educational content

Jul

2023

Bridging the Knowledge Gap: A.R. Marketing House’s Mission to Drive Sustainability Through Environmental Content

Investments in global renewable energy surged to $1.3 trillion in 2022, signifying a transformative shift towards sustainable practices, with renewable energy leading the charge. Sustainable investments from consumers, investors, and businesses are still trending toward the mainstream. As we navigate this environmental consciousness era, businesses seek innovative ways to communicate and promote sustainability without greenwashing. One company at the forefront of this movement is A.R. Marketing House, a leader in education-based environmental content marketing.

A.R. Marketing House is deeply committed to supporting businesses in their renewable energy and zero-waste initiatives. We strive to support companies in their sustainability objectives through education and marketing, believing that with the right knowledge and support, organizations can achieve their sustainability goals.. A.R. Marketing House’s approach is unique: the team combines strategic marketing techniques with a deep understanding of environmental issues to help businesses communicate their sustainability initiatives effectively.

Like any pioneering effort, A.R. Marketing House helps clients who face their own set of challenges. Clarifying complex environmental issues, crafting beginner-friendly explanations, and identifying the right audience for each message are all hurdles clients have encountered. These challenges have not deterred us. On the contrary, we’ve developed specialized strategies to address each of these areas, ensuring that clients’ sustainability messages are clearly understood and effectively communicated so that people can take action.

A.R. Marketing House works closely with our clients to promote sustainability and zero waste. We begin by analyzing existing communications to identify areas for improvement. We then develop a strategic communications plan, carefully selecting the right strategies and partnerships to execute a comprehensive and effective campaign. This approach has proven successful, with A.R. Marketing House having worked with major entities such as LAX, the City of Los Angeles, State Farm, and Cornell University to educate on important environmental topics.

Looking ahead, A.R. Marketing House is committed to supporting businesses offering sustainability and zero-waste solutions. The team’s work extends to companies offering B2B services in these areas, intending to foster a more sustainable corporate landscape.

As we navigate the future, full-scope corporate responsibility, our expertise in effective and transparent sustainability communications will become even more crucial. It will greatly benefit CMOs needing an environmental science communications edge. We’ve set the bar high, demonstrating that responsible practices in communications about waste, people, and business are not just possible but imperative for long-term success. Companies can become more resilient and well-equipped to navigate the future by instilling higher standards and future-proofing operations.

While renewable energy continues to play a significant role in corporate sustainability, zero-waste initiatives are equally important. A.R. Marketing House is helping businesses walk the talk and contribute to a more sustainable future through its targeted, education-based approach.

Guide to Educating Your Audience About Environmental Issues

Recognize the Importance of Education: The first step is acknowledging the crucial role of education in promoting sustainability. Understand that your audience needs to be well-informed about the issues to gain buy-in for environmental initiatives.
Identify Your Audience’s Knowledge Gap: Different audiences have different levels of understanding about environmental issues. Determine where your audience’s knowledge gaps lie to tailor your educational initiatives appropriately.
Partner with Experts: Leverage the expertise of companies like A.R. Marketing House, which specialize in environmental education. They can help you craft accurate, easy-to-understand content that resonates with your audience.
Clarify Complex Environmental Issues: A key challenge in sustainability education is making complex issues understandable for beginners. A.R. Marketing House has experience in simplifying complex environmental topics for various audiences.
Create Tailored, Educational Content: Work with your environmental content partner to generate content that educates your audience on environmental concerns and the ways your organization is responding to them. This could be in the form of blog posts, webinars, infographics, social media posts, or any other medium your audience engages with.
Measure Impact and Adjust Accordingly: Regularly evaluate the effectiveness of your educational efforts and adjust your strategy as needed. Feedback from your audience can be a valuable tool for continuous improvement.
Demonstrate Long-Term Commitment: Show your audience that your educational efforts and environmental initiatives are more than just a marketing tactic. Demonstrate your long-term commitment to sustainability and education, setting a positive example for your industry.
Promote Actionable Steps: Beyond understanding environmental issues, your audience needs to know how to contribute. Provide actionable steps your audience can take to be part of the solution.

With this guide, businesses can better understand how to educate their audiences about environmental issues and the benefits of partnering with a company like A.R. Marketing House.

Ready to revolutionize your approach to sustainability? Want to communicate your environmental initiatives in a way that truly resonates with your audience? A.R. Marketing House is here to elevate your sustainability communications. Our team of experts is ready to help you bridge the knowledge gap, craft powerful messages, and inspire your audience to join your sustainability journey. It’s time to make a more significant impact. Reach out today, and let’s shape a greener future together!

