Intro to Content Marketing
Dale Bertrand, President
Chimaera Labs

About Me
- Started my career working as an Electrical Engineer
- Founded a marketing company for wedding vendors (working evenings)
- Transitioned to full-time digital marketing consulting
- Founded my current agency Chimaera Labs

About Chimaera Labs
• 6 people, based in Kendall Square
• Search Marketing
– SEO, AdWords Management, PPC
• Content Marketing
– Content Strategy, Development, and Promotion
• Forensic SEO
– SEO Audits, Link Audits, Content Audits

Outline
1. Content Marketing Research
2. Content Strategies
1. Content Development
2. Content Promotion

5
Marcus Sheridan
Pool guy turned
content marketing guru
Why is Content Marketing Important?

Meet Emily:
A Mother Searching for the Perfect Preschool

Content Marketing Research

Interview Your Customers

Find Potential Customers in the Wild
Where to look:
• Niche Blogs
• Forums
• Social Media
• Competitors websites

Keyword Research
Make educated guesses about the intent behind the
keywords people use to find your product or service.

Talk to Your Sales Team

Customer Analysis
Mine existing customer data for information about them.

Content Strategies

Having a blog does NOT
mean you’re blogging.
– Build relationships
– Write engaging
content
– Aggressively
promote your blog
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Blog For Real

• Cheap, High-quality content
• Borrow the expert’s credibility
• Experts can help with
promotion
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Interview Awesome People

Why is downloadable content important?:
• Acquire valuable email addresses
– Lead nurturing and drip campaigns
• Demonstrate expertise
• Build brand awareness
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Downloadable Content

How to Create Great Content:
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Generate
Topic
Develop
Outline
Hiring
Research/
Writing
Publish Track
Downloadable Content

Webinars

It’s all about the longform.
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Host a Webinar Series

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Choose Topic
Guest
Speakers?
Scheduling
Promotion,
Awareness
Execution,
Feedback
Host A Webinar Series

Google Analytics

Content Development

Market Segmentation
• Grouping customers with common needs and
characteristics
• Marketing directly to each segment
• Speak directly to customers’ needs and increase
conversion rates

When you try to target everyone
you target no one

Editorial Process

Targeted Content

Content Marketing
at Scale
Process, process, process.

Search Engine Optimization

Algorithmic Ranking Factors

100 Billion Searches
Each Month!

Organic vs. Paid Search

Click-Through Rates
Why such a substantial CTR drop off?
• Refined search rather than scrolling
• Searchers are satisfiers not optimizers
• People assume the best results are first

Content Promotion

WHY?:
•Gain exposure
•Gain credibility
•Get links
•Increase traffic
•Build relationships
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Targeted Content Syndication

Outreach and Promotion
Where else do your visitors spend time online?

Social Media

Authorship may become more
important than links
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Pay Attention to Google Authorship

Link Building
• Build personas for your
link targets
• What content would
they link to?

Dale Bertrand
President, Chimaera Labs
Dale@ChimaeraLabs.com