Marketer

How to build a unique content marketing platform

by JimRaffel on May 15, 2013

Image of SheHe Media content marketing platform

Content marketing is not as easy as the pros make it sound. Oh wait, were you expecting a blog post that was going to give you the secret to making a seven-figure income from blogging and other content creation? Sorry, this isn’t that post; but it will inform you how to build a successful content marketing platform that will contribute handsomely to your income stream.

Start with experimentation

When I started an email newsletter (for customers of my ColorMetrix business) back in 2005, I had no idea that what I was doing had a name – content marketing. When that email newsletter grew into this blog (I know that sounds backwards in retrospect), I didn’t know what SEO was and that it would eventually help me build an audience both on this site and others. When I opened a Twitter account in 2008, I had no idea that it would help grow readership and eventually find me both customers and a business partner.

All those activities I listed in the previous paragraph I approached with curiosity and an open mind. I viewed it all as marketing research and development. I feel the same way today as I look at new social platforms such as Pinterest, Vine, Google+ and even Facebook, for which I’m still searching for the value. And then there is my new favorite tool for growing audience: webinars. I say new because it’s just in the last year that I’ve figured out how to use the tool effectively to grow my audience. I have, however, been using a webinar tool, Webex, since 2003 for sales demos and technical support purposes.

Find what works and refine it

The tools and technology you choose for your unique content marketing platform are important, but not nearly as important as the topics and styles you choose to tell you stories. A couple of years ago, Shelby and I started a series of blog posts on this site that we called “She Said, He Said.” Those blog posts quickly grew into a Twitter chat and then into live speaking engagements. Eventually that led to consulting clients and the formation of a new venture She / He \ Media. If the story ended there, it would be an example of a successful unique content marketing platform.

But that is not the end of the story. We decided to see if we could take our unique combined voice and use it to also grow the content marketing platform for ColorMetrix. Again, it took a bit of experimentation but eventually we found someone willing to let us speak at their conference in our back-and-forth style calling on our respective backgrounds in the print production world.

We turned that speaking experience into qualifications to lead webinars with partner companies that are now helping us greatly expand the audience that ColorMetrix reaches. Each time we perform a webinar, we are reaching hundreds of folks without ever getting on an airplane or spending money for a trade show booth.

Being unique is hard work

There is a reason I don’t write for this site as much as I used to. While this is part of the content marketing platform for the brand that is me, it’s not the most effective platform I have at my disposal. I’ve found that by partnering my content creation efforts with Shelby for both She / He \ Media and ColorMetrix we get a better return on investment than either of us was getting separately.

Finding that unique voice that is the two of us combined did not just happen. We’ve had to work at and refine the voice that comes out when we speak together. Sure we disagree – a lot – but that is part of the voice. I’m not going to say we plan our disagreements, because we don’t. What we do work on and plan is how to temper the disagreements so that the audience can take away more value.

The other tool we’ve added to the arsenal is webinars. By presenting to audiences numbering in the hundreds each month we are able to reach far more people for far fewer dollars than any other platform we have utilized to date. Here again, presenting via webinar is not the same as standing on the stage in front of a live audience. It takes hard work and preparation to make sure the message is properly conveyed.

The secret to build a unique content marketing platform

The secret is equal parts experimentation, refinement of what works and continued hard work. The hard work comes in the form of constantly hustling for audience, creating great content and improving upon that content to make it better and better each time you deliver it.

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Continue Reading 0 comments }Content Creation Wednesday, Marketer, Marketing 101

Writing successful affiliate marketing blog posts

by JimRaffel on August 29, 2012

image of affilate clicks
For the last few years, I’ve been trying to get a handle on what it takes to create a successful affiliate marketing blog post. Recently I’ve written a couple of affiliate marketing posts that have done well in terms of metrics, which we’ll get to in a minute. What’s changed is I stopped writing affiliate marketing blog posts to make money for Jim Raffel. Instead I’m developing a formula for writing successful affiliate marketing blog posts to share with our ColorMetrix ProofPass.com affiliates. So yes, ultimately that will help me but only after taking care of other folks first.

The secret formula

You need to fill successful affiliate marketing blog posts with useful information related to your affiliate offer but that also is available for free. You might be thinking if you give away your best stuff for free why would anyone pay for premium products and services? The answer is simple: You’re showing folks what they will get when they pay for the products and services you offer, use and recommend.

