Charisma! Communications
Binary Delivers Five Millionth Piece of Customized, Dealer Branded Content
Bedford, TX — August 24, 2020 — Binary Automotive Solutions, a leading provider of customized, dealer-branded marketing programs designed to drive sales, profits, growth, and retention, announced today they have hit the milestone of five million dealer-branded marketing pieces created and printed for automotive clients.
While the main focus of Binary Automotive Solutions is providing Lifetime Powertrain Warranties to help dealer owners build loyal customers and a profitable F&I stream, the company has always believed in partnering for success. As a result, one of the extra perks clients enjoy when they partner with Binary Automotive Solutions is the creation, printing and delivery of high quality, dealership branded print & digital marketing collateral touting the benefits of the program to customers.
“This number is meaningful to me, because it not only points to the business Binary Automotive Solutions has helped dealer clients establish over the last 15 years, but also the partnerships we’ve developed along the way,” said James E Binkley, Founder and CEO of Binary Automotive Solutions. “We think of every client as a partner and this number proves our commitment to them, in every sense of the word.”
Binary Automotive Solutions has helped thousands of dealerships improve front-end gross, increase extended service contract penetration, and turn customers into dealership advocates with their complimentary arsenal of marketing campaign management, dealer-branded, digital and print marketing materials, and industry leading training.
“The customized marketing materials and support Binary provides has helped us deliver a clear and consistent message. It’s truly helped us get to the next level in reaching our sales goals!” said Joe Sexton, Owner of Brandl Motors.
To find out more about Binary Automotive Solutions and their Lifetime Powertrain Warranty programs, please visit www.binaryauto.com.
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About Binary Automotive Solutions:
Binary Automotive Solutions is committed to providing an integrated, customized package of dealer-branded programs to help dealerships sell more vehicles, hold more gross and retain more customers. It doesn’t matter the size of your dealership or the location, we’re confident that our warranty, certification and maintenance programs, combined with our industry leading marketing and merchandising programs, can boost sales, increase retention, and help you maximize profits you didn’t even know were available. At our core, we strive every day to honor the beliefs of our founder, James E. Binkley, by never taking advantage of a client or offering a program to a dealership that takes advantage of a customer.
Media Contact:
Contact: Laurie Halter
Charisma Communications
Laurie@charismacommunications.com
Charisma! Communications
Marcom Technologies Announces Newest Solution, Total Call Results, Powered by InteractiveTel
Detroit, MI– August 10, 2020 - Marcom Technologies Inc., the only phone training company to listen to, critique and score every incoming sales and service opportunity call in automotive, is excited to announce their newest telephony solution, Total Call Results, powered by InteractiveTel.
By combining Marcom’s award-winning training and process with InteractiveTel’s real time business intelligence, Marcom Total Call Results users will have access to the only solution that combines leading technology with real-time training to increase client engagement across the board.
“This business partnership with InteractiveTel is one both Jack and I have been excited to announce for quite a while now. InteractiveTel’s platform gives us the data we need to effectively coach on all aspects of the phone, from the receptionist to the parts counter and all departments in between,” said Chuck McGraw, Marcom’s CEO. “With Marcom Total Call Results, we can analyze inbound and outbound calls to drive performance change. That’s why we call it Total Call Results - a hybrid, the best of both worlds!”
Using Total Call Results, dealership management will have access to all recorded inbound and outbound calls across every department. Fully tracked lines will measure the effectiveness of a dealership’s advertising, as well as sales and service opportunities, with each call listened to, analyzed and reported upon for performance. Afterward, coaching notes for employees and on-site dealership coaching will be made available to capitalize on every call coming in or out of the dealership.
“Imagine accurate data in the hands of people who can make a difference and drive true, long-term behavior change of employees. That’s a formula that can’t help but drive ROI for the business,” says Jack Behar, CEO of InteractiveTel. “We have had clients using this solution for over a year now to ensure we got everything right, and let me tell you, it was worth the wait. We are extremely excited with the results and we know our future clients will be as well.”
