Business buyers are different than traditional consumers. The business buyer from a government organization, corporation, resale facility or institution doesn't want to hear your cute slogans or watch babies and puppy dogs paraded across the TV screen in a cheap attempt to win your loyalty. He doesn't want oversimplified hype or blatant calls to action without concrete reasons why he should act. The business buyer expects more research, more relevant news, more examples of product application and more descriptions of the features.
If your prices are higher than the competition, he wants to know why you offer more value than the next guy. He anticipates a series of copy designed at winning him over, such as brochures, newsletters, pamphlets, emails, ads, presentations, mailers and article submissions. Mark Toner, advertising manager for Amano, a manufacturer of computerized time-clocks, explains: "In high-tech direct mail, the key is to educate the prospect." This can be done through business to business article marketing.
Social networking has emerged as a valuable tool for brand building. Many of the most successful brands use business to business article marketing published on sites like Facebook and Myspace to enhance their image and separate themselves from the competition. According to a 2009 survey conducted by Razorfish, an internet marketing firm, "brands with an online presence were overwhelmingly likely to have had a measurable influence on whether consumers or businesses purchased products from them."
Most people decided to "follow" or "friend" the business and make a purchase to gain access to exclusive discounts or other promotional offers. Moreover, "Nearly two-thirds of respondents told Razorfish that their first purchase from a brand had been as a direct result of their experience with the brand in an online environment," the survey stated. Therefore, article promotion should center on announcing these special offers.
Another important reason to add business to business article marketing to your overall strategy is the undeniable truth that search marketing is still generating the bulk of business-to-business leads. The 6th Annual B2B Marketing Benchmark Report 2009-2010 (conducted by Marketing Sherpa) sums it up by saying, "During the most difficult economic times that the search marketing industries has seen in its decade-long life, search marketers are more relevant than ever. The Web itself is getting 'smarter.' Web 1.0 was mostly static with publishers communicating to consumers. Web 2.0 is two-way, with consumers talking back to publishers. Web 3.0 uses information from the consumer to tailor the experience to individuals."
A true article marketing expert understands current trends and knows just how to use programs that analyze online article submissions to see what keywords bring traffic to a website, as well as what keywords bring business owners who are most ready to buy, what messages are bringing in the most targeted traffic, what messages are scaring people off and where are they going and what are they looking for once they leave the site without buying.
A great business-to-business campaign begins with a well-designed website. Within moments, a business owner should be able to find the "About Us" page, the "Contact" page, the pricing/package page and links to additional information if need be. (This is where content article marketing comes in!)
In addition to having business to business article marketing appear right on your homepage, you can also submit articles to third party publishing sites and affiliate networks to reach a broader audience. These articles will be optimized for search engine friendliness, so anyone looking for something via Google has the opportunity to be redirected to your homepage.
The best part about article promotion is that you can test the waters with several different messages, keywords or angles and then track the results using analytic software to see which campaigns are producing the most sales. A SEO/article marketing professional should be able to do all of this for you.
Easy Article Marketing | Article Marketing Tips | Article Marketing Strategy | Article Marketing Services & Software
Showing posts with label submit articles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label submit articles. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Thursday, January 6, 2011
What Makes A Good Marketing Article?
Anyone who spends a fair amount of time reading online knows there is a wealth of horrible articles out there! Some are nothing more than blatant sales copy, over-hyping a poor product. Other articles seem to tell readers nothing at all really but are mere vehicles for a link to another page. Countless articles use poor grammar, and are riddled with spelling mistakes and inconsistencies of speech. It's enough to make anyone crazy!
Since the article submission phenomenon appeared in the late nineties, just about every small business owner thought, "Write? Submit articles? I can do that." Unfortunately, not everyone is blessed with a writing talent. That leaves a lot of room for the real stars to shine online. If you have what it takes, then read on to see what makes a good marketing article. If you are unsure about your abilities, then you should hire a professional copywriter and look for the following criterion in their work.
