Written by: James Foo Torres, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
In the formative stages of the Internet in the early 1990s, a battle raged between the technology purists and entrepreneurs. On the one hand, the scientists, programmers, and engineers responsible for the buildout of the ARPANET thought it should remain a peer-to-peer network exclusively for use by the military and universities. Originally funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, the precursor to today’s Internet was initially a network that connected computers at a handful of universities through the use of ‘packet switching’ to communicate with each other.
On the other side of the debate, business interests, investors, and later, Wall Street saw enormous potential in harnessing the power of this information delivery system for commerce. By 1993, startups in Silicon Valley and elsewhere were being funded by investors and venture capitalists with the expectation that everything from retailers to insurance companies would reap the rewards of marketing goods and services to millions, perhaps billions of consumers.
Long ago that battle was won by proponents for the commercialization of what would evolve into the World Wide Web. Today, with the ubiquitous nature of email, chat and texting, mobile devices, cloud computing, social media, streaming services, and e-commerce, it is impossible for anyone to imagine a world not connected by a lightning-fast global network.
As you read this, there probably isn’t a business anywhere that isn’t engaged in online marketing one way or another. According to the CMO Survey, 72% of marketing budgets are dedicated to digital marketing. At least 55% of all marketing is digital, representing a total spend of $436 billion, compared to $196 billion in offline advertising. While hugely profitable global corporations such as Nike, Apple, BMW, and the world’s largest clothing and fashion, food and beverage, and health and beauty companies have entire departments devoted to digital marketing, how can owners of small to midsize companies know they’re getting it right?
Content is King
As in most endeavors, it helps to find experts and ask them how they produce results every time without missteps. Most digital marketing professionals agree that content is still king. In other words, to build an audience and drive traffic, it's essential to lead with value in the form of articles, videos, podcasts, eBooks, and other forms of content. When you start by giving your followers, customers, and prospects actionable information they can benefit from without actually becoming your client, you’ve made a great start at getting them to know, like, and trust you.
The good news is that making content an important part of your marketing programs doesn’t have to cost a great deal or eat up a large portion of your valuable time.
AJ Cassata, Co-Founder of Revenue Boost
“There is a widespread idea that when it comes to digital marketing you need a massive team or budget to produce a high volume of content,” says A.J. Cassata, founder of Revenue Boost, a consultancy and training company focused on B2B marketing. “This simply isn’t true if you understand how to repurpose existing content and implement effective content harvesting processes. You can put out a tremendous number of posts on social media and blogs quickly and consistently once you know how.”
A highly regarded expert on B2B lead generation and sales strategies, Cassata have been featured in Ad World, Foundr Magazine, The Futur, Blissful Prospecting, and other business publications. He also serves as an advisor for Aurelia Ventures, a startup accelerator, and founded and manages B2B Sales and Marketing Secrets, the most active Facebook community on the subject.
“Once you’ve defined how your content will deliver value, the single most important element is to focus on thought leadership,” he states. “I recommend you choose a few specific subjects and ideas that you can “own” and then produce consistent content around those topics. To differentiate your content, make the effort to go into your subject matter in more depth than what everyone else is producing.”
Exactly how important content has become in our always-on connected world becomes clear from recent research on how marketers allocate budgets. According to ‘The HubSpot Blog's 2022 Marketing Industry Trends Report: Data from 1,000+ Global Marketers’, fully 90% of marketers already using content intend to continue investing moving forward because it works. Perhaps even more telling, despite inflation and fears of recession, 66% of marketers expect their budget for content to increase over last year’s spend.
The report further states that this commitment to investing in content and having the confidence to double down is based on analyzing sales results. The marketers surveyed added that the most important goals for their campaigns were brand awareness, building credibility and trust, and educating audiences. At the same time, these same marketers worried about the effectiveness of their content in achieving their primary objectives. Citing the most important challenges they faced, respondents indicated they were most focused on creating content effective in generating leads and achieving high levels of online engagement. Developing ideas for new content was also an ongoing concern. Assuming your marketing team is already successfully writing, sourcing, and repurposing great content, what’s the next step?
Distribution is the Icing on the Cake
Even just shortly after Tim Berners-Lee’s breakthrough idea of unifying hypertext with Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the Domain Name System (DNS), laying the groundwork for the World Wide Web platform, many of the building blocks of digital marketing were in place. Electronic messaging (email), websites, blogs, Usenet, news release wire services, and other methods of distribution either came online quickly or were rendered more efficient at getting content in front of eyeballs (wire services).
