At Express Writers, you often hear us mention “done-for-you” content marketing in our blogs, and on our website, and we even boast about it in some social media posts.
But what does done-for-you content marketing entail?
For those who have wondered what DFY content is, how it works, and the benefits of seeking providers who can do it for you, look no further than this mini guide.
Today, we will talk about done-for-you marketing and how you can get more out of your content while spending less time and money than you would going the traditional route (i.e., doing it yourself).
Isn’t All Content Ordered Considered Done-for-You Content Marketing?
Yes, and no.
It depends on the service you are ordering and where you are ordering it.
Some companies offer done-for-you content bundles, like Express Writers, while others offer DFY content, but it includes nothing more than writing content. It doesn’t necessarily include the expertise, research, and quality assurances you need to satisfy Google’s E-E-A-T and improve your website’s authority.
Genuine DFY content is written by a subject matter expert in your niche – not a freelance writer who dabbles in that industry. Basically, your writer is a mirror of you – only they are saving you the time and effort of writing a blog yourself using the information you provide and leaning on their own experience and expertise in the niche to deliver top-notch content.
Getting a content bundle is the best way to expand every penny spent on your content marketing and provide you with high-quality content that returns continuously year after year.
What is a Done-for-You Content Bundle, and Why Should You Use Them?
Yes, you could order a single blog written by a subject matter expert, but if you buy an entire bundle, you are unlocking even more benefits while saving time and money.
By bundles, we are talking about the blog, its meta, SEO research, images, and the expertise behind it.
A popular bundle option is our Authority Package service. Within the Authority Package, you receive:
An In-Depth Content Strategy Designed around Your SPECIFIC Topic: A content strategist researches your desired topic and creates a click-worthy headline that touches high on the EMV scale. Then, they search for high-volume, low-competition keywords to sprinkle into your content so that you rank well in the SERPs. The strategist will look for strategic linking opportunities and even provide details for the writer to hit on to satisfy the topic with E-E-A-T in mind.
A Subject Matter Expert Writing Your Content: Once you approve your content’s research phase, it heads over to an SME writer with genuine experience in your field (not only do they have 5+ years of experience writing in it, they have advanced degrees in that field as well).
In-Depth Editing: To ensure everything is included and that you receive the highest quality writing possible, an editor reviews the content and fine-tunes it before delivery.
Custom Designed Images: The Authority Package doesn’t use stock images. Instead, it includes custom images created in Adobe by an in-house designer. It includes a header image, inset, CTA image, two custom images or graphs, and four pull quotes to help specific text pop off the page.
In 2022 alone, Express Writers provided authority packages for hundreds of clients saving thousands of hours of work.
Add social media posts and emails to go along with that package. You now have a blog with authority, an email newsletter to let readers know it is there and ready for consumption, and social media posts to sprinkle on your favorite platforms.
What are the Benefits of Using DFY Content?
Let’s break it down and look at the benefits you receive with DFY content.
You Get Three Professional Services in One Package Price
Taking the Authority Package example, you have three core services in play. If you were to do these yourself, you would need to outsource to multiple freelancers for your SEO, writing, and professional design. In the package, you get all three professional services already vetted and ready to go from the same location.
Saving you the hassle and time of searching for freelancers to fulfill these gaps yourself.
You Unlock Access to a Team that is Up-to-Date on Google’s Wants and Needs
Google does a lot of updates, and they all carry the same theme: authority and trust.
Trust is not new to the marketing sector.
If you think about it, trust has been around since the dawn of content marketing.
Sales pages, landing pages, Ebooks, emails…the goal has always been getting your reader to trust you.
So, what has changed?
Google now wants to see that trust for itself.
When people do not trust your site, they will never purchase from you and will not return. You have that one shot at building trust, building up those relationships, and converting them.
Trust is a central component of Google’s latest guidelines with E-E-A-T. Trustworthiness doesn’t help your ranking directly, but according to Yoast, that “back” button when a client realizes they don’t trust you can.
When you hire someone to do DFY content, they are more than aware of the latest algorithm changes and what Google demands in their latest E-E-A-T. EW writers are all trained on E-E-A-T and what it entails by offering an in-depth course within our university. So, when an SME writer tackles your content, they bring every aspect of E-E-A-T to the digital table: experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness.
You Save a Significant Amount of Time
Think about how much time you would invest if you did each component of DFY content bundles for yourself.
First, you need to subscribe to tools like Ahrefs and SEMRush to start generating your reports and researching your topic. You would need to familiarize yourself with the EMV scoring system and how to improve your titles so they are click-worthy. You would need BuzzSumo to help you find what is trending in your industry so that you can play off both trending and evergreen topic ideas. That’s a few hours (if not days) of work when you are unfamiliar with using these products.
Next, you would have to research and write. Even the most experienced writer takes an hour or so to research a topic (despite their familiarity with it). Then, there is the writing phase which may take a few hours. On top of that, you have to self-edit and clean it up before you hit “publish.”
