is a segment of a URL containing the name of the site and the top-level domain (TLD), or domain extension, which is the “.com”, “.org”, or similar component. For example, “relevance.com” is the domain name. 

You may also need to consider the protocol, the “https://” at the beginning of the URL; you’ll get an “S” if you have SSL encryption enabled. 

The subdomain, if applicable, is a segment of the URL before the domain—like “subdomain.relevance.com.” Everything after the TLD, like “/blog/blogpost1,” is the path of the URL. 

You won’t need to register subdomains, paths, or anything other than your domain name; you can create and customize these at your leisure. 

Why Your Domain Name Is Important

Why does it matter what your domain name is?

• Traffic. If you have a memorable or concise domain name, it could generate traffic on its own. For example, the Cars.com domain was once valued at $872 million, due in part to its ability to collect traffic from people typing it in without forethought. 
• Marketing. Some domains are easier to market than others; shorter, catchier domain names don’t require much explanation, and are better suited for advertising. 
• Memorability. Memorable domains are preferable to forgettable ones, for obvious reasons. If your domain is hard to spell, unoriginal, or convoluted, people will forget about it, rendering it practically useless. 
• Search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is a strategy designed to help your site rank higher in search engines for queries relevant to your brand. Choosing a domain that fits with your keyword strategy can help you rank higher for the right terms. 
• Competition. Your domain strategy can help you differentiate yourself from your competitors, or in some cases, take advantage of your competitors’ existing authority. 

Tips for Choosing the Best Domain Name

There are a few tips you’ll need to keep in mind when choosing your domain: 

• Prioritize .com. The gold standard for URLs is .com because it’s simple and memorable. Aim for it whenever you can. Only choose a .net, .tv, or other extension if necessary. 
• Make it brandable. Overall, brand names do better than long, descriptive domains. Something like “Cyclotek.com” gives you more potential than, say, “WeSellUsedBicycles.com.” It’s also more concise, which brings us to our next point. 
• Keep it short. Shorter domains are always more valuable, all other factors being equal. They take less time to write and type. They’re easier to remember. They also have more visibility overall. If your domain is several words long, try to find a way to shorten it. 
• Keep it predictable. Your domain should, for the most part, be straightforward and predictable. Don’t pull tricks like substituting a “1” for an “I” or try to come up with a cute misspelling. People will have a hard time remembering it. 
• Avoid high-cost “perfect” domains. You may have a perfect domain in mind, but good domains tend to be taken, and they tend to be expensive. Know where to draw the line. 

How to Register a Domain Name

Once you have an idea for a domain name, there are a few steps you’ll need to follow: 

• Find a domain registrar. First, you’ll need to find a domain registrar that you trust (and preferably, one that’s easy to use). 
• Search for available names. Most registrar websites work similarly. You’ll need to conduct a search for your desired domain to see if it’s available, and possibly look for alternatives. 
• Make the purchase. When you have a firm selection, make the purchase, and provide a few personal details to register the domain to your name.  
• Point the domain. Next, you’ll need to set the domain to point at your current website; this should be easy to do through the domain registrar. 
• Set up auto-renew or a reminder. Domains expire after a period of time, so set yours to auto-renew, or set a reminder so you don’t forget about it. 

A good domain name will instantly imbue your website with more power, authority, and memorability. From there, it’s up to you to make it worth the investment. Support your domain name with onsite SEO, strong marketing, and consistent branding, and you’ll easily grow to new heights. 

The post How to Choose a Domain for Your Website appeared first on RELEVANCE.

Video marketing is the future of content marketing and can exponentially increase your conversion rates. Each day you postpone publishing your videos is a day of lost income for your business. 

While it’s true that a professional videographer will produce clean, high-quality footage and turn over the end product quickly, if you don’t have a budget for video marketing, don’t let that stop you.

Here are 6 reasons to launch your video marketing campaign, ready or not:

1. You can hire a videography student for less money

Hiring a videographer to edit your marketing materials doesn’t have to be expensive. You don’t need to hunt down the people who edit Disney films. If you’re not a trained videographer, anyone you find with formal training will have the skills necessary to help you create a good production. If you’re on a tight budget, the key is to find a videography student rather than a studio professional.

Hiring a videography student doesn’t mean you can get away with paying them five dollars an hour. Their time is worth more than bargain rates and smart videographers will reject your proposal if you try to talk down their rates. 