“For data to be useful you need to act on it. InteractiveTel provides us the information on what is happening during our calls, while Marcom assists us with the process and training support needed to sell more cars and write more service,” said Bryan Koser, director of marketing at Germain Florida BMW, Lexus, Honda. “The Total Call Results solution has had a tremendous impact on our business.”
For more information on Marcom Total Call Results and how it can help your dealership sell more cars and write more service business, please visit https://marcomtechnologies.com/.
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About InteractiveTel:
InteractiveTel offers custom communication applications that provides dealers an end-to-end telephony solution. Total Track is the only telephony system in the automotive space that provides full accountability of every phone call and text traversing the dealership. Through the use of the system, managers have a bird's eye view of what campaigns are working, how their customers are treated, and how their employee interactions are impacting their bottom line. For more information, please visit InteractiveTel.com.\
About Marcom:
Marcom, founded originally in 1986 and then again in 2014, is a 33-year-old company that focuses on changing the behavior of sales and service teams. Marcom's training approach is an adult learning model that focuses each training event on the best way people learn. Calls are scored from baseline each and every day to track performance increases. Daily coaching notes are sent to front line dealership employees and regular in-house training is provided by Marcom’s experienced team from around the country. The “Club” is provided to clients so they may listen to their own calls, as well as access a library of best practices. For more information on Marcom Technologies please visit marcomtechnologies.com
Media Inquiries:
Laurie Halter
Charisma!
503-816-2474
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Charisma! Communications
DEALERDNA® LAUNCHES SYNERGIE™, BRINGING TRIM-LEVEL PAYMENT-DRIVEN INVENTORY MARKETING TO AUTO
Somers, NY (March 19, 2018) – DealerDNA, the only platform on the market that dynamically calculates the best possible vehicle payment, populates your website, and automatically updates your digital marketing assets, today announced the launch of their DealerDNA Synergie™ marketing engine. DealerDNA Synergie plugs into a dealer’s existing website and changes the way consumers engage and interact to bring in top quality leads and increase month over month profits.
The ad engine offers dealers everything from high-performance inventory data mining, to a customizable specials engine with full control over lease and finance options, fully engineered ad campaigns dynamically linked to Google and Bing, and automated lead generators; like model specific landing pages and payment calculators. The result is a full-scale lead generation solution that offers transparent transactions with higher quality leads and a better overall experience for the dealership and the buyer.
These platform features provide:
- 65% increase in site traffic and page views
- 30% average click-spend savings over competitors
- An SEM management fee of 7%, the lowest in the industry
“For the first time dealers will be able to push trim-level pricing to consumers across their digital marketing assets and offer the lowest price on the vehicle in real time. Best part? It’s all automated, so it provides a “set it and forget it” mentality to best pricing marketing. It’s going to be a game-changer,” said DealerDNA CEO Steven Couture.
All text, banner and landing page ads are automatically updated across a dealership’s marketing assets without additional agency cost. With dynamic number insertion, phone numbers are changed on the website based on a specific ad or campaign. Performance reporting enables dealerships to analyze the productivity and lead generation activities of each campaign.
“Coming from the automotive side of the business myself, it was important to me to provide a customizable resource for those who want it, but also an automated solution for those dealers who don’t want to take further resources away from the business of selling,” said Doug Foss, CMO of DealerDNA. “With Synergie, you get the best of both worlds.”
DealerDNA Synergie is available now. To find out more or schedule a demonstration, please visit www.dealerdna.com. ###
About DealerDNA:
DealerDNA wants to make automotive digital marketing relevant and easy to use again. From the soaring cost of delivered digital media, to missing ROI, to the overall effort being too expensive, time consuming, and broken, the Founders of DealerDNA set out to deliver something to the automotive space that was simple, easy to use, and most importantly, effective. The resulting product is the Synergie Platform, a proprietary marketing engine that plugs into a dealer’s existing website and changes the way consumers engage and interact. You can find out more at www.dealerdna.com.
