Side Project Marketing: How to Make it Work For You
You might have recently started hearing the term “Side Project Marketing” floating around some of the bigger name blogs in the last year.
If you haven’t seen it before, let’s start there. Here’s a definition:
In it’s most basic sense, side project marketing is basically a hybrid between content marketing and advertising. Brands are starting to do this as an interesting additional alternative (not instead of) to their conventional marketing plans to provide something that adds additional value to consumers.
In other words, brands are creating side projects that are actually giving away lots of valuable content for free, with the goal that later on they will be able to sell a related product or service to these very same to potential customers.
In this post, we’re going to look at a number of brands that created side projects that not only became pretty successful on their own but also helped drive a ton of traffic and customers to their products and services. Plus, we’ll look at some of the major lessons that they learned. Finally, we’ll cover a few tips you can use to start featuring your own project .
Unsplash
Let’s look at a very good example to highlight this in action.
Lots of people today need photos for their websites, social media, and brochures (just to name a few). But, the old standby of using stock photos has become less and less appealing. People and brands wanted free high-quality photos that they could use in marketing, without the stodgy and posed feeling of stock photos.
Enter, Unsplash:
The idea was incredibly simple. Create a Tumblr page that featured extra un-used quality photos for free.
It wasn’t long before Unsplash took off. Now, it gets over 11 million visitors a month and has become an incredible brand in its own right.
Now, what most people don’t know is Unsplash started as a side marketing project for a brand called Crew, a startup for people looking to create their own products and wanted design and development help.
Crew credit’s the creation of Unsplash with saving their startup, pretty impressive, right? But the biggest takeaway we can learn from this is that a side project can be quite small and low maintenance and still be incredibly successful.
Moz
One of the most popular sites out there for brands looking to gain knowledge in SEO and its impact on the digital marketing space is Moz. They’ve built a number of high-quality and extensive tools around SEO for companies to use, but they’ve also created a couple of side projects as well aiming to provide tons of value to potential customers.
In fact, if you check their website, under “free tools” you’ll see a ton of different side projects at work.
All of the tools here are completely free. Not only that, this plays right into the concept of the side project.
They add tons of real value to potential customers and, according to this post from CrazyEgg, the Open Site Explorer tool “has generated over 14,000 backlinks and generates over 8,000 visitors each month from organic search alone.”
So here’s another takeaway: top side projects keep the needs and wants of the customers in mind. All of the free tools that Moz provides offer nothing but value and usefulness to the exact people Moz would love to be their paying customers.
More Ideas
The two examples above are just a couple of side project marketing ideas that have worked. There are tons more out there.
Having a ‘grader’ is one big example. Hubspot’s own side project is a super simple tool that helps grade your website.
Here are a few more ideas you can try for your own brand:
- Courses
- Quizzes
- Roundups
- Podcast
- Newsletters
- Blogs
- Physical products
- Info products
- Forums
As you can see, pretty much anything can become a side project. It doesn’t have to be conventional, expensive, or mind blowing, it just has to be something that really speaks to your specific audience.
Next, we’ll take a look at a few of the best tips we can offer for success when it comes to side project marketing.
What About Creating Your Side Project?
So, if you want to create a side project, there are a couple of things you should keep in mind.
Create Something of Value
We already covered the idea of creating value for your potential customers. That’s really the key to this, don’t waste your time creating something that your ideal customers aren’t going to be interested.
Try to create something that actually solves a real problem. That’s where your side project marketing plan is going to really stand out. Because when you have something that is really valuable, it will likely last far longer than a blog post.
Find the Right Tools to Make it Easy
One of the big reasons why side project marketing has begun to blow up in the last year or two is because the time devoted to creating these projects has been really reduced because of available tools.
Just as Unsplash used a free platform, Tumblr, to get started, you can use things like Gumroad, SquareSpace and even Thinkfic to create simple sites, products, and courses.
Don’t Get Overwhelmed
The last thing you want to do, and the trap a lot of brands fall into, is take a ton of time, effort, and energy away from your actual brand and put it into the side project.
Remember, the side project is something that should be done on the side, that means it needs to be something that is relatively quick and easy to get done.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, there’s a ton of potential out there when it comes to side project marketing.
The brands that spend a bit of time brainstorming something that is relatively quick and easy to come up with that relates to their product or service and provides extra value to customers are going to see positive results.
In a world where attention is waning and the competition is growing more and more complex, creating a project like this might just be a golden ticket.
Has your brand created a side project? Share it in the comments!
15 Marketing Experts Share their Content Marketing Tips
Content marketing is all the rage. It’s easy to see why brands who aren’t embracing it are having a more difficult time connecting with potential customers and getting found.
The problem is for most brands the idea of content marketing seems overwhelming.
We get it.
There is a lot to know, tons of things to do, and not enough time in the day to get it all done. So, in the face of extreme overwhelm, some don’t end up doing anything.