Jan

2022

Don’t Just Quote the King, Embody His Message: The Formula for Making an Impact

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led an entire era. What made him a powerful and effective communicator was that he educated, engaged, and motivated people into action. In fact, to this day, his words continue to ignite and spark new generations to action that continue to face oppression.

One significant difference between MLK’s era and today is that many more people are leading companies with the heart and power to drive an impact, both environmentally and socially. Inspired by impact investing, these companies higher on the social and environmental spectrum are investing in a cleaner, more equitable future. Whether that be educating on and implementing workplace diversity, helping reduce waste, proliferating renewable energy, cleaning up water supply, you name it. It’s not a winner-take-all capitalism game for future-proof businesses. Because of that, there are a lot of lessons that young environmental entrepreneurs can learn from MLK’s impactful strategies, emotional metaphors, academic writings, stories, and speeches.

Dr. King’s tactics can be effectively adopted by today’s disruptors, innovators, renewable energy knights, and organizations adopting solid social and sustainable initiatives. His approach could be used to introduce and motivate people to make better environmental choices which ultimately impact all members of our society. Dr. King understood the interconnectedness of everything – as he once said, “An injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

Here’s how environmental companies can adopt the formula of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to improve their measurable impact on the planet.

Education

“A great majority of the so-called educated people do not think logically and scientifically. Even the press, the classroom, the platform, and the pulpit, in many instances, do not give us objective and unbiased truths. To save man from the morass of propaganda, in my opinion, is one of the chief aims of education. Education must enable one to sift and weigh evidence, to discern the true from the false, the real from the unreal, and the facts from the fiction.” -Martin Luther King, Jr.

Education is a vital aspect of helping our society turn the corner on new, healthier initiatives. We cannot make an educated shift if we aren’t given the information and the tools necessary to do so. The lesson here from Dr. King is that if we are delivering a solution to one or more of the issues this world faces, we must incorporate education on the issue and the solution we’re presenting.

People are now accustomed to having answers at their fingertips. And if we aren’t providing an in-depth, relevant, and transparent explanation – our business and its offerings can be seen as mildly irrelevant – not part of the conversation. These conversations and educational efforts can be executed IRL, online, social media – perhaps the metaverse. Enlisting the power of engagement can be helpful when delivering our education. It’s what Dr. King did. Why wouldn’t we learn from what worked?

It is an especially important time for environmental companies and organizations to claim their role in society and accept a new level of social responsibility. When creating educational content, remember that your organization was created to make an impact. That means it also needs to improve how marketing is done and what it does for people – helpful, transparent, and educational is where we want to be.

Collaboration – supporting and leveraging other movements

MLK was fighting for social justice, but he also deeply understood the interrelated components of all movements and the importance of actively supporting many issues that ultimately shared the umbrella of injustice. Dr. King knew in order to achieve social justice; environmental justice must be achieved. Healthier living environments for every community and access to clean air, water, and soil all led back to racial equality and voter rights.

Dr. King leveraged and supported many movements and organizations in order to reach the overall goal of social justice. Martin Luther King, Jr. recognized how many great movements of his time were linked. Environmental organizations and companies can realize this as well. Many movements could be stronger with collaboration and recognizing how interdependent they are.

“It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. Did you ever stop to think that you can’t leave for your job in the morning without being dependent on most of the world? This is the way our universe is structured; this is its interrelated quality. We aren’t going to have peace on Earth until we recognize this basic fact of the interrelated structure of all reality.” -Martin Luther King, Jr.

For organizations solving environmental woes, let’s think about the movements or companies we can partner with to get more reach and grow our impact together. Without bastardizing a cause, how can we genuinely support our community on important and interrelated issues? How can we use our marketing dollars or combine our marketing dollars with others on education to shed light on significant problems we’re solving? Make an effort to collaborate and form deeper connections with our people and demonstrate our organization’s genuine desire to solve, educate, uplift, engage, inform, and create great and lasting changes in the world.

Political Engagement and Involvement

Dr. King spent much of his life meeting with politicians, leading marches, speaking, writing, and organizing political activism campaigns that were instrumental in the changes that occurred. Green companies are uniquely positioned to learn from King’s past and apply it to create a better future. Most organizations are involved to some degree in policy influencing, whether that be having a lobbying arm in the company, being part of an association that lobbies for a particular industry, or getting individuals to sign environmental petitions. We are amidst many environmental changes affecting our daily lives; while the old powers are trying to cling to their stagnant seats in the market, a shift is happening. Environmental brands are positioned to adopt with ferocity and approach political engagement tactics for the issues our green brand represents, just as Dr. King did.

