How Barb Sawyers, Newsletter Expert, Does Content Marketing

I've been asking people what content marketing means to them for their businesses. And I've been getting some interesting responses that I'm featuring here. Hopefully, you will gain a better understanding of what this popular buzz term means to people like yourselves, in small businesses.

This response is from Barb Sawyers, who runs the successful site Stickemail, Communications that Stick, and the blog, Sticky Communications. Barb has had mixed results from her efforts so far, and candidly expresses a few doubts. She'd like to see more action, more quickly, yet wants to avoid the "hard sell" copywriting of many internet marketers. Perhaps some of you can relate?

Q: What does Content Marketing mean to you in your business?

I was thrilled to discover content marketing because it gave a new respectability to what I've been doing for the past 30 years. I'm a corporate communication writer, with the first half my career in government, associations and the private sector and the last half as an independent. I have never enjoyed hard-sell marketing communication, but love writing for people who want to educate and inspire.

Q: How are you doing it now?

For the past two years, I have been trying to expand my business through content-based email newsletters, www.stickycommunication.ca, with limited success. I'm not into the heavy-hype internet marketing, but I saw a market for people who wanted to convey their expertise through a well-written and produced newsletter.

However, I have found that many of these people either want to do it themselves, often badly, or use canned copy. Or maybe I'm just not enough of a sales person or SEO expert. To promote Stickemail, I produce a regular newsletter and  more recently started a similar blog, barbsawyers.wordpress.com. I thoroughly enjoy it, but much of my business continues to flow from my long-term, traditional clients.

My how-to-write newsletters and blogs are the most popular, which has encouraged me to start working on an e-book for people who want to write better and easier without having to learn all those damn rules. My vision is to sell the book for lots of money online and become a sought-after speaker.

Q: How does it work, and how isn't it working like it should?

I keep telling myself everything will eventually add up to the results I desire, but I still have to spend more time than I'd like working for my base clients to support my family. I would like to speed it up, without being a slick sales person, a dilemma you seem to share. Any advice from you or your readers would be greatly appreciated.

Barb

Let me know your own experiences on the Web using content to attract, sell and profit online. Use the comment link to share on this blog, or send me an email. -- Patsi

Comments

[Kendall Wigoda]

I think that a lot of people naively believe that they can create their own internet marketing materials. The tools are so user-friendly now that they overlook that the tools are only enablers. It requires skill to create effective marketing content. They also don't realize that true stickiness comes with effort and luck -- and often unexpectedly.

[Patsi aka The Blog Squad]

Interesting comment, Kendall. Yes, the good news is that the tools are getting easier to use. And yes, it's a good idea to think before your publish, or get good help and learn how to do it right when it comes to content marketing. Effort and luck are always good companions, of course! But I don't think luck works if you don't put your smart hat on and do things right.