Unfortunately, that can really just be bad for business.
In order to cut through the confusion, we’ve decided to help. In this post, you’ll find content marketing tips straight from the mouths of the pros. Each tip or piece of advice will be broken down into a couple of categories.
Listen to these men and women, the true content marketing experts, and you’re not going to go wrong. Not to mention, you might just even get a few more customers, who doesn’t like that?
Let’s see what the experts have to say…
Amplifying Content
“Nine out of 10 times, when I talk to content creators and marketers, I find they’re ignoring a massive, crucial aspect of content marketing – amplification strategy. We all generally agree that it’s fairly useless to produce content unless that content will be shared, talked about, reach people, rank in search engines, and generally, attract the visitors you’re hoping to reach. Yet, I find that a huge number of content marketers follow the practice of creating something, sharing it across their social networks, and then hoping for the best. This is folly.” – Rand Fishkin, Co-founder of Moz.
“Most people create content first, then think about content promotion as an afterthought. You’re much better off flipping this on it’s head – thinking of about who would help amplify your content and why. If you can’t answer this question first, don’t bother creating it.” – Larry Kim, Founder of Wordstream.
Knowing Your Audience
“Audience profiles are so critical…When done correctly, audience profiles serve as a “content GPS” — steering teams away from broad-based content that delivers “fluff” leads and driving towards focused content that that is more likely to deliver qualified leads.” – Deana Goldasich, CEO of Well Planned Web
“Stop trying to create customer connections based on product and price alone, as customers are both tired of it and able to filter it out more than ever. It’s time to transcend the transaction.” – Jay Baer, President of Convince and Convert
Giving Lots of Value (for Free)
“Companies need to give something in order to get something. Don’t gate everything of value. Instead, develop some excellent, useful, actionable content that you can simply give away. It helps establish your brand and leadership in a given space, and it leads potential customers to believe that you can probably help them (since you clearly know your stuff).” – Robin Buckmiller, Senior Communications, Marketing, and Content Manager at Microsoft
“I define an effective content marketing campaign as one that people find genuinely interesting, and one that makes them think more favorably of the sponsoring brand. To achieve this, brands need to deliver content that offers audiences value—content that is informative, entertaining or both.” – Julia Gatti, Marketing Manager at Quartz
Becoming a Better Writer
“Bloggers, publishers, and content marketers are always on the lookout for attracting attention to drive traffic, engage with their readers and customers and make money. No clicks and you have no traffic. It’s that simple. So where do you start? Nothing has changed. The headline is still the step and tactic that attracts attention and drives action.” – Jeff Bullas, CEO of JeffBullas.com
“So, focus on being useful to your customers. Create content that inspires — either creatively, or by data, or both. And make it enjoyable for your customers, with pathological empathy for their point of view. Your own point of view and perspective (or voice) really does come out of focusing relentlessly on your customers.” – Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer at MarketingProfs
Building an Overall Strategy
“The struggle many face with online marketing is a misguided impulse to put various tactics into separate boxes instead of seeing each as an aspect of one overarching strategic process. The result is often a disjointed, ineffective mess that leads companies large and small to question the return on investment of online marketing in general.” – Brian Clark, CEO of Rainmaker Digital
“Set a goal on conversion tracking. Content marketing can and will lead to direct conversions. From there, you’ll actually get to see how many sign ups you get.” – Neil Patel, Founder of Quicksprout
“Instead of thinking of the immediate value of every content piece you produce, you can use a timeline to lay the groundwork for next year or six months from now, with some base level content. Don’t look for big wins right away. Instead, think about how every content piece contributes to the value of a larger campaign that may not pay off for a year or so.” Sujan Patel, Co-founder of Voila Norbert
Creating Visual Content
“To cut through the noise, find out what kind of visual content your audience wants, where they want it and how.” – Lee Odden, CEO of TopRank Marketing
“What do you want your fans to do when they view your image? Marketers need to think of their visual content as a doorway to great information. It’s not about just catching the attention of fans with visuals but having them take action on your content.” – Donna Moritz, Founder of Socially Sorted
Listening to Your Audience
“The best content marketing results come after listening and then continually tweaking the product. There have been very few content marketing successes that work out of the gate.” – Joe Pulizzi, Founder of Content Marketing Institute
“LISTEN. And your audience will tell you what works and what they crave more of. If you do this over the long haul, you’ll win.” – Jerod Morris, VP of Marketing at Rainmaker Digital
Final Thoughts
Each of these experts have spent a lot of time in the trenches when it comes to learning about what works and what doesn’t for content marketing. So, it’s a very good idea to listen to what they have to say and put it into practice.
If you take just some of their advice, try it out for your own brand, and stick with it, no doubt you’re going to start seeing some improvements and success in your overall content marketing results. That means happier customers, a bigger influence, and more traffic to your site. All very good things!
