This can be a good thing, but it can also make it difficult to stand out from the competition. 

That’s why it’s so important for B2B companies to focus on creating concise content that is clear, engaging, and provides value to their audience.

Here are the top 3 reasons this form of content is superior for B2B companies. 

First, it helps businesses save time and money. 

Creating useful, high-quality content can be time-consuming and expensive to create, edit and publish. 

It allows businesses to get their message across quickly and effectively, without having to spend a lot of resources.

Here are the main reasons…

• Efficient Creation: Shorter content takes less time to write, reducing labor costs.
• Quicker Reviews: Brevity speeds up editing and review processes.
• Lower Production Costs: Short content means fewer print pages or shorter videos, cutting production expenses.
• Focused Messaging: Sticking to the core message avoids unnecessary spending on extraneous details. It gets to the point.
• Improved Engagement: Direct content reduces audience “bounce” rates, optimizing return on investment.
• Easy Repurposing: Brief content can be swiftly adapted for various social media platforms, maximizing its utility without diluting the message.
  
  Concise content stands out in an information-saturated world, offering businesses both attention capture and financial efficiency.

Second, concise content helps businesses reach their target audience more effectively. 

In today’s fast-paced world, people don’t have time to read long, rambling pieces of content. 

Sometimes they do, but when they are on the go, they want to get to the point quickly without having to wade through the fluff.

Concise content allows businesses to get their message across quickly and clearly so that their target audience can easily understand what they are saying.

• Short Attention Spans: Snackable content aligns with today’s quick consumption habits, ensuring full message absorption.
• Direct Messaging: Brevity leads to clarity, allowing the core message to stand out.
• Mobile-Friendly: Bite-sized content is more readable on mobile devices, enhancing user experience.
• Boosts Sharing: Straightforward, valuable content is more shareable, broadening its reach.
• Adaptability: Concise pieces can be repurposed across various platforms, reaching diverse audience segments.
• Prevents Overload: Succinct content avoids overwhelming readers in an information-saturated world.
• Builds Trust: Offering concise insights shows respect for the audience’s time, fostering brand trust.

In summary, in a fast-paced digital landscape, brevity ensures effective communication, expands reach, and strengthens the brand-audience connection.

Third, this content helps businesses improve their SEO rankings. 

Google and other search engines reward websites that publish high-quality, concise content. 

This is because shorter content is more likely to be read and shared by users. 

As a result, businesses that use it are more likely to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs).

If you’re a B2B company, it’s important to focus on brevity because it is clear, engaging, and provides value to your audience. 

Concise content can help you save time and money, reach your target audience more effectively, and improve your SEO rankings.

Here are a few tips for writing short content:

• Know your audience: What are their pain points? What information are they looking for?
• Get to the point: State your main message in the first sentence or two.
• Use active voice: This will make your content more engaging and easier to read.
• Use simple language: Avoid jargon and complex sentences.
• Use bullet points and numbered lists: This will make your content easier to scan and understand.
• Use visuals: Images, infographics, and videos can help break up your text and make your content more visually appealing.
• Edit and proofread: Make sure your content is free of errors.

Wrapping Up

By following these tips, you can write better, more impactful content that helps you achieve your business goals by communicating with your target audiences more efficiently and effectively.

The post Why Concise Content Is Superior for B2B Companies appeared first on // 551 Media LLC.

But as a marketer, have you thought about podcasts as a content strategy?

Podcasts aren’t just for creatives who want their voices heard.

Brands can start using podcasts as part of their content strategy to reach more people, educate their buyers and build an engaged community.

Podcasts are a way for brands to find customers with a different kind of content, one that’s easier to consume.

Instead, people can listen to podcasts on their way to work, while they’re relaxing at home, or even while they’re at the gym.

This article will explain why brands should use podcasts as part of their digital marketing strategy and how to do it.

Benefits of Podcasts for Content Marketing

Easy to start

Podcasting doesn’t require expensive equipment and a studio to begin.

