I emailed one of my clients today to run a blog post topic by them for approval. With this client, I normally don’t bother; I’ve been working with them for years so I have a good idea of what they want. But they’ve recently scaled back, and I’m only writing a few articles per week for them, so I wanted to make sure that they were ok with me including an article that didn’t directly promote their products or business.
My client responded with something that made me very happy:
I think it’s a good idea – timely content for real time communication. We still want to be relevant on fb and twitter!
This is something that so many individuals and small businesses don’t understand – they focus on the be all and end all – SEO. But when you focus too much on SEO and promoting yourself, you sometimes sacrifice substance – and that is ultimately a losing proposition. Relevance is too important to overlook.
SEO Without Substance is Fail
SEO is a tool you can use to drive people to your site and help promote your business. But SEO without substance can only get you so far. If there’s nothing relevant for your user to consume when he or she gets to your site, they’ll click away somewhere else and you’ve lost that user. The same thing goes for your marketing campaigns; the most successful campaigns strike a balance between self-promotion and providing relevant, substantive content for your users. Focus on SEO and self-promotion to the exclusion of relevant content, and your users will abandon ship.
How to Strike a Balance
Ideally, your communications – be they on your site, on your blog, on Facebook or Twitter or via email – should consist of a balance between self-promotion and relevant, timely communication. It’s ok to promote yourself sometimes. Your users expect it. You’re a business and you have to make money.
But reward your users for sitting through the self-promotion. Give them relevant content they can connect with sometimes – even it that content is completely void of self-promotion. This will keep them coming back in spite of the self-promotion. And if you do the self-promotion right, it can be perfectly-balanced blend of marketing and relevant content.
I personally use a ratio of specific types of content to keep the reader from growing bored with too much of one type of content, and that includes a small ratio of fresh, timely, relevant content that isn’t necessarily related, or may be only tangentially related, to the target site.
For example, the client in question above is a retail website that specializes in niche products for women. The article I posted today included a list of outside-the-box, romantic ideas to celebrate Valentine’s Day. The article was generic enough that it could apply to women or men; ladies who read it could use the suggestions to surprise their guys on Valentine’s Day, or they could give it to their guys and say “Do this for me!”
Nothing in the article directly promoted the site; none of their products were mentioned by name and it may not make them a single sale. But it does keep them relevant, fresh and timely on social media, where they post links to their content, and it’s a great resource that women can pass around amongst themselves. If every women who reads it passes it to five of her friends, with some note like “you and your boyfriend/girlfriend/fiance/husband/ should try this” – that has now spread awareness of the site exponentially. Some of those people are bound to be in the target demographic, and will hopefully come back when they need the products that this retailer sells.
Determining What’s Relevant
When determining relevance, you have to decide what would appeal to your target audience. Yes, you may occasionally want to produce content unrelated to your primary objective as long as it appeals to your target demographic. But you don’t want to produce completely unrelated content – then the relevance is lost because you in no way serve the target demographic.
One of my clients, for example, sells blog posts to mortgage websites. Most of the blog posts are completely unrelated to the mortgage industry, but are relevant to people who are looking to buy or sell homes. These articles may include things like tips for moving, advice for shopping for a home, techniques to winterize a home, how to spot energy-efficient housing – none of these are directly related to obtaining a mortgage, but they’re all relevant to people who may be buying or selling a home. And people who are shopping for a mortgage are typically buying or selling a home. So the information appeals to the target demographic, even if it doesn’t directly promote the business.
Conversely, you wouldn’t want to write an article about how to shop for a demolition contractor on a website for a flower shop. The content has absolutely zero relevance for the target site, and even if you attract visitors with the content, there will be nothing for them to do on the site. (Unless it serves as a reminder that tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, and it’s time for the person trying to hire a demolition contractor to send some flowers to his sweetie!)
Relevance is largely determined by the target audience. Think about the types of content that would interest your target audience, and give it to them. It’s even better when you can tie it back to your product or service.
Offer Timely, Personalized Communication
It’s a proven fact that psychologically, in most cases, consumers would rather do business with a person than a company. Personalize your company with timely, personal communication. Take time out around the holidays to write your clients a personalized “Happy Holidays” email or article. Offer a Valentine’s Day-related article, if your demographic supports it. Mention recent news articles in your area, and give your opinion.
It’s always a good idea to inject a little personality and timely content into your consumer communications. This demonstrates to your clients that there is at least one real person at the helm, and makes them want to do business with you – the person – even if they’re impartial to your business entity.
As a bonus, with timely communications, there’s always a chance they can be re-shared – which expands your reach. An article with personal commentary about an issue important in your local community is more likely to get re-shared around the community than some impersonal marketing material. This spreads awareness of your business, and gives you reach you literally can’t pay for.