Writing your blog is more than just adding a few paragraphs. Instead, you need deep industry research and statistics to back it, articulation skills to keep your content concise, and of course, editing. Orbit Media surveyed how much time the average blogger spent on their writing. In that survey, you will see that the time it took got longer and longer as the years increased, and that’s because Google demands more today than it did ten years ago. In 2021, Orbit’s survey found writing one blog took approximately 4 hours and 10 minutes. So, let’s consider how much time you spend if you DIY it.
After the writing phase would come design. Yes, there are plenty of free design tools and affordable paid options, but do you have the time? You know your branding and colors, but you’ll need to upload those and search for graphics you can use either from a paid stock photo subscription or a royalty-free site. Then, you must go through the time it takes to design the images alone.
When you calculate total hours spent and break it down to your hourly earnings, did you save much in the end? What could you have done with that time while someone else was creating the content?
You Get White Hat, White Label Content
You’ve saved yourself hours (if not days) ordering DFY content.
Even better? Once you get that content package ready to distribute, it is white hat and white labeled, so you can claim it as your own.
Whether it is an Ebook you sell on Amazon or a blog post you put on your website, the author is you.
Think about it. While you are working on your next marketing campaign, right now, a writer could be creating your next Ebook to publish. So, you are working on the next big thing that will generate revenue while someone else is finishing up your last “big thing” that will soon generate revenue.
Bottom Line: Done-for-You Content Marketing is the Future of 2023
Content is not over.
AI might be here, but it cannot compete with subject matter experts and certainly cannot fulfill the requirements of Google’s E-E-A-T. A well-vetted SME can.
At Express Writers, we not only vet SME writers to join our team, but we continually train them in-house to provide the best quality possible for our clients.
Whether you are looking for a single blog or want done-for-you content bundles like our Authority Packages, we can help grow your brand, build your authority, and, most importantly, gain trust with your readers so that those who come and visit stay and buy.
Try one of our SME services today and see the benefits of DFY content for yourself.
Maintaining a regular blog is a valuable marketing tool that can help businesses connect with their customers and grow their business.
According to a study published by HubSpot, companies with blogs are more successful than those without. These companies receive, on average, 55% more visitors and get 97% more inbound links.
With powerful statistics like these, it makes sense to make blogging a business priority in 2023.
Whether you have been blogging for years or are just now considering adding a blog to your marketing plan, this list covers the best blogging tools to take you through 2023 and beyond.
Blogging Tools for Topic Research
Choosing the right topics can make the difference between a successful blog and one that gets little to no attention. These blogging tools can help guide your topic research.
1. BuzzSumo
BuzzSumo makes it easy to research relevant topics. On the homepage, you can enter either a keyword or domain name to generate content ideas. The results page shows you recent trending topics that include your keyword and how they performed on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.
In the example above, you can see the most popular content with the keywords “content marketing budget” has 181 total engagements. It also has an evergreen score of 2. This score is unique to BuzzSumo and represents how popular content is with audiences a month after its release. For the score, the higher the number, the better.
In the Content Analyzer results, you can skim through a few of the most popular topics to see how they approached the topic. You can then customize your topic to fit your target audience and business niche.
BuzzSumo is a free tool. However, it only gives you a limited number of free searches each month. For unlimited searches and more in-depth information, upgrade to a premium account.
2. AnswerThePublic
This unique website offers an innovative way to do topic research. Type your desired topic into the search field, and results are returned as an interactive wheel that shows questions people have asked related to your topic.
Quora is a crowdsourced website that answers questions and shares commentary on popular topics. Here you can search for topics related to your industry and see what questions people are asking. If you have valuable insights to share that answer those questions, this could be a great idea for an in-depth blog.
In some ways, your blog title can be more important than the blog itself. The title is what attracts people to your blog and convinces them to start reading. Of course, you need quality content to back up your engaging title. Although it won’t matter how good the rest of your content is if your title doesn’t work.
To help you create more creative titles or even give you inspiration for the rest of the blog, try using Portent Idea Generator. Enter your chosen topic into the search field, and it will generate titles for you. You can click “See Another Title” until you find something you love. You can also click on words and phrases within the title. The tool then offers a quick explanation of why it works in the title.
There may be times when the latest news connects with your brand. Check the trending topics section on the Twitter homepage to see what people are talking about. This is a great way to try out newsjacking – tying your brand into the latest viral news story.
Blogging Tools for Organization
Once you have a list of great ideas, you should organize them into a workable content schedule. There are numerous tools available to help you do this.
6. Dropbox
There may be some blog topics that include files, like images, videos, or PDFs. Dropbox makes it easy to store these items and keep them together.
7. Google Calendar
Google Calendar and other calendar tools can be easily transformed into an editorial calendar. For example, if you plan to publish one blog per day, you can record the daily topics as events and reorganize them, as needed. You can also schedule time for writing and any other content creation needs.
8. Evernote
Evernote is a popular note-taking app that helps you organize projects, notes, and schedules. It has a robust tagging system to help you categorize your content in a variety of ways, whether by topic, planning stage, or anything else. Evernote also works with other apps like Google Calendar allowing you to track everything in one place.
9. Todoist
Whether your content team is small or large, Todoist is versatile enough to work with any size team. It is one of the most popular organizational apps. You can be flexible enough to adjust your schedule to be as simple or as complex as you like by breaking down tasks into subtasks and moving tasks into projects.