Instead, you just need a microphone and recording software. Of course, you can always invest in high-quality equipment and a studio, but it’s not necessary when you’re just beginning.

So think simple when starting out.

Podcasts are easy to consume

Brands are always looking for new ways to connect with their audiences easily.

As you already know, people have a short attention span, so it can be difficult to teach them about topics when they’re constantly distracted.

However, with podcasts, your audience can listen in while they’re doing anything.

Drive better Engagement

An engaged community means informed buyers and loyal customers.

Podcasts drive continuous engagement because they inform and educate their audiences – something every company should be doing.

People who listen to podcasts typically spend more time listening to them than they would when reading their favorite blogs or articles.

Additionally, they’re notified each time there’s a new podcast to listen to if they’re subscribed. By easily delivering new content to your audience, you can reach them wherever they are.

Boost your content output

Podcasts are a great way to supplement your other content efforts, but they also offer you the opportunity to create a unified strategy with your company blogs and video content.

Your podcast can also increase social media engagement and help you throughout your entire digital marketing strategy.

Additionally, you can boost engagement on your website by using podcast transcriptions to increase your SEO, offer new articles, and develop infographics from.

Cement your thought leadership

Podcasts are a great way to elevate your spokespeople and increase their thought leadership.

Instead of forcing your audience to read a long blog by your CEO, you can ask that they listen to a podcast to learn more about a topic and how your people suggest challenges be addressed and solved.

Because podcasts are conversational your listeners can learn from the dialogue between your host and their guests.

Improving Your Content Strategy With Podcasts

It’s clear that podcasts can increase your audience’s engagement with your brand, but many small businesses lack the expertise to start podcasting.

So, here’s how you can start improving your content strategy with podcasts.

Interview Interesting Thinkers in Your Industry

If you specialize in an industry, you might already have connections to other thought leaders, especially those with engaged audiences.

Unfortunately, even though you might be an expert in your field, it can be difficult to build a podcast audience if nobody has heard of you. 

However, there are likely many thought leaders in your industry, and I’ll bet you know who they are. Think about inviting them onto your show as a guest.

Leverage the community of other podcasts by interviewing their hosts on your show. This is a popular and effective strategy used by many podcasters, so don’t be shy.

This applies to influencers too. Many have their own podcasts so be sure to invite them onto your show as a guest.

Naturally, I’m not suggesting you interview a competitor, but you can certainly interview journalists and other industry experts including analysts to help yours develop trust with a new audience.

Have a Timely and Consistent Publishing Schedule

Podcasting is not a one-off content strategy. Like any digital marketing strategy, you’ll need to create podcasts regularly.

It’s typically best to have a schedule for podcasting.

For example:

You can have a podcast come out the same day every week to ensure your audience knows when to listen in.

Creating timely episodes will also make people want to tune in regularly because they’ll want to stay updated on the current news you talk about.

Use Social Media to Your Advantage

Podcasts not only give you more content to share across social media channels, but you can use also use it to help get more listeners.

You can use both organic and paid social media strategies to amplify your audience engagement and create buzz for your next episode.

You can also promote past episodes, so people never stop listening to what you have to say.

Choose the Right Topics

Before you can begin podcasting, you’ll need to know what topic to focus on and what type of style you’ll use.

You can podcast any way you want, but what resonates with your audience will depend on your niche.

Ask yourself, do you want to have a formal or informal style to your podcast?

For instance, if you’re a B2B business, you might want to podcast using an interview style that leverages relevant influencers in your industry to help generate buzz.

However, you can also co-host podcasts with another person on your team to make them more conversational.

Whatever you choose to do, you’ll need conversation topics to help avoid any awkward pauses. 

If you’re using podcasts to improve your content strategy, always ensure you’re podcasting about relevant topics that help inform and educate your audience.

Think of it like this:

If you’re a pet industry business, there’s no reason for you to podcast about current events unless they involve pets.

In this case, you might want to interview vets and industry experts to help build trust with your audience and make them more interested in your point of view and business.

