Article Composition As A Small Business Marketing Strategy
Pursuing new sales on a budget is a common challenge, especially during difficult economic times. However, sharing one’s expertise in the form of an article distributed to other websites across the internet is a proven method of attracting sales and building internet strength and is a key part of a Low Cost SEO strategy.
Sales Managers, anxious to get their field officers to produce sales, want their staff to be trained in the product or service industry and then hit the road to prospect for new business just as quickly as possible. This tried and true methodology works for some, but it carries a significant investment of time and money to maintain and frequently generates a poor rate of return. When the sales team takes a day off, the company receives no exposure and isn’t getting its message out to prospective customers. Direct mail pieces and telephone solicitation usually produce new sales only when the prospect is contacted during the part of the buying process when he/she is researching product or service information.
Prospects usually begin the buying process by looking for expert advice on how best to solve their problem or meet their current need. Of course the most useful method of research is the internet. Placing articles where readers can easily find them during their pre-purchase research then allows the company to make its case for why the reader should explore the value of a company’s products and services.
Any accomplished salesperson will testify that relationships and trust are the cornerstones to any good business relationship. Articles available on the internet that provide value and demonstrate industry expertise provide a great reason for a reader to invest time in building a new relationship. After all, a businessperson wants the best assistance and quality for the best price regardless of the purchase. Articles that establish company quality and offer the reader a strong value proposition can attract new business to the organization.
Among other advantages of using Article Distribution to promote a company and its website include the fact that this method is relatively less costly than other forms of advertising and can work harder over time to deliver the value proposition. There is always a ready wealth of stories and article material in most organizations. Current clients can be asked for testimonials around which an interesting article can be composed. With some creative effort, a great deal of article information can be gathered and compiled into several meaningful compositions.
In addition to building credibility and trust, article marketing has several other benefits, including: Setting Links – Hyperlinks that are embedded within the article content provide a link back to the company website from wherever the article is eventually posted. These back links are a very important element to the Search Engine or SEO strategy. The more links, the better the company web page will perform on the search engines. Brand Identity – Successful delivery of product or service value to one’s clients can establish the organization as a reliable business partner in their industry or field. Expertise and Confidence – Case studies can show how the company is an expert at solving industry problems or meeting others needs.
Of course the big question about Article distribution is composition. Articles need not be long – anything around 500 words is useful, and each piece needs at least one bit of value or wisdom that can be easily explained.
Investing the time to compose an article is a challenge for many business operators. Another challenge is distributing them once they are written. Several article posting or distribution sites are available either for free or at a fairly low cost to help with distribution. When an article is written and distributed though, they are posted with embedded links onto other sites around the internet world on blogs and article sites. When the article is posted on another business owner’s blog, the company earns credit for the links embedded within the article as well as achieves an opportunity to reach out to new customers.
Interestingly these articles have a very long ’shelf-life’ as posts from several years ago are still available for research on the search engines. Email messages sent out as part of a campaign are easily deleted and brochures can be quickly thrown away. A well written article though, can live for many years on other blogs and sites and can be found much later when consumers are undertaking product research. The benefit of putting out a lasting message, combined with the low cost of article marketing makes this process extremely useful in establishing new customer relationships.
Matthew Stone, President of SEO Consultants in Denver provides consulting services to improve sales and improve revenues for clients across the country. SEO Consultants Denver help companies with article marketing and distribution, link setting and product page marketing.
