Successful entrepreneurs and small business owners often have a do-it-yourself mindset. They take pride in single-handedly building their businesses from scratch and aren’t afraid of rolling up their sleeves and putting in the hard work to get things done. Combine that go-getter attitude with a creative personality, and it’s no wonder so many of them are interested in handling their brand content marketing assets. Before donning a content creator hat, it’s worth exploring the differences between DIY small business content marketing versus outsourcing the work to a professional content marketer. Both have their merits and drawbacks. Becoming a content creator isn’t for everyone. Using this guide can help you decide whether you’re ready to become a brand content creator in training or if you should leave the work to someone more experienced. DIY Small Business Content Marketing: Empowering the EntrepreneurCarving out your brand’s unique voice in the digital landscape is a thrilling experience that comes with its share of challenges and rewards. It’s empowering to control the direction of your brand’s messaging, adding your unique perspective to every piece of content you create. However, it’s sometimes frustrating when things don’t quite go as planned. Let’s explore the most common pros and cons of DIY small business content marketing to help you decide whether you’re up for the challenge. DIY Small Business Content Marketing AdvantagesPlenty of reasons exist for giving DIY content creation a try that appeals to entrepreneurs. Three of the biggest drivers include:
DIY Small Business Content Marketing DisadvantagesDIY small business content marketing isn’t all sunshine and roses. All it takes is one unhappy customer or social media troll to gaslight your efforts to make you question why you ever agreed to handle content creation yourself. The two biggest downfalls to this approach include:
Outsourcing to a Professional Marketer: Tapping into ExpertiseThe excitement of creating your brand’s content can quickly get overshadowed by the daunting nature of how frequently you must post fresh content to keep your audience engaged. Most marketing professionals recommend posting to social media between 2 and 5 times a week. If your website includes a blog, posting fresh content to it once or twice a week is recommended to boost engagement levels. Posting is the easy part. Strategizing and creating the content is what takes the most time. And sometimes, small business owners simply don’t have it to spare. They may start out strong with the initial excitement of serving as their official brand voice, only to find that task falling by the wayside as their business grows and they become overwhelmed with other responsibilities. Content Outsourcing AdvantagesAddressing the huge time suck of content creation by outsourcing the work to a marketing agency or consultant is one way to alleviate the pressure. It’s also one of the most common reasons why eager do-it-yourselfers eventually offload the responsibility. Besides the time-savings advantage, here are some other reasons why delegating the responsibility to a content pro benefits small business owners:
Content Outsourcing DisadvantagesIt might seem like the pros of outsourcing your content creation outweigh the cons. The truth is that they’re about equal. One of the biggest disadvantages of handing the reins over to someone else is the cost. The average monthly retainer cost for marketing agencies and professional marketing consultants is $3,500. Costs can swing higher or lower depending on your content needs. Some other downsides to outsourcing include:
Striking the right small business content marketing balanceDeciding between DIY small business content marketing and outsourcing can feel like a tug-of-war. It’s important to remember there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to guide your choice. An optimal approach depends on individual factors such as budget, the level of control desired, the need for specialization, and any time constraints. Some businesses might find blending the two strategies works best, while others go all-in with one approach. Ultimately, the key to choosing wisely is to align your chosen approach with your overarching business objectives. About the Author - Shari Berg
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“Who is the hero of your brand story?” I innocently asked this question one day on social media, complete with a cute graphic to illustrate my point. My intention was to tout the importance of storytelling when establishing brand authority. For the record, a company’s CEO or product is never the hero of a brand story. It’s the customer. There, I saved you a lot of Googling (and wondering). It wasn’t long before I got utterly thrashed by other content marketing professionals who disagreed that every brand story has a hero. I was reminded there are several different brand archetypes, and “The Hero” was only one of them. They insisted that a hero doesn’t fit neatly into the other archetypes. They’re wrong. Storytellers know that no matter what your brand’s personality may be, there always is a way to turn it into a compelling story with your customer as the hero. Don’t believe me? Keep reading, because I’m going to walk you through the other brand archetypes and create a compelling hero storyline for each of them. What is a brand archetype?Before I get into the nitty-gritty, some of you may be confused by the term brand archetype. To make a long story short, it’s marketing jargon. Brands associate with certain human characteristics to establish their brand personalities. Their personality then determines their brand archetype, which they use to guide their marketing strategies. Brand archetypes include:
