Content marketing has been all of the rage the last few years – not just with big and well-established brands, but also with startups. And no wonder, according to the Content Marketing Institute, this form of marketing generates more leads than paid search while, on average, costing 30 to 40% less. However, content marketing for startups is easier said than done. This presentation was developed for entrepreneurs at the Hong Kong Science Park. It gives a brief overview of the different content marketing types startups can apply, provides a few success examples, and finally offers a set of practical tips to get started with a content marketing strategy.

1. CONTENT MARKETING
FOR STARTUPS
THE WHAT, THE WHY, AND THE HOW
By Andreas Krasser
Head of Strategy & Innovation
DDB Group Hong Kong
A First-Step Guide, Prepared For Hong Kong Science Park

2. Content Marketing for Startups | 2
ANDREAS KRASSER
Head of Strategy & Innovation
DDB Group Hong Kong

3. Content Marketing for Startups | 3
01 02 03 04
THE FLOW FOR TODAY
WHAT’S CONTENT
MARKETING AND
WHY DOES IT
MATTER?
EIGHT TYPES OF
CONTENT
MARKETING
EIGHT STEPS TO
DEVELOPING A
CONTENT
MARKETING
STRATEGY
A FEW FINAL TIPS
FOR CREATING
CONTENT
PART PART PART PART

4. Content Marketing for Startups | 4
WHAT’S CONTENT
MARKETING AND WHY
DOES IT MATTER?
PART
01

5. Content Marketing for Startups | 5
Content marketing is a strategic
marketing approach focused on creating
and distributing valuable, relevant, and
consistent content to attract and retain a
clearly defined audience - and, ultimately,
to drive profitable customer action.
-The Content Marketing Institute

6. Content Marketing for Startups | 6
Content marketing is a strategic
marketing approach focused on creating
and distributing valuable, relevant, and
consistent content to attract and retain a
clearly defined audience - and, ultimately,
to drive profitable customer action.
-The Content Marketing Institute

7. Content Marketing for Startups | 7
WHY IS THIS
IMPORTANT?

8. Content Marketing for Startups | 8
Agree that ads are more
intrusive than 2-3 yrs ago
91% 87%
Agree that in general
there are more ads
PEOPLE FEEL ADS ARE GETTING MORE OBNOXIOUS
Source: Hubspot Study: Why People Block Ads (2016)

9. Content Marketing for Startups | 9
THEY EVEN GO OUT OF THEIR WAY TO BLOCK ADS
Source: PageFair Adblock Report (2017)
+30% 615M
Increase of ad
blocker usage
Devices blocking
ads worldwide
94%
Of world’s mobile ad
blocking happens in APAC

10. Content Marketing for Startups | 10
BUT IT’S NOT ALL
DOOM AND GLOOM…

11. Content Marketing for Startups | 11
Agree that not all ads are bad, but
they want to filter the obnoxious ones
83% 77%
PEOPLE DON’T HATE ADS…JUST BAD ONES
Source: Hubspot Study: Why People Block Ads (2016)
Agree that they would prefer to ad
filter rather than completely ad block

12. Content Marketing for Startups | 12
ENTER CONTENT
MARKETING.

13. “Content marketing shows that you
actually care about your customers and
today, more than ever, they want to feel
cared about, because the world is crazier
and more cluttered than ever before and
attention is our most valuable resource.”
- Neil Patel
Content Marketing for Startups | 13

14. Content Marketing for Startups | 14
8 TYPES OF
CONTENT
MARKETING
PART
02

15. Content Marketing for Startups | 15
01. BLOGGING
02. E-BOOKS
03. VIDEO
04. INFOGRAPHICS
05. WHITE PAPERS
06. PODCASTS
07. CASE STUDIES
08. SOCIAL CAMPAIGNS

16. Content Marketing for Startups | 16
01. BLOGGING
02. E-BOOKS
03. VIDEO
04. INFOGRAPHICS
05. WHITE PAPERS
06. PODCASTS
07. CASE STUDIES
08. SOCIAL CAMPAIGNS
Posts don’t take too long to write
Easily found by Google
High Shareability
Builds relationships with readers
Nurtures conversions

17. Content Marketing for Startups | 17

18. Content Marketing for Startups | 18
01. BLOGGING
02. E-BOOKS
03. VIDEO
04. INFOGRAPHICS
05. WHITE PAPERS
06. PODCASTS
07. CASE STUDIES
08. SOCIAL CAMPAIGNS
Great for lead generation
Longer, more in-depth
Less frequent than blog posts
Good visual design

19. Content Marketing for Startups | 19

20. Content Marketing for Startups | 20
01. BLOGGING
02. E-BOOKS
03. VIDEO
04. INFOGRAPHICS
05. WHITE PAPERS
06. PODCASTS
07. CASE STUDIES
08. SOCIAL CAMPAIGNS
Most effective story-telling vehicle
Appeals to multiple senses
More popular among users than text

