By Emma Richter

You press the button, either up or down and two doors open.

Anybody can be in the elevator when the “ding” chimes: a potential customer, employer, celebrity, co-worker–anyone. 

When you are put on the spot and have to answer the question, “So, what do you do” or “what do you sell?” you want to be ready with an answer that will wow!

Many people get “stage fright” when asked about themselves and their companies. They hem and haw. That’s not a sign of confidence.

That’s why having a corporate elevator pitch ready–yes, it’s called that for a reason!–is the epitome of prior proper planning. It’s called an elevator pitch because, ideally, it’s an introduction of yourself and your company that you can do during one short elevator ride. Quick. To the point.

Online, your website becomes your elevator pitch.

Need help making sure your website attracts customers?

Contact Harmonia Media for help with SEO, Content & More!

In addition to digital marketing, there are many opportunities for networking–offline and outside an elevator. Regardless, making a great first impression means having an elevator pitch ready. It’s important to start perfecting the art of an elevator pitch now. Learn how you’re going to market yourself and your company in 60 seconds or less.

According to Forbes, “recent trends suggest that people, especially millennials, are becoming increasingly invested in the why behind a business–the greatest purpose your company exists to serve…”

That being said, make sure your verbal pitch (and website) tell the “why” behind your story! Just as you don’t waste your site’s “About Page” with history no one cares about, make sure your verbal pitch makes a lasting impression and will compel people to want to know more.

Tell prospective customers WHY they should buy from you.

In person, the first step to making connections is to create a bond or connection with your audience. Introduce yourself in the most polite and professional way. But, it is also important to stay genuine to who you are and what your company is about, while  avoiding the feeling or need to act “robotic” or stiff.

Many people hate traditional face to face networking because they feel awkward trying to just jump into a conversation–much less start one. In these cases, body language speaks volumes. People can pick up on awkwardness and forced connection, and it could be detrimental to how you come across.

The next step is having what you want to say prepared beforehand. It doesn’t have to be a script, in fact, it shouldn’t be memorized. That’s why you need to practice your personal and business pitches in advance.

Who Is Your Audience?

Truthfully, you will need a couple of pitches, because you wouldn’t be introducing yourself to a potential mate the same way you would a potential client or boss, right?

Once you know your audience, you need to put together a short introduction that offers the receiver the “essence” of who you are. And, really, who knows you better than you? When it comes to a personal intro, just sit with yourself and think about who you are and how you want people to view you.

Professionally speaking, if you think there is someone who may know you as well as you know yourself, consider asking them how they would describe you. You can use their words to craft your own professional introduction.

People want to do business with people, not random companies. Google drives traffic to websites (when your site is properly optimized) but when someone gets to your site, your content messaging needs to be informative and helpful to the person to get them to contact you and/or “buy now.” 

But in person, it’s a whole different story. You’re on! So, you need to be ready. As a starting point, you can start by writing down a couple of adjectives that describe you, as well as skills that you have obtained that reveal your expertise in your particular area and some personal characteristics. For example, honesty, loyalty, a sense of creativity and passion are necessary for both pitches.

Let’s face it, a CEO of a company won’t want to hear about your hobbies first, they’re going to want to hear about what you can bring to the position that nobody else can bring. But that CEO is a person too. If you see their office filled with photos of dogs and you love animals, it wouldn’t hurt to drop the fact that you like to volunteer at the local shelter or even that you have a dog at home.

It is also a good idea to bring up a story that has impacted you or shaped who you are. In that story, it can tell your audience who you are and all about your company’s raison d’etre.

In an elevator or not, the art of an elevator pitch is key to sharing yourself with others for a variety of reasons from winning a new client to getting a new job to meeting a new friend. Your pitch is the essence of your brand, Yes, YOUR brand. You have one. Don’t be afraid to talk about it with everyone you meet.

So, practice your talking points. Take a deep breath. Your star is on the rise so press the “up” button and start selling who you are to the world. First impressions do matter.

This is the final article in Harmonia Media’s three- part series about repurposing web content. 

In the old days of marketing, we used to say consumers need to see and read or hear something eight or 10 times before they connect with the messaging. Maybe that’s still true or maybe the statistics have changed.

Doesn’t matter. What matters is that you have meter seconds to catch someone’s eye before they’re off to the next thing.

This means companies looking to connect with prospective customers must be savvy. You’ve got one shot on goal and you have to make it count.

Except…. When you have more than one shot on goal. This is the definition of repurposing content: taking text you’ve used for one purpose and tweaking it to use it many times in different ways.

In the first and second articles in this three-part series on repurposing content, we discussed “How to Repurpose Content to Reinforce Targeted Messaging & Save Time” and “4 Great Ways to Repurpose Web Content.” This last part of the series focuses on what not to do when you are repurposing web content.

Don’t Forget to Review Data and Statistics 

Some statistics related to the content we create can change so quickly that it’s critical to check your work. Don’t forget to take the time to check any statistics you are repurposing to make sure the info is still accurate.

Updating constantly is unnecessary, but keeping your information current will help your audience view you as a reliable source for the most up-to date information.

Don’t Rehash Out of Date Keywords

Just because something was trending on social media two months ago doesn’t mean it’s still a thing.  You don’t want to appear behind the times by posting hashtags that “date” your content.

When you are repurposing content, it’s a good time to evaluate the key words associated with a particular article and update them. Also, change the hashtags on a repurposed social post.

You may need to consider eliminating any hashtags that are no longer performing the same as they were at the time of the original post.

Watch Out for Duplicate Copy Problems!

Repeating social content is fine and absolutely advised. It’s a great way to save time and extend your reach.

However, if you plan to repurpose an article or information from your website (or any other website) don’t risk getting dinged by Google for duplicate copy.

