Like any aspect of building your business, creating a strong and visible online presence requires an informed and flexible strategy. The content you create online is neither effective or profitable when you don’t reach the right audience: customers. Content distribution is the field of online marketing that revolves around the way you distribute content through different paid, earned and owned platforms. It’s important that you employ each of these categories, using different channels to reach different segments of your audience where they are. 

Just as you wouldn’t rely on a single marketing effort in the physical world – like putting all of your marketing spend into a single ad on a single radio station – you don’t want to silo your efforts online. Here, we’ll discuss the different content distribution portals that, working together, can create a strong presence online.  

Content distribution is an umbrella term for all the ways that you deliver content online to mass audiences. There are all types of content – from blogs to informative web pages, images to advertisements. The way you disseminate these various messages to your clients is grouped based on where the content lives and if you’ve paid to distribute it or increase its visibility or not. 

Owned Media 

Owned media lives on a website, blog, or social media account that belongs to your business. You own your website and/or blog and may also have handles (like @220Marketing) on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, or other channels. 

Social Media 

Social media is a key component of content distribution that are relatively affordable. Creating a Facebook account for your business, for example, is completely free. You can communicate through this and other social media accounts with your clients and get a good gauge on how engaged they are with your posts (i.e., how many times posts receive likes or comments). When a client asks a question or posts a comment on your business’s social account, you can create individualized responses, all for free. Later, we’ll discuss paid ways you can use social media. 

Email Marketing 

Email marketing was one of the first types of digital content distribution, and today it remains a popular option because it’s easily tracked and can be personalized for different segments of your readers. Companies use email marketing to share specials and sales, to drive traffic to their websites, and create brand familiarity among potential and existing clients. 

Website Content 

Over time, clients will begin to recognize your online presence through your owned media channels. Google and other search engines likewise observe and evaluate your public content as they crawl (scan through) owned media. When it comes to your website, you can improve the way that search engines read and classify your site by using search engine optimization (SEO), which includes strategic placement of keywords and adding “meta data” on the back end of your site. By actively and consistently releasing quality content through these channels, you can improve your ranking and visibility on SERPs (search engine results pages). 

You can maintain a great deal of control over the content you release through owned media. Releasing content through these channels is typically very affordable or even free. Maintaining a domain name and website can cost just a few hundred dollars a year, while social media channels are typically free, even for businesses. 

Earned Media 

Earned media describes any type of content distribution that occurs when other people online contribute to or share your content. If a customer leaves a Yelp review about your business, for example, that content becomes part of the web of information about your business that exists online. When a review, comment, tagged Instagram picture or other piece of content is positive, that can improve your reputation online. It may also improve your ranking on SERPs when a search engine  recognizes that there’s buzz about your business online. Links are another type of earned media in which another website, blog or person hyperlinks to your website or tags your business. This sets you up as a source of information, which can improve visibility and drive traffic. 

When its favorable, earned media can be a huge boost for your business. Much like word-of-mouth, digital earned media creates reputation and buzz online. It serves as a reflection of your interactions with your customers. It is important to note that bad reviews or buzz online can similarly damage your online presence. 

Paid Media 

Paid media, as its name implies, is a way to reach customers by leveraging pay channels to distribute your content. Paid channels include advertisements, pay-per-click advertising on SERPs (which bring up your business as a top result when certain keywords are searched), and sponsorships. Each of these methods can be very helpful in improving visibility online, usually in coordination with earned and owned media efforts. You can use paid media to drive traffic to your website, to a coupon page you’ve created for a special promotion, or to any other piece of content for which you’d like to improve visibility. 

While creating a business page on most social media applications is free, you also have the opportunity to build visibility through paid campaigns. These campaigns allow you to improve visibility among targeted consumers based on their demographics and activity. With this information, you can schedule posts and ads to reach your target demographics at the right time and even track leads. 

Many businesses choose to work with a marketing professional to create the right combination of paid media efforts. You’ll want to target any paid media to target customers in a specific area or demographic, without paying for visibility in front of people who aren’t likely to ever patronize your business. A marketing specialist can create a campaign using online tools like Google AdWords that will help you get the biggest bang for your buck. 

Content Distribution for Long-term Success 

One of the most important rules to take away from your efforts in content distribution is to create quality content that your target audience finds valuable. A content marketing specialist can help you create a plan of attack to improve your online presence using this quality content. Ultimately, you can build the right buzz about your company through well-planned content distribution and turn it into real-world business success! 

The post Becoming a Pro at Content Distribution appeared first on 220 Marketing Group.

Here are some tips and tricks to bring life back to your emails with a little creativity:

Ask Your Subscribers What They Want?

