Consumer Decision

Abstract The present report utilized secondary research and positivist research philosophy to critically evaluate two Consumer Decision-making Process (CDP) models – the Consumer Decision Model and the Theory of Planned Behavior –, with the aim to bring into the limelight the dark spots of the models when applied to the hospitality industry.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Consumer Decision-Making Models in Hospitality Contexts: An Evaluation Critique specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Current literature, though anecdotal in scope and context, has illuminated the fact that many CDP models are vague, inconsistent, and assume an all-encompassing orientation, which constricts their effectiveness and efficacy in explaining post-modernism consumer behavior. Many of these models have been accused of being largely descriptive in nature and ascribing to a ‘phases-based’ school of thought that i s not in sync with today’s consumers and their behavior orientations. Upon analysis and critique of the sampled models, it has been demonstrated that these models may no longer be tenable in explaining behavior as they view consumers in a rather mechanistic approach and constrict behavior to rationalistic approaches, devoid of any interpretation relating to the consumer as a unique individual who desires to sample unique experiences in the hospitality industry. The models are vague in their explanation of why consumers must follow the noted phases, and fail to account for external factors that influence consumer behavior in the hospitality industry, such as globalization, hyperreality, and hedonistic consumption patterns. It is recommended that new paradigms must have the capacity to delineate how consumers find fulfillment through consumption, and how they develop creativity and express their individual capabilities through the consumption of services. Introduction The prese nt paper is an attempt to account for perceived vagueness, inconsistencies and all-encompassing orientations of consumer decision-making models by evaluating and critiquing two such models, namely the Consumer Decision Model and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). These models will be evaluated and analyzed within the services context, with particular reference to the hospitality industry.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Despite the broad attention focused on the concept of consumer behavior (Dellaert et al 2012), and in spite of the obvious advantage generated by consumer decision-making models in providing conceptual frames of reference that make it easy to understand different consumer decision processes and marketing paradigms (Erasmus et al 2001), a large portion of these models continue to attract criticism from various quarters due to their perceived vagueness, bro ad generalizations, and an all-encompassing orientation (Lye et al 2005). Consequently, the ability for marketers to predict and understand consumer behavior and decision-making is still at a less than desirable level due to the inconsistencies and variances noted in these models. Consumer Behavior in Hospitality Industry Belch (1998) cited in Schiffman (2000) defines consumer behavior â€Å"†¦as the behavior that consumers display in searching for, purchasing, using, evaluating and disposing of products and services that they expect will satisfy their needs† (p. 2). Modern research on consumer behavior no longer derives interest in viewing the consumer as a rational economic being; rather, marketing studies have introduced a range of factors and variables that act either independently or dependently to influence the consumer consumption patterns beyond the mere self-interested act of purchasing as proposed by rational economic theories (Lovelock Wirtz 2010; Bray n.d.). To this effect, the hospitality industry must focus on the ‘process nature’ of the service production process (Lovelock Wirtz 2010), the unique characteristics of services on offer (Tsiotsou Wirtz 2012), and the impact of these contextual variables on customer behavior (Pachauri 2002). Extant services literature (e.g., Williams 2006; Miljkovic Effertz 2010; Oh 1999) demonstrates that marketers in the hospitality industry are still faced with the problem of adopting or developing new paradigms for evaluating customer behavior and decision making, primarily because most of the players in this sector have an imperfect picture of their customer, while only a few have put in place the capacity and capability to monitor patterns of consumer behavior at a degree of detail essential to maintain a competitive edge. As noted by Bowie Buttle (2004), many hospitality organizations believe that there are adequately close to their clients due to the co-creation of the service ex perience.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Consumer Decision-Making Models in Hospitality Contexts: An Evaluation Critique specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Consequently, it becomes increasingly important for hospitality organizations to understand the major facets of consumer behavior and decision-making because consumption of services is basically typified as â€Å"process consumption†, where the production process is considered to form a fundamental component of service consumption and is not merely perceived as the outcome of a production process, as is the case in the traditional paradigms associated with the marketing of physical goods (Miljkovic Effertz 2010; Tsiotsou Wirtz 2012 ). Postmodern Consumerism within the Hospitality Industry Today, more than ever, the hospitality industry is increasingly encountering an era that is not guided by any dominant ideological orientation in consumption patte rns, but by pluralism of styles (Williams 2002). This is postmodern consumerism – a trend that is increasingly being reflected in a multiplicity of variables that drive consumer behavior, including advertising and promotions, product and service development, as well as branding (Firal et al 1995). Available literature demonstrates that postmodern consumerism in the hospitality industry is predominantly initiated by shifts in the social-cultural, psychological and technological domains, which generate new options for experiences and self-expression in consumption (Williams 2002). This section purposes to briefly describe some the factors that are associated with the new means of consumption, hence new approaches to consumer behavior Hedonism The increasing awareness of hedonic consumption among contemporary consumers has not only enhanced pleasure seeking behavior as the only intrinsic good but also luxury consumption to fulfill the variant needs of individuals (Williams 2002) . In the hospitality context, the postmodern consumer is embracing the richness of choice, traditions, and styles to sample products and services that will enable them to achieve the intrinsic good.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More As a direct consequence, however, it is increasingly becoming difficult for industry players to predict behavior since consumers are guided by the unconventional urge to experiment on new products and experiences (Firal et al 1995; Thomas 1997). Fragmentation of Markets Experiences The absence of a central ideology to guide postmodern consumption patterns gives rise to a multiplicity of norms, values, beliefs and lifestyles that are adhered to by individuals in the quest for unique products and services. To satisfy this rising demand for unique experiences, hospitality organizations are increasingly segmenting or fragmenting their product and service offerings (Firal et al 1995), making it increasingly difficult to objectively evaluate consumer behavior and decision making process. More importantly, the post-modernity orientation is on record for enhancing the production of smaller niche markets in fragmented dispositions, not only making it difficult to successfully evaluate behav ior using the current models but also eating into the profitability of hospitality organizations (Van Raaij 1993). Hyperreality of Products and Services The hospitality industry is abuzz with hyperreal experiences; that is, experiences that passed as real and authentic but they are, in context and scope, light and empty (Van Raaij 1993). Hyperrealism is largely driven by the insatiable appetite of consumers to enjoy disjointed experiences and moments of excitement, leading industry players to simulate some of the experiences and pass them as authentic and value-added events. For example, consumers visiting hospitality organizations such as the Disney World and popular theme hotels are made to believe in the physical surroundings, which are mere simulations in the image of hypes (Firal et al 1995). Globalization Globalization and convergence of technology have assisted to break down geographical barriers that fueled economic nationalism and chauvinism. Consumers are no longer consumi ng products and services based on their ethnic and cultural backgrounds (Van Raaij 1993), though some scholars still maintain consumption patterns are still predetermined by the consumer’s culture, and that globalization has no capacity to standardize consumer behavior (Firal et al 1995; Williams 2002). More importantly, the intangible nature of services within the hospitality industry necessitates comprehensive individualized marketing and customized services for the customer to experience the unique and superior value. In this context, it can be argued that the idea of global hospitality organizations to increasingly standardize and customize their products and service offerings is paradoxical in essence based on the fact that these organizations must deal with cultural variations that to a large extent influence consumer’s mind-sets and buying behaviors (Williams 2002). Brief Overview of Consumer Decision-Making Process Lye et al (2005) posit that consumer decision- making models are extensively employed in consumer behavior studies not only to structure theory and research but also to comprehend the contextual influences that come into play to influence consumer decision making. In a comparative assessment of the consumer decision-making process, Engel et al (1995) cited in Erasmus et al (2001) argue that â€Å"†¦a model is nothing more than a replica of the phenomena it is designed to present†¦It specifies the building blocks (variables) and the ways in which they are interrelated† (p. 83). Drawing upon this description, these authors argue that models should therefore have the capacity to provide conceptual frames of reference that assist individuals to grasp visually what transpires as variables and circumstances interrelate and shift. A number of academics, however, punch holes into the existing models of consumer decision-making process due to a multiplicity of weaknesses (Lovelock Wirtz 2012), which will be illuminated in subsequent sections of this paper, particularly in respect of their incongruent dynamics and operational deficiencies in the hospitality context. A strand of existing literature (e.g., Schiffman 2000; Lovelock Wirtz 2010) demonstrates that most paradigms of consumer decision-making presuppose that the consumer’s consumption decision process consists of precise phases through which the customer passes as they interact with the service. Indeed, a meta-analytic review of marketing literature (e.g., Bowie Buttle 2004; Lovelock Wirtz 2010; Pachauri 2002; Miljkovic Effertz 2010) confirms the most dominant phases a consumer passes through while making purchasing/consumption decisions to include: need identification; information search; appraisal of available alternatives; purchase/consumption decisions, and; post purchase decisions. Other