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Charisma! Communications
Magellan Demos Fleet Solutions to Truck Carriers at TCA in Nashville
San Dimas, CA – March 23, 2017 - Magellan®, a leader in GPS navigation, announced today they will be demoing solutions to help truck carriers leverage optimal performance and efficiencies at the Truck Carriers Association (TCA) Annual Convention, in Nashville, Tennessee, March 26-29, 2017.
During the show, Magellan will be showing attendees how the commercial-grade RC9668 Navigation device and their FMCSA-Certified ELD-Compliant Hours of Service (HOS) solutions are purpose-built for long and short-haul trucking. Magellan Fleet Navigation software delivers customizable, precision GPS routing optimized for trucking routes, from the urban canyon to open sky roads.
“We’re really looking forward to meeting the carriers at TCA and showing them how we can better optimize their navigation, as well as help simplify upcoming compliance issues such as hours of service and the ELD mandates,” said Mark Perini, vice president of Magellan’s automotive and fleet business.
The trucking solutions being demonstrated in Nashville include:
- RC9668 Fleet Navigator – Magellan’s 7”, IP67 ruggedized navigation device for trucks. The fleet software uses truck-specific map data from HERE, combined with Magellan’s industry-leading routing engine, to provide a robust navigation experience to all truck carriers.
- HOS Compliance – A FMCSA certified, ELD-compliant Hour of Service (HOS) solution integrated with Magellan Navigators. Automated logging tools, reports, and alerts keep your drivers on time, and in compliance.
- Return to Route – A multi-stop route planning solution that offers enhanced navigation and supports a broad range of telematics supplier protocols. Return to Route is optimized for Urban Canyon and associated metro challenges to ensure truck carriers never miss an important stop.
For more information on Magellan’s navigation products, please visit www.magellangps.com, or at the Magellan booth during the TCA show.
About Magellan:
Headquartered in San Dimas, CA, MiTAC Digital Corporation, manufacturer of the Magellan (www.magellangps.com) brand of portable GPS navigation devices, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of MiTAC International Corporation. Magellan, the industry leader for innovative GPS navigation devices since 1986, globally markets award-winning products in multiple categories including auto, RV, outdoor, mobile, fleet and autoOEM. Continuing its spirit of innovation, Magellan is developing new cloud-based technologies, OEM and B-to-B solutions to meet the changing needs of today's consumers and businesses. Follow Magellan on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Media Contact:
Laurie Halter
Charisma! Communications
503-816-2474
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Charisma! Communications
String Automotive Debuts Free StringDPS Pulse App
Groton, MASS (March 17, 2017) - String Automotive, provider of the auto retail industry’s first and only Dealer Positioning System® (DPS), is proud to debut their ground-breaking competitive intelligence mobile app for dealerships, StringDPS Pulse. StringDPS Pulse is being offered after a wildly successful beta period with requests for the app quadrupling the original goal set for the time period.
The first of its kind in automotive, the free app not only helps dealerships track their competitors based on geo-targeting, but it also compares market share by zip and area, provides model by model comparisons, and serves up detailed new inventory pricing and turn information down to trim level. In addition, a “competitor feed” feature enables dealers to track changes in pricing and marketing from competitors and adjust accordingly. The result is a mobile game plan with pinpoint accuracy of competitors and opportunities to win in the dealer’s own market.
“We rolled out this app in beta to a select group of key clients and influencers and everyone was blown away by the precise level of competitive market share information and detailed comparisons it provides,” said Ken Kolodziej, String’s CEO. “One of our beta testers told me DPS Pulse allowed him to walk into his sales meeting, look at his phone, and tell his team their number one competitor and top sales zip code in real-time.”
StringDPS Pulse is currently free to any dealer who owns an iPhone, with plans for Android models coming soon. Interested dealers can find and download DPS Pulse in the app store on their phone.
