Content Marketing: Getting Started

The DefinitiveContent Marketing Series1. Content Marketing: getting startedStop the sales pitch. Start the sales attraction.

2“ Good-bye, Broadcast Hello, Conversation.” Shel Israel, co-author of ‘Naked Communications’ Content marketing services for the digital age Be relevant Be visible Be chosen tweet this©Marketing Clout Ltd Sign up to The Definitive Content Marketing Series

3 Your questions, answered 1. Introduction 4 2. So what is content marketing? 5 3. Why do I need it? 9 4. How does it work? 13 5. How do I get started? 22 6. Top content marketing resources 24 Content marketing services for the digital age Be relevant Be visible Be chosen tweet this©Marketing Clout Ltd Sign up to The Definitive Content Marketing Series

4 1. Introduction So, you’ve been hearing the rumblings and These uncertainties need addressing and that’s rumours of content marketing. What started exactly what this eBook aims to do. We want as a whisper has strengthened in voice, but to help clear things up in your head so you can you’re not quite sure how or where you fit into focus on your next steps. the content marketing conversation. What is it? This is the first in a series of eBooks to help you What should you be doing about it, if anything? on your content marketing journey. We hope You’re wondering if you should be changing your you find them useful and would love to hear your marketing strategy. comments, suggestions and questions. So, let’s get cracking. Content marketing services for the digital age Be relevant Be visible Be chosen tweet this©Marketing Clout Ltd Sign up to The Definitive Content Marketing Series

5 2. So what is content marketing? In a nutshell: Content marketing is the creation and distribution of relevant and compelling content via multiple media channels in order to attract and convert unknown prospects into willing customers.such as whitepapers, such as social media, blogs, email,eBooks, podcasts, video, Content marketing services search engine optimisation (SEO)case studies the digital age for and guides Be relevant Be visible Be chosen and your website tweet this©Marketing Clout Ltd Sign up to The Definitive Content Marketing Series

6 Don’t yell at the crowd, talk to the man Content marketing services for the digital age Be relevant Be visible Be chosen tweet this©Marketing Clout Ltd Sign up to The Definitive Content Marketing Series

7 In the olden days a few years back, marketing was all about advertising, direct mail, trade fairs and mass media. It was all about the big sell. Not any more. Today it’s all about the customer. There’s so much data at the touch of a button that the majority of customers do their own research online, their own evaluation and make their own decisions. Today’s customer is an anonymous buyer who selects or dismisses you, without you even knowing about it. Don’t push! So it’s your job to make sure you figure in their searches, that they value you highly and that Content marketing services you come into digital agedecision-making process. So you have to pull, pull, pull them in. for the their Be relevant Be visible Be chosen And that’s where content marketing comes in. tweet this©Marketing Clout Ltd Sign up to The Definitive Content Marketing Series

8 Fact: People trust consumers – i.e. bloggers – more than they trust advertising. Source: Nielson Global Online Consumer Survey Content marketing services for the digital age Be relevant Be visible Be chosen tweet this©Marketing Clout Ltd Sign up to The Definitive Content Marketing Series

9 3. Why do I need it? Put simply, because people want it. People need… Answers to their questions. Solutions to their problems. Advice in their decision-making. Guidance. Support. Understanding. In simple, accessible formats. Content marketing services for the digital age Be relevant Be visible Be chosen tweet this©Marketing Clout Ltd Sign up to The Definitive Content Marketing Series

10 If you’re not producing content that meets your customers’ needs, they’ll simply look elsewhere. Content marketing services for the digital age Be relevant Be visible Be chosen tweet this©Marketing Clout Ltd Sign up to The Definitive Content Marketing Series

11 Content is at the heart of an effective Here’s exactly what content marketing can do for marketing engine. If you are able to generate your business: high quality, compelling information and • Generate new, quality leads from people who distribute it via the right channels, you are have an existing need for your business going to attract customers who want and • Provide your sales team with a reason to engage need your products and services. Essentially, • Help move current leads along the pipeline content marketing makes it easier for your towards a sale customers to find you and the solution • Establish your company as a leading expert they want. in your field • Boost your brand credibility • Build your prospect/influencer database (through data collection for high quality downloads) Content marketing services for the digital age • Boost your searchability and SEO Be relevant Be visible Be chosen tweet this©Marketing Clout Ltd Sign up to The Definitive Content Marketing Series

12 Fact: of consumers 61% feel better about a company that delivers custom content AND are in turn more likely to buy from that company Source: Hubspot 2011 Content marketing services for the digital age Be relevant Be visible Be chosen tweet this©Marketing Clout Ltd Sign up to The Definitive Content Marketing Series

