How To Grow Your Business Using Your Smartphone

Here is my takeaway from Chapter Three of The New Rules of Marketing and PR David Meerman Scott

We are free from relying solely on the media, today, anyone with a smartphone and a focus on reaching buyers online can grow their business, even in a competitive market.

Large, corporate hotel sites suck, they are pretty much just big brochures, all with cookie cutter content that only speaks about the hotel and does not utilize content marketing effectively.

On the flip side, take for example a small hotel in Belize, they create content about the location, not just the hotel, then when people want to visit Belize and look up things to do they find great articles such as "Why Belize is the Best Place to Honeymoon" or "Top 10 Things to do in Belize". When they decide to book a trip to Belize, they will probably book with the site that educated them about it. Content Marketing.

Big TV commercials might make you feel good, but are they effective? Think about the niche audience and you will begin to realize where you can create helpful content that will drive interested costumers to you.

The long hairs for example, created to educate men with long hair about how to deal with it (and to shush the bullies), began by blogging tips for guys with long hair. Today, they sell a range of men's hair accessories to their large costumer/fan base.

What works is a focus on your buyers and their problems, what fails is an egocentric display of your products and your services.

Think like a publisher, start with a strategy, define your target audience, ask, who are my readers? How can I reach them? Which of their problems can I help solve? What will compel them to purchase?