No Day But Today

In Chapter 11 of David Meerman Scott’s book, he continues to drive home the importance of online content. His opening line is “If you’ve read the book starting from the beginning, I hope I’ve been able to convince you that Web content sells.”

 Yes Mr. Scott, you officially sold me three chapters ago.

Chapter 11, however, adds a new twist to Web content. He says that you need to think of what kinds of problems your consumer faces, and then answer that problem without mentioning your company or products at all.

My first reaction to this was….HUH???! Not mention the company on our website? That makes no sense! However, after continuing to read the chapter I realized just how beneficial this strategy can be. You can’t just throw a podcast online strictly about your product. That isn’t creative enough and doesn’t help your consumer. It also does not encourage what Scott calls “Online Thought Leadership.” You need to establish yourself as a trusted resource by demonstrating that you are concerned about your consumers problems, not just selling your product.

 I really liked his example about how if you are trying to sell tires you could write an e-book or record a video on how to drive safely in the snow, and then display this on your website. This gives consumers another reason to visit your website: not only to find information about your product, but to also find information relating to the problems or issues the consumers face daily.

This is one more thing to think about when creating a website and developing online content for your company, but I think this is a must-have PR strategy. It really focuses on analyzing your audience, establishing credibility, and drawing in your audience…and that is what PR is all about!