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1. (an excerpt from FOUNDFriday with Erin Robbins O’Brien and Steve Farnsworth)
define: GOOD
CONTENT
/go͝od/
kənˈtent/

2. Content Marketing: Just the Facts
Forbes recently listed
Content Marketing as the
of consumers say they feel better about, and are more likely to
buy from, a company that delivers custom content. -Content
Marketing Institute & Marketing Profs
of business decision makers prefer to get company
information in a series of articles versus an advertisement. -
Content Marketing Institute
Content creation is ranked as the single most effective
SEO and organic marketing technique. -Marketing Sherpa 2013
61%
80%
item on their Top 7 Online
Marketing Trends for 2014 list.#1

3. Defining good content
Often, marketers are looking for ideas for content that bring people to their brand, instead of
what their brand can do to be where people that need answers already are.
A few things that make for good content from a marketing perspective:
“We know what we want to read.” - Steve Farnsworth
TRUSTWORTHY
INTERESTING
SOLVES A PROBLEM
CLEAR & SIMPLE
UNIQUE

4. Defining good content: Trustworthy
What makes content trustworthy?
A known site / domain that the user already
trusts or has been recommended by a
respected friend / colleague / family member.
A writer or contributor that has established
credibility in the field or has been preivously
viewed by the consumer.
Facts and figures that are backed up by
research, sited sources, and legitimate
authority.
A reputable source
Cited materials
A known author

5. Defining good content: Interesting
An opinion
Getting beyond the ho-hum
format of giant blocks of text
and bad graphics will do
wonders for making your
content interesting.
Even if you aren’t going to
animate it, fill it with awesome
graphs, etc., I’d at least implore
you to work on making your text
as clean and enticing as
possible, for the sake of
everyone’s eyes!
What makes content interesting?
The facts are great, and
necessary. But telling them
without any color or personal
perspective should be left to
news crews and research
reporters.
Give us your thoughts and
enjoy the debates that are
stirred up when people want to
express their thoughts on the
subject.
It doesn’t necessarily have to
be breaking news, it just
needs to be something your
viewers didn’t already know.
Nothing stimulates the brain
and gets people’s attention
like fresh input.
A truly consumable
format
New information

6. Defining good content: Solve a problem
Checking out what questions people ask in forums and
communities, what keywords / topics are driving traffic to
your site, and what your help desk or support team answer
most are probably good places to start. Knowing what your
audience’s actual problems are, versus perceived problems,
can be eye-opening.
Know what the
problem is
How do you solve a problem?
If most of your questions come to your Twitter handle, have
links to content readily available for posting there. If you
have the ability to write blog posts, make short videos /
screencast tutorials, or one-pagers on your most frequent
questions - do that. Get the answers to where the problems
are, don’t make people hunt them down.
Put the answer
somewhere
useful
Get beyond only answering questions about your product
and instead address the industry as a whole. Most people
have a bigger problem to address and whoever is there as a
guide wins leads. Use content to talk about your unique
stance on the issues, how you plan to solve bigger picture
problems, and listen to the full scope of audience issues.
Answer bigger
questions

7. Defining good content: Clear and simple
How do you create clear and simple content?
Formatting Don’t cobble together a bunch of technical language and call it an post to solve
a problem. Try to put things together in a logical way that a reader will easily understand.
Shoot for the middle Know where your lowest experienced audience is, and your most
expert users - then create content for somewhere in the middle. It will be understood by
experts and reachable by novices.
Images The reason safety cards in planes, road signs and instruction manuals are often
pictoral is because it’s an international, universally understood way to explain something to
the widest audience. Whenever possible, allow an image to accompany text to make your
point clear.

8. Defining good content: Unique
How do you create unique content?
Know the history Not that I don’t love how-to guides, but if there are
more than 500 pieces of content on a particular subject, it’s good to at
least know what your’e up against and how they approached the subject
before you start reinventing that wheel.
Find an angle Just because a subject has already been covered doesn’t
mean you should steer clear, it may just mean you need a new angle. Try
approaching it from a different vertical or format to liven things up.
Share your story If someone is going to choose your piece of content
over all the others, be sure to leave them with a lasting impression of
your brand. You want the content to be memorable but you also want
them to remember who created it.

9. Ready to take it to the next step?
We won’t bite...
Watch our Google Hangout on Content
Marketing by advancing to the next slide..
Mastering content marketing can be challenging without insights
into what your audience is searching for and what competitors
are doing. Create your next marketing campaign based on search,
social and competitor data using GinzaMetrics. Our trusted
platform provides the insights and recommendations you need
to get found online.
Start our 14-day free trial: www.ginzametrics.com.