Hold Regular Contests

One way to keep your audience engaged is to hold regular contests and allow listeners to win something by tuning in.

Of course, you don’t have to get fancy with your contests.

Instead, you can ask listeners to post a photo or answer a question on your social media with a unique hashtag to win free swag.

Know Your Audience

Before you can begin podcasting, you should know important information about your target audience, including their interests, challenges, and aspirations.

For example:

If you’re in the automotive industry, you might want to talk about current events be sure to focus on electric vehicles and hybrids.

Of course, you should know whether or not your audience is interested in learning about these types of cars by researching who your audience is and their interests.

Knowing as much as possible about your target audience is the smart play.

Closing thoughts

Podcasting is a great way to boost your content marketing strategy in a new format that promotes engagement without asking too much of your audience.

Of course, you should do a few things before you start podcasting, including choosing the right topics, writing your podcasts, and learning about the types of topics your audience is interested in. 

Marné Amoguis holds a B.A. in International Business from UC San Diego. She is a contributing writer at 365businesstips.com where she loves sharing her passion for digital marketing. Outside of writing, she loves traveling, playing music, and hiking.

The post How to Improve Your Content Strategy with Podcasts appeared first on // 551 Media LLC.

We’re all competing for attention and it’s never been greater.

That’s why you need to pay attention to HOW you are going to cut through the noise.

Getting better SEO by through links back to your website is a great way to do it.

The more links you get, the better your SEO which means people find you more easily.

SEO sounds complicated (some of it is) … but I’ll show you it doesn’t have to be.

When you work with influencers you can get valuable link juice back to your site.

Your SEO goes up making your site rank better in search engines like Google.

That’s not all:

People who didn’t know about you now find you and your audience grows.

Sounds good, doesn’t it?

In this post, you’ll learn how influencer marketing can do all that.

Let’s get going…

Why You Should Improve Your SEO

Around 89% of internet users rely upon online searches to help them make purchasing decisions.

Raising your SEO is a big part of the success of your blog or website.

It also helps your ROI if you’re selling a product or course.

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The book, “Marketing Through Trust” talks about why this is.

For example:

• 93% of potential customers use searches in determining which company they should purchase from (regardless of price)
• Over 90% of the click-through statistics taken from search results come from organic results
• Only a meager 8% of the CTR (click-through rate) from search engines comes as a result of paid advertising efforts.

In other words, you can impact those all-important organic search results in Google.

But here’s the real kicker:

Influencer marketing can improve your chances of converting audience members into loyal customers (sales).

What’s This Influencer Stuff All About?

In every walk of life, there are people who can be considered influential.

They are authors, speakers, business owners, CEOs, athletes, TV stars, and regular people like you and me who just happen to be authoritative.

It doesn’t matter what business you are in.

It could be fashion, food, entertainment … somebody has already built a relationship with your ideal customers.

Influencer marketing means reaching out and forging relationships with those individuals and exchanging value so you both benefit.

Some people call it “word-of-mouth” marketing.

The value you provide can be money,  providing a product to review or something else.

Your consumers get to learn more about you, your company, your products from a trusted source.

Research backs this up:

92% of consumers will believe the recommendation of someone that they trust over any other form of advertising.

It is that simple.

Influencers, therefore, are important because they are trusted and they direct people to take an action (buy stuff).

Boost SEO by Link Building with Influencers

Its all about getting hyperlinks from trusted websites that lead back to yours.

A hyperlink or backlink is used by search engines to crawl the web to find content that people value.

Backlinks are seen as a vote of confidence by search engines. That’s why you want them.

Profesional SEOs use a lot of different strategies, but most agree that link building is one of the most important for these reasons.

So, building relationships with authority sites are one of the best and most natural ways to do it.

But it gets better:

When you form those relationships and get the backlinks it also means you get ten times bigger conversions.

More conversions = more sales.

Not Just Any Backlinks Will Do

Getting links used to be easy but some people abused the privilege.

They started purchasing spammy, low-quality links as a way of boosting their search rankings.