The TraditionalistAlso known as “The Innocent,” brands that align with this archetype offer a product or service that caters to a simple way of life. One popular brand that does it and does it well is Coca-Cola. Their “Real Magic” campaign is a perfect example. If you watched the full commercial, you might be thinking the hero of this story is the little boy who encourages his neighbors to build the “gift shoot” to cheer up an elderly shut-in. I can see why you might think that, but you’d be wrong. The real hero of this brand story is the building security guard. He sees on the monitor the group is one box shy of its goal. He rushes to the rescue with his box (which just so happens to be an empty Coca-Cola container). Coke gets its brand recognition and turns this ordinary person into a hero in the process. It’s pure genius, really. The EverymanEveryman branding requires a marketing strategy that builds connections and promises a place where all belong. Its intent is to help customers find common ground with the brand. So, how do you find the hero in an everyman scenario? Let’s look to IKEA for the answer. In its “Fortune Favors the Frugal” ad campaign, IKEA appeals to every man, woman, and child in the world to do their part to stop global warming. We then see a montage of people using IKEA products to live in moderation – one of the greenest ways of living. The ad makes every person using an IKEA product a hero, saving the earth together. The NurturerNurturing brands encourage people to take care of others and themselves. Self-care products and services fit neatly into this brand archetype. You know what else suits this archetype well? Heroes. Just look at this 2018 commercial from Johnson and Johnson. Nurses are caring by nature. It’s what makes them valuable members of the healthcare community. This brilliant commercial from J&J goes through several health crises in history, showing how nurses advanced patient outcomes through their nurturing and compassion. Boom. Drop the mic. Heroes. Every last one of them. The CreatorBrands that want to make their mark on the world fancy themselves as creators. They often produce experimental marketing campaigns that push boundaries. Their products and services promise to unlock your creativity and encourage self-expression. One of the brands that do it best is none other than Lego. Check out this commercial from 2014, designed to inspire imagination and independence. If you’re thinking the little girl is the hero in this one, go back and look again. Her mom plays the role of caped crusader here. Unlike in other hero storylines, mom’s superpower is a little more subtle. Sure, she could swoop in and save the day every time her daughter struggles. Instead, she turns to the power of Legos to help her daughter become more independent. Mom’s superpower is giving her daughter the freedom to make mistakes and be the hero of her own journey. The tool she uses to do it is Legos. The ExplorerWho doesn’t like a good adventure? Products and services geared toward helping people make new discoveries and live their best lives tap into this brand archetype. A lot of outdoor and sports-related companies fit this archetype nicely. GoPro is your typical Explorer archetype brand. While most of its commercials feature athletes performing daring feats, one commercial from 2013 played the hero storyline perfectly. There’s no fanfare or fancy stunts. Just a fireman using a GoPro to find a tiny kitten in a housefire. It’s not looking good for the kitten, but the fireman doesn’t give up. Through the lens of the GoPro, we watch him bring the kitty back from the brink of death. Why? Cause that’s what heroes do. Well played, GoPro. Well played. The LoverDeep down, we all just want to be loved. Some brands build entire product lines and services around this deep-seated desire. They promise if you buy their stuff, you’ll instantly be more emotionally and physically attractive, helping you to get the love you so desperately seek. When most people think about love, Hallmark immediately comes to mind. Heck, they have an entire channel devoted to love story movies. Their commercials for their trademark greeting cards tap into our desire to belong and to be loved. This gem from 2018 has a very subtle hero storyline. Did you figure it out? It’s not the persistent family that continues to shower its grumpy neighbor with acts of kindness. The active hero in this commercial is the grumpy neighbor’s deceased wife. Every time he rebuffs his neighbors’ efforts to connect, she stares at him from the photo on the wall. It’s the memory of her that finally convinces him to stop being such an old crank. The VisionaryCutting-edge brands that want to change the world and the lives of everyone in