Content Marketing: How to Make Your Business Memorable

The Story of the Forgetful Farmer

I am about to reveal to you some of the most important ways that you need to use content marketing in 2013. But first, I want to tell you a story.

It’s a humorous story that will reveal the main reason that the ideas you're about to learn need be added to your content marketing strategy as soon as possible.

It’s a story I came across about a city dweller who went to visit some relatives who lived on a farm.

One day when he was with his farmer cousin, the cousin suddenly whistled and his dog herded the cattle into the corral.

That was impressive enough.  But what happened next shocked the city dwelling cousin.

After the dog herded the cattle into the corral she then closed the gate and latched the gate with her paw.

The city dweller asked in disbelief, “Wow, that’s some dog. What’s her name?”

The farmer, who was known to be very forgetful, just stood there and thought a minute.

Finally the farmer asked is his cousin, “What do you call that red flower that smells good and has thorns on the stem?”

The city dweller answered, “A rose?”

The farmer replied, “That’s it! Thanks.” Then the farmer turned to his wife and said, “Hey Rose, what do we call this dog?”

Could This be the Reason You’re Not More Successful?

You might think that one of the reasons your business isn’t more successful is because prospects and customers are rejecting you.

Well, I have good news. You could be wrong. (Unless you have a generic or lousy product, then you’re right. They are rejecting you.)

The reason you’re not more successful could be something as simple as this: they don’t remember you.

I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s true.

The reason that your prospects and customers might not be buying from you might not be personal at all.

It could simply be a problem with memory.

In other words, you’re not on the top of their mind when they need the service or product you’re offering.

And if your prospects and customers don’t remember you, then you don’t exist to them.

You can sit around and wait for them to read your blog post, but they won’t remember to come back to your blog.

You can send out that email offer or your latest ezine issue, but your prospects or customers will never open the email because some of them don’t even remember who you are or what your business is.

You can post up a new offer on your site, but you won’t see much response, because your site isn’t on their mind today. It’s gotten buried by all the latest sites they’ve visited and all the current chaos in their lives.

Your site isn’t even on their radar at the moment.

Again, it’s not that they don’t like you or your product or service.

It’s not that they didn’t at one point read your posts, open your email, or buy your product or service.

They might have. And they might have actually liked it!

They just don’t remember you and your business when it matters: when they’re interested in what you are offering.

Where’d That Steakhouse Go?

Let me give you an example from my own life.

I like steak. That means I like steakhouses.

Well, recently I was driving through a neighboring city and noticed a well-known steakhouse. And guess what I discovered? The place had closed down.

My first thought was “Oh yeah! I forgot this place was here.”

Again, this is a well-known place. It’s not some local place that few people have heard of.

But, I totally forgot it was there!

I didn’t reject them and choose to purposely not eat there.

I simply never thought of that place whenever I was thinking of a place to eat. I wonder how many other prospects and customers forgot about their restaurant too.

Content Marketing: Your Tool to Stay on the Top of Peoples’ Minds

You might not realize this, but content marketing is an important tool that can help your prospects and customers to remember you, your business, and your product or service.

But you must use your content correctly in order for you to see its help in this area. Today I want to give you 2 specific ways you can use content marketing to make sure you are more easily remembered.

2 Ways to Use Content Marketing to Become Unforgettable

1. Be Consistent

Post on your blog consistently. Write ezines consistently.

If that means you write a blog post once a week, that’s fine. If that means you send out an ezine every other month, that’s ok. But be consistent, so people begin to expect it.

Think of a newspaper. It’s consistent. It is published every day. Think of a magazine. They are usually published monthly.

You would be confused if a newspaper came out on Monday, then there wasn’t one on Tuesday or Wednesday, but it suddenly one came out on Thursday again.

You’d be confused about when it was being published. You’d stop looking for it and eventually forget about it.

The same thing can happen with your blog or ezine if you don’t publish content on a regular basis.

