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[…]a ton of resources, including exclusive access to free information from Guiseppe’s new book Content Strategy in Technical Communication. Specifically, you’ll learn: Why technical content is essential for the customer journey What types of content consumers are most hungry for What channels you should be using to deliver your content right into the laps of prospective and returning customers Why You Should Care About the Customer Journey It is well established at this point that 70% of consumers cite post-purchase content and support as a key factor in future purchasing decisions. Consumers want to know what their money is funding, they […]
[…]website content? Run a blog? Some combination? Though no one-size-fits-all approach exists to content strategy, the necessity of attracting new customers means all businesses should be thinking about the different channels they’re using to deliver content. For our clients, we introduce this concept by having them think about the following broad channels: Web – Your website, meaning content connected to yourbusinessdomain.com Search – The way search engines index your website content and the way you promote your content Social – Individual social media networks you post content to Email – How you connect with potential, and existing, customers via email […]
[…]the right reasons. Technical communication just focuses on delivering technical content whereas content strategy can focus on any type of content. As Guiseppe, our President and Founder, recently pointed out in a webinar for the Southeastern Michigan chapter of the Society for Technical Communication, however: businesses who aren’t using content strategy best practices might soon find themselves left behind their competition if they don’t pay attention to how they use their technical content in the customer journey. Ways Technical Communication and Content Strategy Overlap Technical communication is a field devoted to delivering technical content, usually in the forms of help […]
[…]strategies for developing and deploying useful, usable content to a wide variety of audiences. Content Strategy in Technical Communication, a collection published with Routledge under the auspices of the ATTW Book Series in Technical and Professional Communication, seeks to provide a window into just such strategies. This book can help you learn content strategy through easy-to-understand examples, best practices, and guidelines. What Does Content Strategy in Technical Communication Contain? Content Strategy in Technical Communication provides a balanced, comprehensive overview of the current state of content strategy within the field of technical communication while showcasing groundbreaking work in the field. Emerging technologies […]
[…]a variety of devices to access it. Because of this, today’s technical writers need a sound content strategy to ensure they can deliver the right documentation to the right people at the right time and in the right format. How You Will Learn Documentation Project Management in The Course This hands-on, interactive course will take you through all the basics of documentation project management in a supportive, low-stress environment. Course members will be introduced to best practices in documentation project management and will have the opportunity to try out their new skills on real-life problems they’re facing over the 6 weeks of […]
[…]online as well. It also aims to give the public more of what they want, which is useful, usable content. While content marketing methods have been continuously developing through the years, and while they serve as a solid foundation for basic advertising and promotion, content marketing issues still plague businesses who try to use these methods. Common Content Marketing Issues Businesses Face In this post and attached infographic, we are going to focus on some of the most common content marketing issues, where and how they can happen, and how to properly avoid them. The most common issue businesses experience […]
[…]effectively market your organization. To help get you started, below are some Twitter marketing strategy tips we’ve used with our clients. Twitter Marketing Strategy Tip #1: Use Appropriate Hashtags It comes as no surprise that one of the most important things to consider when posting on Twitter is the use of hashtags in your posts. Hashtags can help users on Twitter find your posts when searching for a particular hashtag, or help your tweets pop up for others when a particular hashtag is trending. The tricky part is determining which hashtags are best for your small business or non-profit, and […]
[…]of the most important things to develop for your organization is a content strategy. A content strategy template is a single document that contains all the information you need to develop, maintain, and deliver your web-based content for your organization. If you want to learn more about what a content strategy is and how to create one, check out one of our other blog posts: What Should Go Into Your Business’s Content Strategy Template One of the components that we find to be the most helpful within your strategy is a schedule for posting your content. Creating a content calendar […]
