by Rahimah Sultan

 

For 2018 two things are certain:

 

Content marketing will become even more important
Content creation and distribution will change radically

 

Although content marketing is effective, the channels, tactics and tools that marketers use will continue to evolve.

 

There are 13 content marketing trends that will dominate 2018. Six will be discussed in this article.

 

Trend No. 1– Remarketing Will Become the Engine of Lead Generation
If you have some existing customer data, setting up a remarketing campaign isn’t very difficult.
If you have an email list of people who clicked through on an offer without buying anything, you can create a Facebook custom audience to show them a discount coupon.

 

Or you might have a different custom audience for people who read 2 or more of your blog posts without signing up for any lead magnet.

 

If you have existing user data, you can start a remarketing campaign on these platforms:

 

Google Ad Remarketing
Facebook remarketing
AdRoll
RetargetLinks

 

Trend No. 2– Personalized Content Experiences
One-to-one marketing aka personalization, is the key to good customer experiences.

 

When you visit a landing page and enter your name and email to download an eBook, the next time you visit the same site, you’re greeted by name and also shown more eBooks related to a particular interest. It’s obviously already being done, but more and more marketers will begin using personalization.

 

Personalized emails include name, email address, company URL, company size, etc.

 

Trend No. 3– Brands Will Create More Super Niche Content/Sub-Brands
No matter what industry you’re in, you will need to create niche content if you want to thrive in 2018. For example, if you’re in the fitness industry you can sell related products and reports on fitness supplements.

 

Trend No. 4– Content Will Adapt to Natural Language Search
Due to voice search we’re moving into screen-less search. Voice searches already make up 20% of all Google searches on mobiles.

 

Since the way we speak is very different from the way we type, your content needs to adapt to natural language search. Instead of writing about “best small business marketing tools,” write about “What are the best marketing tools for small businesses?” Here are a few things you can do:

 

a) Write complete, full-sentence questions and answers in your articles, rather than breaking it up into several sentences.

b) Use long, specific phrases in your titles and headers.

c) When determining your target keywords, keep in mind the conversational nature of voice searches. Try to target longer, naturally phrased keywords.

 

Trend No. 5– There Will Be More Bite-Sized Content
Over the past few years marketers have created longer and longer content. Longer content does rank better in SERPs which is fine if that’s your intention. But if your target market is millennials you’re more likely to get positive ROI from shorter, visually-rich content.

 

Instead of creating long-form content, mix it up with long and short. Use tweetable graphics or sharable in-post graphics.

 

Trend No. 6– Influencer Marketing Will Change
Influencer is closing the gap with video advertising. Readers are sick of reading lengthy roundup posts with shallow, regurgitated insights, and they want more authentic stories and actionable knowledge.

 

Instead of aiming for volume, your key focus should be “collaboration” with influencers to create content that speaks to your and the influencer’s audience.

 

Steps to take:

 

a) Identify key brand or product influencers, either manually or through a platform like TapInfluence.

b) Create a marketing campaign directed at those influencers.

c) Create a secondary marketing campaign for the influencers to drive greater awareness to a larger set of target consumers (such as a snackable content from an interview/analysis).

d) Track key metrics relating to reach, sales and brand awareness.

 

That content marketing is here to stay is beyond question, but the way you create and distribute content will change drastically in 2018.

 

From blog posts and social media updates, we should see a shift towards video and niche-focused, personalized content. Bite-sized content should come back into vogue and marketers will increasingly turn to remarketing to reach their audiences, especially in B2B.

 

For more in-depth information on these trends and the remaining 7 trends, read 13 Biggest Content Marketing Trends That Will Dominate 2018

 

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by Rahimah Sultan

 

 
 
 

Email marketing is all about building trust and relationships so people will buy from you and maybe become a repeat customer.

 

Put your customers first by giving them helpful information and tips before referencing your products or services. Email marketing can be a fast way to reach thousands of customers.

 

Despite the false predictions by the so-called experts, email is not dead. Yet it’s only getting stronger and more powerful. The year 2017 proved this to all with 59% of marketers choosing email to be the most effective channel for generating the highest revenue.

