Growth Driven

To achieve exceptional content marketing results you have to say something worth listening to. To be sticky, your content needs to be provocative. That means you need content that is useful, valuable, and interesting to your target audience. And it must be easy to find at the exact moment someone is looking for it. 

Janette Lonsdale is a content strategist, journalist, and communications expert.

She brings clients more than 20-years of experience in the media industry and a suite of skills honed on national magazines and agency side corporate public relations and communications.

Content is King because it’s your golden ticket to engaging with customers. The most effective content not only attracts visitors, but it helps you convert and nurture those folks through the sales funnel.

Most B2B marketers understand the importance of creating engaging content but many struggle to succeed at producing it. Why? There are three key factors that contribute to this problem. We already talked about the first two: buyer insight and measurement.  The third is the lack of an efficient content production operation.

Creating compelling content – the kind that converts – is a product of good insight into the customer and then an equally good process for making sure that the content comes to life in the form of a video, webinar, blog, case study, or white paper. The process often becomes bogged down in this phase because most companies don’t have content development operations.

What are the best tips for writing a book? 

Maybe you have a book idea, and you’re thinking it would make a great book.

The problem? You’ve never written a book before. And with all the information out there on the steps to writing a book, you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed.

Here are some tips to address the overwhelm.

Who Should Write a Book?

Anyone who wants to.  Even you.

No, you don’t have to be a grammar geek. You probably know someone who fancies himself or herself as an editor. Buy them a couple of pocket protectors and a box of red pencils. Then, flatter them with the lie that you respect their opinions. Buy them dinner and convince them that you’ll take their advice if they’d be so kind to offer it.

You won’t of course. You’ll become so attached to your “baby” that you will treat anyone who would deign to revise your uniquely inspired writing with the same contempt as you would a person who says your mother should grow a mustache.

Learn what you can from their advice and keep going.

“Real” writers will tell you this advice is crazy but don’t worry about grammar. Writing is an art. I could train a duck to use proper punctuation.

In the beginning, focus on the substance, not the form. Begin to write, then continue.

"Content Marketing Is The New PR" - Forbes

In the words of marketing guru David Meerman Scott, "You can buy attention (advertising). You can beg for attention from the media (PR). You can bug people one at a time to get attention (sales). Or you can earn attention by creating something interesting and valuable and then publishing it online for free."

The same logic applies to public relations firms. Companies that previously only specialized in PR and advertising are now turning to content marketing to get the word out to earn attention.

Influencers come in many sizes. Learn how to spot them as well as how to effectively collaborate with them.

Howard Farran, DDS, MBA, the founder and owner of Dentaltown.com and Dentaltown magazine, has practiced dentistry at Today’s Dental in the Phoenix metro area for more than 30 years. In 2017, Incisal Edge magazine ranked him among the 32 most influential people in dentistry.

Dr. Farran has lectured internationally on the business of dentistry since 1990, captivating audiences with his blunt, humorous, and practical insights into the industry’s most controversial subjects. His genuine passion for helping dentists provide faster, easier, higher-quality, and lower-cost dentistry to their patients is what drives him to this day.

In 1999, Dr. Farran released the timeless “Your 30-Day Dental MBA” series, which is available on YouTube and iTunes. Since then, he has released massive amounts of distinguished content, including:

* His monthly “Howard Speaks” column in Dentaltown magazine

* The 11-part online CE course “The Virtues of Profitable Dentistry"

* His world-renowned podcast series Dentistry Uncensored with Howard Farran, which has released more than 1,500 episodes and has been downloaded more than 8 million times. Dentistry Uncensored’s guests include dental professionals from around the world, including top-tier specialists, dentists fresh out of school, CEOs of the world’s largest dental companies, and experts in marketing, finance, practice management, and more.

Dr. Farran reaches hundreds of thousands of dentists from around the world every day. 

His ever-expanding presence across social media platforms includes 300,000 Facebook followers, 25,000 Twitter followers, and 35,000 LinkedIn followers, not to mention the 250,000 registered members on Dentaltown.com.

To understand The Dream 100 Strategy, you first have to understand that there are two types of ideal clients:

1. Great clients
2. Dream clients

You’ll always have many more “great clients” than “dream clients” – but the dream clients will make up 60%–80% of your revenue. It’s the 80/20 rule in action: “80% of your results come from only 20% of your clients.” The Dream 100 Sales Strategy (originated by the late Chet Holmes) is a balance of attracting both great and dream clients.

Chet Holmes says:
The goal of the Dream 100 is to take your ideal buyers from “I’ve never heard of this company” to “What is this company I keep hearing about?” to “I think I’ve heard of that company” to “Yes, I’ve heard of that company” to “Yes, I do business with that company.”

Holmes went on to develop The Dream 100 Sales Strategy, a more affordable and effective way to land dream clients. The strategy consists of seven essential steps

Deep within your database and social followers are individuals that we call nano-influencers (1K to 10k followers) and micro-influencers (10k to 100k followers).

Although traditional advertising methods are still useful, small businesses can also turn to influencer marketing to attract new customers. Influencer marketing for a small business involves enlisting the aid of social media personalities and industry experts who are willing to promote your product or service.

Social media influencers tend to have loyal followings, so they’re uniquely capable of pitching your small business to a larger audience. The potential results of influencer marketing include increased brand awareness, more sales, and a boost in audience trust.

I can show you how we successfully engage them, get them to share your brand, and thus grow your referrals to higher levels.

I can show you how you can influence the influencers!

1. No Marketing & Sales Strategy

Planning may be tedious, but without a solid plan for your business that includes business idea research and market potential, you will be operating in the dark. The most important plans to consider include a business plan, a financial plan, and a marketing plan.

2. No Use of Lists of Past Clients and Leads

One vital part of any successful marketing campaign is understanding who your ideal customer is. It's not enough to create a marketing budget and try a little bit of everything. You need to do market research to identify who you are trying to reach, where you can find them, and how they will react to your marketing activities.

3. Weak Follow Up With Leads, Lists, and Followers

Marketing can take many forms from word of mouth referrals to traditional advertising, to Internet marketing. There aren't any set rules when it comes to marketing; the best type of marketing for you depends on your business and your target audience. The mistake is assuming you don't need to market and that business will come to you.

4. Inadequate Budget For Growth

Some small business owners who don't overspend fall on the other end of the spectrum and refuse to spend much of anything. While there are certainly ways to start and grow a business with limited funds, going too far and not investing any kind of capital in your business can severely limit your potential for success.

5. Lack of Use of Analytics and Metrics

As small business owners, technology can provide new opportunities, help us do our work more efficiently and even help us save money. New technology may be intimidating and require time to learn and understand, but an unwillingness to adapt to technological advances can hurt your business in the short- and long- term.

Not Living In Fear Or Remaining Confused 

Why it all seems so overwhelming....

Quality Business Connections

The most important benefit of LinkedIn is the fact that it is populated almost entirely by forward-thinking professionals such as yourself who are also looking for ways to grow their businesses. This creates a unique culture of individuals who, in representing their respective companies, make business easier for everybody.

Lead Generation

LinkedIn opens the doors for networking and a flood of potential clients.