So you want to build an interested and engaged audience, but developing new ideas for marketing content can be a real challenge, especially when you are so busy all of the time. Here are 7 quick and simple ideas to help you out.
1. Question of the week
Most science companies are inundated with technical questions on a daily basis. Set up a meeting with your technical support and applications specialist to compile a list of the most common questions and appropriate answers, you can then use this data to create a series of blog posts that help your customers, promote your products, and also free up some of your technical department’s time.
2. How-to videos
Video media has become a critical part of every stage in the customer journey. Youtube is 2nd only to Google for website traffic, with Facebook in 3rd place.
Scientific and technical products often require some form of manipulation that can be hard to explain in written form. If you aren’t producing video content, or you’re worried about the cost of production then some short, simple and low cost “how-to” videos can be a great way to start promoting your products. These videos can highlight key product features and benefits whilst helping to educate your customers on best practice of use.
3. Customer and subject matter expert interviews
Interviews can make really compelling content pieces.
Being interviewed and then referenced in a piece of content affords people a free opportunity for some additional publicity, they can talk about their research and advertise their work. Don’t be afraid to reach out and ask people to take part, the majority of contacts are happy to get involved.
Interviews can be used across a wide array of marketing content, they can also work well in podcast form. Ofcom reported that around 7.1 million people in the UK now listen to podcasts each week, an increase of more than double over the past five years.
4. Employee spotlight articles
Your employees should be the best advocates of you brand and product offerings, so an employee profile or spotlight article can create a compelling piece of marketing, these short pieces are ideal for social media posts and inclusion on your website blog.
It may be tempting to go straight to the top of your organisation and run a piece on the CEO, this may be great for shareholders, but they probably already know who the CEO is. Try to run profiles on members of your company who your customers can actually relate to. Think about application scientists, product engineers, quality control, technical support or customer service associates.
5. Roundtable discussions
Roundtables make great editorial content, but can also work well as podcasts (providing the sound is clear and audio of good quality).
You can perform round tables with customers, key opinion leaders or even your own employees. Running a good roundtable event requires a clear focus, defined discussion topics and a strong moderator.
6. Customer testimonials
Be proactive and ask customers for testimonials. A good testimonial can guide potential customers and help them overcome objections they may have.
Testimonials can be used on your website, in blog posts, on social media and can form parts of case studies.
Remember to avoid any legal or privacy issues by making sure you get your customer’s written permission to display their testimonial in your content marketing collateral.
7. Outsource
Try using an external agency to help develop your content. By working with an agency (like Polymorphic Marketing) for content creation, you can leverage new skills, experience and market knowledge.
Contact us to see how we can help develop your marketing content and campaign plans.