Consumers are hungry for truth, transparency, and political action on the environmental issues they support. Environmental companies who wish to have long-term staying power in their industry will rally the support of community members and consumers and sway political agendas in a better direction. Dominant sectors like petrochemical, plastic, and non-renewable energy companies have used the power of lobbying for decades. Environmental companies might not have the same sizable budget necessary for a lobbying firm retainer; perhaps utilizing the same principles of lobbying firms and incorporating them into our content marketing strategy is the alternative action. Combining communication, education, and collaborations can help fuel political campaigns our community wants to support.

Storytelling and Engagement – Lead with a positive outcome

There was no doubt when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke; we knew he understood and deeply empathized with the people he spoke for. He painted a picture of the final step of success. He delivered an idea, a goal to attain – a dream. He lifted hope from a riverbed by drying it off and holding it up as a vision. In our communications, be like Dr. King – paint a picture of the promised land first and foremost. What does success look like for our people in particular? How will they know when they’ve reached the finish line? What hopes can actionable steps be drafted from?

From a world with cleaner water to communities with optimal health and excellent air quality, whatever our team and our company is solving, let’s be sure to paint the picture of success in our content.

Visibility – P.R./Advertising/Social Media Marketing

Dr. King was impressive with garnering media attention and capturing a nation, whether in print, radio or on television – the imagery and sound continue to live on. The brutality and horrors that occurred, and still do today, as everyday life for black people in the United States, he knew, had to be seen by everyone to make a difference and change minds. Dr. King made sure this was the case every chance he got. The media played a big part in the civil rights movement. Environmental companies can note Dr. King’s use of the media and press to activate imagery about the need for change.

Green public relations and content dissemination are about relationship building and content sharing around a collective effort to address environmental issues. Green PR builds an ecosystem around our social and environmental solutions. More than building a green face to maintain a positive image, Green PR seeks to align with community members and media to exponentially increase the impact and efficacy of campaigns, content, and agendas.

Takeaways from Dr. King

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. listened and genuinely connected people in a movement. Expanding our environmental impact and protecting the most vulnerable people from the worst catastrophes requires all hands on deck. In today’s world, it involves the action of environmental companies and organizations. We all can do more than quote Dr. King; we can take his strategy for real change and adapt the same formula for expanding our reach and impact on the world – people and our environment. For those that hate the idea of marketing but know it must be done, consider how our solutions in the world will benefit people the bigger our movement can be. To instill new ideas and solutions, we need more organizations on board to take action and:

Educate
Collaborate
Politically Activate
Create a vision of success
Be visibly doing it all

Don’t just quote the King, be one by working with our team to improve your measurable impact. As the first environmental content marketing company owned by women of color, A.R. Marketing House offers a unique perspective and expertise in combining environmental science and marketing tactics to drive sales and impact. Our team is dedicated to using our skills and passion for sustainability to help sustainable businesses achieve their goals. Take action and make an impact today with your content strategy.

If you need help developing content and building content marketing strategies, we can help. Contact us today.

Resources:

https://www.thesca.org/connect/blog/dr-king-civil-rights-and-environmental-justice

https://biography.yourdictionary.com/articles/martin-luther-king-progress-civil-rights-movement.html

https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/purpose-education#fn1

Nov

2019

It’s Eco Brands’ Time to Step up, Step out, and Educate

Eco eCommerce stores have been popping up since the early 2000s and have grown with the high demand for more environmentally conscious products. It’s easier than ever to source the items you need for a cleaner, greener lifestyle. Here are 5 of the Top Eco eCommerce stores that have created a loyal following, some of which might surprise you.

1. Tiny Yellow Bungalow

2. Wild Minimalist

3. Package Free Shop

4. Tesla

5. AltE Store

Products with harmful eco footprints that have been dominating the markets are finally seeing a dip in sales as consumers demand healthier, more sustainable products. People are starting to question if the items they buy are contributing to the harm of the planet. Product packaging is also under some well-deserved scrutiny, leaving the scientific world to examine the health and ecological footprint on our environment; see the CIEL Plastic & Health Report. However, while we wait for science, the collective sentiment on plastics in our environment is that we now assume they’re having unknown and damaging impacts on our health and ecosystems. Major brands are starting to pick up on this consumer dissatisfaction with the destruction of our planet because of wasteful packaging. This is why labeling and marketing products as green are on the rise. However, consumers are in the middle of deciphering, what is the truth and what is greenwashing.