researchers, however, argue that â€Å"†¦the process of consumer decision-making can be viewed as three distinct but interlocking sta ges: the input stage, the process stage and the output stage† (Schiffman 2000, p. 14). But, as acknowledged by Abdallat El-Emam (n.d.), the overreliance of phases in attempting to explain consumer decision making leads to generalizations of consumer behavior as not every consumer may wish to pass through all these stages when making purchasing/consumption decisions. Aim Objectives of the Study Aim To critically analyze and critique the two chosen models of Consumer Decision-making Process, namely the Consumer Decision Model and the Theory of Planned Behavior, with the view to determine the extent of their vagueness, inconsistency, and all-encompassing orientation when applied within the hospitality industry. Objectives The present paper is guided by the following objectives: To critically review extant literature on consumer behavior and decision-making process, particularly with reference to hospitality organizations; To identify, justify and critically analyze the two mod els of Consumer Decision-making Process selected for this study; To determine the extent or level of vagueness, inconsistency, and all-encompassing orientation of the two models as they relate to the hospitality industry; and To provide some alternatives and recommendations that could be used by industry players to better influence consumer behavior and decision making. Methodology Research Philosophy This report heavily relied on the positivist research philosophy and the deductive approach to critically analyze the selected models of Consumer Decision-making Process for vagueness, inconsistencies and typical all-encompassing orientations, with reference to contemporary hospitality industry. Positivism entails â€Å"†¦manipulation of reality with variations in only a single independent variable so as to identify regularities in, and to form relationships between, some of the constituent elements of the social world† (Research Methodology n.d., p. 3-1). Consequently, th e researcher evaluated facts from the more general to more specific using the deductive approach with the aim of drawing logical conclusions about the weaknesses of the discussed models from available literature (Burney 2008). Data Collection Relevant data and information for this study was collected through secondary research; that is, the researcher engaged in collecting information from third-party sources or information that had been previously collected for some other reason. Secondary research fits the demands and expectations of this study as it is not only easier and less costly to undertake, but it guides the researcher to effectively answer the research aim and objectives through the use of already existing materials (Thomas 1997). The research primarily utilized book resources, websites and peer-reviewed articles from a number of subscription databases, including Ebscohost and Emerald, to develop and analyze the relevant themes aimed at providing accurate responses to the research aim and objectives. Research Limitations The researcher was constrained by time and budgetary resources to undertake a comprehensive study that could have brought new insights into the important topic of consumer behavior and decision making process. It is widely believed that a broader engagement with secondary sources and, perhaps, undertaking primary research with hospitality stakeholders, could have resulted in a more comprehensive analysis of the models and more generalizable findings. However, this was not possible due to strict time-lines and budgetary constraints. Additionally the word limit for the study, which was capped at 4000 words, limited the researchers capacity to expansively detail some of the relevant concepts of consumer behavior and decision making, and compare the sampled models of consumer decision making process with other contemporary models to effectively assess the variations in vague conceptualizations and inconsistent content. Analysis Critiqu e Consumer Decision Model The Consumer Decision Model, also referred to as the Engel-Blackwell-Miniard Model, was initially developed in 1968 Engel, Kollat, and Blackwell, in their attempt to propose and explain the variables that come into play in informing consumer behavior and facilitating decision making (Erasmus et al 2001). As noted by Bray (n.d.), â€Å"†¦ the model is structured around a seven point decision process: need recognition followed by a search of information both internally and externally, the evaluation of alternatives, purchase, post purchase reflection and finally, divestment† (p. 15). This model further suggests that consumer decisions are influenced by two foremost aspects: â€Å"†¦firstly stimuli is received and processed by the consumer in conjunction with memories of previous experiences, and secondly, external variable in the form of either environmental influences or individual differences† (Bray n.d., p. 15-16). It is important t o note that the environmental factors acknowledged in the model include cultural orientation, social rank, personal influence, family, and situational context, while individual factors include consumer resource/capability, incentive and participation, level of knowledge, values and attitudes, as well as individual traits and lifestyle. In illuminating the model, it can be argued that entry to the model is through need identification, whereby the consumer actively acknowledges an inconsistency between their present state and some other pleasing choices. The framers of the model assume that the need recognition process is primarily stimulated â€Å"†¦by an interaction between processed stimuli inputs and environmental and individual variables† (Bray n.d., p. 17). After a specific consumption need has been acknowledged the consumer initializes the search for information, both internally through their deeply-held reminiscences of earlier experiences in hospitality organizati ons, and externally (Bowie Buttle 2004). The model presupposes that the intensity of information search is intrinsically reliant on the scope of problem solving, with novel or intricate consumption problems being subjected to far-reaching external information explorations, while simpler challenges may rely entirely on an unsophisticated internal exploration of prior behavior (Baig Khan 2010). Bray (n.d.) notes that information passes through five phases â€Å"†¦of processing before storage and use, namely: exposure, attention, comprehension, acceptance and retention† (p. 17). The model further posit that the consumer actively evaluates alternative consumption choices using the established set of beliefs, attitudes and consumption intentions (Erasmus et al 2001), with the evaluative process being primarily influenced by both environmental influences and individual influences (Bray n.d). Consequently, the model depicts ‘intention’ as the only precursor to co nsumption. While the environmental and individual variables are largely perceived to act on purchase/consumption behavior, Van Tonder (2003) cited in Bray (n.d.) notes that the term ‘situation’ is premeditated as an environmental variable though the factor is also not clearly defined. However, according to this scholar, the term may imply â€Å"†¦such factors as time pressure or financial limitations which could serve to inhibit the consumer from realizing their purchase intentions† (p. 17). The other phases entail the actual consumption of the service, followed by post-consumption assessment which grants feedback functionality to the consumer, especially in terms of undertaking future external explorations and belief/value formation (Bray n.d.; Erasmus et al 2002). When this model is critiqued under the lens of the hospitality industry, it draws its major strength in its potential to evolve ever since the original model was published some four decades ago, to at least encompass some of the variables and challenges facing the contemporary consumer in the hospitality industry (Bowie Buttle 2004). For instance, the model has been able to move away from its mechanistic approach of explaining consumer behavior to encompass modern concepts that influence consumer consumption patterns. Individual variables such as motivation and involvement, as well as environmental variables such as social class, family and situation (Bray n.d.), are better placed to explain how consumers interact with a particular food establishments, and even how such variables may influence return behavior and satisfaction. However, it is clear that many of these variables remain vague due limited theoretical background (Erasmus et al 2001), with a section of scholars arguing that the model is even unable to specify the exact cause and effect that relate to consumer behavior (Lovelock Wirtz 2010), while others note that it is too restrictive to sufficiently accommodate the variety of consumer decision situations in a hospitality environment characterized by shifting consumption patterns and ever increasing competitive pressures (Tsiotsou Wirtz 2012; Oh 1999). Foxal (1990) cited in Bray (n.d.) argues that the Consumer Decision Model avails a clear illustration of the consumption process, making it easy for marketers to internalize its dynamics to influence purchase behavior. The present paper challenges this perspective as consecutive research studies (e.g. Cave 2002; Kotler et al 1999; Bowie Buttle 2004) demonstrate that consumers, particularly in the hospitality industry, often engage in non-conscious behaviors that may not be modeled through a rational decision making paradigm. For example, the consumer may purchase a plate of food in an up market hotel, not because they engaged in pre-purchase evaluation of available alternatives to the hotel but due the fact that the servicescape of the facility blurred their conscious decision-making proce sses. Upon testing the Consumer Decision Model, Rau Samiee (1981) were of the opinion that the model is extraordinary in scope and range, but its factual vigor in explaining and justifying consumer behavior â€Å"†¦has been significantly obscured by the fact that most research efforts so far have only been directed toward specific segments of the model rather than at the model as a whole† (p. 300). In light of these assertions, it can only be argued that this model is not only inherently weak to be of much assistance to the service marketing practitioner but it lacks specificity and thus is difficult, if not impossible, to study and operationalize in hospitality settings. According to Bray (n.d.), the environmental and individual influences of Consumer Decision Model continue to draw â€Å"†¦criticism due to the vagueness of their definition and role within the decision process† (p.). For example, while the model clearly identifies and delineates environment al influences such as social class and family, it fails to explain the role of such influences in affecting behavior, giving room to vague generalizations. In the hospitality industry, it becomes even difficult to follow the direction of the influences as the model suggests since some variables are not diametrically ordered as is the case in the goods industry. Although the model suggests that the consumer has the capacity to decipher some experience attributes before purchasing a product (Erasmus et al 2002), it is increasingly difficult to validate such an assertion in the hospitality industry because most of the experience attributes cannot be evaluated before the actual consumption of the service (Lovelock Wirtz 2010). What’s more, experience attributes and individual motives for consumption in the hospitality industry relates more to issues of emotions and the role of heuristics in determining behavior. However, these issues are not adequately covered in the Consumer De cision Model as it only limits the role of individual motives to the process of need recognition (Erasmus et al 2002; Bray n.d.). Lastly, a widespread concern of the ‘analytic’ approaches such as the Consumer Decision Model regards the unobservable nature and scope of the many variables under consideration (Baig Khan 2010). Consequently, it may still be difficult to ascertain whether this particular model provides a precise representation of consumer behavior during consumption (Bowie Buttle 2004), and whether it has any predictive value in hospitality settings (Williams 2006). Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) The Theory of Planned Behavior (illustrated in Appendix 2) is an offshoot of the Prescriptive Cognitive Models that were first developed in the 1960s by researchers such as Fishbein and Bertram, who sought to primarily focus on beliefs and attitudes as principal determinants of consumer behavior and decision-making (Bowie Buttle 2004). The famous Fishbein model , for example, proposed that the consumer’s â€Å"†¦overall attitude toward an object is derived from his beliefs and feelings about various attributes of the object† (Bray n.d., p. 20). The TPB simply extends this perspective as it seeks to address the perceived overreliance on intentions (from rationalistic models) to predict consumer behavior (Rau Samiee 1981). From the illustration in Appendix 2, it is important to note that â€Å"†¦the construct perceived behavior control is formed by combining the perceived presence of factors that may facilitate or impede the performance of a behavior and the perceived power of each of these factors† (Bray n.d., p. 22). Actual behavioral control, which in normal cases is far challenging to accurately appraise, refers to the degree to which the individual has the expertise, assets, know-how, and other fundamentals required to exhibit a given behavior (Cave 2002). Perceived behavioral control, which functions as a substitute measure of the influence, is assessed and quantified through uniquely designed data collection instruments. The TPB also asserts that consumer behavioral intention is controlled by a forceful range of variables, including the consumer’s attitude and values, their prejudiced norms and beliefs, as well as their perceived behavioral control influences (Thompson et al 2009). As such, it can be argued that actual consumer behavior as explained by the TPB is derived largely from behavioral intention, but is controlled and mediated to some extent by perceived behavioral control mechanisms (Bowie Buttle 2004). The TPB, which has over the years evolved to become the dominant expectancy-value theory (Bray n.d.), has its own strengths and weaknesses when applied within the context of the hospitality industry. For example, it is a well known fact that many consumers form a perception of a particular restaurant or bar based on their beliefs and attitudes rather than intentio n. Consequently, it can be argued that this framework has the capacity to capture a substantial proportion of variance in the consumer’s decision to consume a particular service rather than over relying on the ‘intention attributes’ popularized by rationalistic models. Additionally, the theory not only avails predictive validity for its application in a varied range of hospitality scenarios as a direct consequence of its ability to convey subjective variables that influence the consumer’s consumption patterns (Cave 2002; Reid Bojanic 1988), but it is effective in providing prudential justification of the informational and motivational influences on consumer behavior. Lastly, on strengths, it can be argued that the TPB forms one of the easiest theories to understand and operationalize in hospitality settings. The TPB has been accused of projecting a vague orientation as it relies on the researcher’s ability to precisely recognize and enumerate all p rominent attributes that are considered by the consumer in forming their belief and attitude (Rau Samiee 1981; Neely et al 2010). Such an accurate identification and measurement of prominent consumer attributes is clearly impossible in the hospitality industry as the consumer is influenced by a multiplicity of both conscious and sub-conscious variables in considering what choice of food to order (Kotler et al 1999), or what choice of holiday experience to consider. Consequently, it can be argued that employing such a theory to evaluate consumer decision-making process in the hospitality industry borders on the optimistic. The TPB also relies on the presupposition that the consumer commences comprehensive cognitive processing before making a purchase (Dallaert et al 2012; Macinnis Folkes 2010). This presupposition does not hold much water in the hospitality industry as experience demonstrates that most consumers make spontaneous and emotional decisions in deciding where to go for l unch, or in deciding which hotel facility offers the best services. Consequently, â€Å"†¦the reliance on cognition appears to neglect any influence that could result from emotion, spontaneity, habit or as a result of cravings† (Bray n.d., p.24). It is indeed true that most consumers visiting hotels and restaurants for food and drinks for the behavior not necessarily from attitude evaluation as proposed in the theory, but from an overall affective response that is especially related to the facility, food or drink of choice. Conclusion Recommendations From this evaluation and critique, it is indeed clear that marketing professionals in hospitality organizations can no longer continue to employ insufficient marketing paradigms, such as the Consumer Decision Model and the theory of Planned Behavior, in their attempt to understand consumer behavior and decision making. Rather, they need to refocus their energies on evolving these theories and models to portray consumers as emotional beings, focused on achieving pleasurable experiences, creating identities, and developing a sense of belonging through consumption (Williams 2006). The new paradigms, it is widely believed, must also have the capacity to delineate how consumers find fulfillment through consumption, and how they develop creativity and express their individual capabilities through the consumption of services. Reference List Abdallat, M.M.A El-Emam, H.E n.d., Consumer behavior models in tourism. Web. Baig, E Khan, S 2010. ‘Emotional satisfaction and brand loyalty in hospitality industry’, International Bulletin of Business Administration, vol. 11 no. 7, pp. 62-66. Bowie, D Buttle, F 2004, Hospitality marketing, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford. 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Appendix Appendix 1: Consumer Decision Model Appendix 2: Theory of Planned Behavior This report on Consumer Decision-Making Models in Hospitality Contexts: An Evaluation Critique was written and submitted by user Wolver-dok to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here. Consumer Decision Introduction Shopping is an important aspect to all people and the economy. While purchasing is a normal behavior, challenges emerge when people overindulge in it without paying attention to its consequences. On April 1900, Paris held a world trade fair, which brought people from different consumer markets together to celebrate past technological achievements with the view of gaining an insight on potential technological developments of the future.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Consumer Decision-Making Process on Buying Organic Foods specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The trade fair portrayed the potential of the then and future civilizations to deploy technology, creativity, and innovation to create more consumables to better the life of future generations. It set the foundation for availing more products and services in the marketplace. Products are availed in the markets for consumers to buy. The buying behav iors are influenced by various factors. In many situations, consumers do not understand their reasons for purchasing certain products. However, when making purchase, a buying decision is necessary, although it may vary depending on the product on offer. This paper restricts its discussion to consumer decision-making when buying organic foods. Organic Foods As time progresses, more organic foods will become commonplace in food stores. They are not just available in health stores. The increasing availability of organic foods in supermarkets’ shelves and other consumer product outlets raises a dilemma on products aisle, especially concerning when to buy or why it is necessary to acquire them, as opposed to relying on conventionally grown foods. For example, in one shelf, an apple grown in a conventional way is displayed. On the other, an organic apple is displayed. A thorough scrutiny of the two reveals they are both shinny, rich in fiber and vitamins, and void of cholesterol, s odium, and fats. The question that arises is, ‘what influences the consumer decisions while choosing a product?’ While making a buying decision, it is important to make product distinctions so that one purchases goods depending on the desired product utilities. Therefore, differentiation of organic and conventionally grown foods is necessary. The term organic foods imply the manner in which agricultural products, including meat, vegetables, some daily products, and fruits are grown and processed. Organic agricultural products reduce pollution while boosting water and soil conservation (Blair 81). Such products are not grown in conventional ways so that chemicals are not deployed in weed control and/or fertilized using inorganic manure. Rather, organic farming involves the use of natural fertilizers, techniques such as crop rotation, and employment of approaches such as mulching in controlling weeds. How can consumers identify foods that are grown organically and those g rown conventionally? They can recognize them by checking the product labels.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) developed a program for certifying organic products. Therefore, all producers using the term ‘organic’ in their product labels must comply with thorough and strict standards and regulations provided by the government. The certification program aims at regulating the manner in which farmers grow, handle, and process agricultural produce. A general requirement is that the USDA must certify all products that deploy the term ‘organic’. However, producers who sell less than $5,000 annually are exempted from the USDA certification (Krieger 572). Nevertheless, this provision does not comprise an exception from compliance with the USDA standards applicable to organic foods. Therefore, the term ‘organicâ €™ in a product label indicates that the packaged food complies precisely with standards established by the USDA for organic foods. Some products, such as breakfast cereals have more than one ingredient. They are not forbidden from using the USDA seal. However, they need to use it in combination with either ‘100 percent organic’ or ‘Organic’ phrases. The phrase ‘100 percent organic’ means that all ingredients in a product are organic or made from organic ingredients. The term organic is deployed where a product’s ingredients are not less than 95% organic. In case products have more than 70% organic ingredients, the terms ‘made with organic ingredients’ may be deployed on the products’ label. However, they cannot use the USDA seal. In case products are made from less than 70% organic ingredients, they are not permitted to use the term organic or use the USDA seal in the label (Blair 97). Nevertheless, the listing o f various organic ingredients on the product package is allowed. Irrespective of the percentage of organic ingredients in products, buyers make decisions on whether to purchase organic products or conventional products. Hence, the question on what influences these buying decisions is important for organic product marketers and promoters. The next section addresses this issue. Decision-making processes when buying organic foods Food markets are experiencing a myriad of changes in their operational environments, especially by noting the increasing emphasis on the need for changing eating behaviors to avoid the dangers of health risks that are associated with eating unhealthy foods. In fact, health specialists classify foods that contain high calories such as fast foods, which form the menus of many fast-food retailers as unhealthy. Campaigns incepted by health organizations against such products results in the emergence of demand for foods, which are fiber-rich. This situation has sha ped the perception of many buyers that organic foods are healthy and that they reduce the risks of illnesses, which are associated with fast foods (Dangour 203). Hence, through the creation of awareness on healthy eating habits, media may influence buyers’ decision to buy organic foods.