The Elements of Content Marketing
Just what exactly constitutes effective content marketing in the luxury market? There are several key elements that need to be in place in order to guarantee successful results for your luxury brand.
- First and foremost, you need to develop a content strategy. This is the core element upon which everything else depends. Your strategy needs to be well thought-out in order to be a firm foundation for your content marketing project.
- Define the exact format that you are going to use. Will it be in the form of articles, a webinar, or even a game or an app? There are several options from which to choose so make sure that you select the most appropriate option(s) for your needs and strategy.
- You then need to conduct luxury research and determine which content type is best suited to your target audience. Luxury marketing could constitute anything from reviews to quizzes.
- Use various social and content distribution platforms to share your content. Take advantage of options such as luxury websites, popular platforms like Pinterest and Instagram, blogs, and many more.
- Critically, the key metrics need to be tracked and mapped to the specific goals you wish to achieve. Everything from brand metrics to demographic metrics needs to be monitored and analyzed to improve your luxury marketing. This ensures that you can achieve what you set out to accomplish in relation to leads, sales, members, branding, shares, etc.
- One of the most important elements of luxury content marketing is the use of sharing triggers associated with human emotions. Anything from cute and funny to shocking and sexy will work with the appropriate content but remember to stay true to your brand's core values.
- Lastly, the final element is double checking. Everything – everything – needs to be checked. This includes checking your accuracy with fact-checking and improving your marketing by checking optimization. Not to mention a whole host of other checks such as tone of voice, formatting, brand guidelines, etc.
Luxury content marketing is guaranteed to be more effective in reaching that all-important target audience once all these vital elements are in place.
LinkedIn - The New Publishing Platform For B2B
Earlier this month, LinkedIn expanded its publishing platform, in a move that will allow all of the platform’s users to write long-form posts and share them with their connections. This change will be helping to transform LinkedIn into a comprehensive publishing platform, and one that businesses will be able to use to create informative content to educate their audiences with. While LinkedIn has previously offered the publishing feature to a select group of industry professionals, also called LinkedIn Influencers, with the new update, the feature will now be offered to all LinkedIn members. Will LinkedIn become the preferred publishing platform for B2B?
According to an announcement from LinkedIn, the Influencers’ posts have been doing well, receiving more views and comments than average posts. This first group of Influencers included big names within the financial industry as well as Bill Gates, Richard Branson and Barack Obama, among others. After the initial group of “Influencers” were selected to pilot this new effort, LinkedIn has found that these posts receive an average of 31,000 more views, 250 more likes and 80 more comments per post. Even with the new platform in place, LinkedIn is still maintaining its Influencers program to help bring attention to some of the most influential users on the site.
There are currently more than 277 million users on the LinkedIn network, and now all of them will be able to access the publishing feature right from their home screen.
LinkedIn members who are looking to enhance their B2B transactions will find that this new feature can be instrumental to their success. LinkedIn is already one of the top sites for B2B content publishing, and the most used social media platform by B2B marketers. The addition of the open publishing feature should only expand the influence of LinkedIn within the B2B marketing industry, and should help LinkedIn become the leading professional publishing platform in the market.
Now that the new update is officially available, members who are interested in taking advantage of the new publishing power will find a small pencil icon to the right of their Share Box. By clicking on this pencil, any user will be able to access a screen where they can create their long form posts and content. They will also be able to add titles and links in order to publish their article. Once an article has been crafted, it will be part of the public profile of the publisher. With the platform in place, members will be able to share their expertise through videos, images, photos, articles and presentations. Many members hope that this new feature will help them grow their business and develop a stronger online presence.
The new LinkedIn update offers members the ability to deliver more personal insights along with their profile. The social media site has launched the blogging feature to help increase user engagement, however, different users have found different benefits of the new platform. While some companies may be focused on the B2B marketing component of the new rollout, others are seeing the benefits of this addition when it comes to hiring decisions. No matter what the reason is for utilizing the new LinkedIn feature, it is clear that this platform is ushering in a new era for all of the social network’s users.
It might be time for us to focus more of our energy on LinkedIn as the new publishing platform for B2B. What do you think?
10 Creative Ideas To Show Off Your Content Marketing Skills
We all know that great content is king, but to truly engage your audience, your content must be creatively appealing. If you are a luxury brand, you will be judged by your digital output even more so than a traditional brand. Therefore, every piece of content you produce should reflect your brand's true essence. It is important to promote uniformity across your branding, social media channels and overall digital presence.