[…]Marketing vs Digital Marketing: 3 Things To Consider Situation 3: When You Are Creating Content For a Website or Other “Free” Venue One of the best ways to advertise your organization is by crafting blog posts and downloadable content for potential consumers. Original blog posts can be unique pages on your website that get archived by Google for unique keywords. You can also woo potential customer or donors by creating a short white paper on a topic in which you have expertise. For the price of their name and email address, they can gain access to your white paper and […]
[…]clients at different stages of the writing process. Some need help brainstorming ideas for website content. Some need their content edited or proofread. And some need content written from scratch. Know your limits when it comes to the often time-consuming task of writing website content. And know when it’s worth your time to enlist an expert. If you want to write content yourself, consider starting a peer review circle with some of your colleagues to improve your writing. Check out the following article for some tips on how to get started. How to Start a Peer Review Circle to Improve Your […]
[…]be growing your audience all the time. This is achieved through a combination of posting relevant content, being consistent, and boosting posts on platforms like Facebook. Once you’ve built a following, you can send time-sensitive posts to your existing audience with links back to your website. You should also be doing this regularly, however. If your content only lives in social media, your audience will stay there. You should be linking back to your website in most posts you publish on social media. There are many tools to help you with social media marketing. We like MailChimp. Need more advice […]
[…]letters and resumes Powerpoint and slideshow presentations Speeches Proposals Blog posts Webpage content Brochures and fliers Email campaigns Technical documentation Whitepapers Marketing copy Ebooks How Do You Build a Peer Review Circle? Through networking at your workplace, at conferences, and via professional platforms like LinkedIn, you can find professionals at your level of skill and commitment who are interested in fostering each other’s growth as writers. It is also vital that potential members of your circle are willing to give and receive feedback and to keep submitted materials and feedback on materials confidential. Additionally, members of a peer review circle must […]
[…]Many modern-day consumers won’t buy from a poorly designed website. Follow-up content such as user documentation, troubleshooting, and how-to tutorials often determine whether customers will become repeat customers. Here are some relevant statistics about usability: 70% of people won’t buy from or use a poorly designed website 66% of people make decisions about a brand based on a company’s website You have about 10-20 seconds to hook a new website visitor before they abandon your site 70% of people cite post-purchase content and support as a key factor in future purchasing decisions Usability has long been an essential skill set for for technical communicators, […]
[…]email marketing strategy will help your small business or non-profit grow. A great tool that we at Content Garden utilize for our small business marketing efforts is a tool called MailChimp. What Is Mailchimp? MailChimp is the world’s largest email marketing automation platform and allows its users to find their audience, engage their customers, and build their brand. Basically, setting up your MailChimp can help save you hours in the long run by automating parts of your email marketing campaign. Using Mailchimp for a Small Business or Non-Profit There are various ways that Mailchimp can be used for your email marketing. […]
[…]can be restricted). Additionally, Hootsuite makes it possible for organizations to easily find content to re-post. Organizations can set up search streams to isolate content relevant to their organization. Finally, organizations can use Hootsuite to set up analytics on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram that can help them discover how users on those sites are interacting with their posts, and can generate reports that illustrate those trends. Learn How to Use Hootsuite the Right Way Like any tool, however, Hootsuite has a bit of a learning curve. They provide a lot of excellent resources for learning the ins and outs of […]
[…]Not Implementing Alt tags for images. 7. Not Reviewing Analytic Reports. 8. Inconsistent Content Publishing and Promotion. 9. Unproductive Outreach Strategy. 10. Lack of Local SEO. To know what other SEO mistakes to avoid check out the infographic below and you can even print this infographic or download a free PDF and use it as a reference when optimizing your website. Take a look! Need Help With SEO? This is a guest blog post by Sudhir Bhushan. Sudhir is a Tech & Social enthusiast. He is also a Web Entrepreneur by Profession and loves to write about the latest trends […]
[…]Media Marketing Game Social media is an oft-misunderstood element of a small business marketing strategy. You may find yourself posting all the time and getting no response. Or you may be getting lots of responses and aren’t sure how to proceed to the next step of connecting with leads. At minimum, your social media strategy should include regular updates that are relevant to your customers, coupons and specials targeted at specific types of consumers, and a plan for following up personally with every person who likes or interacts with your social media profiles. You should be on Facebook for sure and […]