Blogging Tools for Optimization
An optimized blog is one that fulfills the needs of the searcher. For example, if someone searches for “content marketing budget” and you have written a quality, optimized blog focused on that topic, it has a better chance of appearing near the top of the search results. These tools can help you create the best optimized blogs.
10. Yoast
Yoast is a plugin that works with WordPress. It can help you optimize your content for keywords, in addition to suggesting relevant internal links. It uses red, yellow, and green color codes to show you what you did well and where you need some more work.
11. Keyword Planner
Keyword Planner is a free resource available as part of Google Ads. It can help you research keywords for your search campaigns and discover new keywords that can give your business a boost. To start, try entering some basic keywords and Google will tell you how popular it is along with its search volume.
12. Google Trends
Google Trends is a free, simple tool that can show you how the popularity of keywords changes over time. Simply type in your desired keyword and it will give you a chart showing the interest over time. You can adjust the results based on location, time, category, and type of search.
Beyond the chart, Google Trends includes interest by subregion, related topics, and related queries. Some keywords may not have enough data to incorporate all this information.
Blogging Tools for Better Writing
You could have the greatest trending topic, an excellent title, and optimized keywords. But if your writing isn’t up to snuff, none of these other things will matter. Consider these blogging tools to improve your blog writing.
13. Hemingway App
Blogs should be free of grammatical errors and easy to read. You can copy and paste your blog content into the Hemingway App to discover any issues with your writing. Hemingway highlights words, phrases, and sentences with specific colors to show you potential problems, including passive voice, sentence difficulty, and the use of adverbs. It also gives your content a readability rating based on grade level.
You decide which editing suggestions you want to take.
14. Scrivener
Scrivener has similar functionality to Microsoft Word. However, it offers more versatility in saving and categorizing your documents. For example, if you are planning multiple blog posts as part of a larger project, you can save multiple documents in one file. Features like this make Scrivener an ideal choice for large projects like blogging, books, and research.
15. Google Docs
As a free online resource, Google Docs is an excellent way to collaborate with others on content creation. You can quickly share documents and get feedback with the “suggestions” and “comments” features. Google Docs also integrates well with many CMS platforms.
16. Grammarly
Publishing error-free, high-quality content is key to establishing your business as a trustworthy expert in your field. Grammarly can help you do that in real time while you write. It works across multiple platforms, including social media and email, to help you edit and proofread your content as you work.
17. Distraction Free Writing
If you struggle to stay on-task while writing, the Distraction Free editor in Word Press is a helpful tool. To turn it on, click on the Toggle Full Screen button. Once you start typing, the toolbars and borders fade out so you can focus exclusively on your writing.
Blogging Tools for Visuals
Along with expertly optimized content, blogs need additional visuals to attract the right audience. Eye-catching images and videos add more appeal to the written word and typically improve the attention span of your readers. Consider these blogging tools for adding visuals to your writing.
18. Canva
While stock images can be useful, there are times when you want or need something unique. Canva makes it easier to make to create appealing visuals with little to no graphic design experience. The platform includes templates with drag-and-drop functionality, making it user-friendly. Choose from a wide range of free templates for documents, presentations, and infographics.
Whether you are adding a video to a blog or creating standalone video content, you need it to look professional. If you are a B2B brand, Vidyard can help you produce new marketing videos. It offers personalization options along with A/B testing capabilities.
20. Meme Generator
If your brand image is more casual, and you want to have some fun in your blog, try the Meme Generator. Memes can be a great way to connect with your audience while encouraging sharing. You can upload your own image or use preexisting meme designs and add your own words.
Blogging Tools for Distribution
You’ve written an optimized blog, added engaging images, and published it to your website. Now what? These tools will help you promote and distribute your blog and attract the right audience.
21. Facebook Ads
Even with struggles in recent years, Facebook continues to be the most popular social media site in the world. Paying for Facebook ads can promote your blog and target the right audience. Additionally, ads on Facebook are often cheaper than other PPC campaigns. Once your blog gains more visibility, you should gain more organic traffic, and you might be able to skip paying for ads.
22. Buffer
If your brand has a social media presence, Buffer is a great tool for planning and publishing all your social content in one place. Choose from social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and even TikTok. You can program and schedule posts unique to each platform. Then you can share the same blog multiple times using different images and headlines.
23. Filament
If you use WordPress for your blogging, Filament can be a useful plugin. One of its features is a social share button called Flare. With this option, your readers can easily share your content to the social media platform of their choice.
24. MailChimp
MailChimp is one of the most popular (and free) email marketing resources available. Through MailChimp, you can set up email campaigns that automatically email your subscribers whenever you publish a new post. Plus, you can use this feature for free if you have fewer than 2,000 contacts in your email list.
25. Click to Tweet
Even with the uncertainty on Twitter right now, it is still a valuable resource for sharing and promoting content. Click to Tweet from CoSchedule is a WordPress plugin that lets you highlight short snippets of your blog for others to share on Twitter with just a click.
Get the Optimized Blogs You Need with Express Writers
Whether you use one or all these blogging tools, they can help you and your content team become better bloggers. However, if you don’t have the time or skills required to make your blogs successful, you can trust the expert writers at Express Writers.