So, instead of pushing content out as fast as possible, give a little regard to design. Nothing beats a great image to start a conversation with your audience. To get you started with your content marketing efforts, here are 10 creative ideas to show off your content marketing skills in 2014.
1. Infographic
Whether you have done your own research or you are using statistics from outside resources, an infographic is great to showcase original or trending data in a visually-appealing and engaging way. A brand can truly have fun with its infographics using bold design ideas or it can stay true to its branding with an elegant design. Here is an infographic designed for MY Starfire, a 178' Benetti superyacht available for charter. We kept the look elegant to cater to the superyacht community.
2. Slide Shows
If you have mastered the art of using PowerPoint for in-house presentation, consider sharing some with your audience on Slideshare.net. Building your presence on SlideShare is a great way to generate new leads for your brand.
If you have been creating amazing templates, turn them into lead generating tools by offering them in exchange for an email signup.
3. Prezi
What is Prezi? Well Prezi is the cooler, younger alternative to PowerPoint. One can create visually engaging storyboard that take you through a 3D visualization of a subject or timeline. With a Prezi, you can use a combination of images, words and videos to lead your prospects on a path to discovery.
4. Tutorials
If your company sells a product or service that might require a real-life demonstration, think about creating a stand-alone or a series of tutorials that will guide the user through common problems of installation or utilisation. Tutorials can come in the form of a how-to-document, a short video or a slideshow but the most effective means of communication is by far the short video shared on YouTube.
5. How-to-Video
A How-to-Video is best used to answer commonly asked FAQ questions in a quick and effective manner. Create a short 15-30 second video shot with step-by-step segments and add narration to give your viewers additional helpful information about your product.
6. Webinars
A webinar addresses common questions and hot topics in your industry in a video conference setting. Each participant logins and listens to the internet class using the web or a telephone bridge line. Once the conference is over, you can record it and serve it on-demand as a lead generating source.
7. Create a Screencast
Through a short video that incorporates live motion computer screens, you can easily show the user what steps to take as well as explain a few extra details with the help of a narration track. If your product is web-based, using a screencast is the most efficient way to explain the ins and outs to your prospects and clients.
8. Web Comics
If you dare, create a comic strip as a fun and shareable addition to your content marketing efforts. If you make it a recurring item in your strategy, be sure to offer a special subscription to gain valuable email addresses. If you don't have a cartoonist on your team, find one on Fiverr.com. Check our personal avatar, created with just a few clicks on a button.
9. Co-Branded Offers
Find a sister company that offers compatible products and services to yours and start creating content together in the form of eBooks, webinars or infographics. Another way to create synergy is to write on each other's blog redirecting traffic from one website to the other and vice versa.
If you suddenly have a brilliant idea for content marketing but lack the necessary resources to make it happen, reach out to us for a complimentary consultation. With over 2000 blog posts, dozens of eBooks and infographics under our belt, our team has become a leader in luxury and luxury travel content creation.
8 Content Marketing Ideas To Become A Thought Leader
Nowadays, it is not only important to be great at what you do but it is also important to share the knowledge with fellow industry leaders and peers. Becoming a thought leader takes time, hard-work but among all it takes commitment and dedication to provide great content for your industry.
To help you get started, here is a list of 8 Content Marketing Ideas to Become a Thought Leader and help you showcase your knowledge and skills to your community.
1. Have an Engaging Blog
Whatever your industry or whatever the size of your company, you MUST have a blog. Why? How else will customers engage with your website? Gone are the days of beautiful Flash-based websites that have little or no editorial value. Nowadays, customers want to get to know you before they buy from you. There is no better way to share your expertise and knowledge then by maintaining an engaging blog.
2. Create a White Paper
If you want to become a thought-leader in your industry, you might want to consider putting together an in-depth report or guide that helps your readers understand an issue, solve a problem or make a better-informed decision. Sounds too serious? What about creating a guide on travel trends to your country or city; a study on the best SUV to travel with pets; or a paper on how to source local produce for your kitchen? Remember, the goal is to engage your audience; therefore, you should create a white paper that has impact, preventing it from simply being downloaded, browsed over, then forgotten.
