The Found Gen

Marketing That Works.

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Blogging and SEO: How they go hand-in-hand

Like Abbot and Costello, pancakes and syrup, and COVID and masks, some things just go together. Now imagine Sinatra singing in your ear, “You can’t have one without the other!”

SEO and blogs are like PB&J, try to separate them and you just end up with two sticky pieces of bread.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is all about augmenting your content so you show up on the first page of the search engine’s results. The higher you are on that first page result list, the more traffic you can drive to your site. The more traffic, the more likely you are to convert your potential customers.

On paper, it seems like a foolproof plan. But what happens if people make it to your site and it’s just a bunch of bland, robotic SEO drivel that doesn’t offer anything of substance? Click. They’re gone! We’ll skip over the fact that search engines are not likely to put you on page one if you don’t have great content, just to harp on a key point here. Businesses cannot subsist on SEO alone. You need great content to complement great SEO.

On the other hand, if you have genius content – blogs and website copy so lyrical and eloquent that they’re just awaiting their Pulitzers – but no SEO to drive people to your site to actually read your content… Well, you’ve just written the content of the century for an audience that doesn’t exist.

Write it, optimize it, and they will come

Remember Field of Dreams? “If you build it, they will come,” the ethereal voice whispers to a young Kevin Costner. Yeah, maybe that works for baseball fields in the Midwest, but it takes more than simply building something to make the customers come these days. Blogs and SEO must work together to produce results.

What does this look like in practice? Good question.

It basically boils down to harmonizing the art of persuasive blogging and the science of SEO in a seamless union of content marketing.

Think of it like this. You want to take all the best bits from blogs – that is, relevant, authoritative, compelling, captivating content that drives readership and calls readers to action. Then you utilize the best researched and highest performing SEO models in combination with the content.

The resulting combo is a blog, or other form of content, that speaks to exactly what readers are searching for, answers their questions satisfactorily and gets them to trust your brand.

Teamwork is the dream work

So, now that you know the secret to driving traffic, it’s time to get to work. Make sure your content and SEO teams are working together, communicating and collaborating on all marketing campaigns and content creation.  

The SEO team will focus on what they do best, with their finger on the pulse of the questions and needs of the consumers that will drive traffic to the site. The content team will use these keywords and information to create trustworthy and noteworthy content to attract readers.

Hand in hand, your two teams will walk off into the sunset and your business and your customers will all mutually benefit from this beautiful coordination. It’s such a perfect picture, isn’t it? Sorry, we always get choked up thinking about harmonious marketing plans.

We’ll leave you to dry your eyes as you envision this wonderful relationship. And if, once you have managed your overwhelming emotions, you need some counseling with your new SEO and content marriage, we are here to listen.

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If Content Marketing Were a Puzzle – Here are The Pieces You Should Never Lose

For all the puzzle masters out there, you know just how frustrating it can be when you are about to finish your 1,000-piece puzzle and the last piece has gone missing! Your challenge feels unresolved and you’re tempted to scrap the whole project. Your effort feels wasted if you don’t get to experience the satisfaction of clicking in the last piece.

Well, your content marketing strategy is a bit like a puzzle too – you need all the pieces in order for it to look, feel, and perform completely. You can’t afford to lose a piece, especially the critical frame to hold it all together. So what are those essential elements, you ask? Here goes:

  • Blogs – their purpose is to keep you relevant and engaged with your audience. It also keeps your website fresh and pleases the Google gods. More content equals better SEO equals more people landing on your site and finding answers to their questions.
  • Newsletters – this is your monthly (or so) ‘hello’ that you shout out to your customers and will-be customers. It’s an easy touch point to make sure you’re not forgotten and an opportunity for you to be helpful and provide value. Like a puzzle, newsletters tend to match up just perfectly next to your blog content.
  • Social media – the ultimate interactive medium, social media – be it Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter – is where you to go see and be seen. It’s your platform for hearing what your customers are talking about and your opportunity to jump in with a solution. You can also keep a keen little eye on your competition, too.
  • A big hub piece to tie it all together – Anchor your content marketing strategy with something big to communicate your core message. For some, an eBook works well to achieve this feat. For others, their hub piece may be a webinar, white paper, or website overhaul. Whatever it is, it has to fit your business needs as well as effectively round out your content marketing strategy.

Marketing your business sounds hard – and don’t get us wrong, it does take time and work and effort to nail the right messaging, but when you do the little things right, you end up with a cohesive and complete strategy that will work every time.

Make sure you never lose a key piece of your content marketing puzzle by getting in touch with us at The Found Gen today.