We have a large team of versatile writers with skills and experience in a wide range of industries. We will match the best writer to your needs.
Many businesses are so focused on gaining new customers, that they sometimes forget about the ones they already have. Your loyal customer base is one of the most valuable resources you have. Show your customers you still appreciate them with valuable content. Content marketing for brand loyalty is a great way to invest in your customers.
Research from the Harvard Business Review shows that a 5% increase in customer retention leads to a 25% to 95% increase in profits. With statistics like this, it just makes sense to use content marketing to build your brand loyalty.
If you’re wondering how to use content to connect with your customers, we will show you how. In this guide, we will explore why content marketing is so important and offer 10 tips you can use to improve your content marketing strategy.
What Is Content Marketing?
Content marketing is marketing focused on creating and publishing valuable content (blogs, videos, social media posts, infographics, etc.) relevant to your brand and your customers’ experiences. This content is created for and targeted toward a specific audience with the goal of attracting new customers, retaining existing ones, and building brand recognition.
One of the most important keys to a successful content marketing strategy is creating content that your target audience wants to read, watch, and share. Ideally, your content should add value to your products, entertain your audience, and keep your customers engaged with your brand.
How Content Marketing Builds Brand Loyalty
Your existing customers likely already enjoy using your products and services. Marketing statistics show that current customers are 50% more likely to try new products than new customers. With content marketing aimed at your current customers, you can introduce them to new products while getting a better return on your investment.
Loyal customers want to read and watch the content you produce. These interactions create a strong bond between your business and your customer base. This, in turn, leads to a better bottom line.
10 Tips to Use Content Marketing for Brand Loyalty
There are numerous ways you can communicate with your customers through content. These are 10 of our favorite tips to build brand loyalty.
1. Connect with Your Customers on Social Media
According to the Pew Research Center, 72% of Americans use one or more social media platforms to connect with the people and things they love, including businesses. Focus on a couple of the most popular social media platforms based on your customer demographics. For example, if most of your customers are young Millennials or Gen-Zers, you should probably open a Tik Tok account. Or, if your audience tends to be a bit older, you will likely find them on Facebook.
Social media content should be eye-catching and engaging. Check out the latest trends to see if they will work for your brand image. Social media is also an excellent place to share your latest content from other platforms, like your blog or YouTube. You can break down long-form content into shorter, more digestible segments better suited for social media.
2. Create an Automated Customer Communication System
Whether your customers are contacting you or you are reaching out to them, you should have regular communication. Use a customer management system (CMS) to keep track of your interactions. If too much time has passed after the last communication, program your system to automatically reach out to your customers with a pre-written email (this counts as content). It could say something like, “We miss you! Come check out our latest products with 10% off your purchase.”
A message like this shows your customers you still care about them, and a discount may entice them to make a new purchase.
3. Produce Regular, High-Quality Content
Producing as much content as possible is not the key to success. You need to focus on high-quality content, especially content that appears on your website and blog. Search engines like Google, along with your customers, can tell the difference between high-quality content and something that adds little to no value to your website.
The more value you offer your customers, the more likely they are to come back for more. In addition, create content in a variety of formats:
Blogs
Product demos
Videos
Podcasts
FAQs
How-to guides
Onboarding materials
Infographics
If this many formats feel overwhelming, keep in mind that you should repurpose your content. For example, if a blog includes numerous tips and statistics, this could be reworked as an infographic. Or, you can create a YouTube series where one of your product experts works through your FAQs in a visual format. Some customers will prefer learning through video instead of text.
High-quality content also works best when you have a plan. Have regular brainstorming sessions with your marketing team to create a list of upcoming content ideas along with a content schedule.
If your business struggles with creating the caliber of content you need, outsourcing your content is always a respectable choice. This gives you access to experienced, professional writers who understand SEO and other content marketing principles.
4. Look at the Customer Journey
Ideally, you should have content that addresses every stage of the customer journey. The typical stages of the customer journey include:
Awareness
Consideration
Purchase
Service
Loyalty
Offering valuable content at each step reduces the effort your customers must put in to interact with you. When customers find it easy to do business with you, they are more likely to come back and spend more.
5. Show Customer Appreciation from the Beginning
Earning a new customer is a critical stage in the buyer’s journey. Show your excitement and appreciation for them from the start with engaging onboarding materials. This should include a welcome email and some basic instructions on how to use the new products or services they just bought. You can also include links to how-to videos or introduction blogs.
Keep these customers engaged with regular communication that gradually introduces them to new features and products. The onboarding process lays the foundation for the relationship you have with your customers and establishes a baseline for what they can expect from you in the future.
If you create a welcoming environment for your new customers that keeps them informed, they are more likely to continue doing business with you and share their experience with others.
6. Stay Focused on Your Customers
While there will be times when you can appropriately brag about your business’s accomplishments, most of your content should be focused on your customers. Your customers should be showcased as the superhero of your brand.
This type of content can help foster a genuine emotional connection between your business and your customers. Those emotions encourage brand loyalty and improve your reputation. In addition, Google has updated its algorithms to prioritize “people-first content.” This is content written by people for people. In other words, quality content that your customers can easily relate to and understand.
