Marketing can be a good thing, but it can also mislead content creators and promoters. In this presentation, delivered at Content Marketing World, Rand covers the advice often given (or interpreted) by content creators as "how to market" that should probably be ignored (or, at least, taken in context).
8. Boost Sales!
@randfish
Many businesses invest in
content because they’ve read
headlines like this, and think
there’s a 1:1 relationship
See! A magnet! It gets
customers! I want a magnet!
10. Match the Org’s Most Important Priorities
Grow top-of-funnel for
product X by 25% this year
Help us win more head-to-
head deals vs. competitor Y
Earn 10% more leads for our
sales team via our free tools
Top 3 Priorities:
ID & create content that
helps audience in our field
Create comparison pages &
rank for us vs. Y terms
ID searches our tools answer
& create content to rank
Content Tactics
11. Show the Connection Between Goals & Metrics
@randfish
Grow top-of-funnel for
product X by 25% this year
Twitter follower growth is correlated at 0.7
with growth in traffic from our tweets
Twitter growth rate (& 2017 target): 14% (20%)
Twitter followers (& 2017 target): 12.5K (22K)
Twitter monthly visits (& 2017 target): 4.5K (10K)
12. Accommodate for Content’s Indirect & Slow ROI
@randfish
Me make
content.
Humans click.
Them buy. Me
get money.
14. How Content Really Works:
Me Make
Content.
Humans click.
If them like, them
remember.
Maybe see more
my content. Visit
again.
Me build trust,
relationship.
When them
need me, them
come back.
21. Content is An Indirect Acquisition Channel
Via Jauntaroo
Jauntaroo’s tool serves as
leadgen for Expedia, but only a
small percent of searches ever
lead to conversion on a first visit.
22. Content is An Indirect Acquisition Channel
Via Moz
At Moz, we observe folks visiting our site ~8X on
average, before they take a free trial of our
23. Converting Directly Often Brings Lower
LTV Customers
@randfish
Folks whose 1st Moz experience is clicking
this & signing up stick with their
subscription for less time, on avg, than
those who visit lots of Moz’s content before
signing up.
36. Hacks Tends to Follow the
Law of $h*#&y Clickthrough Rates:
Via Andrew Chen
37. But, Hacks Can Be Useful When Applied to a
Functional Content Flywheel
38. Publish
Amplify
Grow network Rank for slightly
more competitive
terms & phrases
Get links Grow authority
Earn search
traffic
If you know that
amplification is where your
flywheel is dying, hacks to
reach a larger group may
indeed be powerful!
39. (e.g. Rand’s Facebook Hack)
I first published this on my
personal blog, but the post went
nowhere on Facebook, so I
deleted the original FB post and
put up this one to my Medium
version (which links to the
original), and got ~5X the reach.
61. Ironically, Paid Works Best on Content
that Amplifies Well Organically
Via Larry Kim
Twitter is a great,
free, low-risk
testing platform
for sharing.
62. Be Wary of Overinvesting in Short-Term Paid,
When That $$ Could Go to Long-Term Organic
If I spend $1.07 X 3,000 clicks/month for 6 months… that’s $19,260.
63. Or I could invest $10,000 in a content effort that might get me
10X the traffic for years to come.
68. But Keywords Are Only the Beginning
Via Backlinko
Google is much smarter
at understanding topics
and, most SEOs already
do KW optimization,
making it a less powerful
way to stand out
69. The Modern SEO Pyramid
Crawl Accessibility, so engines can reach & index your content
Compelling content that solves the searchers’ query
Keyword Optimized to attract searchers & engines
Content that naturally earns links & citations
Title, URL, & description that earns high CTR
Amplification via social/word-of-mouth
Schema & markup that stands out in
SERPs
70. Smart KW Research is a Must:
Via AdWords
Sadly, AdWords data
is not “smart.”
These numbers are
wrong (in reality, they
represent a range)
The “competition” &
bids only speak to
PPC, not SEO
71. Better Metrics Can Help Prioritize:
Via KWE
Accurate
volume
ranges
Difficulty of
ranking in
organic
Relative
CTR
Value to
my site
73. 2) Uncover related terms, phrases, &topics
3) Craft a title, subtitle, & meta description that will stand out in the
SERPand have strong relevance to the query
4) Use a format that will serve visitors on every device fast
5) Provide unique value that no one else in the SERPdelivers
1) Investigate what answers & content searchers need so you can
effectively serve their needs
Follow This 5-Step Process
82. Need a Great Resume Template?
@randfish
Sadly, none of
these are going
to help job
seekers stand
out
83. Try ResumUP
Via ResumUP
They’ve got data to
back up the
performance of
their templates
Sadly, they don’t
rank well, &
haven’t gotten the
shares they
deserve.
84. The *Best* Grilled Steak?
Via
(actually, this doesn’t deserve a link)
If you want some
crappy, over-
seasoned, poorly
cooked meat, listen
to Bobby. It’s “easy.”
89. Just Don’t Expect “Greatness” to
Compensate for Marketing
@randfish
The correlation between quality
and ubiquity is not always high…
90. Our Job is Not to
“Make Great Content”
@randfish
Our Job is to Make Content that
Accomplishes Our
Organization’s Goals.
91. A Lot of Content Marketing Advice…
Is self-serving
Suffers from survivorship bias
Applies in some fields, but not others
Works for only some flywheels
Only helps if you’re an early adopter
92. None of these Caveats Mean
the Advice Isn’t Useful…
@randfish
93. It Just Means We Need to
Apply It in Context
@randfish