The shift from big brand greenwashing to emerging green brand education

According to a 2017 consumer market study released by Unilever, ⅓ of consumers are taking charge to actively seek and purchase from brands based on their environmental and social impact, see more in the white paper 2020: The Future of Environmental Marketing. More governments are implementing policies to get rid of toxic products, as well as incentivizing companies, to comply with environmental standards and create healthier products. Brands that are creating and selling harmful and toxic products know they need to either (A) adjust their profit model to include externalities currently thrust on to the public (B) spend a lot of money on greenwashing. Unfortunately, many of these big brands are doing the latter. As new, genuinely sustainable solutions arise, and toxic brands see more failure in their greenwashing and toxic lobbying tactics, we will see a massive shift in people turning to green products. Emerging brands will realize the need to adopt a powerful educational green marketing strategy for their sustainable brand to become the norm, and for toxic products to disappear from our stores.

The buy less movement’s chance to leverage Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Black Friday and Cyber Monday used to be huge one-day-only sales events associated with big-box lines, crazed shoppers, with admittingly controversial beginnings. Black Friday and Cyber Monday have now become a week-long sale event where most people wait to get great deals. Like REI who encourages people to go outside for Black Friday, many eco brands know it’s time to step up the competition and grab market share from their greenwashed counterparts. A recent study by BlackFriday.com and Offers.com shows that consumers start holiday shopping as early as September. The same survey revealed that November is just as big of a shopping month, as December. This means eco-brands who are genuine about helping people switch habits, will be competing with the unsustainable brands, during the holiday months.

Since people start their holiday shopping up to three months before, nurturing your leads, as well as current and past customers, means educating them around your product and its environmental solutions. More studies are finding that consumers don’t want to be sold to, especially those who are interested in eco-products. People want to be educated and engaged in making a genuine difference. Especially for eco-brands, education is a huge opportunity to make people who follow you, the smartest people in the room. Show off your sustainability chops, and help people determine the genuine eco-claims. Providing content that educates consistently, and messages that start during the weeks leading up to Black Friday and Cyber Monday can set your end-of-year sales up for success, eh hem, and the planet.

Eco brands’ time to step up, step out, and educate

In a Nielson survey, 66% of people surveyed about new consumer expectations, said they would pay more for brands that commit positively to the environment. However, it doesn’t stop there; consumers are becoming more aware of the misleading claims many unsustainable brands are boasting about. Greenwashed and unsubstantiated environmental claims have led to a general sentiment of distrust in eco products. Once consumers are educated and shown proof, people quickly become loyal evangelists and promote their favorite eco-products proudly. And an excited, happy customer that believes in the same mission as you is marketing gold that most big brands can’t touch. In fact, 62% of consumers surveyed, said trust is the most significant factor for determining whether they click the ‘buy now’ button. This means that to gain trust and sales, brands will need more than just a label that says your product is “eco-friendly,” it needs facts and scientific proof.

“Consumers want greener goods from greener companies. This focus on sustainable values has superseded a focus on product, lifestyle, and many other previous marketing methods. Consumers buy green for a reason. Companies need to understand what motivates the consumers so they can align their operations and communications to emphasize these values. True success comes not just from using a green message, but from applying all of the wisdom from the marketing discipline.” – Duquesne University, 2014.

Educational content is the golden ticket, especially for eco-companies. An ongoing study at A.R. Marketing House proves that people make purchasing decisions based on if a product improves their environment or health, almost 77%.

Big brands are very aware of this and spend their marketing dollars on greenwashed content to highlight their charitable contributions and fluff stories to distract from their toxic products.

How eco eCommerce brands can execute intelligent marketing for the Holidays

Creating environmental educational content that leads up to Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the December holiday shopping season is the way eco-eCommerce sites can have a leg up this holiday season, and into 2020. It’s especially crucial for green businesses to educate all year round. If earnest environmental education isn’t currently a part of your marketing strategy, now is the time to jump ahead of the green educational content curve.

Educational, environmental content is the first step, and dissemination is step two. Where you share this informative content is vital. The 80/20 rule of creating amazing cornerstone content is spending 20% of the time creating different types of content and 80% of the time getting it to many audiences.

