Create a Content
Marketing
Strategy Your
Customers Will
Love, in 7 Steps

ConvinceAndConvert.com

Content Marketing
Isn’t New

How to keep your plants
watered on vacation,
circa 1910 (from U.K.
cigarette company)

How to keep your plants
watered on vacation,
circa 2013 (from Lowe’s,
via Vine video)

Content Creates
Trust, and This Has
Always Been True

And Trust is the Filter
Through Which All
Business Success
Must Pass

Our Emphasis on
Content is What’s New

Nearly a third of B2B
marketers are spending
25% of their budget (or
more) on content
marketing
Content
Marketing
Institute,
2014

Why?
!
The Old Ways of Marketing
Don’t Work (like they used to)

Top-of-mind
Awareness is Difficult
and Expensive

Inbound Marketing
is Only Half the
Battle

Inbound marketing doesn’t create demand for your
products, it simply fulfills it. Nobody goes to Google
and says “just surprise me.”

Content Marketing
Works if it is Useful,
Inspirational,
Motivational.

if
you have a documented
strategy

83% of B2B marketers have a content
strategy, but only 35% have it
documented
Content
Marketing
Institute,
2014

let’s fix that
also, my company - Convince & Convert -
creates killer content marketing strategic plans
for some of the most interesting companies in
the world.
!
!
ConvinceAndConvert.com

Content Marketing Strategy in 7 Steps
objectives 1
what’s your one thing? 2
measurement 3
audiences 4
audience needs 5
content executions 6
content amplification 7

1
Objectives

Why are you doing
this at all?

Is Content
Marketing going to
increase
awareness?

Is Content
Marketing going to
increase sales?

Is Content
Marketing going to
increase loyalty?

Content objectives are
all over the board. Don’t
do that. Pick a rationale
for content marketing
and stick with it.

Remember: the goal is
NOT to be good at content.
!
The goal is to be good at
business because
of content.

document this:
Because of content
marketing, our customers
will _______, our
prospective customers will
________, and our
business will _________.

2
What’s Your One Thing?

Guess what? Someone
has already thought of
your great idea.

What’s special
about YOU and
YOUR content?

It’s usually not your
products and
services

Your “ONE THING” is
the soul of your
company that shines
through all your
content marketing

Give yourself
permission to make
the story BIGGER

How to buy a used car
infographic….from a
locksmith!

document this:
People will care about our
content because of
_______. Our content will
inspire and motivate them
because of _________.

3
Measurement

Your objectives
dictate your metrics

If your objective is
brand awareness,
you must measure
that, not
something else

The 4 Categories of
Content Marketing
Metrics

Remember: if you
want to track
behavior, you have
to do something
that is trackable

!
!
!
ConvinceAndConvert.com

Don’t track
everything. Track a
few things that
actually matter

document this:
We will know our content is
working because we will
track _______,
________, and
____________.

4
Audiences

Your objectives also
dictate your
audiences

Use personas to
model your desired
audiences

Who are they? What
do they like? How
do they spend their
time? What
influences them?

document this:
The audiences for our
content marketing are
described by this persona
(_______), this persona
(_______), and this
persona (_______).

5
Audience Needs

What content do your
audiences WANT
from you?
!
What is Youtility for
them?

Youtility is marketing so
useful, people would
pay for it
!
!
!
YoutilityBook.com (free resources)

Multiple sources to find audience
NEEDS:
!
• Web analytics (popular content)
• Internal search data
• Search analytics (popular search terms)
• Social listening
• Sales/customer service
• Customer interviews

Remember: don’t
settle for data.
!
Get real insights.

Organize your
audience needs by
persona and
buying stage

Awareness!
Confirmation!
Interest!
Purchase!
features
price
suitability
and
risk
avoidance

How much content
do you need?

Personas
X
Buying Stages
X
Questions per Stage

Personas (5)
X
Buying Stages (4)
X
Questions per Stage (5)
= 100 pieces of content

Don’t be afraid to
pursue
Cooperative Content

Instagram photo posted by
dog lover, and noticed by
NestlePurina’s Beggin
Strips brand

With permission, Beggin
re-crops photo and posts
to it own Instagram
account

Beggin then re-crops again,
adds watermark and
headline, and posts to its
Facebook page. Cooperative
Content at work!

Employees are also
a great source of
Cooperative Content

document this:
Our buying stages
are_______,
_______,_______ and
______. We have listed all
the questions our personas
need to move through each
stage here: _______.

6
Content Executions

Remember: don’t do this
step
out of order.
!
You don’t have to have a
blog, you have to satisfy
audience needs.

Use personas and
audience research to
determine optimal
content types

What works in
content marketing
varies considerably.
Content
Marketing
Institute,
2014

Remember: don’t
rely on other
people’s case
studies…do your
own research

Remember: if you
only pay attention
to averages, you’ll
always be an
average marketer

Two main types of
content executions:
Bricks Feathers

Bricks are:
!
• Heavier
• More permanent
• More production value
• Passed along and saved
• Usually targeted closer to decision

Awareness!
Confirmation!
Interest!
Purchase!
features
price
suitability
and
risk
avoidance

Feathers are:
!
• Lighter
• Disposable
• Less production value
• Usually targeted at initial stages

Awareness!
Confirmation!
Interest!
Purchase!
features
price
suitability
and
risk
avoidance

This very
detailed
research
report is a
brick

This blog post is
a feather

Unless personas have
VERY clear content
format preferences,
consider atomizing
content across
multiple types

Remember: you can
take your bricks and
turn them into many
feathers, in many
places

The BBC now creates 15-second news
stories with Instagram video. A BBC
television broadcast is a brick. This is
a feather.

Create a content planning
worksheet: Date
Format/Channel
Author
Description
Persona(s)
Audience Need(s)
Funnel Stage
Call-to-Action
Measurement

Remember: define
WHAT you want
content consumers
to do next
!

Put your content
strategy on a
detailed calendar
with views by week,
month, quarter, year

Excel or Google docs
at first, dedicated
software eventually
for calendaring

document this:
For each audience need, we
will create content in one or
more ways, and will create
a worksheet to organize
content, timelines, and
calls-to-action.

7
Content Amplification

The fact that you
created some
content does NOT
mean anyone will see
it (or care about it)

Remember: Content is
fire.
!
Social media is
gasoline.
!

You must market
your marketing and
create a distribution
plan for each piece
of content

Amplification options:
Employees’ social
Customers’ social
Email (internal +
external)
Organic search
Paid search
Display ads
Organice social
Paid social
Guest posts
Earned meda (PR)
Offline ads

document this:
For this piece of content,
we will amplify it with
______, ______, and
______.

Content Marketing Strategy in 7 Steps
objectives 1
what’s your one thing? 2
measurement 3
audiences 4
audience needs 5
content executions 6
content amplification 7

Remember: your job is
not to make brochures
!
Your job is to tell
interesting and
informative stories.

ConvinceAndConvert.com
how can we help you?