Richard working on an article
We receive a free eBook from a marketing company called Hubspot almost daily. These folks are truly on top of things in the online marketing arena. They publish good material and they keep it coming.
The saying goes, “Content is King,” and that has never been more true. To keep up with the pack, a company must continually create new and useful material. If regular content publishing seems unattainable for you, read some of their publications and I believe you will be inspired to step up your game.
The last Hubspot eBook I read through, “Creating a Content Machine” was full of great ideas for the small business, or large for that matter. If at all possible, hire or assign an employee for the task or contract an organization like ours to assist you. If you don’t have the budget for a content writer, then this article is for you.
They suggest urging everyone in the company, from the sales folks to the IT people, to contribute. It’s a good suggestion. With this model you get information from a number of perspectives and there’s the added benefit of encouraging a feeling of inclusion and community among your employees.
Below I’ve listed a number of my favorites from their suggestions on how to get more content and keep it coming. Click here to get the entire eBook.
1. Reward blogging to encourage folks to contribute
2. Create a competition for articles
3. Foster content writing among employees
4. Republish your better articles in new and different ways
5. Share a useful statistic
6. Make a quick how-to video — it doesn’t need to be high quality, just have good info
7. Invite a guest blogger
8. Re-purpose a presentation or report into an article
9. Post a link to something useful
Make sure all articles are useful to your clientele and prospects and assign an editor and proof reader for quality control.
You’ve got to keep your content fresh and spread the love with all the social networking apps you’re on. Once you get the hang of it, it really is quite a bit of fun. And to those employees who act grumpy and seem to feel it’s a waste of time, I’ll re-quote Hubspot’s quote:
“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”
Thomas Edison