[su_pullquote align=”right”]”A $1 trillion market opportunity exists for companies that can successfully explain their sustainability efforts to consumers, according to a new study from Unilever.” – Baldino, 2017.[/su_pullquote]

Where to place and how to promote your educational content

There are many ways to start educating your audience. Starting with your website, you can create website content that is transparent and educates on things like our plastic crisis, solutions to climate change, and collective action your audience can take. The more you provide your audience with valuable, actionable content, the more they will trust your brand and be encouraged to share their new-found knowledge.

Creating a hierarchy of content where you develop one cornerstone piece, and multiple offshoots are helpful in the process of creating various pieces of educational content. These different types of content, i.e., videos, SlideShares, infographics, etc. can be tailored to all the platforms your audience is on.

Emails are a strong vehicle to deliver educational content that nurtures your list. It’s also a way to lead into Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Holiday sales, and your 2020 marketing strategy. As for the 2019 holiday season, it’s predicted that consumers will spend more than $12 billion, and 61% of shoppers will spend their money online. Leveraging your email list and creating content consistently will generate leads and nurture the people you have now, to shop with you.

When to start your Eco eCommerce holiday educational and sales campaign

The time to start building your holiday campaign was yesterday. The next best time to start is today. Most deadlines for a cohesive holiday campaign will need to begin by November 7th. The deadline is because Black Friday and Cyber Monday are no longer a one-day event, as most shoppers are too bombarded these days. You want lead-in and connection building content before offering up your sale.

Education done all year long creates educated consumers who are hooked on and align with your brand. The more we know about our customers, the more we can tailor education to their needs, and the more they will share that information creating brand loyalists.

Conclusion

Distinguishing between big-box greenwashing and emerging eco brands who are genuine is important to Millennials who are now the biggest and most educated of all U.S. generations. Millennials are not buying the greenwashed pitch anymore, no matter how hard companies swing an environmental angle for their campaigns. The more educational content eco-products create and disseminate, the harder it will be for the toxic brands to keep up with savvy consumers.

Email, website content, social media content, engagement campaigns, video content, and Green PR, are some of the best ways to incorporate education into a holiday strategy that you can carry into the new year. People are wary of brands with sustainable claims, tired of greenwashing and looking for real solutions. The new climate for green products and services requires brands to prove that they understand environmental issues, teach on those issues, and show that they are genuinely part of the solution. Consumers want to be taught to ensure they are making truly sustainable and healthy choices.

Knowing that consumers and their actions are changing is especially important information to take into the planning stages for holiday promotions. It’s no longer feasible to go into Black Friday and Cyber Monday with a one or two day sale if your brand wants to meet and surpass Q4 goals and sales, this is especially true for eco brands. The name of the game is building genuine relationships where your brand embodies your mission to improve the planet and help others along the way.

If you need a hand, our team can help get you started on your Holiday Strategy now. Hurry time is ticking. Contact the A.R. Team.

About A.R. Marketing House

The first and only green content marketing company to raise the integrity of “marketing”
We actively solve the challenges that environmental companies face
Offer new and different approaches to marketing as environmental companies have: different pain points in sales journey; up against greenwashing; new ways to approach Public Relations, educational approach to marketing strategies
Educational forms of content marketing strategies

Resources:

https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Plastic-and-Health-The-Hidden-Costs-of-a-Plastic-Planet-February-2019.pdf

https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/report/2015/the-sustainability-imperative-2/#

https://www.nielsen.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/04/global-sustainability-report-oct-2015.pdf

https://www.outboundengine.com/blog/content-marketing-and-email-marketing/

https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/black-friday-ecommerce/#why-black-friday-is-a-big-deal-for-businesses

https://blackfriday.com/news/holiday-shopping-survey-data

https://www.thebalance.com/what-is-black-friday-3305710

https://nrf.com/media-center/press-releases/consumers-will-spend-41-percent-more-last-year-during-winter-holidays

https://sustainablebrands.com/read/behavior-change/the-new-black-how-new-breed-of-consumers-will-spend-money-energy-this-friday

https://www.mww.com/corpsumer

https://www.inc.com/dakota-shane/96-percent-of-consumers-dont-trust-ads-heres-how-to-sell-your-product-without-coming-off-sleazy.html

https://armarketinghouse.com/1-trillion-market-share-for-companies-who-educate-on-sustainability/

https://armarketinghouse.com/do-consumers-really-care-about-the-environment-survey-says-100-yes/

Sep

2018

Google Demystified: Here’s How A.R. Marketing House Creates Content that Aligns with Google’s Mission

Great Content = Great Google Ranking

Just as the caliber of your character matters for customer relationships, it matters to Google and here’s why… Google is continually evaluating website content based on relevance and quality, so too are the people using Google. What does that mean? It means that as we move closer and closer to a marketing structure that really caters to people’s needs, we train Google how to register those met needs, just the same. It’s safer to assume quality means EVERYTHING and increasingly so. However, here’s a quick reference guide to give you a better idea of what that looks like.