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Consumer Decision-Making Process on Buying Organic Foods specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The increasing attention of consumers on healthy eating habits has led to creativity and innovation of new products that meet the emerging need of the customers. These needs are based on the perception of the value of the organic foods. The effort relates to the marketing concerns, which encompass â€Å"the process of developing and implementing a plan to identify, anticipate, and satisfy customer demand in such a way to make a profit† (Simon 124). Consequently, farmers’ markets and agric ultural product producers focus on various mechanisms for ensuring they provide organic foods to meet the needs of consumers when it comes to delivering healthy foods. Therefore, buyers’ purchasing decisions for organic foods are made based on their perceived levels of product capacity to meet their healthy eating habits. Consumerist cultures have significant effects on the buying decisions made by consumers. Such decisions may also apply in the purchasing of organic foods. In the article, State of the World: Transforming Cultures from Consumerism to Sustainability, Assadourian sees the failure of people to save environmental collapse as an issue that relates to culture, as opposed to their stupidity, destructiveness, or ignorance (Assadourian 3). He compares culture to requesting people to stop breathing forever, not knowing they will only do it for seconds before inhaling again without necessarily requesting them to do so. To him, this analogy explains the difficulties enco untered in telling people to curb their consumerist cultures to save the environment (Assadourian 3). However, people are now becoming increasingly concerned about environmental sustainability (Dangour 209). Consequently, any product that enhances environmental sustainability is likely to appear in their (buyers) top list of must purchase. Organic products are designed and marketed as a way of promoting environmental sustainability. In the light of Assadourian’s argument on the innateness of consumerist culture in human beings, civilization defines societal norms and values, which are hard to smash when they are normalized. Owning big houses, several cars, air conditioners, and other equipment constitute the norm for the American culture, which is now rapidly becoming a global culture. Assadourian criticizes this emerging culture by claiming that although it appears natural to many people, the culture is unsustainable and an inaccurate manifestation of the nature of people (3 ). He maintains that the escalated consumption pattern does not increase the wellbeing of people (Assadourian 9). When a new culture emerges, the existing cultural values are eroded. Assadourian criticizes the consumerist culture by claiming that it has created the belief that possessing more wealth and material capability defines good life (10).Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Similarly, opposed to this criticism, many people regard the increased consumption of organic products as promoting better health and reducing risks of illnesses, especially those that are associated with fast foods and other processed foods. These perceptions have implications to the purchasing decisions for organic products. From the above arguments, it is evident that people may purchase organic products due to negative emotions towards inorganic or conventional foods, depending on the perceptions they have induced from the environment. Several factors may contribute to these emotional responses. Such factors constitute the thoughts, beliefs, and perceptions that affect people’s emotional responses to the specific stimulus. Physiological behavioralism links emotions demonstrated by individuals with responses to the biological and environmental stimuli. These emotions can be negative or positive toward different stimuli. For example, a positive pulse to a food stimulus or a negative emotion in response to the stimuli causes a dislike and an unwanted feeling. This claim suggests that microtonal responses can help in increasing the purchasing behavior of a given product. Once a buying behavior for organic foods has been developed, the subsequent purchasing decision may be influenced by compulsive purchasing behavior. Li, Unger, and Bi define compulsive buying behavior as a chronic tenancy for purchasing products and services in response to negative conditions and feelings (238). Literature documents no successful attempts to stimulate this behavior through any mechanism, including classical conditioning. The behaviors encompass an unconditioned response towards the desires of goods or services and feeling of depression due to anxiety. Hence, the desire to purchase specific types of services or goods leads to the development of compulsive behavior. The absence of these products or services induces stress or anxiety, which in turn induces the compulsive b uying behavior. White and Duram assert that organic foods have better tastes, have more nutrients than conventional foods, and that they are safe (180). This belief drives consumers’ demand for them. Although price constitutes an important factor that influences the purchasing decisions for any products, it is not significant for organic foods. Dangour confirms this assertion by claiming that the demand for organic foods remains high, despite the escalating prices for organic foods and the difficulties in confirming safety, nutritional value, and taste differences for organic and conventional foods (203). Dangour asserts that the research conducted in China in 2012 found that 41% of the Chinese population considers food safety an important concern that guides their purchasing decisions (205). This finding shows the increasing health safety concerns up from 12% in China in 2008. This rise has been accompanied by increased purchasing of organic foods (Dangour 206). Nutritional differences between organic and conventional products are not supported by significant scientific studies. The 2012 survey of various scientific studies identified few and inconsistent differences in vitamin components of conventional, and organic foods claiming that the results depended on particularities of each study (White and Duram 180). For example, the 2011 review of literature on organic foods conducted by Johansson revealed that organic food possesses higher levels of micronutrient compared to conventional products (3871). Hunter, Foster, and McArthur do not find any protein content differences between organic and conventional chicken (52). However, organic chickens contain more Omega-3 fatty acids when compared to conventional chickens (Hunter, Foster, and McArthur 52). This finding suggests that the understanding or proven nutritional value difference between them and conventional foods products does not influence buying decisions for organic foods. The growing perception that organic foods are safer compelled Johansson to conduct a literature review for scientific evidence on health and safety benefits for organic foods in 2014. The review found little scientifically-backed evidence on the harms or benefits of consuming conventionally produced agricultural products compared to organic products. Johansson concluded that only few humanistic researchers have studied â€Å"the effects of consumption of organic food on health, disease risks and health-promoting compounds, and the development of reliable biomarkers to be used in such studies are still in its infancy† (3873). Therefore, although consumers may arrive at purchasing decisions for organic foods based on perceptions of nutritional value and safety concerns, only limited scientific studies find limited evidence of such perceptions. Indeed, such evidence is also inconsistent and lacks consensus. Despite the scanty scientific evidence that supports the health, safety, taste, and nutritiona l value differences of conventional and organic foods, the demand for organic foods has been increasing on global platforms. Hence, more buyers are making purchasing decisions for organic foods. As from 2002, the global sales for various organic foods have increased by above 170% to account for excess of $63 billion by 2011 (Hunter, Foster, and McArthur 523). Opposed to the law of demand, which suggests that demand and price have an inverse relationship, the price for organic food prices lies between 10% and 40% or even several times higher than the price of conventional products (Johansson 3875). The supply of organic products is limited. Organic food production only accounts for only 1% to 2% of the total global food production. In the US market, organic foods now account for 5% to 10% of market share (Dangour 208). Due to the inadequacy of scientific evidence backing the nutritional, safety, and taste differences between conventional and organic foods products, the increasing dem and for the organic foods is influenced by consumers’ perception of value and health. Such perceptions may be contributed by the promotion and marketing of organic foods as having better health, safety, nutritional, and taste benefits compared to conventional foods. Conclusion Organic foods sales have been increasing on the global platforms. The paper has argued that the scanty scientific evidence has backed the growth of the product value in terms of nutritional, taste differences, safety, and health benefits. It proposes that consumer-purchasing decisions are influenced by the compulsive buying of the products or unsubstantiated perceived value of the products. Works Cited Assadourian, Erik. State of the World: Transforming Cultures from Consumerism to Sustainability, W.W Norton: The World Watch Institute, 2010. Print. Blair, Robert. Organic Production and Food Quality: A Down to Earth Analysis, Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford, UK, 2012. Print. Dangour, Dickson. Nutritional Quality of Organic Foods: A Systematic Review.† The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 92.1(2009): 203–210. Print. Hunter, Duncan, Meika Foster, and Jennifer McArthur. â€Å"Evaluation of the Micronutrient Composition of Plant Foods Produced by Organic and Conventional Agricultural Methods.† Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition 51.6 (2011):571–582. Print. Johansson, Erastus. â€Å"Contribution of Organically Grown Crops to Human Health.† International Journal Environ Research Public Health 11.4(2014): 3870-3893. Print. Krieger, Ri. â€Å"OP Pesticides, Organic Diets and Children Health.† Environ Health Perspectives 114.10(2006): 572-579. Print. Li, Stephen, Arthur Unger, and Charlse Bi. â€Å"Different Facets of Compulsive Buying Among Chinese Students.† Journal of Behavioral Addiction 3.4(2014): 238-245. Print. Simon, Herbert. â€Å"Rational Decision Making in Business Organizations.† American Economic Review 3. 4(2007): 123-129. Print. White, Kennedy, and Leslie Duram. America Goes Green: An Encyclopedia of Eco-friendly Culture in the United States, California: ABC-CLIO, 2013. Print. This report on Consumer Decision-Making Process on Buying Organic Foods was written and submitted by user Charley Parker to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here. Consumer Decision Consumer Decision

