Lee Odden
Ann Handley + Authority = Annthority!
On a good day, online marketing tactics work. Social messages drive traffic. Web copy prompts clicks. Landing pages drive conversions.
On a really good day, all the disparate elements of online marketing—design, content, traffic, and conversions—go beyond working as individual tactics. They become a part of a whole. They work in tandem with empathy towards the customer experience for finding, understanding, and acting on a solution.
When online marketing tactics are integrated to deliver relevant, timely content to buyers, both the marketing content and the brand become authoritative as “the best answer” for the customer’s problem.
For businesses that want to create this kind of authority, the roadmap for achieving integrated online marketing success could be drawn up a million different ways. It is the job of marketers to plan and implement content marketing programs that integrate tactics so the brand can be an authority for what buyers are looking for, everywhere they look.
One source for gaining this kind of integrated marketing expertise is Copyblogger Media’s upcoming Authority Rainmaker Conference. In anticipation of the event, I reached out to some of the best and brightest minds in online marketing for their insights on a more customer-centric approach to integrated content marketing.
Design your marketing to create deep, lasting human connection. (Pamela Wilson)
When creating an integrated marketing strategy, customer experience should always come first. Making customer needs first priority will have a “profound impact,” says Wilson. “This isn’t just marketing. It’s a deep and lasting human connection…(that) enriches the lives of both the customer and the people behind the business.”
Elicit interaction through your stories and ideas. (Chris Brogan)
You may excel at blogging, engaging people online, or sharing the value of your product—but do you get any response from your community? Brogan says it’s rare to find people who can do all these things in an integrated way and elicit interaction, people who can “earn the right to sell and serve that community.”
Serve before you sell. (Dan Pink)
Become a servant, says Pink, and you’ll become a spectacular marketer. Design, content, traffic, and conversions mean nothing if there is no value-share or help offered. “Marketing is a conversation, not an attempt to hoodwink your audience,” says Pink—and marketers who can understand this will see better results from their efforts to sell.
Have the courage to experiment. (Scott Brinker)
Don’t write off new tactics just because they don’t appear to fit with your current strategy. Brinker points out the growing trend of interactive content and encourages marketers to try new content types—such as quizzes, calculators, assessment tools, or games. “As marketers,” he says, “you must have the courage to experiment, the confidence to fail, and the determination to win.”
Commit for the long-haul. (Jerod Morris)
“The dirty little secret of success online is that it more often is a war of attrition and attitude than a war of aptitude,” says Morris. The one who wins doesn’t necessarily know the most, or execute the best—but they never give up. If you’re struggling to integrate tactics in a successful way, “you may want to rethink your direction, or tweak your content, or dig into learning more about your audience…but success is out there for you if you’re truly committed to it over the long-term.”
If you’re eager for more insights on an integrated online marketing approach focused on design, content, traffic, and conversions, then here are a few resources for you:
First, get expert advice from the masters of content marketing: Joe Pulizzi, Ann Handley, and Henry Rollins (record scratch).
What? THE Henry Rollins? Yes, THAT Henry Rollins.
You can get this expert advice in a new eBook Winning with Authority: 15 Experts Inspire Business Success with Integrated Online Marketing.
Second, there’s also a handy Authority Rainmaker infographic in case you really love infographics.
Third, if you want to learn and network with these speakers in person along with hundreds of other marketers, then check out the Authority Rainmaker conference that’s happening in Denver May 13-15.
I’ll be there and I hope to see you, too.
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