Stories Are Good For Business
Small business owners or nonprofit directors – you ready to become your own media?
With today’s digital tools, every company and nonprofit, as well as government entity, and institution, can be a media company.
Any CEO or marketing/development director can now create and share useful information through a company website, a blog, and social media channels to attract and engage with current and potential customers and donors – without going through the filter of traditional news outlets like newspapers, magazines, and TV news shows.
No matter if you’re a nail salon seeking new customers or a homeless shelter in need of new supporters, or a police department wanting help in solving a crime, you have the opportunity to operate like broadcasters and create relevant content that drives either revenue, advocacy and/or information.
The future of marketing is all about creating online content, not buying media from traditional third-party mediums, such as print, radio and TV.
For many organizations, the main challenge in creating their own media is the ability to create. Too often, their enthusiasm and support are derailed when the resources and commitment required to produce regular content just aren’t there.
So here are six strategies to get you started in digital marketing and keep you focused on succeeding in it:
- Create compelling content – This is where it all starts. The subjects you write about on your website and social media posts have to be entertaining, enlightening, intriguing and, most importantly, useful to your customers and supporters. Be passionate about your services and products; your readers/viewers will appreciate it.
- Get involved with social media – Create accounts on several platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram. As an experiment, spend 10-15 minutes a day for the next four weeks checking on those accounts and seeing what people are saying and figuring a way to engage them. Then, do it – post your best material to catch their attention.
- Walk in the shoes of your customers and donors – Get to know your customers and donors and determine what is important to them. Then pay attention to where they are online. What websites are they visiting? What social networks are they a part of? Your digital marketing efforts need to follow them.
- Understand search engine optimization (SEO) – SEO is the process of getting traffic from “free” or “organic” listings on search engines. It’s a complex subject. But there’s a lot of free and helpful information on it online. Take a webinar and read some blogs. You need to learn how the search engines can work in your favor.
- Develop a content strategy – This is like writing a business plan. You have to be as detailed as possible when it comes to determining your goals. A good starting place is creating a content calendar so you can schedule your blog and social media posts. Decide on how often you will draft new content: daily, weekly or monthly? Then stick to it.
- Follow your industry – Sign up for Google Alerts and track general trends in your field. Writing and posting about the latest news and developments in your industry is a great way to build credibility and increase the chances that potential customers and donors will stumble upon your organization while searching the web.
If you plan accordingly, digital marketing could save you time and money. It won’t happen overnight. But in the long run, it can fuel your operation with new leads on customers and donors.
If interested in storytelling, our CEO Leon Fooksman is offering one-on-one sessions teaching storytelling techniques to advance your organization’s mission. Contact him here: leon@digitalstoryline.com
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