How to Create a Killer Content Strategy for Your New Blog - CoSchedule

How to Create a Killer Content Strategy for Your New Blog Creating a solid content strategy for your new blog is such an important task. We all know how important these first impressions are. We stare at our beautiful blog that we have just setup with a blank expression, asking, What should I write about? You want to get traffic, you want to blow people away and you want to get people addicted to you. If you do all three of these from the word go, the rest of your journey will be a breeze. The trouble is, it isn’t easy! Picking a niche for your blog is one thing, but creating your initial content is where the real work begins. I am going to show you the exact steps I take to create content  that my audience wants to read. You will also learn how to find an army of influencers that want to help you. That is all you need at this stage! You have content that people want to read and you have influencers that you can share your content with. How To Create A Killer Content Strategy For Your New BlogBuild a Better Blog Content Strategy With Five Free Templates Apply what youll learn in this post with these free templates: Blog Content Strategy Template SEO Content Strategy Guide Skyscraper Technique Checklist How to Start a Blog Infographic Blog Schedule Template Who Is Your Ideal Audience? When you plan your content strategy  to launch your new blog you have to do your research. This will ensure your content appeals to your readers. At this stage, you don’t have an audience but you should have an idea of what your blog is going to be about. If you have an idea of who your audience is you can create a content schedule that appeals to them. This will help improve the engagement of the content and make it a lot easier to promote the content. The first step when analyzing your audience is to work out what they are trying to achieve. A reader that visits a blog about strength training could be looking to build muscle. [Tweet "The first step when analyzing your audience is to work out what they are trying to achieve." People want to build muscle for different reasons though. Some may want to build core strength to help with daily living activities. Others might want to train in natural body building! These are all related to strength training but are two very different audiences. When you start your blog it is key to focus on one audience, smash it and then add another similar audience on top. â€Å"Traffic that doesn’t convert to subscribers usually means something you’ve written connects with people, but they don’t understand how it fits into your blog as a whole.† - Amy Dunn Moscoso, Smart Blogger Recommended Reading: How to Find Your Target Audience and Create the Best Content That Connects Understand Your Readers Journey If you know your audience is looking for a strength training program to improve their posture then this is their end goal. When they land on your blog they are at the start of their journey. Your content needs to show the reader that you can help them improve their posture. It should provide actionable tips that encourage the reader to take action. If I write an article about getting big arms, do you think that will hook people interested in correcting their posture? It will appeal to some but not everyone. What if I was to write an article showing my audience how strengthening their glutes can improve their posture. This is exactly what they are looking for. My next article is about how correcting your posture can alleviate knee pain. The reader may not know that their posture is to blame for this pain. They might not even have knee pain but most people would want to prevent it. You need to sell them the benefits of fixing their posture and mix in tips that they can apply. When they apply these tips and start to get results they will start to trust you more! Your blog is a tool to show awareness of the problem and highlight the benefits of fixing this problem. Your job is to create content that builds trust by providing that quick win feeling. Your blog is a tool to show awareness of the problem and highlight the benefits of fixing this...Look at , they know exactly who their target audience is. Content marketers that want to improve their strategy. The tool they offer will do this, but a new visitor might not understand how. On their blog, they create content that appeals to content marketers. Along the way, they show them how their tool can help. By providing epic value they build trust by giving their readers that quick win feeling. now has an email list of over 150,000 people who are interested in what they offer! Recommended Reading: 21+ Easy Ways to Build an Email List That Will Skyrocket By 140% in 1 Year This is all because they provide content that moves their readers from point A to point B. Look at Guerilla Zen Fitness! Blake offers products that will improve posture. He knows the problems his audience face. He creates YouTube Videos  and blog posts that highlight these as well as showing some quick tips to help. From doing this he now has over 60,000 subscribers on YouTube because his content takes people from point A to B. I want you to think of what goal your blog accomplishes for your reader. Here are a couple examples: Dog training: I help first-time dog owners raise their pups. Point A know nothing about training pups. Point B has a well-behaved dog. Fat Loss: I help overweight individuals get in shape so they feel better and more confident. Point A overweight person who may have some health risks. Point B healthy weight, in better health and feeling a lot more confident. Do this for your reader's journey  and then we can look at the actual content that we need to publish on our blog. Recommended Reading: How to Write a Blog Post: Your 5-Point Checklist to Write a Perfect Post Design Your Content To Take Your Readers From A To B Now it is time to start generating some ideas for your first 12 blog posts. Having ideas for your first few months will help you be more organized and stop the blinking cursor syndrome! In a world where there are so many blogs competing for attention! To stand out you have to make sure that your blog posts are the best there is on the topic. You can do this by focusing on a certain topic, being more thorough, having a beautiful design and a clutter-free blog. Having a great post that also looks good is one thing, but if no one cares about the topic, it’s pointless. Let’s start generating some ideas so that we can launch your new blog with a bang! Here's a quote from Talia Wolf: The road to a successful blog post (and choosing its topic) is divided into 3 steps: 1 - Start with keyword research. Not the typical keyword research where you enter the phrase you think is relevant and find similar words, a more strategic one. Here's how:Your goal is to find the best ranking subjects, those your subscribers would be interested in reading and would attract more visitors to your site so, in the Google keyword planner enter the link to a competing blog, one that's popular and trustworthy. This will show you all their top ranked keywords on their blog and give you an indication to what people search for and read. 2 - Then search for those keywords on Google, find the top ranked articles for those keywords and identify what makes them successful (e.g - are they all lists, examples, videos or perhaps complete guides?). 3 - Then, read the articles and the comments to see what people were missing in the article - what's missing? Then, and only then, sit down to write the article. Buzzsumo The best way to find content that your readers will respond to is to find content that has already performed well. You can find this type of content by checking out Buzzsumo. This tool will show you similar content based on how many people have shared it on social media. If a post has produced a lot of shares then you can be sure the topic is one that your audience will like. Go over to Buzzsumo  and enter your niche or broad topic. For example, let's try the keyword "fix posture†: This is broad and will return the competition on the field! Create a spreadsheet with the following columns: Headline Topic URL Blog And a column for every social network that is applicable. Start filling it up with the content that appeals to you. This will become your swipe file for content ideas. Search for a few broad keywords on Buzzsumo  to get a decent amount of content ideas. Quora When you start a blog you don’t have any audience to reach out to ask what they want to read. On Quora, you have a network of people asking questions about hundreds of topics daily. Simply search for your broad topic and you will see a list of questions that include your keyphrase. This should generate some great questions for you to answer in your posts. Another way to use this QA site is to visit the topic pages and look at the Top Questions bit. These are the most popular questions related to the topic. Type in a good few keywords that' are related to your niche and start to add your ideas to your spreadsheet. Recommended Reading: The Ultimate Content Marketer's Guide to Keyword Research How to Improve Your Keyword Research With Latent Semantic Indexing Look At What Your Competitors Do Now we are going to put our broad keyword into Google. This will return the best content for that phrase. The Google algorithm is a strange beast! One thing we know is that Google want to show the best and most relevant content to their readers. So search for your keyword ... Now at the bottom, you will see related keyphrases. Add these to your spreadsheet as they are content ideas that Google  deems as relevant. Now take the homepage URL of each result. Head back over to Buzzsumo  and enter each URL, this will show you the best content from this website. As you do this you will start to see topics come up time and time again. These are hot topics and should definitely be on your list to create first. By now you should have a pretty big list of ideas (I would say no less than 50). If you have less, repeat the process, try different phrases or even go to page two of Google. These don’t rank as high but it doesn’t mean they are useless! I have seen some pretty great content ideas off the first page too. Recommended Reading:  This is the Best 30-Minute Content Marketing Brainstorming Process Creating An Editorial Calendar It is time to put those content ideas to good use. You need to create a posting schedule that suits your lifestyle so that you can stay consistent. It might sound awesome to post a new article every day. At this stage, you have no audience to feed your creative juices with awesome content ideas. Plus posting daily makes it harder to promote each post properly. I would say start with 2-4 posts per month, but these must be high quality. Your absolute best work. That means your twelve posts will last you 3-6 months, this is plenty time to build a decent sized audience. Whatever schedule you choose, stay consistent and make sure it is doable for you! Once