SmallBizChat Q and A How To Build Buzz for your Content

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Every week as SmallBizLady, I conduct interviews with experts on my Twitter talk show #SmallBizChat. The show takes place every Wed. on Twitter from 8-9pm ET. This is excerpted from my recent interview with @TheRiseToTheTop, David Siteman Garland on How to Build Buzz for your online Content. After running three companies, and not finding a good resource for small business marketing info out there, Garland founded The Rise To The Top, a local TV show, daily online show, and website rich with content to meet that need: helping entrepreneurs and small business owners learn to market themselves in a fun interactive way. For more information: http://www.therisetothetop.com.

Smallbizlady: If you want to build an online brand what top three things should you do first?

David Siteman Garland: The first thing you need to do is quantify your niche and business model. At the end of the day, you have to make money. Where is it coming from? What is your niche? How broad and specific is it? Do you need money right away or can you moonlight doing this until you make enough income? Do you have a product now or do you want to develop something later?

The second thing you need to do is to setup or have setup for you an interactive website. You can start with a nice, well designed, functional wordpress blog. The key here is to have a design that sticks out. There is way too many poorly designed website out there. Imagine someone is coming to your website and they are a really important member of the media or a potential customer and your site looks like 1992 with a little graphic of a digging man. It isn’t going to fly.

Finally, start trying your hand at creating content. The key here is to create content that is educational, inspirational and/or entertaining. That is what spreads and build your brand. The idea here is to become a trusted resource as opposed to a product pusher.

Smallbizlady: If you decide to create online content, what are your options?

David Siteman Garland: There are lots of options but it all starts with platform, which is your home on the web.

First, play to your strengths and also how your community or potential community likes to consume information.

Video? Audio? Text? Those are the big three you have to choose between or mix ’em. (you can add in photos as well). Bottom line though is to have a plan and experiment. A good quote from youth speaker Josh Shipp is to assume half your audience is blind and the other half deaf.

Next up is deciding your platform. Will be it be a blog? Wordpress? Tumblr? Posterous? Go off your existing website or a new domain?

From there, it goes into researching, implementing and promoting.

Smallbizlady: What is the easiest way to create online content?

David Siteman Garland: There isn’t a magic formula.

However, that being said, there are certain types of content that do really well online: How Tos, Unique Interviews, Tips, Tricks, Lessons, Stories. Anything that is all about the community.

The easiest thing to do is try something. You need far less equipment now than even a few years ago. Text is just a computer and the Internet. Add in a microphone for audio. Add in a pocket camera and you have video.

You can always examine your niche to see what is popular and what other thought leaders are talking about. How? Via searching on Twitter and sites like Alltop.com. You will see the cream of the crop and it should spark ideas on creating content.

Smallbizlady: When should you start developing your online content?

David Siteman Garland: Now! But, first make sure you have somewhere to post it. Your home base. Remember, we are essentially leasing space for free on social media sites. We don’t own them. But we do own our website. It is our real estate.

In my opinion, it is always the right time to start. No need to over think it. You might have a product now or you might develop one in the future.

Smallbizlady: Should brands think like media sources and publishers? Why is that?

David Siteman Garland: Absolutely and this is one of the fundamental concepts that will lead small business owners to success in the future. It used to be your only outlets to attract customers/clients was traditional media, advertising location and other old-school methods.

The web has changed everything.

Sure it takes hard work, but brands have to view themselves as publishers. Their own media source of experts. Bloggers. Video Bloggers. Podcasts. You create your own media and go directly to the consumer with it.

Think about this for a second. Who would you trust more? Someone that is always promoting their product or someone that offers a library full of unique videos, how-to articles, interviews, etc. The part-media source, part-business wins every time. Plus when you are a media source, you are showing your expertise which can lead to traditional and new media coverage.

Smallbizlady: How soon should you start trying to monetize your online content? Should you have a revenue model in mind going in? And do you have any revenue suggestions?

David Siteman Garland: Yesterday (just kidding). But seriously, you can start now on day one. There is an illusion of size online. Meaning, you have to be really, really big to make money from your content. It simply isn’t true. If you got 50 new customers, would you be happy? How about 5? I know, I would. You don’t need hundreds of thousands of people to view your content for you to be successful. Imagine if 1 person engaged with it and that person was the key to millions of dollars and connections. Would you be happy?

I would think of multiple revenue streams and then you don’t have to put all your eggs into one basket. I would say you need to keep revenue in mind early on. Otherwise you have a hobby. That is fine, but at the end of the day, you need money to run a business.

Here are 7 ways to monetize your content:

Sell your own product/service
Affiliate marketing
Selling yourself (consulting, speaking, etc.)
Sponsorships
“Traditional Advertising” (banner ads, etc.) (not recommended)
Content marketing
Sell content to syndicators

Smallbizlady: Should you pay for a marketing company, or PR firm to create content for you?

David Siteman Garland: This is one of those tricky situations. In my opinion, no. Why? Because no one knows your content and company better than you.

A PR/Marketing firm might be better suited to help spread your content, bring in partnership opportunities, guest blogging opportunities, etc.

If they are savvy and forward-thinking, they might be able to help with headlines, research and content suggestions.

In the end though, it is best to do it yourself.

Smallbizlady: How do you bring in viewers/readers online?