To understand what makes a good marketing article, you must first consider the similarities and differences between writing for print publications and writing for online mediums. Magazines and newspapers have hundreds or thousands of subscribers who will flip through the pages each week or each month, regardless of what's there. Headlines can be witty and coy.
On the other hand, internet marketing articles need to seek out an audience by using more direct headlines to attract search engine attention. Magazine and newspaper articles often have to write to certain editorial standards, with advertisers in mind.
Online writing instead appeals directly to the readers, aiming to inform them, which will ultimately make them feel more comfortable with upcoming purchasing decisions. The attention span also varies greatly with print versus online writing. While someone may read 5,000 words in a magazine, 500 words is a more appropriate length for internet copy -- and paragraphs should be shorter, rather than longer.
Every good marketing article uses keywords that target business-related terms typed into the search engines. According to a 2008 ComScore Study, there are six basic ways people will find a business; search engines (31%), the phone book (30%), internet directories (19%), Google or Yahoo Local search sites (11%), newspapers/magazines (3%) and social media sites (1%).
As you can see, article marketing strategies must focus on finding what keywords people are searching for and filling out pages at the online phone book sites like www.whitepages.com, www.yellowbook.com and www.superpages.com. To find the best keywords, you can check out the free article marketing tool at www.adwords.google.com.
Lastly, your marketing article should provide new information in an entertaining way. To do this, you should be scanning Google news headlines or other blogs to see what people are talking about.
For example, if you are selling digital cameras and you hear a report that people are cutting back their spending on consumer electronics due to the recession, then you might want to write an article about "cheap digital cameras" or "inexpensive cameras" to draw in that target market.
If people seem to be interested in "product safety" or the "green revolution," try to relate your products or services to those topics. The best free articles have an engaging tone and use second-person narrative to actively engage the reader. You may also choose a more detached, professional-sounding third person perspective, but rarely should first person "I/my" be used.
Since the article submission phenomenon appeared in the late nineties, just about every small business owner thought, "Write? Submit articles? I can do that." Unfortunately, not everyone is blessed with a writing talent. That leaves a lot of room for the real stars to shine online. If you have what it takes, then read on to see what makes a good marketing article. If you are unsure about your abilities, then you should hire a professional copywriter and look for the following criterion in their work.
To understand what makes a good marketing article, you must first consider the similarities and differences between writing for print publications and writing for online mediums. Magazines and newspapers have hundreds or thousands of subscribers who will flip through the pages each week or each month, regardless of what's there. Headlines can be witty and coy.
On the other hand, internet marketing articles need to seek out an audience by using more direct headlines to attract search engine attention. Magazine and newspaper articles often have to write to certain editorial standards, with advertisers in mind.
Online writing instead appeals directly to the readers, aiming to inform them, which will ultimately make them feel more comfortable with upcoming purchasing decisions. The attention span also varies greatly with print versus online writing. While someone may read 5,000 words in a magazine, 500 words is a more appropriate length for internet copy -- and paragraphs should be shorter, rather than longer.
Every good marketing article uses keywords that target business-related terms typed into the search engines. According to a 2008 ComScore Study, there are six basic ways people will find a business; search engines (31%), the phone book (30%), internet directories (19%), Google or Yahoo Local search sites (11%), newspapers/magazines (3%) and social media sites (1%).
As you can see, article marketing strategies must focus on finding what keywords people are searching for and filling out pages at the online phone book sites like www.whitepages.com, www.yellowbook.com and www.superpages.com. To find the best keywords, you can check out the free article marketing tool at www.adwords.google.com.
Lastly, your marketing article should provide new information in an entertaining way. To do this, you should be scanning Google news headlines or other blogs to see what people are talking about.
For example, if you are selling digital cameras and you hear a report that people are cutting back their spending on consumer electronics due to the recession, then you might want to write an article about "cheap digital cameras" or "inexpensive cameras" to draw in that target market.
If people seem to be interested in "product safety" or the "green revolution," try to relate your products or services to those topics. The best free articles have an engaging tone and use second-person narrative to actively engage the reader. You may also choose a more detached, professional-sounding third person perspective, but rarely should first person "I/my" be used.
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