The Found Gen

Marketing That Works.

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Are You Sharing Content? Or Selling It? Your Customers Know the Difference. Do You?

If you own a company, make a product, or perform a service, you know it takes more than hanging up a “Hello! We’re Open!” sign to be successful.

(If it were only that easy, right?)

One of our favorite ways to develop a brand and start selling your wares is by creating an atmosphere of sharing. Basically, anything you write, speak, email, publish, print, and post is a gift to your potential customers and loyal fan base. You can inform and inspire others by sharing the information and expertise that makes you the one to watch in your field.

“Wow,” your customers marvel. “She shares so much with us…for FREE! Imagine the service once we actually hire her.”

(If it were only that easy, right?)

But there’s sharing content, and then there’s selling content. They’re both perfectly acceptable and useful tactics when managed well.

Here’s the difference:

Sharing content is, actually, free. Sharing content takes the form of blog posts, email campaigns, social media feeds, and regular newsletters. It’s advice you’ve learned along the way, real mistakes you’ve made, behind-the-scenes glimpses, and ideas you freely pass along. Sharing content adds value to the services or products you sell.

Selling content is a bit different. At its most authentic, selling content is your website content, potential client emails and presentations, and even testimonials from other customers. Selling content is wholly connected to the services or products you sell.

The confusion occurs when the sharing and selling are blended without informing the customer. Imagine sending out a blog post, sponsored by a company whose product you generally use in your line of work, wholeheartedly extolling the benefits of using this company. That’s not a bad thing, right?

Well, it might be. If your usual method is to use your blog to share information freely, but you sneakily slip in a sponsored post or five into the mix without informing your customers that this is a paid advertisement, your content validity suffers.

We’ve seen some other content producers write the very best sponsored posts. They seem so believable that even we have a difficult time telling whether they’re paid advertisements or simple content shares.

This content secrecy weakens your brand.

Listen. We love helping you sell your product or service. It’s what we do best at The Found Gen, through transparency and honesty.

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The Case for eBooks: Here’s How It Amps Up Your Strategy: Generate leads and grow your email subscriber list

Content marketing comes in many different forms and is always a great way to reach out to possible customers and generate leads. When we think about valuable content for brands, we usually think about blog posts, videos, and personalized pictures. But, should we also be thinking about eBooks?

A downloadable eBook allows your audience to feel like they’ve actually been given an object of value. You can use eBooks as a way for your users to exchange their contact information for your information, thus generating multiple leads. eBooks show slightly more authority than a blog post does, and eBooks give you the opportunity to go into much more depth on your chosen topic.

eBooks should play an integral role in your content marketing strategy for many reasons. Here are a few ways using eBooks can ramp up your strategy:

Strengthening Your Brand 

Especially on social media, brand trust and authority means a lot in your content strategy. It’s important to show people interested in your products or services that you’re a trustworthy and authentic brand. One of the best ways to prove this is by writing an eBook on a subject your prospects care about.

Every brand should be answering their customers’ questions and concerns, but not every brand is answering these in a creative and engaging way. Share an eBook that examines your customer’s wants, needs, and desires. By using compelling content and design, you can strengthen your brand tremendously.

Repurposing Content

Blog posts are great for covering simple topics or for getting your customers to think about particular subjects. When it comes to more complex subjects though, most people will want to read something that elaborates on it a bit more.

An eBook built around your marketing campaign will showcase your knowledge and create conversations about your brand. This means that you can repurpose your eBook into shorter blog posts, videos, and infographics for later.

Create Newsletter Lists

Sending e-newsletters to your audience allows you to communicate effectively, but expanding your list can be difficult. Potential customers are more likely to give up their contact information in exchange for something informative, like an eBook.

Once your eBook is created and on your website, allow people to sign up for your newsletters in exchange for your free eBook. Don’t forget to promote your eBook on social media platforms, as well. Most consumers trust their peer’s recommendations, so promoting your eBook on social media will be a fast way to build your newsletter list.

Using eBooks in your content marketing campaign allows potential customers to connect with your brand in a way that shows them they can trust and rely on your expertise, products, and services.

If you think your content marketing strategy could benefit from an eBooks, but aren’t sure where to start, think about hiring a content marketing company. The Found Gen has a knowledgeable team that can create a compelling eBooks for your brand. Give us a shout.

