Running a business can be a tough gig and anyone who thinks otherwise is either naïve or not too far away from posting an ‘out of business’ sign on their door. The difference between success and failure in business can hinge on effective advertising and the main consideration for most small businesses often boils down to cost. Naturally, every advertiser wants to get more leverage or ‘bang for their buck’.

Until relatively recently, most small businesses would simply purchase space in the yellow pages and perhaps mail out a few hundred fliers and that would be the extent of their advertising campaign. Thankfully, those days have long since passed. The buzzword on the lips of today’s modern marketers is ‘content marketing’. Every serious business owner needs to understand what marketing content means and how harnessing it can literally elevate you above the competition that stubbornly refuses to change with the times.

Traditional Marketing Explained

Traditional marketing is less effective than ever because people have become much more savvy at tuning out of certain types of advertising and are now more sceptical and cynical when it comes to being pitched to. Old forms of marketing seek to create powerful disruptions that grab the consumer’s attention and forcefully insert a chosen message into their awareness; marketers call this phenomenon ‘mindshare’. It’s the space in a customer’s mind that has been imprinted with slogans and associations intended to influence buying behaviour.

Why Content Marketing Wins Every Time

Content marketing doesn’t seek to interrupt in the same way that a television commercial or billboard does. Content marketing is less concerned with overtly telling consumers what to do. Rather, it is a more integrated approach that communicates information that the customer perceives as valuable and then reciprocates by rewarding business with loyalty and purchases.

Content marketing seeks to build an engaging relationship, whereas traditional marketing is more akin to a one-night stand. With traditional marketing, once the deal is over with it’s time to move on to the next conquest. Conversely, content marketers are all about building strong connections and maintaining them so that customers willingly return again and again to a continuing source of satisfaction and value without the need for gimmicks.

No Flimflam Required

All things considered, it is clear to see which of these approaches will yield the best long-term benefits. Those that market their businesses creatively, with a well-designed campaign strategy focused on building and strengthening consumer relationships stand out in sharp relief from the pack of flimflam hucksters whose basic approach is effectively a simplistic ‘look at me, look at me’ grab for attention.

Marketing That Delivers

A marketing professional skilled in the nuances of content marketing will be able to develop and articulate a step-by-step approach that is firmly based in logic and demonstrable techniques. Campaigns are designed according to the type of business being promoted – whether that be Office space Lloyds or a brand new product –as well as being in harmony with the persona or character of the ideal customer.

Every business has good understanding of their typical client and the kind of person that generally purchases and perhaps purchases repeatedly. Not all businesses or customers are the same and a skilled content marketer will know exactly how to leverage both the story of the business and needs of the customer and translate them into greater profits.

The internet has completely changed the way business is done and small business marketing must keep up with the times and adapt. The alternative is to ignore the shift and push on merrily regardless. The right choice is clear.

B2B Content Marketing Agency in London

Marketing Fundamentals Ltd is a B2B Content Marketing Agency in London that creates Content and manages Social Media for Professional Services firms. We also have online resources here and here that help small businesses get started with Content Marketing. If you would like our help planning and executing Content Marketing and Social Media or want to give us a call you can do so via  +44 (0) 845 2264 247 or email us via mail@marketingfundamentals.com

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This is blog post 324. This is a sponsored post.

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For every second that passes, almost eight new internet users are added worldwide. If you want to reach this ever expanding demographic, you may think it’s enough to simply make your products available for worldwide shipping. In reality, though, there are numerous steps you’ll need to take if you’re truly interested in reaching a global audience.

International SEO

Targeted Content

Every country around the world has its own unique culture so optimising your content for the country in question is the most important change you can make to deliver effective international SEO. Not only can this be time-consuming, but hiring staff to translate all of your content into the local language can also be expensive, so for many small businesses and startups adding a tool like Google Translate to your site ensures that your website visitors can see your content in their own language. This is a necessary step if you want to reap the benefits of a worldwide customer base. Search engines like Google strive to give their users the most relevant answers to their queries, so make sure to use local currencies, addresses, and phone numbers to help boost your results.

