Consider how much a bad experience — whatever the cause — affects your desire to spend money. A faulty smartphone app or an unpleasant technical support representative can certainly push you away from a company. Customer experience is important for retaining customers across all industries.
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Automotive marketers today are mastering their digital marketing efforts and coordinating efforts across a specialized franchisor-franchisee relationship. The franchisor (OEM) and the franchisee (dealer) send brand messages that harness the power of data to reach the right audience on the right channel with the right message at the right time. But it wasn’t always that way. In the heyday of traditional media, most marketers relied heavily on the “spray and pray” marketing method to get one message seen by as many prospective customers as possible. Back then, it worked, especially for automotive marketers. A limited number of channels existed, so OEM and dealership marketers could reasonably assume one message on a specific channel—such as print, radio, or TV—would create profitable impressions on a well-defined audience. Two things happened in the 2000s that would forever change the face of automotive marketing. First, internet use and access for consumers exploded. Second, the Great Recession knocked down car sales—and knocked out some 4,000 dealerships. The dealers who survived the recession also learned to adapt their marketing so they can thrive in the digital […]
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Want to create content that gets better engagement and views because it helps your audience? We have a wealth of practical tips and expert opinions in our last installment of the Content Marketing 201 series. Keep reading to find out how to create better content for your brand. Creating content: Follow the golden ratio of content. There are two types of created content: owned and promotional. Owned content is simply content you create that doesn’t have a sales pitch attached. For instance, this blog post is an example of owned content. Although we hope our readers enjoy our blogs posts enough to check out the awesome services we provide, we’re also committed to providing helpful, relevant advice and information to our readers – no strings attached. Promotional content includes a specific call to action. This includes advertisements, coupons, giveaways, contests, and any message that is transactional (you offer something to your reader in exchange for information or money). Most businesses will create owned and promotional content, on top of the curated content we discussed last week. Follow a simple rule […]
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Previously we showed how hard work, diligence, and a bit of smart planning can help you find better content. If you’ve found great content, you probably want to share it with your audience. Before you hit “publish,” provide context for your audience to help illustrate why the content matters to them. Be creative. Let’s say you found an article that discusses the best examples of financial institutions using LinkedIn. It contains interesting data points, key players in the financial services industry, and a compelling argument. You like this article and want to share it. You could copy the link to your social media channels with little to no context or explanation. Or you could update the argument and recycle the information to reflect your brand’s message. Trendy DIYers on Pinterest have a handy word for this sort of creative repurposing: “upcycle,” to update and recycle. An upcycled article can become an infographic (using the article’s data and institution logos) or a “response article” on your blog (using the article’s main argument with your thoughts added in). You can divide the […]
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Our Content Marketing 101 series takes an in-depth look at the philosophy behind producing better content for an audience. Now we want to help you actually make better content. Earlier this year, IMN surveyed content marketers and found their biggest challenge is sourcing engaging content. About 42 percent want to find it, but they don’t know how. Take a deep breath, frazzled content marketers. IMN has your back with four pointers to find better content. Content is everywhere. We live in the digital age where content sprouts up like dandelions in summer. The proliferation of online content can overwhelm the most seasoned of marketers. The trick is to start small and pick a few favorite news resources. Industry blogs and online publications work if you know what topics you want to cover. However, if you need lots of content ideas that cover a wide range of industries and themes, try a content aggregator. Curata and Feedly are two popular aggregators for all kinds of resources, including articles, webinars, and videos. Content comes to you. Here’s a best-kept secret in […]
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