Live Webinar: How to Kick-Start a Successful Content Marketing Strategy - Quickly and Brilliantly
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Seth Godin says that “Content marketing is the only marketing left.” The marketing world appears to be agreeing with him, as content marketing budgets continue to grow exponentially. But as you build your content strategy, how can you be sure that you’re setting out on a path to success from Day One? Join us for this dynamic, live webcast co-hosted by LinkedIn and the award-winning content marketing agency King Content. Speakers include Jon Lombardo, Creative Lead for LinkedIn’s Creative Agency, and Lieu Pham, VP, Strategy & Innovation for King Content. We will explore the fundamentals to building a strong content marketing strategy—giving you the tools and confidence to secure the budget and succeed from the very start. We’ll cover three key concepts: - Why you need to do a content audit—and how to do one - What types of content you should produce for your audience - How to measure success against short and long-term objectives
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Live Webinar: How to Kick-Start a Successful Content Marketing Strategy - Quickly and Brilliantly
- 1. How to Kick-Start a Successful Content Marketing Strategy
- 2. Lieu Pham VP, Strategy & Innovation, NYC King Content Jon Lombardo Creative Strategy Lead LinkedIn
- 3. Let’s Start With The Obvious… B2B isn’t Glamorous
- 4. Before customers reach out directly Source: Forrester, “Buyer Behavior Helps B2B Marketers Guide the Buyer’s Journey,” October 2012 The buyer’s journey is longer… Pieces of content are consumed before a purchasing decision is made Source: Zero Moment of Truth Study, Google
- 5. are now involved in the average B2B buying decision Boss Peer Direct Report Cross-functional Partner Business Leader YOUR TARGET BUYER …it also involves more people
- 6. It’s more about Thought Leadership…
- 7. And it’s more about Solutions… “Buyers don’t buy your products until they ‘buy’ your approach to solving their problems”
- 8. But, They’re Much More Similar Than Most People Realize
- 9. It’s tough to sell entirely with someone else’s ideas “…a dollar spent on orginal shows attracts and retains customers more efficiently than a dollar spent licensing content.”
- 10. Great Marketing Gives Members The Original Series They Want 10
- 11. Members want help making better decisions
- 12. Here’s What Members Want…
- 13. “I want to stay current on news” Help your audience stay up-to-date1
- 14. “I want to learn from experts” People want to hear from thought leaders2
- 15. “I want professional development” Make your audience smarter in-the-moment3
- 16. “I want to understand trends” Help your audience plan for the future4
- 17. “I want inspirational solutions” Offer inspirational experiences and guides.5
- 18. 18 The 4 Steps to Creating Compelling Content
- 19. Step 1: Performing a Content Audit
- 20. 1. Understand the role of content. 2. Assess how content supports your business. 3. Highlight strengths and weaknesses. 4. Identify optimization opportunities. Our task is to… Evaluate Adjust PLANDO
- 21. CONTENT INVENTORY SEO REVIEW QUALITATIVE ASSESSMENT SITE ANALYSIS COMPETITOR REVIEW GAP ANALYSIS Audits are complex, let’s start with 3 basics 1 2 3
- 22. 1 Context 2 Influence 3 Intent 6 Accessible 4 Quality 5 Relevant Qualitative Assessment1
- 23. Competitor content v Checklist: • Who are they targeting? • What are they talking about? • What works/what doesn’t work • What lead nurturing tactics do they have in place? • Social followers • Post frequency • Engagement rate • Types of content Competitor Benchmarking2 Are there other competitors performing well with content?
