Tags for this post: Article Distribution Article Marketing Automation FAQ's Marketing Tips
Chariots of Wire
Creative Commons License photo credit: jurvetson

Raise your hand if you’ve ever been annoyed by an automated phone directory system…okay, we see that all hands are raised.

Then why do companies use these automated services if the annoyance factor is so prevalent? Because automation allows us to work smarter, not harder. And since working smarter involves less work, we’re then able to pass on the savings to customers.

Provide specific answers to questions with automated marketing submissions and you’re guaranteed to save time and money, both for you and for your customers.

Automated Articles Promote Virtual Representation

You may not have the money to support a customer service team, but you’re sure to have enough wiggle room in your budget for automated article distribution, especially if you write the articles yourself. Automated article submissions efficiently route prospect concerns and questions before they reach your staff. After they’ve read though your thoroughly crafted articles your customers will be much likelier to be ready to buy when they visit your website or call you or your reps.

Plus, once articles are posted to the Web they stay there to answer the same questions over and over again for one initial price. This saves you from having to repeatedly pay customer service reps to simply address the same recurring issues time and again.

Frequently Asked Questions Require Frequent Answers

Develop a simple FAQ document to help you get the most out of your virtual representation approach.

  • Organize a Tuesday morning meeting and conduct a think-tank session with key members of each department. As with any company or industry, you’ll attain the most comprehensive view of your business when you include personnel from all levels; from the trenches all the way up to “el jefe.”
  • Have each person list the top three to five most frequently occurring issues or questions that they face.
  • Use this feedback to create a master FAQ doc which you will use as a reference for your marketing pieces. You can then break each FAQ down and address each one individually in separate marketing pieces. Of course, you can always simply write a single marketing piece that speaks to each of your FAQ’s, but that may turn out to be too lengthy a piece for easy reading.

Become a Blogoholic

Today’s blogging platforms are easier to use than ever before. They feature extremely user-friendly interfaces that even allow you to automate your blogs through scheduled publishing dates. All you have to do is write your FAQ pieces ahead of time and then edit the publish dates accordingly. Have these scheduled posts go out regularly to your audience, providing them with helpful information about your products or services and even indirectly related issues that sometimes arise.

Any News is Good News—Automate Your Newsletters

Although they’ve been around the online marketing scene for a long time now, newsletters are still a highly-effective marketing tool. They promote constant touch points for your prospects and clients, keeping your business in the front of their minds, and providing your business with a magic talisman to ward off the competition.

And as much as we may strive to answer questions before our prospects have a chance to ask them, it’s also highly beneficial to create questions. Get your readers involved by presenting thought pieces and debatable topics. Not too debatable though—raise just enough interest to encourage interaction without inciting heavy controversy.

Newsletters also provide an ideal platform to slip in some special product or service offers. Since they are enclosed in a medium that provides readers with value and information, these offers appear more like helpful suggestions than requests for their credit cards.

Highest Income-producing Activities

Working smarter not only promotes lower operational expenses, it also frees you up to stick to the business tasks that make you the most money. Besides, you’re sure to have a lot more fun operating your business when you don’t have to manually answer the same questions over and over again.

To your success,

Andrew Rossillo

Andrew Rossillo is Content Crooner’s Marketing Blogger and Staff Writer. He’s ready to put his years of copywriting and online marketing experience to work for your business—he’ll help you get noticed!