BroadVision Marketing Blog

[This article was originally published in February 2024 and has been updated and revised.]

Content marketing has been a powerful force in the realm of digital marketing for decades. And today it is more effective than ever before.

Digital marketing incorporates a wide variety of tactics and strategies, but content marketing is not only a mainstay strategy, it is the core component of successful digital marketing practices.

[This article was last published in October 2023 and has been expanded and revised.]

Content marketing for nonprofits is highly effective. As nonprofits still have to "market" their message, a nonprofit content marketing strategy is key. 

For some, the terms "marketing" and nonprofit organizations seem contradictory and somehow crass. But, at its core, marketing is simply promoting what you have to offer. And most nonprofits have much to offer!

There are a number of elements required for a successful content marketing strategy. But what are the three fundamental elements that are non-negotiable?

If you are reading this you may already know that content marketing is a good strategy for your business. For the record, at BroadVision Marketing we are enthusiastically positive that content marketing can work for just about any business! 

Everyone says you need their product or service. We get it. But in today's digital world there really is one thing your business needs: Digital Marketing.

Whether you undertake it yourself or hire a digital marketing service, marketing your business online is a necessity for most every business.

So, What Is Digital Marketing Exactly?

Every business needs to be seen and heard.

One of the most fundamental and basic requirements for any commercial endeavor, be that a simple lemonade stand or a multi-national services enterprise, is attention. Potential customers or clients must take notice of you.

“If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?”

One could reasonably ask, "If you have a business and no one knows, does it exist?"  

In the days prior to April 30, 1993, there was no Internet, no World Wide Web, no marketing "online" as we often refer to it today. There was only advertising, public relations, and publicity. And word of mouth, of course.

Without any of these platforms promoting the existence of your business, it would not exist for all practical purposes.

Today is no different.

Almost everyone goes to the Internet - usually with their cell phones - to search, to shop, and to find businesses. If your business is never seen online then it may as well not exist. Which is why digital marketing is so essential to your business.

The purpose for teams is to combine a group of members to work together to accomplish certain goals that cannot be achieved effectively by an individual. Do you wonder why I keep repeating this? It’s because sometimes teams can get off-track like an elementary school student who starts reading an encyclopedia entry for a class and ends up following a cow path far from the subject because he loses focus.

A Sample Marketing Plan for an Inbound Marketing Strategy

A sample marketing plan for Inbound Marketing will give you one of the most powerful and most cost-effective approaches to marketing. Compared to traditional marketing methods, inbound consistently outperforms and typically costs far less.

A few stats from Hubspot illustrate this fact:

• 57% of businesses have acquired a customer through their company blog. 
• 42% of businesses have acquired a customer through Twitter. 
• 57% of companies have acquired a customer through LinkedIn.
• 48% of companies have acquired a customer through Facebook.
• Inbound marketing costs 62% less per lead than traditional outbound marketing.

Having said that, it is important to keep in mind that inbound marketing, while having a number of consistent components and tactics, is not a "cookie-cutter" approach to marketing either. Each strategy and subsequent plan is unique to each user.

Your Company Is Different - Just Like Everyone Else

Your business is like no other. Really. Your goals, your challenges, your offerings - they are all unique to you and your business. Even if you think you are simply a commodity. And because your business is unique, your marketing plan shouldn't be generic either.

We can offer a sample marketing plan, but the goal is to adapt it, modify it, make it your own. What might work well for your competitor across town may not be exactly the plan that will be most effective for you. Your marketing strategy should be crafted with your vision, your objectives, and your customers in mind.

Now that we've established that not all businesses are the same, nor are all effective marketing plans, let's look at a generic approach to inbound marketing.

A Sample Inbound Marketing Plan Checklist

A typical inbound marketing plan will consist of the following steps:

Digital marketing isn't really an option in today's world. If your business can't be found online, your business may as well not exist.

Think that's an exaggeration or a bit of journalistic hype? Think again.

Digital Marketing for Everyone - The New Normal

Consider your own consumer behavior. How do you look for a service or a product? The statistics tell us that you most likely use your mobile phone to search. 

When you find a likely prospect, what do you do next? Read reviews? Count how many there are and how well they're rated? Do you take time to check out their competition to see how they compare?

And here's what you most likely don't do:

• Look for a business in your local Yellow Pages
• Jot down an address or phone number you saw on a billboard
• Keep a stack of old business cards from service providers you used before

While some people may still do some of these things, most people in most situations go online. For almost everything. Which means if they can't find your business online easily and quickly, you don't exist as far as they are concerned.

Advertising claims are not what they appear to be. While we tend to look at ads as ineffective, advertisers know better. While people refuse to admit that they are influenced by ads, sales figures show that a well-designed ad campaign has dramatic affects. What become obvious as we study ads is that a lot of what is working is below the radar and people don’t even realize they are big conned.

In the 1970s Jefferty Schrank (attributions listed at the end of the article) presented a new way of looking at ads and some of the legal ways advertisers tell part of the truth and part that is not while most people don’t get it.

How many of you, business people out there, are confused about the difference between lead generation and demand generation? Raise your hands; don’t be shy. There is a distinct difference between these marketing strategies even though some marketing agencies use them both interchangeably or use the wrong one. Here’s a clue: one is focused on changing your clients’ perspective and the one wants to capture their information for you to follow up with.

There is more to marketing objectives than simply increasing sales, and the key to achieving your objectives is to have a plan or three!

Achieving your marketing objectives hinges on having a solid strategy and a consistent commitment to follow through with your strategy.

The problem that arises for many marketers, however, is that they tend to start the process backwards. In other words, their tendency is to simply start with their proposed budget and use that to dictate what they can or can't do with marketing.

But this is not only unnecessarily limiting, it is short-sighted and focuses on the wrong parameters.

While it is true that your budget will, in fact, be a real determining factor in what tactics you can afford to employ and what resources you can actually make use of, it should not be the overriding factor. Flexibility, creativity, and agility may be required to "do more with less" when it comes to an affordable and effectivemarketing strategy. But without clear cut goals, or objectives, and a clearly defined plan of action and accountabilities, any money you do have will be poorly spent.

Remember, your marketing efforts are not like a pasta kitchen: you cannot afford to simply "throw spaghetti on the wall to see what sticks." You must plan, allocate, monitor and measure everything. And that requires planning beyond simply setting a budget.