it often pair their brand personality with a hero storyline. We don’t need to look any further than the iconic Disney to find the perfect example. Check out this quirky Disney Paris commercial from 2018 titled “The Little Duck.” It’s hard to imagine Donald Duck as a hero, but that’s exactly what he is in this short from Disney. Not only does he inspire the baby duck in the commercial to be the best duck he can be, but it also caters to the “meeting your childhood heroes” storyline when that same baby duck overcomes adversity to later meet Donald in person. The KingMost luxury brands fit into this archetype. They appeal to customers who expect only the very best in life. One of the best examples of a brand fitting this personality is Mercedes-Benz. In this extended ad from 2012, the luxury carmaker introduces a hero – doubling as an accomplice – for a little boy who keeps exercising his independence in the most unusual way. It’s not the first time they’ve tapped the hero’s journey for a commercial. This gem from 2010 turns the tables on Death himself when the car’s driver outsmarts him and saves his own life. How? Because he was smart enough to know he deserved the very best luxury car with brake assistant features. Want a third example? In this Mercedes-Benz ad, this woman literally has two heroes from which to choose to save the day. Clearly, the marketing department at Mercedes-Benz understands you can be king and a hero. The EntertainerIt doesn’t take a marketing guru to figure out what this brand archetype is all about. Helping people have a good time while bringing a little joy to their lives is the target for brands with this personality. Marketing efforts usually embrace adventure and humor, which makes it ideal for inserting a hero or two. A company that does both well is Skittles. This oldie but goodie from 2007 has a reluctant hero storyline. We’re introduced to a guy who can turn everything he touches into Skittles. Others think it’s the coolest superpower ever. Him, not so much. The SageSage personality brands position themselves as experts that appreciate truth and wisdom. Growth and knowledge go hand-in-hand in their marketing campaigns. They operate under the premise of keeping you informed. Google is one of the brands that play the Sage archetype well. In this 2021 ad, Google helps transform the dad of an easily bored child (with a slight obsession with octopus) into a hero in his son’s eyes. Find your brand archetype and its heroWho said you can’t have a hero in every archetype? Content marketers who don’t understand storytelling, that’s who. If you want to connect with your audience in a way that makes them the hero of your brand’s story, contact The Write Reflection today. We’ll be happy to help you craft your hero’s journey. AuthorShari Berg has known she wanted to be a writer since she was old enough to hold a pencil in her hand. She believes everyone has a story to tell, and it’s her job to discover it. Shari owns The Write Reflection, a Pittsburgh-based copywriting and content writing company that empowers small business owners to wield the power of words. Graphic designed by The Write Reflection Case studies are an effective way to add value to your brand. You can “toot your own horn” by doing what any product or service should do best: solve a problem. If you have a website, consider adding a section dedicated to case studies. Then, populate it with the best examples of why your brand is the best at what it does. The U.S. is the largest advertising market in the world. Businesses spend an average of $253.6 billion each year on advertising and marketing. Case studies provide one of the best returns on investment of all content marketing strategies. Not all case studies are created equally. You must know the tricks of the trade to turn a case study into a lead conversion tool. What is a case study?Case studies are an advertising and marketing strategy businesses use as a value-added proposition. Convincing case studies meet the following criteria:
Some companies – and their marketing experts – become preoccupied with “staying on brand.” They focus too much on their brand voice or messaging matrix and forget to leverage the power of storytelling in their case studies. All they accomplish is to bore their target audience and make themselves look self-centered. Case study advantagesBuilding trust in your brand is harder than it looks. Yes, having a great product or service – coupled with amazing customer support – is one of the best ways to keep people coming back for more. How do you convince someone who has never experienced your products, services, or stellar customer service to give you a try? This is where case studies provide an advantage. Consumers have smartened up to fancy sales pitches and flashy graphics on social media. It takes more than these old tricks of the trade to convince them your brand is the solution to their problems. Ratings and reviews from previous customers carry weight, but even those are easily manipulated. Effective case studies provide tangible proof your brand does more than talk the talk. Building brand trust is not the only advantage of an effective case study. Here are a few more worth noting:
