Yup it’s that time of year again. Technology for Marketing & Advertising 2014 was just last week here in London and I moseyed on down to find out what all the buzz is about for this year.
I picked up on 3 main themes:
1. SEO is changing. Focus on quality.
Not the most revolutionary of statements I’ll grant you. But super important none the less.
Most of us know Google’s Penguin & Panda updates have put the focus on quality content. Gone are the days when all a site needed was plenty of keywords and a gazillion back links.
The search engine king has shifted its focus to try and better serve its users intent. It is using context and search history to better predict what we’re looking for – and give it to us.
Try thinking about the typical questions your users ask – and then supply a great piece of content marketing that answers them.
2. The year of the domain expert
There’s two ways you can harness the power of domain expertise.
Numero uno: the solutions you use.
If you have a particular problem to solve – pick the solution that promises to solve that particular issue. And only that particular issue.
For example, you want to use video in your marketing.
You could self host. But. Is there any point in worrying about encoding, about streaming protocols, about global CDNs and multi device compatibility? It takes your time away from what you’re good at.
You want people who live and breathe your problem. They think about how to solve that problem in the quickest and easiest ways possible. It’s what keeps them up and night, it’s what drives them through the day. They’ve seen every which way of doing things, they’ve got their fingers on the pulse of that industry and they know just the thing you’re looking for.
Domain experts. They’re awesome. Use ‘em.
Which brings me to point two. Because domain experts are so awesome…
Get yourself recognised as one.
Establish yourself as an authority in your niche and share your expertise. The more valuable your advice the more it will get shared and you’ll have a virtuous cycle of those you helped, sharing your content, thereby helping you reach new potential customers. Win win. Plus, Google will like it (remember point 1 – focus on quality content).
Whatever your industry, there’s an audience waiting who are thirsty for the latest news. Be it…
Body Building a la the mighty Muscle & Strength
Baseball Bats (Justbats.com)
or
Fixing a leaky faucet (Black & Decker)
3. Get personal
Content marketing is all about making a connection with your prospects/users. And the only way to do that is to understand who they are and make sure they know that you understand them.
Step 1. Build audience personas (a “how-to” on building personas could take an entire blog post in and of itself so instead I’ll just refer you to this fantastic ready-made one from Moz)
Get to know your audience. What are their needs? Their goals? Their fears? Once you know that you can start to…
Step 2. Provide the content that fits those personas
And this is where video marketing can be a massive win. You can use it to talk directly to your audience – in a hugely personal way.
Take one audience persona, add a healthy splash of targeted content, mix in your own face and voice and you’ve got a recipe for marketing success.
So, that’s my key takeaways from this year’s TFMA. But I’m sure there are thousands more. I’d love to hear if any of you went along this year and what you learned. Share in the comments below…
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