For example, take a look at “Two WordPress content framework tools to build your online business.” That blog post offers quite a bit of useful and free information before getting to the products I’d suggest you purchase (with my affiliate links) if you think they will do you any good. I also point to examples of sites we’ve built with those specific tools to prove I utilize them in my own business activities.

You can see this same successful affiliate marketing blog post formula at work in “Millions of ideas to write better blog posts.” In addition to offering up two premium services from Chris Brogan, I also share several links to free resources that will help you become a better writer.

The metrics

I don’t expect you to blindly believe me. Here are the statistics from both the aforementioned successful affiliate marketing blog posts.

Post Title Clicks (% total traffic) Conversion (% total clicks)
Brogan 64% 2.9%
Pageline/Premise 27% 0%
Total 51% 2.1%

Clearly, the post promoting Chris Brogan’s new blog writing classes did quite a bit better than the Pagelines/Premise post. Before I get into this too deeply, it’s important to know a few facts. First, the Brogan post has been published for almost a month and there are two ads in the sidebar to support the click-through rate. Second, I normalized the Pagelines/Premise data by subtracting the number of clicks those affiliate links got in the seven days prior to publication of the post since I’m sharing data from the seven days since the post published. Finally, both the Pagelines and Premise products have been previously promoted here, so some of the readers already know what they are and thus have no reason to click through.

Overall, I’m pleased with the results these two posts have generated. I’ve heard in affiliate circles that an overall conversion rate of 1 to 3 percent is about all you can expect on click through. Of course, much of this depends upon the price of the product/service and the time sensitivity of the offer.

Help for free first

In the past, I wrote affiliate posts as more of a product or service review. It’s become clear to me over time that people prefer two things:

  1. Good and useful help for free.
  2. Blog posts that share your story with real world results.

Item 2 is why I took about an hour tracking down the metrics shared in the table above. Please utilize the comments to let me know if you find these types of blog posts useful and I’ll find the time to keep digging up statistics and metrics that will help you benchmark your writing efforts. Heck, while you’re at it, why not share some of your own affiliate post metrics? Let’s help each other benchmark our efforts.

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Continue Reading 6 comments }Content Creation Wednesday, Marketer

Sales and marketing balance

July 30, 2012

Finding a balance between the sales and marketing activities of your business can be tricky since many people mistakenly think they are the same thing. Last month, I touched on this topic in The Sales Cycle, which was written after spending six months aggressively marketing my business interests. That post signaled a shift in my [...]

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Radio personality Danny Baker tells my company to “Fuck Off”

June 5, 2012

I’m sitting here asking myself why a famous radio personality from England would take the time to tell a small company from the US to “Fuck Off” over a promoted tweet on Twitter. It wasn’t a particularly remarkable Tweet to begin with First off, it’s funny (and a tad embarrassing because we are still figuring [...]

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Content Creator vs Writer and Public Speaker

May 16, 2012

By the time you read this, I will have changed every online profile I can find from “businessman, writer, and public speaker” to “businessman and content creator.” This refined tagline is more descriptive of what I actually do and easier to say when someone asks what I do. It’s about understanding my current position and [...]

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Why disruptive innovation means
telling people it is time to change

May 14, 2012

Telling people what they want to hear and what they already believe to be true will not inspire action. Promoting new thinking and ideas requires you to tell folks what they may not want to hear or even believe. Selling a new concept Think about the early days of social media. Ten or even 15 [...]

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Marketing strategy to grow business online

February 8, 2012

Two years ago, I created the diagram that accompanies this post. I was preparing to meet with Joe Sorge to talk about how to leverage online activity to grow our respective businesses. On the surface, it might seem strange that a restaurateur and niche market software guy could have similar marketing strategies. The reality is [...]

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How to remain relevant like Madonna

February 6, 2012

Why are folks so impressed that Madonna at “her age” has remained relevant for the better part of 30 years? Sure, audiences in the entertainment industry can be fickle, but don’t we all face the challenge of remaining relevant in our chosen careers? Last night, I watched her performance during the Super Bowl and then [...]

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I don’t find time to write; I make time

February 3, 2012

Hardly a week goes by that I don’t field the “How do you find time to write so much?” question. Until earlier this week, I wasn’t comfortable answering that question or even quite sure how to answer it. It turns out the answer is simple: I make time to write, I don’t find it. Making [...]

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How to close more deals

January 30, 2012

I thought about entitling this post “How to make more money,” but the reality is the techniques discussed here are about closing deals that may not have direct monetary implications. Sometimes closing a deal is as simple as setting out to meet and have coffee with an influential person in your chosen industry or profession. [...]

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