Capturing Customer Attention in a World Full of Distraction (Part 1)

In advertising, you are in the field of acquiring consumer attention and retaining it. On the Internet, where it is so easy for everyone to voice their thoughts and opinions, what would ever make someone want to listen to your business in particular? Everyone is talking… but who is listening? Or rather, who wants to listen?

The key is to provide value across all channels that you communicate on. Well how do you do that? Answer: Give away valuable snippets of content for free.

Driving engagement by giving free and valuable content (Aka Content Marketing)

Here is a list of ways you can give your prospects value:

Blog posts

This is written content / compiled content given in an archived format (basically what you’re reading now). Get help from your webmaster if you don’t know how to upload it to your wix, wordpress, squarespace, or non CMS website.

  • How to provide value:
    • Give Free Advice, such as Frequently Asked Questions and tips in your field. Ex. I often have to answer questions for my clients via Email. This is a great starting place for a FAQ article. I take the email where I answer the question, re-word it (remove sensitive information), and publish it as a blog post.
    • Worksheets (ex. Checklist for creating visual branding)
    • PDF industry reference sheet (ex. Here is the top 5 things you need when opening a home bakery service)
    • Informative publicly licensed articles that you are allowed to redistribute
    • Whitepapers you have published
Online Videos

Uploaded to Youtube, then embed your video on your other platforms: Facebook feed, IG, Twitter (shorten your video to under 30 seconds if posting to IG or Twitter), Pintrest (depending on your industry), LinkedIn, Blog Post on your website You can use a GoPro if you don’t have anyone to help you record the video.

  • How to provide value:
    • Comedy
    • How-to Videos
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Interesting “behind the scenes” videos from your industry
Podcasts

Record podcast on Anchor and distribute on iTunes. You should make sure the topic is related to your industry. It is also a good idea to promote your podcast channel on your social media marketing channels or via print advertising. If your podcast audience becomes large enough (over 1000 active subscribers) you may be able to increase your passive revenue by selling adspace on your podcast.

  • How to provide value:
    • Comedy
    • Free Industry Advice
    • Interesting histories/facts about your industry
    • FAQ about your industry

Now that you have this quality content, where do you put it so people can find it? Or, better yet, how do you even get this content in the first place?