[…]new full-time job, but may able to contribute to the organization financially). Regardless of your strategy, your ultimate goal is to deepen the relationship between your supporters and your organization. Non-Profit Email Marketing Tip #3: Test Your Message What do donors want to hear? What do volunteers want to hear? What do supporters want to hear? The only way you’ll know what works and what does not work is by testing out your messages. For example, if your staff disagrees about the “call to action” button in your email, you could take advantage of an A/B testing feature in a […]
[…]or donor engagement, you need to strategically employ calls to action in your website design and content. What Are Calls to Action? A call to action is a directive that you want website visitors to complete. CTAs should be simple, understandable, and easy for website visitors to execute. Depending on your goals for your website, you may choose to employ a variety of CTAs, including: Subscribe [to our listserv, newsletter, blog] Download [our app, our free toolkit] Find Us [on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram] Contact Us [via email, phone] What Are Strategic Calls to Action? At first glance, website CTAs may […]
[…]offering a webinar for the Society for Technical Communication on January 24th, 2017 entitled: Is Content Strategy the Future of Work in Technical Communication? What You’ll Learn About Content Strategy and Technical Communication Using data from his own research into content strategy work in the academic, private, and non-profit sectors, in addition to research amassed from authoritative academic and industry sources, Guiseppe will lay out a roadmap for how technical communicators can contribute to their organizations’ content strategies. This roadmap will include: opportunities and limitations of technical content in an organization’s lifecycle how emerging technologies and content systems are changing the […]
[…]for your website. What Is a Digital Marketing Strategy Template? Digital marketing is a subset of content strategy and is focused on developing marketing content for common online channels, such as: Social media: Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Webpages: Including about pages, product pages, homepages, and landing pages. Blog posts: Timely posts on topics that are relevant to your intended audience. Email newsletters: Special offers, fundraising reminders, and other VIP content you send to existing customers or donors. A digital marketing strategy template is a single document that helps you run all of your digital marketing efforts. What Should a Digital Marketing Strategy […]
[…]Getto, the President and Founder of Content Garden, was recently invited to present a keynote on content strategy and technical communication for the Washington, DC meeting of TC Camp, a technical communication unconference. In this post, he reflects on some of the key takeaways from his presentation. Guiseppe: My presentation was somewhat provocatively titled: Content Strategy: The Future of Technical Communication? In it, I lay out emerging trends that small business owners, non-profit managers, and technical writers should pay attention to in the years to come regarding how they develop, publish, and share online content. What Is Content Strategy? I typically define content […]
[…]should check out this handy-dandy post by the guy who coined the term, Joe Pulizzi, founder of the Content Marketing Institute. As Joe explains it: Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action. And if you need even more info, check out our guide to the entire content marketing process: The Complete Guide to Content Marketing for Small Business What Should Go Into Your Content Marketing Plan When you’re ready to create your content marketing plan, […]
[…]online course for the Society for Technical Communication starting September 26th, 2017 entitled Content Strategy: Developing an Effective Workflow. Why You Should Learn About Content Strategy Content strategy is becoming one of the most important communication-related skill sets across many industries. Organizations of all shapes and sizes are discovering they need to plan for, publish, curate, and assess a variety of different types of content for their target audiences. This includes: Websites Blogs Social media Paid online advertising Internal documentation Customer support documentation Developing a consistent, effective, versatile plan for managing all your content is now a must, regardless of what […]
[…]sales opportunities. Need Help With SEO? This is a guest post by Brad Shorr, Director of Content Strategy at Straight North, one of the leading Internet marketing companies in Chicago that offers SEO, PPC and web design services. With more than 25 years of sales and marketing experience, Brad has been featured in leading online publications including Smashing Magazine, American Marketing Association and […]
[…]paid online advertising, e-mail, etc.)? Check out this article for help developing an effective content strategy: What Should Go into Your Business’s Content Strategy Template? Tip #2 for Setting up a Small Business Website: Choosing a CMS Next, you need to choose a content management system (CMS) for your website. The advantage of using a CMS, whether you work with a web designer or not (and we recommend you do), is that it will allow you to more easily maintain your website after it’s launched. It’s also much more cost effective to pay for a website to be built in […]