“This is a secret weapon for dealerships that will not only analyze market share, but also strategically help outperform competitors,” said Kolodziej. “It’s the only mobile solution on the market that gives dealers this information in an easy, accessible format, and best of all, we’re giving it away for free.”
String Automotive is in the middle of a tremendous growth period, with more than 130% year-over-year growth in 2016 alone. In addition to a rapid expansion in dealer rooftop numbers, String has also increased its ad agency partners, brought on multiple technology integration partners, and completed three product introductions in the last year.
String Automotive’s Dealer Positioning System is the only marketing intelligence platform that combines multiple sources of data from inside and outside the dealership to provide a rich, actionable plan to dominate market share in each geographic area. By showing dealership personnel where they can lift market share, which channel will be most effective in doing that, and what message will resonate best with those target customers, String helps dealerships make the most of their marketing budgets.
To download StringDPS Pulse on your iPhone, please visit the Apple App Store or http://dpspulse.com.
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About String Auto:
Founded in 2005 and based in Groton, MA, String Automotive delivers transparency, insights and innovation to forward-thinking dealers. String’s dealership intelligence platform, the Dealer Positioning System (or DPS), takes the pulse of each dealership’s local market and guides dealers to make the most profitable, proactive decisions for every store and unique situation. When used in concert with vendors and agency partners, this powerful analytics solution simplifies choices like how to spend marketing dollars, what inventory to stock and where to conquest by letting a dealer’s data drive decisions.
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String Automotive
Thrilled this is now available to all dealers, Laurie. Thank you!
Charisma! Communications
izmoVR Named Hot NADA Product in Dealer Marketing Magazine
izmoVR solution was included in the “What Was Hot at NADA” cover issue of Dealer Marketing Magazine, out March 2017. With more than 500 exhibitors with products at NADA this year, izmoVR was one of only a handful of solutions to be selected by the magazine as a “hot” product at the show. izmoVR is our new content-rich virtual reality (VR) platform that significantly shortens the development lifecycle of VR products for automotive companies. The platform helps rapidly deliver virtual reality products for OEMs, dealers, advertising agencies, and others at a lower cost than any other provider in the market today.
Here’s what Dealer Marketing Magazine wrote about their demo with izmoVR at NADA this year – “The result of izmoVR is a low-funnel sales tool that helps engage automotive customers in the service bays, accessories and parts department, F&I office, and new car showroom. By enabling customers to feel, touch and experience the car in virtual reality, dealers have a greater chance of making the sale.”
We could not have said it better ourselves. If you’d like a demo of the most content-rich VR experience in the auto industry, please reach out to us at Brian.Wiklem@izmocars.com.
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Charisma! Communications
DealerTeamwork Announces Partnership with InteractiveTel
DealerTeamwork Announces Partnership with InteractiveTel
New collaboration aims to improve car dealer customer interaction tracking and data reporting.
Houston, TX — (March 6, 2017) InteractiveTel (www.interactivetel.com), a system that tracks, monitors, and reports each interaction by phone or text to give dealers comprehensive knowledge of their customers, today announced a new partnership with DealerTeamwork focused on improving Launch Control's ability to capture and analyze customer interactions in real-time. Integrating these new features will provide a better understanding of a car dealer's marketing activity and performance.
The alliance between DealerTeamwork's Launch Control platform and InteractiveTel's customer interaction analysis platform will help create a new standard for measuring user activity. The goal is to show car dealers different methods of tracking quality website engagement and hard conversions.
"InteractiveTel has the best turnkey solution for measuring user interactions in the industry, and we're excited for the opportunity to partner with such a leader," said Sean Stapleton, CEO of DealerTeamwork. "Launch Control will be able to give dealers the power to track deeper on-page actions using InteractiveTel's keyword and key phrase spotting, live call monitoring, and their powerful customer interaction analysis. This level of analytics and reporting will help educate dealers more on the results of their Launch Control marketing campaigns."