21. Content Marketing for Startups | 21

22. Content Marketing for Startups | 22
01. BLOGGING
02. E-BOOKS
03. VIDEO
04. INFOGRAPHICS
05. WHITE PAPERS
06. PODCASTS
07. CASE STUDIES
08. SOCIAL CAMPAIGNS
Shows data in easy to digest format
Visually interesting and engaging

23. Content Marketing for Startups | 23

24. Content Marketing for Startups | 24

25. Content Marketing for Startups | 25

26. Content Marketing for Startups | 26

27. Content Marketing for Startups | 27Source: PostRocket

28. Content Marketing for Startups | 28
01. BLOGGING
02. E-BOOKS
03. VIDEO
04. INFOGRAPHICS
05. WHITE PAPERS
06. PODCASTS
07. CASE STUDIES
08. SOCIAL CAMPAIGNS
Primarily educational materials
Less visual than e-books
More academic in nature
Great for building thought leadership

29. Content Marketing for Startups | 29

30. Content Marketing for Startups | 30
01. BLOGGING
02. E-BOOKS
03. VIDEO
04. INFOGRAPHICS
05. WHITE PAPERS
06. PODCASTS
07. CASE STUDIES
08. SOCIAL CAMPAIGNS
The radio of the 21st century
Growing trend
Captures audience that reads less

31. Content Marketing for Startups | 31

32. Content Marketing for Startups | 32
01. BLOGGING
02. E-BOOKS
03. VIDEO
04. INFOGRAPHICS
05. WHITE PAPERS
06. PODCASTS
07. CASE STUDIES
08. SOCIAL CAMPAIGNS
In-depth examination of example
Provide knowledge & actionable info
Build thought leadership
High shareability

33. Content Marketing for Startups | 33

34. Content Marketing for Startups | 34
01. BLOGGING
02. E-BOOKS
03. VIDEO
04. INFOGRAPHICS
05. WHITE PAPERS
06. PODCASTS
07. CASE STUDIES
08. SOCIAL CAMPAIGNS
High shareability
Engaging & multi-sensorial

35. Content Marketing for Startups | 35

36. Content Marketing for Startups | 36
01. BLOGGING
02. E-BOOKS
03. VIDEO
04. INFOGRAPHICS
05. WHITE PAPERS
06. PODCASTS
07. CASE STUDIES
08. SOCIAL CAMPAIGNS

37. Content Marketing for Startups | 37
THE PYRAMID OF CONTENT MARKETING
CURATED CONTENT
BLOG POSTS,
WEBSITE CONTENT
& SOCIAL POSTS
INFOGRAPHICS,
PODCASTS & SOCIAL
CAMPAIGNS
E-BOOKS, WHITE
PAPERS & VIDEOS
PRINT BOOKS
High effort & rare
Low effort & often

38. Content Marketing for Startups | 38
I don’t have a huge
marketing budget. Is
content marketing the
right thing for me?

39. CONTENT MARKETING
GENERATES OVER THREE
TIMES AS MANY LEADS AS
OUTBOUND MARKETING
AND COSTS 62% LESS.
- The Content Marketing Institute
Content Marketing for Startups | 39

40. Content Marketing for Startups | 40
A LOT OF STARTUPS
SKYROCKETED TO SUCCESS
WITH CONTENT MARKETING

41. BLUE APRON
Content Marketing for Startups | 41

42. Content Marketing for Startups | 42
DESIGN PICKLE

43. Content Marketing for Startups | 43
GLOSSIER

44. Content Marketing for Startups | 44
If you don't have
the resources, try
focusing on
EVERGREEN CONTENT

45. Content Marketing for Startups | 45
EVERGREEN CONTENT
is content that has no
expiration date and
retains its value over
the long-term
LISTS
TOP TIPS
“HOW TO” TUTORIALS
PRODUCT REVIEWS
VIDEOS

46. Content Marketing for Startups | 46
8 STEPS TO DEVELOPING
A CONTENT MARKETING
STRATEGY
PART
03

47. 01.
DEFINE A
CLEAR GOAL
Before getting started, you need to know
what it is you want your content marketing
to achieve for your brand or business. This
could be something like more conversions,
sign-ups, improved SEO or more social
chatter.
Content Marketing for Startups | 47

48. 02.
DEFINE YOUR
AUDIENCE
The best way to build a dedicated audience
is to carefully and clearly define it right from
the start, and then create content that caters
to that audience.
Content Marketing for Startups | 48

49. 03.
UNDERSTAND
YOUR AUDIENCE
You need to figure out who your target
audience really is. The best way to get a
deep understanding of your audience is by
creating user personas.
Content Marketing for Startups | 49