If you want to become unforgettable to your prospects and customers, then part of your content marketing strategy must be to publish content consistently.

Before I tell you the second thing you need to do to be memorable, I need to share a concept from a top marketer named Dan Kennedy.

Putting Up a Fence

He teaches a concept that he calls “putting a fence around your customers.”

He describes it like this. He says you need to imagine that you’re a cattle rancher. (Wow.  I just used two cattle stories in one blog post. That’s a personal record! )

Imagine that you spend all of your money on the latest milking machines and you buy the best grain for your cattle.

Imagine you even go to the extreme to have them hand massaged every night, so the meat you later sell will have the perfect tenderness.

But then imagine this. You have one problem.

Your fence isn’t tall enough to keep the cattle corralled, so your investment is wasted because they all eventually wander away.

All of that effort you have been putting in is now useless.

Instead Dan Kennedy says what you really need is a fence that makes sure your cows stay in your pasture.

That leads us to the second way to become unforgettable.

2. Be Regular

Dan suggests that the way to “put up a fence around your customers” is to keep in regular contact with them. 

He suggests phone calls as one way to do this.

But in Dan Kennedy’s book, No B.S. Direct Marketing, he shares his favorite method, “My single biggest recommendation is the use of a monthly customer newsletter. Nothing, and I mean nothing, maintains your fence better.”

Phone calls and a customer newsletter are great ideas. I would suggest you try them.

But I would also suggest you regularly tweet, post blog posts, send out an ezine, etc.

The Difference Between Being Regular and Consistent

Now let me explain the difference I mean in being consistent and being regular.

Being regular: this means publishing helpful content and/or keeping in contact with your prospects and customers, so that you are in front of them often enough to keep their interest and attention.

It means your content marketing must put you in front of them often enough for your prospects and customers to come to know, like, and trust you.

Being consistent: this means sticking to whatever regular schedule you choose. It means publishing content and keeping in contact with your prospects or customers consistently enough; so that they can count on and even expect it. (Example: publishing an ezine the first Monday of every month.)

If you are inconsistent with your content, then your customers and prospects will eventually stop looking for it and you will be forgotten.

3 Types of People You Need to Focus on

Let me end by giving you three areas you need to focus creating regular and consistent content for, so that you will be unforgettable to the maximum amount of people.

1. Create Helpful Content for Suspects.

One thing you need to do is to create regular and consistent content for people who don’t know of you or your business yet.

You can do this through guest posts, interviews you give to other websites, etc. The key is that this regular and consistent content appears on other peoples’ sites.

You want to make sure you do this on a regular and consistent basis, so that more and more people are learning about you and your business. 

2. Create Helpful Content for Your Prospects.

Another thing you need to do is to create regular and consistent content for people who know you and your business already.

You can do this through your blog, tweets, Facebook updates, Youtube videos, podcasts, or through an email prospects list that you create by offering some free info for them to subscribe to.

The key is that this regular and consistent content appears on your site or your email lists.

You want to make sure you do this on a regular and consistent basis, so that more and more prospects are coming to know, like, trust and remember you. 

3. Create Helpful (and Fun) Content for Your Customers.

The most important thing you need to do is create regular and consistent content for people who have purchased from you.

You should focus on these people more than you focus on any of the others. 

You can do this through physical newsletters or ezines, personal one-on-one email contact, by phone, Skype, or even by offering free “customer-only” webinars (live or pre-recorded).

You want to make sure you do this on a regular and consistent basis, so that more and more customers are remembering you and choosing to purchase your back-end products and services.

Rise Above the Rest

This problem of prospects and customers forgetting you is only going to get worse as the content and competition continues to increase.

But, when you do something about this problem, your business will become highly memorable and this will allow you to rise above the competition.

Make sure that your content marketing strategy for 2013 includes content focused on suspects, prospects and customers.

If you focus on these 3 types of people with regular and consistent content you’llexperience new momentum, pass up your competition, and become unforgettable.