The problem? That’s not what potential clients are looking for. They come to you because they have a problem to solve, a goal to achieve or a concern keeping them up at night. If your marketing doesn’t speak directly to those questions, they’ll quickly move on to someone who does.

The good news is that attracting more clients (and referrals) doesn’t require flashy marketing. It just requires listening carefully to the questions your clients ask and then building your content around answering them.

Why Answering Questions Builds Business

When your marketing focuses on addressing real client concerns, several things happen:

• You build trust. Clients see you understand their challenges and know how to help.
• You become memorable. When referral partners hear someone ask a question you’ve already addressed, they’ll think of you.
• You save time. Instead of struggling for content ideas, your clients give them to you.
• You show expertise naturally. Sharing useful answers demonstrates credibility without feeling like a sales pitch.
• You attract better leads. People searching online often type in their exact questions. If your content has the answers, they’ll find you.

Think of the difference between an accounting firm talking about its business advisory services vs. having content focused on how an owner can keep more cash in their business. Or a law firm outlining its regulatory practice vs. providing information to prospects on what regulations apply to their business/industry. One is about “services offered;” the other focuses on client-driven questions.

How to Build Marketing Around Client Questions

If you want your marketing to be more client-centric, here’s a simple process:

• Listen carefully. Keep track of the questions clients ask you most often. You can also ask them about their challenges or concerns and do research into trends and issues that may be impacting them.
• Look for patterns. Group client questions into a few broader themes.
• Make a list. Pick 2–3 key themes to focus on first. These should be ones that reflect the firm’s main areas of expertise, strengths, priorities and its target audience’s interests.
• Break it down. The themes should be broken down into related subtopics that can become individual pieces of content. Think of the hub and spokes of a wheel.
• Create helpful content. Develop blog posts, videos, social media posts, webinars and other forms of content that delve into specific subtopics.
• Organize the information. Make it easy for someone to find related content on your site. Create a comprehensive hub page for each theme, then link to content that goes deeper into subtopics.

Best Practices for Making This Work

Once you’ve identified your themes and subtopics, keep these best practices in mind:

• Keep the client’s perspective front and center.
• Publish consistently to build momentum and visibility.
• Repurpose content into different formats and promote them across multiple channels to maximize reach.
• Use visuals (charts, infographics, videos) to simplify complex information and attract attention.
• Update content regularly as clients’ concerns and market conditions evolve or new developments occur.

By consistently focusing on client concerns, you’ll build trust, stay top of mind and make it easy for clients and referral sources to know exactly when and why to turn to you.

If you need help with your marketing or content, contact us for a consultation.

Benefits of Timely Content

Offering insights on recent events, developments and trends, builds your reputation as someone who stays on top of important issues. Timely content also tends to generate quick visibility, especially on social media. It gets more attention and engagement, which may generate immediate leads.

However, this is only true if you add your perspective and commentary as soon as possible. The facts can be found anywhere. What will set you apart is discussing how the development affects your target audience and advising them on what steps to take. And you need to do this before your competitors.

Developing compelling content rapidly can be significant work, but it can be worth it for the short-term gains, assuming you have a solid plan for promoting the information you create.

The Value of Evergreen Content

Often, there isn’t anything newsworthy, or it’s too difficult to create useful content quickly. You need other things to write and speak about to keep you in front of your audience. Evergreen content is your marketing workhorse. It’s content that stays relevant long after you publish it.

For example, let’s say you’re an accounting firm. While you might occasionally write about a new IRS ruling, your evergreen content might cover topics like tax planning tips for small businesses or what to do if you get audited. These are questions your clients ask all the time. And when you provide high-quality answers, you’re building trust, boosting your visibility in search engines and giving prospects a reason to reach out.

Even better, you can repurpose this content in countless ways, creating different formats and sharing it via multiple marketing channels. Evergreen content gives you an ongoing source of material to keep your pipeline full, no matter what’s happening in the news. And it delivers long-term ROI because it continues to attract traffic and leads long after you first publish it.

Use Both in Your Marketing

Ideally, you should seize the opportunity to create relevant content on trending topics. However, don’t rely on timely content to fuel all your content marketing. You want a balance. Build a solid library of evergreen content that consistently works for you. That way, you’ll never be scrambling for something to share, and you’ll stay visible and valuable to your audience, whether the headlines are hot or not.

