Word-of-mouth has always been, and still is the most powerful form of marketing. The future of marketing is creating social objects.
What are you doing to create positive word-of-mouth? By creating content online, over time you build a database of knowledge or entertainment. By providing consistent value on your website, you give people a reason to come back.
How will people find you in the future? When they ‘Google’ you what do they find? If you start telling your story online you give Google more reasons for your site to come up in search engine results.
Being findable is a competitive advantage.
Or you could just develop your own personal Purple Cow.
Over time you can be a thought leader in your industry. This is your litmus test to see if people actually care about your company. People don’t Retweet mediocre, people don’t ‘Like’ the mundane, people don’t comment if it’s boring. So it’s your job to create something remarkable.
What’s your most talked about feature?
What do your customers love the most about your service?
What’s your favorite company story?
What do people say about you when they leave your store?
How are you different than your competition?
What are you creating to standout when compared to your competition?
Download: Content Creation: 19 Questions to Ask
The third step in the methodology is creating content. We determine the best way to tell your story online. Below are a few examples of writing frameworks I use to help you tell your story online in a much more thought-provoking manner.
Learn more about story telling here.
Download: Writing Tips from the brilliant book “Accidental Genius” by Mark Levy
Writing Frameworks:
The Story
Foreshadow the punchline at the beginning of the blog or with the title. Ensure your story isn’t too long, after you write it, go back to it a few times and try to eliminate anything that isn’t absolutely necessary to the story.
Warning: Do not get long winded, people have a natural tendency to write too much. Remember, no one has ever complained that a story was too short.
Something is Broken
Have you ever saw something that made you think “well that’s not very smart”, if you find you look at things in society that could be fixed you may have some fascinating posts on how you’d fix them.
1. State the problem
2. Describe why the problem exists
3. Entertain one or more possible solutions
4. Paint the picture of why it will work.
These posts seem to come out of no where, you just need to always be on the lookout for things that are broken.
(Insert arbitrary number) (insert reasons, ideas, facts, or questions) then (tell me how it will help me)
Example:
9 Questions to Ask Your Advertising Agency in 2012
3 Simple Ways to Make Your Website More Findable
5 Ways To Incentivize Positive Word-of-Mouth About Your Company
The Only 4 Metrics You Need For Your Ad Campaign.
People love lists. They’re easy to read, you can cram a lot of information in point form, and historically they receive more traffic than comparable posts with no list.
The Philosophers Thought
Seth Godin is the best for this. Painting a picture with a metaphor and not totally giving away the answer. Leaving the reader to fill in the blank or to come to the conclusion you’re hoping. Check out Seth Blog for examples.
Whether your story would be best told on a blog, e-mail newsletter, podcast, or video blog. We determine the most valuable way to start creating content.
Click to see the next step in your strategy:
