All businesses seek cost-effective ways to increase traffic, engage customers and drive sales. The good news is that BIG IDEA content marketing can do this. The Internet is built around content and leveraging ideas is the most cost-effective form of marketing.

Identify the Big Idea –Content marketing works best when it is built around a Big Idea or hot-button issue that is top of mind in your marketplace. Suppose you manufacture 12 flavors of frozen yogurt, one of which is newly invented from almond milk. If research and consumer trends show people moving away from dairy treats, your Big Idea might try to catch this trend: “Non-Dairy Frozen Yogurt: Consumer research shows a growing non-dairy trend.”

Demonstrate Thought Leadership – Once you have an idea you can run with, the next step is to create a white paper, benchmark study, or e-book that engages prospects, demonstrates your authority and positions your brand on the leading edge: “The Non-Dairy Revolution in Frozen Dessert: How consumer tastes are changing.”

Gated Content – Create a landing page to host the digital content and require users to provide contact information before downloading. In addition to providing enhanced SEO and brand visibility, “gated” downloads capture valuable sales leads.

Integrated Content Marketing CampaignBuild a Message Platform – The goal of BIG IDEA content marketing is to set the pole, then anchor it with a broad footprint of “ tent stakes.” These include:

  • Social media – Content marketing is traditionally synonymous with social media. Tent-Pole marketing takes it a step further by driving conversations that people care about in a coordinated fashion. Keep your Big Idea front and center in your social content.
  • Press releases – News stories offer powerful viral potential while enhancing SEO, but they must have news value. If your Big Idea is backed by a research study or dovetails with current events, a press release adds relevancy to your story.
  • SEO landing pages – If you use SEO research to identify your Big Idea, creating an SEO-relevant landing page will help drive visitors to your site.
  • Video – Your goal is to demonstrate thought leadership in your field. Video interviews with key people and customers can bolster your industry authority.
  • Webinars – If you offer a solution to a problem, a Webinar puts a face to your Big Idea. An email campaign can take reservations, send out reminders, and provide follow-up materials and sales leads.
  • Individualized Presentations – Offer individualized one-on-one presentations of the Big Idea. SlideShark lets you deliver a slide deck over the phone and on the fly without logging into a full screen-share application.
  • Banners ads – Your home page offers premier placement to announce the Big Idea. You can also buy paid placement on industry news sites.
  • Promos – If you can find a conceptual tie-in, go ahead and offer giveaways for participation. We created an email campaign for a printing company that included personalized printed note cards when prospects clicked through to the Big Idea and submitted their purchasing demographics.
  • Print – The great irony is that in an increasingly digital world, direct mail offers a tangible way to add substance to the Big Idea. New postal technology allows emails to launch when printed mail is delivered.
  • Email – Email is the engine that drives the campaign. Every contact, download, reservation, reminder, etc. uses email to keep the Big Idea in front of your prospects.

Launch the campaign– Tent-Pole campaigns must be coordinated for all the pieces to work together. A marketing calendar and flow charts are a must.

Supplement existing marketing – Tent-Pole content marketing can be staged as a 3-month to 6-month hit-and-run campaign. It’s designed to recharge your relevancy while keeping your customers connected with your brand.

Keep your brand story relevant, visible, and top of mind – Tent-Pole Big Idea Marketing creates numerous opportunities for your customers to encounter a consistent, relevant message – a message that answers a top-of-mind question or solves a problem. By offering valuable content through immediate action, your prospects see you as a solution to their needs.  Bottom line, you’re trying to move people to act — and people are moved by Big Ideas.