If you need help with creating and/or promoting content, contact us for a consultation.

Here are a few dos and don’ts when using AI:

1. DO use it to assist with market research. Get help with researching, analyzing and summarizing information about clients, competitors and trends in order to create more relevant content.
2. DON’T rely on it for factual research without verifying accuracy. AI tools can “hallucinate” and provide incorrect information that sounds real, including citing nonexistent source material. Information may also be out-of-date.
3. DO brainstorm with it. Ask your AI tool for feedback on your ideas and to make suggestions for improvement. Use it to come up with topics, titles, headings, email subject lines and the like.
4. DON’T limit it to text-based content. Some AI tools can help develop and/or edit video, images, graphics and charts to stand alone or complement and give more impact to text.
5. DO use it to edit/refine content. You can get a second opinion on the content you wrote by asking your AI tool to recommend changes to the substance, structure, tone or style of a piece, proofread and check grammar and otherwise help polish the material.
6. DON’T let AI speak for you. It’s fine to get suggestions from AI tools but your content should always be in your voice. People who know you and have seen AI-generated text before will realize the content isn’t from you and it will reflect badly on you. Plus, AI text tends to sound formulaic so it won’t help you engage with readers.
7. DO use it to repurpose content. Existing content can be repurposed for different audiences, marketing platforms (ex. social media, email, website) and formats (ex. text, video, graphics) using AI tools.
8. DON’T forget to provide context. When asking your AI tool for help, share relevant background information about yourself and your audience, needs and goals. The more context you provide, the better content you will get.
9. DO check all results. AI-generated text and images must be carefully reviewed and vetted, not just for accuracy but also for bias, intellectual property concerns and other issues.
10. DON’T hide the use of AI. Internal policies should be adopted to ensure that any employees using AI in their work disclose it to the appropriate manager. It may also need to be disclosed to clients and other parties.
11. DO be concerned about privacy, confidentiality and ethical issues. AI tools learn from your queries and the data you provide, so you must take care what you reveal. There are some solutions which may help but they should be carefully vetted.
12. DON’T use AI results ‘as is.’ An AI-prepared draft can provide a starting point but should not be used as a finished product because of the problems with AI discussed here.

As AI evolves, the opportunities and risks will only increase. Don’t be afraid of AI but use it thoughtfully to save you time and effort while enhancing content for your marketing.

If you need help with your marketing, contact us.

Problem #1. Relying on a generic marketing message. Many firms use the same overused language to describe what they do, who they help and how they’re “different.” The problem isn’t lack of creativity; it’s being afraid of standing out. Many professionals feel more comfortable saying the same things as their peers; they just want to claim to do it better. However, they offer no proof that they are actually better so it’s just the same old marketing copy.

If you want to improve your results, you have to focus on marketing your differentiators. Identify exactly why someone should hire or refer you over your competitors, what unique value you bring to the relationship and how you help. Be specific and make sure you have proof, such as positive reviews, success stories, case studies, activities like writing and speaking, media quotes, awards, relevant group memberships and other evidence that you are who and what you say you are.

Problem #2. Too much selling and not enough helping. Yes, promote your differentiators, but rather than telling people how great you are, prove it with helpful content. I believe in the 80-20 rule – 20% of the time you can be self-promotional but 80% of the time provide useful information that helps people with their problems. This will demonstrate your expertise and build trust and credibility with your audience. It will help you both attract new attention and stay top of mind with the people you already know. However, in developing content, focus on what your audience cares about – their interests and concerns. Also, remember to repurpose your content so you get the maximum return on your investment. For more on repurposing, see No Time For Content Marketing? 7 Tips For Successfully Repurposing Your Content Part 1 and Part 2.

Problem #3. Neglecting your total online presence. There is more to your online presence than your website or your social media pages. Prospects and referral sources will google you even if they got referred to you and they will compare you to others. First, google yourself and your firm to find out what people will see. Then google some of your competitors. Once you determine where you are lacking, focus on making improvements like adding useful content to your website, becoming more active on social media, stepping up your writing and speaking for third parties, getting more online reviews, increasing backlinks to your website, claiming your Google business listing and employing tactics to improve your search engine ranking.

