Most businesses now know about the power of content. But not all content is made equal.
Different types of content serve different purposes and audiences. So content, for content’s sake is not the best way to run your content marketing strategy.
What type of content marketing should you be creating? Which formats will work best for your audiences? Where should you be activating it for maximum effect?
These are all valid and common questions when approaching a content marketing strategy… and it all starts with understanding your audience.
Knowing your audience is crucial to building out a strong and effective content strategy.
You need to know a couple of things before you start producing any content.
Firstly, you need to have a very clear understanding of your audience’s habits, behaviours and browsing patterns. What are the things they like? What don’t they like? What are their preferred channels?
There’s no benefit in creating a series of long-form blogs and whitepapers, when you’re audience prefers video content. There’s also little benefit if ploughing resources into channels and outlets that your audience simply does not exist in.
Understanding your business in relation to your audience is also very important.
You need to identify the needs of your audience; their pain points and what motivates them to take action. Then you have to overlay this understanding with content ideas on how you can answer those questions and fix their problems.
When you clearly understand these things, you’re on the first step to developing a content strategy.
Next, you need to understand the buying journey.
Principles such as the 95 – 5 rule outline that only 5% of your audience is ready to purchase at any given time. 95-5 states, that because of this, you should not spend all of your time and efforts trying to convert that 5%. Rather, you should spend it engaging with the other 95.
Now the buyer journey does vary from business to business. For some, it can be days, for others, years.
So what this means, in real terms. Is reducing the amount of hard sales content marketing you produce, in favour of more content that builds relationships, and loyalty and fosters engagement.
Producing high-quality content is great. But if all that content does is try to land a sale, your audiences are going to become very fatigued, very quickly.
Finally, you need to understand and clearly establish your unique value proposition (UVP).
What sets you apart from your competitors? What makes your products or services unique?
By understanding your UVP, you can create content that showcases your unique strengths and differentiates your business from others.
This is what’s going to make you stand out!
With an understanding of your audience’s interests and your own UVP, it’s time to start thinking about what content you can make,
A well-planned strategy will help you create content that resonates with your audience, aligns with your business goals, and sets you apart from your competitors.
Content creation is an extremely helpful way to drive prospects through the buying process, but also an incredible way to build brand loyalty. Rather than think about the quick wins, you should be thinking more in the long term.
Think about ways you can engage, entertain, delight and educate your audiences, rather than just trying to make a sale.
It’s not about conversions… it’s about conversations.
So, the Million Dollar Question… what kind of content should you be making?
Well the answer to that question, should become apparent once you’ve done all the appropriate strategic research and planning.
Depending on the content format and type you choose, you can appeal to buyers at different stages of their journey. From awareness and consideration, through to the final decision, different content types can have varying effects.
At the awareness stage, potential customers realise that they have an issue that needs a solution.
They won’t be looking for answers at this stage but will turn to search engines and social channels to contextualise their problem.
The best type of content that would help generate leads at this stage is top-level informative and relevant content that will explain their problem, concern or situation. It won’t seek to offer immediate answers and solutions or try to push the issue.
It’s about educating and informing… and you can do this in a number of ways.
A blog post or article falls under the category of awareness stage content. Writing blog posts allows a marketing team to target a specific pain point or problem that your audience is experiencing. You may also use search engine optimisation to target keywords that match the search turn. This will assist you in creating valuable content that search engine users may find, in turn potentially generating leads.
White papers are a form of long-form material, similar to blog posts. However, they differ from blogs in that they provide a comprehensive answer to a specific issue. They can be used to inform, clarify and educate prospects during the awareness stage. They are especially helpful for B2B companies because they cover specific issues related to the industry.
For the awareness phase of the buyer’s journey, the following types of video content work best:
Keep these videos short, educating and engaging not hard selling. The goal is to present your best content, as the solution to the viewer’s problem and make them aware of your brand.
This stage of the buying process is when your customer starts to think about which service or product to solve their issue.
With extensive research and careful consideration of all available options, it is regarded as the lengthiest phase of the buying process. During this phase, your content marketing strategy should include quality content that is as informative as possible, but content that also flexes your knowledge and expertise around the question at hand.
Social media can help reveal more about your product and brand.
It can also be the place where your audience can discover more about your brand’s reputation. Social media has an impact on consumers at the awareness stage, but it can also move people from the awareness stage to the consideration stage.
Successful social media marketing, for instance, can show competitive value, increase brand awareness and facilitate decision-making.
For the consideration phase of the buyer’s journey, consider the following types of video content.
These videos should educate the audience about your solution, address their specific problems and differentiate your offering from competitors. The goal is to build trust, give detailed information and convince customers your product or service is the solution to their problem.
Email can be utilised at any point during the buying process, but it’s most effective during the consideration stage.
Your customer might not be prepared to make a purchase at this time. But any queries they might have can be addressed in your emails. Email also allows you to learn more about your audience. Click-through-rates, web traffic, bounce data, email opens and behaviours on your site can provide valuable insights.
To move buyers through the process, you can start introducing your product or service in more detail.
This is the most valuable stage of the consumer buying process.
It’s where the buyer will evaluate all of their options and decide on the right provider for a solution. At this stage, your buyer knows about your brand through reading your social media network, digital content and high-quality blog posts, and now intends to make a purchase.
Here’s how you can make a difference at this stage
Offering a trial is the best method to address any last-minute queries your customer may have about your service. It’s like how car dealerships give test drives. Many software companies free trials to potential customers to give potential customers increase their customer base and widen their market appeal.
Because it appeals to your customer’s fear of missing out, a coupon or voucher is an excellent marketing strategy for the decision stage. Your customer is already fully informed about your company or product at this point in the process. They are now seeking an excuse to make a purchase. At this point, a short-term offer or deal can frequently earn their business.