 

You can read Syed Balkhi’s discussion on 5 Email Marketing Trends to Watch for in 2018 here.

 
 
 

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by Rahimah Sultan

 

 
 
 

There are many online marketing strategies you can use for business success. There is search engine marketing, social media marketing, and e-mail marketing among others.

 

Online marketing involves methods used for promoting products and services on the Internet. It includes a wider range of marketing elements than traditional business marketing…

 
 
 

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by Rahimah Sultan

 

 
 

I found this piece, by Christina Walker, on article marketing. She covers three tips for getting it right. You need to use high-quality article directories, convince readers that you are a reputable, trustworthy… Continue

 
 
 
 

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by Rahimah Sultan

 
 

I ran across an article titled 10 Steps to a Successful Affiliate Marketing Strategy that laid out what affiliate marketers needed to do to succeed in 2015 and beyond? The operative words are…

 

Read Steps to a Successful Affiliate Marketing Strategy

 

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by Rahimah Sultan

 

 

There is an ongoing debate as to whether businesses and programs, that promise you a chance to leave your day job, are legitimate business opportunities or scams/pyramid schemes. Multi-level marketing (MLM) companies offer you a chance to be your own boss, make lots of money and new friends in the process.

 

Here are some major indicators of pyramid schemes:

 

* Programs that focus mainly on recruitment of new people
 

* Plans that claim you will make money through continued growth of your “downline” rather than through your own sales of products
 

* Programs that ask distributors to purchase expensive inventory
 

* Plans that ask you to sign a contract or pay money to participate in a multi-level marketing program, or any business opportunity, without letting you take time to read all of the paperwork
 

* Products or services are just vehicles for recruiting, and may be gimmicks and/or overpriced. Even high quality products may serve as a cover for recruitment activities.

 

Compensation Plans

 

A MLM company will have one of several Marketing Payment Structures. It can be a Matrix Plan, a Binary Plan, a Breakaway Plan or other.

 

The distinct feature of a Matrix Plan is its limited width. Unlike other MLM compensation plans, a Matrix restricts the number of distributors you can sponsor on your first level, usually to less than five. The most commonly used Matrix MLM plans are 4 x 7, 5 x 7, 3 x 9 and 2×12.

 

A Binary Plan is a Two-Legged (Left leg, Right Leg) structure where each new distributor or member is placed in either of the left or right subtree. One subtree is called a Power Leg or Profit Leg and the second subtree is a Profit Leg or a weak leg.

 

Advantages of a binary MLM plan are:

 

Spillover, unlimited depth, fast expansion, it’s volume driven, and there can be multiple business centers.

 

The Breakaway Plan, also known as the Stairstep Plan, has different status stages or steps. Once you reach a certain level you are allowed to “Breakaway” from your sponsor and run your company individually.

 

Advantages of the Stairstep Breakaway MLM Plan are:

 

The earning potential on more levels, no limit on the number of people who can be recruited into your first generation line, and there is no limitation on the number of recruits that your downline distributors are allowed to recruit.

 

It’s important to do your due diligence and check out all programs you may be thinking of joining. Discuss it with a spouse, a knowledgeable and experienced friend, an accountant, or lawyer. You can also check out the company with the BBB. If you feel that you are being high-pressured or that you’re not being given enough time to study and evaluate the details, look elsewhere.

 

Once you have found a legitimate MLM company that you want to be a part of, be prepared to put in the work to make it profitable. If you want success, be disciplined and treat it like a business and be willing to follow advice from others who have made it. Although using multi-level marketing for supplemental income can be a good plan, understand that it will take time to make it your full-time income source.

 
 

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by Rahimah Sultan

 

 
 

“Every business is simply a set of systems and marketing just happens to be the most important of these systems.”

 

As marketing is a business system, treating it as such helps to take away the mystery of its function in your business which permits you to create consistent, predictable results from the operation of your marketing system.

 

For details read 7 Steps To Sure Fire Marketing Success.