Of course, over the past thirty years, a wide spectrum of other marketing platforms have emerged, including social media, pay-per-click and banner ads, web magazines, podcasts, video, influencers, Q&A platforms, and sponsored content (pay-to-play). While there are strong advocates of one channel over another, most marketers agree that content should be spread across a variety of outlets. This is typically called multichannel marketing. Most businesses practice this strategy already, harnessing their website, social media accounts, email lists, and content made available to news sites, blogs, etc.
When these efforts are coordinated to create unified campaigns across the channels in use and others available (YouTube, Facebook, publisher websites) with the use of pixels, cookies, and other “follow me” technologies, multichannel marketing transforms into omnichannel. This is particularly useful in re-marketing to those who previously visited your website, abandoned your shopping cart, or otherwise interacted with your business online.
Regardless of which approach you choose, getting your content in front of your targeted audience is easier and more cost-effective than ever. The obvious next step is to fill your distribution channels with your content. Among the options are hiring a digital marketing agency, public relations firm (or both). or taking it all on in-house, a daunting task for most busy entrepreneurs.
Jared Dalton, founder of The Jared Dalton Agency
A strong proponent of outsourcing content creation and then maximizing the free exposure available is Jared Dalton, founder of The Jared Dalton Agency, a full-service marketing agency. Based in Nashville, Dalton says he started his firm after seeing friends and neighbors struggling to promote their own businesses online.
“Our primary focus is helping business owners more effectively leverage Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Google search,” he comments. “Few folks running a business have the time or interest in writing and posting compelling and click-worthy content on their social media accounts. Done right, capital used to hire a professional delivers an ROI that more than justifies the investment.”
However, unlike most digital marketing firms, Dalton also creates customized public relations programs for his clients to amplify the benefits of social marketing. These services include copywriting, PR strategy, placement of his clients into local and national news outlets, and integration of these efforts with traditional digital marketing. It’s a strategy he says has paid off for business owners in all industries.
“After gaining traction with traditional digital marketing, it's always wise to take your online presence to the next level with articles, guest columns, news releases, and placement of your story in news outlets,” he says. “The end goal should always be to establish yourself as a trusted expert in your field. For example, if prospects and customers are seeing your authoritative content, you have a much better chance of them trusting you as a vendor.”
Dalton adds, that earning the trust of consumers is an important element of earning their business.
“Multiple studies have shown that an increasing percentage of consumers are wary of shopping online and the distrust of e-commerce platforms is growing.”
He attributes this unease to privacy concerns, high-profile hacks that have put consumer payment data at risk, and vendors who are difficult to reach or don’t respond when a complaint is made.
“Raising the profile of your business is great for driving traffic to your website and increasing revenues, but with that exposure comes the obligation to satisfy the customer and make amends if something goes wrong,” Dalton says. “That’s another reason public relations is vital because you already have an ongoing dialog with your audience and they want you to keep them informed of new products, developments within your industry, and innovative ways you’re providing greater value than your competitors”.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Dalton’s views are echoed by A.J. Cassata.
“When you get right down to it, digital marketing and content are all about credibility and authority,” he asserts. “The value of social proof and trustworthiness is well proven but far too often overlooked because it's become so much a part of the online landscape. “Once you’ve gained a foothold in the marketplace you have the luxury, no, the obligation, to maximize your position of authority with customer testimonials, endorsements, certifications, professional recognition, and social good you’re doing with cause marketing.”
Many successful business owners equate their journey from neophyte entrepreneur to high-profile success story to the transitioning from childhood to becoming a fully realized adult and member of the community. Each of us has experienced the first tentative steps into the world and the uncertainty of what might lie ahead. But, with perseverance and an inquiring disposition, lessons learned can be applied to finding a path to a destination of financial reward and fulfillment. It’s a relatable experience that can be harnessed to underpin your content and define your entrepreneurial mission, Dalton believes.
“Never forget that at heart we’re all storytellers and people intuitively want to hear interesting stories that they can learn from and relate to as an audience,” he states. “The Internet is the biggest campfire of all time and the online world wants to hear from you. Don’t ignore that opportunity.”
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James Foo Torres, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
James Foo Torres is a renowned Public Relations Strategist, a host of a top 1.5% of podcasts in the world, a bestselling author and an international bestselling author. He is best known as Foo, founder of CEO of Imperium Authority. Following his service in the Air Force, Foo launches his company with the mission of amplifying the positive impact of exceptional leaders. Foo always aspired to be an entrepreneur and run his own business. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, his firm is popular in America and gaining international notoriety. In the last few years, Imperium Authority has helped accelerate the growth of a wide spectrum of brands and companies in various markets.