3. Design an EBook
Meant to be read digitally on a computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone, an eBook should be born digitally and not be a mere reformatting of a print edition. An eBook can become a great visual representation of your brand or of your products and services. They can be enhanced with great images and include links to relevant websites. Check out a few eBooks we created for MY Starfire, a charter superyacht whose captain is Carl Sputh.
4. Publish Original Research
If you have recently surveyed your customers or peers on a particular subject, why not create a report for your industry? Find a niche that hasn’t been covered by your peers and create an interesting survey. Sharing the acquired knowledge will greatly enhance your expertise while giving valuable information to your audience. And remember, the content can then be re-purposed to design infographics, blog posts, white papers, eBooks and more.
5. Compile Data
Every industry needs someone to collect and organize data and statistics, so consider doing some of the legwork yourself. Create an eBook or white paper filled with statistics and data relating to your industry, and then share it with others. If you plan to do your own research, create your survey questions by keeping this content strategy in mind.
6. Resource Round-Up
You are most-likely already doing the research for yourself, so why not put it through a basic design process to turn it into a great content offer. Round-up the best industry publications, blogs, websites, Twitter feeds, Facebook pages or Pinterest boards and present them in a visually compelling eBook, slide share or whitepaper.
7. Glossaries
Like any industry, yours probably has dozens of buzzwords, jargon and lingo that can leave your prospects feeling out of the loop. Help them become familiar with your industry’s vocabulary by creating an easy to understand glossary of terms. Keep it short and simple and consider regrouping terms by subjects or products.
8. Case Studies
Demonstrate how your products and services solved actual problems for specific clients by highlighting your accomplishments. Explain the initial problem, demonstrate the methods and tactics used and then share your results. Case studies are a great way to generate new leads for your company.
If you want to become a thought leader but need help with the curation and creation of appealing content, reach out to us for a complimentary consultation. With over 1000 blog posts, dozens of eBooks and infographics under our belt, our team has become a leader in luxury and luxury travel content creation.
What content marketing strategy will you take to generate new leads in 2014?
Content Marketing Fuels Social Media
It won’t come as a surprise if we tell you that long gone are the days of newspapers and TV dominance where the start of a day meant drinking coffee over a daily newspaper and the end of a night meant watching TV over popcorn. Now it’s all about checking emails, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and reading our daily newsfeed of blog posts. Let’s face it, we should have the internet hooked up to our blood stream so we don’t miss a beat.
So, if the internet and its myriad of social networks and bloggers have become the star of our daily life and the prime means of all our communications, why do brands still concentrate a large portion of their effort into traditional PR and marketing tactics? Is it because they don’t understand that social media linked to great content marketing is the new and best way to reach their desired clientele? Most likely. As a matter of fact, most agencies have yet to embrace content marketing and social media in their own efforts to acquire new clients; so, how can they transfer this knowledge to their current clients.
What you need to know is simple. Your digital agency must first identify then connect with key influencers in your niche industry. Getting your brand on a world-class news site might actually be far less successful then getting it in front of the very attentive fans following ten influential industry bloggers. Why? Because these major news outlets have a very broad and mixed audience while the blogger’s audience is extremely targeted to your needs.
Secondly, your digital agency must curate and create valuable content such as infographics, white papers, eBooks and imageries to reach out to these bloggers in the hope of getting some coverage. In our time as luxury bloggers at LuxeInACity, we have never ever received anything else then a press release from an agency. Imagine our surprise if a luxury hotel sent us a cool infographic on the Top 10 sightseeing activities in their city or if a boutique fashion brand sent an eBook on the must-have fashion items for the next season. We would not hesitate for a second. It would be published, posted on Facebook, tweeted several times, shared on LinkedIn, etc. My team would have a field day with such great content. We would probably pass it along to our fellow bloggers (yes, we are all friends and send each other random tips) in hopes of getting it to go viral.
Lastly, your digital agency should participate socially and share the efforts put forward by these generous bloggers. This is a step that is often forgotten by agencies. We publish an article for them and they forget about us. Bloggers write for different reasons, some for money, some for fame and some for passion, but they all want the same attention. Why else would they pour out their souls on the web? So, make sure your digital agency gives plenty of love before, during and after a blogger has promoted your brand. Remember that you will most likely want to work with them again in the future regardless of the digital agency you choose, so give a favorable lasting impression. And why not send them a personal thank you note and establish contact with them directly. A little love always goes a long way, especially in the blogging world.