Problem #4. Having a narrow view of social media. You want to take full advantage of social media especially since it is more cost-effective than many other forms of marketing. It’s a great way to stay top of mind with contacts and get found by new people. So, post a few times a week. Also, interact with others by responding to comments to your posts; liking, commenting on and sharing other people’s posts; sending personal messages to your contacts; and leaving a good review for your contacts on their social media pages. Also, use social media for market intelligence. Look at what your competitors, clients, industry are doing and saying. This can help you better target your message and where you promote it.

Problem #5. Overlooking your follow-up process. The best marketing in the world means nothing if you don’t follow up properly. Document your process for follow-up and track your activities and results to determine if you could be doing better. Explore technology that may help. For example, a CRM (customer relationship management) system may be useful especially if you have multiple employees involved in business development and account management. It provides a more robust database for tracking and managing your contacts and can interface with other programs. Email marketing automation can also help you nurture leads more effectively and with less manual work.

Finally, pay attention to everyone a prospect or referral source may come into contact with on the phone or in person. Poor interactions can easily lose you business, while good ones can help seal the deal. Customer service or sales training may be a good investment for you or your employees to give everyone the people skills they need.

Problem #6. Failing to have a written marketing plan. Before you leap into any significant marketing, create a written marketing plan. This is your roadmap for achieving your goals and putting it all in writing keeps you focused and accountable over the long term so you aren’t distracted and you prioritize your efforts where they count. The worst thing you can do is engage in random acts of marketing where you do a little of this and that without a strategy or thinking about whether it is the best use of your time and money. For more information, read How to Create an Effective Marketing Plan.

Want help with your own marketing, contact us for consultation.

 1. Define your goals. There are many options, including increasing your online visibility, driving traffic to your website, generating leads for a specific area of practice or other objective. Be specific because the content you share and the tactics you use will vary depending on your goals.

2. Identify and research your target audience. Decide who to prioritize. Then identify their demographics – age, income, gender, education, location, etc. Finally, determine their interests and pain points. You want to focus your messaging on your key audience.

3. Select the best social media platforms. Determine where your audience is most active and likely to look for answers to the type of problems you solve. Also, look at the demographics of each platform to ensure it matches your target audience. You should focus on the top platform first. Once you are reliably posting, building a following and engaging on that platform, add the second-best platform. It’s better to do a great job on one platform than do an okay job on two platforms.

4. Check out your competitors. Look at what platforms they are using, how active they are and what types of content they are posting. You shouldn’t necessarily copy them but it is important to evaluate your competitors and look for where you can improve on what they are doing or offer something different.

5. Create a library of content. First, evaluate your existing content to determine whether you can repurpose it for social media. That includes blog posts, articles, presentations, videos, pictures, charts and infographics. Next brainstorm topics of interest to your audience and ones that speak to their pain points. Focus on developing ‘evergreen’ content that doesn’t go out of date and can be reused multiple times. Topical content can be added into the mix as needed.

6. Engage with your audience. Social media should help build relationships. That means it can’t just be about you posting. You must interact with others. Like, comment, and share other people’s posts; follow relevant influencers and companies; join groups; send personal messages; and take other steps to strengthen your existing connections and develop new ones.

7. Post consistently. Commit to a schedule for sharing content regularly. Be realistic. If you have rarely posted in the past, it is hard to suddenly start posting daily. It is fine to start simple. Post once a week. After a few weeks, try twice a week. Most professionals are fine posting three times a week on a reliable basis. If you have interesting things to share more often, then do so. The key is to have it on your calendar or use a scheduling tool so you don’t forget to do it.

8. Establish metrics and evaluate results. All social media platforms provide analytics. What metrics are important depends on your goals. For example, if you want to increase your visibility and reach, you will want to look at the growth in followers and visits to your website. If you want more engagement with your audience, you can track likes, comments and shares of your posts.

9. Promote your social media channels. Add your social media links to your email newsletter, email signature, website, business cards and any digital marketing. You can also cross-promote between social sites. Remember to invite existing contacts to follow or connect with you and when you meet new people, make sure to send them an invitation as well.