7. Address Customer Issues
Your customers are inevitably going to struggle with your products or services. Instead of chafing at their complaints, welcome them as opportunities to improve your products and your content. Some customer issues may be as simple as not understanding how your products work. You can address those problems with in-depth user guides, demonstration videos, and FAQ pages.
Another way to add more value to your products and introduce customer-submitted content is with customer testimonials, product reviews, or user-submitted photos and videos of your products. This type of content is incredibly valuable and establishes your brand as an authority.
8. Highlight Your Loyal Customers
Customers want to have a personalized experience with your brand. If there are customers who stand out for their dedication to and support of your brand, give them some recognition with some personalized content. This is particularly valuable if you are a B2B business.
You can highlight how your customers use your products and services and how your products help them solve their problems. If you have a customer committee, showcase that program and how those customers are crucial to improving your products and services. Content like this can encourage other customers to stick with your brand if they have feedback they want to share.
Other ways to offer customer-centric content include:
Social Media Posts: A simple tag in a social media post can make your customers feel respected and valued.
Customer Forums: A customer forum is an excellent place for loyal customers to share feedback and tips with each other.
Guest Customer Posts: You can stay connected with your customers by inviting your most loyal fans to write guest blogs or testimonials to post on your website.
9. Incorporate Humor
The right kind of humor can quickly win over a difficult crowd. Incorporating humor into your content is an excellent strategy to make your content more engaging and share-worthy. Humor triggers an emotional response, which makes content more appealing and memorable automatically.
However, before you hire a comedian to start writing all your content, there are a few things to consider:
Consider the use: Humor is not a good choice for all types of content. For example, you probably shouldn’t use it in a report to your CEO, but it would fit nicely in some blogs or social media posts.
Vet the humor thoroughly: What some people find funny, others find distasteful or even offensive. While you can’t please everyone, thoroughly check your humorous content so you can avoid an online faux pas.
Make it genuine: Don’t use humor simply to get attention. Most customers will be able to tell when it isn’t genuine. It should also be the right fit for your brand. If your brand voice is typically serious and straightforward, some of your customers might be turned off by a sudden shift to humor.
Think about the timing: There will be times when you have clever, humorous content planned, but you need to scrap it. For example, if your business is suffering through a PR issue or there has been a local or national disaster, humorous content will likely be seen as distasteful and could cause some customers to leave.
10. Respond to the Needs of Your Customers
While you have an excellent understanding of your products and services, your customers are the people using them every day. Are they running into the issues over and over or finding your products difficult to use? If so, they have likely shared these concerns with your customer service team. Make sure you interview your customer service representatives or give them an easy way to share customer feedback with your content team.
You can use this customer feedback to craft content that addresses those needs. For example, if customers routinely use your product incorrectly, record a video showing its correct usage.
Or, if customer feedback leads to product updates, be sure to share those updates with your customers, pointing out how their valuable feedback led to the changes.
11. Create a Customer Email Newsletter
A regular customer email newsletter can help keep your brand at the front of your customers’ minds. Choose content that you know your customers love. Depending on your customer base, it might be valuable to create multiple newsletters based on your customer segmentation. Certain customers might favor one type of content over another and vice versa.
Consider the goals you want to achieve with your newsletter. Do you want to drive traffic to your blog? Invite customers to check out your latest products? Whatever you decide, make it clear with your newsletter content.
To avoid having your newsletter turn into promotional material, include exclusive content, like tips you haven’t shared before or a message from one of your internal product experts.
You also need to consider the timing of your newsletter. How often do you plan to send it out? Weekly? Monthly? Find a routine that works for your brand and stick with it. The day of the week and time of day you release it can also make a difference.
Many people feel overwhelmed by all the emails in their inbox on a Monday or feel burnt out by Friday. Research from HubSpot shows that mid-week emails sent between 9 AM and noon tend to get the best engagement.
Build Your Brand Loyalty with Quality Content from Express Writers
If your team struggles to produce enough or the right types of content, it might be time to turn to the experts. At Express Writers, we have a team of professional SEO content writers ready to take on your specific content requirements. Whether you need a one-time blog, email marketing templates, or content delivered on a schedule, we are here to meet your needs.
The holiday season is a special time of year. Many of us spend time with friends and family, give thanks for the things we have, and share gifts with our loved ones. But when you run a business, the holiday season is likely the busiest time of the year for you. Planning in advance and creating a holiday content marketing strategy can help take some of the stress out of the holiday season for your business.
Quality holiday content marketing can help you connect with your audience, appeal to new customers, and increase your brand awareness.
If you are unsure where to begin with your holiday content, this guide can help you get started.
What Are the Benefits of Having a Holiday Content Marketing Strategy?
If you’ve never put together a holiday content strategy or tracked the analytics of your holiday content, you might not realize that there are a number of benefits for your business. Here are a few:
1. Increases Demand for Your Products and Services
Consumers spend more during the holiday season than any other time of year. This naturally leads to an increased demand for products and services. With consumers in an active buying stage, this is an ideal time to roll out time-sensitive offers. These deals also work well with Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotions and give customers an increased sense of urgency or a fear of missing out (FOMO).
With the right holiday content marketing strategy, you can showcase high-value products and cater to customers who are ready to buy or could be ready more quickly.