you have your ideas you can use an editorial calendar like to plan their launch. I find adding post ideas into an editorial calendar helps to keep me accountable the majority of the time. If I didn’t do this I would be scrambling the night before and the quality of my article would slip! Recommended Reading:  How to Get Crazy Organized With a Comprehensive Content Calendar (Free Template) The 3-Post Strategy Overview When I launch any new blog I like to follow a certain content system! I will create my foundational content (the content before your launch). This method stems from three posts that are all based on proven topics. So what three post types do you need: Massive List Post Expert Roundup Post A Tutorial Post Let’s look at how we create each of these posts. Recommended Reading: This is the Ultimate Blog Writing Process to Create Killer Posts Your Massive List Post Your first piece of foundational content is your massive list post. Everybody loves a list post because they are so easy to read and they are very shareable! Brian Dean over at Backlinko.com  developed a framework for creating epic list posts that drive shares, links and huge traffic. Perfect for your first post on your new blog. Introducing the Skyscraper Technique! This technique is based on finding a topic that has done well before, you would then check out other articles on the topic and lastly, you will create an epic piece that beats all other articles. When you do this your article becomes the best on the topic. The second part of this strategy is to promote but we will look at that in a bit later. Let’s begin by taking a look at out topics list we created above. Choose the most popular topic you found! Start by entering it into Google. If a website is on the first page, this means that Google classes this article as the best on the web. They strive to show the best content to their customers. Go through each of the posts on the first page and look at ways you could improve. What is the biggest list out there? If the highest number on the first page is 20 can you create a list of 40-50? A lot of list posts are not very in depth. I have seen some with literally 20-50 words per list item! Ask yourself some questions: Can you make a more thorough post that provides step-by-step instructions for each point? This would make your article better. How does the actual page look? Can you make the post easier to navigate? Some list posts can get pretty long so providing a table of contents can really improve the user experience. When was the post created? If the post was created a few years back some of the points may be out of date, so you could improve upon this by creating a fresher list. You want to go all out here to make your new blog post stand out from the rest! Mediocre content will not cut it. You have to kick your competitors right off the playing field! Once you write up your awesome skyscraper article it is time to insert some traffic generating nuggets. These come in the form of expert quotes! Reach out to influencers that have written about the topic before and simply ask them for a couple of sentences. Now if you struggle to get a reply from the influencer you can simply head to their blog and take a quote. Add these into your article to give it more value. Okay Joe, how does this generate traffic? When it comes to promoting our blog posts we can reach out to each of the experts that we have linked to and let them know! This is the perfect way to spark a relationship with an influencer, everybody loves to see their work being referenced no matter how big they are! â€Å"If I were to start a brand new blog tomorrow, my first article would be on a topic that supports my main business goals - anything Marketing related. The article would have two main focuses. 1) Educate 2) Entertain. In order to establish myself as an authority, I want to make sure I use my expertise to educate the reader and provide MASSIVE value! In order to keep the reader coming back, I would entertain the reader by using my personal style, showcasing examples where appropriate, and keeping the reader in mind throughout the article." - Katherine Sullivan Marketing Solved An Expert Roundup Post For the next post, it is time to let the experts that you want to connect with shine. I always say for your first roundup post  try and include people that you want to connect with, that way you are starting to get on their radar. Once you have your initial hit list it is time to look for more experts. I would always try to get about 100 experts because a lot won’t reply but 100 should still give you enough for your post! Take your popular topic and let’s turn it into a question! Now think who was your target audience. Simply add the topic and the audience together to create a killer question. Here are some examples: Topic: Puppy training Audience: New dog owners Question: What is your number one tip for new dog owners to train their new puppies?Topic: Improving core strength Audience: people with knee pain Question: What is your number one tip to strengthen your core to help combat knee pain?Topic: Content marketing Audience: advanced marketers Question: What is your number one tip for experienced marketers to improve their content marketing strategy? These kind of questions are brief and will not take the blogger that long to answer. Busy influencers will be happier to contribute if the question doesn’t take long to answer. Start by warming up the big dog influencers on your hit list first because they will take the longest to win over. If you can get them to contribute everybody else will be a lot easier because you have some social proof! When you reach out, keep your email personal and let them know why you think they would be a good fit for the roundup. Ask your question and then tell them the names of the big influencers. This is how I have managed to get bloggers such as Neil Patel, Jon Morrow, Adam Connell and Sue Anne Dunlevie to contribute to my post! Keep it brief and to the point! Once you have collected all your responses you can enter them into the blog post. Add a killer headline and conclusion that thanks all the influencers for their hard work. For your intro you want the first sentence to hook your reader and then you want to give your own piece of value. You need to put some effort into this by doing this you get the readers excited and it will motivate them to keep reading. By now you should have a nice list of experts, this is perfect to launch your blog with a bang! A Tutorial Post This is the last piece of foundational content in the X method. Tutorial posts work really well because you are going to solve one of your readers biggest pain points to give them that quick win feeling! Choose another topic from the list but this time you need to make sure that you can solve it with a tutorial style post. Here are some examples: Niche: SEO Tutorial Post: How To Build Links Using Broken Link Building Niche: Blogging Tutorial: How To Get 100 Visitors To Your Blog From Reddit Niche: Weight Loss Tutorial: How To Boost Your Metabolism Speed Up Weight loss Niche: Dog Training Tutorial: How To Train Your Dog To Walk By Your Side Niche: Freelance Writing Tutorial: How To Set Up Your Upwork Profile Get Your First Job What makes a good tutorial? Small actionable step-by-step chunks that provide images to document every action. If you think there will be too many images then maybe consider using a video. What makes a good tutorial? Small, actionable step-by-step chunks that provide images to document...Video style tutorials do really well because your reader will feel like they are following along looking over your shoulder. You still want to reach out to influencers to get their input just to give it that traffic fuel. If you do something a particular way look for experts that do it that way and feature a quote. This adds social proof to your article. It also backs up what you are saying with some proof! Recommended Reading: How to Use Social Media Analytics to Create the Best Content Launch Your Blog If you have got this far you have done the ground work and your blog is ready to fly! You can’t stop yet though because it is your job to make it fly. So many people think that you can publish your post and others will find it while you sit back and watch it. This is total rubbish! You should spend 20% of your time creating your content and then 80% of the time actually promoting it. Tell Your Nearest and Dearest It really does surprise me how many people leave this out. Your family is your life line whether they are interested in what you write or not! They can give you that much needed social proof and kick off your engagement. I always ask my mom to share my posts! Why? Because I know it’s a certainty, she will share because she wants to help me! Now my mom struggles with all things computer related so blogging is definitely not something she would be  interested in, but I still get traffic when she shares. She has friends that are interested! If you struggle to get comments you can ask your friends to leave some. This will boost the engagement on your blog. People are more likely to leave a valuable comment if they see others doing so. This can lead to questions that you can add to your content ideas spreadsheet. Recommended Reading: How to 10X Your Content Ideas With Sujan Patel from Web Profits Tell Communities You're Involved With Are you a member of any social media groups, niche communities or forums? If you are a credible member you can tell them about your new article. You just need to do it in a valuable way. Start a thread post and give an actionable tip! For example, if your post is about guest blogging  you could say how important it is to get to know the editor. Give benefits that will encourage the group to act upon your tip! Then just give the link to encourage people to click through. I have never been banned or blocked for doing this. Tell The Influencers You Have Mentioned Now if you have been following along my foundational content strategy you should have a list of influencers that you have featured in your posts. This is your chance to let them know it’s live, by doing all the sharing with your existing connections you should have some social proof on your articles. This will increase the value for the influencer and could be the thing that encourages the connection! That is why I leave this step till I have done my preliminary shares! When you reach out, be very brief. Here's a sample template: Hi Name, I just wanted to let you know that I have featured a quote from your article about TOPIC. This was great and I think my audience would love it because REASON. If you want to check it out here is the link: [INSERT URL] If you have any feedback or you would like me to edit it please let me know! Thanks Your NAME This is brief, you are not asking for anything, and it is personal. Most bloggers will share without asking just because you have featured them. If the influencer has contributed a quote or is part of your roundup, just reach out and tell them that the post is live. Again do not ask for anything, most will share without your asking! Lastly, reach out to everyone that never replied to you and let them know it’s live. Be friendly and polite and offer them the chance to be added onto the roundup. Now that you are showing them your results they know a bit more about you and this might give them that little push to connect with you. Recommended Reading: How to Write a Pitch Email That Will Get Your Guest Post Accepted Now Go Launch Your Blog! Well done for getting this far! You now have a new blog that has some traction but this is only the beginning. Creating foundational content that get’s influencers involved is a great way to get your name about but you still