A case study can be used in both the consideration and decision-making stages of the buyer’s journey. They’re essentially a kind of research report that focuses on how your solution helped business at another company. They’re excellent for demonstrating how and why your good or service is superior to those of your rivals. By analyzing these case studies, businesses can identify gaps and areas of improvement which can then be utilized to enhance their own strategy.
For the decision stage of the buyer’s journey, the following types of video content work best:
These should be high quality, short and focused on getting the prospect to buy your product or service. Get them to take action.
Creating content is always designed for the personality and interests of your target audience segments.
But always remember the 95-5 rule, not everyone is ready to buy from you right away. Warm up your audiences and work hard to endear them to your brand during this incubation period.
Wherever you post your content, be it on YouTube, LinkedIn or Facebook use proprietary analytics to monitor the reception of your content. Different channels often have different windows of opportunity for the most effective posting.
Test and learn with this, mix up your posting schedule and try to learn what times work best for you and your audiences.
Now, you’ll likely have noticed the repeat mentions of various types of video content throughout the buyer journey.
Video is more than just a useful tool for conveying information. Video is one of the best ways to tell a story It also has the highest interest level out of any other content form. Making it one of the most valuable and effective parts of your content marketing efforts.
Video content is incredibly versatile and offers a wide variety of creative opportunities for video marketers. A YouTube video, for example, can educate customers on how to use a product, while also entertaining and engaging.
But, there can often be some confusion and concern about producing content like this. You want to be producing quality content. But a lot of people correlate quality content, with extremely high production value and an associated high cost. That’s not always the case.
For example, TikTok can be a very effective source of video content throughout the buyer journey. But TikTok videos don’t need massive production value… if anything, lower production value content works far better here, than something slick and shiny!
YouTube, is becoming increasingly important and quality is important here. It has to look great and something people always overlook, it has to sound great too!
If you’re committed to making video content, know also that sweating the assets is a good thing. Just because you’re making a YouTube video, doesn’t mean it should just be a YouTube video. Consider how you can slice and dice your assets to be used on different channels.
The greater your format variety, the greater your chance of cutting through.
Measuring and improving performance is critical for content marketing success. By tracking your performance, you can identify what’s working and what’s not, and make data-driven decisions to improve your strategy.
To measure performance, you need to track key metrics, such as:
By tracking these metrics, you can identify areas for improvement and make adjustments to your strategy.
To improve performance, you need to analyze your data and identify opportunities for growth. This may involve:
By continuously measuring and improving performance, you can optimise your website content creation and activation, ultimately driving better results.
Content marketing isn’t about creating content for content’s sake – it’s about strategic storytelling that resonates with your audience. The key is knowing your unique value proposition and your audience’s journey, and focusing on the 95% who aren’t immediately ready to buy.
In the vast world of content creation, video content is king, it’s versatile and highly engaging across all stages. Remember, it’s about conversations not just conversions.
The ultimate goal? Content that educates, entertains and connects with your audience!
My name is Michael James, I am a driven postgraduate part of the Bristol UWE Alumni. I am known for:
Thriving in social environments and building strong professional relationships.
Demonstrating an unwavering work ethic and relentless pursuit of goals.
Embracing challenges as opportunities for growth and learning.
Balancing academic rigor with a love for sports and active lifestyle.
My current area of work is UX/UI design and digital marketing, with a passion for enhancing brand images in the digital space. Currently exploring opportunities to collaborate on projects that push the boundaries of digital design and marketing. Keen to contribute my skills to forward-thinking teams and exciting initiatives in this dynamic field.
If you would like to learn more about myself and have any positions open..
Please contact me!
07873168911
https://mikeyj100.github.io/portfoliopage/
In the U.S. there are over 3 million B2B businesses, 86% of which use their website as their primary source of lead generation.
Yet, 48% of customers have described B2B marketing as ‘boring.’ So where does that leave your site? And what can you do to stand out as one of the interesting ones?
According to a Forrester report, 94% of survey respondents use at least one search channel for consideration/purchase, so the importance of having an engaging and appealing website should never be underestimated.
By creating a memorable digital experience, you can ensure your website users will remember and return to your website when they’re ready to buy a product or service.
The term ‘website design’ has 49.5k searches monthly in the U.S. according to Semrush. Clearly this is a topic on plenty of people’s minds – and for good reason.
In fact, it’s reported that first impressions of a website are 94% design-related. And to top that off, these impressions can be formed in as little as 50 milliseconds.
People often see B2B website design as corporate, outdated, or just plain boring. Whether it’s because the products B2B companies sell are more specialist or niche or because of complex sales cycles.
But times are changing. With digital designers and web design evolving hand in hand, website design has never been so full of possibility.
However, it goes deeper than designing for appearance alone. The most successful websites also apply user experience (UX) best practices to ensure their functionality matches.
Peter Morville, President of Semantic Studios, coined the 7 principles of UX. These principles outline what affective UX should be:
If you can make your B2B website tick all these boxes, your site is much more likely to succeed in the marketplace.
This is because you should always be thinking about the user when it comes to your digital presence. This is how you make your audience feel valued and provide them with a stress-free digital experience.
Many business-to-business companies aren’t aware of the capabilities of their website, so they haven’t made moves to update their digital presence. This means if you take these steps, you’ll be setting yourself apart from the competition, and will stick in the mind of your customers.
After all, if 38% of consumers will bounce from a website if they find the design unattractive, ensuring yours is top-notch can help secure more business.
What’s more, user experience is a big factor in Conversion Rate Optimisation – meaning the better your UX design, the more likely people will take actions that benefit your business. That could be booking a call or product demo, filling in an enquiry form, or making a purchase.
The content that sits on your website is important for so many reasons. If the content on your site isn’t clear, relevant or well thought out, you stand to lose customers.
Your website content also reflects who you are – your personality as a business. It gives you the opportunity to add a personal touch to your buyer’s journey and build a connection with your audience.