10. Integrate it into your other marketing. All of your marketing should work together. You should be consistent in your messaging and branding and repurpose content across platforms. This is more cost-effective as well as likely to give you the best results because clients are more likely to remember your marketing if they see it regularly in multiple places.

Social media marketing like all types of marketing works best when you are strategic about your efforts. If you need assistance with your social media marketing, contact us for consultation.

1. Who is the desired audience for your content? This is the most important question of all. Identify who you want to read your content. Is it existing or past clients, prospects, referral sources or others? Then break it down further. What are their key demographics and behaviors? This can include:

• Age, gender, profession
• Job title and responsibilities
• Company size and revenue (or personal income and wealth)
• Industry
• Location
• Role in deciding to hire you
• Budget and priorities
• Interests, concerns and pain points
• Information sources
• Level of knowledge about your services.

Essentially, you are creating a buyer persona, which is a detailed profile of the person you want to attract. You can gather this information by analyzing and talking with your client base and referral sources as well as through internet research.

The reason you are doing this is that the better you define your audience, the more effective your writing will be at reaching them and appealing to their interests.

2. What does your audience want to know about? Your content has to focus on what your audience is interested in, not what you want to talk about. Ask contacts what is important to them. Write about the frequently asked questions you receive. Also, do research. For example, identify and subscribe to publications your target audience reads, set up Google alerts to monitor areas of interest to them, and use social media to “listen” to what topics they care about. You can do this yourself or use paid media monitoring and business intelligence tools to gather information.

3. In what way can you offer something unique? Your goal is always to stand out from the competition. If you are talking about your business, you should focus on your differentiators – your unique selling proposition and unique value proposition. Similarly, if you are creating substantive content, such as a blog post, presentation or article, you want to offer your unique insights and analysis on that subject. This is a big problem when professionals write or speak on a topic. Dry factual recitations are not particularly interesting and are available from multiple sources. Clients and prospects want to understand how something affects them and what they need to do to solve or minimize their problems. This is an opportunity for you to shine by providing your audience with genuinely helpful information that highlights your knowledge and expertise. Yes, this requires more work, but your audience wants to see that you understand their concerns, have the know-how to handle them and want to educate them as opposed to give them a sales pitch.

4. What do you want to accomplish with your content? There are many reasons you may be sharing a particular piece of content including to increase visibility, drive web traffic, build credibility, establish expertise, stay top of mind with existing contacts, generate leads, etc. Your content won’t be successful if it doesn’t take into account your goals. Having concrete objectives enables you to establish metrics and measure the effectiveness of your content, including looking at which types of content are best suited for your purpose. In addition, when there is a clear reason for producing content and measurable results, it’s easier to stay motivated to continue to produce similar content.

5. How will you promote the content? Just because you created the content doesn’t mean it will be seen. You need a plan and appropriate resources to make sure you are taking full advantage of all available marketing channels to reach your target audience, including owned, earned and paid media outlets. Use social media and email marketing extensively. Encourage everyone within the firm to share your content with their personal networks. Incorporate strategic SEO tactics to increase the probability that your content will be found by search engines. In addition, don’t forget to test different marketing tactics and revise as needed to improve results.

6. Do you have a call to action? This goes along with # 4, but it is about accomplishing your goals at a micro-level. What do you want readers to do immediately after seeing your content? Contact you? Sign up for your email newsletter or event? Make sure to have a clear next step for your audience. You want to encourage people to continue to engage with you in some way. Ideally, your content should be leading people through your sales funnel. For example, you may have content that is intended to attract a large number of potential leads to your website. Once on your site, the next call to action may be an offer to receive related information in an eBook. This allows you to continue to nurture those leads who are not yet ready to make a decision.

CONCLUSION

Content is a valuable marketing tool when used strategically. If you take the time to understand what specific content will appeal to your audience and focus on your objectives, you’ll write content that will drive the success of your business.

1. Develop a plan. Who is your audience for the blog? What topics will you write about? Who will write the posts? How often will you publish? What are your goals for the blog? What resources do you need to keep it going? How will you market the blog? Before you start, you must answer these questions. Put it in writing to keep you accountable and help ensure your blog will help your business.