Key Points for Q.A. based on Google’s Mission

High-quality, high-value content
Great content formatting that is easy to interact with
Superb user experience (UX)
Eliminating any aggressive and/or deceptive advertising
Fixing any and all on-site SEO issues

How does Google Judge Content?

A good rule of thumb is to improve quality content across the board and over the long run for your efforts to be realized by Google. You will want to have marketing staff and content professionals conduct a full content audit then update old blogs using your new high-quality, no more excuses rubric.

1.Content Formatting

According to Google, the best general formatting for your blog as well as other website content needs to include:

Superb headlines and meaningful subheadlines
Readable, well-formatted text (both for Google and your readers)
Catchy and honest introduction with a lead-in question
A body with rich information that is unique and valuable to viewers
A bold, actionable, and helpful conclusion that empowers the reader with a propelled sense of knowledge toward a particular action.
A place for leaving feedback to allow for extended discussions, unanswered questions, or handling rebuttals of your process or logic
But wait! Don’t forget images, video, and gifs. You will need to make sure each has a purpose, place, and presence that matches the intention of your content and is correctly formatted

2.Length of Content

Not too short when it should be longer, not too long when the answer should be short and direct. In other words, maintaining integrity in the length of your content. When developing your content, treat it as if you are sharing the information with someone famous that you’ve always admired, just pick someone, whether dead or alive. Think about the conversation you would have with that ultra-important person. Would you overindulge on a topic that only requires direct answers? Would you be too brief on a matter that needs a little legwork to explain and get the breadth of your point across?

The point is, if you’re maintaining integrity with the length of your content, you will be maintaining integrity with people and with Google. When you do this, you won’t need to reassess your content every time there is an algorithmic change.

3.Duplicate Content

There are rules to the content game, my friends. Those rules include not making multiple copies of the same content and spreading it across various channels for the sole sake of increasing your presence. With that said, it’s also not sufficient to change up a bit of the headline, text, or a little unimportant something just to say it’s different. There are ways to funnel your content to various channels like LinkedIn or Medium without raising red flags, however, you will need a conscientious team to know how and when to execute this. Heed the correct methods for sharing content on multiple platforms according to Google standards, using the tools available on each of those platforms.

4.Uniqueness, Nerve, and Talent

Does your content team have the journalism chops to compete with Forbes and The New Yorker? This may seem like the standards of a heaven-sent content creator but if you want to be competitive in the future online market, this will need to be the trajectory for the intellectual and creative output of your team. Are they savvy, well-read, up-to-date on a variety of topics that will influence your content like industry history, nuances, and public opinion?

Figuring out if you have the right content team will require that CMOs and Directors, 1) find the curious team with the intellectual capacity to think of topics in a newsworthy way, a group they can trust that will keep all company goals in mind while developing a creative edge for company content and 2) give your team the creative flexibility they will need to find new and innovative ways to make your brand shine with your content.

5. Bonus…

Involve Lobbyists in your Educational Content tactics!

One huge way to leap over the competition and help your industry as a whole is to connect with lobbyists in your field. Become the go-to source and deliver content in the form of presentations, graphs, data-to-content, reports, and other helpful evidence. This can be used for lobbyists to do their job better while illustrating their key points for proliferation and protection of your industry in Congress.

It’s not enough to offer solutions, sometimes you have to realize the historical underpinnings of your industry in order to deliver relevant insight to people. Then, you have to apply your efforts collectively to push the movement in your industry, forward. Double down on educational content and political action for a winning combination that addresses both the long-term and short-term goals of your company as well as your industry as a whole.

Learn more about how we use High-Quality Content to solve the educational & Google Ranking needs of our clients. [su_button url=”https://armarketinghouse.com/contact-us/request-a-quote/” background=”#dcae1d” size=”5″]GET RANKED[/su_button]

Apr

2017

5 Trends In Marketing Your Holistic Health Care Practice

Holistic Health Care: 5 Marketing Tactics

Increasingly, more and more people are opening up to the idea of holistic health treatments to accompany and sometimes replace their current conventional health care treatments. People are becoming more skeptical of modern medicine, whether it’s because they feel it has failed them, the surging prices for care and prescriptions, or the alarming side effects, risks, and dangers associated with current pharmaceutical drugs. Many people are questioning whether to trust their general physician and the choices of treatment being prescribed to them. Individuals and groups are noticing skyrocketing rates of cancer and other new and alarming ailments, which is creating a shift toward concerted investigative efforts for finding the right care for themselves and their families through holistic care. This is an exciting time for practitioners, teachers, herbalists, growers, and anyone in this emerging holistic health care field.