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When Was The Last Time You Looked at Your Data?

Data should be behind the wheel of every marketing decision you make, but for so many businesses, especially small business with already a ton on their hands, it can feel like one more thing on the never-ending to-do list. And frankly, it can feel pretty low priority compared to your other business needs.

But data is important. Despite how overwhelming it can feel to track, manage, and interpret, data can guide some pretty big and important decisions when it comes to who you target, how you target them, and the most effective ways to continue to engage them.

We get it that not every business has the luxury of having a full-time data person scouring their marketing performance, and you certainly don’t need that.

But what you do need is consistent and regular check-ins with some of your most valuable metrics that power your content marketing strategy. Those metrics will vary based on your goals, but some fairly universal data points to monitor include:

  • Webpage views – How many people are visiting your website? Which pages are they landing on, and how long are they lingering? Knowing this information can help guide which new content you develop so you can continue to remain relevant.
  • Social media engagement – What is your post frequency and what kind of interaction or reactions are your posts generating with readers? Which posts perform most/least favorably?
  • Email engagement – What is your open rate and which links within your email are getting clicks?

These and other data points should inform every part of your content marketing strategy, which naturally will evolve as your get new data. After all, the more you know, the better you can target and reach the people that really matter to your business needs.

Lucky for you, we can help ensure that your metrics and marketing stay perfectly aligned for growing your business. Take the next step today by getting in touch with us at The Found Gen.

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Why is Content So Dang Important?

And why you better hop on the train or miss the ride

Hey! Look at me! Look at ME! I’ve got something you neeeeed!”

Cue the pop-up, tacky Instagram ad or creepy targeted banner ad showing you something you were just looking at on Amazon on a different website.

How are those marketing tactics working out for your business? How are they working on you as a consumer?

While we will probably never escape these invasive and just plain gross forms of targeted advertising, consumers are getting fed up and learning how to ignore it. Humans are sick of the sales drivel and getting better at sorting through the muck to find the brands that they value – which are usually the brands that value them. How do you show your customers that you value them? Give them what they want: relevant, informative, authoritative content.

Content is the art of communicating directly with your audience without getting all salesperson schmoozy with them. Rather than saying “Hey, buy my stuff!” you focus on topics and information that will be of use to your customers. If you’re doing it right, you get people to read and view your content, derive some kind of benefit from it, then eventually give you their business.

That’s the idea anyway. In reality, too many businesses treat content marketing as sales and do away with delivering valuable information, focusing instead on some kind of backhanded sales pitch.

We’re here to tell you that the old ways of telling people that 9 out of 10 doctors recommend smoking while pregnant are done. Tacky banner ads are done. Overselling your product or service is done. Telling, instead of asking, is done. Treating your audience like numbers instead of humans is SO DONE!

Content marketing is the only kind of marketing that is going to work with the savvy consumers of our times.

So, what can content do that other forms of marketing can’t? Here’s a list (read it and weep, email spam!)

  • Build your reputation. Build trust
  • Increase conversions
  • A cost-effective way to bring in new leads
  • Demonstrate your expertise and build authority
  • Set yourself apart from competitors
  • Enhance your social media strategy and builds traction
  • Improve your SEO ranking
  • Boost your PR strategy
  • Drive more inbound traffic and leads

And just for your edification, here’s a list of all the different types of content

  • Blogs
  • Videos and micro-videos
  • Social media posts
  • Info graphics
  • Podcasts
  • Case studies
  • eBooks
  • Webinars
  • Photos
  • Checklists
  • Memes
  • Whitepapers
  • How-to-guides

One last note before we let you go get to work on your content. As you are creating content remember that if your voice, your message, your branding is all over the place, people won’t be able to trust you as easily and your credibility goes out the window. Be CONSISTENT!

Be consistent in

  • Quality
  • Voice
  • Design
  • Publishing schedule
  • Your values
  • Your message

All right, we’re going to call it good for today, folks. We think you get the picture. Content is king. Consistency is the queen who actually calls all the shots. You need them both to succeed, especially in the post-pandemic marketing world.

Need help with content, guess who’s got you covered … See how we did that? Lots of useful, valuable information. Hopefully we built some trust by conveying how much we actually care about content and then a small nudge at the end.

