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    The Art of Content Marketing
    The Art of Content Marketing
    The Art of Content Marketing
    Ebook222 pages3 hours

    The Art of Content Marketing

    By Malcolm Dewey

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    About this ebook

    The ultimate guide to using Visual Content to grow your creative business. (Second Edition)This book shows you how to develop a system for long term business success. Use your blog, email and website and visual content to grow your creative business. Develop Your content strategy, create compelling visual and written content, distribute the content and measure results. Packed with resources you can try today.
    Artists, writers, photographers and all creative entrepreneurs often fail to plan their marketing. This book shows you practical steps to boost your business with visual content. Build your authority, find your audience and deliver great value to your market.
    Based on the author's own experience with his fine art business. What to try and what to avoid. A big picture view that will help you boost your content marketing today.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMalcolm Dewey
    Release dateMay 10, 2018
    ISBN9781536535723
    The Art of Content Marketing

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      Book preview

      The Art of Content Marketing - Malcolm Dewey

      The Art of Content Marketing

      Develop Your Content Strategy, Find Your Audience and Grow Your Business

      Second Edition

      __________

      ––––––––

      Malcolm Dewey

      THE ART OF CONTENT MARKETING

      Develop Your Content Strategy, Find Your Audience and Grow Your Business

      by Malcolm Dewey

      For Kerrin and the Boys

      ––––––––

      Second Edition 2018

      First Published 2016 by Linspire124 CC

      South Africa

      Copyright: Malcolm Dewey - All rights reserved

      www.malcolmdeweyfineart.com

      More ...

      Other Books, Publications & Courses by the Author

      The Art of Content Marketing Course (a short course on content strategy)

      An Artist's Guide to Plein Air Painting (a free book available on Amazon)

      Add Power to Your Painting (a free short course for artists)

      Learn to Paint With Impact (a premium course teaching painting skills)

      for more information please contact the author at:

      www.malcolmdeweyfineart.com

      Table of Contents

      The Art of Content Marketing

      Introduction

      My First Content Marketing Experience in the Art World

      Going Pro

      The Problem?

      What is Content Marketing?

      What do people want from you?

      First Get the Business Right

      The Four Part Action Plan

      Part 1: Your Unique Strategy

      Strategy Step 1: Your Vision

      With vision comes clarity.

      Strategy Step 2: Your Mission Statement

      Step Two: Write It Down!

      Exercise:

      Strategy Step 3: Your Content Plan

      Goals: Discover Your Audience and Niche

      Niche & Strategy

      Note:

      Other Research

      Goals: Your Story

      Consider a few examples:

      Opportunity

      Open Up!

      Story Becomes Brand

      Be Different

      Exercise:

      Goals: Developing Your Platform

      Your Content Calendar

      Part Two: How to Create Excellent Content

      The challenge is to make useful and interesting content.

      Keep a Balance:

      Your Extraordinary Blog

      Blogging Resources: Useful blogging resources:

      Strategic Blogging Example – Monetization

      Guest Blogging and Connection Strategy

      Syndication and Alternative Blogging Platforms

      Content Quality, Topics and Headlines

      Relevant Topics

      Get Inspired! Chances are you are reading other blogs on your topic too. Are there any ideas that you can expand on? Perhaps take a contrary viewpoint? Generate other content such as infographics, podcasts or demo videos?

      A few other fun idea generators are:

      Headlines should be at least one of these or more:

      Video - The Future of Content

      YouTube Account

      Align with Your Strategy

      Other Video Platforms

      Slides - No Longer the Terror of the Boardroom

      Images That Work Double Time

      Other Notable Content Options

      Part 3: Content Distribution

      Your E-Mail List Holds the Key

      Eye Candy

      Landing Page?

      Now Deliver

      The One Thing About Social Media

      Channels

      Facebook Optimized

      Pinterest Power Tips

      Instagram Strategy Tips

      YouTube: Where does it Fit In?

      Other Content Distribution Channels

      Part 4: Measurement

      The Big Picture

      About the Author

      Acknowledgements:

      Reviews:

      Introduction

      Why Content Marketing for Creatives?

      Let me start with a true story:

      One day I was busy drawing a cartoon at home. I was about six years old at the time. My mother was having tea with a friend, who happened to look over at my drawing. My mom’s friend was impressed with my efforts and suggested that I go to art school in the afternoons. She made quite a fuss about it, but I was stubborn about one thing. No way was I going to spend more time at school even if it was an art class!

      I did enjoy the attention, though. People were amused by my drawings and it gave my ego a boost. A big part of my free time went into drawing. A sketch book and pencils were my constant companions. This was back in the early seventies with no television in our country yet. Being an only child I had plenty of time to focus on creating.

      Anyway fast forward to high school and career selections. Oh boy, I was not interested in maths. Trades were not my thing either. Back then careers were either trades, sales or a traditional profession. Art was a quick trip to drugs and starvation. It was a conservative time!

      I was determined to investigate a career in art, but career advisers steered me away from fine art. Unless I wanted to be a teacher of course. Nope. The best offer seemed to be textile design and fashion design. I could not see that happening either. I took up book learning instead. This meant law school. So it was that I graduated after five years of university as an attorney. Yes I did take the safe option, but my time would come.