Writing an effective case study in 5 easy stepsNow you know what a case study is and why you must include it in your content marketing strategy. Next, I will talk about the five steps involved with writing an effective case study. Step #1: State your caseCase studies must leverage the power of storytelling, which means featuring a compelling angle. Not sure how to do that? Take a deep dive and investigate how your customers are using your products or services. Chances are, you will find someone using your brand to solve problems you never knew it could fix. Step #2: Get relatableMake sure whatever angle you choose for your case study is one that is relatable to most of your target audience. Think about what it is that helps you connect with a good story. On some level, you must connect with the story’s protagonist. The client featured in your case study is the protagonist. Find something about the client that makes your core audience root for his or her success with your product. Step #3: Tell the taleSome marketing pros insist they are telling their brand’s story. The problem is, they forget how to tell a story the right way. Think back to your high school English class. (Sorry, this is probably as painful for some of you as doing math is for me. Stick with it. I promise the payout is worth it). If you will recall, you learned that all good stories have certain components:
Step #4: Just the factsTelling a story does not mean you rely on anecdotes to prove your case. Case study best practices encourage using cold, hard facts to back up your claims. Just because you are using storytelling techniques does not mean you should be weaving a tall tale. Make sure any data or statistics you use to support the case relate to the protagonist’s challenges. Step #5: Support the journeyEvery good story has a hero. I know what you are thinking: this is the part where my business swoops in and saves the day. Well, yes and no. Your brand is not the hero in the story. Think of yourself more along the lines of a supporting character. Your business is there to assist the real hero of the story. Humility is an incredibly effective marketing strategy. It allows for meaningful connections between your brand and its core audience and shows empathy. When you practice humility in case studies, you can increase your credibility without being obnoxious. Case study formats that workThe final step in creating an effective case study is in the graphic design. This is where a copywriter designer is a valuable asset to have in your corner. They can craft a compelling story for your case study and design it in an eye-catching manner that gets – and keeps – your core audience’s attention. There are no hard and fast rules for formatting your case study. From infographics and webinars to interview formats and brochure styles, your case study design should fit the content. Ready to get started with your first case study? Contact me today to get a 25 percent discount on your first order that includes content creation and graphic design for the case study of your choice. About the Author
Psst. You want to hear a juicy secret? This is something I have never admitted out loud before. It is something I have carried around for a while now, and it really eats away at me. I think it might be a great idea to get it off my chest. Today is as good a day as any and you are a nice bunch of people so I know you will support me. Just make sure you are sitting down. Are you sitting down? I can wait a minute until you get a chair. OK, here we go. *Takes a deep breath* My name is Shari Berg, and I suck at writing headlines. I know, right? It is utterly shocking. How could such a skilled wordsmith struggle with writing compelling headlines? Yet, I do. This horrible affliction goes all the way back to my days in journalism school. I used to break out in a cold sweat and feel nauseous every time I was tasked with coming up with an attention-grabbing headline for the student newspaper or a class assignment. I would watch all my fellow journalism students and student newspaper staffers generate awesome headlines like it was second nature. No matter how much I practiced, headline writing never got easier. Back then, there were not many tools to help spur your creativity. Sure, you could do some good old-fashioned brainstorming with other creative folks. But then you would have to admit that you sucked at writing headlines. Nobody wants that, Amiright? If you are a bit headline-challenged like me, headline analyzer tools are a saving grace. There are plenty of choices on the market, so I reviewed a bunch to save you the headache of wading through them. Here are my top 3 choices. They all have their pros and cons but do share one common benefit: they are all free. That is right, my friends. Free, free, free, free, free, free, free. One of the best-sounding words in the English language. Free does not mean inferior. Give these headline analyzers a try. I promise they will make you a better headline writer. EMV Headline Analyzer Of all the headline analyzers I am sharing with you, this one is my go-to for writing amazing headlines. Created by the Advanced Marketing Institute, it targets a reader’s emotional side. Research tells us the best way to get someone’s attention is by appealing to their