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Over the past few days, I have really been promoting our online reference guides. I suppose you could call the eBooks, but I think that is such a generic term for everything.
As I have talked this year, there is a hunger for good, valuable information and I think the integration of social into other marketing channels can really be powerful. Lately, I have just started promoting some of our guides online and I have seen a good response.
Think about this situation. You are driving through McDonalds drive thru and you are deciding what to order. Is your decision impacted by the price and those Calorie Values. I know on the rare occasion that I go through a McDonalds, I always, always look at that calorie number. (This is the type of information I am talking about that needs to be communicated with our clients)
Content marketing is not only a story online, it should also include hard-copy materials that people can read without having to be connected online.
The key is concise content that people can quickly scan and use/remember right away. The whole culture of short posts and quick thoughts like those on Twitter or Facebook is how our society now picks up information. With mobile phones we now get breaking news delivered to our phones or email addressses. We, as readers remember the highlights and if we want more we know where to go seek out more information.
Developing guides is one way to help keep and retain your clients and give them a reason to stick with your services. I will leave you with one more scenario that I think will help you see how powerful this can be.
Have you ever purchased some type of equipment or fixture that includes pages upon pages of instructions that are written in English and some other language. It is a major turn-off to me. What if a company were to make the process more simpler by reducing the installation steps to a maximum of 5-10 steps and what if all of those steps were one one page, in color with a link to a 2-minute video which showed the whole process in action.
I have yet to see a company develop such a process. This is how companies need to start looking at this whole process. Think about the possibilities if you could integrate these pieces together.
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