It also tells prospects exactly what you do and the services you provide. So, ensuring your website content is optimised is key.
Your content may include headings, body copy, blogs, product descriptions, reports, whitepapers/ebooks, videos, and an array of other assets.
Content isn’t just about entertaining and informing your visitors. It’s also key to boosting your search engine optimisation (SEO) score.
As Google Search Central puts it, SEO is ‘about helping search engines understand your content, and helping users find your site and make a decision about whether they should visit your site through a search engine.’
One of the main aims of boosting your SEO is to rank higher on search engine results pages (SERPs). This means your website will appear higher on the google search page when people search for certain terms.
The terms you want to rank for could be down to your industry, your services, your location, and more. These terms are known as ‘keywords’. The higher you rank for your chosen keywords, the more likely you are to get page visitors.
A hurdle that many B2B companies face is getting ahead of competitors who may be operating in the same industry or selling similar services. But, by harnessing the power of SEO, you can increase your chances of outranking them and being discovered by more potential customers.
When deciding on the keywords you want to rank for as a business, it’s important to look for words that have a high monthly search volume, but low competition. This means people are actively searching for it, but not many other businesses are focusing on ranking for this term.
Ensuring your website content is helping your site stand out isn’t purely about technical optimisation and analytics.
Making your content engaging and unique goes a long way when it comes to differentiating yourself. And with the rise of AI tools like ChatGPT, originality is set to become even more important (and more rare, perhaps).
When planning the content you want to include on the website, you need a strategy. This strategy should consider elements such as:
By combining these personal aspects of your business, you are creating a recipe for a one-of-a-kind content plan.
Having unique content is so important because 40% of all final decision makers in the B2B marketplace say there is more thought leadership content than they can manage.
So, you now must work even harder to capture the attention of your prospects without drowning in the sea of generic thought leadership.
Business-to-business companies get an unfair reputation for being overly corporate and boring. It’s time to change that perception and start bringing more innovation and design flair to these markets.
Your website says so much about you as a business, so you can’t afford to let yours simply be ‘middle of the road’.
Using a combination of outstanding design and groundbreaking content, you can get ahead of the competition in a saturated market and gain new customers.
So, if your B2B website is looking like it needs a boost, get in touch with us at [email protected].
You might have read our recent blog post about the launch of SearchGPT and how it differs from Google search. In this post, we’ll dive deeper into its functionality and examine how AI powered search compares to conventional search algorithms. We’ll also explore how to stay ahead of the AI curve by examining ways to optimise websites and their content for SearchGPT.
SearchGPT uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) to improve the way it understands, processes, and responds to user queries. NLP is a form of AI that focuses on enabling machines to comprehend and generate human language in a way that feels natural and intuitive. It helps ensure that search interactions are conversational, rather than simply providing closed-ended answers. As a result, AI powered search can handle more complex queries than traditional algorithm-based search engines, leading to more detailed and relevant results while also encouraging further exploration through follow-up searches.
With the use of NLP, SearchGPT appears to be adept at understanding not only complex, long-tail searches, but also broad and ambiguous search terms. This technology enables the AI powered search engine to recognise individual user patterns, which in turn helps identify user intent even when your search is very vague. While Google and Bing do also leverage NLP to enhance traditional search results, SearchGPT applies NLP in a more conversational, interactive, and contextually aware manner, thanks to its AI powered conversational model. As such, whether vague or overly complicated, SearchGPT seems to have the potential to better understand non-standard searches when compared to its more traditional competitors.
Example: After searching for multiple terms related to paper mâché projects within SearchGPT, Google and Bing, we ran a search across all three for a single word, ‘Tips’. Whilst Google returned results about tips for the workplace, the banking acronym TIPS, and advice on using the Apple app store, Bing returned results about tips for placing bets on horse racing, news articles related to tipping rubbish, and again tips for the workplace. In comparison, SearchGPT provided the following:
Note: The result contained 7 separate top tips specifically for paper mâché projects, from multiple different websites.
SearchGPT has the ability to pull in real-time data, providing insights on current events such as live sports scores, weather reports, breaking news and more. This feature gives SearchGPT an edge over standard search engines like Google and Bing, both of which rely on static indexing. Rather than being limited to pulling results from data that has been previously indexed and stored on a periodic basis, it has access to live data which can be dynamically integrated into its responses. This is especially beneficial when searching for time sensitive queries as it greatly reduces the risk of the information presented being outdated. Users can make informed decisions based on results at speed, rather than having to spend time sifting through static results that may not reflect the latest developments.
In summary, SearchGPT’s real-time data integration ensures that users get accurate, fresh information relevant to time-sensitive queries. This represents another potential advantage over traditional search engines, offering a more dynamic and relevant response, particularly in situations where timing and accuracy are critical.
As touched upon above, SearchGPT offers an element of contextualisation previously not found within conventional search. As seen within the paper mâché example, it uses NLP to help provide context and personalisation to results. Google, Bing and similar search engines often provide the same results for all users, whereas SearchGPT tailors responses based on individual preferences, past searches, and contextual relevance. Not only does this help provide more useful results for its users almost as soon as you start searching, it also has the ability to evolve with each individual user based on their ongoing search behaviour. By continuously evaluating and learning from your search patterns, SearchGPT improves its understanding of your queries, accounting for variations in phrasing, slang, and synonyms. This enables it to offer increasingly precise and contextually appropriate responses with every interaction.
We are all familiar with the structure of organic Google search listings – multiple website listings containing a meta title and description, with an accompanying URL, website name and favicon. An example of this can be seen below:
SearchGPT has strayed from this traditional model, instead displaying detailed information in the form of conversational, contextually-rich responses. It presents answers directly within the SearchGPT interface, often providing concise summaries, relevant facts, and real-time data, all tailored to your specific query. This format eliminates the need for users to click through multiple links to find the information they need, making the search experience faster, more efficient, and again more personalised. Additionally, SearchGPT can offer follow-up prompts and adjust its responses based on user interaction, creating a more dynamic and engaging search experience compared to static search engine listings.