emotions. Writers do this by using “power” words that evoke action. When I put the headline for this blog post through EMV Headline Analyzer, it rated it at 33.33 percent with a “spiritual” classification. What does that mean, exactly? Well, according to the analysis provided with my score, words with spiritual impact make up the smallest number of words in the English language. They also have the strongest potential for influencing your readers’ emotions. I was advised to aim for headlines with scores between 30 and 40 percent if my goal is to influence others’ emotions and prompt them to act. Capitalize My Title This handy tool is my runner-up because it challenges me to keep tweaking until I have the right balance between readability, SEO, and sentiment. Simply enter your suggested headline into the analyzer bar and then ask the tool to either analyze or capitalize it. Using the same headline that I generated for this blog (the one EMV Headline Analyzer loved), I earned an overall score of 64. My score was circled in green, which indicates it is sufficient for achieving my goal of getting people to read my article. How did it come to that conclusion? It averaged out my scores from the three categories it rates. Here is how it breaks down: - Readability: 90 - SEO: 70 - Sentiment: 30 Capitalize My Title uses the Flesch-Kinkaid Readability Score. Here is how it works: What my score tells me is that my headline is written at a reading level that makes it accessible to most people. That is a good thing. At least when you are writing news stories or informational pieces. Now, with academic writing, you would want a readability score in that 0 to 30 range. Your audience matters, so do not always aim for that 90 to 100 range. My SEO score also performed well. I kept my word count between 5 and 7 words (Google likes that sort of thing) and used both power words (do, your) and appropriate SEO keywords. Capitalize My Title ranked my sentiment score close to what EMV rated it, so that was nice to see the tools shared the same opinion in that category. As previously mentioned, this headline analyzer also offers a “Capitalize” option. What does that do? It makes suggestions on capitalizing words within your title for more effectiveness based on writing styles (AP, Chicago Manual of Style, APA, MLA). I have never really used this option. It might come in handy if you are trying to generate titles for email campaigns. ShareThrough This headline analyzer is my third choice. It does a decent job but is not as effective as my top two choices. Since it is free, I hesitate to criticize it too much. It does have value. When you plug in your suggested headline, it will generate a quality score just like the other two headline analyzers on my list. It breaks your score down into strengths and suggestions. When I fed it my title for this blog, my limited use of positive sentiments and passive language earned me a 59. That is a good thing, according to this analyzer. As they like to say in the news industry, “if it bleeds, it leads.” Unfortunately, negativity sells. At the very least, it attracts attention. ShareThrough also gives me a list of suggestions for improving my title. With my current blog title, it recommended the following: - Increase your headline length - Include your brand identity - Reference the body of the blog - Use context words - Try adding a celebrity This is the part of the tool I am not keen on. Some of those suggestions – increasing headline length and brand identity – are good suggestions. The rest? They are not always appropriate depending on your topic. I also disagree that I did not reference the body of the blog. I think it is clear I am going to discuss writing crappy headlines from my title. Still, the analyzer has value, so it never hurts to plug in your title and see what it has to say about it. Getting your money’s worth Yes, I know. These tools are all free. (I told you I sucked at writing headlines). What I am going for here is the sentiment behind that phrase. If you are going to use these headline analyzers, make sure you use them to their fullest potential for the best results. While EMV Headline Analyzer is my favorite, I am going to let you in on another secret today. I never just use it when crafting headlines or sub-headers. I take the time to sample my headlines in all three of these tools on my list. It gives me a different perspective and helps me create more well-rounded titles and sub-headers. Give it a try. I promise it will make you a better headline writer. If you try out any of these headline analyzers, I would love to hear what you think about them in the comments. Have other favorites not included here? Toss those out for consideration as well. I am always looking for new tools to try to improve every aspect of my writing. Happy headline writing everyone. Try not to suck. AuthorShari Berg has known she wanted to be a writer since she was old enough to hold a pencil in her hand. She believes everyone has a story to tell, and it’s her job to discover it. Shari owns The Write Reflection, a Pittsburgh-based copywriting and content writing company that empowers small business owners to wield the power of words. |
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