Local Domains

Different parts of the world use their own country code top level domains (ccTLDs). By using a specific ccTLD (such as .co.uk for the UK, .fr for France, or .de for Germany), you immediately set the geo location for your website. Search engines will recognise this, and if the user searching is currently located in France, for instance, priority will be given to sites using the .fr ccTLD. Even if you make sure that the content of your website is localised to target a specific country, if you don’t have the right ccTLD you won’t see all of the benefits.

Social Signals

Social media is now at the forefront of many company’s online marketing campaigns. Positive social signals like retweets and Facebook likes can have a big impact, but in order to take full advantage of social media you’ll need to tailor your digital strategy for each market. Sonico reached over 8m users in Latin America within its first six months, while in Japan there are now over 30m users of the networking service Mixi. In China, Qzone dominates with over 645m accounts. Around 150m of these users update their accounts at least once a month.

The advent of the internet has made it easier to reach a global audience than ever before. If you want to create a viable long-term audience, you’ll have to be prepared to make an extended effort to cater to their needs.

B2B Content Marketing Agency London

Marketing Fundamentals Ltd is a B2B Content Marketing Agency in London that creates Content and manages Social Media for Professional Services firms.

If you would like our help creating and executing a Content Marketing Plan for your business or organisation give us a call  on +44 (0) 845 2264 247. You can also email us via mail@marketingfundamentals.com

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Marketing Fundamentals Team

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This is blog post number 313. This is a sponsored post.

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Apple Pay, the Cupertino-based company’s first foray into mobile payments, has been a big success since its debut last year. The tech giant plans to expand the service into new markets this year, with the UK planned this summer. Is Apple Pay simply a new payment option for consumers though, or does it mean more than that for businesses?

Recent Announcements

With the changes made to iOS, the operating system of Apple’s popular smartphone, the iPhone, announced at the company’s recent Worldwide Developers Conference, tech blog 9to5Mac found that Apple will allow marketers to send content offers to users through iAd, the company’s own advertisement service. These offers will be delivered through the recently revamped Passbook application, which is being renamed to Wallet and now holds user’s loyalty cards as well as their credit and debit cards.

While offers were initially described as “triggered with updates specific to a store location via iBeacon,” advertisers can also target users by age, gender, geography, or their own custom demographics using their own data. While Google’s Android ecosystem has overtaken iOS as the market leader, the iPhone is still the most popular handset in many markets which makes it a fantastic opportunity to reach a wide-ranging audience with your content. Studies have shown that Apple users spend, on average, four times more on mobile applications than Google’s users, making them an increasingly valuable demographic.

How Does It Work?

Apple Pay uses a technology called near field communications (NFC). Each NFC-compatible device includes a chip that operates as one part of a wireless link. When this comes into contact with another chip, either by touching the devices or from close proximity, typically between 10cm or less, a connection made up of radio frequencies is established. This technology is being implemented in many modern smartphones, including Android handsets, as well as a burgeoning new mobile devices called smartwatches.

If you want your business to be able to offer customers the option of paying with their smart devices, you’ll need to invest in new NFC-compatible payment terminals. The Clover Station, available from specialised payment providers such as Card-Cutters, will accept both Apple Pay and contactless card payments and comes pre-installed with your product lists right out of the box. This means you’ll be able to easily set your new payment management system in time for the nationwide roll-out of Apple Pay this summer.

Being able to reach the widest possible audience is a key component in expanding your customer-base. With iPhone sales at an all-time-high, there’s sure to be high demand when Apple Pay finally makes its way to the UK. Now that the service offers more than just an added convenience for the consumers, there’s no better time to invest in the latest payment technologies either.

If you would like our help planning and implementing content suitable for iAd give us a call on

+44 (0) 845 2264 247 or email us via mail@marketingfundamentals.com. Marketing Fundamentals Ltd are a leading B2B Content Marketing Agency in London. We create Content and use Social Media to build relationships with your prospective and existing customers or supporters.

Thanks for reading!

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Marketing Fundamentals Team

This is blog post no. 280.

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