Have you ever had consistent trouble sleeping as the sheer thought of your marketing efforts not being effective kept you up into the wee hours of the morning? This thought is troubling as the restlessness eats away at you because you are striving to find that one Unique Selling Proposition, USP, that makes you the Babe Ruth of your industry. Have no worries as IOI Ventures is here to help ease that awful stress as we have broken-down general marketing strategies into four key sections; making you unstoppable like the 1927 New York Yankees:

Step 1: Long-Form 

Write it. Every story has a beginning and that starting point for your marketing plan should consist of a long-form piece, primarily in the form of an article, to be posted on your website upon budget approval. Choose a key topic that you believe your target audience will most relate to or benefit from as adding value is the most important part of this strategy. You can think of this being your “pitchers mound” as everything revolves around the article landing page.

When writing your article, it is crucial to have a few Call-To-Actions, CTAs, sprinkled throughout your piece and hyperlinking these; encouraging your audience to take the next steps as examples vary from registering for an upcoming event or filling out a form. Furthermore, it is crucial to have clear and concise messaging throughout while keeping the length on the shorter side. Be sure to include a relevant image or two in the article along with a cover photo that is not grainy; capturing the readers’ attention right away. It is best practice to have the article flow and be presented in a way where your audience is engaged, educated and evolved as a customer to your business.

Step 2: Social Media

Share it. Now that your article has been published to your website, the next step is to foster authentic audience engagement. A perfect way to do this is through social media marketing; directing your social community to the article landing page. It is best practice to choose what platforms you desire to utilize as Facebook and Instagram are always safe bets for sharing general content. On a targeted note, Twitter is popular for breaking news and press releases while LinkedIn is known for communicating business partnerships, new hire announcements and company milestones. Once you have chosen your platforms, we suggest writing a catchy but quick snapshot of what the article is about, why your audience should read it and where to find the article in your social post caption.

Anytime you post on Instagram, we have found that placing your hashtags as a comment underneath your initial post will help new audiences become connected easier as an example is presented below:

Remember, your article cover photo will populate when posting on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn but not on Instagram as your team will need to create a graphic or have a designated image ready.

Step 3: Email

Send it. Your article has now been published on your website and shared on your targeted social media platforms, now it is time for you to wrap it up through email marketing. Our team recommends designing your email to include the three most recent articles that have not yet been shared with your audience through email. You can craft the email by placing the most important article at the top with the other two below, taking the shape of a pyramid. It is best practice for each article to have a quality cover photo, short description and, most importantly, a Call-To-Action button with the text “Read More” underneath; linking to each article’s specific landing page on your website. This will boost your overall website traffic as readers’ will be curious and view the presented articles.

Referencing back to the first step, this is why it is key to have strategic Call-To-Actions within your article as it is the center of your marketing plan. Digging deeper, we suggest double-checking that each Call-To-Action button is linking to the correct article landing page with no misspelled words as nothing would be more embarrassing than sending an incorrect email to thousands. Ensure your Open Rate is high by asking a relevant question in the subject line and experience a strong Click-Through-Rate, CTR, by incorporating messaging and content that provides curiosity and value. It is always a good idea to include your social media account icons at the bottom of the email; hyperlinking each icon to drive more social traffic. Lastly, we recommend sending a weekly email with this concept as it is a tremendous way for you to highlight the “wins” of your business and generate qualified leads.

Step 4: Tracking

Measure it. Your audience now is aware of your article and your marketing message has been communicated. Now it is time to see if all of your hard work has paid off by reviewing the data in Google Analytics. When taking this last step, it is important to wait a week before analyzing your article landing page metrics. This is the bread and butter of how you can understand the impact your marketing efforts had and what needs to be improved for next time.

This may be a condensed overview, however, the sky is certainly the limit of what the IOI Ventures team can do for you as we serve small to medium-sized businesses; contributing to their growth as their strategic marketing partner.

Trade your sleepless nights in for excellent collaboration and outstanding marketing results that will provide you with peace of mind.