InteractiveTel is a leading provider of interactive communications solutions for an extensive range of organizations and industries – Automotive, Marine, Real Estate, Action Sports, Advertising Agencies and Enterprise clients. They offer their partners and customers a wide choice of solutions from hosted telephony solutions, inbound and outbound calling recording and tracking, call center applications, and interactive services to let businesses communicate with web visitors instantly.
"We are excited to partner with a company such as DealerTeamwork. Their Launch Control platform is a real game-changer when it comes to creating and managing effective marketing campaigns. Including elements of our custom telephony solutions will help improve call tracking and provide a new layer of ROI reporting," said Jack Behar, CEO/President of InteractiveTel.
For more information, please visit www.dealerteamwork.com.
About DealerTeamwork LLC:
DealerTeamwork is a SaaS company creating first-class solutions for the retail automotive industry. Launch Control is the industry's first MPOP, a patent-pending, merchandising and personalization optimization platform. The platform creates a significant competitive advantage for dealers by distributing their transactional data to more in-market shoppers effectively and efficiently. For more information, please visit DealerTeamwork.com or contact us at sales@dealerteamwork.com.
About InteractiveTel:
InteractiveTel is the only telephony system in the automotive space that provides full accountability of every phone call and text traversing the dealership. Through the use of the system, managers have a bird's eye view of what campaigns are working, how their customers are treated, and how their employee interactions are impacting their bottom line. For more information, please visit InteractiveTel.com.
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Charisma! Communications
MAGELLAN NAVIGATION APP DEBUTS IN SUBARU STARLINK MULTIMEDIA SYSTEM FOR 2017 MODELS
Las Vegas, NV – CES 2017 - January 5th, 2017 - Magellan®, a leader in GPS navigation, announced today that its Magellan Navi navigation app for connected cars is now available in select 2017 SUBARU models, including the Impreza and BRZ, via the SUBARU STARLINK™ multimedia system. Magellan Navi brings powerful GPS satellite navigation features, the latest maps and routing accuracy by seamlessly connecting the smartphone app to the car’s infotainment display. Magellan Navi is a featured app in the SUBARU STARLINK app, which can be downloaded on the Apple App Store and Google Play beginning today.
The Magellan Navi app will be demonstrated on a Subaru (Impreza) at CES in the Magellan booth, LVCC North Hall booth # 4115.
Magellan Navi connects to the car’s head-unit display via Bluetooth or USB to deliver a voice-guided full navigation experience with lane guidance, millions of Points of Interest (POI) and more. A simplified, easy-to-use interface is designed to promote distraction-free driving.
“Working together with a well-respected manufacturer like Subaru to bring best-in-class navigation solutions to their drivers is an honor,” commented Pierre Parent, president of Magellan. “As a GPS industry pioneer, Magellan's navigation and routing engines have been developed and proven through years of R&D and testing. We’re excited to be entering this new era of connected cars.”
“The excitement of the Magellan partnership, and the advanced technology, is that it allows us to leverage the SUBARU STARLINK infotainment system to essentially deliver a powerful navigation system to drivers who do not have an onboard navigation option,” said Anthony Landamia, Manager, Infotainment Products for Subaru.
For more information on Magellan’s navigation products, please visit www.magellangps.com.
About Magellan:
Headquartered in San Dimas, CA, MiTAC Digital Corporation, manufacturer of the Magellan (www.magellangps.com) brand of portable GPS navigation devices, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of MiTAC International Corporation. Magellan, the industry leader for innovative GPS navigation devices since 1986, globally markets award-winning products in multiple categories including auto, RV, outdoor, mobile, fleet and autoOEM. Continuing its spirit of innovation, Magellan is developing new cloud-based technologies, OEM and B-to-B solutions to meet the changing needs of today's consumers and businesses. Follow Magellan on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
About Subaru of America, Inc.