When negotiating a project price, make it clear that you’re not looking for a free work and you’re simply trying to avoid paying the $200 per hour that a seasoned, experienced professional would charge. However, be prepared to pay a decent wage even to a student.

2. You’ll generate more leads

Your marketing videos will generate leads. If you sit on your video marketing campaign and refuse to launch until everything is perfect, you’ll be missing out on leads.

Consider that video marketing generates 66% more qualified leads each year over other methods. Also, 93% of marketers report having obtained at least one new customer from a video posted to social media. Video marketing is a highly effective lead generating method.

3. Videos don’t have to be perfect to be effective

As long as your video quality is decent and your audio is strong, your videos have the potential to be effective. Of course, their efficacy depends on the content, but you don’t need perfection to make that happen. Every business begins somewhere and sometimes that means starting before you have a dedicated studio with your kids running around in the background.

4. You don’t need expensive equipment to be effective

Take your time gathering the right equipment. You don’t need to start with the most expensive audio and video equipment. There are several decent lavalier microphones that cost about $25 that will provide better audio than your phone or laptop. You can also find a smartphone tripod for less than $30 and use your smartphone to film. Cheap equipment will carry you a long way until you can afford to buy top-of-the-line tools.

5. Video marketing isn’t difficult

While video editing can be a complex task, video marketing doesn’t have to be difficult. With a little self-education from the right source, you can learn everything you need to know about getting started.

For instance, HubSpot published a thorough guide to video marketing that includes instructional videos, video templates, and tips for launching an effective video marketing strategy. The guide discusses 12 different types of marketing videos and presents a detailed list of questions to answer to nail each video. Their guide also covers how to structure the content to capture and retain attention along with technical tips for getting the most out of your phone or camera.

6. You can hire someone to edit your footage later

If you’re ready to film today but don’t know how you’re going to get the footage edited, don’t wait. Start filming and get as much content as you can. You can hire a video editor later on.

Get inspired to start video marketing today

Don’t wait any longer. If you’re inspired to create content, do the best you can and get it out into the world. The sooner you start, the faster your production quality will improve.

The post 6 Reasons to Start Video Marketing Before You’re Ready appeared first on RELEVANCE.

White label SEO is a type of business service similar to outsourcing, but under the terms of white label SEO, content marketing firms are able to rebrand an SEO reseller’s services as their own and pass it on to clients. Sure, you might be able to develop these services in-house, but reseller options are often a better option. Here’s what you stand to gain by opting for a white label SEO partnership.

Scaling At Speed

One of the major challenges of the SEO industry is that most of the work is still manual. You need real people to write content, select sources, and ensure the overall quality of the work, and for small content marketing firms, that can be a real problem. Existing staff may not be trained in current SEO guidelines and it takes time to hire and train new staff.

In comparison to trying to develop in-house services, reseller SEO programs offer companies a high profit margin to partners, and allow content firms to scale up rapidly. In today’s ecommerce environment, there aren’t many companies that want content without the marketing power of SEO behind it, so you need to be able to offer these services if you’re going to stay competitive.

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A Matter Of Quality

In addition to supporting businesses that want to scale up their offerings, working with a reseller SEO program to offer white label SEO is a key step because it ensures the overall quality of their offerings. Quality – and the resulting increase in rankings and business – are at the heart of offering SEO services to clients. Additionally, existing reseller SEO programs have connections with top publications, which means that quality content is being paired with relevant, engaging sites that will enhance your clients’ domain authority and put them in the public eye.

A Changing Industry

There was a time when companies rarely offered white label SEO services because the basic rules undergirding SEO were straightforward and easy for anyone to apply. That was back in the days when SEO was largely about keywords. Unfortunately, those days are long over and companies whose sites still boast pages using these strategies could be facing penalties under current search engine guidelines. Experienced SEO resellers, however, can evaluate your clients’ sites to ensure they’re not experiencing keyword cannibalization.

This is all just part of managing expired content, which is an ongoing process since SEO rules are constantly changing. It’s just not realistic for non-specialists to keep up with these algorithm modifications, but by partnering with a reseller, you can still give your clients the benefit of up to the minute knowledge.

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They Make It, You Bought It

Any time a company wants or needs to provide a new service, they need to make a substantial investment in the development of that product – but why would you do that if you could simply buy the product and rebrand it as your own? While this kind of relabeling may not be common, or even fair game in other industries, especially those selling material goods, it’s a normal and valuable strategy in the content marketing sector. To retool a common phase, they make it, you bought it.

