Value added marketing is also known as content marketing.

The basic idea is to write articles (or other types of content) that your customers want to read. Create high value content that is interesting, relevant, and if possible entertaining too. Inform them, add value to what you offer. If you write great content, your customers will get to know you and trust you, and they are more likely to buy from people they trust.

A few other things to consider:

  • Become an expert in your area. Think creatively about approaching various aspects of your subject. Don’t just parrot back what other sites have said. Synthesize it. see the bigger picture and present it with a new perspective. This takes practice, but keep at it and you will improve.
  • You need to be consistent. Keep a regular schedule of writing. It’s going to be awfully lonely in the beginning but keep at it. Write some extra high quality articles and look for for a blog you can do a guest post on.
  • You can create more than just text — images, infographics and the like are great content too.
  • Be patient, and hold on for the long term. It takes time to gain followers and readers, but keep on with it, and think of it as skill development.
  • When you write, try to take a conversational tone. Study the writing styles of great writers. Take courses and read style guides for writing for the web. Keep your language simple and easy to read. Your readers will be grateful! Avoid walls of text and be careful with very long articles. People will need a very compelling reason to follow the whole article.
  • A great technique for handling article writing is to chunk it down. Don’t try to do every thing in one sitting. Take a day for idea generating, another to pick an idea and write a first draft, then come back another day and edit, and finally post. Some writers love using outlines. Give them a try and figure out if they help you.
  • Once again, keep at it! Some of your great content is going to fail to get a notice, but learn from it, and look where you can improve.