Fall 2018

The Only Way to Market By DJ Adams

Everyone you know has an opinion on how you should be marketing your business, and I guess I’m no different when it comes to this article, but I can’t help myself. I am so excited with what we stumbled onto, and the results have been nothing short of astonishing.

Thanks to the invention of the internet, we have more opportunities than ever before to market to our target audience. We’ve all heard about how Sears exploded by taking advantage of the printing press.  Well, this is even bigger than that, and the term is: content marketing.

Content marketing is an overarching term that basically means content you create online, that’s relevant to your audience, that engages them, and that attracts them to become new or devoted customers. It is not sales.  It is giving away information that your customers want.

If that last paragraph left you feeling dazed and a bit overwhelmed, good, but don’t worry.  It is much easier than what you’re thinking, and you can do what we have been doing – start small and when you’re ready, take the next step – not a second sooner. Content marketing is something you can learn how to implement one step at a time.

For years, Adams & Co. had been solely growing with traditional marketing: print catalogs, trade shows, and print advertising. About a year ago, I realized it was time to make some changes, and content marketing was the answer. The only problem was … I had no idea what I was doing, so I read every book, every blog I could find and watched tons of experts on the subject (all of which was content marketing). We went from having very little presence on Instagram to over 20K followers on our brand page, and more than 70K followers between my page and my wife’s @devanie.at.home. It’s already made a million-dollar impact on our sales. And now, a year later we are finally ready for our next step.

We’re in the process of expanding our company’s newsletter with richer informative content, and we’re laying the foundation to launch a blog soon, along with a vlog.  I’m kicking off my own YouTube channel! We’re implementing and growing, one step at a time, to provide useful, relevant information for our audience, connect on what matters to us, and in a nutshell that is, “loving what you do and who you do it with.”

If you’re wondering what kinds of topics you can focus on for your content marketing, just start by connecting with your audience, on a genuine level. Share what you’re about. Pass on your expertise. My wife’s blog is all about decorating the home. She’ll post pictures of our home with the latest looks for the season (her followers are loving her fall décor, and bonus … our home never looked better!). We’ve done time-lapse videos of us overhauling a room (we just turned a bright pink girl’s room into a rugged man cave for our son, which got a lot of views). When what you share resonates with your audience, they are more likely to become customers. They’re also more likely to share what you put out there with others – which only increases your reach!

When it comes to your own content marketing think big … and start small. It doesn’t have to be expensive, and it doesn’t need to take any more time than you’re able to give it, but you do need to start. This is the marketing of the future, and this is the marketing of today.

DJ Adams is the president of Adams & Co., Home & Holiday Décor. Follow their journey at @adamsandcompany, @dj.adams.co and @devanie.at.home.