News Content Best Practices

Content Marketing means creating and sharing valuable free content to attract and convert prospects into customers, and customers into repeat buyers. The type of content you share is closely related to what you sell; in other words, you’re educating people so that they know, like, and trust you enough to do business with you.

Why should I provide updated NEWS CONTENT?

When making purchasing decisions, people are looking for valuable information. It’s content that people desire and seek out, and it’s great content that Google wants to rank well in the search results so those people can find your business.

Content is the best way to achieve what advertising is supposed to achieve, but doesn’t always do so well online — to get people to know, like, and trust your brand.

Wine Industry Network (WIN) provides both the tools (email, website, supplier profiles & trade show) and the highly targeted B2B audience for your content to be seen. The “What’s New” posts are an important tactic for driving traffic to your WIN profile and help position your company as THE best choice.

What type of content should I provide?

Industry related news or events. Harvest season, trade show season… what have you learned that you can share with your customers?
The current or upcoming seasons. Is your business (or more importantly, your client’s business) affected by the seasons?
Education. What challenges do your customers face and what is your specific solution? Highlight what makes your company unique.
Case study and/or client success story. Understanding how you’ve helped similar businesses will help your reader identify and apply the story of success to them.
New Products or Services. What’s new that customers can look forward to? Use the “What’s New” posts to build excitement.
Frequently Asked Questions. Every business has commonly asked questions. Since people continue to ask, you should continue to answer. These never get old.
Sales or special offers…everyone loves a good deal.

How often should I be providing NEWS CONTENT?

Like all marketing, consistency is a major key to success! Plan to post once a month, every six weeks at the minimum. Creating a six to twelve month calendar with topic ideas based on the seasonality of your business will make the process easier.

Any other tips?

Body of the post: This is where you support the headline and execute on the promise to deliver useful information. A few things to keep in mind when writing the body of the post: Educate and serve. Give the reader something of value. Does the information help them make or save money, save time, grow their business, etc.? Write from a personal perspective, not just from a “brand messaging” perspective.

Include testimonials and/or pictures to help drive home your point. Provide links to videos, pdf’s or any other information that help making a decision easier for your prospect.

Call to action: You’ve just written your best post ever — but without a “call to action”, it’s not going to get you the results you’re hoping for. A “call to action” simply means asking or telling the reader to do something. Your “call to action” should be clear and specific. Think of including something like: “Find out more by calling …” or “Send us an email at …. to discuss how we can help you”, or “take the next steps by…”