SearchGPT offers encrypted searches and minimal data storage, ensuring security and confidentiality for users. Whilst conventional search engines such as Google and Bing can retain personal search data for targeted advertising purposes, SearchGPT doesn’t. Users can enjoy a secure, ad-free experience – at least for the time being. SearchGPT is still very new and so who knows if this might change in the future.
Now that we have a clearer picture of how SearchGPT delivers results, let’s explore how we can adjust our SEO strategies to align with AI powered search.
SearchGPT is better at understanding natural language than its traditional counterparts, due to its advanced use of AI and NLP. Therefore, optimising your content for conversational queries is key. Rather than relying on short, traditional keywords, consider using long-tail, question based phrases that reflect how users actually speak. For example, instead of targeting generic keywords like “paper bags wholesale,” try phrases like “Where can I buy wholesale paper bags online in the UK?”. This type of long-tail, question-based query aligns more closely with how users naturally phrase their searches, and SearchGPT is better equipped to process and respond to such nuanced inputs.
By optimising content to reflect the way people naturally talk, you increase the chances of your site being displayed in relevant SearchGPT results, providing a more tailored and useful response to users. This shift towards natural language search is not only in line with how AI and NLP are evolving, it also helps improve user engagement by providing answers in a way that feels intuitive and conversational.
Similar to the above approach with keyword targeting, ensure the content following question based queries is structured to answer said question(s). AI-driven tools look to provide content that directly addresses users’ queries, so it is essential to format your content to answer questions clearly and concisely. Use headings, bullet points, and FAQ sections to make information easy to find. This way, AI can pull key insights from your content – whilst also making your content more likely to show up as a featured answer or snippet in Google search results.
Schema markup, or structured data, helps search engines better understand your content’s context and relevance – this applies to AI powered search and conventional search engines alike. By tagging information such as events, products, reviews, and FAQs with schema, you make it easier for SearchGPT to interpret your site accurately. This can increase your chances of appearing in results, boosting both visibility and click-through rates / website traffic.
As explained earlier within this blog, SearchGPT has access to real-time data, rather than having to wait for periodic crawling and indexation. As such, it is incredibly important to always ensure your content is relevant and up to date. AI based search, similar to traditional search, will also prioritise content that it knows is current and accurate – especially when it comes to topics that change frequently. Regularly updating your content not only shows that your site is active, but also signals to SearchGPT that your website is up to date. Frequent updates can also help you rank better for real-time queries, again further enhancing your visibility.
Another factor that AI powered search will take into account when choosing content to display is the user experience provided by a website. Again, this is no different to traditional search engines such as Google and Bing. It is as important as ever to ensure that your site is fast, mobile-friendly, and easy to navigate. Accessibility is also important – if you are unsure of how accessible your site is, whether site speed is negatively impacting your results or if your content is mobile friendly, a Bespoke SEO Audit may be just what you need. We can review many different areas of your website in order to help ensure that it is equipped to rank effectively in AI-driven search results and organic Google SERPs, keeping you ahead in the ever-evolving SEO landscape.
These are just a handful of the ways in which we recommend optimising your website for AI powered search. We have no doubt that we will be posting many more in the not-so-distant future. So keep your eyes peeled in order to stay ahead of the innovation curve.
There is still a lot to learn about SearchGPT, and the Innovation team here at Varn are busy at work testing and researching the impacts of AI powered search on SEO. If you would like to know more, check back regularly for our most recent SearchGPT articles. If you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch. We would love to hear from you.
In the rapidly evolving world of Digital PR, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the vast amount of information out there. To help you navigate this landscape, we’ve created a concise glossary that breaks down essential terms and concepts you need to know to strengthen your business’s online presence. This guide is designed to simplify Digital PR by focusing on the most relevant terms, explanations and examples that matter for today’s digital strategies.
A
A/B testing
A/B testing is a method of comparing two versions of content to determine which one performs better in engaging or converting an audience.
Example: Testing two different headlines for a blog post to see which one gets more clicks.
Amplification
Amplification in digital PR refers to the strategic sharing and promotion of content across various channels to increase its reach, visibility, and engagement with a wider audience.
Example: Sharing a blog post on social media and sending it in an email newsletter to increase visibility.
Anchor text
Anchor text is the clickable, highlighted text in a hyperlink that leads to another webpage, often optimized with relevant keywords to improve SEO and provide context for both users and search engines.
Example: In the sentence “Check out our Digital PR services to learn more,” the words “Digital PR services” serve as the anchor text.
B
Backlinks
Links from other websites that point back to yours, helping improve your search engine ranking and build authority.
Example: A popular blog links to your website in an article, that link serves as a valuable backlink.
B2B (Business to Business)
Marketing or providing services to other businesses.
Example: A media agency that sells its services to other companies rather than individual consumers.
B2C (Business to Consumer)
Marketing or selling directly to individual consumers.
Example: An online beauty store that sells directly to shoppers through its website.
Broken link
A hyperlink that no longer works and leads to a page that does not exist.
Example: Clicking on a link to a product page that shows a “404 Not Found” error.
C
Call to Action (CTA)
A prompt aimed at encouraging people to take specific actions, like signing up for a newsletter or making a purchase.
Example: A button that says “Subscribe Now” on a newsletter signup form.
Content curation
Content curation is the process of discovering, organizing, and sharing relevant third-party content to engage your audience and enhance your brand’s topical authority.
Example: Sharing trending or important articles on social media to engage followers.
Content marketing
A strategy that focuses on creating valuable content to engage the target audience.
Example: Writing blogs or making videos to educate potential customers.
