In the battle for attention, here’s how your agency can stand out.
Our current media moment is defined by paradox. On one hand, there have never been more channels you can use to promote your agency. But on the other, it has never been harder to separate yourself from the crowd and gain media attention. There are multiple reasons for this, including information overload and a changing media landscape. This doesn鈥檛 even account for how algorithms prioritize content, preventing many important stories from gaining the coverage they deserve. Yet amidst these challenges, an effective use of earned media can break through the clutter and increase public awareness for your agency. Join us as we explore the details of what this looks like!
Earned media: what is it and why is it important?
As we鈥檝e talked about before, there are many different types of media that you can use to promote your business 鈥� each with its own pros, cons and tradeoffs.
First, there is owned media, which is any type of media that you control. This could include things like your website, your social media feeds or your email newsletter. Owned media offers advantages like creative control and cost-effectiveness but also requires continuous effort and delivers slow results.
Second, we have paid media 鈥� basically media you put an ad spend behind, like search, social and display ads. Paid media also carries significant advantages for business. For one thing, it can deliver quick and easy wins for a company, but if you鈥檙e not careful, those results can come with a sizable cost that harms overall ROI.
Lastly, we have earned media 鈥� publicity you gain from sources you neither control nor pay for. Guest blogging, podcast appearances and press release placements are all examples of earned media in action. Earned media is especially valuable because it often appears more trustworthy and less self-serving than other types of media. It can also deliver tangible benefits like improved SEO and greater reach. It has drawbacks as well, with lack of control and dependence on third parties being among them.
Create more earned media opportunities
With an understanding of the three main types of media, we can look at the top opportunities for generating more earned media coverage for your agency.
Human-interest stories: If you鈥檝e ever watched the news, you鈥檒l know how effective human-interest stories are at generating coverage. The reason is simple: People are emotional beings who respond to stories of human triumph and resilience. By tapping into this need, agencies can grow awareness for their businesses.
Novelty: Stories that introduce something novel can be just as effective as human-interest pieces. Pitching about new hires, products or business expansions all naturally lend themselves to potential pick-up in the media, as does staking out a position that runs contrary to the dominant perspective in your field. With the latter point, however, never try to gin up controversy just for the sake of it. People can detect disingenuousness a mile away, which will wind up hurting rather than helping you in the long run.
News jacking: As we鈥檝e discussed, there are more communication channels today than ever before. While this can be overwhelming, it also implies that there is no shortage of news stories in which a title agency could insert itself to offer its unique perspective and expertise. This is known as 鈥渘ews jacking,鈥� a straightforward process where you strategically align your brand with a trending news topic and position yourself as a subject matter expert. When done correctly, news jacking can increase your agency鈥檚 credibility, leading to more customers seeing you as a knowledgeable thought leader.
None of these techniques are easy to pull off, but each can help you overcome some of the barriers to entry that exist in the modern media landscape. No matter how many algorithms or communication channels we create, tailoring our stories to cater to human psychological needs will always be a powerful tool for achieving publicity. Similarly, news jacking can help you turn the deluge of daily news we all experience to your advantage, enabling you to hop onto an existing story or news cycle for maximum impact.
Spread the word far and wide about your business
The media environment today is challenging and ever-changing, with contours that are far more complex and fast-moving than they were even a few years ago. For many, this can feel like an impossible burden for gaining the recognition they need to succeed in an already difficult business environment. Even so, a well-planned earned media strategy that leverages human psychology and timely news opportunities can elevate your agency’s visibility, building the buzz necessary for both short- and long-term success.
Modern business runs on content. Without it, you鈥檝e got no publicity for your products or services. And without publicity, you鈥檝e got no sales. To avoid shooting yourself in the proverbial foot, business leaders must prioritize having a content strategy in place, including an acute understanding of how, when and where the content will be produced. Here鈥檚 how to get started.
Content 101
First off, what do we mean when we say content? Well, content is merely a shorthand for any piece of media that helps promote your business or position your brand. It can have many uses, from intangibles like raising awareness to concrete actions like driving conversions. Your content can take on many forms 鈥� including blogs, social media posts, infographics, eBooks, videos, search engine ads and much, much more.
Establish your business objectives
You should never create content haphazardly or just for the sake of it. Instead, connect it to clear, specific and concrete business objectives. Anything less is just a waste of time and money, and let鈥檚 be honest, no small business owner has an excess of either!
Think strategically about channels and audience
Once you have your business objectives fleshed out, you need to think about your audience and channels. Ask yourself how your target audience gets the information it needs? Where do they spend their time? The days of customers coming to you are long gone. You must bring your content to them.
Next, determine what type of content you are going to create. Remember, not every asset will work well with every channel! For instance, putting together and sharing a long-form, all-text post is not a good idea on Facebook, which favors smaller amounts of text paired with engaging media assets like photos and especially videos. Similarly, it can be tempting to jam your corporate newsletter with everything and anything your firm is doing, but resist that temptation. Focus instead on who the actual audience is and tailor your messaging accordingly. If you operate B2C, your newsletter should focus on customer tips, educational resources and content that drives an emotional response. Conversely, if you do B2B marketing, you should feature items like industry news, technical information about your products and services and content that drives a logical response.
