Wheelhouse Marketing Blog

Last week we talked at length about how to use your website overall for better lead generation, and today we’re narrowing our sights on one of the best ways to do just that--landing pages and capture forms. They may sound fancy and complicated, but odds are you’ve come in contact with dozens (if not hundreds) of these bad boys, and can utilize them in your own business to better your lead generation.

Sitting on your website right now are a million and one opportunities to generate and capture leads and fill your marketing troves with potential customers. Okay, while maybe a million and one is a bit of an exaggeration (give us a break, we’re creatives!), there are A LOT. And at the end of the day, most customers aren’t going to come knocking with all their contact information written in a love note. They will, however, give it to you if you ask nicely, speak to their heart and offer real value. But how do you know what they want to hear? How do you want what they value? And once you do, how do you use that information to fill your basket with juicy leads? That, my friend, is what we’re diving into today. So let’s get started.

You’ve heard the phrase that “Content is King.” While this is true, and we appreciate the point it emphasizes, it’s also true that not all content is created equally. If we wrote a blog post telling you about why Marvel is better than DC (duh), you probably wouldn’t be very interested. Granted, there’s certainly an audience for this type of topic, but if you’re here, it’s because you’re likely looking for marketing advice. A blog like that doesn’t serve you in the least. For content to really be a good king, it needs to be considering the good of its people constantly. Let’s take a look at how to do precisely that.

For a lot of business owners, they’re switching between hats constantly. It’s something they often don’t tell you when you start a business. You’re not only the tradesman, great at his or her craft, but you’re also the receptionist, accountant, marketer, event the janitor. With so much to do, the idea of creating the amount of content needed to be successful in a world where “Content is King” can be daunting. Even for a full-fledged marketing team, sometimes the amount of content that needs to get done can seem like an endless ocean where they forgot their compass somewhere on the mainland.

There’s a saying that's become popular with the ever expanding availability of the internet. It goes a little something like this, "These days, everyone’s an expert.” It has a two-fold meaning. There’s the obvious, which is human beings’ tendency to spend one afternoon reading into a certain subject matter and suddenly they’re an aficionado. It’s a rough reality, but not as bad as the second meaning (unless you’re the poor soul stuck talking to that guy at a party). The second is that with the internet comes the ability for users to self publish. These are the really dangerous experts. And with their continual emergence, Google is having to work harder and harder to determine what out there is good content, and what is, well, just plain crap.

Pinterest isn’t just for mom’s looking to plan crock-pot recipes anymore. I mean, if you are a mom looking for crock-pot recipes I would recommend Pinterest. And if you’re a company looking to sell crock-pot recipes to mothers, I would also recommend Pinterest. But anymore, Pinterest is so much more than just those crock-pot recipes. 

Hearing the word “content” and only thinking of words on a page is like hearing “ice cream” and only thinking of vanilla. There are so many other forms it can come in, and all are equally important for your business and delectable to your audience. You should be using many different types of content other than just words on a page to engage with them and promote your business. Each will serve you a little differently and appeal to your audience in different ways and for varying reasons. Today, we’re looking at some of your content options, how to implement them into your business, and why your audience is drawn to each. Let’s get started.

Ok, it’s time to point out an ugly truth that affects a ton of marketing. We don’t like being the ones to do it, but we care about you too much to just sit back and let you waste all your hard work. Hey, it’s no one’s fault, and we’ve all done it at one point or another, usually early on in our business infancy. It’s the tendency to slap something together, throw it up on the internet, clap yourself on the back and leave it there for God knows how long. It hurts us to watch because it usually leads to a bad disappointment for good people who just don’t know better. Maybe it’s a website you haven’t updated in ages, and are slowly killing your SEO in the process. Maybe it’s your blog you haven’t posted to in 6 months. Or, maybe it’s your banner ads, put together without rhyme or reason. The latter is our focus for today, or more specifically, why your banner ad is falling flat. 

Look, not every product on the market can be a sexy, shiny object. The reality is that sometimes aspects of life require products or services that are, well, just plain boring. Does the average person get their kicks chatting about retirement plans? Likely not. How about medical equipment? Yeah, that one’s not exactly a rip-roarin’ time, either.

In today’s world, a bad web design just can’t be ignored. The internet has been around long enough that there are a million of options out there for users, plenty of which are more than decent. There’s just too much competition a click away for you to afford having a shotty website. But to have good website design, you’ve got to know what it looks like, and sometimes more importantly, what it doesn’t look like.