50. User Persona – Emerging Affluent
Demographics
Name: Allison
Age: 25
Occupation: Accountant
Annual Income: Less or equal to HKD 420,000
Education Level: Bachelor’s from UK univ.
Worries
Allison’s most prevalent worries are more
self-focused; for her preferred lifestyle, she
wants to become financially stable very
soon. A first sign for her moving into the
direction would be if she could afford living
in her own place.
Aspirations
Allison is just fresh out of university, super
excited about finally having joined the
professional workforce. She is envisioning a
modern, dynamic urban lifestyle for herself
and wants to advance in her job as quickly
as possible.
Financial Habits/Attitudes
Due to Allison’s busy schedule she does not have enough time to manage her finances – at
least not during normal business hours. Internet banking is therefore crucial in her life. She
uses mobile banking for payments and to check her account balance. She basically never
uses the branch. Compared to her peers, she is more future-oriented an has stronger
ambitions to save money, which is not always easy to do with the lifestyle she has envisioned
for herself. She has an instant savings account and just started to research insurances, even
considering the option of a fund-based insurance.
In general, convenience and cost are the most important factors to her when it comes to
banking solutions.
Digital Habits
Allison is online almost 24/7. The moment
she wakes up, she checks her e-mail and
Facebook account on her iPhone.
She surfs the web, reads news and does
some online shopping on her commute to
and from work.
In the office, Allison uses the internet for
professional reasons to search for certain
information, but from time to time she also
updates her Facebook status and tries to
expand her professional network on
LinkedIn.
Preferred Brands
Influencers
While being focused on her career, Allison is
aware of her family background and loves
her parents over all. Thus, especially her
mother still influences her decisions a lot,
even if she would not admit that.
She has certain international role models in
life that partially impact her choices
regarding fashion and style.
Content Marketing for Startups | 50

51. 04.
UNDERSTAND
YOUR
COMPETITION
This isn’t just researching how your USP is
different from theirs. You also need to find out
what content they ae producing and what
they’re not producing.
Content Marketing for Startups | 51

52. 05.
DEFINE YOUR
UNIQUE
EDGE/ANGLE
Your content should be unique and address
your audience’s problems and interests from a
different perspective.
Content Marketing for Startups | 52

53. 06.
MAP OUT A USER
JOURNEY
How ԁо you tһіnk your persona wіll turn into а
converted сuѕtоmеr? You nееԁ to mар out tһеіr
journey tо this роіnt, and сrеаtе content for
еvеrу ѕtаgе.
Content Marketing for Startups | 53

54. Content Marketing for Startups | 54
CONTENT TIERING
Generate Interest
At this tier, provide content that aims at
generating audience’s interest on specific
topics.
Inform
Building on interest generated in tier 1,
delve deeper into the topic and highlight
different angles/concerns regarding the
topic.
Trigger
At tier 3, put a product-related spin on
the topic touching upon how your
company can help.
Lead Generation

55. 07.
PICK YOUR
CHANNELS
Оnсе you’ve mарреԁ out wһаt you’re gоіng to
сrеаtе, you nееԁ tо decide how уоu’rе gоіng to
promote іt. Media саn be оwnеԁ, еаrnеԁ, оr
paid. You’ll рrоbаblу be wаntіng to use all of
them for уоur content аt ѕоmе point.
Content Marketing for Startups | 55

56. Content Marketing for Startups | 56
PAID
Banners,
Facebook ads,
Targeting etc.
EARNED
Shares, reviews,
reposts, positive
mentions etc.
OWNED
Website, social
channels, blog
etc.
PAID, OWNED, EARNED MEDIA

57. 08.
CREATE YOUR
CONTENT
After all this, you can now finally go ahead
and create your content.
Content Marketing for Startups | 57

58. Content Marketing for Startups | 58
A FEW FINAL
TIPS FOR
CREATING CONTENT
PART
04

59. Content Marketing for Startups | 59
DON’T RUSH
01

60. Content Marketing for Startups | 60
EXPERIMENT
02

61. Content Marketing for Startups | 61
BE A COPY WRITER
03

62. Content Marketing for Startups | 62
MEASURE RESULTS
04

63. Content Marketing for Startups | 63
KEY TAKEAWAYS
PEOPLE DON’T HATE ADS…JUST BAD ONESA.
CONTENT MARKETING IS ABOUT DISTRIBUTING VALUABLE,
RELEVANT, AND CONSISTENT CONTENTB.
CONTENT MARKETING SHOWS THAT YOU ACTUALLY CARE
ABOUT YOUR CUSTOMERSC.
DEVELOP A CONTENT MARKETING STRATEGY BEFORE YOU
CREATE CONTENTD.

64. Content Marketing for Startups | 64
ANY QUESTIONS?

65. Thank You!