Creating a Content Marketing strategy to generate leads and demand for your products and services. Methods & platforms to use.

1. How to Create & Execute a Content Marketing Strategy for
Lead & Demand Generation
image via searchengineland.com
Content Marketing is a great way to connect and engage with potential
customers. Only through thoughtful connecting and engagement with others
will you be able to obtain quality leads and create demand for your products.
Making people want to connect with you on Social Networks is the key to
uncovering any needs they may have. A great place to start is to write and
create content that informs people on how they can use something or how they
can fix an issue that they are having. This has the effect of offering a value
message to potential customers because you are showing them what you can
do to help. In essence this is yourdigital portfolio. Just as in the offline world,

2. when you are trying to acquire new customers’ part of your strategy is to show
samples of your work and what you have to offer.
Now this might soundlike a lot. To start, try writing comments on blogs that
you think are interesting. This is a great place to get comfortable sharing your
insights in the digital world. Once you write a comment, make sure to follow
up and respond to any replies as this will help get a conversation going. Make
sure that you share the blog that you commentedon so your insights can reach
others. You can do this with articles on LinkedIn as well.
LinkedIn
image via amazonaws.com

3. As you start to build up your confidence to write, you will start to realize that
you possess a lot of knowledge about yourindustry and business that you can
share with others. However, if you are not ready to start writing blogs on a
regular basis you can start by sharing thoughts on LinkedIn by using the
LinkedIn long form.
The LinkedIn long form is a publishing platform that allows users to publish
blog articles and share them with LinkedIn users. The long form can also be
shared on other networks like Twitter & Facebook through the Social Sharing
buttons. You can also share the URL on sites like Google+.
Using the LinkedIn publishing platform is a great way to generate leads
because you can quickly share your thoughts and insights that demonstrate
the value to connections. Yourarticles will also make people want to connect.
People will start to send you invitations to join their network and send you
messages asking to learn more about you. Once you have the interest of the
people, you can tell them about what you have to offer.
The LinkedIn publishing platform is a great first step to creating your own
blog. However, if you want to build up a following on other networks, you will
need to build a website, and create blogs on sites like Wordpress, tumblr &
blogger. I use Wordpress, tumblr, and the LinkedIn publishing platform.
Image via zanderchance.com

4. Wordpress & tumblr
Writing a blog is great way to share yourideas and market your expertise in an
area. I began blogging back in November 2011. Blogging had connected me
with so many great people around the globe. I began publishing on the
Wordpress platform. Recently, I began cross publishing my blog on tumblr.
WordPress
The first thing that you need to do is to register on the site. You will have the
option to create either a wordpress.com address or a custom domain name. I
suggest that you pick a custom domain name because your blog will come up
better in search results. Wordpress gives you a choice of web suffixes to choose
from, for example .com, .me etc. I chose the address http://dangalante.me. If you
decide to change the address after you set up the blog that is ok. The
wordpress.com address will automatically be directed to your new address.

5. It is important to note that you will have to buy the domain name if you want
your own. Hosting is inexpensive and should cost about $25 per year at most
depending on the name you choose. The investment is well worth it because
this will give yourblog its own brand identity.
Once you register, you will see WordPress’s default theme. Click on the
appearance tab and browse the free and premium themes that are available.
You can then choose the one that you would like to install.
Now you are ready to write a post.
To do this click, on the new post tab. A window will pop up. Here you will find
tools to write and edit yourpost. When you are ready to post, just click publish
and you are ready to go.
tumblr
Like Wordpress, you will have to register on tumblr to set up yourblog. I have
provided the link to the registration page. If you land on the home page, just
click on the sign up button.
Once you have signed up, you will be prompted to create a web address. You
will notice that the only address you could create is a tumblr.com address.
Tumblr does not support or partner with site hosting companies. In other
words, you will need to find a third party host on your own. I purchased a
domain name from Yola.com . The name I purchased
is http://askdangalante.com .
Once I securedthe name, I had to point the address to the Tumblr servers.
(Tumblr provides the specific address and exactly what CNAME or A-Records

6. need to be changed. Here is the link. You will know if this is correct if your
address redirects to Tumblr and it say page not found.
You can test your domain address in the box under yourtumblr address in the
blog settings. Your address will not link to the site right away. It took 24
hours; although it can take up to 72.
Now you can click on the customized theme and browse through the free and
premium themes. Pick a theme and now you are ready to post. To post, click
on the text tab which is located underneath the Dashboard tab. You will see a
window where you can copy, paste, write and edit your posts. When you are
done, just click the publish button.
Now you have your all of this content. How do you track your progress? To do
this you will needto set up analytics. LinkedIn provides this for the long form
and Wordpress does this. Howeverfor yourown blog on tumblr and a custom
website you will need to use a site like Google Analytics.

7. Google Analytics
image via adventuretravelnews.com
Google Analytics is a great way to monitor yourefforts online. It allows you to
see how many people are visiting yoursite, the duration of their visit, what

8. content they are looking at and from what network. You can also see what
country they are from. Anotherthing you could do is to set custom goals to
check for certain things. The site allows you to measure the amount of traffic
that comes from social networks. To access this, just click under the social tab
under traffic sources. Google Analytics also lets you track your Adwords
campaigns. I use Google Analytics for my website and tumblr blog.
How to setup Google analytics for yourwebsite and blog. The first thing that
you will need to get started is a Gmail account. Now with your Gmail account,
go to the Google Analytics website. You will needto click the create an account
button. Next you will be asked to login to you Gmail account. You will then be
asked to create a profile and add the website URL that you want to track. You
can also provide your time zone. Once you provide this, the site will provide
you with a tracking code. Next, you will need to copy and paste this into the
html section of each page of your website or blog. If you have done this
correctly, you will see that the tracking code is installed.
You will start to see statistics about your visitors within a few hours. It is
important to note that you cannot use Google Analytics with WordPress.com.
WordPress provides users with a set of analytics.
I have also included a video tutorial via http://www.brilliantbusinessadvice.com/
This how to get started using content marketing for the purpose of lead &
demand generation.

9. About the Author
Dan is passionate about using Marketing to help businesses drive sales. He
has worked on various marketing assignments that include a Start Up,
Political Campaign & a Digital Marketing Conference.
Prior to Teaching, Dan served customers as an Outside Sales & Marketing
Representative in the Dental industry. In this role, he taught and trained
Dentists on the company's products and services using a consultative selling
approach. He also supported the company's marketing efforts at industry
trade shows & in the field through lead generation of Digital Technology along
with large Dental Equipment.
He writes and publishes a business blog on the topics of Sales, Marketing &
Social Media entitled Sales, Marketing & Social Media Today.
Dan is seeking a full time marketing role in New York City. He is interested in
roles in Direct, Digital, Content & Social Media Marketing. If your company is
hiring for roles in these areas, contact him directly via a free LinkedIn
Message or email him at Dan@DanGalante.com to set up interviews.