Previous to trying to tell you, based on my experience, how to develop an effective articles marketing strategy – let me try to illustrate why it is important that you do so.
Articles in the newspaper, magazines, and professional journals have always been the most effective way of showing our audience that our insights have worth.
For university professors the expression “publish or perish” inescapable factually that, if you could not get your work in print by a reputable educational publication, it was unlikely that you would be taken sufficiently seriously by your peers – putting a very real ceiling on your career development.
In 1483 Martin Luther used his writing to create a rebellion in faith that spread around the world. Others previous to and since have used the power of the written word to endorse themselves, their opinions, and their distinctiveness in their marketplace.
Most of us regular people develop our articles marketing strategy to help us gain clients or clients. We want to rise above the noise of our competitors, provide matter not hype, and we want to back up our assertions with facts – all things we can do more effectively through an article writing movement than in any other way.
And since there is no editorial board running the Internet, we do not have to seek the endorsement of our “betters” in order to get our message in print – making pertinent and well reasoned articles a small business marketing strategy that can be truly effective.
When your articles drive people to your web site you have done the hard part. Receiving the right traffic to our sites is job #1.
Since people search the Internet for solutions and your articles address them compellingly enough for people to click through to your web site – you have won the fight for their attention. You must now change that fleeting attention into action. Depending on your system or service and the normal buying process you may have an opt-in page powered by a shopping cart system, simple direct sales offers, or another applicable call to action.
Unnecessary to say there is no “single” articles marketing policy that is most effective for all of us all the time or there would be just one. Of course there are some that work better than others – and what will work best for you depends upon your strengths and your objectives.
When I began writing articles for online publication I had an objective – something I want people to do after reading them and something I required to become more widely recognized for. You should do the same.
Are you an specialist? Well of course you are, even if you feel funny about identifying yourself as an authority. In your field you are an authority. It is up to you to define what you are an expert at, exemplify your particular uniqueness. Almost everybody is an authority at something and if you really don’t consider yourself an authority then you can learn to be one by hiring somebody that is actually an expert and modeling them.
Did I talk about that this is a small business marketing strategy that costs next to nothing, other than your time researching and writing the articles themselves? You can easily set up an autoresponder system powered by a shopping cart program and distribute these articles in the form of an email newsletter.
This is not your usual newsletter that requires you to go to the printer and distribute a three or four page synopsis of what’s going on in your company or community. It is an electronic account of that old-fashioned, and in its time, most effective marketing and customer retention tool.
In order to set up your 21st century email newsletter, you need a small business marketing strategy that allows you to gather e-mail addresses. Let’s say that you start out with one of your customer’s e-mail addresses. You send them a copy of your electronic newsletter. (Always ask for permission first)
If the newsletter includes some bit of information that their friends would find appealing, encourage them to send it along to them. Research shows that most people have at least six friends that they contact regularly.
Since of the popularity of social networking, some people have dozens of friends that they are in touch with on a standard basis. With an effective articles marketing strategy, you can tap into that network and grow your business.
One suggestion I always make if you anticipate to have an useful small business marketing strategy is to precisely recognize your specific niche audience. What group or groups of people would be especially interested in your products or services? If so, that’s your niche. Are there discussion boards, social networks or e-magazines targeting that niche?
There is a web site for almost every hobby or group curiosity that you can think of. If you run a company that made kites, you can find specific groups of people that are kiting enthusiasts. All that you need to do is to start writing brief informational articles about kites and then post those articles at a kiting e-magazine. A link would be placed in the article that connects to your web site.
This type of articles marketing strategy does not even require you to gather e-mail addresses to grow your business
. It’s all electronic.
Discover more about these strategies and start watching your customer base grow.
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