- 24. What You Want To Say Digital Content Lives Here Home to brand affinity, engagement and long-term relationships Competitive Landscape What Your Audience Wants To Hear Gap Analysis3
- 25. Step 2: Audience
- 26. QUESTIONS: o Who are your priority audiences? o Who is likely to be the first point of contact? o Who are the influencers, who are the decision makers? o Is there anyone else that you want to be speaking to? The ‘IT Committee’ Operational Chief Operating Officer (COO) Operations Manager Technical Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Chief Information Officer (CIO) IT Manager Product Head of Product GM of Product Understand Group Buying
- 27. Four areas for exploration Background Buying Habits Pain Points Content Consumption
- 28. How do I get this information? 1. One-on-one interviews • Structured discussions/interviews • Customer service team • Marketing/Sales team 2. Surveys • Sent to database • Incentivise to encourage participation • Follows a template 3. Focus groups • Test the product on target audience • Gain feedback from groups • Listen in on calls in a customer contact center 4. Research • CRM • Target audience insights • Trends and industries • Social listening by geography/vertical
- 29. Step 3: Journey
- 30. Focus on audience, not buyers (that comes later) S E A R C H S O L U T I O N S E L E C T I O N Objective: SQL D I S C O V E R (Traffic) C O N S I D E R (Return Visitors) D E C I D E (Leads) Objective: MQL Buyer Content Marketing
- 31. Discover Consider Provide information that’s aligned to the solution or your product. i.e. Education, information, utility content Decide Convert Advocate Turn customers into advocates by integrating them into your content. i.e. UGC, additional resources, case studies featuring your customers Explain your product in a way that makes sense to your audience. i.e. Explainers, Customer Stories, Product Demos Reassure your audience and address any other lingering questions. i.e. FAQs, How to Buy, Testimonial Talk to your audience’s interests and needs ie. Brand building, thought leadership, entertainment Map content to attract and nurture audiences
- 32. TOFU (Discover) MOFU (Consider) BOFU (Decide) Is not aware of the problem and reads Discover content Is aware of the problem and reads Consider content Is seeking a solution and seeks further information to Decide Clicks on Recommended article link Clicks on ePaper landing page Clicks on product landing page Serve the right content, at the right time
- 33. Guide them with strategic calls-to-action 33 Direct audiences to the next step.
- 34. Step 4: Content
- 35. The content approach should be two-fold Activation Always On
- 36. Who What Why Create a mission statement…
- 37. Decide what your pillars will be… Pillars can be based on personas Pillars can also be based on content topics
- 38. What is your content value proposition? Superior InfluenceOriginal
- 39. Here’s your final checklist… 1. Benchmark against the best 2. Know your audiences 3. Support their journey 4. Create compelling content
- 40. How To Beat The Algorithm And Get A Jump Start on Distribution
- 41. Dominate the ‘Mobile Takeover’ Mobile ads are the best ad unit of all-time1
- 42. Customize image, headline and CTA All three must work together to drive results2
- 43. Invest in great images People process images much faster2
- 44. Write (multiple) headlines Learn the process to writing great headlines3
- 45. Use distinctiveness for brand recall Build brand memory4
- 46. Offer a varied diet Produce a variety of new and old content formats5 T UESDAY W EDNESDAY T HURSDA Y FRIDAYMONDA Y SPINACH Thought Leadership Case Studies Guest Blog Posts CEREAL How To Posts Influencer Interviews Best Hits Announcements CAKE Infographics Videos Slideshares Customer Stories ROAST Research Trends Big Rock TABASCO Contrarian Thought Leadership Blog Posts
- 47. Test and learn Often the content is fine, the framing is just off6
- 48. Apply ‘Pareto’s Principle’ To Funding Franchises
- 49. 20% Posts 80% Budget 1 12 23 34 45 56 67 78 89 100111122133144155166177188199210221232243254265276287298309320 Recognize the ‘80/20’ Rule ~30% of your content will create all your value
- 50. Franchise your best content Reinvest in your extensible content franchise Slide Presentations Blogs Infographics Webinars Videos
- 51. Q&A
Editor's Notes
- The more insights you have into what makes them tick, the more effective you can be (at making them tick). Knowing who they are will help you map their journey, their content consumption and their online experience. LIEU Both UX practitioners and content marketers will use the terms personas and user journeys but they will come from different lenses to serve different purposes. Personas are designed to communicate the universal characteristics of a broader group of people in a way that delivers actionable insights for the brand. Creating content personas will help you determine the type of content you need to produce, your tone of voice, and which topics you should focus on for each market. These personas will also influence when and how you should deliver content.
- CAN WE ADD NEW YORK TO MY TITLE HERE.
- REMOVE – ‘CONTENT OPPORTUNITIES’ LIEU On a practical level, it’s role is to: Understand the role, quality, scope and function of existing content and channels. Determine how people are engaging with existing content. Assess whether (and how) content supports your business objectives. Highlight strengths and weaknesses of existing content, channels and content ecosystem. Identify content opportunities in existing content that can be repurposed for your content program.