Gather your resources
Now for the fun part: It鈥檚 time to write. Of course, this can pose significant logistical challenges. You must ask yourself the question of whether you have the external expertise already in house or if you need to obtain outside support.
Remember, it鈥檚 not enough to have someone who can write but can鈥檛 wrap their mind around your company or industry. Similarly, having the best subject matter expert in the world won鈥檛 help you much if they can鈥檛 put pen to paper and express themselves clearly. You need both, and luckily there are a lot of options for businesses to explore. We live in a world of flexible work and side hustles; there are a ton of highly skilled freelance writers out there if you know where to look.
Here are a few things to consider if you choose to look outside your firm for writing support:
1.Go to where the talent is: Seek out sites dedicated to freelance work, such as and .
2. Do your due diligence by looking at their portfolio: A good and experienced writer will have samples of their work readily available for interested prospects.
3. Look for past experience that overlaps with your business: Keep in mind that it doesn鈥檛 need to be an identical match; but something in the same ballpark will help the writer get up to speed faster.
4. Ask for referrals or ask them to produce a paid test piece: It is perfectly appropriate to want to look before you leap. But remember, time is money, and if you want a writer to do a trial run, it needs to be paid.
Final thoughts:
Never discount the power and value of effective content in helping promote your business and increase your revenues. Remember the adage: 鈥淚f a tree falls in the forest and nobody is around, does it still make a sound?鈥� Well, the same holds true for your company. You can have a fantastic business model and an unbeatable team in place, but if nobody knows about it, it鈥檚 like it doesn鈥檛 exist. Adhering to these best practices can help you build out an effective content strategy and start producing assets to build better customer relationships and drive more sales.
Want to take things further? to further enhance your marketing strategy!
Marketing is never static. Stay apprised of the latest trends from 2021!
Like many fields, marketing never stays the same for long. New trends, topics and technologies pop up all the time, and it鈥檚 important to keep your knowledge and skill up to date, especially if you need to promote your business or agency. And so, let鈥檚 look back at the past 12 months to see how marketing changed and what we can do to promote a productive and profitable 2022.
Streaming Video
Customers now expect brands to communicate with them through video. While even a few years ago video was considered a 鈥渘ice to have,鈥� it became a marketing essential in 2021. For example, did you know landing 鈥減ages with videos convert 800 percent better than pages without,鈥�[i] or that 鈥渧ideo marketing accounts for 69 percent of all consumer traffic.鈥�[ii] However you look at it, video needs to be a part of your marketing toolkit going into 2022. And before you say, 鈥淚鈥檓 no videographer,鈥� just know that it鈥檚 more than possible to shoot some .
Content Marketing
Content marketing is by no means the new kid on the block, but there is a reason why it remains standing after so many trends have come and gone. Simply put, it works! For instance, content marketing is 鈥渢hree times more efficient in terms of leads than outbound marketing鈥�[iii] and 鈥�92 percent of marketers and businesses report content as a valuable business asset.鈥� Convinced yet?
What鈥檚 nice about content marketing is that you don鈥檛 need to reinvent the wheel. Simply refine your processes and optimize your content. Start by clearly defining your audience. Next, ensure your content is relevant. Third, get social! Figure out where your audiences are on social media and start sharing your assets.
Take care to not post too many updates that focus solely on your company. Social users will not engage with you if you act like a bullhorn or billboard. Develop helpful, educational thought leadership materials. These will help you be seen as an authority in your field and an effective resource capable of solving common problems your target audience may have.
Millennials and Gen. Z
The economic power (both individual and collective) of Millennials and Gen. Z now requires companies to sit up and pay attention to their respective buying preferences. Millennials, for instance, long ago passed the purchasing power of the Baby Boomers, and their economic influence stands at $65 billion.[iv] However, Gen. Z dwarfs them by a sizable margin, with purchasing power of around $143 billion.[v]
So, how do you reach these two pillars of the modern economy? First, prioritize building trust and integrity. Positioning your brand around attributes like honesty, fairness and goodwill is a good strategy for making inroads with these generations, as 鈥�90 percent of Millennials and Gen. Z list honest information about products as a top factor in making purchasing decisions.鈥�[vi]
But you can鈥檛 stop there. These generations want to see and understand the people and values of the businesses they patronize. Showcasing your commitment to the environment, social justice and ethical business practices are just a few ways you can accomplish this.
Finally, meet them where they are by cultivating a strong, digital-first business attitude. As digital natives, these demographics desire to work with brands that have a smooth, digital customer experience already in place. Optimize your website if necessary and establish a strong social media presence if you haven鈥檛 already done so. Create accounts on legacy platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, but don鈥檛 forget to also explore younger, more innovative sites like TikTok.