Instead of guessing what your subscribers want, flat-out ask them. Survey your customers to see what they like, what they want more or less of, and what would make them visit your website more. Customers will appreciate the consideration of their opinion and their responses will help you to create a new email campaign that you may never have thought of yourself.

This information can be collected through an email survey or through a customized landing page or lead capture form. Ask what their topic preference for articles is, what types of deals they would like to see, or what additional products and services they would like to see offered by your company.

Secret Codes

Everyone enjoys the thrill of a good scratch off ticket now and then. Why not offer this thrill to your email recipients. Segment your database of subscribers into groups and email each group a “Secret Code” or “Hidden Discount” that requires them to click on your email to see what they have won. Your recipients should not know what they won until they are on your website.

Solve a Problem

The best way to get your emails read by subscribers is to provide value. To provide value, think about what it is your customers struggle with. Provide a solution as well as tips and tricks to remedy their concerns.
Real-Time

Nothing shows you care like a triggered quick response. The ultimate goal should be to have the customer receive an email from you before they have even left the website. With this tactic, not only are you showing the customer that you care, but the convenience of receiving real-time information based on your interest is unbeatable.

Royal Treatment

Everyone enjoys some good VIP treatment. Praise your most valuable customers by making them feel like they are your one and only customer.  Send your “selected” subscribers separate emails or provide them with a unique title like “VIP” or “Elite Member.” Entice your VIP subscribers to share content and let them invite their friends and family to be one of the few members of this elite group.

Now its time for you to spice up that bland email marketing campaign and put some of these tactics to use.

220 Marketing specializes in Online Marketing and Management for industries such as Insurance Marketing, Real Estate Marketing, and Mortgage Marketing.

The post Time to Spice Up your Email Marketing Campaign appeared first on 220 Marketing Group.

In order to identify what type of content you should be putting in your blog, you will first need to identify what is preventing people from sharing your current content. Below you will find seven answers as to why no one is sharing your blog.

1. Your Headline Leaves Something to Be Desired.

The headline of your blog is the most important element, as it is the first things your reader is going to see. If they get a list of featured blogs for the day or a list of search engine results, you want to write something that will grab their attention and make sure the blog is read. Try writing a big, bold headline that will give people a sense of urgency and make them click on that link. Sometimes writing funny or barbed headlines will not only make people chuckle, but it will make them more interested in what you have to say in the rest of your blog.

2. Your Timing Is Off

According to most studies, blogs that are posted in the morning get the most views, especially when targeting women. Doing a little research to find out when your target audience is most likely to go online and look for blogs will help you tremendously in the long run. This can be done by sending out a survey of current readers to find out more, or reading off your analytics report to see what times you generated the most clicks. Finding out when to post is important, but staying organized and planning ahead will also make things easier. Create a sharing calendar and stick with it so you know that you have that time blocked out to put your content online and have the best chance of having it read.

3. You Don’t Have Regular Readers

If you have regulars that read your blog, you will consistently have people visiting and talking about your content to others. Writing posts that ask for the feedback of your readers and responding to those comments will help them feel like they are a part of your blog. If people know that their opinion is wanted and actually listened to, they will be more likely to come back and also pass your name and information on to others.

4. You Write About Yourself

People who are close to you may think that your company and your knowledge is interesting, but that may be where the interest stops and they may not be your target audience. Writing how-to articles that show your knowledge and make people interested in the information you are providing will help you have a greater chance that people will keep coming back for more. Instead of writing about what your company can do for them, provide general tips that everyone can use whether they are paying for your services or not. Addressing topics that people learn about will peak their interest more than hearing about how great you are, so always keep this in mind when reading what you just wrote before you post it.

5. Your Posts are too similar

Providing the same content or format over and over again is a sure fire way to lose people’s interest. Switching it up and providing graphics or videos to illustrate your information will keep them coming back to see what you are going to come up with next. Keep it fresh and keep them guessing and they will be back!

6. You Ramble

You may be great at filling in space with unnecessary words when writing thanks to minimum page requirements in school, but putting lengthy paragraphs and superfluous language will lose your readers from the start. Draft out what points you want to make, and keep your content simple. When reading blogs, people want to go in and get the information they are looking for without too many obstacles getting in the way. Before hitting submit, look through and see if there is any content that is not needed and remove it. This will help keep the interest of your readers and let them know that they will be able to find what they are looking for easily every time the comeback.

7. You Make it Difficult to Share

Having a social sharing button on your blog is MANDATORY in order to make it really easy to share, and with so many quick tools available to generate these tools, there is no excuse to not having one. When setting up your blog, it’s a great idea to go with a simple design and not get caught up in having fancy backgrounds. The main thing you should focus on is having a quick way for your clients to subscribe to your blog and share it on social media, then you can put a little more effort into making your blog attractive to look at.

