Discovering the company stories that you never knew you had.
Content marketing is one of the most important marketing tools available for companies, and it works for businesses in all sorts of sectors. We often find that companies come unstuck when it comes to thinking of ideas of what to write about, and how to maintain regular relevant updates. But no company is without its positive stories which can contribute to content marketing strategies, and part of what we do is to help companies understand and discover which stories can be told to benefit their business.
Keeping marketing in mind
One of the key challenges is that often, people don’t have marketing in mind when they’re going about their day-to-day work. This is perfectly understandable. We recently caught up with a client at a consulting business. They were talking about a recent and very positive meeting with a client of their own, who had highlighted the difference they made to the business, and thanked them for their great work.
…no company is without its positive stories which can contribute to content marketing strategies…
Conversations like these present multiple opportunities for content marketing. If the work completed is an example of a common problem for businesses, this may be an opportunity for a blog post explaining your company’s approach to solving the issue. In addition, that positive experience could be written up as a testimonial and a case study which could be posted on your website and in some cases, used for PR. We suggest you encourage everyone in your team – and particularly client-facing members of the team – to keep marketing in mind and note opportunities for content marketing. It’s not always easy and in some businesses it simply won’t happen unless you incentivise staff to do this, but you can be creative with your incentives and it doesn’t all have to be about money.
Catch up with your team
In larger organisations, sometimes innovations can be hidden. An improved process in customer services is one example: something taken for granted as an efficiency gain that also provides an opportunity to talk about the company’s commitment to customers. Another example may be individual achievements of team members. These might include new professional qualifications, which gives you a chance to promote the professionalism of your business. News of promotions, and how that relates to any organisational changes or commitment to a particular market, is another great story that can be used online, via social channels and for PR. These personal achievements also serve to support staff development, which can in turn support recruitment, staff retention and motivation.
Answer the key questions
If the same questions arise frequently in your sales process or during implementation, this might also uncover a range of topics about which your customers are unclear. Educational posts, from simple ‘how to’ guides to insight on market news and developments can present an opportunity to highlight your company’s expertise and experience. Many companies hold back on sharing these stories because they fear it might mean people don’t need their services – but in fact, a short and insightful guide can help to build your representation and effectively demonstrate the value that you can add to a business. As we often say, “give away a bit of knowledge, sell the implementation”. People can find content on pretty much any subject out there anyway, if they want to – but if it’s not yours, they’re not thinking of you.
Speak to the content experts
We love uncovering stories within a business. We’re happy to talk to you and your team so that we can help uncover all the narratives within your organisation. We can also help with developing a strategic content marketing plan to help you make the most of that resource, write the stories and share them on the relevant channels – from your website and social channels to PR. Drop us a line to find out more – we can’t wait to hear your stories.
