Content Marketing For Non-Sexy Products

December 13, 2013 Blogging Guide

Many of you bloggers and SEO’s out there feel that other industries have it so much easier with sexy topics that are always getting picked up. Yes, getting entertainment, travel or charity articles picked up is quite easy.  The content is inherently very interesting. There are always people seeking celebrity gossip, travel stories and images to make them wish they were there or bloggers looking for a feel good charity story.

Content Marketing

Malcolm Gladwell made ketchup interesting in a story. That might be a bad example because he is one gifted Canuck. But you can too! We believe any brand no matter what industry, if marketed properly, can gain a lot of attention and create natural links back to your website, even if you write about boats, tractors or refrigerators. There is always a story to be told for every product and brand.

Remember people are interested in stories. They are what people remember. When thinking of a story for your brand it has to be authentic or it simply will not work. Many experts believe 2014 is when content marketing goes mainstream. You have a month to figure it all become an expert before your competition does.

Public Relations in 2014

Marketing on the web is still all about getting brand impressions and driving links to your website. But these links are irreverent if they are on poor website such as article directories. It is shocking the amount of top SEO’s out there who still practice this type of link building. You need links on good website’s, which we like to determine by good domain and page authority. We are against any linking that is unnatural as Google imposes still ranking penalties on sites that do not meet their best practices so stay away from paying for links.

So how do you tell if you are doing content marketing correctly? It’s easy. People start linking to your website from their blogs because it enhances their story (like I did above) and provides their reader a better reading experience.

Social proof is a great way of telling how well you are doing. This is something you cannot (or should not fake either). Going out and buying fake Twitter or Facebook followers is not social proof. However, it is okay if you use the Twitter or Facebook advertising service because then people are trying to follow you to learn more and hear what you have to say.

How would anyone know if your social shares are fake or not? This is pretty easy to tell because of engagement. If you have 10,000 followers but no one is interacting with your content, than chances are they are fake – or you need to retarget your acquisitions.

I Have A Story To Tell

So you have a story to tell but no one is listening. You are finding it hard to get your blogs posted, or to get people linking to your blogs. You need to start doing some blogger outreach. To do this you need to identify industry insiders and reach out with them this content.

“Hey, I have something you may be interested in.”

Or interact with them on their content. Be sure to not leave fluffy comments as nice post. Make sure you add value by evolving an idea further, provide critical thinking or link to other resources (not your own – don’t be shameless).

It may take a while to get noticed but once you they may contribute to a piece of content you are writing, link to some of your resources, or share your content and help you gain exposure. Again, interest in the industry insiders is something that is hard to fake, people have the ability to easily tell if someone has an agenda.

I Need A Story To Tell

Boat and trailer manufactures and resellers listen up! There are a few angles you can go after. We recommend that you story is new or charitable.

You can hit the new story a few different ways. If you have a new product, technology, material or manufacturing process that you are really excited about is always a good story, because that is something that you can get potential consumer excited about too. It can mean an award you just won for your outstanding product or customer service. But new can also mean taking boring, or weird data from a scientific report and making them interesting.

Everyone likes a good heartfelt charitable story, especially if the resonates with you personally. It is usually the case that when we pick a charity to back it is because we have a connection with the cause.

Let people know your story, give your brand some personality, make it interesting and let the right people know, good things will happen.