David Siteman Garland: Great question. And there are many more besides these:

1) leverage what you already have. If you have customers, tell them. Via email. In person. On receipts. Tell Mom and Dad. If you have a store, put signage up.
2) (and this is really first) make sure your site is setup like peanut butter. Easily spreadable. Have the basics: A retweet button, Facebook share, RSS feed, way to stay in contact via email subscriptions, etc. And remember to know your audience! Are they tech savvy? If so, they might use StumbleUpon, Digg and other Social Bookmarking Sites.
3) Social media as a relationship building tool and not just a way to broadcast your message. Be a human. Interact with other folks in your niche. Give people a REASON to follow you. As long as you are giving first and helpful, there is no reason you can’t promote.
4) Guest blogging, guest posts, interviews. Nothing better for bringing in the traffic!
5) Paid content. Some high-end sites are offering unique ways to “pay to play” where you might sponsor a content series (such as videos) and other unique models with the goal of bringing in traffic and subscribers.

Smallbizlady: What if you don’t want to create online content but still want to get involved with other content creators as advertisers/sponsors/partners?

David Siteman Garland: Two options:

Become a content DJ. Find the best/most unique/funniest stuff in your niche online and bring it together in a unique way for folks. Perhaps a Top 10 List.
Sponsor A Content Creator

If you absolutely don’t want to create and want to get involved with online content OR you do create and want to leverage the audience of other sites, there is a new trend in content marketing. It is a blend of sponsorship + advertising + PR.

This means perhaps you sponsor a video series, or a series of blog posts. Not simply throwing up a banner ad. You business becomes PART of the content.

Smallbizlady: How should you go about creating content to be promoted on bigger sites?

David Siteman Garland: Use your content as a handshake. Lets say there is a huge site. The first thing I would do is create content related to that site for my niche. For example, lets say you sell soap and want to be featured on Soap.com (made up). I would write an article or create a video promoting Soap.com. Perhaps it would be an article on their top five articles over the past month. Or encouraging your community (big or small) to check them out.

Then, I would reach out to them on social media or email. Introduce yourself and share the link. Ask for nothing. All you are doing is starting a relationship.

I would also make sure to have a presence on their site. Leaving thoughtful comments. Promoting their content on your social media pages. Give love to get love.

Once the relationship is formed, suggest a piece of content. Or even better (and more ambitious), just write or create something (WITHOUT PERMISSION) and send it to them. You would be surprised what might happen!

Smallbizlady: You mention on your blog that there’s a rise in creative paid content. How can entrepreneurs capitalize on this paid content?

David Siteman Garland:

Identify key sites you want to get involved with. Use Alltop.com to search your niche and/or Google Blogsearch.
Reach out the site owner and say you are looking for something outside-the-box of a basic advertisement and you want to get involved in the content.NOTE: Any reputable blogger will tell you that trust is a big thing with audience. Therefore, if you have a bad product, most bloggers won’t blindly promote it. Make sure it is a fit for you and the audience.
If you really want to get the ball rolling, suggest something. For example: Lets say you sell soap and you find a soap blogger. Suggest a 3-part series sponsored by your soap company on the big mistakes in buying soap, or best soap-buying practices.

See where I’m going here?

Of course you have to a budget for this, but if you target correctly, it should pay off ten-fold. Would you rather spend hundreds of thousands on a big mass media ad to get 100 customers? Or spend some money maybe a few thousand with a blogger/content creator in your exact niche for the same 100? Or 50? Or 20? Or maybe even 200?

Smallbizlady: Tell us about your model for creative content sponsorships and has it been successful?

David Siteman Garland: We use the model listed here for The Rise To The Top and RISE.

The first rule is simple. We would NEVER EVER promote a product we don’t use, would use, or trust. Unfortunately, we have had to turn many down but we never want to break that trust and bond with our audience.

If a company approaches us with a product/service that is perfect for an entrepreneur, we come back with suggestions. For example, lets say you have a really cool app maker for the iPhone and want to promote it to entrepreneurs and it is a quality product. We might suggest a 3-part video series sponsored by your company. Part 1 might be 5 reasons your company needs an iPhone app. Part 2 might be the 3 ways to promote an pp. Part 3 might be the key mistakes to avoid when making an app.

In each episode the app company will be mentioned, plugged, and they often offer something directly to RISE viewers. For example enter the promo code RISE for 10% off.

We make the content interesting and fun. Then we syndicate it out to our 20,000+ subscribers, social media following, etc.

And as you know, the best thing about online is that it stays up and gets passed around long after the episode comes out. That is good for Google Rankings, sales and more.

Plus, we noticed many traditional media sources come in and spot unique companies and the PR buzz continues up and down the food chain.

Smallbizlady: Do you have any additional tips on how entrepreneurs can benefit from developing online content?

David Siteman Garland: The value is there if you put in the time, energy and at some points money. The biggest thing is patience. This is all a process.

Also, stay in the loop on the latest trends, tricks and resources. It always seems things are getting smarter, faster and cheaper.

The benefits of online content/blogging are limitless. First, it positions you and your company not just as a business but as a thought leader/expert. This can lead to media interviews, partnership opportunities, recruiting opportunities, and more. Plus good ole’ Google loves the content.

Second, you build an audience to spread the word for you. Nothing better than word-of-mouth on steroids.

Third, it is personally rewarding and a lot of fun. More fun is a good thing, right?

Here are two links to content on David’s site that adds even more depth on the topic of content marketing:

If you found this interview helpful, join us on Wednesdays 8-9pm ET follow @SmallBizChat on Twitter.

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