{"id":160,"date":"2011-04-29T16:57:49","date_gmt":"2011-04-29T22:57:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bubblemedia2.wpengine.com\/?p=160"},"modified":"2013-09-01T21:58:29","modified_gmt":"2013-09-02T03:58:29","slug":"world-neighborhood-content-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bubblelife.advicelocal.com\/?p=160","title":{"rendered":"What in the World is a Neighborhood Content Strategy?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Being middle aged, I don\u2019t really think of 10 years as a long time. But, based on the amount of changes, the last 10 years has brought in neighborhood marketing, it may be remembered for its Jurassic qualities.\u00a0 Dinosaurs still marketing the same way they were 10 years ago may face extinction.<\/p>\n

Every customer or potential customer is now on the Internet and turns less and less to newspapers, postcard mailers, yellow pages and the stuff us middle-aged dinosaurs used 10 years ago. The question ishow do you reach customers online where they spend their time<\/span>? The first guess would be banner ads – but, banner ads don\u2019t work or at least don\u2019t work the way most people think.\u00a0 The next guess might be deals – but, deals don\u2019t work for every business and have their downsides as well. So what are dinosaurs fighting off extinction suppose to do?<\/p>\n

Before I tell you the answer, let\u2019s spend a little time understanding how people behave online. Think about the last time you went to Facebook, CNN or some other website. Now, try to recall the name of an advertiser you saw on that website? Don\u2019t worry most can\u2019t remember. Now, try to recall something you read – a wall post from friends, a news story about oil prices? This is a much easier task. That\u2019s because, almost\u00a0every person spends 99% of their online time focused on the content\u00a0of a website and minimal time focused on the surrounding messages from advertisers. This idea is what underlies a neighborhood content strategy.<\/p>\n

Content is something that tells a story.\u00a0\u201cGood\u201d content is something we find interesting<\/span>. \u201cBad\u201d content is something we don\u2019t. Content can be short like a Facebook post, medium like this article (hopefully you\u2019re still reading) or long like a magazine article. Each subject has its own appropriate length and the definition of \u201cgood\u201d and \u201cbad\u201d doesn\u2019t change based on length or any other factor.<\/p>\n

A neighborhood content strategy is a strategy that helps businesses get their name and stories out into the neighborhood they depend on for business. A content strategy is similar to public relations (PR), except that the form is quite different and there is no editor in the way.\u00a0 A content strategy provides stories to the neighborhood that readers can act on or tell their friends about. When properly done it turns business opportunities into interesting stories. For example which of the stories would you most like to read:<\/p>\n