Content Marketing

Nearly everyone reads, or at least skims, the personnel moves sections in magazines and email newsletters to see what competitors are up to, what long lost colleagues are doing and to find new prospects. While nearly everyone looks at these news items about new hires, promotions and other staffing news, nearly everyone overlooks that placing company news in these sections not only scores points with the featured staffer but it also creates an opportunity to promote the company and its products and services.

Words people commonly use in everyday life have very different, often twisted, meanings in industry. In the chemical industry, you don’t need cucumbers for pickling. In the laundry industry, you may take the cake from one machine to another but you don’t want to eat the cake. Using these words properly in advertising, Websites, articles and other marketing materials establishes a connection with the target audience and demonstrates you’re a member of that audience. But when it comes to search, these keywords with multiple meanings create other challenges for both paid PPC and organic SEO.

Industrial companies relying on high profile public relations programs for lead generation already understand the power of PR in commanding visibility and driving their sales efforts. But thanks to the Internet, these savvy marketers are enjoying access to ever larger numbers of prospects and generating ever larger numbers of highly qualified sales leads. Their PR has become immortal as online content. And from an epr analysis of Google Analytics referrers, this PR content sends traffic to the company Web site month after month after month – year after year. Here’s how it works.

It isn’t enough to sign onto industrial content marketing platforms such as GlobalSpec, ThomasNet and ChemicalsTechnology and sit back and wait for leads. If these programs are to deliver any results then you need to continually feed them fresh content that’s relevant to the target audience. Here are some examples:

If print magazines, newspapers, and any publisher for that matter – print or online – want to be relevant, their editorial departments need to continuously provide useful information that actually helps their readers. Rather than dumbing down their information, I’d suggest they ramp it up with details and insights and challenge their readers to think, to learn and even to reflect or take action after finishing an article.

Think of your PR program beyond publicity – beyond the media. Think of it as a content development program. It’s a planned, coordinated attack that consistently develops the information your prospects need to feel comfortable buying your products and/or services. Done properly, it’s presented in a style, structure and format that entice journalists to publish the information in their magazines, email newsletters, on their Web sites, blogs, and in other media.

I’m often asked about how to get higher rankings in Google. Some people insist on spending large sums of money with search positioning companies that guarantee top placement fast only to get mixed results. I pay attention to SEO trends but I do not claim to be an SEO specialist. I have developed and fine-tuned a program, however, that has been proven to increase Google rankings. It works because it’s not based on tricking, cheating or staying one step ahead of Google. Instead it’s based on taking full advantage of how Google was designed to work.

Some people insist on spending large sums of money with SEO companies that claim to guarantee top placement fast only to get mixed results. I recommend a system that has already proven to increase Google rankings and doesn’t require any SEO fees. It works because it’s not based on tricking, cheating or staying one step ahead of Google. Instead it’s based on taking full advantage of how Google was designed to work.