2. Decide where to host your blog. Most people have it on their business website, which has many advantages. However, there are also services that can host and help promote your blog. A good example is LexBlog for legal blogs.

3. Create an editorial calendar. One of the toughest aspects of blogging is figuring out what to write. Ideally, try to brainstorm at least 3 months’ worth of topics at a time. For advice on developing blog topics, read 5 Tips To Help You Develop Great Blog Post Topics. Once you decide on topics, put them on a calendar. That means set a due date and assign responsibility to the appropriate author/editor. Build in time for reviewing and editing the material and add reminders to your calendar before the due date.

4. Include a mix of timely and evergreen posts. Evergreen content is information that doesn’t go out of date. It is always of value to people reading your blog and it can continue to drive traffic to your website for years to come. In contrast, timely posts are on a current development or trend. While they may give you a big boost in the short-term because people want that information, there is less long-term value.

5. Don’t be self-promotional. People don’t want to hear about how great you are. They want helpful and practical information that answers their questions and assists them in avoiding or minimizing problems. By giving free advice, you will be demonstrating that you are knowledgeable, so you don’t have to “sell your services” overtly.

6. Focus on quality over quantity. Yes, it would be great if you could publish a post at least once a week or even more often. However, every post must be good. It’s better to publish high quality content less often than low quality more often.

7. Improve your communication skills. Maybe you’re not a great writer. If you have good ideas, you can work with a writer to develop well-written content. Alternatively, if you are comfortable speaking, you can create videos, which can also be transcribed and edited so you have both oral and written formats. If you want to try to improve your skills on your own, here are several posts on how to make your writing more effective.

7 Tips For More Effective Blog Writing For Your Business

5 Do’s To Help You Create Content That Your Audience Wants To Read

5 Things Not To Do If You Want People To Read Your Content

8. Leverage all marketing channels. On your website, your blog will help with your search engine optimization. When people are searching for information online, Google looks to deliver high-quality relevant content. The more effort you put into your blog posts, the more likely your content will appear in search results. However, your social media and email marketing are also important ways to promote your posts. In addition, you may also want to consider some form of paid advertising.

9. Include a call to action. What do you want readers to do after reading your blog? Contact you? Sign up for something (newsletter, webinar, eBook)? Make sure to have a clear next step for the reader. You’re using the blog to help your marketing, so you want to encourage people to continue to engage with you in some way.

A blog can be an effective marketing tool for your business, but you must make a commitment. If you need assistance, a professional writer can help you develop compelling content as well as promote it to the right audiences, so you get results.

If you need help with blog writing or marketing your existing blog, contact us for a consultation.

1. Assess your Google results. What shows up on the first page? Presumably, your website and social media profiles will appear at the top, but what else? Are the other results on the page little more than directory listings? Is there anything that demonstrates expertise or credibility, such as articles, presentations, professional memberships, awards, media mentions and the like? Do you have any reviews or recommendations? It is not enough to ensure that bad things don’t appear in your search results, you want to make sure a lot of good things show up as well. A minimal presence can hurt you because people want to know you are active in your profession, in your community and so on.

2. Google your competitors. How are they marketing themselves? How does their online presence compare to yours? Review their Google results, website, and social media profiles. It is important to know what you are up against. However, if your competitors aren’t doing much online, don’t take that as an excuse to continue to ignore your online presence. You have an opportunity to lead the field and make everyone else catch up to you.

3. Do the easy stuff first. Your website and social media profiles are typically the first results that show in Google. Fortunately, you have complete control over what appears there and should be taking advantage of them to demonstrate the value you offer clients. Highlight your strengths, but don’t make it a marketing brochure. Instead, provide information that your prospects would find useful and interesting. It might be insights about their problem, what they can do to help themselves, and when they may need extra assistance. Blogs, articles, eBooks, newsletters, videos, podcasts, presentations, FAQs, and case studies can be added to your website and highlighted on social media to build credibility.

Also give prospects a reason to like and trust you. Tell them a little about your background, your motivation for doing the work you do, and your other interests (charitable activities, hobbies, etc.). Social media is great for this because you can be a bit more informal than on your website, just don’t go too far into the personal.

