Discover the survival tools of a versatile marketer - from analytics to creativity.

1. Swiss Army
Marketers
What you Need to Climb the
Content Marketing Mountain.
Some rights reserved By Public Domain
PhotosEmilian Robert Vicol

2. Devin is a Content Strategist and multi-
tooled marketer at Cincom Systems, Inc.
Before that he worked at several of the most
successful advertising agencies in the mid-
west. Follow him on Twitter @soccerD (he’s
also a soccer nerd and coach) or connect
with him on LinkedIn:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/devinmeister/
AUTHOR :
Devin B. Meister

3. New Tools, New Roles…,..….…4
Swiss Inspiration…………………..5
The Right Tools for the Job……12
Ready for Adventure ……………18
TABLE OF CONTENTS:

4. Despite the sudden growth of new marketing job titles – content
strategist, digital strategist, SEO and PPC experts - marketing
software company Hubspot suggests that there might be even more
new critical marketing roles emerging. One report estimated that
content marketing expenditures exceeded $40 billion in 2011.
That’s great for big companies with big budgets. But what about
the rest of us?
Helping SMBs to the Top
Because marketing has changed, the tools you need are vastly
different. Companies now need a combination of inbound
(customers finding you) and outbound (you communicating with
customers.) This guide outlines the tools you need on your team. If
you’re lucky, you can find them in a combination of people. If you
are really fortunate, sometimes even one.
Introduction:
New Tools, New Roles
// Page 4
Content marketers should have a
good balance of the more
traditional marketing skills with
search marketing skills and
expert content development
skills.” - Jessica Lee - Content
and Media Manager

5. The desire, make that necessity,
to connect through stories
hasn’t changed over time. People have always connected through stories.
Stories help people remember and empathize with our heroes (your
customer’s) journey to success.
What has changed are the methods we can use and places we can tell
those stories. And measure the results. And re-purpose those stories to
different audiences and through different media. There are a lot of things
to do, to do it well. That’s why you need marketers with a broad skill set
that are razor-sharp and able tackle any content job. I call them Swiss
Army Marketers after the world-famous tool, the Swiss Army Knife.
The Swiss Army Knife was designed for one reason and a variety of
purposes. It gives Swiss Army soldiers all the tools they’d need for any
problems they are likely to encounter in the Swiss Alps. Similarly, Swiss
Army Marketers have all the tools that a business will need to produce,
promote, and measure relevant content for their audience.
Swiss Army Marketers
// Page 5
Swiss
Inspiration
Image License Some rights reserved by jimwhiteheaducsc

6. The Right Tools
The Swiss Army Knife consists of a carefully selected
variety of tools. So should your content marketing team.
// Page 6
Big Knife
Precise Cuts
Openers
Saw Blade
Screwdriver
File
Some skills Swiss Army Marketers possess:
• Content Strategy
• Creative (Writing) Story telling
• Investigator
• SEO/PPC
• Creative Direction/Editing
• Nurturing
• Marketing Automation
• Analytics

7. Content Strategy
A Key to survival in the Swiss Alps is knowing where you are now
and where you want to go. That’s what a content strategy does
for your marketing. It tells you where you are currently. It
identifies where you want to go. It enables you to plot a path to
between the two and what resources you’ll need to accomplish
each step along the way.
(All right, I know the orginal Swiss Army Knife doesn’t have a
compass – but you really need this tool, both outdoors and on
your marketing team.)
Swiss Army Marketers
// Page 7
“In my experience, the
content strategist is a rare
breed who's often willing
and able to embrace
whatever role is necessary
to deliver on the promise
of useful, useable
content.”
― Kristina Halvorson, Content
Strategy for the Web
The Compass
By RambergMediaImagesKeith Ramsey