 
 

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by Rahimah Sultan

 

 

In today’s ever-changing marketplace, it is not enough to have a website. A successful home business requires online marketing strategies the same as an offline business. For your marketing success you must engage in effective marketing to get new customers. In order to achieve your business goals you must establish a budget and master online marketing skills. Here are…

 

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by Rahimah Sultan

 

 

A sales funnel refers to the buying process that customers are led through when purchasing products/services. It is divided into several steps, which differ depending on the particular sales model.

 

The traditional model used marketing to fill the top of the funnel and sales for nurturing leads through to conversion. This model is still used, although customer behavior has changed. This shift is a result of how much research prospective customers do before engaging with you. If you’re selling a product or service, there are different points of contact between you and the buyer. You combine sales with marketing to ensure that qualified leads get personalized attention when necessary.

 

At the top of your funnel are prospective customers who have decided to connect with you through your lead magnet or sign-up form. Once you have their information, which is usually name and email, you can follow up with them. This starts the process of them getting to know, like and trust you. Now you can begin to tell them about your product/service, because they have opted in to receive more information. As a marketer you have to think about the entire purchasing process from the buyer’s perspective.

 

To set up a sales funnel you need a lead capture page (LCP), a sales page, and a way to follow up with prospects.

 

An Internet Sales Funnel is really a marketing framework that represents the stages from your initial contacts to actual sales. It’s basically a way of funneling prospects into your business and building trust. A sales funnel gives you a single place to advertise. Keep in mind these Aspects of An Internet Sales Funnel when setting up your business.

 

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by Rahimah Sultan

 

 

What Is Internet Marketing?

 

Internet marketing is a number of marketing activities that can be done online which include affiliate marketing, email marketing, social media marketing, blogging, paid marketing, search engine optimization and more.

 

Before you do anything be sure to get all the information you can.

 

Understanding The Internet Marketing Field

 

There’s a lot to learn, however everyone has to start somewhere. There are a lot of terms that may or may not be confusing to you, depending on your knowledge of the field. There are four general phases to really understanding internet marketing and making money online.

 

1) What’s actually happening online and how is money made?

 

At the start you have to focus on value, not revenues. In the beginning you do the most amount of work for the least return.

 

If you’re short on cash and hoping to make some fast money online, you’ll be disappointed. There’s no such thing as getting rich quick. All these schemes are selling you short. You have to put in the time and do the work while adding enormous value.

 

There are things associated with internet marketing such as affiliate marketing, network marketing, multi-level marketing and more. Affiliate marketing is really tough unless you have an enormous following or you know how to build first-rate squeeze pages and great sales funnels. You need to know the virtual landscape before undertaking creating your own digital products and sales funnels.

 

2) What do you want to do?

 

Once you understand how things work you need to decide what you want to do. Do you want to be an affiliate marketer, a network marketer, a blogger?

 

Whatever you do you’ll need traffic. You need to drive traffic to your offers with squeeze pages or landing pages which have a call to action and a sign-up form. This is your first contact with customers or your follow up after you’ve made initial contact. Learn the right skills as you go so that you can become effective. It will take time. Just don’t give up.

 

3) Know how you will communicate.

 

You should actually decide this before you start online. Will you blog, build a list, use social media or do JVs? Whatever you do, be straight with people and learn to communicate effectively and understand every stage of the process.

 

4) What’s your passion?

 

Decide what you’re passionate about and pick a niche. Get a custom domain and set up a professional-looking site that will be your place of business to which everything will be linked. All of your advertising, SEO, social media, etc. will be directed here.

 

Create free enticing offers to capture names and email addresses with your squeeze pages to start building your funnels. This will all take time, and you will profit in the end. It may all seem confusing at first. Internet marketing is a constant complicated process. Beware of unscrupulous individuals bearing shiny trinkets. Follow and learn from reputable people online. Don’t fall for the hype.

 

So, view the big picture of what’s actually happening online and how money is made, decide what you want to do and how you wish to communicate, figure out your passion and pick a niche.