http://www.b2bmarketinginsider.com/content-marketing/content-marketing-that-converts
How Do You Create Content Marketing That Converts?
There’s been a fundamental shift in the way marketers and customers create, consume, and share content. Every day, billions of photos are uploaded, tweets are posted, snapchats are sent, and pieces of content are shared.
As marketers, we need to consider how our customers are consuming content and where, when, and how to engage them.
A content marketing strategy should be designed to engage your audience throughout the buyer’s journey. Producing relevant content for each lifecycle stage and delivering it at the right time and place is crucial to successful content marketing.
2. Agenda
• The key factors for content marketing success
• The core components of a content marketing strategy
• How to utilize content across the buyer journey
• Companies doing it right
3. Just 3 Things . . .
The world has changed.
Most content stinks.
Attract people through stories they love.
14. 4.75 billion piece of content are shared
1.8 billion photos are uploaded and shared
500 million tweets are posted
700 million snapchats are sent
Every single day…
21. “The buyer journey is nothing more than
a series of questions that must be
answered.
- IDC -
”
22. Awareness Consideration Preference
Online Communities
Search Engines
eBooks
Email Newsletters
Editorial Articles
White Papers
Podcasts
Case Studies
Online Videos
Webcasts
Virtual Trade Shows
Product Literature
Trial Software
Online Vendor Demos
Begin
decision
process
Make
decision
Identify
business
problem Establish
requirements/
build RFP
Align IT with
business
objectives
Explore
technology
options
Research
solutions
Determine
solution
strategy Assess ROI
Research
products/
vendors
Build
short
list
23. Ann Handley: “Take your brand out of the story. . .
. . .Make your customers the hero.”
Our Natural Instinct
Content
Marketing
Brand
Purpose
What
Customers
Want
Charity
29. Key factors to content marketing success:
1. Documented content strategy and mission statement
2. Have someone accountable for content
3. Consistently publish quality content
4. Map content to consumer journey
5. Balance Paid, Owned, and Earned Media
6. Focus on Content Subscribers
7. Track Content Marketing ROI
30. Give yourself a grade . .
Best Practice R Y G
Have a documented content strategy?
Have someone managing content
Content hub maps to the consumer journey
Publishing quality, volume and variety
Social activation of content
Paid distribution
Focus on Content Subscriptions
Measurement template / ROI defined
Overall:
D
32. Why is it Important to Have a Documented
Content Marketing Strategy?
Source: CMI
33. • Thinking and acting like a publisher
• Delivering content your audience wants
• Managing content as an asset (with an ROI)
What is a Content Marketing Strategy?
34. Content Marketing Mission Statement
Become a destination for [target audience]
interested in [topics]. To help them
[customer value].
This will help us [content marketing goals]
• Earn your audience’s attention vs. just
buying it
• Reach, engage and convert NEW buyers
AmEx Open Forum Example: Help Small
Businesses Do More Business. To become
the largest source of inbound leads.
35. Content Marketing Roadmap
• Budget
• Destination
• Frequency
• Amplification / Optimization
• Collaboration (Who does what)
Discovery Destination Team Topic Models
Customer
Journey
KPIs /
Reporting
Optimization
• Business Case
• Current State
• Budget
• Branding/Design
• Platform
• Firm Integration
• Who Does What?
• Agency
• Distribution
• Structure
• Topics
• Types
• Content by Stage
• Conversions
• Subscriptions
• Define report
• Who / When?
• Content
• Platform
• Distribution
37. Building The Business Case
1. Reach early stage buyers
• Fair “Share of Conversation”
• % Unbranded Search traffic on your website
• Banner effectiveness at driving brand visits
• Cost of advertising / search landing pages with low organic and social traffic
• Cost of organic and social website traffic vs. paid
2. Engage new buyers with your brand
• Time spent, Bounce rate on content vs. advertising landing pages
• Cost / Repeat visits, Time engaged with your brand
• Subscribers, value per subscriber
3. Conversions you would have never reached
• Cost per lead, Pipeline touched, Cost per registration (content or events), Cost per sale
• Content % source of leads
• ROI vs. Avg. Marketing ROI
38. Define Content Marketing Roles and Functions
Content
Marketer /
Editor
Strategizes,
writes,
and oversees
content projects
to ensure brand
consistency and
alignment with
business
objectives.