Community engagement
Community engagement in digital PR involves actively interacting with an online audience through comments, industry forums, and social media to build relationships, trust, and brand loyalty.
Example: Engaging in a LinkedIn group related to your field and answering questions from other members.
D
D2C (Direct to Consumer)
When a company sells products directly to customers without middlemen such as retailers or wholesalers.
Example: A company directly selling its products on its website.
Domain Authority (DA)
Domain authority is a search engine ranking score that predicts how well a website will perform in search engine results, based on factors such as backlink quality and site structure.
Example: A website with a high domain authority is more likely to appear on the first page of Google search results.
Digital footprint
A digital footprint is the trail of data and online activity left by an individual or organization on the internet, which can influence public perception.
Example: Social media posts, comments, and website visits contribute to your digital footprint.
Do-follow link
A hyperlink that allows search engines to follow it to reach the linked website, passing value and authority.
Example: Your page is linked to another site, and inspecting the link shows if it’s a “follow” link.
E
Earned media
Free publicity gained through word-of-mouth or coverage in the media.
Example: A publication writing about your products without payment.
Engagement
How users interact with your content through likes, shares, comments, etc.
Example: A Facebook post with lots of likes and shares indicates strong engagement.
G
Geotargeting
Delivering content or ads based on a user’s location.
Example: Writing an article for a local newspaper, for the audience of that area.
Google Trends
A tool that shows how popular certain search terms are over time.
Example: Checking Google Trends to see how topics like “Minimalism” are trending.
I
Influencer marketing
Partnering with influencers to promote products.
Example: A skincare brand sending products to beauty influencers for review.
Influencer outreach
Contacting influencers to build relationships and promote campaigns.
Example: Sending an email to a blogger inviting them to review a new product.
K
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Metrics used to measure the success of a marketing campaign.
Example: Measuring media mentions as KPIs to evaluate the impact of a digital PR initiative.
L
Link building
Getting other websites to link to yours to improve SEO and gain backlinks.
Example: Writing guest posts that include a link back to your site.
Link juice
The SEO value passed from one site to another through links.
Example: A high-authority site linking to your page can boost your site’s credibility.
N
No-follow Link
A link that doesn’t pass SEO value to the other site, denoted by HTML tag rel=”nofollow”.
Example: A link on a blog with a “no-follow” tag to prevent passing SEO value.
O
Online mention
When a brand is referenced in online content.
Example: A blog post discussing your company and including your brand name.
Organic search
Search results that appear based on relevance rather than paid ads.
Example: Your website appears in top results for “best running shoes” without paying for ads.
Outreach
Contacting media or influencers to promote a story or content.
Example: Reaching out to journalists to pitch a new product launch story.
P
Pitch
A proposal sent to journalists or influencers to promote a story or idea.
Example: Sending a press release to a reporter to cover your company’s new initiative.
Podcasts
A podcast is a digital audio program available for streaming or download, often featuring discussions, interviews, or storytelling.
Example: A marketing podcast discussing industry trends with expert interviews.
Press coverage
Press coverage refers to mentions and features in media outlets, helping build credibility.
Example: A newspaper article highlighting your company’s achievements.
Press release
A written statement to the media announcing newsworthy information.
Example: Announcing a new product launch through a press release.
R
Referral marketing
A form of marketing where businesses encourage customers to recommend their services or products.
Example: Sending a referral code to a friend.
Retention marketing
Retention marketing is a strategy focused on keeping existing customers engaged and encouraging repeat purchases through personalized communication, loyalty programs, and targeted content.
Example: Offering a coupon code when a customer hasn’t placed an order in a while.
S
Short tail keyword
Short tail keywords are brief, general search terms, typically consisting of one or two words, that have high search volume but also high competition, making them important for driving broad traffic.
Example: “Shoes” is a short tail keyword compared to “best-running shoes for women” which is a long tail keyword and drives niche traffic.
Interacting with audiences and promoting content on social platforms.
Example: Responding to comments on Instagram posts and sharing user-generated content.
Social proof is where individuals look to the actions and opinions of others to guide their own decisions, often leveraged in digital PR through testimonials, reviews, and endorsements.
Example: Displaying customer reviews and testimonials on your website to build trust and credibility.
UGC (User-Generated Content)
Content created by users or customers, often used in marketing.
Example: Resharing customer photos wearing your brand’s clothing on social media.
With this glossary, you are now armed with a foundational understanding of Digital PR terminology to support your business’s growth in the digital space. Remember, Digital PR is an ever-evolving field, so staying familiar with these terms will empower you to make informed decisions and adapt to new trends with confidence.
If you are still unsure about any of these terms, don’t hesitate to reach out to our expert team who are happy to help. Contact our expert SEO team.
If you’re building an e-commerce site, you’re probably wondering if your site even needs a blog. The short answer is yes, absolutely it does.
As it turns out, nobody is writing blogs for the sake of it. In fact, businesses with a successful blog generate 67% more leads per month than those without. There are tangible benefits to posting regular blog articles on your e-commerce site and I’m going to walk you through them now.
Did you know that small businesses that blog get a whopping 126% more lead growth than those that don’t?
It’s important not to overlook blogs when thinking about your content marketing. They’re a great way of boosting traffic to your site, building your brand voice and engaging potential customers by informing them about your products.
It’s true that not everyone who visits your website will read your blog, but that doesn’t mean it should be overlooked. You’re probably the fountain of knowledge when it comes to your products, but it can be difficult to demonstrate your knowledge and credibility through product descriptions and landing pages alone. Converting your knowledge into long-form copy is a great way of sharing your expertise and building your brand.
At the end of the day, it’s about convincing people to buy your stuff, and blogs will actively improve your conversion rate optimisation (CRO).
Rather than simply promoting your products, your blog should serve as an information hub for potential customers and contain ‘top of the funnel’ content to target them in the discovery stage of their journey to buying your products.
