Wow! The year is almost gone.
We barely have 3 weeks to go and I had to consider so many things. A friend of mine who is a Freelance writer just emailed me with these questions:
- What do you hope for in 2012?
- How do you plan to achieve your hope?
- Are you afraid of obstacles on the way?
- Would you readjust your writing style to fit the challenges in 2012?
Funny enough, I don’t know where to start answering those questions. Don’t mind my friend. He’s a law enthusiast and love asking plenty of questions. But that kept me thinking – what exactly do you want in 2012?
If you still hope to continue writing articles and submitting here and there, without any professional touch, I think you’re making a big mistake. That’s being myopic if you ask me.
Here’s a shocker: Writing plenty of blog posts to promote your writing skills isn’t actually marketing except you’ve a huge readership. I don’t want to spend my entire life writing and publishing – it should be more than that.
Three Content Marketing Opportunities In 2012
Before I show you the basic steps to make 2012 a wonderful year in your life, in terms of content marketing, let me reveal the three business opportunities for you.
1. Video Marketing Is In High Demand
In 2012, videos are going to grow more than it is now. The reason is simple – a lot of your potential customers are tired of scrolling and reading the same stuffs multiple times. Videos bring out the uniqueness of a particular topic or subject. Whereas, articles and blog posts comes with the same ingredient of bullet points, grammatical and spelling errors and keyword stuffing (majority actually).
In the same vein, Google and other search engines are seriously optimizing their search engine result pages (SERPs) and videos are getting at the top.
If you don’t believe me, go to Google and search for “make money” or “get ex back” Most popular niches we know are being powered by videos. In 2012, make it a point of duty to create your first video and if you’ve been doing it, it’s time to triple your efforts and grow bigger.
2. Limited Content Access
Another greater content marketing opportunity in 2012 is what I call “limited content access.” Some people refer to it as a membership access. Both are the same and even though it’s been used in the past few years, it’s going to grow healthier and higher in the next few weeks.
Why is this so? How would you feel if the same information you boast of is being neglected by your friend? I mean you so much value the information a particular report has but discovered how useless your friends take it. It makes you feel lonely and dejected, right?
Every human being has this Hoarding “instinct.” We all want to secure a secret of our success without sharing with others. Although, it’s not advisable because when you share, you receive more. But I’m talking about the natural urge to guide what you’ve.
In 2011, a lot of new developments changed the web. Online prospects have become a lot savvier and picky in their decision making. Unless a content marketer has a way to protect quality information from intruders, you would be seen as an un-serious person.
In a nut shell, you need to set up your membership site in 2012. You may not go for the expensive CMS designs. Get a membership plugin and use part of your blog to protect your best posts and articles for specific members. I’m sure you could make a lot of money from the monthly subscription fee?
3. Tutorial Content Opportunity
While speaking with a group of young School leavers, 87% of them told me of their intention to set up their own blogs and start marketing online. That’s a huge number from a single workshop alone. Needless to say, these people are total beginners – they’re counting on you the experienced content marketer to help them.
Can you write quality articles, get ready to teach others in 2012?
Tutorial sites and blogs are going to grow massively next year. This is because, a lot of people who wants to learn marketing, writing, networking, designing, speaking, coaching, researching, programming etc would flock to tutorial sites for step by step articles.
How do you come in? If you can afford to create a tutorial blog that teaches a particular subject or topic very well, then go ahead and make it work. But if you can’t, channel part of your content marketing efforts to tutorial sites. So many of them would pay you to provide relevant and informative posts and link back to your blog via the author bio.
That’s a two way system. You get paid and get links back to your site. Amazing, right?
Back to our topic for today and very quickly, how do you make content marketing work for you in 2012?
Find A Way To Show Your Expertise, Stop Saying It
In 2012, blog readers, potential clients and customers are not going to care about you or how powerful your marketing is, you’ve got to show it. No, you don’t have to tell them that you can write quality articles, design fabulous websites and Logos, show it with every ounce of your being.
Stop saying how great and awesome you’re, find a way to show it …. Jason Leister
We often hold to this blind concept that saying breed trust. Well, it doesn’t. When last did you talk to someone who is full of himself, he doesn’t want to listen to your cry or what you want; he’s so concerned about his gains?
I’m sure it’s being long you made friends with such folks.
Note: You’re good, interesting and experienced. That’s not the point of beating your chest and boasting. Potential customers/clients do not care about you and will not begin in 2012.
Do you stand to be noticed by honing your qualifications?
No way. Be on the lookout for legit opportunities to showcase your worth. Don’t just say it, do it and the real rewards would come.
So, the best way to achieve tremendous success in your online business (content marketing) is to talk about prospects, their problems and needs. How you could be of help if they hire you today.
Your potential client has a goal and in 2012, they would set another. Find out what’s the #1 priority and walk in it. No matter the competition in the coming years, you won’t be perturbed when you’re busy spoon-feeding your clients.
Let this coordinate and motivate you for impact in 2012. Remember, talking about YOU in marketing is a SIN – talking about solutions to problem is RIGHTEOUS!
Image Credit: epsos