8. If you understand the concept of “content,” then the idea of a
content strategy seems simple. Until you start to dig in. Then
you understand quickly that it is simple, and complicated at the
same time. To start your content strategy out right follow this
outline:*
1. Define your marketing objectives and what you want to
accomplish. Consider both inbound and outbound.
2. Identify your buyer personas.
3. Map out your buyers journey.
4. Create a content inventory.
5. Audit the content to determine what is most valuable to
the buyers.
6. Identify any content gaps in the buyers journey.
7. Determine what content needs to be created to fill that
gap. Create it.
8. Pat yourself on the back. You’re in the top ½ of marketers
now.
9. Check the results against your marketing objectives.
10. Likely realize you still have a long ways to go. Get back to
work.
*This 10 Step Content Strategy is to a real content strategy as a
napkin drawing is a map to the top of the Matterhorn. It points
you in the right direction, but the real work is up to you. Or
somebody. But there’s a lot of work between here and there.
10 Step Content Strategy
// Page 8

9. “Good news: The
writers find a home as
“content producers”
and “content
managers” on the
corporate side, in
companies of all
shapes and sizes.” –
Anne Handley,
Marketing Profs,
(referring to the
shrinking newspaper
industry) via Content
Marketing Institute.
Investigator
Cutting through the clutter, asking
the right questions and doing the
research to uncover information
your audience is interested in is
what makes content marketing
work. And it is big work. Otherwise
your audience would do it
themselves. It’s up to the marketer
to help before you earn the trust
and right to sell.
You’ll do that by cutting up big
chunks of information from all the
information that’s available. Then
cut into that into smaller pieces.
Then cut it again. This enables you
and other marketers to use and
build from. It also makes the
information more digestible. That
makes it more manageable and
digestible. You audience will thank
you for it.
Swiss Army Marketers
http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/
2012/11/failed-content-marketing-
predictions/ accessed 11/30/2012
// Page 9
The Big Knife

10. Creative Writing
The ultimate purpose of
marketing is to get people
to take action.
To do that, they need to be persuaded. Where the journalist
might convince with the facts, creative writing must persuade
the heart that it’s the right thing to do. It’s a delicate balance
between art and science that requires precision cuts and small
tweaks. Luckily, today we have the science (analytics) to
support the art.
Precise Cuts
// Page 10
“What really
decides consumers
to buy or not to buy
is the content of
your advertising,
not its form.” -
David Ogilvy

11. Call-to-action.
Sometimes it’s not spoken, hopefully not forgotten, but marketing exists
for one ultimate reason: to cause an action. Doing that requires a call-to-
action at some point. So what makes a great call to action? While only you
will know you’re audience, here are some examples to start your testing.
• Ask to download
• Ask to share
• Ask to subscribe
• Ask to contact
• Ask for a trial
• Ask to buy
The key is that you’re asking for something. Make sure that what you’re
asking them to give you is worth the trade. Make sure that you’re asking at
the proper time. The only way you will know is to start testing.
Case Study
One common call-to-action is a dimensional mailing with a business reply
card (BRC) and an offer or some sort of give-away. One example I’m
connected with involved a a multi-media integrated campaign. In the end,
it generated more than 1,900 pre-qualified leads, with a response rate of
better than 10%.
// Page 11

12. SEO/PPC
When it comes time to really tighten up your marketing program, nothing
turns the screws like good SEO. After all, having your customers find you
organically is the most effective and cost-efficient way. Some reports
indicate that 70% of a buyer’s research is done before they contact you.
Guess what they are doing prior? Searching on the internet. Which makes
Pay Per Click (PPC – ie. Google adwords, LinkedIn Ads) campaigns also a
great place to be, especially if you’re starting with low awareness or a new
category.
Studies shows that more than 70% of the buyer’s
research is done before the initial contact.
Swiss Army Marketers
// Page 12
Screwdrivers
The B2B Buyer’s Journey
Research before initial contact.
Research after
initial contact.

13. Creative Direction and Editing
Getting the final product to shine as
brightly as possible takes patience.
And experience. You must file away
all of the unnecessary parts and
reveal just the essential piece. Go
too far and the message is
incomplete and lost. Don’t go far
enough and the message is
convoluted – and lost.
Swiss Army Marketers
// Page 13
“Rules are
what the
artist breaks;
the
memorable
never
emerged from
a formula.” -
Bill Bernbach
File
“No matter how jaded you are,
it's still fun to get a package in the
mail, especially if it's something
unexpected like a pizza box.” B2B
Magazine, 2012

