Small Business Marketing and Selling - Scoop.it

You?re finally convinced that?content marketing?is critical to your marketing strategy.

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When we think of content, we often think of a compilation of words, words that tell a story relevant to our buyer and connect to our brand. The problem is that our prospects have less time to read these words, even when they tell a well-crafted story that can be useful in their jobs. Why?

Content is evolving. No longer are white papers and webinars the secret to inbound marketing success, visual is becoming the norm. Get ready to kick the tires and light the fires around your content strategy as we show you how to effectively utilize visual content like Infographics, video, visual note-taking, memes, and even Instagrams into your marketing campaigns.

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We?re in a state of information overflow and many are looking for a way to dig out.

Simultaneously, we have learned to digest information faster ? sometimes even at a glance.

This quick consumption of data lets us know the big message and allows us to decide whether or not we need to keep reading. The headline of an article is commonly used to make this decision, but how can we rely on more than a headline to get our point across?

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The answer - Visual Content Marketing

Visual content marketing is the utilization of images to engage your prospects through the buying cycle. This can include Infographics, images, charts and graphs, memes, comics, photos, videos, and even?visual notetaking. http://bit.ly/Qa2XZ3

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What?s critical is that they help tell a story related to your brand. Keep in mind that this doesn?t mean a sales pitch. Rather, visual content is created with the goal of appealing to your prospects and is meant to offer them a solution for a pain they may have.

This presentation, created with Column Five - http://bit.ly/LooubE , not only explains different types of visual content, but also to give examples to inspire your own visual content creations.?

Walking the B2B Marketer through the steps necessary to produce and promote great visual content, from content purpose and distribution channels to idea creation and proper usage. It also goes into the theory, history, and practice behind visual content.

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By Maria?Pergolino ? http://bit.ly/KKa36J

Source: http://bit.ly/MydmLg

Download Presentation here: http://bit.ly/LcQxN6 [PDF]

Via maxOz

As a business owner, it may be hard to delegate time for yourself or your employees to write quality content for your blog vs. work on revenue generating projects.

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And when it comes to content, we?re not talking about just any content, but content that people want to read, search engines want to crawl, and social media users want to share.

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Finding Guest Bloggers

One of the first things to increase the content on your blog,?is including guest bloggers to help you out. Guest bloggers get a lot of benefits by writing for other sites, including yours, such as exposure to a new audience, the chance to build their authority, and the ability to build quality links back to their own blog or website.

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How to Create Guest Blogging Guidelines

The easiest way to attract guest bloggers to your blog is through the creation of a guest blogging guidelines page. ?

Share details by including the following: ?http://bit.ly/J5KCHB

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**Your impressive blog stats

**Your audience?s interests and demographics

**What topics your blog covers

**What level of content you need

**Content originality

**Post formatting details

**Post submission requirements

**Community rules

**Self-promotion rules

**Disclaimers

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What to Look for in Guest Post Submissions

You will want to make sure the content meets the quality standards of your blog by reading it thoroughly and checking for a few key things:

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**Is the content original?

**Who is the author?

**Where does the author link to?

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Establishing an Editorial Calendar

No matter where you get your online content from, whether it is guest bloggers or freelance writers, be sure to create an editorial calendar.?

Via maxOz

Land a job and show up higher in Google results.

Via Jenni Hilton

Mitch Joel from Michael A. Stelzner on Vimeo.? - ?http://bit.ly/A5lcKb?;

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In this video Michael Stelzner?-?http://bit.ly/zKyNs4?-?interviews Mitch Joel?-?http://bit.ly/wDaEVn?-author of Six Pixels of Separation and president of Twist Image. Mitch shares insights into how?content has changed the way we do business, as well as insights into the questions to ask to find the right?marketing strategy for your business.

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Takeaways:

What questions you need to ask to get results from your social media strategy The ultimate question to define your business model How to build your strategy around the ?why? How businesses can use a blog to reach a wider audience Why your blog needs to be driven with a journalistic framework The connection between social media and sales How to make your content as findable and shareable as possible How video has changed and how it can help your business Original post here?-?http://bit.ly/wfHA4O?;
Via maxOz

Small Business TrendsNew Small Business Lessons in Social MediaBusiness InsiderYou've heard social media is critical for your business. But social media and business are changing all the time.

Robin Good: Here is a handy short guide to nine free infographic creation tools that can be utilized to create enticing visuals, word charts and data-based infographics without having special technical skills.

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Useful. 8/10

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Check them all out:?http://www.infographicsarchive.com/create-infographics-and-data-visualization/?;

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(Unearted by Andres Taborga)

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Hey All -- sometimes in business we need to display/convey data with our storytelling. So how do you display data in engaging ways? I love this article because it shares 6 free tools to use, plus there's a little tutorial on how to make infographics.