13 4. How does it work? Three main principles to guide your content marketing approach: Be relevant Be visible Be chosen Content marketing services for the digital age Be relevant Be visible Be chosen tweet this©Marketing Clout Ltd Sign up to The Definitive Content Marketing Series

14 Be relevant Relevance is the lynchpin of a content marketing strategy. The key is to find the sweetspot – where your knowledge (from your products and services) meets your customers’ specific needs and pains. What can you offer that makes their lives easier? Armed with that information, you can then generate and distribute high quality, valuable and compelling material that your prospects, customers and their influencers will find useful. Think guides, checklists, Content marketing services hints, tips, whitepapers, eBooks, case studies etc. for the digital age Be relevant Be visible Be chosen tweet this©Marketing Clout Ltd Sign up to The Definitive Content Marketing Series

15 Be visible Next you need to make your material visible through all the media channels at your disposal. On top of the basics like email and search, work out where your customers hang out. Are they on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook or YouTube? To which groups do they belong and what discussions do they join? Don’t forget to look beyond the obvious channels and look at blogs and industry media too. Identify the channels and get in front of them. Content marketing services for the digital age Be relevant Be visible Be chosen tweet this©Marketing Clout Ltd Sign up to The Definitive Content Marketing Series

16 Be chosen By maintaining a regular presence with a consistent, valued voice, you will keep your customers coming back for more. And with all your content housed within your main website, you have the best platform to promote your products and services from within, with one key advantage; your audience is already receptive to what you have to say. It’s a simple formula. Keep them interested until they’re ready to buy. Content marketing services for the digital age Be relevant Be visible Be chosen tweet this©Marketing Clout Ltd Sign up to The Definitive Content Marketing Series

17 The content engine A good content marketing programme works like an engine. You need constant fuel, a well-oiled system and those clever diagnostics to keep it running effectively. Get your content engine really pumping by distributing inspiring and pertinent content across the channels. This will draw customers to your site and create the opportunity for interlinking across the various channels and back to your site. Your website in effect becomes a rich, relevant content portal that your prospective customers will return to again and again…until Content marketing services they’re convinced and ready to buy. for the digital age Be relevant Be visible Be chosen tweet this©Marketing Clout Ltd Sign up to The Definitive Content Marketing Series

18 Here are a few tips for starters: 1. Vary the content you make available. For example, some content you should give away for free (your blogs for example), while higher value content (whitepapers, newsletters) should require visitors to sign up. 2. Plan themes for your content. That way you can communicate and reinforce relevant, consistent messages across all content such as your newsletters, eBooks, blogs and Tweets. A whitepaper or case study can explore the themes in more depth. 3. Now you need to optimise all this content for search engines and promote it through social media platforms (LinkedIn, Twitter, StumbleUpon, plus industry-specific sites). You should then reinforce this with regular, targetted email campaigns. Remember, though, this isn’t an overnight cycle. You need to maintain consistent communications while you continuously monitor and evaluate (which you can do easily). Keep thinking from the point of view of your customer. Content marketing services for the digital age Be relevant Be visible Be chosen tweet this©Marketing Clout Ltd Sign up to The Definitive Content Marketing Series

19 Take the following as an example… Content marketing services for the digital age Be relevant Be visible Be chosen tweet this©Marketing Clout Ltd Sign up to The Definitive Content Marketing Series

Content themeSustainable High quality content downloadbuilding ACME ECO DESIGN eBooktechniques The de nitive guide to sustainable building techniques Thumbnail of front cover Website Blog post 1 15th August 2011Choose compelling 5 questions every architect should ask about their sustainable building project Downloadtheme with several Blog post 2 17th August 2011 Sign uplayers of content Phasellus mattis sollicitudin ligula lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetuer Blog Name How Company X reduced their carbon footprint by over 50% Email Case study DISCUSSIONSeed into multiple Sustainable building techniques Search @acmeecodesign *Just released* [eBook] BUILDING GREEN, A SUSTAINABILITY GROUPmedia channels ’The de nitive guide to sustainable building techniques.’ Reviews please! eco.uy/1JA ACME ECO DESIGN Sustainable building With so many options in green building design, Co #sustainable for The de nitive guide to sustainable is it time to establish an industry standard? building techniques. Download now! Be www.acmeecodesign.com Reply Retweet Like Comment Flag PPC ad Optimised keywords tweet thisDirect traffic to your ©Marketing Clout Ltdwebsite and cross sell

21 Question: how many potential customers have dismissed you without you even knowing it? Content marketing services for the digital age Be relevant Be visible Be chosen tweet this©Marketing Clout Ltd Sign up to The Definitive Content Marketing Series