2. Improves Brand Awareness
With clever, memorable content during the holidays, you can give your brand awareness a boost. By creating customer-focused, engaging content for each holiday between Halloween and New Year’s Day, you can find a new target audience and build your loyal following.
3. Unleashes Your Creativity
Customers respond best to creative, relatable content. The holiday season is the perfect time of year to show off the more personable side of your business. This type of content presents the chance to add some fun to your brand image.
While you might not use this relaxed type of content any other time of year, the holidays give you more freedom to try new strategies and new content types. The addition of personality may earn you new customers and brand fans. So, don’t be afraid to take some risks. With so much holiday content out there, you don’t want to get lost in uninspired content.
4. Grows Your Business
With a creative holiday content marketing strategy, you can potentially attract and retain new customers. This makes the holiday season the ideal time for business growth. In addition, keep an eye on the performance of your content during the holiday season and then implement some of the strategies that perform well in other parts of the year. This will be especially important if you discover a new strategy for your content.
5. Offers Opportunities for New Product Launches
The holiday season gives many businesses the unique opportunity to release new products and services. That’s why you’ll often see big tech innovations come out near the holidays. Plus, many consumers enjoy holiday-themed products. If this is something your business can offer, consider releasing some limited-time products. Promote these new products on social media and through your other holiday content.
Customers who are drawn in by your fresh products might be enticed to stay and buy other non-holiday products. You’ll find this is true if the new product performs well for them.
12 Content Marketing Strategies to Try During the Holiday Season
Since most folks celebrate something during the winter holiday season, not having a content strategy for the holidays really isn’t an option. Take advantage of the buzz and popularity with a few different strategies. Here are 12 specific actions you can take to improve your holiday-themed content.
1. Start Early
You might still feel the lingering heat of the summer, even if the leaves have already started changing color. No matter what season it is, you can never start planning too early for your holiday content.
Do some market research to see what people are interested in this year, check out your competition’s content, you can even start planting hints of your upcoming content months in advance. It’s important to carve out plenty of time to craft creative, engaging content that will help you stand out from your competition, especially if your sales pick up in Q4.
2. Capitalize on Black Friday and Cyber Monday
Consumers and businesses have long been conditioned to expect great deals and compelling offers during the holiday season. If it’s difficult for you to give customers a significant discount, think of a way to add value to your products or services. For example, if you are a B2B business, you could offer a free consultation with the purchase of a corresponding service.
Use the first tip and start teasing your Black Friday/Cyber Monday offers in advance through email marketing. This will build anticipation. Then make your deal even more enticing by offering it for a limited time. It’s a great idea to include a countdown timer on the offer page to increase the FOMO.
You could even take the opposite route like outdoor brand REI did with its #OptOutside campaign. It closed all its stores on Black Friday and encouraged people to head outside. Even though it was a controversial choice, it got people talking about the brand and made them a little more human.
3. Be Inclusive
While the holiday season is packed full of traditions, you should consider moving beyond the norm to be more inclusive with your content. Many customers will quickly turn away from a brand if they feel its messaging excludes certain groups.
Target did a great job of creating inclusive content with its 2021 holiday ad.
To be more inclusive with your holiday content, consider:
Staying neutral: Instead of focusing on and naming specific holidays, focus your content on themes of spending time with loved ones, the change of seasons, and the upcoming new year.
Highlighting diversity: With the incredible diversity in the United States, your brand has a great opportunity to include those who usually feel left out. Instead of marketing gifts “for him” and “for her,” find a more neutral way to categorize your products. You can also highlight lesser-known world holidays that many people celebrate in the United States.
Relieving stress: While some people are filled with “comfort and joy” during the holidays, others find it to be the most stressful time of the year. Whether it’s family issues or just the stress of planning, many folks find the holidays challenging. Your brand can offer holiday content that recognizes these difficult feelings while offering a bit of a break. Use humor, showcase your charitable giving, and show appreciation to your customers to help brighten their mood during the holidays.
4. Continue Offering Value
While some of your holiday content marketing might focus on your limited-time deals and promotions, you should continue offering the same level of valuable content you usually do. If you all share for weeks on end how to get the latest deals from your brand, you’ll find customers might start ignoring your content.
You can still produce value-rich content that deepens your relationship with your current customers and draws in new ones. Find a balance between value-driven and promotional content to maintain and build on the trust you worked hard to establish.
5. Get Personal
You spend most of the year maintaining the professional image of your brand. The holiday season gives you an opportunity to get more personal and show your customers who you really are. This is a great time of year to showcase your employees or show off the fun you have at your holiday office parties.
Consider creative content ideas like:
Having employees write letters to Santa
Sharing pictures of your holiday decorating content
Your CEO recording a personal message for your customers
Creating an online cookbook of holiday recipes
6. Share Some Humor
Many people don’t feel the holiday cheer because of family difficulties, seasonal depression, and the overall stress of the season. To brighten their spirits, consider sharing some holiday humor. Google did this exceptionally well in 2018 when it invited Macaulay Culkin to give a glimpse into adult Kevin McCallister’s life with the hilarious “Home Alone Again” campaign.