[…]Scott is Founder and CEO of The Content Wrangler, a San Francisco-based international content strategy consultancy. CONTENT GARDEN: We work a lot with small businesses and non-profits who don’t have a content strategist or content marketer on staff. Can you speak to why the ability to develop and deploy effective content is important for smaller organizations’ content marketing strategies? Scott: “Effective” is the operative word here. In order to develop effective content—content that achieves a desired goal or intended result—we must put a plan in place that helps measure whether our efforts produce the goal we forecast. Strategy is the key to success. […]
[…]out our previous article on this topic: The Complete Guide to Content Marketing for Small Business Content Strategy Content strategy refers to your overall plan for developing, curating, and publishing content. It’s different from content marketing in that it involves planning for all the content in your organization, not just the marketing content. You may have content from your organization such as customer testimonials, product descriptions, and even strategic plans about business growth that are sitting somewhere, collecting dust. Developing an effective content strategy means managing all of your content so that when you do your marketing, you have the […]
[…]it Essentially: when doing social media, you want to think about serving useful, interesting content to potential and existing customers in order to stay in the top of their minds the next time they make a purchase. You don’t want to overwhelm them with sales language, but you do want to inform them about deals and opportunities they may be interested in. Finally, you want to make sure that your business has a good presence on platforms in which people are talking about products or services like yours. For more about how to create an effective social media strategy, check out […]
[…]#2: Use Social Media to Drive Traffic to Your Website When you do post to social media, make sure content you produce links back to your organization’s website. Social media is a great way to build awareness, but you don’t want people to simply stay on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. You want to post compelling content with links that will entice them to learn more about your organization. To see what we mean, check out this example post from one of our non-profit clients: Like this post, your social media posts should: Feature a photo, preferably of people Include a tagline […]
[…]to add some of it back to your website. If you choose to revise, you need to go through existing content and make a decision about what content is outdated and how you will update it. Finally, you may need to develop new content for your website to match the current status of your business or non-profit. For help doing a content audit on your old website, check out our article on this topic: The Magic a Content Audit Holds for Improving Your Business Thing #3: Design Problems A third thing that can go wrong with your website migration process […]
[…]for the objective you have in mind. Facebook is becoming a paid platform, meaning just posting content to your business’s page is not enough. If you want to reach and engage your audience, you need to use the platform’s advertising options to push your content out to new people. Are You a Non-Proft or Small Business That Needs Help With Paid Online […]
[…]it, comes from the same source. This will encourage them to keep coming back to you for more great content. Content Marketing Collateral Doesn’t Grow on Trees The main thing to keep in mind about content marketing collateral is that you don’t want to skimp on it. If you find yourself sitting down in front of Twitter, your blog, and other channels last-minute and trying to hurriedly cobble together some content, your efforts won’t be sustainable. You need to carve out time and be methodical. You also need to prepare your entire campaign for success by making sure you have all […]
[…]you to more efficiently manage your time and to focus on the hard, and most important, part of content marketing, the development of great content. See below for some of the tools we use on a daily basis in our own content marketing. Tool #1, Which Helps You Write Better: Grammarly Grammarly is just what it sounds like: a grammar tool. Grammarly is a Google Chrome that checks all of your grammar for your for free. Whenever you make a mistake when you’re writing via a web browser (i.e., over social media, in a blog, etc.) Grammarly highlights it and will even […]
[…]use online content to promote your small business or non-profit? Pick #2: Return on Engagement: Content Strategy and Web Design Techniques for Digital Marketing What it is: A comprehensive guide to marketing on the web. It explores how to market your organization through websites, social media, and search engine optimization (SEO). Why we picked it: Digital marketing is a relatively new approach to marketing and is just starting to take off. This book will tell you everything you need to know about key terms, best practices, and techniques for ensuring your digital presence is spot-on. Pick #3: The Growth Hacker’s Guide to […]