Education is needed more than ever for the many who are exploring their options for alternative medicine. The stigmas attached to holistic care and medicines are disappearing, and quickly! Holistic health businesses, small and large, are learning to keep up with the inbound style of how people are getting their information as well as how they shop for services. Keeping your audience educated will motivate this growing industry to seek you out as the expert for their very precious health care.

Here are 5 ideas and trends to keep up with this 2017 to take your marketing and practice to the next level:

1.Niche companies will find success. There is a rising audience for natural medicine and care so creating your content to educate this rising audience will put your practice at the forefront of your industry. Focusing on marketing the specific specialized care that your practice provides and medicines you have handcrafted will allow you to target and grab that audience that needs your services and products. Customizing your messaging for specialized platforms will give your business high receptivity and retain loyal customers and audiences. No more spending your money on targeting everyone and anyone. Focus more on narrowing your approach to the specific clients that want and need your help. Focus on marketing your content for community building, experiences, and lifestyle over the old product-specific messaging.

2.Building your Targeted Content. Having educational content is key this year and will be in the years ahead. Increased education on the myths of cannabis and the intake of natural foods and herbs is much needed. Not only should more professionals be creating their specialized content, it is so important to distribute this content to the correct groups and people who will also share it profusely. The fact is you hold data that begs to be shared. Educate your audience on the story that your data tells, inform them with it on an educational blog, write newsletters to stay connected to your audience and keep your clients up to date on new insights and innovations. The success stories you hear every week in your office is content enough, so why not create amazing content with these success stories. Whether through validated statistics or testimonials, these stories need to be told. Testimonials, eBooks, and data-centric content are just some of the ways people are gathering their information, so share your educational content on twitter, create blogs, video blogs, share it on social media. You want to create content that provides so much value to your audience that they always turn to you first for their health questions and research. Your audience is begging for alternatives to the status quo treatments they have been receiving from traditional medicine.

3.Video Marketing is increasingly on the rise. People are spending more time watching videos on their mobile devices on every social media platform. Between shorter attention spans and busy schedules, videos are a major way people are getting content. If you are not creating video content you are losing out on a huge audience.

You can use video to educate your peers, students, or other professionals for your next conference. Use videos to educate your patients on research, news, your new products, as well as experiences and successes of some of your patients who have consented to tell their story. Record all of your talks and share it on social media and your website.

4.The Future of Mobile. Traffic coming from mobile devices is continuously higher than desktops, which means that you should cater your content accordingly. People are on the go, so catering your content to the mobile user lifestyle will ensure you reach a wider audience. These numbers are continuing to rise and show no signs of decreasing anytime soon. So make sure you are tailoring your content to mobile users searching for their holistic health questions.

5.Personalization. Concentrating on personalizing your content to specific audiences will keep you on the field running with your competition. Start segmenting your audience by demographics, health care concerns, and advice, while still respecting HIPPA compliance. Separating content by age, gender, ailments, and tailoring content accordingly will create successful leads and clients. Come up with a website sign up page where you can send segmented newsletters of specialized content tailored to specific groups.

There are many successful ways to leverage your unique content and data to keep up with the growing trends in 2017. Holistic Health Care is on the rise, so being a part of delivering health literacy to the American population will set you apart and also contribute to a higher calling of much-needed education.

Have questions about what you can do?

[su_button url=”mailto: info@armarketinghouse.com” background=”#dcae1d” size=”5″ center=”yes”]Give us a shout[/su_button]

Mar

2017

A Unique Way to Fund Your Much Needed Research, Content, and Educational Efforts with Crowdfunding

Benefits, Resources, and Examples for Crowdfunding Your Research & Educational Efforts

Crowdfunding for educational purposes and the common good is not a new idea. However, with education and research accessibility at an interesting crossroads, this form of funding for the collective good could become more common. Consider where we are today when college tuitions are at an all time high yet Ivy League Schools are offering free courses online at edx.org and similar free educational sites. Where independent research grants are awarded by pharmaceutically backed giants yet holistic healthcare has to rely on its own nimble yet dispersed abilities to successfully fund research and educational content.

