Good content marketing overview [podcast]
I enjoy listening to Copyblogger.com’s podcast — err — ”internet radio show.” It’s called “Internet Marketing for Smart People Radio” which is a twist on the “Dummies” and “Idiot’s Guide” series. For folks who want a good foundation (and justification) for a Content Marketing strategy, check out the podcast here.
- From the pocast notes:
- Is content marketing really worth the effort?
- The 3 steps to earning loyal (and possibly rabid) customers
- The real effects of content marketing on the bottom line
- Why buying your customers is a difficult and dangerous game
- The simple business plan that’s made Copyblogger (and others) cook
If you only have time to listen to a few minutes of the podcast, fast forward to 17:49 and listen to Sonia Simone quickly lay out the marketing framework that Copyblogger Media uses.
Intro to Content Marketing
There are various terms for the strategy: content marketing, inbound marketing, pull vs. push. But it all boils down to the idea of creating content that your prospects will find valuable and promoting that content so that it attracts prospects to your site.
The folks over at HubSpot sum it up nicely:
Inbound Marketing is marketing focused on getting found by customers. In traditional marketing (outbound marketing) companies focus on finding customers. They use techniques that are poorly targeted and that interrupt people. They use cold-calling, print advertising, T.V. advertising, junk mail, spam and trade shows.
Inbound Marketers flip outbound marketing on its head. Instead of interrupting people with television ads, they create videos that potential customers want to see. Instead of buying display ads in print publications, they create their own blog that people subscribe to and look forward to reading. Instead of cold calling, they create useful content and tools so that people call them looking for more information.
Bill Flitter has a nice concise article article on Venture Beat in which he shares a datapoint about the effectiveness of a content marketing strategy used by a wiring and fencing company just outside of Boston:
Simply by starting a blog, which offers tips and advice on how to use fencing products, the company has seen an 850 percent increase in leads.
Is your company ready to test a content marketing strategy?
Eben Pagan’s Guru Blueprint
One of the guys I mentioned in my initial post about MMO is Eben Pagan — who stands out a bit from the other MMO’ers I’ve been studying for two reasons:
- He doesn’t call what he does “Internet Marketing” — he calls it “Information Marketing” (which is more accurate). This still falls squarely within the Making Money Online (MMO) arena.
- His approach is logical and his information is based on sound marketing practices
Starting today, Mr. Pagan is selling a program called “Guru Blueprint” which he is promoting via a set of three free informational videos and PDF worksheets. You can see them here.
This pre-launch strategy is fairly typical of MMO/infomarketing products.
- You name a program with some combination of the words: blueprint, roadmap, ninja, samurai, master, warrior, guru, machine, secrets, mountain, success, mindmap, inner circle, mastermind, control, domination, voodoo, challenge, launch, extreme, fast start, empire, engine, 101, rapid, easy, killer, crash course, manifesto, profit, vault, system, formula, force, snowball, avalanche, tricks, myth, monster, masterplan, revolution, impact–or the latest buzzword “tribe.”
- You create a series of videos that can (usually) only be viewed by subscribers of your mailing list
- In these videos, you give away a taste of the information that will be in your information product
- You set an expectation that the information product (which is most often some sort of online course) will only be available for a limited time
- You pay a 20%-30% sales commission to other MMO gurus (also known as “super affiliates”) to promote your product to their lists. Usually the product sells for between $1000-$2000 (err– $997-$1997), so the sales commissions are significant. Often the guru will throw in a free bonus if you buy using the guru’s link. This bonus can be anything from an iPad (on the big ticket sales) to a special training session or phone call
- You sit back and watch the money roll in. Many of these infoproducts can generate $5-$10MM in gross sales in just a few weeks
It will be interesting to see how these tactics work for Mr. Pagan. I hope he shares some of his results.
P.S. No, the link in this post is not an affiliate link, and I am not being compensated to discuss the Guru Blueprint.
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