Project Overview
TextMagic is SMS marketing and communication SaaS designed to streamline business messaging needs.
I worked with TextMagic’s Content Marketing Manager in developing in-depth and tactical guest posts as part of their link building campaign.
Content Goals
- Create guest post articles to drive high-quality backlinks to their website and increase the domain’s URL score
- Build a presence in eCommerce tips sites frequented by their end-users, which were typically small business owners looking to improve buyer engagement through personalized text messaging
Output and Deliverables
I worked with TextMagic’s Content Marketing Manager in creating the following articles that would be used in their guest posting campaign.
- How Using a Messaging App Wil Boost Your Business in 2018
- How Messaging Apps Can Help Improve Ecommerce Experience
- The Definitive Guide to Growing the Number of Returning Ecommerce Customers
- 6 SMS Use Cases for eCommerce Stores
- How to Use Messaging Apps in Your Marketing Strategy
- 20 Ways to Create a Sense of Urgency on Your Site to Grow Your Sales
- 4 Ways to Grow Your Business with Messaging Apps
- Here’s How to Choose the Best Messaging App To Boost Your Business
Content tone
Data-driven
The articles are heavily supported by statistics and references to build trust and credibility
Tactical
The articles provide specific examples and supporting case studies to clearly illustrate specific tips and strategies
SMB-friendly
Minimal jargon was used to make it friendly to small business owners
Key Objectives
“These posts give readers in-depth tactical takeaways that are supported by relevant, recent examples, original quotes, original graphics, and current data. Successful guest contributions are comprehensive, data-driven, and interesting posts that teach our readers something new about the world of business.” - Anastasia Sviridenko
Tasks Performed
- Lead the content approach and decide on how to flesh out the given titles
- Identify key problems and concerns of the end-user
- Develop key messages that directly address the end-users problems, concerns, and beliefs
- Select existing TextMagic case studies and articles to link back to in the guest posted articles
- Utilize reputable surveys, statistics, and case studies from known brands to drive the campaign’s key messages
- Develop actionable, informative articles with very specific examples relevant to the user’s journey
Challenges
How do we introduce an SMS marketing SaaS as a viable solution to buyers that rely on other solutions?
What common beliefs or information are exchanged between peers in that industry?
- Personalized interactions are delightful to customers and can encourage repeat purchases and brand loyalty
- In service-based businesses, customers are shopping quickly for options and speedy, prompt responses can help acquire new users
- Introducing interactive touch points allow users to voice customer and acquire solutions to their problems in a quick and efficient manner
What solutions are usually available to them?
- Preprogrammed chatbots
- Live support agents
- Knowledge bases and FAQs
What’s “in the way” of getting a solution:
- “Why bother investing in messaging app campaigns when the open rates for those are low?”
- “Why bother investing in messaging users when there are multiple businesses doing the same?”
- “What’s the point of using messaging apps when it relies on the user opening the message - instead of being delivered in a timely and urgent manner?”
- “How can messaging apps improve my business right now? How can it improve my day-to-day”
Identifying key messages
The key messages are developed around the target audience’s beliefs and “ecosystem”, the solutions they usually turn to, and the reservations they usually have when buying into a solution.
Because TextMagic is a SMS SaaS for B2B, I created the following key messages to anchor the campaign:
- SMS marketing is an underutilized channel, making it easier for SMBs to “compete” for their users’ attention
- SMS marketing has the unique advantage of being accessible even offline
- SMS marketing improves engagement and response rates, which are especially relevant for service-based businesses
Note: Even though solving problems technically leads to ROI, it’s too abstract for decision-makers to connect with.
It’s important to pick out tangible, observable problems, or metrics that they are using to measure their own success. For example: a service-based business, a consistent history of no-shows is frustrating, makes revenue difficult to predict, and leads to losses because they’re missing out appointments from actual, paying clients.
Approach
The primary keyword in the title was “messaging apps”. Despite Textmagic being an SMS marketing SaaS, we moved forward with these titles because keyword research showed that the target audience was more inclined to inquire about “messaging apps” than “sms marketing”.
It’s very important to meet buyers where they are - especially in industries where buyers are looking for a solution to a problem, but there is a strong bias towards specific strategies (live chat services, pre-programmed chatbots), or specific software options (Whatsapp, Messenger, Kik).
In meeting the search intention to learn more about messaging apps, I would include the most common options like Facebook, Kik, Whatsapp, and include SMS messaging as an alternative.
In doing so, I present SMS messaging as a viable alternative that directly addresses the needs and problems that existing strategies or software options do - without taking away from the reader’s search intent.
I would then choose statistics around the cost of non-urgent responses and the ROI on high engagement rates and tie that back to the campaign’s key messages.
Topic Ideation
The topics were provided by Anastasia. I was in-charge of determining the direction, content, and which examples and case studies to include based on the title.
Content outline and structure
Being problem-aware
I included statistics around the target audience’s common beliefs.
By mentioning a commonly repeated problem or belief that peers exchange with each other, we are confirming their biases, and affirming that we see the premise of their problem, and are posed to provide attuned solutions.
Providing specific use cases with examples of success
Providing use cases specific to their industry communicates to readers that you understand what their situation is like. Providing samples of success bridges the gap between “would this even work for me?” and “is it even worth it trying this solution?”
Results and impact
Anastasia submitted the articles to different websites for their guest posting and link building initiative.
Majority of the articles ranked well on the first page of Google, with some of them winning SERP features.
Why are SERP features good?
Featured snippets are short texts that show at the top of Google’s search results to quickly answer a searcher’s query.
This is great because it’s the very first piece of content that Google shows searchers. Repeated featured snippets help users associate your website as helpful and authoritative.