[…]is also more than just the look and feel of your website. As John Williams has defined a brand strategy: Your brand strategy is how, what, where, when and to whom you plan on communicating and delivering on your brand messages. Where you advertise is part of your brand strategy. Your distribution channels are also part of your brand strategy. And what you communicate visually and verbally are part of your brand strategy, too. So, there’s a lot more to branding than just a color scheme or a logo. It’s really the whole effect of your brand on its target […]
[…]to work faster than content marketing. The trick is to balance these efforts with your overall content strategy. Since content marketing is a long-term game, you need to make sure you’re heading in the right direction. Some ways to do this are through regular checkups, maintenance, and strategy sessions with trusted advisors. Regular Checkups First off, it’s essential to gauge progress on your content marketing campaign through regular checkups. Just like a garden, growing successful content means making sure you have the right tools, getting rid of weeds (like outdated content or content that is outside your niche), and keeping […]
[…]your target audience with customer personas A list of all the channels you’ll be delivering content to A content calendar that lays out how often you will be delivering content to which channels Below we go through each of these parts in turn. Content Goals The first thing you need to do is set some goals for your content and what you want to accomplish by creating it. You have some idea of your content niche from Part 1, but now you need to create goals for who you want to reach with your content, and how you will reach them. […]
[…]Content Marketing for Small Business.” In this series, you’ll learn: How to find your content niche when doing content marketing for small business How to create a sustainable plan for developing, publishing, and promoting content How to improve your content marketing plan over time Okay, let’s get started! Below you’ll learn how to find your content niche as a small business. The First Stage of Content Marketing for Small Business: Finding a Content Niche Heading back over to Joe, we find out that the first step in developing a content marketing plan is to differentiate your content from what already exists. […]
[…]how easy and satisfying is it to use a website (or other kind of app)? Information Architecture/Content Strategy: how useful and usable is the information contained in a website? Visual Design: how appealing and appropriate are the visual elements of a website? Interaction Design: how useful and usable are the actions users can take on a website (clicking, subscribing, entering information into forms, etc.)? So, who has been paying attention to problems of this variety? Lots of people. To help you get started, however, here are some of our favorite UX thought leaders: Jakob Nielsen Steve Krug Jeff Gothelf Kristina Halvorson Whitney Quesenbery […]
[…]include truly connecting with your audience on a personal level, building a solid marketing strategy, providing consistently strong content, and getting others to share your content. Connecting with Your Audience on Social Media As a business using social media to connect with your audience, you have to engage with your followers and not just lecture to them. This means that even if you have automated some of your tasks, such as sharing posts, you still have to reply to comments made on your content. If you get a message on a social media platform, respond to that message in a […]
[…]design process. This way non-designers can be engaged in the review process and feedback analysis. CONTENT GARDEN: At Content Garden, we’re a small, “boutique” digital agency, meaning we do a little bit of everything. We use UXPin all the time for client projects, but can you tell us, from your point-of-view, why you think UXPin is a good tool for digital agencies? MARCIN: I think UXPin is an essential tool for a digital agency of any size. The speed with which you can build your wireframes and prototypes, get feedback, and test ideas with users is invaluable for collaboration with […]
[…]want to use social media to heal strained relationships with their customers. While risky, this strategy can help healthcare organizations reflect on the experiences customers have. Ultimately It’s About Building Healthier Relationships The ultimate answer to the question of how healthcare organizations can use social media is that the skies the limit. Healthcare organizations can use social media not just to market to their stakeholders, but to engage them in discussion, collaboration, and (most importantly) building meaningful, long-lasting relationships. As you are considering the reasons your healthcare organization is using social media, consider how other healthcare organizations have achieved goals similar […]
[…]approximately 70% of healthcare organizations use social media as part of their advertising strategy. This cultural change is significant, but also differs by generation. For example, 18 to 24 year olds are twice as likely as 45 to 54 year olds to use social media for health-related discussions. Even so, 60% of the total adult population will initially look for health-related information on social media before visiting their healthcare provider. Social media, as an interactive form of communication, offers opportunities for the healthcare consumer that more static means of advertising do not. Namely, uses of social media can check in […]