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We all know how important it is to have the right tool for the job at hand. Bookmark this article so when you need the tools you have them. Enjoy playing with your numbers and showing them in different ways!

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Thank you Robin Good for curating this article.

Via Robin Good, Karen Dietz

DexignerAdobe: Social media impact undervalued by nearly 100 percentZDNet (blog)By Rachel King | March 23, 2012, 1:30am PDT Summary: Adobe finds that most digital marketers are quick to add social media into the mix, but they don't understand the...

By Joe Pulizzi?-?http://bit.ly/w17smc?

@juntajoe

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Brands have been telling stories to attract and retain customers for hundreds of years. The difference today is that the barriers to entry (content acceptance, talent and technology) no longer exist for brands to get into the publishing arena.

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This History of Content Marketing Infographic is based on the Content Marketing World Timeline Video from the Content Marketing Institute.

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Special thanks to CMI?s creative director Joseph Kalinowski for making this happen.

Download or Embed here:?http://bit.ly/AgIOaq?

Via maxOz

By Thomas Clifford?-?http://bit.ly/yX4aam?

@ThomasClifford

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CMI?s 2012 B2B Content Marketing Research Survey?-?http://bit.ly/y7B6xe?indicates the largest challenge (for 41% of respondents) is ?producing the kind of content that engages prospects and customers.? Download Entire Report Here: ?http://bit.ly/znE8qS?

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Tied to that challenge is the ability for content marketers to create emotionally compelling content through a sustainable process.

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Add to that mix, how does one find the time to accomplish this?

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Over time, I?ve developed a six-step process that can help resolve these three challenges, especially when writing blog posts.

The process is easy, fast, and can yield enough content for a full-length article that can be repurposed later for even more content.

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The process works particularly well when dealing with topics you may not be familiar with, or when you?re pressed for time (or both).

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You?ll need to start by interviewing someone who is knowledgeable about the subject you?re writing about.

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The interview process consists of six steps:

http://bit.ly/xhWZhZ?

Via maxOz

One of the questions I tend to get asked frequently by people who start reading my blog is ?How do I find my passion?? or some variation of that question. It?s a tough question to answer because there?s no real formula for it. It?s not ?if you do A, you?ll find B.? It?s a question that requires you to look within and usually it?s the start of a lengthy, but very fulfilling journey.

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While I haven?t quite figured out if there really is a formula for finding your passion, I am starting to get a sense for how you know you?ve found it.

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Read more:?http://www.dumblittleman.com/2012/02/have-you-found-your-calling-in-life.html

Via Martin Gysler

"We shouldn't be surprised when someone chooses to publish their photos, their words, their art or their opinions. We should be surprised when they don't."

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The internet is an engine of connection. It has been from the start (email, chat, forums, blogs, social media...) One reason that so many of the most popular sites online are those that permit people to express and expose their...

Via Jack Humphrey

2012 will likely see an acceleration of structured, push button, social curation across the web. Why? Because most users don't want to take much effort to produce content, and consuming content in a structured manner (especially photos) is also much faster. Just as the first wave of social media has transformed the consumption of information, this next wave of social curation will fundamentally change how users find and interact with content over time.

Via Morten Myrstad

This comprehensive Google+ SEO guide covers every aspect and angle of Google+ and how it impacts search. My normal TL;DR has been replaced with a Google+ SEO Best Practices section located at the bottom of this post.

Via Morten Myrstad

Learn how companies that focus only on traditional ROI when analyzing marketing performance will lose.

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But the new ROI of marketing goes even further than investments and impressions. It also encompasses return on engagement, objectives, and opportunity. Today, people share information via the social web faster and more frequently than ever. Traditional ROI analysis is just the tip of the iceberg. The really interesting part of the story is what happens beneath the surface of the water. The hard metrics related to return on investment barely touch the surface.

Via Level343

February 1st, 2009, was a very memorable day for me. It was the day I arrived back at my family home in Newcastle, England, to start working for myself full-time.

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I had just left a job which for the previous two years saw me working with companies like Nissan, Hewlett Packard and Land Rover as their social media manager. My position in the rat race was actually an awesome one, but it was nothing compared to being my own boss.

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As some people here don't care about making their living from the internet, I understand that this post will not be for everybody. However, if you've just made the leap to working for yourself, currently run your own business, or you're looking to make your money online in the future, this article may be just what you need.

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13 Lessons from 18 Months of Self-Employment...

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Read more:?http://lifehac.kr/K0q99M

Via Martin Gysler

In what seemed like no time (but was, in fact, several years), Pinterest went from a talking point for digital elites to a de rigeur social tool for just about every person, media company and, of course, brand.

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Via Kelly Lieberman, ABroaderView

Tips for social media successNaples Daily NewsNow, the same question surfaces for all who desire a larger presence in business: Is social media the way to go? Undeniably, it is.

Stories are powerful. We put together this little demonstration to inspire our people make more emotional connections.