As a result, Google and other search engines put more effort into assessing the value of the backlinks.

And those updates in the current algorithms never stop, so you don’t want links from just anywhere.

Work to get backlinks from respected, authority influencers who have content on their website that relates to yours.

This is known as congruence and adds more value to the links you get.

By reaching out to influencers within your specific industry or market, you can get those relevant links.

Now:

Influencers can produce backlinks for you in different ways, including:

• Sharing your content on social media (Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn) although these will be “nofollow” links
• Allowing you to write guest posts for their blogs that link back to your landing page or website
• Writing “unsponsored” posts that link back to your website (because they value your content)
• Include your content in a round-up post or list post

What about sponsored posts?

Keep in mind that sponsored links that come from an influencer’s site may be regarded as a “paid link” by Google, and as such will not be counted towards your SEO ranking.

That’s not to say there’s no value in reaching out to influencers and asking them to write about your product, however – even if you do need to pay them.

Simply asking an influencer to talk about you may be enough to direct traffic back to your site.

The key to making this happen is building a relationship with them.

Influencers Are The Gift That Keeps on Giving

When influencers mention you, your company or product, they direct interested people your way.

They’re like traffic cops directing traffic.

If you have a decent marketing funnel, these people who get directed to you may even buy something.

Like I said earlier, consumers are more likely to trust peer content over brand advertising.

So what’s the bottom line:

Relationships with influencers help to build trust, gets you more traffic and help you sell.

Ask them to review your product, read your book, promote your service.

Look at it this way, if you open a restaurant and don’t have any reviews people don’t know about all the great meals you have to offer.

On the other hand, if your restaurant has a review from one of the most famous culinary bloggers around, you’ll likely have people coming to try you out.

Relationships = opportunities and that means business for you.

How to Put This Strategy Into Action Fast

Its important to know how to reach out to the right people in your industry.

Simply contacting people that you consider to be authoritative and begging them to write about you or share links on social media isn’t going to get you anywhere. Instead, you’ll likely get ignored.

So, what do you do?

Instead, you need to research the influencers and reach out to them in a way that will help them to feel connected with you.

For starters, it’s usually a good idea to start by searching for mid-level influencers who have a smaller target audience, but still a significant social following.

“Micro influencers” is the term used these days.  Whatever.

A micro influencer is usually someone with between 2k and 25k in followers, who can make waves for your business but may not be able to break you out of anonymity on a global scale.

Once you’ve found someone like this, be sure to get noticed by commenting on their blog posts and following them on social media.

A large percentage of the influencers with higher profile followings are likely to be approached by businesses continually.

So it’s a lot harder to get noticed.

Micro influencers are a route to get some results faster.

Get your free copy of my free Blueprint about working with influencers so you have the proven template.

It was this formula that helped me sell millions of dollars of products for my Fortune 500 clients.

If it works for them, it certainly can work for you.

Make the Most It

I’ve mentioned it before, but I’ll say it again…

It all comes down to relationships!

Don’t forget that.

Develop relationships with the influencers who you want to work with.

Once you get some relationships started, you’ll be able to do a lot.

For example:

• Ask influencers to do an “unboxing” video of your product (tech influencers do this all the time)
• Ask some influencers to review your product or service
• Suggest a guest post on your blog (or theirs) or a series of guest posts
• Suggest a side by side comparison of your product versus a competitor’s

Fortunately, the power in the marketing world has shifted to the consumer.

Now:

Remember that no matter which influencers you have access to, your main goal is to provide serious value to them and your consumers.

Be sure that you connect with influencers on a regular basis using as many different platforms as possible.

Stay active. Stay visible.

The more you do this, the less upfront effort you’ll have to put into working with other influencers.

They’ll see who you’re working with and how.

With Influencer marketing bound to get even more popular in the coming year, you’ll want to get ahead of your competitors and start making a splash in your industry.

So get started now and leave comments if you have questions. I’m always around to help.

Want more?  Come join us in my free Facebook group so we can continue the conversation:

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