10 Creative Ways You Can Profit From Content Marketing
Maybe you think “content marketing” means having a blog that makes money. Or that it’s about producing content for sites like ezinearticles and Squidoo. Or having an email autoresponder.
Content marketing is bigger than that.
The whole idea behind content marketing is that you can use your creativity and know-how to make something cool, then take that cool thing and use it to market a product. It’s often associated with Seth Godin’s notion of permission marketing, but content marketing can be a part of any promotion or selling you might do.
To jog your creativity, I’ve come up with 49 content marketing tactics you can start using right away. Some of these are ideas about making any form of content more interesting, some are attention-getting strategies, some will be useful for lead generation, some for prospect conversion.
1. “Content” isn’t just about being online. I had a conversation with Bill Glazer recently (he’s Dan Kennedy’s business partner), and he believes passionately that every business needs to send a papernewsletter to existing customers, to build loyalty and better repeat business.
I don’t know about “every,” but I think he’s on to something for many businesses. Incidentally, businesses usually find that customer newsletters work better when they don’t get too fancy in their format or printing. Four-color printing on glossy paper looks like an ad. A simple photocopy on plain paper looks like valuable inside information.
2. You’d be surprised at some of the well-known internet marketing gurus who are experimenting with direct mail, especially as pay-per-click gets more and more expensive. The same techniques that make your online content marketing work will do beautifully offline.
3. Write a special report or white paper that addresses a thorny problem in an interesting way.
4. Create a free course delivered by email autoresponder. I’ve used this quite a bit in my own business and for clients, and it’s a great way to build trust and rapport. (In fact, here’s a free e-course on how to do it.)
5. Write an educational series of blog posts designed to attract traffic for a competitive keyword phrase. (Like this one on thefundamentals of copywriting, for example.)
6. Offer a free teleclass to build interest in your business. You can do all the talking yourself, or work with a partner in an interview format. Remember to record the class—the recording will also be valuable content that you can use in future marketing.
7. Offer a paid teleclass that takes your content further and provides additional value. Again, the call can be recorded and sold as a product for as long as the content remains relevant.
8. Build a membership web site that is a profitable business in and of itself.
9. Put together one or more Squidoo lenses to attract and focus Google traffic.
10. Create a wiki on a free site like WetPaint to allow your audience to collaborate and contribute to your vision.
11. Build a Facebook page (separate from your personal profile) that gives you another platform for interaction with your customers.
12. Compile your best 100 blog posts into a physical book. It worked for Godin
Click here for the other 39 ways to profit from content marketing by Sonia Simone at CopyBlogger.com
Thanks for the read, Professor Content