14. Marketing Automation
Clearly everything we’ve
covered to this point is a lot of
work. But, like a saw makes
quick cutting work through
multiple cutting edges,
marketing automation enables
marketers to maintain
multiple communication
points above and beyond what
would ever be possible
manually. When done
correctly it frees the marketer
to focus on bigger strategies
and content creation that
require human interaction.
Swiss Army Marketers
// Page 14
Saw Blade
“Not implementing a
Marketing Automation
solution may be the
ultimate career limiting
move for today’s
marketers. If you
haven’t gotten started
you’re already behind
the 8 ball.” – IDC
Group, November
2011
Nurture Campaign
90.14% average open rate
See Case Study – Getting Unlost on page 17

15. Analytics
Much like the different openers on a Swiss Army Knife provides
access to all kinds of goodness (I’m thinking beer or wine
during sunset from a mountain top) marketing analytics
provide access into what makes the audience tick. Analytics
provide key insights into what the audience likes or doesn’t
like. When they want one medium over the other and how
they want receive it.
Tools like Google Analytics, Eloqua, and Hubspot provide
actionable insight into your audience’s behavior.
Swiss Army Marketers
// Page 15
Openers

16. Case study – Getting Un-lost
One company with multiple product groups had a newsletter that operated
independently. It was sent through a 3rd third-party system, and at 10 years old,
predated the company’s marketing automation and CRM system.
But because the list was sent through the 3rd third-party, we had no idea who
these contacts were. All we had was a name and an email address. They weren’t
in the CRM system. They weren’t in the marketing automation system.
And we had no idea if they might have an interest in any of our solutions.
Through basic analytics and public reaction, we felt that it was getting some
engagement. But we still couldn’t identify subscribers in the sales process or tie
any of them to a sale. We had to find out.
Finding the Way
Through features in the marketing automation, newsletter subscribers were able
to tell us through their actions what they’re interests were. From there, we
could align them with the clients products. Finally, based on the level of
engagement with the resulting lead generation campaigns, a lead is triaged and
followed up on by our sales organization. Lead follow up is centered on that
content engaged with by that specific individual. The engagement with our
audience in this behavior based content campaign has been outstanding.
Straight Up the Mountain
The results after two months:
• 256% improvement in our campaign open rate
• 1941% increase in our click to open rate
• 1,513 potential opportunities identified
• average of 18 new sales leads every week
We answered the two big questions, or more accurately the prospects answered
them. They told us who they are and what they’re interests are. Voluntarily.
Automatically. Using existing content. We know which content has value and
who values it.
// Page 16

17. Analytics
Much like the different openers on a Swiss Army Knife provides
access to all kinds of goodness (I’m thinking beer or wine
during sunset from a mountain top) marketing analytics
provide access into what makes the audience tick. Analytics
provide key insights into what the audience likes or doesn’t
like. When they want one medium over the other and how
they want receive it.
Tools like Google Analytics, Eloqua, and Hubspot provide
actionable insight into your audience’s behavior.
Swiss Army Marketers
// Page 17
Openers

18. Putting it all
Together - Results
So what happens when you bring all of
the tools together? Good business, no
matter how you measure it.
Web stats:
• Increased organic traffic by 135% for
selected keywords.
• Increased unique visitors by 93%
• Improved average visit duration by
20%.
Sales Activities
Creating integrated campaigns and
working hand in with sales resulted in:
• A 20% increase in hand-offs from
Lead Generators to Inside Sales
Reps.
• A 163% increase in the number of
High Impact Presentations
completed.
• An 85% increase in account
opportunities.
• Increase in pipeline conservatively
estimated at 85%—from $8.1 to $15
million for one product from one
campaign alone.
“The new rules
of attraction
require a shift in
direction. It's
not about
"pushing" your
message, but
"pulling" in your
customers. And
the way to pull
is to publish
content.”
Joe Pulizzi
// Page 18

19. Each tool has a role. Any one
without the other diminishes
the overall preparedness and
can leave the business and
marketer stuck in the
wilderness. Make sure that
your marketing team includes
at least one Swiss Army
Marketer and you’ll be ready
for anything.
• If you’d like to learn more
about Swiss Army
Marketers, contact Devin
Meister at
meister.devin@gmail.com
or call 937-631-1423.
Ready for the Mountain?
Put a Swiss Army
Marketer work.
// Page 19

20. All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2016. U.S.A.