So, if you feel like giving us some love, tweet to us at @luxeinacity or connect with us on Facebook.
Tell Me: What Is Content Marketing?
In a world where we can skip ads on TV, listen to commercial-free radio and surf the internet without ever noticing banners or those infamous "buy now" buttons (making them completely irrelevant), brands must find new innovative ways to reach their targeted audience. Instead of trying to push your brand in front of an audience that is simply disinterested by your glitzy, high-cost, non-substantial marketing campaigns, might we suggest trying content marketing.
Content marketing is no longer a trend or a craze, it is simply the future of marketing. In fact, 91% of B2B marketers use content marketing and 86% of B2C marketers use content marketing. (Content Marketing Institute).
So, what is Content Marketing? The best definition probably comes from Joe Pulizzi, the founder of the Content Marketing Institute, in his must-have book Get Content, Get Customers (co-authored by Newt Barrett).
Why is content marketing so popular?
It's simple. It works.
Consumers who surf the web are more likely to engage with compelling content such as blog posts, infographics, eBooks, videos or white papers than with any type of traditional ads. The arrival of the internet has completely changed the way consumers interact with brands by providing a myriad of creative and interactive alternatives to age-old marketing techniques. In fact, to reach your audience nowadays , you must create content that compels them and answers their informational needs while still simultaneously serving your underlying marketing objectives.
A hard challenge? Not really. Think of it this way. Any brand that deems to call themselves a brand cares about their clients. They try to create the best products and services possible in hopes of truly satisfying their needs. Content marketing seeks to achieve the same. By giving them the sought-after information in a innovative way, content marketing acts as a relationship-building tool that builds brand awareness, increases customer engagement and retains interest throughout the sales conversion process.
Ready to jump in but don't know where to start? Like with any good plan, you first have to determine your goals and target the right audience. Need help with your plan? Reach out to us.
Six Reasons To Get Your Brand Blogging Now
There has been talks around the office about starting a blog but no one has put their foot down and said "let's start today". There is obviously several reasons for this. You don't know where or how to start. You have doubts about the return on investment and the overall results. You might not have a good writer on your team. All excuses are good, but here are a few reasons we think might make you start blogging today.
1. To give your brand a voice
Every brand has a story to tell and there is no better way to start then with a great blog. Share some of your team's highlight such as a community driven action, a new success story or the addition of a new team member. It's your blog, so basically, you can write about anything and everything.
2. To generate traffic with SEO.
If you build a great website but never update it, it basically becomes a forgotten particle of content in an ocean of newly created information. But with a blog, you become pertinent and important every week or, even better, every day. Google continuously rolls out new changes to its algorithms but one thing is for sure, they will always put a great deal of value on fresh original content. You want Google to send traffic your way, right? Then give it some great content to chew on.
3. To establish your brand as an expert
You can't be recognized as an expert is you hide your skills. Think about it, you probably spend at less one hour each day researching a subject or another online. You read dozens of article on any particular subject before you make up your mind. You probably even follow a few bloggers in your industry to get the inside scoop on what's new. What if you turned the table around? What if you shared your knowledge with others and they started to follow you? Wouldn't that be great? Start a blog, share your knowledge and become an industry expert.
4. To become customer focus.
You probably get the same questions from your clients over and over. So why not write a blog post with the answers, given them the information ahead of time. They will love you, follow you, brag about you and most likely, do business with you. And as a side result, Google will see that you create relevant content for your industry and will index you to the top of search results. It's all win-win.
5. To learn something new.
Sounds strange. But really, you can't write a good article without doing a good deal of research on the subject. And as you probably know, reading one good article ultimately leads you to reading 10+ good articles. Also, you will most likely get a few user-generated comments with each new blog posts. Replying to these comments is a fabulous way to dig deeper into a subject.
6. To become social.
Once your brand starts blogging, you will inevitably want to start sharing it too. This is great. The web has become a playground for brands and you will be surprised how easy it is to make new friends when you have something interesting to say. You first have to put yourself out there with awesome content to then be invited in the expert's inner circle. Don't forget that social media is not about self-promoting but about relationship building.
If you are still not convinced and need some numbers about blogging and content marketing, check out our curated list of statistics that might convince you otherwise.
Now, give us one good reason not to start blogging today?