Blogs should be educational and informative, and by providing expertise and insights into the value of your products, you’ll build your reputation as a trustworthy brand, engage customers and push them towards making a purchase.
Take it from us – SEO is extremely important for any online business and blogging represents a fantastic opportunity to improve your SEO rankings and drive traffic to your e-commerce site.
By writing fresh, long-form copy for your site, you’ll target more keywords than you would on your product pages. What’s more, putting out fresh content is a good way of signalling to Google that your site is active. As a result, Google will push your content further up search algorithms, generating more traffic to your site and improving your SEO and conversion rates.
Blogs are also a great place to target long-tail search. When customers are in the awareness stage of the marketing funnel – that is, aware they have a problem but not of what the solution is or that you as a company offer it – they are more likely to be searching for informational keywords. These ‘top of the funnel’ keywords usually start ‘how’ or ‘why’ and are longer. Individually, they have a lower search volume but there are a lot more of them so this traffic can be substantial. Blogs can be used to cover a lot of informational ground, which will mean your e-commerce site is more likely to pop up when your target audience is researching anything to do with your industry or products.
Capturing this traffic will boost your site’s overall SEO but it will also build awareness around your brand and help funnel traffic to your product pages.
When it comes to blog content, the sky’s the limit. If you think you’ve got nothing to say, start by stepping into the shoes of your potential customers. Ask yourself:
Keyword research can give you solid insights into the questions your customers are asking. However, competitor analysis is also your friend here. By reviewing what others in your niche are writing about, you can pinpoint content gaps and discover what’s generating the most engagement among your target audience (this is often called a ‘content gap analysis’). This approach can set the stage for you to attract consistent, high-quality leads.
To help you get the ball rolling, we’ve put together a quick list of blog ideas for your e-commerce site:
By tapping into these ideas, you’ll keep your blog relevant, informative and engaging.
There is no one-size-fits-all answer when it comes to how often you should post blogs on your e-commerce site. While some companies pump out new content each day, others may only post a few times a month. The amount you post depends on your available time, budget and how much you genuinely have to say about your business.
What matters most is the quality and value of your content. If you find yourself churning out content just for the sake of it, it might be time to take a step back and reassess your content strategy. Often, fewer high-quality posts can deliver better results than posting more frequent, less valuable content.
Birch, Bristol’s newest podcast studio, has opened at Nine Tree Studios in Brislington.
Designed with both “audio and video first”, the space offers high quality audio recording in a comfortable suite that’s designed for film.
“When we opened Nine Tree Studios, supporting the local creative industries was at the heart of everything” said Russell, Co-Founder of Nine Tree Studios.
“We have a huge amount of versatile space, and we want it to be useful, accessible and affordable – not just sit there empty. Bristol doesn’t have a huge amount of podcast suites, with some professionals even travelling to London just to record.”
“With our space we hope to welcome and support a variety of creatives, content producers, influencers and hobbyists alike.”
With full-RGB lighting and space for branding, the studio is perfect for both guest and episodic podcast recording.
Birch also has access to Nine Tree Studios’ other facilities, including ample parking, green rooms for hair and makeup, and a large kitchen breakout space.
The studio can be hired from the hour for just audio recording or including video, with various options to suit beginners and professionals alike.
Nine Tree Studios is Bristol’s biggest independent studio. Located just outside the centre of Bristol there’s parking for over 30 vehicles with easy access to Bristol, Bath and the M4.
For more information visit www.ninetreestudios.co.uk, email [email protected], or call 01173706372.
Can you respond, with impact, to those big industry moments when projecting integrity, trust & credibility becomes key?
On Friday 19th July 2024, the biggest global IT outage to date caught leading service and security providers completely off-guard. Banks, manufacturers, media firms, airports, airlines, rail services, payment systems, the London Stock Exchange, multiple news organisations, and many public and emergency services platforms held up by Microsoft all reported severe interruptions.
Put simply: because resilience is a growing buying priority.
The world’s largest and most industry-critical enterprises are held up by increasingly complex supply chains and vendors.
In the wake of the debacle, thousands of buying groups (including downstream suppliers, partners, industry ecosystems and less-affected but increasingly cautious organisations) will be questioning the reliability of their current IT systems.
And they’ll be asking themselves one thing: do they have the capability to keep the lights on when the next Big Moment hits?
Cutting-edge data from 6Sense reveals that B2B buyers spend 70% of the buying journey doing their own research before talking to vendors.
(view image in blog here.)
Here are the biggest headlines steering optimised B2B content performance in 2024:
Source: 6Sense Point of First Contact Research Summary
If your content and campaigns rely on buyer conversion via a landing-page form or traditional lead generation it’s time to rethink. You won’t be getting your brand in front of key decision makers and influencers when they’re gathering the information that will heavily influence their purchase decision.
It is urgent for B2B sellers to increase their roster of ungated, educational content. You need to remove as much friction as possible for potential buyers wanting fast insights without a form.
Blogs, external product validation, helpful articles, videos, even some higher-value guides/buyers guides should be readily available to your audience without requiring an email. Concerned about tracking conversions when using more ungated content? We can help!
Whether you’re a fledgling startup or an established technology vendor selling into enterprise, Google and LinkedIn are likely your hero channels for paid media. Most organisations have not activated a key superpower: using the two platforms in combination. Deployed correctly, you can build trust with your audience and maximise awareness of your brand during that crucial first 70% of the buying journey.
Installing the LinkedIn Insights Tag on your website pages means you can track visits to specific website pages from your upper-funnel traffic-driving activity. And funnel those people back into LinkedIn. Now you can filter that audience down to your ICP profile (specific companies or industry, job function + seniority), and offer higher-value site visitors a better-connected content experience. Showing them the most relevant assets based on what they have seen and the strength of their engagement. That builds trust faster and accelerates the time between browsing and buying. And it can keep customers loyal when that next big crisis hits.