4. Develop content for third-party sites. Appearing on reputable third-party sites is invaluable because you can’t control it. The more authoritative the other website, the more it affects your credibility and search engine ranking. Start identifying a list of sites where you could provide content, such as articles and presentations. Likely sources include associations relevant to your profession (e.g., bar associations) and to your client base (industry and business groups). Consumer-oriented, community, and charitable websites may also be possibilities. In addition, reach out to contacts in complementary businesses and offer to guest blog on each other’s websites or otherwise partner on creating content to cross-promote.

5. Ask for recommendations/reviews. Contact people you know well – referral sources, colleagues, vendors, and happy clients – to ask them if they would be willing to give you a recommendation or review on your firm Google listing, on social media pages, and other relevant websites. Remember to give them one as well if you can. Depending on the nature of your relationship, encourage them to be detailed in the review and suggest things they could share in the review. When dealing with clients, it is best to ask for a review at the conclusion of a successful engagement.

6. Downplay the negatives. If you have negative reviews, you should respond online carefully. Do not engage in a debate online, but do tell the person you want to discuss the problem and follow up offline to try to resolve the situation. If you are successful, try to get the person to retract the review or add a comment that the matter was resolved. If you have negative press, there may be little you can do but if there is a possibility of responding to limit the damage try to do so. It may be worthwhile speaking to a public relations agency if it is a serious matter. Again, take care in your response that you are not making matters worse or drawing more attention to the situation. Assuming you cannot eliminate the damage, you can counteract it by getting more positive reviews and publicity and taking the other steps mentioned above. Most businesses end up with some negative feedback so it is not as bad as it may feel. Over time, the impact will lessen.

7. Have a marketing plan. It takes time to implement these steps and we all have limits on the resources we can put towards this. A written plan can help you think through your options and prioritize, set goals, and determine what time and money you will need to achieve your objectives.

Following these suggestions has additional benefits. First, it will improve your search engine ranking when people search for a professional with your expertise or want more information on a specific issue that you have written or spoken about. It also makes you more visible with existing contacts. Assuming you are actively promoting your activities through your website, email, social media, and other means, they help you stay top of mind with your referral sources.

Finally, it makes you more aware of what your competitors are doing so you can be more effective in your own efforts. Studies show that prospects research and talk to multiple firms before making a decision. If you want to compete, a strong online brand is essential. It may not guarantee you get the business, but the lack of one may lose you the business.

If you are concerned about what Google says about you, contact us for a consultation.

1. Put yourself in your reader’s shoes. A good blog post discusses what your reader cares about, not what you want to talk about. So first identify who you want to read your blog post (your ideal client or referral source), then start making a list of the following:

What are their top 10 questions? What do they ask you when you have a conversation? Each question could be its own blog post or group them as appropriate.

What are the significant challenges in their personal or business lives or in their industry? If you don’t know the answer, ask them or do research. Even if you cannot help them with all their issues, writing about their concerns shows you understand their needs.

When and why do they call you? You want to write about those trigger points. For example, let’s say the trigger is that they are being sued or threatened with suit. You can write about how to avoid liability, common liability traps, mitigating and aggravating factors in liability, when they need to seek outside help and how to handle issues that may come up in litigation.

You want to go through this exercise with each audience you want to attract. The answers to these questions will vary depending on whether you are targeting existing clients, different categories of prospects or referral sources. For each audience, you have a whole new set of potential blog topics. Even if some of the information is repetitive across groups, you can still write individual posts for each group.

2. Consider multiple ways to present the information. The same basic information can be delivered many ways by changing the angle, style or format of the piece. For example, you can provide advice on how to handle an issue, but one time write it as “Essential Tips to Help …,” and another time focus on “How to Avoid These Top Traps” or “What Not to Do.”

When it comes to the format, there are many options. Lists, how-tos, case studies, charts/infographics, audio and video all represent different ways you can cover your topic and they can all qualify as “blog posts.” One of the benefits of blogging is that it is in your control and you can discuss any topic you want in any way you want.