Subaru of America, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. of Japan. Headquartered at a zero-landfill office in Cherry Hill, N.J., the company markets and distributes Subaru vehicles, parts and accessories through a network of more than 620 retailers across the United States. All Subaru products are manufactured in zero-landfill production plants and Subaru of Indiana Automotive Inc. is the only U.S. automobile production plant to be designated a backyard wildlife habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. For additional information visit media.subaru.com.
Media Contact:
Laurie Halter
Charisma! Communications
503-816-2474
Laurie@charismacommunications.com
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Charisma! Communications
Video Marketing is Changing - How to Keep Up
Half of the world’s citizens are visual learners. They would rather be shown how to do something, than read about it. Yet for years, marketing was stuck in the printing press era. Slowly churning out text after text and leaving the visual learners with few options but to click out. But technology is a fast moving train and in a very short time not only has video become accessible, it’s become standard.
But that fast moving train is still chugging down those tracks. Video is getting cheaper to produce and more importantly more avenues are opening up that you can use it in. So what are the Top 3 things you should know to get the most for your money?
1) Respect The Video
Think about the credits of any movie you’ve seen. Is there just one name? Quality video requires knowledge in writing, graphic design, audio engineering, lighting, cinematography, directing, producing and tens of thousands of dollars in equipment that doesn’t just fall off of trees. In my lifetime I’ve never had a career that fits the adage “You Get What You Pay For” more than video. If you skimp, it will be reflected in your brand. Take your time to find the right production house. In the long run you will save money and your brand’s good name will be enhanced.
2) Storytelling Will Never Die
While the industry is constantly popping with new flashy technology such as Virtual Reality and 3D video, in the end the one thing that will never go out of style is a good story. Stories keep the viewers attention and engagement and can literally make a customer out of a skeptic. Every business, every product, every employee has a story. Take the time on the front end to define that story. For example, one of my bread and butter clients for years was a Ford dealership. We produced 3-4 TV commercials a month. Rather than just spouting SALE! SALE! SALE! for :30 seconds, we would use an actress to show the vehicle being used in every day situations, like her dropping her kids off at school, or taking the family to the river. This gave the viewer a “hey, I do that too!” moment and they begin creating videos in their mind of the times they’ve done the same thing. The engagement goes up, as do the sales sheets at the end of the month.
3) Three Words: Leverage, Leverage, Leverage.
Quality video is still not cheap to produce. So make the most out of it! Anticipate your video needs down the line and shoot everything you can, while you can because every time your producer has to set up and tear down a set, the price of your video goes up substantially. Then, once that video has been shot, leverage it for more than just one purpose. Again I’ll use the Ford dealership as an example:
About twice a year we’d take 3-4 of the vehicles that were anticipated to be the dealerships sales priorities and take them out on the road and get driving footage of them going through well known parts of town that people could identify and say “hey, that’s where I drive too!”.
We then had an archive of stock footage that could be used in a myriad of different ways. Social media has opened up a laundry list of new avenues to leverage and present videos. Facebook takes videos that are directly uploaded (as opposed to providing a YouTube link) that auto-start in a viewer’s newsfeed and instantly sets it apart from other content. But it doesn’t stop there. Instagram allows videos up to :60 seconds now. Twitter allows up to :30 seconds of video.
So now you have video social media posts! Specials, featured items, announcements, etc. can now all feature moving pictures to grab the eye of the viewer. And since you invested in a good archive, you can now produce them for pennies on the dollar, and what would have been a 2 minute web video can be leveraged into a TV commercial, an Instagram post about a sale item, a Facebook feature about a service you want your customers to know about, and a Tweet that is far more than just 140 characters.
Marketing projects are viewed as a “campaign” not as a “one off”. Do the same with video and you will open up a brave new world and save thousands of dollars while doing it. The lights are set; the camera is speeding…so take action!
Scott Elnes is a former TV weatherman who went on to be a video producer at Xbox (Microsoft) and produced content with the likes of Disney and Lucas Arts that aired in 11 different countries. He works as the Video Production Director at Charisma! Communications.
