Images Magazine Digital Edition August 2018

www.images-magazine.com AUGUST 2018 images 19 BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT How to revitalise your content marketing strategy in five steps Keyword Planner is probably the most efficient. This will give you an idea of what your audience are actually searching for, allowing you to build content around these key terms. It will also aid your search engine optimisation (SEO) efforts. 4 Pick the right channel for your business Different platforms require distinct types of content, which I have touched on in previous articles [view at www.images- magazine.com ]. For example, posting content via LinkedIn where you are likely to be reaching out to decision markers requires a more formal approach than that of Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Snapchat. The key is to be engaging across all channels: you want customers to see you as interesting, someone they can trust and build a working relationship with. 5 Aim for ‘evergreen’ This is the ultimate goal for content marketers. Creating updated content repeatedly is a challenge – sometimes the ideas may run out or you may not have time with whatever else might be going on. Evergreen content is a ‘timeless’ piece that will always be of interest to your customers. Producing this will also help drive traffic and raise brand awareness over a sustained period of time. Andrew Langridge is from ETrader, one of the industry’s leading suppliers of websites to garment decorators across the UK. www.etraderwebsites.co.uk M arketing results are often calibrated on the number of impressions and impacts that are generated by the planned marketing activity. Clothing can be a major contributor, with fashionable, well-branded clothing consistently delivering the required results. The promotional clothing sector is ever more closely following retail trends and fashions, which means that a company can now maximise its brand not only through giveaways, but also through recipients choosing to wear branded clothing both inside and outside the workplace. The growing array of quality blank garments with contrasting detail and differing cuts and materials frommany of the clothing suppliers underlines this trend. This direction towards retail quality clothing and branding has prompted the emergence of a new sector in the market. We have always had off-the-shelf and bespoke – well, now we have bespoke-like. This is where the garment decorator takes a blank garment from their suppliers and makes retail-style changes to it. These changes can take the form of a neck label change, adding a hem label, changing the zip pull toggles, or stitching on rubber or leather badges, to name but a few. Along with Clive Allcott is the commercial director for Screenworks and a member of the BPMA board and The Branded Clothing Group. If you have a question for the BPMA, please email editorial@images-magazine.com with BPMA in the subject line. BPMA: BESPOKE-LIKE GARMENTS general branding techniques in non-standard positions – such as the left shoulder Superdry-style – they are turning standard promotional clothing items into bespoke-like retail products with the benefits of shorter delivery times, manageable quantities and easier reordering, all of which offers distinct advantages over the traditional bespoke route, and an effective way to maximise those all-important impressions and impacts. C ontent marketing is the art of creating valuable, relevant and interesting content for your brand‘s audience. Engaging customers in this way has a profound effect on several areas of your business such as increasing sales, improving customer retention and customer acquisition. Here are five simple steps for content marketing success: 1 Undertake a review In one way or another, your business will have produced – and does produce – content. You have copy on your website saying what your company does, and you have probably also produced videos, blogs and social media chatter. You need to look at all the platforms and ways in which you share your brand, its values and its services. Review this content, and identify areas of strength and weaknesses, noting what needs to be addressed. Look at what your competitors are doing and how their customers are reacting to their content – what can you learn? 2 Consider and plan what type of content you will use There are many types of content to consider using, such as social media, blogs, infographics, videos and ebooks. You need to weigh up their relative advantages and disadvantages when planning your content. Think about: • Who is your target audience? • What is the purpose and aim of the content? • What type of medium are they likely to engage with? • What medium fits with the resources you have available? • Will you be able to produce content on these to time and on budget? 3 Use Google AdWords Keyword Planner Now you have an idea of what type of content you are going to produce, the creative juices will be flowing with mind maps and campaign ideas. Validate your ideas using a keyword tool. There are hundreds out there, but Google AdWords