1.
Content Marketing
Beyond the Bullshit
Think Visibility Hannah Smith Smith
Hannah @hannah_bo_banna
September 2012 @hannah_bo_banna
Distilled.net

2.
Hannah Smith
SEO Consultant – Distilled
hannah.smith@distilled.net
@hannah_bo_banna
SEOmoz Associate & SEOChick.
No longer has red hair.

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I set myself a challenge...
talk about
content
marketing

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without mentioning...
old spice
dollar shave club
ok cupid
oyster

5.
because
you’ve heard
it before

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#yawn

7.
everybody’s talking about
content
marketing

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but
what the hell
is it?

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&
why should you care?

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hopefully this presentation will help

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I am an
seo

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with
problems

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which I’m
hoping

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you can
relate to

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Problem 1.

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Problem 1.
I need to build
links

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(sometimes) my clients reject my link building ideas & therefore
prevent
me from building links

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

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why?

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we’re
victims
of our own success...

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we know what
the
linkerati <3

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BUT
most clients do not want their brand associated with
zombies, bacon, cats,
conspiracy theory,
controversy
or drama
even if they’ll get links out of it...

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the lesson?

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content needs to support
brand positioning

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SPEAKER NAME - EDIT FOOTER
Using Content
Marketing to
support brand
positioning…

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it’s a tough niche & we
*need* links

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BUT
the client did not want their brand associated with
zombies, bacon, cats,
conspiracy theory,
controversy or drama

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solution - support the brand’s positioning as
the small business
champion

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handily enough
they were already creating some content...

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we figured we could help by creating
remarkable
content

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that would support their brand position as
the small business
champion

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& that would support their
existing content
strategy

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411 links
from 111 domains

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160 links
from 36 domains

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147 links
from 48 domains

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the client is

and so are we

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but there’s a trade off...
this sort of content will be
far less successful
than

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zombies, bacon, cats,
conspiracy theory,
controversy
or drama

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but that’s ok

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their CEO loves
the content

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their customers
love it

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This isn’t *just* content for links –
this is content for their customers.
They include it in email newsletters
& other marketing activity.

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so content marketing is just using content for
link building
right?

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wrong.

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remember I said I was an seo with
problems?

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Problem 2.

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how do you ‘get found’ by customers who
don’t know they
need you yet?

48.
SPEAKER NAME - EDIT FOOTER
Using content
marketing for
Lead Generation

49.
Salesforce
have a strong domain & already rank
well for keywords customers are likely to
search for when they’re ready to buy.

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but
how could they attract customers higher up
the sales funnel who don’t know they need a
tool like Salesforce yet?

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create content

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strong domain -
it’ll likely rank

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we need to consider
more
than just search engine visibility...

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because search engines
are not
the only way we find content

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so Salesforce created content people would
want
to share

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then Salesforce let people know it was there

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via the corporate
Facebook/Twitter/Google+
accounts

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home page takeover
of the corporate site

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enlisted the help of
15 expert advocates

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email newsletters

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guest blogging

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PR

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advertising on
Twitter
LinkedIn
Google Display Network

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Results
• Traffic for January was up 80% YoY
• Traffic from social sites was up 2500%
See - http://www.seomoz.org/blog/socialsuccess-an-inbound-marketing-case-study-for-b2b

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Results (you actually care about)
• 6500 newsletter sign ups
• 10,000 eBook downloads
See - http://www.seomoz.org/blog/socialsuccess-an-inbound-marketing-case-study-for-b2b

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leads = money
#justsayin’

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do links = money?

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Problem 3.

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rankings are great but
no one’s buying

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SPEAKER NAME - EDIT FOOTER
Conversion Rate
Optimisation

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grossly
simplified
CRO process

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sorry @pav

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find out
why people buy
&
why they don’t

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figure out which
benefits
aren’t being communicated
& which
objections
aren’t being addressed

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create new pages to
test
improved messaging against your current page
Read more - http://conversionfactory.com/downloads/checklists.pdf or speak to Pav 

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end result?
more money

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& your boss / client loves you

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right now you’re probably thinking

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wait, that’s CRO not
content marketing

80.
SPEAKER NAME - EDIT FOOTER
What is Content
Marketing?

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it’s the creation and sharing of content in order to:
attract, acquire and engage
current and potential customers
with the objective of:
driving profitable customer action

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it’s about creating
profitable
relationships
with
customers

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not just link building...

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SPEAKER NAME - EDIT FOOTER
Content Marketing
Misconceptions

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misconception 1:
content marketing is
‘free’

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Cute? Sure
just not true.

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also, it’s not
cheap

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Cheap “SEO content” looks like this

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Cheap article marketing looks like this

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Cheap “articles” read like this

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the creation and sharing of content in order to:
attract, acquire and engage
current and potential customers
with the objective of:
driving profitable customer action

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Misconception 2:
when it comes to content marketing
more is more

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SPEAKER NAME - EDIT FOOTER
33% fewer posts;
40% more traffic
Kerry Lauerman, Editor in Chief, Salon.com
Source: http://open.salon.com/blog/kerry_lauerman/2012/02/03/hit_record

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misconception 3:
content marketing
belongs on your
blog

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bandcamp.com - FAQs

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Misconception 4...
if you build it
they will come...

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you are not
Kevin Costner...

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SPEAKER NAME - EDIT FOOTER
Takeaways

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sometimes people don’t take seos
seriously

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because often our activities
aren’t fully aligned
with branding and marketing goals

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content marketing is a discipline that
complements
seo & we ought to leverage it

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because

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attracting, acquiring and engaging
current and potential customers
with the objective of:
driving profitable customer action

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is something your client / boss is going to

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significantly
more than

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it gives you and your clients; or you and your marketing
department / boss the opportunity to
align your objectives,

107.
& stop fighting
against each other

108.
think
beyond
links

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think
beyond
search engine traffic

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&
make more money

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questions?
hannah.smith@distilled.net
@hannah_bo_banna

112.
Image Credits
Zombies - http://www.xfirstaidkits.com/v/Zombie-Proof-Architecture/
Bacon - http://www.flickr.com/photos/samsmith/2747313794/sizes/l/
Cat - http://www.flickr.com/photos/paolomargari/1992019542/sizes/l/
Conspiracy - http://www.alienandufopictures.com/ufo_pictures.html
Controversy - http://xkcd.com/386/
Failure to communicate - http://theinfluentials.wordpress.com/2012/06/18/failure-to-communicate/
Future of marketing - https://plus.google.com/112310499813770104747/posts/JBesS2cnAGo
Field of dreams - http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/field-of-dreams