4 Comments
Kelley Buick Gmc
We are moving more towards using video on social ....there are some other great ideas in this as well! Thanks
amato automotive
We have implemented video to templates, text etc. our open rate and response rate has increased. Nothing but a true benefit for 5 minutes of work to create the video
Charisma! Communications
Thanks so much for the great comments! Video will become increasingly important, but for now the dealerships implementing it get the benefit of the "wow" factor. Pretty easy process for increased closing rates.
Charisma! Communications
Content Overload? (You Have More than You Think)
The need for companies to produce content is growing at an exponential rate; probably faster than ever before.
The reason why is clear: in the digital age, you’re not even in the customer conversation if you’re not publishing high-quality content. And being a part of the conversation is crucial. That’s how you engage customers, cultivate brand devotees, and generate leads. According to the Content Marketing Institute, over 85% of brands use content marketing, but less than half believe they’re good at it. If your company falls into the half with doubts, things may not be as bad as you think. The fact is, public relations, marketing, digital marketing, videos – everything you produce and push out – is really just content creation. So if you have the content, the pressing question becomes: how do you repurpose, manage, and publish content to cut through the clutter? The most successful brands have a strategy in place based on a consistent approach that revolves around quality and variety. Here are some tips to follow their lead:
Be Consistent
In our always-on digital world, consistent creation is the key. The more you push out, the louder your voice. You’re probably already publishing press releases, tweets, Facebook updates, white papers, and blog articles. But how often are you doing it? The top brands aren’t pushing content just a few times a month; depending on the platform, they’re publishing a few times a day! Yes, it’s fast-paced. But it’s manageable with a few tactics and tools in place. One of the best is to create monthly content calendars based on a theme or topic. And remember it shouldn’t be purely promotional. Slot in Best Practices articles or other expert articles that would be valuable to your target audience. From one idea you can generate an article, a few blog posts, numerous tweets and Facebook updates, and even a video. And to make publishing easier, check out tools that automate postings according to the schedule you set. Your month of content is done!
Focus on Quality
While you want to continually push out content, it won’t be read if it’s not high-quality and valuable to your target audience. The best brands identify what needs or questions their products answer, and then create content around those topics. The most successful also inject entertaining tidbits, humor, rewards, and/or customer interaction into their content. And going back to the previous point, many create one piece of content and then find creative ways to re-use it across channels. One point of caution here: remember that simply reposting a blog to Facebook is not re-purposing, it’s promotion. For the most part, promotion is not engaging. Let’s take a speaking engagement as an example of how to repurpose one piece into loads of engaging content. First, post a press release announcing your participation. Then make sure you record the event and post it to YouTube (either the entire presentation or interesting tidbits). Then pull out those juicy tidbits for a series of Tweets and Facebook updates. Alternate those with interesting audience questions and answers. For more ideas, check out an excellent Hubspot blog post about how to repurpose content without wasting the leftovers.
Prioritize Variety
You’ve probably noticed that I keep encouraging you to use different engagement channels. There’s a reason for that: search engines and people demand variety in content channels. That’s how you achieve the biggest reach. Think about mobile: experts predict there will be more than 196 million smartphones users in the U.S. by 2016. They want content that is easy to read on the fly. Or consider video: YouTube draws in more than 1 billion unique visitors every month. They want to ingest information in video form. Twitter has over 236 million monthly active users. Tweeting pithy snippets is the way to get their attention. These channels are an effective way to create engagement and draw readers to your website, where whitepapers, blog posts, and sales sheets deliver more in-depth information about your offerings.
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when you hear people talk about “content marketing” or see content popping up all over the place. But when you remember that everything you’re already producing is content, you may see you’re further along in the game than you initially thought. If you are feeling overwhelmed, consider pulling in a partner to review the content you already have and help you organize and amplify it across channels. A few tweaks and you’ll be on the road to content marketing success.
Laurie Halter is the President of Charisma! Communications, a boutique communications agency that specializes in the needs of the automotive industry. You can reach her at Laurie@charismacommunications.com.
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