You’ve created the most compelling content ever. Have you thought about how to merchandise it?
First, you may be asking yourself, “What does it mean to merchandise content?” Let me explain.
My first job out of business school was working as a marketing/merchandising manager for Monsanto Company’s apparel fiber division in New York City. I literally dealt with merchandise: our company created fiber that our customers used in fabric and garments. I quickly learned that my role was to “merchandise” these fabrics and garments so that we could ultimately sell our fiber.
This was a profound realization. Given how tight budgets were, I wanted–and needed—to get the most out of each dollar spent, which meant that no one marketing element could exist in a void. Whatever content I developed, I needed to maximize its reach – whether it consisted of a fashion show, consumer research, a market trend presentation or a newsletter.
In other words, in those non-digital days, I “merchandised” my marketing.
The same parallel can be drawn with the content you are creating. While you ultimately want to sell your product or service, you need to “merchandise” your content.
Some of you may have heard Joe Pulizzi refer to the “3 and 3″ method for content. (If you haven’t, I invite you to read my post titled Joe Pulizzi on Content Marketing detailing his visit to MENG NJ in November 2009.) More specifically:
Use the “3 and 3″ method. For example, publish your presentation on your blog and post it on Slideshare, write about it on another blog and create a video about the presentation. If you’ve created a white paper, create an audio version, obtain testimonials, and share research by leveraging a news release.
I consider the “3 and 3″ method the equivalent of “merchandising” content marketing using digital tools. Both require that you do more with your primary content than simply create it. Merchandising it places it in the path of potential customers, increasing the likelihood of being stumbled upon.
One caveat: You will need to have some basics in place for your content marketing merchandising approach to work. More specifically, set objectives, develop a strategy, create worthwhile content and embrace an open mind to integrating traditional and social tools.
Here are a few examples to get you thinking about how to merchandise your content marketing.
A blog
To promote my blog posts, I do these three things:
- Include site links in my email signature
- Include links in my business card
- Reference posts during in-person presentations
Presentations
When I do in-person presentations, I distribute an assessment form asking for feedback, topics of further interest and an email address for follow up. After the session I do these three things:
- Write a summary blog post where I embed the slides themselves after uploading them to Slideshare, including relevant notes and links and addressing points mentioned in the assessment forms
- Send out a thank you note via email to those who filled out the forms
- Refer to the presentation summary in other communications [e.g., eNewsletter]
Press releases
Whenever possible, I like to generate press releases. Here are all of the ways I like to “merchandise” these:
- I distribute them via PRLog where I have my own press room
- I have a widget to the press room embedded in the Simple Marketing Now homepage
- I publish the press release on the Simple Marketing Blog
- I include links to the blog post and the PRLog documents in my website Newsroom
- I refer to them in eNewsletters and Facebook updates
Blog posts
To broaden the reach of Simple Marketing Blog posts, I do the following:
- Tweet about them using StumbleUpon compressed URLs
- Update my Facebook Fan page with a link
- Include a reference in my LinkedIn status [not all at the same time, though!]
- Issue a monthly recap of my posts on Flooring The Consumer, which has more subscribers and greater digital visibility.
In addition to merchandising content marketing internally (i.e., promoting yourself and your business), what’s even more powerful is doing so externally, to promote those you’re involved with via the social web and programs and activities they have invited you to participate in.
For example, Jay Ehret from The Marketing Spot invited me to take part in his most recent Marketers’ Roundtable. In addition to tweeting about his podcast, I have written my own summary post about the Marketers’ Roundtable with show notes, posted a reference to Facebook, included it on my LinkedIn status, used it as the basis for in-person conversation and will mention it in my next eNewsletter.
Now it’s your turn.
How do you merchandise your content marketing? Which tools do you prefer? What combination have you found most effective?
Add your examples and ideas in the comments section and let’s get creative about how to merchandise content marketing!
8 Comments
Hi CB,
You've given me some fantastic ideas here, especially about press releases. It is an area I know I should be making better use of but hadn't figured out how to do that. Thanks for your insight into this area.
