No need to reinvent the wheel. It’s still awesome.
Digital footprints, driving traffic – we’re all on a mission to make our mark and constantly improve our online presences. A marketing strategy based on the Hub & Spoke model can help spread your top notch content across the web and around the (real) world. Luckily, the concept is simple. By making some simple tweaks to your advertising, marketing, PR and social media strategies, you’ll be better much equipped to manage your brand, build up its equity and expand your audience. The execution may require a little work, but the payoff is worth it in the end.
The hub
The hub is exactly what it sounds like – the central point around which your marketing strategy revolves. For most businesses, this should be your website. Think of it as the single, comprehensive home for all things related to your business. It should be designed so that it conveys your brand both visually and thru the content, and can convert visitors into customers.
Your website is just as important as your physical office. Perhaps even more so, since more people are probably stopping by your website than your front door. For that reason, you need to keep your hub looking nice and up-to-date. In the online world, stale content is just as off-putting as peeling paint and a leaky roof. Continually updating the site with high quality content is really important, and not just for obvious SEO purposes. Informative content (that places value on substance over length) generates trust, builds connections and cultivates a loyal audience who view you as a source of knowledge instead of sales pitches.
The spokes
Then there are the spokes – the little satellites that revolve around your hub. These are the tentacles that your business puts out into the community (both online and offline) to drive traffic back to the hub and expand your audience and exposure.
Take CNP for example. Our hub is our website (which contains our blog), but you are likely reading this article because of a Facebook or LinkedIn post, Tweet, email or Google Search. Don’t assume that visitors will just check back on your site from time to time, your spokes should be pushing them there. Other spokes could include: YouTube videos, direct mail campaigns, print ads, billboards, press releases, Instagram, Pinterest, even word of mouth (the list could go on and on). If you can use it to attract and shepherd users back to your website, it’s a spoke.
The more spokes you have, the most structurally stable your wheel will be. At the same time, use common sense when choosing spokes. You probably don’t need a Pinterest board for your law firm. Think about where most of your audience hangs out (i.e. what makes the most sense for your business) and focus your attention there. While you want to put out as many feelers as you can handle, you don’t want those feelers to go stale with neglect.
The reason behind it all
Ok, I guess we’re showing our hand. We’re writing and sharing blog posts, occasionally with pictures of cats, trying to impart some form legitimate knowledge with the hope that someday, one of you will think “Hey, I need someone to overhaul my website” or “My old agency doesn’t seem to GET the web.” And, you’ll turn to us with a hopeful gleam in your eye, because after clicking through a Twitter link to Josh’s article on the “Mathematical Advantages of a 16px Base Font Size,” you know that we know what we’re talking about.