220 Marketing specializes in Online Marketing and Management for industries such as Insurance Marketing, Real Estate Marketing, and Mortgage Marketing.

The post 7 Tips to Ensure Your Blog is Shared appeared first on 220 Marketing Group.

Think of each video as your own personal website. With YouTube’s search feature, your content can easily be found on YouTube itself. Also, by adding videos to YouTube your content has the potential to get indexed on Google and other search engine results pages and shared across some of the most popular social networking platforms.

Videos should be used to build brand awareness and drive traffic to your website. You do not need the world’s funniest video or millions of views to get results. Your YouTube videos need to build rapport with your viewers so that once they are on your website they are ready to convert. It should be more about the quality of your visitors rather than the quantity.

The most effective strategy for generating traffic to your website from YouTube is having a compelling call to action. Your videos need to clearly explain where to find your website, how to get to your website, and most importantly why to visit your website. You have to provide your viewers with a clearly labeled reason to leave YouTube and visit your website. Your offer should be as compelling as possible. For example: Use our FREE quick and easy website doctor to help you determine whether or not your website has what it takes for your business to achieve success online at 220marketing.com.

Clearly communicate your compelling call to action at the end of every video telling visitors exactly how to get to your website along with the benefits of doing so. Also, with every video uploaded you have the opportunity to provide a short description of the video’s content. Why would you not take advantage of this space? Within the video’s description add your call to action with a link to your website.

If you have something that people want, they will take the next step to work with you!

220 Marketing specializes in Online Marketing and Management for industries such as Insurance Marketing, Real Estate Marketing, and Mortgage Marketing.

The post Converting YouTube Videos into Clicks appeared first on 220 Marketing Group.

1. Check for deliverability

In order to have your message read, you must get through two filters; the spam filter and your reader’s filter. Avoid putting words in all capital letters in the subject line (no one likes being yelled at). It’s also a good idea to avoid words that set off the Spam alarms. These words include “act now” or “limited time” and will most likely push the email straight to the recipient’s junk folder. Also, be sure to avoid punctuation marks and dollar signs. You don’t want to look like a cheesy infomercial trying your hardest to get noticed.

2. Make it Actionable

It is always a good idea to tell your client what they will have the opportunity to do if they open up the email. Instead of just putting the name and location of an appearance (Kim Kardashian tonight at Nobu) let your readers know what they can do that night “Meet Kim Kardashian tonight at Nobu”. This will create excitement and the client will most likely want to click on the email to see how they can participate. Give them reason to read the email.

3. Make it personal

Instead of sending out a “one size fits all” email blast to all of your clients, section out your database into groups. This will allow you to send a more personalized email that will resonate with the client and make them feel like you spent time thinking of what they might need. Are you a loan officer that has a list of clients who bought their house before the bubble burst? Put them all in a group and send out an email saying that you want to help them refinance to a better rate.  Make sure your subject line reflects how you are trying to help them “Read to see how I can lower your monthly mortgage payment!”

4. Scrub for Clarity

Instead of trying to be witty and coming up with a funny line that will get a reader’s attention, cut right to the chase and tell them what you are offering. After writing your subject line, it is always a good idea to take a step back and ask yourself “If I was seeing this for the first time, would I know what is being offered?” If the answer is no, you might want to think of ways to rewrite the message you are conveying. Try using keywords you would focus on in search engines. Make sure the message doesn’t have to be decoded, and spell out in plain English what a person will gain by opening that email.

5. Edit for Brevity

Keep your subject line to 50 characters or less. Not only will this help you practice spelling out your message as clearly as possible, but it will also help ensure that the majority of your message is displayed in the reader’s inbox. This is more important now, because most people check email on mobile devices and even less text is displayed. It is always best to think of the old cliché that still holds true—less is more.

6. Ensure Consistency

It is very important that the message within the email matches the subject line that drew the reader in. It’s a very bad idea to promote the lowest rate on a refinance in history, only for the reader to find out they must have pristine credit and 30% collateral to qualify. If you pull a bait and switch on clients, they will be less likely to read your emails in the future, and may even ask to be removed from your mailing lists. Only promise what you can deliver, and you will see better results than if you promised the moon.

Reaching out via email is very important because it provides an opportunity to reach out to hundreds of people with one click of the mouse. If you don’t draft out your message carefully, however, your message will never be seen, no matter how valuable it may be. Creating a brief, straight to the point subject line will help increase the number of people who read your message, and will result in better results for your bottom line.

220 Marketing specializes in Online Marketing and Management for industries such as Insurance Marketing, Real Estate Marketing, and Mortgage Marketing.

The post 6 Steps to Creating Awesome Email Subject Lines appeared first on 220 Marketing Group.