- People perform audits differently – it can be complex. For example some of the areas you could look at is to LIEU In today’s session, we’re going to focus on the last three – Qualitative – Competitor – Gap AS A CURSORY REVIEW. We’ll show you how using LinkedIn insights and other tools, an analysis of relevant sections of the content will facilitate understand the volume and scope of valuable existing content. This content review or audit will also highlight key areas in which the existing program is failing to engage leads. QUALITATIVE: Assessment of YOUR content from a quality, audience, and brand-relevance perspective. COMPETITOR: Analysis of your competitors to identify best in class examples. GAP: Identification of deficiency and opportunity for your business.
- Content Marketing ROI/Measurement Program - Lenovo “Think Progress” Hub LIEU Context & findability: Where does the content appear? What other content is also in that location, or linked? How easy is it for someone seeking it out to discover? Is it easy to scan or read? Is it in a usable format — including headings, lists, images, tables, whitespace, etc? In the case of this Lenovo blog, it’s positioned under their dedicated content destination for thought leadership – the ThinkBlog Engagement & influence: Does the content use appropriate techniques to engage and influence? Does it execute those techniques effectively? We have a contributor by-line which adds instant authenticity, engagement and influence. Objective & intent: Why does this content exist? Who is it intended for? What action is it trying to influence? In this Lenovo example – the intent to discuss something topical – rise of the IoT. The brand objective is to establish Lenovo as a thought leader amongst technology decision makers. What does this content piece seek to do? It’s seeks to discuss the IoT as a topical issue and this I laid out in the preamble. Quality and style: Does the content consistently reflect the editorial or brand voice and attributes? Does its tone adjust appropriately to the context — for example, enrolments versus student services? Does the content have a consistent style? You would have to compare to the rest of the content on the blog to do this but the consistent why you speak to audiences is important. Will you be conversational? Appropriateness & relevance: Does the content meet the (targeted and inferred) audience’s needs, goals and interest? Is it relevant? Yes, this type of content would appeal to IT buyers. But also to general public interested in technology. Accessible and Clear: Is the content understandable? Is it organized clearly and coherently? Is it accurate, correct and current? This is really talking to the way content is organized on this page – whether information is clearly laid out.
- LIEU While there are definitely more sophisticated ways to do competitor reviews – You can use the previous Qualitative Assessment questions to perform a review of each of your competitors and then using subjective judgement. In addition: Which competitor has the most audience-focused content, that is executed best? Who really knows there audience, and is hitting a home run with their content? Where does your content sit in the landscape? Be honest! if you’re just looking to get a basic understanding of where you stand from a content perspective – a perception map is a good way to benchmark where you are.
- LIEU The path to ‘purpose-led’ marketing via the creation of engaging experiences is not easy. Nor is it always a natural thing for a brand to do. The challenge is to find a point between what you want to say What your customers want to hear And what space you can claim in the competitive landscape. Sometimes, it’s not about being different or having a USP; sometimes it’s about doing the same thing but doing it more creatively.
- LIEU Product messaging is no longer enough to secure the attentions of your audience. A recent LinkedIn study* suggests that by the time a potential customer comes looking for a product they are already 75% way through their purchasing decision. They have a short list in mind, a few key brands they come looking for. It’s important more than ever to be audience-focused and to get in their heads.
- LIEU There is certainly more than one audience involved in decisions in your industry. While there may be ‘decision-makers’ – there’s also a buying committee when it comes to the B2B audience. Have a think about these job functions and committee members. Who do you tend to work with through the buying process? Who is the first point of contact Who else is involved in the process? Is there someone you need to be talking to?
- BACKGROUND Who are they? Are they your target audience? PAIN POINTS What do they need from you? What could you do better? How can you alleviate their headache? CONTENT CONSUMPTION: Where do they turn for information? In general, and specific to your offering… BUYING HABITS: Where and how are they interacting with your brand? Why would they come to you? Why would they go to your competitors?
- 1. Customer interviews Structured discussions/interviews Mid-market businesses (known to Universum) HR, CEO and Sales/Marketing roles
- LIEU Now your have your audience personas. Map these needs against the user journey.
