Stop Chasing Sales and Get Content Right.

Here are two startling facts about online marketing. The first: 70 percent of consumers prefer getting to know a company via content marketing rather than ads, but (and this is the surprising part) brands spend more on advertising than on content such as articles, according to Content Plus. The second fact: 91 percent of B2B marketers employ some sort of content marketing, but just 36 percent of them believe that content to be effective, according to a study by Marketing Profs and Content Marketing Institute.

Why are those facts startling? Because while content is increasingly a factor in both consumer and business decisions, brands are either uneasy with their content-marketing efforts or are missing the boat entirely.

Why does content matter? Consider how you approach a purchase: Whether you're looking to buy a lawn mower or a health plan, you likely Google options, read online reviews and recommendations and maybe poll friends on Facebook or Twitter. (In fact, that's exactly what I did when I wanted to buy a digital camera.)

Google calls this the "Zero Moment of Truth," which acknowledges that people arrive at a business through multiple online sources. Unlike the old system, in which brands tried to attract us via advertising and other outreach efforts, we are now being led directly to brands via our personal and business relationships.

In today's search-and-social world, businesses should focus on enabling interactions instead of chasing transactions. The key is to create helpful content that's seeded with honest empathy.

Answer Questions 

"My golden rule of content marketing is to simply answer questions," says Marcus Sheridan, who overhauled the marketing strategy at his Warsaw, Va.-based company, River Pools and Spas. Instead of his previous method of focusing on radio, TV and pay-per-click advertising, he shifted his efforts toward generating sales through informational blog posts and videos.

His success hinged on the nature of that content: He was willing to answer online the tough questions most pool installers (like car dealers and other purveyors of big-ticket items) want to avoid until they meet a customer face-to-face, such as specifics about costs and problems that may come up.

The lesson from Sheridan is this: Too many companies create corporate-centric, rather than customer-centric, content. The former is about you; the latter is about what you do for your customer--a subtle yet critical shift. A good lens through which to view any content you produce involves asking yourself whether your customers will be grateful for this content. In effect, will they thank you for marketing to them? If the answer is yes, then you have gold.

By answering questions, you are addressing specific pain points, demonstrating that you understand customers' specific issues and concerns. Sheridan earned trust among would-be pool buyers. Decide what you wish to subtly communicate to generate leads for your business.

Watch Your Voice and Tone 
The way in which you articulate empathy is crucial. Voice refers to the personality you convey in your content, and it's unique to every company.

I'm a fan of websites that communicate in simple, direct language. For example, I like how the U.K. government's site (gov.uk) presents complex policies and guidelines in a straightforward manner, in accordance with its published style guide. Any business can learn a lot from a government agency that suggests its web writers be, among other things:

• clear and concise
• brisk but not terse
• incisive (friendliness can lead to a lack of precision) yet human (not a faceless machine)
• serious but not pompous

(Side note: I smiled at the style guide's suggestion to avoid "Americanisms. You 'fill in' a form, not 'fill out' a form.")

In addition to voice, consider tone. The voice of your website might be snarky, upbeat or fun, but there may be areas where the tone should shift. Customer-service pages--places customers visit when they have a problem--might drop a snarky tone in favor of one of helpful concern.

The search-and-social landscape creates enormous opportunities. The question becomes: What are you doing to take advantage?

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Where To Submit Your Articles?

If you are an article marketer and write well, instead of wasting your time submitting your articles to article directories, you should give serious consideration to submitting to authority sites.

Why? Stay with me, I’m getting to that.

Question: So, what exactly is an authority site?

Answer: Definitions vary, but my own personal definition of an authority site is “a site that is linked to and respected by thousands of people who often reference its material.”

For example, for Internet Marketing news and events, IMNewsWatch would be considered an authority site. In the SEO and Internet Marketing worlds, authority sites would include sites like SearchEngineJournal, SiteProNews, WebProNews, PromotionWorld, CopyBlogger, SearchEngineLand, MarketingProfs and ProBlogger just to name a few.

And while some sites enjoy more authority than others, the two common denominators are, the sites are all highly-respected, and they all have a large and loyal following.

Following are 8 reasons why should you submit your articles to authority sites:

1. Respect

While you may be proud of having your articles accepted by article directories, it’s really no great accomplishment. Why? Because most article directories will accept articles from just about anyone – regardless of how poorly written they are. On the other hand, getting your articles published by the aforementioned authority sites is something to write home about. Why? Because those sites are highly-respected and have a much higher publishing standard.

2. Article Directory Oblivion

When you submit your article to article directories, chances are, your article will get buried among the thousands of other article submissions. And unless you get lucky and your articles happen to get found among the masses, and published by a popular newsletter or website, they will forever live in article directory oblivion, getting viewed every now and then.

3. The Viral Factor

I stated previously that authority sites enjoy a large and loyal following. So how does that benefit you? If an authority site publishes your articles, it’s probably because your articles have value, meaning they’re interesting, useful and/or entertaining. That is exactly the type of content that readers will pass along to others via tweet, Facebook, e-mail etc.

4. The Power

When you submit your articles to authority sites, you have the power to pick and choose what sites you want to submit to. On the other hand, when you submit your articles to article directories, you surrender that power. Once submitted to an article directory, your articles are available to be published by anyone. That means your articles have the very real potential of being published by low-quality sites, which could effectively damage your site’s reputation with the search engines.

5. Diminished Link Value

One of the great by-products of article marketing is inbound links. If you write quality content, more than likely, you will attract quality inbound links. Unfortunately, many writers who submit to article directories aren’t aware article directories have had diminished link value for years. That’s why mega-popular, monolithic article directories like EzineArticles, Buzzle and Associated Content were so heavily penalized by the Panda update. Over the years, they became notorious for the amount of low-quality content they contained. Because they accepted articles from just about anyone – regardless of how poorly written or shallow the articles were.

6. Greater Exposure

Authority sites not only depend on quality content for their very existence, like the shark in the movie “Jaws”, they also devour content rapidly. As such, they’re constantly in need of quality content infusions. If you submit your articles to authority sites and prove yourself to be a trusted and reliable source of content, they will be much more apt to feature your articles on a regular basis – thereby increasing your exposure. This will not only enhance your reputation, but your bottom line as well.

7. Greater Opportunities

There’s an old saying, “Birds of a feather flock together.” What does that mean? It means people of similar taste, character or background tend to associate with one another, or like the same things. That holds true both online and offline. Online, individuals of discerning taste tend to gravitate to high-quality content and websites (i.e., authority sites).

And since I’ve been submitting my articles to authority sites, I’ve lost count of the number of joint venture opportunities I’ve been offered. I generally turn them down because my plate is quite full for the foreseeable future. But that’s not really the point. The point is, the opportunities were offered because of the respect and exposure I received from having my articles published on authority sites.

8. Enhanced Perception

If you consistently write quality articles that are factually accurate and help people, you will be perceived as an expert in your field – provided you really are an expert. But while what you write is important, where your articles are published is even more important.

Having your articles published on authority sites will only enhance your reputation as an expert. And with expert status comes increased income. Expert status will give you the ability to charge higher fees for your products and services. And if you are really good at what you do and provide good value, your clients will refer you to other clients – further increasing your income.

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