It’s an interesting time to examine where much needed public education and research fit into the grand scope of educational online content and who and what are funding this content.

There are countless multi-billion dollar corporations with a huge financial capacity to create their own misleading educational platforms and frame them as valid. So we, the people, need to create more clever ways to fund the educational platforms for the leaders and fields that are integral to humanity and include holistic health, environmental technologies, and social justice advocacy.

It is vital, necessary, even revolutionary, to take your expertise and share your knowledge with your community, your audience, and the world.

There are many opinions of crowdfunding, especially when you consider the vast array of randomness that people have decided to raise money for, like the cringe-worthy efforts of some people to crowdfund their “much needed” trip to Las Vegas.

But consider the most honorable reasons society could be using crowdfunding. Consider how you might fit into this honorable reason as a vital researcher and/or educator in your specialized field. Then let me propose to you, small business owner, with your specialty practice, highly helpful service, or uniquely genius products, that crowdfunding your educational platform could be an invaluable tool to spread your message. Education is the cornerstone of how your audience makes decisions. What would the world be like with YOU as the option? Without YOU as the expert? Without your business, practice, or clinic as an Educator not just in your field but for your field? Here is a list of 8 crowdfunding sites that can help you fund your dream educational and research projects!

1. Experiment

2. Indiegogo

3. RocketHub

4. GoFundMe

5. Razoo

6. Crowdrise

7. Crowdfunder

8. Kickstarter

Benefits to Crowdfunding:

You don’t have to wait for payment of your published scholarly articles or published books. If you are using crowdfunding, your goal is to make your educational material accessible to people, so you don’t have to sell it on platforms like JSTOR or Google Scholar. Though these tools are valuable and amazing, they are not available for free, nor are they academically accessible to the general population. Your produced content was paid for by the people, so give it to them and you won’t be waiting around to get paid for this work on a residual income basis.
Get your research funded! Did you know that there are sites now set up to crowdfund research? One of them is Experiment.com. In addition to raising the money you need for important research, you will have access to a support network of professionals helping you plan out and create milestones to complete your much-needed work.
Create hype and excitement around your research, education, or project by adding a data dashboard to your site that projects live updates when you have donations, shares the research or educational tools those funds are going to, and gives a live ‘thank you’ to donors on your crowdfund dashboard. This will allow people to get excited about what they are contributing to. It’s exciting to feel like you’re a part of something groundbreaking and bigger than you are, something that will live on and benefits future generations.

Example 1: Crowdfunding your Specialty Clinic’s Research

To give this idea some meat, let’s say you’re a practitioner of some particular holistic healthcare practice and you find that when speaking to random people about your work that they often generalize it into something else, something incorrect. You see a huge lack of education and huge misconceptions about your field of practice. Are there any studies, hypothesis, or data you collect that you can develop research on? Why not develop your research and submit it to the ‘go fund me’ of research and experiments, Experiment.com? The have generated over $7 million dollars in funding for over 600 research projects. So yes, now start conceptualizing that YOU can be contributing to the much-needed research, education, and content that will shift public perception to a deeper understanding of their health options.

Example 2: Crowdfunding for PSA Style Education for Victims of Abuse

You’re an attorney that practices law in an area that carries a lot of shame for your clients. It’s difficult to discuss and normalize the experience of victims of child abuse, sexual assault, and elder abuse. Many times this shame keeps victims in the closet of their nightmare experiences. You know that your job isn’t just about supporting your own clients but also creating a general space where any victims of violent crimes can feel safe to come forward. So you want to develop educational and emotionally supportive content to support people who experience these atrocities. Why not crowdfund this amazing and much-needed endeavor? You can develop it as a special page on your website where interested, supportive, and privileged individuals can donate to your important educational agenda. You can start a Go Fund Me specifically for creating your own form of education whether it be to speak at schools, retirement homes, or developing digital content and disseminating on places where people won’t feel ashamed to view it. Whatever your act of education, you can use the interest of your community to generate the funds necessary.

So, when your budget isn’t holding you back from making waves in the world for the better, what exactly will you do? Who will you open your practice and heart to that will join forces with you to conduct, finance, and execute learning for the masses? There are so many people IN desperate NEED of the information, compassion, and truth that you have in your brilliant mind, please do the world a favor and share it!

Want more tips? Sign up!

[su_button url=”http://eepurl.com/ckcflT” background=”#dcae1d” size=”5″ center=”yes”]Sign Up![/su_button]