It this all sounds incredibly complicated, we get it! You want to make sure your content is making an impact on today’s buying journey. That you’re getting the most out of B2B paid media in the do more for less era. And that your digital communications are robust enough to achieve the right impact in a global emergency! That’s where we come in. Talk to us and find out how we can help build you a robust B2B platform.
Looking for a new jacket? According to Ibis World, there are 298,036 apparel manufacturing businesses globally. So how do you choose where to buy?
There’ll be several elements that affect a purchasing decision – particularly cost, quality, and/or location. But other factors that play a major role in where consumers shop are values and authenticity.
In fact, 90% of consumers say that authenticity is important when deciding which brands they support. In addition, 75% say they are likely to buy a product from a company that shares their values.
So, why are values and authenticity in marketing so important?
We’re now in an age where fake news, deep fakes and influencers peddling products they don’t actually use is the norm. And with the rise of e-commerce, we’re constantly being sold items and services every hour, of every day.
This bombardment of false promises and shallow marketing has driven customers to look for companies with more substance; companies that support their claims with actions.
Customers typically see straight through – and don’t appreciate – inauthentic and impersonal marketing tactics.
So how can you ensure your business doesn’t make these mistakes? It all starts with ‘why’. Why do you do what you do in the first place?
Being authentic and having strong values go hand in hand. But there are some important distinctions between the two.
AUTHENTIC: According to Oxford Languages, the definition of authentic is ‘of undisputed origin and not a copy; genuine’.
VALUES: The definition of values is ‘principles or standards of behaviour; one’s judgement of what is important in life’
While values are about beliefs and one’s outlook on life, authenticity is about who you are as a person (or in this case, business).
Unfortunately, an all-too-common occurrence is businesses falsely claiming they have certain values and beliefs to gain social clout and more customers.
This is also known as colourwashing (which we’ve written a blog about here). Not only can colourwashing slow down progress towards positive and important changes, but it also creates distrust in your company.
Stretching the truth about your values, and not being transparent in your marketing activities, will weaken the connection you have with your customers.
Not convinced?
According to a 2016 study, almost 94% of all consumers are more likely to be loyal to a brand when it commits to full transparency.
And when you obtain loyalty from your audience and customers, you’ll see business growth, more people making repeat purchases, and an enhanced company reputation.
Almost 94% of consumers are more likely to be loyal to a brand when it commits to full transparency.
You may be wondering where to start when conveying your values truthfully to your audience.
First you need to establish what your values as a business are.
Next, start showing you mean what you say through action.
For example, you could raise awareness of issues and organisations that align with your values, or donate some of your business’ profits to relevant causes.
It’s also important to note that this action isn’t a one-and-done situation. You need to continuously back up your claims to build audience trust.
Now, it’s time to tell people about it!
Communicating your actions and values both internally to your team and partners, and externally to your customers and stakeholders, is vital for a business. It deepens connection and understanding between your company and your audience.
Communication examples include:
What to do: Mind Corporate Partnerships
Mind is a mental health charity that stands up to injustices in healthcare, work and law which make life harder for people with mental health problems.
A section of their charity is dedicated to corporate partnerships so businesses can work with Mind to support their work and help fight for mental health.
This feature is so effective because not only are they starting a conversation with individuals, but they’re opening connections with businesses so even more people can get involved.
Their website contains plenty of resources and support for those struggling with their mental health, including workplace wellbeing.
By pairing their business statements with tangible resources, more people are likely to work with them and recommend their services.
What not to do: Naked’s lack of transparency
For this example, we’ll look through a more B2C lens, although the principles still apply to B2B businesses.
Naked offers a range of juice drinks, manufactured by PepsiCo. These products are marketed in such a way as to lead consumers to believe they’re a healthy option.
Statements on its packaging once included ‘only the best ingredients’ and ‘no sugar added’, but the Centre for Science in the Public Interest filed a lawsuit in 2016 because they were misleading.
In fact:
Following the lawsuit, Naked amended the erroneous claims and offered compensation to those who purchased products between a certain timeframe.
But despite its attempts to rectify the situation, both trust – and therefore loyalty in the brand – was lost.
Authenticity and values are interlinked – being authentic is about staying true to said values and being intentional about them.
However, authenticity is about also showing people who you are as a business. It’s about transparency in your marketing. It’s about being open with an audience, even if you’re not perfect.
This vulnerability leads to brand trust.
“Your audience is used to ignoring inauthentic marketing attempts from other businesses. Differentiate yourself by being genuine.”
So how do you go about being authentic as a B2B business? And how do you share this with your audience?
It’s crucial you remain honest in your statements and efforts.
Establishing brand guidelines early on also plays a key role in exhibiting your authenticity. This is because it will help you stay consistent in your messaging, your marketing materials, and your goals.
A major part of authentic marketing is having direct communication with your customers. This may be through:
By opening the door to discussions in real time, you’ll receive invaluable feedback that will allow you to make profound improvements.
In fact, according to a report by Microsoft, 77% of customers have a better opinion of brands that ask for and accept customer feedback.
Another interesting method to show authenticity and gain brand buy-in is through ‘behind the scenes’ materials. Whether this is showing your audience where / how your products are made, the team behind the business, or a Q&A session.
And finally, testimonials are a great way to offer transparency. Sharing feedback from those not necessarily invested in the company itself – i.e. objective opinion – creates believability. This is known as social proofing.
Social proofing is:
“the psychological concept that people are influenced in their decision making by others, compelling them to act within societal norms or expectations.”
Social proofing done well
Airbnb utilises the power of social proofing in their marketing brilliantly. In fact, as a platform that’s built to both enable people to host strangers in their properties, and for people to stay in strangers’ properties, their business success depends on it.