In the video, there are numerous updated shots of adult Kevin reenacting classic Home Alone scenes, but this time, with the help of modern Google aids.
While your brand might not have the same resources as Google, you can still create funny holiday content. Consider:
Awkward family photos in Christmas sweaters
Song parodies
A letter from your new CEO, Santa, and the changes he is making
A holiday content for your customers
7. Give Back to Your Community
While many of us share gifts with our loved ones during the holidays, there are people who do not have the money or resources to do so. Focus on the season of giving and share how your business is giving back.
There are countless opportunities for businesses to give back to their communities. If you don’t have one already, consider starting a charitable giving campaign or promoting regular volunteer hours with your employees. You can also partner with local nonprofit organizations to find specific ways you can help. Try to find a group that aligns with your values. Perhaps there is a local homeless shelter in need of blankets or a food bank struggling to meet the needs of the community.
Share your charitable efforts in your content and invite your customers and readers to participate in their own way. Be sure your charitable activities and the message you share are authentic.
8. Look Back at Your Year
Whether you love or hate the “year in review,” it is a great way to connect with your audience and show how your brand has grown. To make your year-in-review message resonate, consider these tips:
Use visuals: Reading thousands of words of straight text can be tiresome. Break up your content with pictures, infographics, or even videos.
Focus on your customers: While the review is about your business, it is really about your customers. How did your customers affect your brand this year? Do they influence product changes? Find ways to make them feel recognized and appreciated.
Tell a story: While you are focusing on highlights from the past year, make sure you are telling a cohesive story. Lead your readers through an exciting year and invite them to continue their journey with you next year.
Spotify has become a master of this strategy with its “wrapped” concept. It showcases the best and most popular audio content from the past year.
9. Have an Omnichannel Content Strategy
You don’t have to start from scratch with your holiday content marketing strategy. There may be topics you can repurpose either from previous years or from one platform to another. For example, let’s say you had a popular blog post. You can take that blog and break it into multiple Instagram posts or even a marketing email. You could even expand on a popular topic and produce an e-book.
A diverse, omnichannel content strategy will organically lead customers from one platform to the next while telling a complete story. This is a valuable strategy to use all year, not just during the holidays.
10. Start a Tradition
Do you have a product or service that could be slightly modified to fit the season? If so, this is a good time to start a holiday tradition that your customers look forward to every year. For example, every year Starbucks releases red cups for the holidays. These cups signal the return of some of their seasonal drinks and for some people, it can be a hotly debated topic, especially when they changed to a two-tone design.
11. Start a “12 Days” or “24 Days” Campaign
Many businesses capitalize on feelings of anticipation and play on the classic “12 Days of Christmas” song with a “12 Days” campaign. What you do or offer during those 12 days will depend on your business. Perhaps you release a new limited-time deal each day or host a customer giveaway. You could even put a charitable spin on it and make a new charitable donation each day.
One way to up the ante is by tying your donation to the amount of audience feedback you get. These types of promotions can be very compelling. One study from Deloitte showed that 81% of consumers expect to be influenced by holiday promotions.
Another option is to use the theme of a 24-day advent calendar. Did you know the first chocolate-filled advent calendar was invented by Cadbury in 1958 (thank you, Cadbury!). Since then, many people love the anticipation of opening a new door each day and getting a treat. Offer your customers a daily surprise for 24 days, and you will likely get a positive response.
12. Create a Holiday Content Calendar
Once you have your list of holiday content marketing strategies, you should organize it into a calendar. With a content calendar, you space out certain types of content and schedule when you will publish each piece.
You also need to consider the time it takes to write, produce, and edit each piece of content. Include these dates in your calendar, too.
Get Quality Holiday Content Crafted by Experts
You might be good at running your business, but not so good at writing killer content. That’s okay. You need a professional content writing agency that knows how to create high-ranking content without sacrificing quality. When you choose Express Writers, that is exactly what you’ll get. We’re ready to help you implement your holiday content marketing strategy.
Our team of writers is the best in the industry. We offer a wide variety of package options, whether you want a one-time blog or a full suite of custom content.
88% of online shoppers reported that they wouldn’t return to a website if they previously had a bad user experience. Yet only 55% of companies currently conduct user experience testing on their sites.
You may not realize it, but user experience could make or break your website. Meanwhile, many companies fail to see if their sites function properly and are easy to use. Without testing, your website could unintentionally be scaring away tons of potential customers.
So, what’s the secret to creating a website that people want to visit and explore?
You implement a content-first design that allows the high-quality content you create to be the focus.
But wait! What exactly is a content-first design? And why is that so important to the overall experience your website offers to its users? That’s what we’re sharing in this post.
What is a Content-First Design?
A content-first design is one that prioritizes the content hosted on a website. Instead of designing and building a website and then filling it with content, you need to determine what kind of content the site will feature beforehand. Then, you shape the web design around that.
This is beyond just thinking about a generic blog post. You’ll want to consider things like the photos on your site, whether or not you’ll use charts or tables, and even if you’ll embed videos. When designing your site, you’ll want to consider all of these types of content.
Think about it like building a house. You aren’t going to start building the house without first knowing how many rooms it’ll contain and where each one will go. You’d map out the interior before you begin building. Think of your content as the interior and the beautiful web design as the exterior.