Stop investing your time and money in developing a new specialty skill when there are better ways. An SEO reseller can give your company the boost it needs to serve your clients, increase your profits, and round out your overall offerings with complete services carrying your company’s name and guarantee.

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6 Tips for Greater Content Marketing Productivity

It’s easy for productivity to feel like an elusive challenge that’s outside of your grasp. However, it doesn’t have to be something you constantly swing and miss on. Whether your content strategy is small and isolated, or you’re charged with executing a massive campaign that pumps out thousands of words per day, there are opportunities to establish greater efficiency and output.

1. Set Strategic Goals

Saying you want to be more productive is like saying you want your business to be successful. What does this mean? Productivity, like success, is a pretty generic word. It means different things to different people. If you charge your content marketing team with being more productive, each individual will have a different idea of what you’re hoping to accomplish.

Before doing anything else, set some strategic goals that clearly articulate what you’re hoping to accomplish. Use specific numbers, timeframes, and key performance indicators. In doing so, you’ll provide some flesh to the productivity framework.

Examples of specific content marketing goals include: publishing one 1,500-word blog post per day; reaching out to 15 different bloggers about guest blogging opportunities each week; generating visual content for at least two Instagram posts per day; or collecting at least 100 email leads per week via targeted landing pages. 

2. Limit Time-Wasters 

Within most content marketing departments, there are three or four time-wasters that stunt productivity and hold businesses back from accomplishing core objectives. Examples include:

• Slow and inefficient technology that frequently shuts down, stops working, or requires updating.
• Spending too much time on the fun aspects of marketing – like designing graphics – and not enough time on the underlying strategy and data analysis.
• Expecting employees to multi-task, as opposed to doing one thing at a time.
• Holding excessive meetings and segmenting daily schedules without leaving adequate time blocks to accomplish key tasks.

It’s up to you to identify your biggest time-wasters so you can correct them and manage your time with greater purpose and intentionality. Content marketing is highly dependent on focus and attention to detail. Help your content writers by eliminating the distractions that hold them back (and remember that it’s different for every person). 

3. Supply the Right Tools

In content marketing, maximum productivity is almost always directly correlated with having the right technology stack in place. If you give your team the right tools, they’ll save time and find their duties more enjoyable and fulfilling. Examples of productivity-boosting content marketing tools include BuzzSumo, Evernote, Kred, Trello, Canva, SEMRush, and MailChimp.

In addition to supplying the right tools, be sure to train employees on how to use them. Proper training goes a long way toward promoting efficiency and reducing user errors.

4. Enhance Communication

Communication will make or break content marketing productivity within your business. If you don’t prioritize it, you can’t expect to be efficient in this area. And, speaking of using the right tools, the right telecom/phone solution will help streamline communication and jumpstart your productivity. (This especially important when you have contractors and employees spread out across multiple locations.) Grasshopper PBX is one to consider. It allows your employees to integrate their business phone line with their personal device.

“By linking professional phone service to the mobile device, Grasshopper PBX can allow entrepreneurs to remain both organized and in communication wherever they may happen to be,” Blippr mentions.

It’s also helpful to have a chat/project management solution to avoid the distractions of email and allow every team member to be on the same page at all times. Slack is one of the best options.

5. Improve Compatibility

In terms of your marketing tools, compatibility is vitally important. Too much fragmentation between tools will kill efficiency; you’ll be wasting time in transitioning from one solution to the next. Better yet, it’s preferred if you can find versatile tools that handle everything within the same platform.

6. Track and Measure Results

With the right goals in place, you can track and measure progress to see how you’re doing in pursuit of accomplishing these productivity objectives. The more quantitative you can make these measurements, the better.

Every content strategy will have its own set of objectives, but keep an eye on key performance indicators like unique page visits, downloads, average time on page, inbound links, shares, comments, cost-per-click, and followers/subscribers.

Stop Settling for Average

Average, mediocre, and stagnant aren’t words that should describe your marketing department. In order to be successful, you must learn how to accelerate your productivity and do more with less. However, it’s also worth noting that productivity, in and of itself, won’t lead to success. There must be a compelling strategy to push things forward.

The post 6 Ways Businesses Can Accelerate Content Marketing Productivity appeared first on RELEVANCE.