Dan Moyle is a mortgage guy. He's in multimedia and marketing for AmeriFirst Home Mortgage in Michigan. Now, you might think that mortgage is a boring industry, and you'd be right in most cases. But if you're buying a new home, then you might not think it's quite so boring. Here's what Dan had to say during the Inbound 2013 session today:

  • We ALL think our industries are boring. Get over it!
  • Content is not about being sexy or viral. It's about being educational in order to develop relationships.

Why do we think our industries are boring?

  • Exciting vs. helpful? Being useful and helpful is the way to write great content.
  • Who cares? People searching for your service care!
  • Inbound leads cost 61% less per lead.
  • Just because you're in a boring industry doesn't mean you can't have a personality.
  • Wrote about why 203k loans -- which they offer -- are so terrible. His company now ranks #1 for this search term.

Shift Focus: Journalism

  • Think of your marketing team as a newsroom, full of "pretend" journalists.
  • Tell engaging business stories and help solve customer problems.
  • Gain trust and evangelists when you are honest and a good source of information.
  • Example: Dan wrote a blog for first time home buyers in winer 2011. Called 2012 the "year of the first time home buyer." No one buys homes in winter in Michigan, right? He earned 60,000 views. 5% of the readers clicked his call to action and his company got 109 leads from that one article.
  • Use facts rather than flash to build trust. Don't try to start new trends, just be honest and relevant to customers that seek out information about your industry.
  • Journalism: how, what, when, where, why. "How do I solve my problem with your service/product/company?"

Where does content begin?

  • Start with your customer.
  • Go to your sales team and your customer and find out what got them to you to start with. Ask sales team, "What are the top 10 questions you get that you're tired of asking?" Answer "how do I..."
  • People don't always ask other people. They ask Google.
  • Don't be afraid to talk price and about how much your product or service costs. It sets the expectation for your customer.
  • "Why is..." -- Why is something going on in the industry? Why can't I...? What is...?
  • Use blog, video, other types of media to answer questions on your website.
  • Compare your solution to your competitor's solution. Yale Appliance is an example of this if you want to check it out.
  • Check the headlines. Tie your product or service into current events. He wrote a press release and blog congratulating the royal couple for getting married, because "the next step is buying a house."
  • Use buyer personas to write. What's going on in your customers' lives? You can gain relevancy this way.
  • Industry regulations, legislation can give you some content ideas. Read David Meerman Scott's book Newsjacking.

Where do you find content ideas?

  • Sales team and customers
  • Current events and Google your industry. Try Google News, Twitter, news feeds.
  • Cross relevancy - relate your content to cool cars or sports, etc. Think, what is your customer persona interested in?

Is it working?

  • Most content is evergreen. It lives on, and it lives on in Google's index. It creates value forever.
  • Test content ideas! Look at page views, CTA clickthrough percentage, comments (just to gauge interest or get other questions for customers), inbound links, leads from each blog post.
  • Email: delivery rate, open rate, click rate. Every email should have a link or call to action to get the reader to do something.
  • Continuously test and improve based on your key metrics.
  • Calls to action: Test shape, color, messaging
  • Social media: Test photo, time of day, messaging