      My First Content Marketing Experience in the Art World

      I still painted at every opportunity. I was identified by my varsity mates as the artist. If someone needed a drawing done, a logo designed or even a residence t-shirt design they would ask me.

      Sometime during this early period, I listened to a radio interview with a popular local artist. Turns out this artist was also an attorney and had left the profession to pursue fine art full time. I was floored by this. Wow! How did he make ends meet? Give up law for art! I think a seed of possibility was planted there and then.

      A few years later, during the early 1990’s, my wife and I visited the famous Grahamstown Arts Fest. One of the art exhibitions was by a local artist called Dale Elliott. This artist was also a former attorney who have packed it in for full time painting. I am convinced it was the same artist I heard on the interview. We purchased a large print, which was all we could afford at the time. I still have that print in my studio.

      I did not appreciate it then, but that radio interview I listened to and the poster that we purchased were all forms of content marketing. All pre-internet of course.

      Going Pro

      Fast forward about twenty years. With my wife’s encouragement, I decided to take on the professional painting challenge. Although my paintings were popular I was only selling at markets and a few online at low prices. I had an idea in my head that I could only justify going pro if I could also make a respectable living as an artist. Fair or not. I had some mental baggage and I did not want to look like a hobby artist out of his depth.

      In about five years I turned the corner and I can say that I am on a solid professional base as an artist. I tried many things in the marketing line and worked hard at improving my painting.

      What was the key to making a success?

      Did a top gallery approach me with a great deal? Did a wealthy collector undertake to sponsor my career? Nope. None of the traditional ideas for fine art success. Times had changed. We were also in the middle of a worldwide economic collapse.

      The keys to my change in fortune was taking responsibility for my business career and content marketing.

      You see the problem for us artists is that we are raised to think that others will make our careers. If you want to write for a living then a publisher will have to give you permission to succeed. If you want to paint then an influential gallery, a museum or a state-sponsored grant would be the ticket to wealth. Photographers need a prominent magazine or fashion house contract. These rationalizations will keep you stuck forever.

      Any of those traditional routes can mean success for a few, but for the rest of us? Day jobs and art on the weekends will be the likeliest outcome. Now I know that I am generalizing to a degree to make a point. But that was the world I faced in the 80’s and 90’s.

      In the new millennium, things started to loosen up with the internet. However only from about 2005 did the writing appear on the wall thanks to Facebook and other social channels. (Sorry about the little wall pun) Then the rise of blogging, email and the masses of apps and mobile.

      Suddenly creative people can take charge of their careers and make things happen without deferring to gatekeepers.

      The Problem?

      Those limitations I spoke of still have a hold on many artists. Consequently far too many artists sell themselves short when it comes to marketing. These artists suffer financially and start to doubt themselves. Others make a small living and wait for their big break. Someone will notice them and their career will take off. Maybe Oprah or some other movie star will endorse them. Is that a plan?

      Some believe that social media will make all the difference. Yes, social media is vibrant, fun and it can be exciting when a post goes viral.

      But on its own it is like collecting water with your hands. It all spills away. There is so much more to pick up, but sadly it spills away again. Frustrating.

      Social media is not content marketing. Putting up posts on these channels is not, of itself, enough. Waiting to win the social lotto is not a plan for success. To take advantage of the opportunities that the internet provides requires a plan.

      Often creatives shy away from words like strategy, planning, mission statement and so on. I was guilty of that in the past. Not anymore. I want to show you why strategy can make a difference in your business too. More on that in Part One.

      This book will take you along the creative process where excellent content is brought to life, shared and measured. Your content will help bring your business out of the shadow and into the forefront where it deserves to be. The beauty of it all is that content marketing is not ephemeral. It is a long-term system that will support your goals for years to come.

      Let's get started!

      Chapter One

      What is Content Marketing?

      The important thing is not being afraid to take a chance. Remember, the greatest failure is to not try. Once you find something you love to do, be the best at doing it.

      —Debbi Fields

      Content marketing is a requirement for every good business today. Marketing has of course been around for a long time. Now the internet is part of our life and has become a massive part of content marketing. A vast empowering force that has given you and I the opportunity to do extraordinary things. The potential seems to be limited only by our imaginations. But content marketing also requires us to take action otherwise we could miss out on this potential. First off let us make sure that we understand what content marketing is.

      According to the Content Marketing Institute it is defined as:

      "Content marketing is the marketing and business process for creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action"

      That is a formal definition that sounds a bit daunting. Especially to artists and other creatives who dislike the idea of sales and anything corporate. But let us look at that definition again:

      Marketing and Business: This reminds you that as an entrepreneur you need to marketyour business to see it thrive;

      Process: You need a system that works well for you repeatedly;

      Creating and distributing: Your efforts to create and publish content is required. It is work that remains part of your business.

      Relevant and Valuable Content: Content that is relevant to your audience (fans, customers and clients) and provides value to them.

      Attract, Acquire and engage: Only excellent content will meet these requirements.

      Defined and Understood Target Audience: You need to know your ideal fan, collector or customer.

      Profitable Customer Action: What this action is depends on your business needs and strategy. But you will need to know what this outcome is before you make content.

      That sounds like a hurdle to climb. Is it all worth it?

      There is a simpler way to understand what your content is all about.

      In essence you produce useful content that people find entertaining, useful

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