Community
Manager
Distributes content
across social
channels, engages
online communities,
and contributes to
content projects.
Designer
Brings content to life
through the user
experience and rich
visuals.
Contributors
Any content creator-
blogger,
photographer,
designer — who
contributes to your
project.
SEO / Paid
Specialist
Manages the paid
distribution of
content online.
Analytics
Defines best/ worst
performers,
conversion
optimization and
measurement
communications.
Curation
Fines and re-
purposes the best
content from your
business and from
around the web.
40. Design Structure
1) Categories across the top show
visitor what space you are in
2) Images help humanize the site
and break text
3) Published content horizontally
shows frequency (add dates and
authors)
4) Share buttons encourage social
sharing
5) Mid-stage offer on right
6) Newsletter/subscription sign up
41. A Successful Content Marketing Strategy
Key Takeaways:
1. Commit to publishing content that your customers actually want
2. Figure out what questions your customers ask (Google) what
content they share (Social) and what channels they use
3. Start publishing content
4. Distribute the winners (paid, email and organic social)
5. Measure and optimize what works
6. Thank Michael Brenner . . . (Your Welcome!) jk
46. Conduct a Content Audit
A Content Audit will help you:
• Give you a true sense of scale
• Identify gaps
• Seize opportunities for content repurposing
• Determine performance issues
• Evaluate content quality
• Improve your information architecture
Download this template now!
47. Look at Content by Buyer Stage
Early Stage
Middle Stage
Late Stage
66% 28%
Early-Stage Content
Late-Stage
Content
Middle-Stage
Content
6%
48. Reach, Engage and Convert
the Right People.
Early-stage Searches
Middle-stage
Brand Searches
Search/SocialVolume
What is Content Marketing?
Why is content marketing important?
(10-3000 X)
How Do I Create a Content
Marketing Plan That Works
(2-10 X)
Who is the best
Content Marketing
provider?
49. What Are We Going to Talk About? Defining Topics
50. Xyz Early Xyz
Late Xyz Xyz
Persona Questions/Concerns
Xyz
Middle Xyz Xyz
Keywords
Xyz Early Xyz
Late Xyz Xyz
Persona Questions/Concerns
Xyz
Middle Xyz Xyz
Keywords
Stage
Stage
51. Utilize the Right Mix of Content
Custom Content
Share on-brand stories and recipes which are created
specifically for your brand.
Community Content
Leverage content from customers, employees,
influencers that grows and engages your community.
Licensed Content
Boost credibility, publishing cadence, and direct traffic
with a high-volume of fully-licensed, compliant
content.
52. How to Rank for SEO?
Volume
Number of posts
on the topic
Value
The best answer
on the internet
Variety
Text, images,
video, slides
53. 5
Distributing Your Content
“Even great content needs a push!”
Average Hollywood movie splits 40-50%
production with 50-60% distribution
63. AMEX OpenForum
Mission: Help Small Businesses Do
More Business.
Approach: Publish every day,
authoritative voices, community =
Outcome: The largest source of
inbound leads.
64. CapGemini
Content-Loop.com
• Licensed content on Linked Sponsored
updates
• Drives to branded Content Loop
• Offers to deeper content
• Recommendations to connect with
experts
Results:
~1M visitors / year
+ 3K new LinkedIn followers per week
+ High Quality Leads
+ Sales / ROI
65. Maersk
• Amazing photos that appeal to their
audience
• Thousands of likes per post
• Massive Brand Engagement, Loyalty
68. 3 Tips For Content That Converts:
1. Stop promoting. Create for real people.
2. Be the best answer on the internet.
3. Focus on subscriptions and CTA
Not only are we going to give you tips and tricks but also make it very practical
We’ve all asked the question, why content marketing?
To set the stage, there’s been a fundamental shift in the way we as consumers consume and share content. Momentous amount of content being created, consumed and shared. An amazing amount of content, the real question is how does a brand stand apart?
