What is content marketing?
Content marketing is about creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content your audience loves – to drive profitable customer action. Content can take many forms. Often, we call it a blog, but a blog is just the platform. The content can be a resource list, how-to guide, video, infographic, book or article review, eBook, case study, interview… Get the picture?
Why do I need to distribute content?
Imagine having a retail store but never putting a sign-up or telling anyone about it. How will people know it exists? How will they know whether what you carry inside the store is for them?
No one will see or engage with your content without an effective distribution plan. All that work, the planning and effort, the behind-the-scenes organization, and the perfect editorial calendar…well, they don’t mean a thing unless your audience sees it.
Why content marketing? What will it contribute to my business?
When done well, content marketing is about providing great information, resources, and education that helps your target audience solve problems, eliminate pain, get educated, and more. It adds value to your community and positions you as a subject matter expert for your key focus areas, i.e., SaaS, MSPs, high-tech insurance, manufacturing, real estate law, UV lighting, etc.
Content marketing contributes to your business because it helps your target audience know, like, and trust you so they will try you out, buy from you, refer you to others and buy again. It also helps you get found more easily when your target audience is looking for you.
What happens if I don’t utilize content marketing?
Your business will die a slow, painful death and be forever doomed. Just kidding. The question is why wouldn’t you utilize content marketing? Why wouldn’t you create compelling stories that help your audience know, like, and trust you?
If you’re thrilled with your current results and don’t want to improve, don’t invest in content marketing. Or, if you don’t have a great story to tell and no compelling reasons why your customers should choose you over the competition, don’t invest in content marketing.
But if you have a great story and provide solutions to your customers, then content marketing is an excellent way to share and connect with your community.
So, I know I need content marketing, but why should I choose ContentBacon?
We created ContentBacon because we saw a huge gap in the marketplace. Everyone talks about content creation and using social media effectively. And there are a lot of ways to promote and distribute content, but there was no resource to help companies easily create and distribute great content consistently. We’re also passionate about creating and telling your company stories, and we are exceptionally good at communicating them in a way that connects with your audience.
Who’s writing the content?
We have real, experienced writers and editors who create your content. We don’t farm it out to people overseas, and we don’t scrape other content and just repurpose it. We spend time thinking about what will resonate with your audience and then create it. So when you review it, you’re like, “wow – this is awesome!” Imagine that? A company that thinks. That’s us.
How will you write valuable content about my business without being in it?
We hired a Ph.D. in research to develop a questionnaire you fill out when you engage our services. It gives us valuable information about your company, competition, and industry. The real secret is we spend quality time researching and thinking about ideas that your audience will find valuable.
How do I keep you updated with what is happening in my business?
We schedule quarterly reviews with your strategist to go over how your content is performing and how content maps to your strategy.
However, if there’s something on your mind, just tell us! You can easily send us updates and ideas you think are relevant, and we’ll keep track of them and add them to the calendar. Or if it’s something we need to react quickly on, we’ll do that.
Is the content unique? How do you make sure the content generated for me is different from others in my industry?
Every piece of content is created with you in mind. We don’t repurpose the same content over and over like content farms do. We consider your voice, tone, personality, unique selling proposition and tailor the content to sound like you.
How do I get started?
Just sign up via our website. Choose a package, and voila! You are ready to go.
How much interaction do you require from me?
Depends on what you ordered. If you’re looking for minimal interactions, check out our entrepreneur easy button. If you want to work with a full content team, check out our subscription options. Part of our “secret sauce” is to take on the burden of content creation and make it as easy as possible for you.
We do need you to fill out the questionnaire, which takes about 10 minutes. After our kickoff, we’ll work out a cadence of interactions that work best for you to approve, edit or provide feedback on the content we create. Once we work together for a bit, you may even want to bypass the approval process and have us post directly on your behalf.
How long does it take for you to generate content for me?
After you complete the questionnaire and fully set up your account, we’ll schedule your kickoff call.
During the kickoff call, we’ll deliver pillar topics & outline the initial content strategy for the next 90 days. In less than 45 days, we’ll deliver your first content.
If you need something sooner, let us know, and we will do our best to accommodate you!
How often do you suggest I post something new?
Once or twice a week is best. But something is better than nothing. So if you can’t factor that into your budget right now, posting every other week still has tremendous benefits.
I’ve seen cheap resources for content online. What is the difference between that and what you can produce for me?
Yes, there are definitely cheaper sources out there. We’ve tested almost all of them. The key difference are:
- The content quality you will be provided.
- The ease of interaction and direction. We know how to make it easy and get what you need without you having to give us a lot of direction.
- We provide it to you ready to post to your blog, PLUS, we provide you with the customized social media posts to go along with it, which helps you distribute your content easily – a vital piece of the puzzle.
Cheaper sources require much more interaction, and once you receive the content, you still have to get it ready to distribute. When you factor in your time in that equation, it’s really not that cheap, and it’s probably mediocre content at best.
How do I promote my blog so that others know about it?
Post it to your website. Post it to your social media channels. Have a sign up on your website for people to opt-in to get your blog updates, so you can automatically send them a link when you post a new blog. You can also send a newsletter to your database with recent blog posts. Those are a few key ways to promote it.
How does content affect SEO?
Content is the foundation of SEO. Without relevant, consistent content, you will never appear on the search engines when someone is looking for you, nor will you have any presence on social media channels—these are now just as important as traditional search.
We also consider how your audience would search for you when developing your content. But not as keyword stuffing, which is what many companies will do and doesn’t work. We do it in a logical, semantic way that matches how your audience actually thinks about you.
Is there a contract required?
No. You sign up for a package, and if you decide you want to cancel – which we hope you never do – you cancel.
No contract required. We may put together special pricing if you sign up and pay for a longer subscription period, but we haven’t gotten to that yet. However, if you’re interested in that, let us know!
What if I am not satisfied with the content produced?
You have the opportunity to approve, edit, or reject any piece of content. We’ll take your comments and feedback and revise or redo the content.
My business is unique; do you have writers that are specialists in particular areas?
We do. Often times it’s not necessary, though. A good writer and good editor will do their research and can write on any topic. Sometimes it’s better this way because they come at it from a different perspective. But there are some cases where having specific technical or industry knowledge may be helpful, and we tap into those resources when needed.
Why is it better to outsource than to hire someone internally?
Our experience is that most companies don’t have the resources to hire someone qualified to create their content consistently. It often gets put on the back burner as more urgent things come up inside an organization.
We also find that you all suck at communicating your story. You’re boring and don’t know what to write about. We come at it with a fresh perspective and know what to look for. We see things you don’t or take for granted. Plus, this is what we do, and we love it!
Do you offer other services? If so, what are they, and why should I use them?
We currently just offer our content creation services but stay tuned as we will be adding an awesome ala carte menu soon with services such as landing pages, eBooks, videos, infographics, and more! If you need to see EVERYTHING, hop on over to our Add-On Menu.
Do you provide images with the content?
Yes! We actually view the image as important as the content and provide images for your blog and social media. We have a library of images/graphics that we pull from and ensure everything we provide meets the proper copyright and license issues.
Do you have more insight into your process?
Sure do! Here’s a step-by-step explanation of our Bacon Cure process.