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Do You Need a Rebrand or a Refresh? Little – and Big – Ways to Change Your Image

A potential customer you’ve just met tells you, “Oh! I’ve seen your website.” Do you:

  1. Start apologizing
  2. Turn so red that someone offers to call 9-1-1
  3. Race for the nearest exit
  4. All of the above

We’ve got a few more questions for you:

Can you describe what your company offers in three sentences or less?

Do you feel like your competition is moving ahead while you’re feeling stuck in place?

Do you want to scrap it all and start over?

First things first: Don’t panic. Every company has been in this position a time or two. At The Found Gen, we’ve worked with a lot of them, and we know how to get your brand back on track, running faster than your competition. Here’s how we help you start:

  • We get back to basics. Let’s start with your logo. There are two options if it’s not representative of your aesthetic any longer: We can start over and create something more your company’s style, or we can send it to the beauty salon. At The Found Gen, we are experts in clipping a bit off that dated font, sprucing up the color scheme, and modernizing just enough to remain recognizable, yet fresh. You won’t miss a beat having to reintroduce yourself.
  • Summarize your services. We asked if you could brief someone about what you do in three sentences or less because it’s an important test. If your services are a rambling mess that take an entire meeting plus three pamphlets to explain, your brand is not earning its value. One of the easiest ways to refresh is to tighten up and brighten up your tagline.
  • Update your visuals. In our tech-based lifestyles where beautiful images are just a click away, your site – and your branding – need to be gorgeous. Set the mood with your images, and choose ones that strongly suggest the feeling you’re trying to convey with your content and branding.
  • Update your target market. Market conditions change on a dime. Has your company kept up? We’re not advocating being trendy; we just want you to be relevant. Speak directly to your audience in a way to which they will respond. Sometimes that means a more formal approach, and sometimes that means speaking their language.

Think your brand needs a refresh or a total overhaul? We’re in. At The Found Gen, we love finding ways to teach your old brand new tricks.

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How to Kick Start Your Content Marketing Campaign: You may need a professional to help

Content marketing isn’t a new concept, but there are plenty of companies that haven’t had the time or resources available to devote to it yet. But, it’s never too late to launch your own content marketing strategy. Content marketing helps you build trust with your audiences through the interesting and resourceful content you create and distribute.

To start spreading the word about the value of your brand through blogging, video, and social media, there are a few steps you should take.

Here are a few ways you can kick start your content marketing campaign:

Understand What Content Marketing Really is

This is so important. Content marketing adds so much value to your brand and business that it’s important for you to fully understand how and why it works. Make sure you understand how creating insightful content amplifies your brand, develops loyalty, and adds search engine optimization power.

Content marketing is a technique that sells without pushing the sell. Firmly grasping this concept will ensure that your content marketing strategy can really thrive.

Set Goals

Before starting any new project, you always have some idea of what you hope to achieve. Content marketing is no exception. Are you wanting better reviews online or more website traffic? How you go about setting up your content marketing strategy will depend on what you hope to gain from the process.

Define your objectives and know how you plan to measure your results before getting started. You’re creating a content marketing strategy for a reason, so keep that reason or goal in the front of your mind.

Make a Calendar or Idea Board

You can’t create valuable content at the last minute, so timelines, calendars, or idea boards are great ways to help you take the time needed for creating informative content. Think about the type of content you want to post, how often you want to post it, and what platforms you’ll be posting and sharing it on. By creating a calendar and an idea board, you’ll be more likely to keep the tone and content you post in sync.

Consider Hiring Content Marketers

Content marketing often becomes a full-time job that few companies can handle on their own. It requires a high level of planning and creating new innovative ideas and ways to share content. If you feel like handling your own content marketing could put a strain on the other work you have to take care of, hiring a content marketing team may be a good idea.

We know how valuable content marketing can be for your brand. When content marketing is fully embraced, it creates a way for audiences to engage with your company. Get in touch with us if you’re looking for creative content to share with your audiences.

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The Art of Brand Loyalty: Three Ways to Build a Brand Customers Love

It’s been said that respect is earned, honesty is appreciated, trust is gained, and loyalty is returned. We think about that concept a lot here at The Found Gen.