Now, what about some of your favorite content marketing tips? What’s worked for you and your brand. Share in the comments!
Chatbots 101: What Marketers Need to Know
There’s little doubt you’ve probably heard about chatbots being one of the biggest new marketing trends of 2016. In fact, they are expected to grow even more over the next few years.
But, there is still a lot of confusion out there on what chatbots are exactly, and how they can help marketers over the long run.
In this post, we’re going to give you a high-level overview of chatbots. What they are, why they are gaining in popularity, and how your brand might be able to use them.
Think of it as chatbots:101.
Class is in session.
What is a Chatbot?
Let’s start with the basics, what exactly is a chatbot?
In it’s most basic form (we’ll use basic as a relative term here) a chatbot is a form of artificial intelligence that combined with rules and algorithms allow for a text-based chat interface to communicate with others. A chatbot is a tool that lets brands interact over chat with consumers.
If it sounds a bit freaky, don’t worry too much, chatbots aren’t scheduled to take over the world (yet).
What Does a Chatbot Do?
Now that you know what a chatbot is you can see what a chatbot might be used for.
According to conventional wisdom, most chatbots fall into two camps.
- Virtual assistant chatbots: these have been created to help get information or complete tasks like finding the weather report, or latest news, or to schedule a meeting. Think Alexa, Amazon Echo, or Apple’s Siri.
- Business based chatbots: these have been created to specifically help customers interact or learn more about a brand. Sephora, 1-800-flowers, Uber, and Bank of America are all brands using these types of chatbots.
Since we’re into marketing, in this post, we’re going to focus on that second camp of chatbots, those that are specifically designed to interact with a brand’s customers.
Why Marketers Like Chatbots
Most brands are looking at chatbots as a way to approach customer service within messaging apps. These apps, like Facebook Messanger, WhatsApp, Slack, WeChat and Kik, just to name a few, are some of the fastest growing tools out there with a combined user base of over three billion people.
Since so many people are connected to messaging apps and use them every single day, there’s a huge potential for brands to jump in there and also use them to communicate with their customers through chatbots.
Here are just a couple of the benefits marketers see with chatbots:
- They are available 24/7: Brands can always have ‘someone’ on call to answer questions and provide information whenever the customer needs it.
- They can be personalized: Remember, these bots run on data, so being able to personalize the customer experience, just a little is going to leave a good impression (which can often convert to sales over time).
- Data tracking: Chatbots can also monitor quite a bit of information on customers, what their shopping habits are, what questions they ask, and what gets them to convert to the sale.
With even just a few of these benefits, it’s easy to see why chatbots are becoming big, especially with the e-commerce arms of traditional retail sites.
Bots in Action
Since seeing is believing, here are a few examples of chatbots in action so you can get a feel for them:
Domino’s Pizza
Earlier in 2016, Domino’s Pizza launched its pizzbot, nicknamed Dom, that allows ordering from right inside Facebook messenger. Users can also save a favorite pizza so they can order with the click of a button.
Uber
Uber is just about everywhere today, you’ll find the app sitting on the home page of most smartphones around the world. And now they have also teamed up with Facebook Messenger to offer users a chatbot to schedule rides.
Chatbox Best Practices
Are you considering adding a chatbot into your own marketing mix? It’s not a bad idea, but there are a few things you want to keep in mind and plan for before you deploy the bots.
Here are a few best practices:
Know Why You Need a Chatbot (and Where You’d Put It)
Just because the idea of having a chatbot sounds cool doesn’t mean your brand needs to go all in on getting one up and running. There’s no point in having a chatbot just to have one. Instead, focus on not only why you would need one, but also exactly where you should use it.
Having a chatbot that only slows down or confuses customer support is never going to win you any new customers, and will probably drive many away over the long run.
Understand Personality
What makes chatbots so popular is people don’t feel like they are just talking to a robot. The brands that do it well make sure their bots are engaging and provide real helpful information to their customers.
And, since many brands are rolling out these bots to speak directly to younger consumers like Millenials, don’t be afraid to have a way to communicate humor. Jokes, memes, gifs, and other interactive marketing ideas are a great way to leave the consumer with a positive feeling that lasts.
Realize They Aren’t a Quick Fix
At the end of the day, chatbots can go a long way towards automating some marketing and customer service aspects of your brand. But, remember, there is nothing that actually replaces excellent human based help and customer service. So, don’t think that just because you’ve got a bot rolling out it means you’re good to go.
Instead, understand that chatbots are a great way to enhance the service that you already offer. Approach them with a customer first attitude and you won’t go wrong.
Final Thoughts
As you can probably guess, it doesn’t seem like chatbots are going away anytime soon. And, those brands that are able to find a way to use chatbots to their advantage, and in a way that their customers love, are going to be the big winners over the long term.
So, if you’ve been considering going all in on using a chatbot as part of your marketing strategy, now might just be the perfect time to do it.