- LIEU The buyer journey: when users are ready to buy. We encourage them to explore targeted product and solutions content. The content marketing journey: complements the buyer journey because content targets users who are not ready to buy. It builds an audience for future and keeps your brand front of mind in between purchase.
- Consider the entire buyers journey, and the role that contentcan play at each stage: Is it grabbing their attention Is it building trust in your brand When we look at the buyer journey, emotive content is the way into the funnel and you should be producing more content brand awareness and engagement. Once consumers are in the funnel and aware of your brand they will be considering your brand and your product against your competitors; it is at this stage that you should be producing more logical content, explainer or how to content that talk to the benefits and features of your product. As the buyer converts and purchases your product you should look to providing further emotive content to turn them into brand advocates or influencers. LIEU Content can support the Audience Journey Talk to your audiences’ interests and needs Provide information that’s aligned to your services/products Explain your product in a way that makes sense to your audience Reassure your audience and address any other lingering questions Rewards loyal audiences be integrating them into your content
- LIEU Audience journey is not linear but you can use CTAs to nurture them from path to purchase. What you need to do is think about where an audience would go naturally from A to B, to C. C being the ultimate conversion point and A being in the discovery phase.
- Obviously, you are creating content so your users act upon it. So ensure you do this by creating calls-to-action LIEU Choose a goal Website sign-ups eBook downloads Social media shares Something else? Best practice Consider context Make it short and actionable Place it strategically CTAs should be naturally embedded in content, as opposed to being a direct sale or form of ‘push’ marketing. We should: Use gated content and e-newsletter sign-ups to drive data collection and retarget/amplify content to our audience. Create linked content that drives visitors through the sales funnel. Employ recommended articles and ‘most popular’ content widgets. Encourage social sharing through the use of social plug-ins.
- LIEU LIEU Ad-blocking, on-demand TV and other form of ad avoidance behaviour means that we need to work harder to get our audience' attention Content can reach these distracted and time-poor audiences audiences. Interesting, useful and entertaining content can BE the thing they are interested in. The rise of content can be attributed to changing media consumption. Content reaches the place where advertising can’t. Content’s role will vary according to the context and the competitive situation. It may vary over time, however there are two key objectives: It can directly affect people's intention to buy or use a brand and to brand-building over a longer period, contributing to the total impression. If branded content is to be fully effective, it must do both. We are often asked about campaign marketing, and how this fits in with a content marketing program. Be there when your audience is ready to find you. Encourage return visitors with consistent publication. Create longevity in your marketing efforts.
- Content Mission Statement The strategic lens is brought to life by the content mission statement which sets out the purpose your content, who the audience is and why they would want to consume the content to meet their personal and professional objectives. LIEU In this cluttered market, you need to ‘stand’ for something. It helps audiences identify with your brand purpose, beyond your products and services. A strong brand positioning, supported by a content mission statement, can reach easily distracted audiences. It’s then the job of your content to be interesting, useful, and entertaining in order keep them engaged with you. For a brand’s content to be effective, it needs to be grounded in a cohesive, integrated program (guided by a mission statement) that considers broader objectives and activities across different channels, business units, and marketing disciplines. This requires the brand to take a different view of how digital content fits within its organization through a strategic lens, and defining how it can be integrated with other marketing activities. Your mission statement has nothing to do with the products and services you sell – it’s all about the information needs of your audience. The strategic lens is brought to life by the content mission statement which sets out the purpose your content, who the audience is and why they would want to consume the content to meet their personal and professional objectives. Who What Why
- LIEU Content pillars helps you categorize content program. It should be informed by your gap analysis. Consider creating pillars based on: Audience type (job function) Audience journey (journey stages) Conversation Topics/themes Product (but make this audience-focused) What are you going to talk about? What does your audience want? What do your stakeholders want? How do you know?
- LIEU Your audience has a multitude of great content options available to them. Generic, low quality content, or content that just talks about your brand isn’t going to impress anyone. Draw on expertise: What skills and knowledge do you have that is particular to your brand? Make your audience feel smarter, inspired, entertained or moved
- As Jon pointed out earlier, direct marketing is no longer enough to secure the attention of your audiences. You can’t just kidnap their time and talk about your products and benefits You need to focus on your making your content work harder for you.