[…]writing, people often have the perception that everyone is getting worse as writers. In their book Content Strategy for the Web, Kristina Halvorson and Melissa Rach provide a much more logical explanation for this phenomena: While organizations have struggled for decades—centuries, even—to make sense of their content, they were always able to keep the chaos (and consequences) to themselves. Then came websites, which created the perfect content strategy storm. Suddenly, organizations had to put all of their content (product info, investor reports, press releases, etc., etc.) in one place. For the first time. For all the world to see. And […]
[…]than seasons. Mobile continues to change the way we think about how customers search, access content, and make purchases online. What was innovative a year, or even six months, ago may now seem dated to customers. If you feel like you are struggling against a relentless sea of new challenges that you feel ill-equipped to face, you might look to your competition first before hiring a consultant. How are your top 3 competitors dealing with these challenges? Are they doing a better, or worse, job than you are of dealing with them? Having answers to these questions will be a […]
[…]of the day will you post? Topics: What are the topics that make the most sense to post about? Content sources: What are sources of content that you trust and that will also build credibility for your brand? Hootsuite is also a great tool for maintaining a social media calendar as it contains a Publisher tool that allows you to see all the content you have scheduled. What NOT To Do Over Social Media Just like all marketing straetgies, social media strategies can be either effective or ineffective. It’s your brand, and what you post on social media is completely up to […]
[…]need to create a simple strategy for all your web content within a single document. What Is a Content Strategy Template and What Should It Include? According to Kristina Halvorson, “Content strategy plans for the creation, publication, and governance of useful, usable content.” A content strategy template is a single document that contains all the information you need to develop, maintain, and deliver your web-based content for your organization. At minimum, it should include: Content Goals: Goals are simple and realizable statements of objective facts. You don’t want to say things like “increase reach.” You want to say: “develop 150 new […]
[…]Audit After a content audit, you need to take a hard look at your findings and turn them into a content strategy, which will be the subject of a follow-up post. Essentially, a content strategy is just a plan for creating, maintaining, and delivering content for your business. The most important thing to remember about a content audit is that it’s a powerful tool for thinking holistically about your content. If you’ve never inventoried all the content that you use to run your business, chances are there are sub-optimal pieces of content out there that are annoying leads, customers, and […]
[…]website before you launch it. Usability refers to testing out your website with actual consumers. Content management is how you manage all your website content. Think of UX as a 3-step process that you need to regularly undergo as a business: Coming up with an idea for a new website design and creating a mock-up of it. Testing new, and existing, website designs with actual consumers. Managing all your website content in one place. There are a lot of great UX software programs out there to make this process easier if you’re just getting into UX. Below we discuss some […]
[…]searches online for your product or service and finds your website, but doesn’t find the content or design of your website relevant to what they are looking for, they will most likely abandon it in favor of another search result. Of course, engagement and satisfaction are also key things to think about. Users evaluate relevance and engagement at roughly the same time. Engagement is a highly subjective measure of how excited someone gets when they first encounter a website. It involves everything from the typography of your fonts to the emotional impact of your logo to how intuitive your site […]
[…]they can get their needs met on your site. They may do so in any of the following ways: 1) Reading content in a very specific order. Users tend to focus on content that is at the top left, top right, and along the left side of each webpage, as the following heatmaps depict. 2) Trying to navigate through your website. Users get very frustrated with non-intuitive navigation. If they can’t find what they’re looking for in under a minute, they tend to look elsewhere or give up entirely. This includes your top-level navigation, search, and the way content is organized throughout […]
[…]you can also use this information to consistently convert leads to customers. You can test your content with different types of people to see what content is most likely to convince people to buy. You can update online ad copy in a matter of minutes and can even run multiple ads at the same time to see which ones perform the best. The most important thing you need to know about inbound, however, is that it’s only going to grow in importance. People are growing tired of seeing t.v. commercials that interrupt their favorite shows. Millennials and other generations that […]