What is your business objective?
When I ask small business owners what their business objective is I almost always get the same answer, “Get the phone to ring.” One of the most effective ways we do it is by driving highly targeted traffic to their web site with content that answers questions and solves problems.
Content marketing can provide a great ROI
Content marketing is something that can provide a great return on investment and be cost effective enough that some small business owners like plumbers, roofers and general contractors have built their entire online sales and marketing strategy around it.
There’s really no secret sauce when it comes to content marketing—produce valuable content and get it out there! Here are a few tips on how to create an effective content marketing strategy and increase sales for your business:
- Show Them How It’s Done. Often people start out trying to solve a problem like fixing a leaky pipe on their own before they decide to hire a pro. Even if they don’t want to do it themselves they may do some online research to become more knowledgeable before they hire someone. They will search online for “How To’s”, “Tips” and “DIY” blogs and YouTube videos to answer their questions. So for our client who is a plumber in Fort Lauderdale we developed a blog offering Tips On Toilet Repair. For a contractor in Pompano Beach we created one that offered tips on Bathroom Remodeling. You might think, “Wait, I don’t want to teach them to do it themselves I want them to hire me!” In many cases once the customer sees how hard it is to do they will decide to hire a pro and at that point you are top of mind. Even if they don’t hire you then and there you’ve established trust, brand recognition and shown your knowledge for the next time they have a job.
- Encourage Social Sharing. Our Facebook fans or twitter followers can be the greatest ambassadors for our business. Encourage them to share your blogs and videos with their friends, family and coworkers. Be sure to post a link to any new blog post to all of your relevant social media accounts especially Twitter, Facebook and Google+. Make sure there are social sharing buttons that allow readers to easily e-mail, tweet or post your blog with just one click.
- Mix it up. Different people consume different content in different ways. It isn’t enough to have a blog. You need to have videos as well. There are now inexpensive software platforms like Content Samurai that make it easier to repurpose your blogs into YouTube videos that you can post on your site and share on social. Take a look at how we took a blog we created on How To Choose a Plumber and repurposed it into a YouTube Video.
Content marketing has become an essential component to the internet marketing strategy of just about any business large or small. At WSI Online Solutions we’ve had great success using it to help our South Florida small business owners increase leads and sales.
This post originally appeared here: http://www.wsi-onlinesolutions.com/3-tips-on-generating-leads-for-plumbers-and-contractors-through-content-marketing
Author: Vin DeCrescenzo.
http://www.wsi-onlinesolutions.com/vin-decrescenzo-director-of-digital-marketing
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