have a lot of work to do. Fill out your content schedule for 3 months, try and keep the content based around one main topic. So if your blog is about dog training maybe just focus on training a new pup. This lets you establish yourself as an expert because of the value you are giving on that one topic! Now it is over to you, let me know in the comments what you do to give your blog the best start in life. How to Create a Killer Content Strategy for Your New Blog Creating a solid content strategy for your new blog is such an important task. We all know how important these first impressions are. We stare at our beautiful blog that we have just setup with a blank expression, asking, What should I write about? You want to get traffic, you want to blow people away and you want to get people addicted to you. If you do all three of these from the word go, the rest of your journey will be a breeze. The trouble is, it isn’t easy! Picking a niche for your blog is one thing, but creating your initial content is where the real work begins. I am going to show you the exact steps I take to create content  that my audience wants to read. You will also learn how to find an army of influencers that want to help you. That is all you need at this stage! You have content that people want to read and you have influencers that you can share your content with. How To Create A Killer Content Strategy For Your New BlogBuild a Better Blog Content Strategy With Five Free Templates Apply what youll learn in this post with these free templates: Blog Content Strategy Template SEO Content Strategy Guide Skyscraper Technique Checklist How to Start a Blog Infographic Blog Schedule Template Who Is Your Ideal Audience? When you plan your content strategy  to launch your new blog you have to do your research. This will ensure your content appeals to your readers. At this stage, you don’t have an audience but you should have an idea of what your blog is going to be about. If you have an idea of who your audience is you can create a content schedule that appeals to them. This will help improve the engagement of the content and make it a lot easier to promote the content. The first step when analyzing your audience is to work out what they are trying to achieve. A reader that visits a blog about strength training could be looking to build muscle. [Tweet "The first step when analyzing your audience is to work out what they are trying to achieve." People want to build muscle for different reasons though. Some may want to build core strength to help with daily living activities. Others might want to train in natural body building! These are all related to strength training but are two very different audiences. When you start your blog it is key to focus on one audience, smash it and then add another similar audience on top. â€Å"Traffic that doesn’t convert to subscribers usually means something you’ve written connects with people, but they don’t understand how it fits into your blog as a whole.† - Amy Dunn Moscoso, Smart Blogger Recommended Reading: How to Find Your Target Audience and Create the Best Content That Connects Understand Your Readers Journey If you know your audience is looking for a strength training program to improve their posture then this is their end goal. When they land on your blog they are at the start of their journey. Your content needs to show the reader that you can help them improve their posture. It should provide actionable tips that encourage the reader to take action. If I write an article about getting big arms, do you think that will hook people interested in correcting their posture? It will appeal to some but not everyone. What if I was to write an article showing my audience how strengthening their glutes can improve their posture. This is exactly what they are looking for. My next article is about how correcting your posture can alleviate knee pain. The reader may not know that their posture is to blame for this pain. They might not even have knee pain but most people would want to prevent it. You need to sell them the benefits of fixing their posture and mix in tips that they can apply. When they apply these tips and start to get results they will start to trust you more! Your blog is a tool to show awareness of the problem and highlight the benefits of fixing this problem. Your job is to create content that builds trust by providing that quick win feeling. Your blog is a tool to show awareness of the problem and highlight the benefits of fixing this...Look at , they know exactly who their target audience is. Content marketers that want to improve their strategy. The tool they offer will do this, but a new visitor might not understand how. On their blog, they create content that appeals to content marketers. Along the way, they show them how their tool can help. By providing epic value they build trust by giving their readers that quick win feeling. now has an email list of over 150,000 people who are interested in what they offer! Recommended Reading: 21+ Easy Ways to Build an Email List That Will Skyrocket By 140% in 1 Year This is all because they provide content that moves their readers from point A to point B. Look at Guerilla Zen Fitness! Blake offers products that will improve posture. He knows the problems his audience face. He creates YouTube Videos  and blog posts that highlight these as well as showing some quick tips to help. From doing this he now has over 60,000 subscribers on YouTube because his content takes people from point A to B. I want you to think of what goal your blog accomplishes for your reader. Here are a couple examples: Dog training: I help first-time dog owners raise their pups. Point A know nothing about training pups. Point B has a well-behaved dog. Fat Loss: I help overweight individuals get in shape so they feel better and more confident. Point A overweight person who may have some health risks. Point B healthy weight, in better health and feeling a lot more confident. Do this for your reader's journey  and then we can look at the actual content that we need to publish on our blog. Recommended Reading: How to Write a Blog Post: Your 5-Point Checklist to Write a Perfect Post Design Your Content To Take Your Readers From A To B Now it is time to start generating some ideas for your first 12 blog posts. Having ideas for your first few months will help you be more organized and stop the blinking cursor syndrome! In a world where there are so many blogs competing for attention! To stand out you have to make sure that your blog posts are the best there is on the topic. You can do this by focusing on a certain topic, being more thorough, having a beautiful design and a clutter-free blog. Having a great post that also looks good is one thing, but if no one cares about the topic, it’s pointless. Let’s start generating some ideas so that we can launch your new blog with a bang! Here's a quote from Talia Wolf: The road to a successful blog post (and choosing its topic) is divided into 3 steps: 1 - Start with keyword research. Not the typical keyword research where you enter the phrase you think is relevant and find similar words, a more strategic one. Here's how:Your goal is to find the best ranking subjects, those your subscribers would be interested in reading and would attract more visitors to your site so, in the Google keyword planner enter the link to a competing blog, one that's popular and trustworthy. This will show you all their top ranked keywords on their blog and give you an indication to what people search for and read. 2 - Then search for those keywords on Google, find the top ranked articles for those keywords and identify what makes them successful (e.g - are they all lists, examples, videos or perhaps complete guides?). 3 - Then, read the articles and the comments to see what people were missing in the article - what's missing? Then, and only then, sit down to write the article. Buzzsumo The best way to find content that your readers will respond to is to find content that has already performed well. You can find this type of content by checking out Buzzsumo. This tool will show you similar content based on how many people have shared it on social media. If a post has produced a lot of shares then you can be sure the topic is one that your audience will like. Go over to Buzzsumo  and enter your niche or broad topic. For example, let's try the keyword "fix posture†: This is broad and will return the competition on the field! Create a spreadsheet with the following columns: Headline Topic URL Blog And a column for every social network that is applicable. Start filling it up with the content that appeals to you. This will become your swipe file for content ideas. Search for a few broad keywords on Buzzsumo  to get a decent amount of content ideas. Quora When you start a blog you don’t have any audience to reach out to ask what they want to read. On Quora, you have a network of people asking questions about hundreds of topics daily. Simply search for your broad topic and you will see a list of questions that include your keyphrase. This should generate some great questions for you to answer in your posts. Another way to use this QA site is to visit the topic pages and look at the Top Questions bit. These are the most popular questions related to the topic. Type in a good few keywords that' are related to your niche and start to add your ideas to your spreadsheet. Recommended Reading: The Ultimate Content Marketer's Guide to Keyword Research How to Improve Your Keyword Research With Latent Semantic Indexing Look At What Your Competitors Do Now we are going to put our broad keyword into Google. This will return the best content for that phrase. The Google algorithm is a strange beast! One thing we know is that Google want to show the best and most relevant content to their readers. So search for your keyword ... Now at the bottom, you will see related keyphrases. Add these to your spreadsheet as they are content ideas that Google  deems as relevant. Now take the homepage URL of each result. Head back over to Buzzsumo  and enter each URL, this will show you the best content from this website. As you do this you will start to see topics come up time and time again. These are hot topics and should definitely be on your list to create first. By now you should have a pretty big list of ideas (I would say no less than 50). If you have less, repeat the process, try different phrases or even go to page two of Google. These don’t rank as high but it doesn’t mean they are useless! I have seen some pretty great content ideas off the first page too. Recommended Reading:  This is the Best 30-Minute Content Marketing Brainstorming Process Creating An Editorial Calendar It is time to put those content ideas to good use. You need to create a posting schedule that suits your lifestyle so that you can stay consistent. It might sound awesome to post a new article every day. At this stage, you have no audience to feed your creative juices with awesome content ideas. Plus posting daily makes it harder to promote each post properly. I would say start with 2-4 posts per month, but these must be high quality. Your absolute best work. That means your twelve posts will last you 3-6 months, this is plenty time to build a decent sized audience. Whatever schedule you choose, stay consistent and make sure it is doable for you! Once you have your ideas you can use an editorial calendar like to plan their launch. I find adding post ideas into an editorial calendar helps to keep me accountable the majority of the time. If I didn’t do this I would be scrambling the night before and the quality of my article would slip! Recommended Reading:  How to Get Crazy Organized With a Comprehensive Content Calendar (Free Template) The 3-Post