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  • Social Media Marketing WorldImprove your strategy, find your next big marketing idea...DISCOVER WHAT YOU'VE BEEN MISSING

    Blogging for Business: How Content Can Improve Your Sales

    by Michael Stelzner / September 21, 2012

    Are you wondering how a blog can help your business?

    Are you trying to figure out how content can improve your sales?

    To learn more about the connection of blogging and content marketing, I interview Marcus Sheridan for this episode of the Social Media Marketing podcast.

    More About This Show

    Social Media Marketing Podcast w/ Michael Stelzner The Social Media Marketing podcast is a show from Social Media Examiner.

    It's designed to help busy marketers and business owners discover what works with social media marketing.

    The show format is on-demand talk radio (also known as podcasting).

    In this episode, I interview Marcus Sheridan, founder of The Sales Lion and author of the ebook Inbound and Content Marketing Made Easy.

    Marcus shares insights into the struggles marketers have to get results from business blogging. You'll learn what to focus your efforts on and a few simple tactics that will work.

    Share your feedback, read the show notes and get the links mentioned in this episode below!

    Listen Now


    Where to subscribe: Apple Podcast | Google Podcasts | Spotify | RSS

    Here are some of the things you'll discover in this show:

    Content Marketing for Business

    What blogging is today

    Marcus explains why blogging is essentially about teaching the people in your industry. He shares why it's important for your business to be better at teaching than anyone else in the world.

    teacher blackboard
    Think of blogging as teaching. Image: iStockphoto

    You'll hear why social media is not in your control and why you need to have your content on your own blog. Marcus shares how your blog helps you to communicate with your prospects and existing customers and the different ways you can use your content for your business.

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    Listen to the show to find out the power of producing your own content.

    How to use content marketing for your blog

    The expression content marketing has exploded in popularity over the last 18 months and Marcus thinks that it's going to become a more common marketing approach within the next 12-18 months.

    Marcus shares how content marketing helped River Pools & Spas become #1 on Google and how a single article made his company $1.2 million in sales. Learn why content is the greatest sales tool in the world when used properly and how it can shorten the sales cycle.

    riverpoolsandspas post
    Marcus uses his pool business blog to answer the questions his customers are asking.

    Listen to the show to find out the rewards behind the principle of communication and great teaching.

    How to produce great content

    You'll learn why it's important to talk to the reader in your voice and how to deepen their trust in you and your business. You'll also pick up some useful tips to create great content:

    • Speak in your own voice.
    • Eliminate the marketing message from your content.
    • Make your blog your education center to answer all of the questions your prospects and clients ask.
    • Offer more articles for readers to look at examples.
    • Add a call to action to help your readers learn more.

    Listen to the show to discover the benefits of using your own voice and keeping it real.

    How to connect blogging to business results

    Marcus shares why it's so important for your business to be aware of how your content performs in communicating with your prospects. You'll discover why he believes every salesperson should participate in the company blog.

    Attention Agency Owners, Brand Marketers, and Consultants

    Marketing Agency Show

    Introducing the Marketing Agency Show–our newest podcast designed to explore the struggles of agency marketers.

    Join show host and agency owner, Brooke Sellas, as she interviews agency marketers and digs deep into their biggest challenges. Explore topics like navigating rough economic times, leveraging AI, service diversification, client acquisition, and much more.

    Just pull up your favorite podcast app, search for Marketing Agency Show and start listening. Or click the button below for more information.

    CLICK HERE FOR THE DETAILS

    And Marcus shares his hottest blogging and content marketing tips for businesses today:

    • Approach content marketing as a teacher.
    • Discover your content marketing tipping points that impact your business results.

    He says, “If you hang around the barbershop long enough, you're going to get your hair cut.” If people spend enough time on your site, they will become customers. You have got to put the content out there and make it valuable, and you've got to be a teacher. When you do, you'll start to see amazing benefits.

    Listen to the show to hear how your business can benefit from blogging and content marketing.

    Survival Tip: Social Sharing

    The secret to getting the results you want from the content you create is to embed social share triggers in key strategic locations within your content.

    The result is that you make it effortless for your readers to share your content. This is critical to getting the most out of the content you create and growing your business.

    Check out how we do this in our annual Social Media Marketing Industry Report.

    sme report social share button
    Embed social sharing buttons in key locations.

    Listen to the show to learn more and let us know how this works for you.

    Other Show Mentions

    We're two weeks away from our virtual summit—Facebook Success Summit 2012. This is our third-annual conference designed for Facebook marketers who want to master everything there is to know about Facebook marketing.

    Be sure to check it out.

    Key takeaways mentioned in this episode:

    • Connect with Marcus on The Sales Lion.
    • Check out Marcus' ebook: Inbound and Content Marketing Made Easy.
    • Try HubSpot to track your ROI.
    • See how River Pools & Spas uses content marketing.
    • Note the social sharing buttons on our Social Media Marketing Industry Report 2012.
    • Read the Block Imaging business blogging case study.
    • Learn more about Facebook Success Summit 2012.

    Help Us Spread the Word!

    Please let your Twitter followers know about this podcast. Simply click here now to post a tweet on Twitter.

    If you enjoyed this episode of the Social Media Marketing podcast, please head over to iTunes, leave a rating, write a review and subscribe.

    Ways to subscribe to the Social Media Marketing podcast:

    • Click here to subscribe via iTunes.
    • Click here to subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed).
    • You can also subscribe via Stitcher.

    What do you think? What are your thoughts on content marketing? Please leave your comments below.

    Images from iStockPhoto.

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    Tags: Blogging

    About the authorMichael Stelzner

    Michael Stelzner is the founder of Social Media Examiner and the Social Media Marketing Society. He's host of the Social Media Marketing Podcast, the Web3 Business Podcast, and he's founder of the Social Media Marketing Society. He also authored the books Launch and Writing White Papers.
    Other posts by Michael Stelzner »

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