Airbnb includes reviews from guests and hosts which can include photos, stories about people’s stays, and their names.
This adds a personal touch to the platform, which increases trust from users. But it also provides details of others’ experiences using the service, giving clear evidence of customer satisfaction.
Authenticity and value-based marketing ultimately comes down to 4 things:
It’s as much of a benefit to you as it is your audience. In return for your honesty, and so-called vulnerability, your audience will be significantly more likely to invest time (and money) into your brand.
With a loyal customer base, you’re increasing your chances of seeing more growth in your business as people recommend your products/services to others.
And it’s important to remember – this isn’t just for B2C companies, B2B companies should be doing the same.
We’re now in an age where businesses are trying to sell as much as possible and advertise wherever they can. So, when 57% of consumers think that less than half of brands create authentic content, make sure you’re standing out for the right reasons.
After all, people now value quality over quantity, and neither you nor your customers should settle for anything less.
Looking to find out how you can tell your audience about your authenticity and values? Get in touch at [email protected] to find out how we can help.
Are you feeling like your blogs and social posts are shots in the dark, fired out without a clear aim and, ultimately, missing the mark?
Or maybe you feel there are never enough hours in the day to be consistently updating your digital platforms, like you’re always catching up.
There are a number of reasons why your B2B digital strategy might be falling flat.
So, how do you keep the conversation about your brand, products, and services fresh and engaging, without sounding like a broken record? And why does it feel so challenging?
“…58% of businesses don’t have a digital strategy in place…”
It turns out, 50% of businesses don’t have a digital strategy in place. Those that do certainly aren’t immune to avoidable marketing mistakes. And, as Roger L. Martin – strategy and management expert, and author of A New Way to Think – puts it, strategy is NOT planning:
“A strategy is an integrative set of choices that positions you on a playing field of your choice, in a way that you win.”
In essence, strategy is a theory, meaning there is a ‘how’ and a ‘why’. The ‘why’ is the reason you choose to do it. And the how, is the way you plan to beat your competition – playing to your organisation’s strengths to gain opportunities and sidestep risks.
Why do you need a digital strategy?
Every business will have different aims, but here are some reasons you might want to dial up your digital strategy:
Your competition is growing a strong following and gaining market share
Digital platforms give you the opportunity to test what works and what doesn’t, helping you hone your messaging and stay competitive. If your competitor is gaining traction online, it’s likely no accident – you can bet they have a solid strategy in place.
You’re under pressure to do more with less where your marketing budget is concerned
Compared to traditional OOH marketing, TV and print, digital marketing can offer low-cost opportunities to reach even more people – both organic and paid. A robust digital strategy will help you prioritise where you spend that limited budget to maximise returns.
Your sales and marketing teams don’t have enough data to confidently modernise their approach
It’s a misconception that B2B sales are all about meeting rooms, suits and handshakes. In fact, a recent report from Sana found that 58% of B2B buyers prefer placing complex and high-value orders online. By harnessing the power of data in your digital strategy, you can learn a lot about your audience and their preferences. This has the power to transform your marketing communications, your sales patter and direct messaging, and dictate how and where you choose to advertise.
Your audience needs your products or services, but they don’t know it yet
Sometimes an extra step of awareness and education is needed to nurture prospective customers. If you have products or services that require a bit more explanation, digital marketing offers numerous opportunities to build anticipation and understanding, guiding them into the next stage of the funnel. LinkedIn advertising is a particularly effective way to educate a B2B audience.
How will you plan your strategy, to ensure success?
“Invest deeply in understanding the problem before proceeding. You create a strategy; you don’t pick one. Design and imagination are critically important to strategy.”
– Richard Rumelt, Good Strategy/Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why it Matters.
Diving deep into the complexities of your industry and consumer behaviour isn’t just helpful – it’s essential groundwork for crafting your B2B digital marketing strategy.
You’re battling lengthy sales cycles, multi-seat buying committees, and high-stakes transactions. So, it’s crucial to nurture your audience with a well-thought-out digital marketing strategy.
This means catering to every key audience persona, at every stage of the marketing funnel – from awareness, right through to decision.
Equally, business-to-business marketing is a competitive game. Developing an effective B2B marketing strategy requires an in-depth understanding of not only your industry and audience, but your competition.
Once you have your market research in place and a solid understanding of the pain points your audience is facing, you can figure out how you want to position yourself.
Key challenges when developing a B2B digital marketing strategy:
What to do?
1. Choose the channels you want to reach your customers on
Where can you find your audience? How do you want them to engage?
2. Develop a content strategy
Provide content that speaks to your audience in every stage of the buyer journey: awareness, consideration, decision, as well as making it unique and reflective of your brand. What value are you adding to your audience? How is your content going to solve their problems?
3. Use paid promotion to your advantage
Decide where you want to put your budget that will be most effective for you. For instance, do your customers mainly search for your product on Google? In that case PPC may be the most viable option. Or perhaps you offer a product that appeals to Gen Z – if so, consider TikTok, Instagram or Snapchat. Be sure to track your spending and the conversion rate to optimise wherever possible and get the most bang for your buck.
4. Map out the customer journey
Use tools like Hotjar and GA4, and any other analytics tools you’re subscribed to, and map the journey of your customer from awareness of your brand (social media engagement, for example) and first website visits right through to purchase.
5. Decide which tools best meet your aims
Ensure you research marketing tools carefully before subscribing, and select ones that most seamlessly slot into your processes, providing the most efficient and effective support for the least investment.
6. Get your hands on as much data as possible
Use it to evaluate the effectiveness of your digital marketing strategy, which should be flexible enough to adapt with your findings. Then, be sure to make use of A/B testing to find out how your data works in practice.
Not sure where to start?
Chat to us today for a free consultation and we can provide some tips to help breathe new life into your B2B digital marketing strategy, boost engagement and get you those all-important conversions.
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