Content marketing is a critical part of a cohesive marketing ecosystem. From thought leadership to search engine optimization, creating content that resonates with a brand’s target audience helps answer important questions about a product or service and also supports establishing trust between consumers and a brand. For channel marketers, there a number of areas to consider when providing dealers and distributors with a repeatable and scalable content marketing program, including:
- Working with a partner that understands localized content marketing
- Generating personalized and unique content
- Tailoring content for the target audience
The Right Partner Makes a Difference
Producing content is one thing. Creating content that is aligned with an overall channel marketing strategy is another. That’s where having the right local marketing partner comes in. The most successful dealer or distributor content marketing programs are aligned with a brand’s overarching messaging strategy, but, just as importantly, represent a dealer or distributor in terms of their local marketplace and unique business characteristics and desired outcomes.
When considering potential partners to provide content marketing for dealers or distributors, brands should look for a firm that has specialized resources focused on content generation and how those efforts drive search engine optimization (key word density, for example) and, ultimately, support conversions as consumers move through the sales funnel. In addition, content specialists that take the time to understand the industry they are writing about, the competitive landscape and identify key points of differentiation for each dealer or distributor are able to create truly unique content.
Unique Content Connects and Resonates
Why is unique content so important? Developing original content allows a brand’s dealer or distributor to connect with consumers in a meaningful way. Said differently, original content should answer a key question for a member of the target audience: “What’s in it for me?” Sometimes that’s easier said than done. An important first step is to understand the audience and develop content accordingly. For example, if the audience for the content is expecting a more formal writing style, the content being delivered should be crafted appropriately.
If the target audience is expecting more formal or serious tone in terms of content, that also informs where the content should be distributed. For example, if a distributor is working with a brand-approved partner to develop a weekly blog post and the content is talking about something related to a multi-million-dollar investment, the content should be more business focused. Therefore, in addition to posting the blog on the distributor’s website, it should be shared on the distributor’s LinkedIn page as opposed to the distributor’s Facebook page.
Process Key to Successful Content Marketing
Creating a repeatable and scalable content marketing program for dealers and distributors starts with ensuring the program is supported by a partner with established procedures for gathering, developing and distributing content. The process starts with determining how often content will be generated. At a minimum, an article or blog post should be created, posted to a dealer or distributor’s website and shared on appropriate social channels once a month. This distribution ecosystem will support the dealer or distributor’s SEO efforts.
Once frequency has been established, another important part of the process is developing an editorial calendar that lays out the topics for each article or blog post. This allows a dealer or distributor to identify the subject matter experts who will work with the partner to create the content. Having an editorial calendar allows the partner to determine the incremental steps and timing needed to produce each blog post or article. For example, if a blog post is scheduled to be published the middle of every month, the process may start three weeks ahead of time when the content partner interviews the subject matter expert for a particular topic.
Prior to the interview, the content partner should spend time researching the topic and generating a list of questions to guide the discussion with the subject matter expert. After the interview, the additional steps in the process might include:
- Developing a first draft
- Subject matter expert review and feedback of first draft
- Revisions based on feedback
- Subject matter expert review of revisions and additional review by other stakeholders, as needed
- Finalization and approval of blog or article
- Posting of blog or article on dealer or distributor’s website
- Sharing on appropriate social channels
Each step in the process should have specific deadlines or milestones to help ensure target dates for publishing are met.
A successful content marketing program supports a dealer or distributor’s thought leadership, search engine optimization and organic social media efforts. Creating content that resonates with a brand’s target audience helps potential customers learn more about a company’s offering and how they are differentiated in the marketplace. For channel marketers, it’s important to work with a partner that understands the nuances of creating localized content for dealers and distributors, and is able to generate personalized and unique content for a brand’s channel partner that is tailored for a target audience.
About Channel Fusion
For nearly 20 years, Channel Fusion has provided brands and their channel partners with a wide variety of solutions and industry expertise. Part of our offering is Digital Fusion, a turnkey offering and dedicated team of “Fusers” who are focused exclusively on the development, delivery, management and reporting of digital marketing programs for brands’ channel partners. Let us know if you’d like to learn more about how we deliver digital marketing outcomes.