Ant that can be your brand
The secret to content marketing is that its not that hard. There are obstacles, but what we’re going to do is give you our secrets and let you know what’s worked for other brands to drive a content marketing strategy.
The secret, content marketing is relatively simple. The buyer journey is just a series of question to be answered and we as brands have a role to play. Its simply to answer the customer questions.
A more complex view, content marketing explained on a page. What types of different content we consume at different parts of the buyer journey.
Awareness, we’re wanting to learn, get our questions answered and read thought leadership.
Consideration, we want more types of content.
By Preference, there’s less thought leadership and learning, and more about what makes your brand different.
As a brand, our natural instinct is to talk about ourselves. Customers are asking questions, they want to be informed and entertained, but we can’t just do that because that’s just charity.
So the way we balance is make your customers the hero of the story.
Take your brand out. How do you do that? You solve their problems at every stage of the journey.
Core components the way we need to think. We need to think different.
Effective content marketers are 5 times more likely to have a DOCUMENTED content strategy.
Help your customers with something. Do their jobs better, become heroes. You need to fill in the blanks.
Discover – What is the business case and what is the need for change? We have to point to the things that aren’t working. We need to have the courage to stand up to our executives and show what’s working and what’s not. Current state. Where are you currently? Budget – there’s enough of ineffective spend you can repurpose.
Destination – where and how you’re going to publish. design, platform to support, where, activity on the destination you choose, and how the rest of your organization is going to integrate.
Topic Models – Topics you want to be known for when thinking of you target audience.
Customer Journey– We can’t show someone read a piece of content and bought something.
Help your customers with something. Do their jobs better, become heroes. You need to fill in the blanks.
These are not all necessarily people, but instead responsibilities. One of my first hires was a curator. Someone who finds and repurposes the best content from around the web. Look at what your audience is interested in.
SEO on the other hand, understand what kind of content you need to create.
Is it an on brand or off-brand strategy? Depends on your brand and goals.
Timeline – totally unbranded. Off-branded domain. Branding that’s almost invisible.
Monster – you can see its completely in line with their corporate website. Logo, typography, similar structure.
Pepsi pulse – completely reinvented their website. Seeking to be a destination about anything about pop culture.
A content audit is important because it helps you understand the level of the content issues you have. Help you determine where you have performance issues.
No matter where you are in your content marketing strategy, NewsCred's Strategy Services team can help ensure you're successful.
Not only do we provide 24/7 global product support, but we also offer daily editorial curation and can help set your long-term strategy with customized consultations, workshops and brainstorms.
94% of all the content we were creating was for late and middle stages. Most of the content we made was promotional…why we were better.
However, more people are in the early stage, so we were completely upside down.
A lot of people jump to topics. Google trends, competitors, online properties serving needs. Thinking about topics and architecture is an important step.
Key words appropriate
Finding the right combination of licensed content, original content and social content is key to executing a well-rounded content strategy.
Licensed content gives you an easy way to access a high-volume of content from credible sources, allowing you to boost publishing cadence.
Original content gives you the ability to share hyper-targeted stories which resonate with your audience and are optimized for SEO.
Social content allows you to always stay topical and publish content that is buzzworthy and trending. Co-created content.
We call this combination The Rule Of Thirds – a starting point. AS you’re publishgin you can optimize.. Diversifying your content strategy allows you to scale in a way
Distribution is the biggest mistake we see marketers make.
Tracking over the course of a year.
Are we gaining traffic from organic and social. Up and to the right.
One area where we admittedly struggled was how to maximize conversion on the site. Our original premise was that visitors would be intrigued by the content and would want to learn more about our solutions. Despite having more than a dozen conversion opportunities on every page, to send traffic to SAP.com, our analysis showed very few visitors were ready to take that leap. The data showed us that those who do convert had almost ten times higher chance of beng a subscriber. So we focused on subscriptions and driving conversion through more appropriate middle-stage thought leadership offers. We still struggle with matching up our content to the right offer.
Help your customers with something. Do their jobs better, become heroes. You need to fill in the blanks.