In fact, we spend much of our time considering how the content we create will transform our clients from just another brand…to the only brand their customers choose to choose.

Here are a three ways we make this happen:

  1. We realize that the content we write is a lot like a conversation. Not like the conversation you have at awful cocktail parties where the marketing expert with canape breath has cornered you for a never-ending conversation about MailChimp. Not like that at all. Our team isn’t into one-sided diatribes; we prefer a natural exchange we all enjoy.
  2. We understand the values our clients share with their customers. A lot of brands make the mistake of only caring about moving their products. They would generate more loyalty – and sales – if they cared about moving people. At The Found Gen, we’ve proven time and time again that brand loyalty is impossible to create without a constant focus on shared values. Customers want to connect to ideologies, and strive to find and feel that commonality between them and their favorite brands. Knowing this, we encourage our clients to get personal and share their stories. There’s an entire loyal customer base just waiting to hear them.
  3. We answer the questions. At The Found Gen, we believe in information. It’s why we craft effective blog posts, social media streams, and any other means to get our clients’ information into the hands of their customers. Some clients think they don’t need blog posts, and maybe they’ll skip their tweets this month, thanks very much. We strongly advise against this, though, because those posts are there when the business is closed for the day. Those posts invoke trust in the absence of referrals, they relieve buyers’ remorse in the middle of the night, and they respond better than any pleasant voicemail message.

Above all other tips we can offer is our encouragement for a brand’s fervent attention to customer service. We write effective content, but content alone can’t create a loyal base.

Statistics show that building loyalty and retaining current customers is almost ten times cheaper than acquiring new customers. So never take existing customers for granted, value them, and reward them with content that will improve your relationship no matter what other brands pop up to compete.

If you’d like to learn more about how we help our clients become brands their customers choose to choose, give us a call. If we’re not in the office, we’ve got a lot of lovely content to keep you busy until we get back.

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3 Social Media Trends for 2018: Video is king

When it comes to reaching your audience, putting out great content, and keeping up with a steady brand image, social media is absolutely essential. Many businesses put all of their time and effort into search engine optimization and traditional advertising. While this may work for some, just don’t neglect social media.

Social media offers so many possibilities when it comes to connecting with your audiences and building a following around your brand. As you begin planning ways to strengthen the reach of your company in 2018, it’s important to keep social media in mind.

If you want to hit the ground running by ramping up your social media presence, keep in mind the current trends and changes. Here are a few social media trends for 2018 you’ll want to follow:

  1. Strong Social Media Analytics Equals Strong Content 

One thing that can turn people off to certain brands is generic content. If most of the space on your brand’s social media page is filled with generic content, audiences will see it as irrelevant.

Improving the personalization and uniqueness of the content shared will be heightened in the coming year. With the different kinds of data and analytical insight being pulled from social media, marketers now know what content to create to best reach the target audience.

Creating and posting content that engages their specific audience and offers something unique is truly made possibly by social media.

  1. Feature Overlap Increases Selectiveness

Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook all offer the “stories” feature. When different platforms begin offering similar features, marketers have to look at the audiences and reach of each platform to decide which to choose. Although the features are similar, not everything is equal. Snapchat has a much younger demographic than Facebook and Instagram, so it’s important to be selective about which platform you use.

More platforms will begin to offer overlapping features, so brands will need to take the time to research and invest in the one that will reach their demographic the best. Marketers need to take advantage of the analytics and data insights that each platform now offers. Consider which platform offers the best return for you, and go from there.

  1. Video is a Strong Strategy

Video content has become increasingly valuable and popular, making it impossible for brands to ignore. Video is the best type of content to generate engagement. Facebook videos usually receive more likes and shares than links, pictures, or any other type of content.

Having the ability to create video content, and strategizing to tie it into written content, will be one of the top trends of 2018.

Social media allows brands and marketers to connect with their audience, create and distribute strong content, and build a following around their brand. To reap all of the benefits that come with social media branding, you have to keep up with the current trends. Shifts in social media happen so frequently, so staying one step ahead of the trends is vital.

The Found Gen can help you develop a content and social media plan and create your posts for you, ensuring maximum engagement. Give us a shout.