When you focus on the content first, you ensure your message is effective and can stand on its own. The design is merely complementary. Whereas, if you opt to design your website before considering your content, you could wind up spending extra resources redesigning various web pages to work with your content. You may even find yourself making changes to your content to accommodate a design you already have. And, in doing so, you compromise the quality of your content.
How a Content-First Design Improves Your Website UX
Armed with a better understanding of content-first design, you may still be wondering how this is helpful. Well, there are a few reasons why prioritizing your content will improve the overall user experience a visitor has when exploring your site. Here are a few:
1. People Are Visiting Your Site for the Content Anyway
The content you’ve created is why people are accessing your site in the first place. They clicked a link and opened your web page because of the promise of valuable content. They may have come across you via a Google search because you carefully used keywords in your blog post so you’d rank higher in an effort to attract readers. Or maybe they found you via social media and clicked a link to read your latest blog.
However they found you, they went to your site to consume the content you worked hard to create. They aren’t there to admire your stunning site design. They’re on your site to be informed, learn, or maybe even for entertainment purposes. So, if a user is accessing your site specifically to enjoy your content, shouldn’t that be enough to make it your number one priority?
When you direct your attention to the reason people visit your site, you can ensure the whole experience is enjoyable. Take a moment and pull up your own site to check out your latest piece of content. Is the experience a positive one? Or could improvements be made? If you can’t be impartial, ask someone to give you honest feedback so you can fix any issues you may have.
2. Your Website and Content Will Work Perfectly Together
As mentioned above, you don’t want to design your website only to find out later that your content doesn’t fit. If this happens, you’ll wind up spending additional resources, like time and money, to redesign elements of your site. That’s simply not practical. Nor do you want your content to suffer because you had to make it work with an existing design that isn’t cutting it.
Creating a powerful user experience with a content-first design means the elements should complement each other. Done right, your site will be a joy for visitors to explore. They’ll be able to easily navigate your site, effortlessly finding what they’re looking for. They’ll be able to read landing pages, fill out forms, and make purchases with zero hassle.
3. It’s a Reminder to Prioritize Accessibility
When you focus on a content-first design, you’re reminded to make sure everything you publish is accessible to all visitors. Sometimes this gets overlooked because we forget that not everyone has the same abilities as we do. People who have vision or hearing impairments may visit your website and be unable to consume your content if you haven’t taken the proper steps to ensure accessibility.
To do this, test if a screen reader can read your latest blog post aloud. Add transcripts for audio files and include captions on videos. Taking these extra steps goes a long way in showing your site visitors that you care. Plus, it gives them a reason to keep coming back in the future.
4. It’ll Help Your SEO in the Long Run
Google doesn’t just consider your content when its algorithms decide where you’ll rank in the search results. Your web design is a factor, too. Having an SEO-friendly website is crucial because Google doesn’t want to send its searchers to poorly designed, difficult to navigate, or slow-to-load sites. And, don’t forget that it should be mobile-friendly too. A great web design built around your content will be beneficial in increasing organic traffic.
Creating Your Content-First Design
Now, the question is how do you create a content-first design? It might sound overwhelming at first, but it doesn’t have to be. Luckily, we have a few tips to help you start this process. But if you’ve already built your site, don’t worry. You can still implement these tips to make some changes to your site if needed.
Here’s the advice you’ll want to keep in mind:
Map Out Your Content Strategy:First, it’s wise to conduct an audit of the content already on your website (if you have one). This way, you get a clear picture of the content you’ve previously published. You’ll also want to determine what kind of content you’ll share in the future. Will you primarily focus on blogs? And if so, what will those blog posts feature? What about your landing pages? They may have imagery, charts, or even videos embedded. You’ll want to consider all these elements so you can create a site design that accommodates that.
Identify Existing Site Issues:If you already have a website and aren’t starting from scratch, you’ll need to spend some time to see if there are any areas that need improvement. Are there any known usability issues? Make a note of these problems so you can fix them in the next iteration of your site. This way, you won’t have to worry about them later.
Begin Creating Content:Then, you can begin the content creation phase and develop valuable, high-quality content based on what your audience is searching for. As you do, format the content how you’d like it to look when published. This means you’ll want to add headings, lists, images, etc. This will give you a visual of what your site design needs to be created around.
Once the Content is Finalized, Create Your Design: The final step is to move into the design phase. It should pair nicely with your content and match your company’s branding while appealing to your target audience. Make it an enjoyable experience. That’s why it’s so important to understand what resonates with your audience so you can create a site they’ll love.
Doing all of this ensures you’re providing a great experience to anyone that visits your website. If you’re not sure your site is up to your standards, ask someone to visit and offer honest feedback. It’s the best way to get an accurate view of how accessible and user-friendly everything is. Then, you’ll know if you need to make changes.
Put Your Content First With Express Writers
If you’re ready to get serious about creating a content-first design, then invest in a high-quality content agency at Express Writers. Our team is passionate about creating valuable blog posts, web pages, and more to help you serve your audience. We’re here to help with all of your content needs!
Get in touch with one of our client success team members today or visit our Content Shop to see what we can do for you.