3. Repurpose other content. Maybe you did a presentation for a client or an organization. Your notes, outlines, handouts and slides can be fodder for blog posts. The same is true of articles, client memos/letters, recordings and other content created for a different purpose. Out-of-date content can be brought up-to-date. Material written for one audience, can be rewritten for new audiences.

In addition, you can repurpose other people’s content. For example, write a post analyzing or commenting on an article you read or a presentation you attended. You can also curate content – that is, compile a list of useful articles, books, and other resources on a topic and share it with others in the form of a blog post. For example, write a post on the top 5 articles on the new tax law. You want to add your own commentary and explain why you think these resources are useful. Don’t copy the articles; just provide the pertinent information (title, author, publication) and links to the pieces you mentioned along with your analysis.

4. Look at current events and trends. It’s great to discuss new developments and how those events or trends may impact your target audience. Sometimes there is an added bonus because you can take advantage of media and public interest in a news story to get extra exposure for your business (aka “newsjacking”). However, that may only give you a short-term boost in visibility. When possible, provide deeper and ongoing analysis of events so you can really showcase your expertise and have a longer shelf-life for your content.

You can set up automatic Google alerts, monitor hashtags and trends on social media, or sign up for a news aggregator service to stay on top of what people are writing and talking about. Remember you should pay attention to the events and trends that your audience cares about, which may be very niche content.

5. Keep a running list or folder for ideas. When an idea for a blog post comes to me, I will add it to a list that I keep for that purpose. If the inspiration was an article I read, I will add the link to my list as well, so I can go back to the piece when it’s time for me to start writing.

The key to successful blogging is planning. Don’t add stress to your life by struggling to come up with a topic on the fly. Regularly brainstorm topics and consider these tips to help you develop ideas for months at a time.

For more tips to improve your blogging, read Is Anyone Reading Your Content? How to Make Sure They Do.

If you need help with your blogging, contact us for a consultation.

1. Revisit your marketing efforts year-to-date. What have you done to market your business this year? What has worked and what hasn’t? Are you on track to meet your goals for the year? If you did not set goals, set them now. You should have a written marketing plan documenting what you want to achieve and how you will get there.

2. Set up one-on-one meetings. Summer is a good time to check in with your contacts. Follow up is an essential part of business development. Go out to lunch or coffee. Find out what is going on with your contacts but be prepared. What do you want to accomplish with this meeting? If you are hoping to get some business leads, information or introductions, think ahead of time about how you can help them with their business. It’s better to give than to receive when you are trying to build relationships.

3. Work on your contact database. Too many businesses have incomplete information on their contacts and house them in multiple databases (e.g., Outlook, billing system, email platform, etc.). That makes it much harder to keep information up-to-date and to leverage it to improve marketing. During the summer have someone work on cleaning up your data – checking that information is up-to-date in all places, looking up missing information, reviewing bounces, segmenting contacts, etc. If you don’t have a list of contacts that you can use for email marketing, now is the time to create one. Email is an important and very cost-effective way to stay in touch with your contacts. Leverage staff if they have the time to do this work or use interns or students who can work on an hourly basis at a lower cost than staff.

4. Create evergreen content that you can use for your marketing in busy months. Evergreen content is content that doesn’t go out of date quickly. Develop blog posts, articles, video or other content that you can use months or even years from now, so you have material you can promote when you don’t have time to create something new.

5. Leverage content you already have. While you are creating content to carry you through the busy times of year, you don’t want to worry about also writing new stuff to market during the summer. Look at what you already have. There is probably information that you can repurpose relatively easily. Also keep in mind that for social media and email purposes, you can repromote evergreen content you wrote previously. Take a blog post or article you wrote a while ago and share it again. Some people may not have seen it the first time or they may not remember it well.

6. Attend summer networking events. During the summer, many groups go on hiatus, but not all of them. Those that have events often schedule more casual networking which can offer the opportunity to network in a relaxed environment. These summer parties may bring out different people than ordinarily attend the regular networking events, so you also meet new people.

7. Do some reading. No one intuitively knows how to successfully build a business. Pick 1 or 2 marketing or business-related books or check out relevant magazines, newsletters or blogs to give you motivation and inspiration to grow your business.

Get started today with these tips to improve your marketing.

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