Conclusion
Part of the fun of marketing is that it never gets old. There are always new strategies to explore or novel methods to deploy. Of course, when you are responsible for running an entire agency, there is often little time to test out new tactics or ideas. But if you can adhere to some of the best practices listed above, you鈥檒l be ahead of the curve and well-positioned to nail your marketing in the New Year.
Content is at the epicenter of digital and social platforms:
It鈥檚 the single most important component
that ensures that businesses are communicating鈥攁nd connecting鈥攚ith their clients.
But content can make or break a
brand: Clients will either pay attention, or they won鈥檛. But when businesses authentically
connect with their audience, they have the opportunity to leverage their
content, which generates more search traffic, trust and, ultimately, leads.
In a nutshell, content marketing is
one of the most effective communication strategies available to businesses, but
while slapping blog posts on your website and posting on social media channels seems
easy enough, businesses too often misjudge their audience鈥攁nd, more important, the
content that most appeals to them.
It鈥檚 not about direct sales; it鈥檚
about engagement and inspiring reactions.
Still, even when it鈥檚 done right, content
marketing can be tricky. It鈥檚 a crowded field with major competition at every
click, and it鈥檚 becoming ominously more difficult to reach potential clients
and retain existing ones. To best your competition, follow these :
Have
a strategic plan in place: Before
creating content, build a smart and solid strategic roadmap that considers your
company鈥檚 growth and revenue goals, your target audience, the ways in which you鈥檒l
deliver content (videos, tweets, blog, Facebook and Instagram posts,
infographics), a list of salient topics that clearly positions and defines your
company鈥檚 brand and image, an assessment of your company鈥檚 distinguishing perspectives
and, finally, metrics to measure the achievement of your content.
Don鈥檛 tell your story all at once: Storytelling is key to content marketing, but you want your audience to keep coming back for more. Teasing a story on social media platforms is a great way to keep your audience engaged and intrigued. If your business is considering hosting a special event, for example, build momentum by running promotional, brand-aligned giveaways or contests that last a few days, or even weeks.
Use your website to promote it and take advantage of social networks to extend its reach. The longer your footprint lasts, the better.
Be conversational: No one appreciates an overbearing sales pitch.And now, more than ever, audiences want (and demand) value, authenticity and the opportunity to respond. When you write content, think of it as a feedback-oriented conversation between you and your audience. A conversational style builds relationship over time, whereas a hard sell often drives audiences away.
Real Estate Corner:
Unprecedented low interest rates, a record-high
stock market and a Denver real estate market that鈥檚 :
What on earth is going on? June is historically one of the highest performing months for Denver home sales, but not this year: Inventory was up 28 percent, sold homes were down 14 percent and the time a home spent on the market soared to 23 percent. Not since 2013 has Denver seen such a high inventory of houses for sale.
Marketing pros live and die by email, and with good reason: Email
marketing provides the highest ROI of any marketing channel, especially when
it鈥檚 done correctly.
But while your ROI has the potential to be monumental, the aren鈥檛 always quick or
easy.
To maximize your reach and covert your copy into a
convincing narrative, you鈥檝e got to be thoughtful, captivating and
customer-centric.
Follow these effective tips for crafting compelling email
marketing messages that will help grow your business.
Research Your Target Audience
Your audience is the most valuable asset to your business,
and it鈥檚 your job to ensure that you develop customer profiles that align with
your business and its values and mission.
That starts with compiling organic email lists based on
everything from demographic data to hobbies and interests.
Verify that every name on the list wants to be included in
your email marketing campaigns. The fastest way to get blacklisted by the major
ISPs is to purchase or rent email lists.
Building the lists from scratch is time-consuming, but the
reward is much higher engagement.
Test Your Email Content
Before you send out a campaign to hundreds, if not thousands
of readers, be sure to test your content first for broken links, image
resolution issues, spelling errors, grammatical mistakes and design layout.
It鈥檚 always best to send a few test mails to yourself to
ensure that everything looks correct.
Beware of Spam-Like Content
Always, always keep your content relevant to your audience
and consistent with your brand.
Everyone has spam filters and 鈥渏unk鈥� email inboxes, and if
your subject headers, for example, are too gimmicky, have too many exclamation
points or contain misspellings, it鈥檚 likely that your email campaigns will be
promptly dumped into the trash bin.
Always Include a Call-to-Action
There鈥檚 nothing worse than leaving your audienceat a dead end.
One of the most crucial email marketing best practices is to
be abundantly clear and direct with your audience 鈥� and that means telling them
exactly what you鈥檇 like them to do next.
The point to any marketing message is to get a response.
Provide sign-up links, for example, if you鈥檙e promoting a
class, workshop or webinar. If you鈥檙e hosting an event, be sure to include an
RSVP link.
And if you鈥檙e offering promotional offers, use
action verbs 鈥� 鈥渞eserve,鈥� 鈥渁ct,鈥� 鈥渟ubscribe,鈥� 鈥渟ave,鈥� 鈥渟tart鈥� and 鈥済et,鈥� for
instance 鈥� to persuade your audience to respond.