I agree with you about merchandising your content even though I haven't thought about it in these terms. I do many of the things you discuss in this post – more out of trial and error than real strategy.
One thing I do for my blog posts is include a link to my current post in my email signature. It's been an effective way to get new readers and works better than when I had the link to the blog. It means I have to change the signature often but the results are worth it.
Thanks for a very instructional post. I've learned a lot here.
Sarah, I'm delighted to hear that I've given you ideas…
When you add the link to your latest post in your email signature, it sounds like you do so manually. I believe some of the feed tools offer a means to automating the process, but I haven't experimented with that much – mostly because it's such a hassle to add code to Outlook signatures.
You've reminded me of an idea a wonderful PR friend does: she sends a detailed message with link to her post via email. It's a marvelous blending of traditional and social and her messages are brilliantly sticky. I've also seen that done effectively using LinkedIn.
Thanks for commenting!
Best,
CB
Hi CB, I liked your post. I really like the idea of “merchantising” content.
I think we could also say, that when possible, it's important to see if there are ways to make our content actually morph into our actual merchandise – information we can sell.
Many advanced info-marketers use the same core content to create a funnel of products from low end ones (like ebooks) to high-end ones (like conferences or coaching).
The ideal situation would be for content marketers to dream/imagine how to create content to market their business, product or service, but which also has enough value in and of itself to be be sold.
That way they can actually make a small (or large) profit while promoting their business. It reminds me of what Jay Conrad Levinson said..
He said basically that he made something like $35,000 (or a similar small amount) from all of his “Guerilla Marketing” book advances, but he's made millions because of the exposure those books have brought him.
Those books are in a sense his content marketing.
I like the “merchandising” concept for content. You explain how to better leverage valuable content on different platforms. It is something we all do; but, you really show how to merchandise with a plan using some great examples. I like how you recap meetings/conferences or monthly posts. Great tip for press releases – one I will try!
Hi C.B.,
I enjoyed how the examples from your merchandising days illustrate how no one marketing element can exist in a void, and how we can take the same approach in our content strategy.
I was not familiar with Joe Pulizzi's “3 and 3″ method, but I have been instinctively sharing my content across several platforms. Your examples help me think of other ways I can repurpose, share, and leverage the work I've already created.
I thought your Social Media Series: Bridging New & Old series was an especially valuable way to share valuable content across several platforms.
Not only did you host the series (which I know about because I was fortunate enough to contribute to) at your blog, but you compiled key nuggets from the series in The Social Media Wisdom e-book, (http://simplemarketingnow.com/uploads/SocMediaC...),
which you announced via press release.
What a perfect illustration of the 3 and 3 method and of social media sharing, in action.
As for myself, I am a content curator by nature, and I'm experimenting with having simultaneous Twitter accounts, focused on different keywords, with long-term plans for related blogs, Delicious accounts, and wiki sites, on my different special interets.
I'm finding that some of my various accounts are starting to cross-germinate (with folks following me at more than one place), but by segmenting my interests, I'm also able to identify and forge closer relationships, with a more targetted and intimate circle. Through the various accounts, I get the benefits of depth and breadth, at the same time (that's the idea I anyway)…
We'll have to see how this experiment at leveraging content works out.
Thanks, in the meantime, for giving me so many additional tips and ways to start getting more from my content. You're a wonderful mentor.
Peg
Bill, please let me know what you discover as a result of taking some of the merchandising approaches. Something tells me you will have fun with it, too!
Thanks for commenting.
Best,
CB
Peg, thanks for bringing up the Bridging New & Old Social Media Series as an example. You remind that there's more content within those interviews that I wanted to highlight!
I do love how each keyword/topic focused platform generates such unique dynamics – for conversation, interaction, and subscription – which you are noticing. I'd love to hear more about your experiments – especially re: wikis and Delicious and how you leverage one source of content vs. the other to help 'merchandise' and spread the word.
Thanks for broadening the content merchandising horizon for us!
Best,
CB
Scott, what a fabulous way to place the merchandising concept into a bigger, more dimensional and dynamic content framework! Thank you.
Best,
CB