Strategy Overview When I launch any new blog I like to follow a certain content system! I will create my foundational content (the content before your launch). This method stems from three posts that are all based on proven topics. So what three post types do you need: Massive List Post Expert Roundup Post A Tutorial Post Let’s look at how we create each of these posts. Recommended Reading: This is the Ultimate Blog Writing Process to Create Killer Posts Your Massive List Post Your first piece of foundational content is your massive list post. Everybody loves a list post because they are so easy to read and they are very shareable! Brian Dean over at Backlinko.com  developed a framework for creating epic list posts that drive shares, links and huge traffic. Perfect for your first post on your new blog. Introducing the Skyscraper Technique! This technique is based on finding a topic that has done well before, you would then check out other articles on the topic and lastly, you will create an epic piece that beats all other articles. When you do this your article becomes the best on the topic. The second part of this strategy is to promote but we will look at that in a bit later. Let’s begin by taking a look at out topics list we created above. Choose the most popular topic you found! Start by entering it into Google. If a website is on the first page, this means that Google classes this article as the best on the web. They strive to show the best content to their customers. Go through each of the posts on the first page and look at ways you could improve. What is the biggest list out there? If the highest number on the first page is 20 can you create a list of 40-50? A lot of list posts are not very in depth. I have seen some with literally 20-50 words per list item! Ask yourself some questions: Can you make a more thorough post that provides step-by-step instructions for each point? This would make your article better. How does the actual page look? Can you make the post easier to navigate? Some list posts can get pretty long so providing a table of contents can really improve the user experience. When was the post created? If the post was created a few years back some of the points may be out of date, so you could improve upon this by creating a fresher list. You want to go all out here to make your new blog post stand out from the rest! Mediocre content will not cut it. You have to kick your competitors right off the playing field! Once you write up your awesome skyscraper article it is time to insert some traffic generating nuggets. These come in the form of expert quotes! Reach out to influencers that have written about the topic before and simply ask them for a couple of sentences. Now if you struggle to get a reply from the influencer you can simply head to their blog and take a quote. Add these into your article to give it more value. Okay Joe, how does this generate traffic? When it comes to promoting our blog posts we can reach out to each of the experts that we have linked to and let them know! This is the perfect way to spark a relationship with an influencer, everybody loves to see their work being referenced no matter how big they are! â€Å"If I were to start a brand new blog tomorrow, my first article would be on a topic that supports my main business goals - anything Marketing related. The article would have two main focuses. 1) Educate 2) Entertain. In order to establish myself as an authority, I want to make sure I use my expertise to educate the reader and provide MASSIVE value! In order to keep the reader coming back, I would entertain the reader by using my personal style, showcasing examples where appropriate, and keeping the reader in mind throughout the article." - Katherine Sullivan Marketing Solved An Expert Roundup Post For the next post, it is time to let the experts that you want to connect with shine. I always say for your first roundup post  try and include people that you want to connect with, that way you are starting to get on their radar. Once you have your initial hit list it is time to look for more experts. I would always try to get about 100 experts because a lot won’t reply but 100 should still give you enough for your post! Take your popular topic and let’s turn it into a question! Now think who was your target audience. Simply add the topic and the audience together to create a killer question. Here are some examples: Topic: Puppy training Audience: New dog owners Question: What is your number one tip for new dog owners to train their new puppies?Topic: Improving core strength Audience: people with knee pain Question: What is your number one tip to strengthen your core to help combat knee pain?Topic: Content marketing Audience: advanced marketers Question: What is your number one tip for experienced marketers to improve their content marketing strategy? These kind of questions are brief and will not take the blogger that long to answer. Busy influencers will be happier to contribute if the question doesn’t take long to answer. Start by warming up the big dog influencers on your hit list first because they will take the longest to win over. If you can get them to contribute everybody else will be a lot easier because you have some social proof! When you reach out, keep your email personal and let them know why you think they would be a good fit for the roundup. Ask your question and then tell them the names of the big influencers. This is how I have managed to get bloggers such as Neil Patel, Jon Morrow, Adam Connell and Sue Anne Dunlevie to contribute to my post! Keep it brief and to the point! Once you have collected all your responses you can enter them into the blog post. Add a killer headline and conclusion that thanks all the influencers for their hard work. For your intro you want the first sentence to hook your reader and then you want to give your own piece of value. You need to put some effort into this by doing this you get the readers excited and it will motivate them to keep reading. By now you should have a nice list of experts, this is perfect to launch your blog with a bang! A Tutorial Post This is the last piece of foundational content in the X method. Tutorial posts work really well because you are going to solve one of your readers biggest pain points to give them that quick win feeling! Choose another topic from the list but this time you need to make sure that you can solve it with a tutorial style post. Here are some examples: Niche: SEO Tutorial Post: How To Build Links Using Broken Link Building Niche: Blogging Tutorial: How To Get 100 Visitors To Your Blog From Reddit Niche: Weight Loss Tutorial: How To Boost Your Metabolism Speed Up Weight loss Niche: Dog Training Tutorial: How To Train Your Dog To Walk By Your Side Niche: Freelance Writing Tutorial: How To Set Up Your Upwork Profile Get Your First Job What makes a good tutorial? Small actionable step-by-step chunks that provide images to document every action. If you think there will be too many images then maybe consider using a video. What makes a good tutorial? Small, actionable step-by-step chunks that provide images to document...Video style tutorials do really well because your reader will feel like they are following along looking over your shoulder. You still want to reach out to influencers to get their input just to give it that traffic fuel. If you do something a particular way look for experts that do it that way and feature a quote. This adds social proof to your article. It also backs up what you are saying with some proof! Recommended Reading: How to Use Social Media Analytics to Create the Best Content Launch Your Blog If you have got this far you have done the ground work and your blog is ready to fly! You can’t stop yet though because it is your job to make it fly. So many people think that you can publish your post and others will find it while you sit back and watch it. This is total rubbish! You should spend 20% of your time creating your content and then 80% of the time actually promoting it. Tell Your Nearest and Dearest It really does surprise me how many people leave this out. Your family is your life line whether they are interested in what you write or not! They can give you that much needed social proof and kick off your engagement. I always ask my mom to share my posts! Why? Because I know it’s a certainty, she will share because she wants to help me! Now my mom struggles with all things computer related so blogging is definitely not something she would be  interested in, but I still get traffic when she shares. She has friends that are interested! If you struggle to get comments you can ask your friends to leave some. This will boost the engagement on your blog. People are more likely to leave a valuable comment if they see others doing so. This can lead to questions that you can add to your content ideas spreadsheet. Recommended Reading: How to 10X Your Content Ideas With Sujan Patel from Web Profits Tell Communities You're Involved With Are you a member of any social media groups, niche communities or forums? If you are a credible member you can tell them about your new article. You just need to do it in a valuable way. Start a thread post and give an actionable tip! For example, if your post is about guest blogging  you could say how important it is to get to know the editor. Give benefits that will encourage the group to act upon your tip! Then just give the link to encourage people to click through. I have never been banned or blocked for doing this. Tell The Influencers You Have Mentioned Now if you have been following along my foundational content strategy you should have a list of influencers that you have featured in your posts. This is your chance to let them know it’s live, by doing all the sharing with your existing connections you should have some social proof on your articles. This will increase the value for the influencer and could be the thing that encourages the connection! That is why I leave this step till I have done my preliminary shares! When you reach out, be very brief. Here's a sample template: Hi Name, I just wanted to let you know that I have featured a quote from your article about TOPIC. This was great and I think my audience would love it because REASON. If you want to check it out here is the link: [INSERT URL] If you have any feedback or you would like me to edit it please let me know! Thanks Your NAME This is brief, you are not asking for anything, and it is personal. Most bloggers will share without asking just because you have featured them. If the influencer has contributed a quote or is part of your roundup, just reach out and tell them that the post is live. Again do not ask for anything, most will share without your asking! Lastly, reach out to everyone that never replied to you and let them know it’s live. Be friendly and polite and offer them the chance to be added onto the roundup. Now that you are showing them your results they know a bit more about you and this might give them that little push to connect with you. Recommended Reading: How to Write a Pitch Email That Will Get Your Guest Post Accepted Now Go Launch Your Blog! Well done for getting this far! You now have a new blog that has some traction but this is only the beginning. Creating foundational content that get’s influencers involved is a great way to get your name about but you still have a lot of work to do. Fill out your content schedule for 3 months, try and keep the content based around one main topic. So if your blog is about dog training maybe just focus on training a new pup. This lets you establish yourself as an expert because of the value you are giving on that one topic! Now it is over to you, let me know in the comments what you do to give your blog the best start in life.