You can avoid this by:

• rewriting the article using different words that retain the meaning (big instead of large, as an example)
• changing the order of bullets
• summarizing some information in the article into bullet points
• rewriting the headline, opening paragraph and conclusion, etc.

Think about it like this, if you even momentarily think you are plagiarizing content that has already been published on the Internet (even if you wrote it to begin with), you need to do some heavy editing before reposting.

Harmonia Media can help you connect with customers and prospects with high quality content. We are happy to repurpose your old content so you can use it again. Contact us for a free phone or Zoom consultation.

This article is the second in a three-part series on making your content work double and triple duty when it comes to marketing your brand online. Read Part 1, How to Repurpose Content to Reinforce Targeted Messaging & Save Time.

You’ve already spent hours creating content and there’s a variety of ways you can revive it to create something brand new. You’ll get more mileage out of a topic or article and you’ll be able to post on social media more often—without making yourself crazy looking for new ideas!

Change the Image 

This is the down and dirty method of repurposing content. Selecting a new image to go with a repurposed social media post takes moments and it immediately gives your old post a new shine.

Change the Format 

For longer form content, an article can be shifted into a shorter blog post, a blog post can become a new social post, and any information can be turned into an infographic!!

Video is IN!

Many companies opt to create video versions of content for YouTube. Pick the main points from your blog and create a script for your video. You can appear in the video reviewing the main points, or you can use stock photos or videos to bring your blog to life. Add a recorded voice-over explaining the points, and you’ve got yourself a YouTube video.

From there, you can link it to another post on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram to drive your audience to your YouTube channel.

Length Matters

People have the attention span of goldfish these days (not a lot!) So another way to repurpose content is to take a short blog post and turn it into a listicle. Or, take a longer article and cut it down.

Another option is to separate a long form article into a series of very short bulleted posts.

One more comment on length… if you want a bunch of long- form content but are short on ideas, choose one of your established pieces and break it down into articles that go in depth on a variety of points made in the old article.

When looking for extra social posts, create several posts pointing out individual points in the same one blog post and lead readers to your blog to read it!

Take the guesswork out of content creation and posting on social media. Contact Harmonia Media for a consultation about how we can help drive more traffic (paying customers!) to your website.

And, if you missed it, read part 1 of the series here.

This article is the first in a three-part series on making your content work double and triple duty when it comes to marketing your brand online. 

One of the biggest challenges content creators face is having a consistent flow of engaging content. This is especially true when it comes to posting on social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. You want fresh info to share but the idea bucket is dangerously low and time isn’t on your side.

What’s Old is New Again

What do you do? Smart content developers take what’s old—yet still great and relevant—and repurpose it.

Take a look at your blog and the last year’s worth of social posts. Everything you need, whether you’re in a time crunch or have hit a writer’s block, is in front of your eyes in the form of content that’s been written, posted and is ready for a refresh.

On social media, you can—and should—actually repeat posts over a period of time. First, not everyone saw it the first time (and maybe not the second or third either) and, even if they did see it before, repetition is key to marketing. Secondly, it’s quite likely your followers aren’t cataloging your posts. What is old to you will appear brand new to others.

Repurposing your best content will save you time and energy. Updating content that performed well in the past will help you take advantage of powerful information and continue to showcase your messages.

The bottom line is that giving your previous content a make-over will save you time and get more mileage out of work you’ve already done.

Invite Harmonia Media in to help you drive more traffic to your website with great content!

Effective web content isn’t easy to create. It takes a skilled writer, an understanding of the target audience and a talent for storytelling to compel reader, or customer, action.

What’s the point of having great content on your website? There are actually at least three reasons to make sure your content marketing is extraordinary. (Two of them are Google-related; one is less tech-y.)

These are the same reasons why, no matter how good your current web content may have read the last time you did an update, it’s not good enough today.

Reasons 1 & 2: Google loves new, high-quality content and it rewards sites that offer it by frequently indexing those sites.

The more often search engines index your site, the more likely your chances of winning a higher ranking in search results.

The second reason is behind-the-scenes. Whenever you post new content, whether a new page, blog post or article, or you just refresh the words on your site so what’s old sounds new again, you have the chance to add more SEO-loving keywords.

Now, in no way are we saying you should be loading up on keywords for keyword sake. (That’s called keyword stuffing and it’s a no-no. Readers hate that!)

Strategic content updates wherein you add some important words, on the other hand, are very helpful.

So, when given the chance, I toss “digital marketing strategy” into a blog post– for good measure.

Relevant keywords come in very handy when your site is being indexed and for ranking purposes. The more high-quality content with regular keywords you add, the higher your ranking.

Translation: more would-be customers can find you online easier.

So, let’s get to it. What’s the most important, non-techy reason to update your content online?

Well, what’s the point of your website? It is to engage, inform and compel customers to stay, read, click and, hopefully, connect (and buy?)  Right? Exactly.

So, answer these questions:

– Has your company made any changes, improvements or enhancements?

– Have you added any new offerings?

– Upgraded your pricing?

– Do you have literally anything new to share with would-be customers?

If your answers are “no, no, no and no,” you may not need to refresh your web content.

However, I would love to know, are you making any money?

Companies, and their accompanying websites, are living, breathing entities. If you’re not growing, you’re stagnating. In today’s marketplace, stagnation is a death knoll.

Continually updating your web content provides customers with new existing information, more calls-to-action and more reasons to give your brand a chance.

Information, online, sells. In other words,  want to increase sales? Refresh your information, or content, online.

Need help? Meet Harmonia Media. When it comes to adding content or refreshing what you already have, we are a great place to start.

Contact us today for a free 15-minute phone consultation.