Content Marketing Strategy

The Strategic Side ofContent Marketing bit.ly/mozcontentstrategy Rand Fishkin

An Unfortunate,Common Story

We Need to Acquire Customers!

Ooo! Let’s Try Search Engines!

Buying These Keywords is Really Expensive

We Need Some of that SEO Magic! SO MANY FREE CLICKS…

Time to Get Some Links

But We Gotta Keep it White Hat

We’ll Start with Some Article Marketing

Then Some Guest Blogging

Some Do-Follow Comments

Link Request Outreach to a Few Sites

Submit to Only the “High Quality” Directories

Sponsor Events & Charities to Get Some Links

Send a Few Press Release Blasts

Get Our Partners to Link to Us

Do Some Advertising that Leads to Links

Whew…

Getting Links is Really Hard.

You Know Who Has It Easy? Bloggers!

They Just Get Links Pouring In for Nothing!

Let’s Start a Blog!

Yeah, and We’ll Do Some Clever Graphics

Then Launch Some Linkbait!

Ugh, I Thought This Would Be Easier

Despite All That Effort, Our Linkbait Only Got Only 5 Links

These Blog Posts Aren’t Getting Us Anywhere

Screw This.

Let’s Just Outsource our Link Building

Months Pass…

Rankings Stagnate

Trouble Looms.

Content Marketing Strategy?

Content Marketing Strategy

Another (Sadly)Common Story

Content’s a Great Way for Us to Get Traffic

We Make Graphics

And Blog Posts

And Long-form Articles

We Made a Few Free Calculators & Tools

And Some How-To Videos

They Bring in a Lot of Visits from Search

And From Social Media

And Get Shared and Linked-to All Over the Web

But the Conversion Rate Sucks

We Need to Work on CRO & Improving Our Funnel

Let’s Make the Calls-to-Action More Obvious

And Enforce Email Collection to Access Content

So We Can Market to These Users Later

It’s Not Great for the User Experience

And It Hurts Viral Sharing

But We Need this Content to Carry Its Weight

Months Pass…

Content Cruises Along

Engagement & Sharing Drop

Conversion Rate Goes Up, But Total Conversions Fall

Content Marketing Strategy?

Content Marketing Strategy

Strategy ≠A List of Content You Think Will “Go Viral”

Strategy ≠A List of Tactics to Get You More Links

Strategy ≠A List of Influencers/Publications You Want Mentioning Your Brand

So… What IS a“Content Marketing Strategy”

Step 1: Step 2: Step 3:Build a Product Acquire Customers Profit ?

Step 1: Step 2: Step 3:Build a Product Acquire Customers Profit ? Content Marketing is ONE Way to Solve Step 2.

Step 1: Step 2: Step 3:Build a Product Acquire Customers Profit ? Content Marketing STRATEGY is the plan of action that will achieve this goal.

Roadmap forContent Marketing

You can build a great contentstrategy by answering a few challenging questions.

What Are Your Ultimate Goals?

AKA: Why Do You Invest in Marketing?Via: http://www.slideshare.net/HubSpot/the-2012-state-of-inbound-marketing-webinar

Usually, It’s One (or More) of These: Traffic Awareness Sales / RetentionConversions

Who Do You Need to Reach to Achieve That Goal?

Where is This Target Group on the Web Today?Users: 1B+ 900mm 500mm 150mm 150mm+ (blogosphere) 130mm 50mm 250mm+ 250mm+Users: (print media) (TV media) 35mm 25mm 20mm 20mm 14mm

Who/What Influences Your Target Group?

What Experiences Will Earn the Impact You Need:

Familiarity?

Likability?

Trust?

And, Secondarily, What’s Going to Earn You the Metrics You Need.

Links?

Shares?

Engagement?

Conversions?

Will These Investments Have a Better ROI Than Other Marketing Investments (i.e. paid media)?

Great answers to these questions will almost always yield a great content marketing strategy.

Two Examples

http://www.tableausoftware.com/public/gallery/taleof100

Goal: Build awareness & Influencers: Wall Street Journal, acquire customers for bloggers, data viz Tableau’s software aficionadosWho: Business analysts, Experience: Beautiful, usable UX. entrepreneurs, big data Interactive e.g. owners, Excel junkies Meaningful insights.Where: Press, Search, Social, ROI Comparison: Blogosphere, Brand advertising = too Tradeshows shotgun, too expensive

http://thecriminallawyer.tumblr.com/post/19810672629/12-i-was-entrapped

Goal: Build awareness in the Influencers: Facebook friends, highly competitive NYC colleagues, family criminal law fieldWho: Anyone who might Experience: Enjoyable to read, influence anyone who’s easy to get through, ever arrested high quality infoWhere: Social, Blogosphere, ROI Comparison: Press, Search Paid search = too expensive, won’t reach the referral audience

ChecklistMarketing Goal(s)Target CustomerTarget ChannelsInfluencersExperience to DeliverROI Comparison

5 RecommendationsTo Improve Your Strategy

#1: Invest for a 5 Year ROI This is when Geraldine started her blog

#1: Invest for a 5 Year ROI This is where most people give up

#1: Invest for a 5 Year ROI 4,000+ visits/day the last 3 months

#2: Don’t “Target” Influencers; Involve Them

#3: Great Artists StealVia: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-18770328

#3: Great Artists StealVia: http://static02.mediaite.com/geekosystem/uploads/2010/10/true-size-of-africa.jpg

#4: Expand Your Definition of “Content”

Blog Posts

Articles

Educational Resources

Slide Decks

Animations

Photos

Your Site’s “Boring” Pages

Comments

Vacation Time

Workspaces

Physical Goods

http://www.contentharmony.com	3511
http://www.hoodwebmanagement.com	538
http://www.scoop.it	461
http://storify.com	133
http://www.40defiebre.com	116
http://www.evasanagustin.com	73
http://www.katedreyer.co.uk	68
http://clusterexample.tf.etondigital.com	58
http://istudymarketing.wordpress.com	49
http://curation.mezzolabs.co.uk	43
http://blogzondernaam.typepad.com	28
http://www.stonepower.fr	26
http://www.earlytoe.com	22
http://feeds.feedburner.com	21
http://lanyrd.com	14
http://www.weebly.com	13
http://moneymakingwebsiteideas.weebly.com	11
https://twitter.com	8
http://marceladevivo.wordpress.com	7
http://us-w1.rockmelt.com	6
https://twimg0-a.akamaihd.net	6
https://si0.twimg.com	6
http://pinterest.com	5
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com	1
http://www.paperblog.fr	1
http://learn-thru-web.com	1
http://www.twylah.com	1

Content Marketing Strategy

by Rand Fishkin on Jul 27, 2012

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