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I love his short video about why stories work so well to make information meaningful and memorable!

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I share it with you today for 2 reasons:

It looks like it would be a very simple video technique?you could use for sharing your own business stories. If you need to demonstrate the power of storytelling in your work, share this video!

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Hope this video gets your week off to a roaring start.

Via Karen Dietz

How I became a convert to Twitter ? The teaching and education community on Twitter is truly inspirational...

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Twitter is a fantastic collaborative tool. As teachers, how often do we get to visit other schools? In my experience, very rarely. Twitter has enabled me to collaborate with teachers in schools across the country. Combine this with cloud services such as DropBox and Google Docs and you can create and share resources and ideas quickly and easily.

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The site is also a great place for discussion. It is amazing how creative you can be in 140 characters. Teachers, academics, technologists and other experts come together on Twitter to chat and discuss a whole range of topics ? you can follow and contribute to these discussions by using hash tags.

Via Gust MEES, Heiko Idensen, ABroaderView

How do you first get started building a community?

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Every company wants one! But where do you start?

What does a healthy community looks like, and how to put the right pieces in the place from the beginning.

Turns out it?s extremely simple, yet easy to avoid because the task can seem very daunting.

Ok ready?

Come closer.

Here?s the secret?

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One Person At A Time

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You can?t build a community over night, the same way you can?t build a company over night. Both require that you give every small aspect of the larger goal your full attention, and build up toward your vision.

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Want A Foolproof Community Building Strategy

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Step 1: Pick up your phone, and call a user/customer. Ask them about themselves. Ask them about their experience with your company. Make a personal connection.

Step 2: Invite them to a private facebook group for your customers.

Step 3: Introduce them to the group and help them get involved in the discussions.

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Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

It may seem tedious, but once it?s all done?

?nothing is stronger than a well built community.

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By David Spinks?-?http://bit.ly/wIRluP?;

Via maxOz

One of the things that Social Media peeps battle on a regular basis is content creation, which is the ideal way to extend your brand identity, expand your network and potentially created avenues of?opportunity to meet clients.

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This is one of the reasons that content is king!

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We all know that social media can be very time consuming if done properly and worse if not done properly. Either way social media can take a great portion of allocated time so there is always a quest to find ways to continue providing great content while managing time effectively.

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Can you say Content Curation??

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Well, I LOVE Content Creation! I do not exclusively curate content, but I balance original content creation and curation which provides an abundance of information to my followers.

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I realized early on with social media that I could NOT provide the amount of content that I wanted to my followers because there is just not enough hours in a day. Additionally, I can only provide my perspective on any one subject.

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Enter Content Curation, which allows me to provide an abundance of information to those that follow me while providing different perspectives other than my own.

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My absolute favorite platform used to curate content is Scoop.it.

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Via maxOz

All of us have goals. Goals like losing weight, earning more money, finding a life partner, setting up our business, achieving performance targets, being fitter, building better relationships, and so on. Some people seem to have no problem achieving their goals. Some, on the other hand, don?t seem to be able to make any progress.

I?ve a good amount of experience with goal achievement, having been actively setting goals since 10 years ago. I?ve experienced setbacks and successes in my goal pursuits. Running The Personal Excellence Blog (which is all about how to live in excellence and achieve our highest potential), I often receive reader mail seeking help for situations they are stuck in. I work with clients who are not getting results in life and want to turn things around. This has given me a lot of insights on what keeps people from success.

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At the end of the day, if you find yourself stuck in your goals, it boils down to one (or some) of these 11 reasons:...

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Read more:?http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/11-reasons-why-you-arent-getting-results.html

Via Martin Gysler

BlogNotions Marketers Blog provides savvy B2B Marketers insightful information on hot topics from industry thought leaders.

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Makes You Unique from Competition

Search Engine Friendly

Makes Selling Easier

Brand Reputation

Are some of our favorite reasons...

Via Level343

Blog post at : Blogging for a small business is different from blogging as a professional blogger?(?problogger?) who is making money with advertisements or affiliate products on their site. As a small business, you benefit from your company blog in a variety of ways that make your situation different from an internet marketer or problogger.

Via Jack Humphrey

A good business plan can be very important to obtain financial support from investors. This post will give you some insights to do well for your business. [note Martin Gysler]

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Dear Lifehacker,
I've got a great idea for a new business, but I want to make sure that I set it up right and I might need some financing help to get started. What do I need to include in the business plan? Is there an easy way to create one?
Thanks,
Self-Starter

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Dear SS,
It sounds like you've given your business idea a lot of thought. The business plan can definitely help you get started on the right foot. Whether or not you actually use the business plan to secure financing, writing down the business plan will force you to think through all aspects of your business, much like creating blueprints for building a house.

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Read more:?http://lifehacker.com/5833967/how-do-i-create-a-business-plan?popular=true/

Via Martin Gysler

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