Internet Marketing Digital_marketing_for_dummies | Page 90

to your prospects. If you sell outdoor equipment, for example, each episode of your
podcast can give tips and tricks about hunting, fishing, camping, and other outdoor
activities while also subtly reminding your listener of the outdoor equipment available
at your store.
Microsites: A microsite is essentially an auxiliary blog about a specific topic that is put
on a different site with its own links and address; a microsite is accessed mainly from a
larger site. For instance, DadsDivorce.com is a separate domain of the men’s family
law firm Cordell & Cordell. DadsDivorce.com provides free content for divorcing
fathers and is designed to raise awareness about the services and solutions Cordell &
Cordell can provide.
Print magazines and newsletters: This type of content can require a bigger budget
than digital content, but if going this route falls within your budget, print magazines
and newsletters are still a great way to raise awareness. For example, the Lego Club
Magazine contains plenty of entertaining comic book style content for Lego’s target
customer. Magazines and newsletters help sales by inspiring shoppers based on what
they see in print.
Primary research: This is research you go out and collect yourself, such as surveys,
interviews, and observations. Although this data can be difficult and time consuming to
gather, primary research is powerful because only a finite amount of primary research
exists. Specifically, when you take the time to create research, you’re providing a
service and saving people from having to do their own primary research. For this
reason, primary research can stir a good deal of awareness among your prospects.
Do you need all these content types at the top of the funnel? Heck, no. Most
businesses focus on posting content to a blog and to social media channels such as
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. After you’ve mastered blogging and
social media updates, you might want to add more top-of-funnel content to the mix,
such as a podcast or a print newsletter.
The big goal at the top of the funnel is to make prospects “problem aware” and
“solution aware.” In Figure 4-4, notice how Whole Foods uses its Whole Story blog
to raise awareness for the seafood the grocery store sells. In this way, Whole Foods is
reminding its audience of the products it sells, making its audience “solution aware”
while providing people with recipes they find valuable.