22 5. How do I get started? You want your content marketing programme 4. Content platforms: set up all the right platforms to be a success. That’s a given. What might to promote your content (for example social media, not be so obvious is how to make that email and blog). Make sure you’re visible to search engines, so optimise continually. Also, make sure your happen. We’ll be exploring this in more detail website is set up to convert inbound opportunities – throughout the series. In the meantime, here’s that is, after all, the point. a whistle stop overview of content marketing best practice: 5. Regular content writing and seeding: write or develop quality, relevant content on a regular basis, 1. Target audience persona: build a profile of your seeding it and pushing it out through the various target audience personas. Include their attitudes, platforms and tools, and drawing prospects in pains, triggers, buying motivators and needs. through active monitoring and contributing. Platforms such as: blogging, social media, Twitter, LinkedIn, 2. Product / service hooks: identify which elements StumbleUpon, search (Google, Bing) and backed up of your products / services are most appealing and with email and marketing automation. which pains / needs they address. 6. Measure, revise and refine: the final piece of the 3. Content strategy: build a content strategy, jigsaw is to measure the effectiveness of the ongoing mapping Content marketing services out the types of content that would be strategy and continually revise and refine it to improve for the digital age attractive to your target personas and that play results. And by results we mean quality leads of course. Be relevant Be visible Be chosen to your product strengths. tweet this©Marketing Clout Ltd Sign up to The Definitive Content Marketing Series

23 So now you know what content marketing is… …and how to do it. Need any help with that? Give us a shout on +44 (0)117 317 7646 or email susie@marketingclout.co.uk We’d love to show you how it’s done. Content marketing services for the digital age Be relevant Be visible Be chosen tweet this©Marketing Clout Ltd Sign up to The Definitive Content Marketing Series

24 6. Top content marketing resources Blogs Books Marketing Clout’s blog Content Rules by Ann Handley and C.C. Chapman Copyblogger – Brian Clark Get Content. Get Customers by Joe Pulizzi and Newt Barrett The Content Marketing Revolution – Joe Pulizzi Content Strategy for the Web by Kristina Halvorson TopRank Blog – Lee Odden at TopRank Marketing World Wide Rave by David Meerman Scott Social Media Examiner – Michael Stelzner All Marketers are Liars by Seth Godin Brian Solis – Brian Solis Whitepapers/eBooks Follow these chaps on Twitter Content Marketing Playbook – Junta42 @junta42 – The Content Marketing Institute (CMI) / Junta42 Marketing is Content – PR Newswire @juntajoe – Joe Pulizzi, the founder of CMI @copyblogger – Brian Clark, founder of Copyblogger Infographics @marketingprofs – Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer Is Content Marketing Traditional Advertising’s at MarketingProfs New Rival? – Marketo @chrismoritz – Chris Moritz, Interactive Content Strategist Is your Content King? – Blogging Bookshelf @briansolis – Brian Solis, globally recognised as one of the most Creating Valuable Content. A step-by-step checklist – Content prominent thought leaders and published authors in new media. Marketing Institute (CMI) Content marketing services @jaybaer – Jay the digital age Media Strategist, author and coach. for Baer, Social Be relevant Be visible Be chosen Other sites well worth keeping an eye on eMarketer Content Marketing Institute (CMI) MarketingProfs tweet this©Marketing Clout Ltd Sign up to The Definitive Content Marketing Series

25 Fact: of 60% marketers spent more on content marketing in 2010 Source: Junta42 Spending Survey Content marketing services for the digital age Be relevant Be visible Be chosen tweet this©Marketing Clout Ltd Sign up to The Definitive Content Marketing Series

26 About Marketing Clout Marketing Clout is a new breed of marketing Drop us a line: service provider for a new age of content-driven info@marketingclout.co.uk consumption. People don’t respond to advertising +44 (0) 117 317 7646 like they once did. They find what they want and filter out what they don’t. Follow us: Our content marketing services focus on giving your target audience information they want, where they want it, so they don’t filter you out. It’s a process that delivers better efficiencies, higher quality leads Or drop in and see us: and ultimately more satisfied customers. 11th Floor (nice view!) We offer a range of programmes designed Colston Tower to plug in the resources you need to drive your Colston Street business forward. Bristol Content marketing services BS1 4XE for the digital age Be relevant Be visible Be chosen www.marketingclout.co.uk tweet this©Marketing Clout Ltd Sign up to The Definitive Content Marketing Series

Content marketing: Stop the sales pitch. Start the sales attraction. www.marketingclout.co.uk tweet this©Marketing Clout Ltd Sign up to The Definitive Content Marketing Series

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Content Marketing: Getting Started

by Marketing Clout on Sep 19, 2011

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Content Marketing: Getting Started — Presentation Transcript