Build it BOLD: Your Blueprint for Business Success

Anyone who experienced the wave of bookstore closures that started in the early-2000s knows how painful it is to see the one or two national or independent bookstores in your area shut down for good.

That meant no more Borders, no more B. Daltons and no more Waldenbooks in your area mall (weren’t those stores fun to browse through? I miss that.) Books-A-Million went through some changes—but is still chugging along in some regions—and Barnes & Noble reigned as one of the last major national bookstore chains standing.

At the time, I guess the prevailing thought was that we’d all be consuming content digitally in X number of years, so why bother with bricks-and-mortar anymore? Well it seems we’ve come full circle since then, and at least one nearby, refreshed Barnes & Noble store is definitely a testament to that.

It’s hopefully also a testament for what’s to come. And based on how full the parking lot and aisles were during opening week, all signs point to a renewed appreciation for physical bookstores as community hubs, tactile browsing experiences and spaces that digital platforms simply cannot replicate.

And this isn’t only happening in Tampa either. My daughter saw a similar scene at the Barnes & Noble at The Grove in Los Angeles just last month. All this to say, bookstores are back, and they’re better than ever. Companies are using more of their vertical space, facing books forward to entice readers with covers (versus spines) and making the overall experience more engaging and inviting.

If you’re interested in the backstory of how Barnes & Noble pulled itself out of a slump, modernized its stores and got people to start coming back to them again, Morning Brew’s Sam Klebanov does a great job of dissecting the company’s reemergence in this short YouTube clip.

Content marketing offers a wealth of benefits for B2B companies, making it a powerful tool for reaching your target audience, building brand awareness, and ultimately driving growth.

In Content Marketing: B2B sales’ secret weapon, ET Edge Insights shows B2B companies how to effectively harness the power of content marketing. Here are four strategies that you can start using today:

• Become your industry’s go-to resource by creating authoritative content. “White papers, case studies, and in-depth blog posts showcasing your expertise establish you as a trusted thought leader,” ET Edge Insights says. “Potential customers come to you, eager to learn from your knowledge and insights.”  
• Keep leads engaged throughout the buying cycle. Informative ebooks, engaging newsletters, and targeted email sequences can all help guide customers through their research and decision-making process, gently moving them closer to conversion.  
• Consistently deliver valuable content. By doing so, you can “demonstrate your dedication to helping your audience, fostering trust and loyalty that pave the way for future sales,” the publication points out. And by offering gated content that requires a login or registration, you can attract leads that are actively interested in your company’s products or services.   

• Give your sales team great content to work with. “Content marketing acts as a valuable sales enablement tool,” ET Edge Insights says. “Equip your sales team with case studies, customer testimonials, and other informational assets to close deals more effectively.” 

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I can’t tell you how many companies come to me with last-minute content needs. I’m guessing this happens because their marketing and sales departments took a quick glance at their current content library, realized that much of it was old and even irrelevant, and then quickly mobilized to get it refreshed and up to date.

New business lines, products, services and customer segments—each of which usually require certain tweaks and promotional language that help subtly “spread the word” via content—can also send marketing departments into a content tailspin.

Company updates, product launches and market trends deserve space on a content marketing calendar, yet many organizations are sticking with a piecemeal content production approach. This may work for last-minute things—an article on how to manage tariffs, deal with the business challenges of the day, etc.—but there’s a better way to handle this.

The bottom line is that evergreen pieces can and should be planned out in advance. New product and service launches, and the content that supports them, can also be planned out on longer timelines (since they don’t generally just “happen overnight).

We all know that the reactionary approach doesn’t work well in today’s business world, where the C-suite expects results and accountability from all marketing investments and channels—content included. Current events and news-oriented pieces will have to be slotted in, but the core focus should be on developing and publishing evergreen content that prospects and customers can engage with and respond to.

For best results, plan out your marketing content for the upcoming month, quarter and/or year, depending on how far out you want to think. Include the various types of content you want to present—blogs, social posts, white papers, guides, videos, ebooks, executive bylined articles in trade media outlets, etc.—and then match those formats up with topics that your audience is hungry for.

If you’re at a loss for topics just ask your sales and/or customer service teams for help. These are the folks who are out on the front lines with clients every day, so they know the challenges customers are facing better than anyone. These conversations don’t even have to be planned or formal: simply ask your sales or customer service reps what’s keeping clients up at night.

By developing a quarterly or annual content marketing calendar and sticking to it, you can add more accountability and consistency to your strategies; ensure they’re in sync with other marketing strategies; and align them with your company’s broader sales, advertising and marketing mission.

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Want to increase engagement, improve brand awareness and build relationships with your customers (and prospects)? Of course you do. But to get there you need content that actually connects with your readers.

Skip this step and you’ll just wind up wasting time, money and effort on marketing campaigns that don’t produce results.  

In Crafting content that connects, Jennifer Daniel reminds us that content marketing is part-art and part-science, and that it takes a good helping of both to develop campaigns that resonate with readers. Here are some of Daniel’s tips for creating content that connects: 

1. Don’t bury the lead. Respect your readers’ time and grab their attention from the get-go.    
2. Ditch the jargon. And, never use a 5-dollar word when a 50-cent word will do. 
3. An anecdote is the antidote. Share case studies, statistics, and testimonials to build trust and credibility.
4. Skip the buzzwords. Say goodbye to cliches like “innovate,” “disrupt,” and “unprecedented.”   
5. Avoid platitudes and hedging. If it goes without saying, don’t say it.  
6. Practice the rule of thirds. When you finish your initial draft, shorten it by one-third.   

Want to transform these insights into tangible results for your business? My new Fast-Track Your Real Estate Career with a Personalized Business Plan course offers the step-by-step guidance you need to build a winning strategy (you can click here for a free course preview). Not a REALTOR®? No problem! There's more business planning, productivity and marketing content coming soon for a wider audience. Stay tuned for resources to help your business thrive!