We didn’t invent the content marketing game, we just make it look so good! All right, we’re getting carried away now. Signing off. Until our next scheduled content…

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Good Riddance to 2020: A Year We Don’t Need to Look Back On

Looking forward to a new year of success

2020 was kind of like that roommate you had back in college. It was fun for the first few weeks, then you realized they were a mooching, snoring, untidy, perpetual hot mess. Then you realized you’d be living with them for a whole year unless you did something drastic.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t petition for a 2020 room transfer. We just had to deal with it and make the most of it. Here we are on the other side and we can all collectively breathe a sigh of relief. Life still isn’t perfect, the world still isn’t utopia. But, hey, it never was. We can just focus on being grateful for our health, our loved ones and the fact that the earth is still spinning through space and the sun hasn’t gone supernova yet. Work with what you got, right?

Now is not the time to look back. Like Orpheus in the underworld, we must keep our eyes forward lest Hades take our last remaining treasures away. We are going to look back at some point and count all the lessons learned, the blessings in disguise, laugh it off. But right now we just can’t. We. Just. Can’t. Too close. Too soon. Give it time to heal.

While we’re stepping out of the muck of 2020, there is work to be done. So, let’s focus on the future and trust that 2021 will make up for a year that made us feel like we were trapped in a dystopian time warp. Let’s focus on building our businesses and ushering in a new era of success and prosperity.

Focus on branding in 2021

With the major amount of downtime in 2020, many businesses took the opportunity to address their old look. Quarantine gave us plenty of time to give a good audit to our design assets – our brand, logo, website, social, etc. Maybe you noticed that your website could use a redesign or your logo could be rebranded to better capture the essence of the business you’ve become.

There’s an old saying: when fishermen (fisherpeople) can’t go to sea, they repair their nets. Think of your design and branding assets like nets. Are they capturing the customers and clients your looking for? If not, it’s probably time to update your look to greet 2021 and the years to come with your best face.

Focus on your plan for 2021

How did business change for you in 2020? We’re willing to bet that it transformed much of how you operate, what your clients need and what your business needs to succeed in the post-pandemic world. It’s time for a good hard look at your business strategy. Bust out an ol’ SWOT analysis, set new goals, review analytics, look at your key performance indicators, etc. Look at your business strategy as if you were a stranger to it and be honest. Is it going to cut it in 2021?

We’d be willing to bet (all or nothing!) that you need to revise your strategy. So, freshen it up – create a new strategic plan that speaks to the new market and the new world. It may even be in your best interest to just start from scratch and give your business plan a complete overhaul.

Focus on your content for 2021

Even though you might have relatively the same target market and demographics, in 2021 you’re going to be speaking to new customers. Your new marketing messages and content will be addressed to humans who had their lives upended, saw a country divided, saw a global pandemic and saw loss and trauma. There’s no way to soften the blow – we all got collectively messed up by 2021. But we’re adapting, coping the best we can, and people are still in need of goods and services. Just make sure your content speaks to the transformed minds and emotions of your customers.

We’re not talking about working through our PTSD in your blogs and Instagram content. It’s more of a shift in tone. It’s more of a subtle move to compassionate content that speaks to the psychographics of your audience. Your brand’s voice shouldn’t read the same way it read in 2019. This is a new era and your content should reflect that.

Need help looking away from the garbage fire that was 2020? We recommend a good bottle of scotch. But if you want more than a deep sleep and a hangover, we’ve got everything you need to make sure 2021 is a banner year for your business.

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Setting Yourself Up for a Successful Marketing Campaign in 2021

Here we are knocking on the door of 2021, and I think most of us can wholeheartedly agree that it’s about effing time! Good riddance, 2020! Hello to new opportunities in the New Year.

Tis the Season for Resolutions

The start of the New Year has always been a time for resetting – taking stock of what is going well in our lives and reevaluating what could be going a heck of a lot better. And no matter if it’s business or personal, we always know there is room for improvement.

When it comes to growing your business, that means following a pretty simple step-by-step process that includes the following:

  1. Reach more potential customers with more effective marketing messages.
  2. Convert more potential customers with customized marketing content.
  3. Retain and grow existing customer base with frequent touchpoints so they want to keep coming back for more.
  4. Do a happy dance. Then, lather, rinse, and repeat.

Important to remember with all of this, however, is that marketing is not just smattering the internet with anything and everything you can grab hold of in order to expand your reach.

No, no, no!

It’s far more strategic than that, and when you do things right, it doesn’t have to cost a fortune either. It all comes down to quality over quantity. Precision over power.

Your business has its own identity. Let it thrive by giving it space to do what’s right for it to grow. Forget what everyone else on the block is doing.

Successful marketing campaigns really come down to doing the little things right, and that’s what we’re here for. At The Found Gen, we know that your business runs on you and that your clients are real people – not just algorithms on the internet.

Let us help you connect you with the right people and the right time so that 2021 becomes your best year yet. Take the next step today by getting in touch with us.