1. B.L.O.G. – LAYING THE FOUNDATION FOR SUCCESS
@PolePositionMkg
#BLOG-ing

2. ARE YOU IN IT FOR THE LONG HAUL?
@PolePositionMkg
#how2blog

3. BEFORE YOU START THE MARATHON…
Who are you?
• Go beyond the
labels
(B2B, B2C, industry,
etc.) and what you
sell
• Find your story
from a human
perspective
• How does your
business make a
difference in this
world, both for
customers and
community?
• Commit to sharing
your story in a
human way

4. Why do you exist?
BEFORE YOU START THE MARATHON…
Why
How
What
“We have to understand the
Virtually all companies why if we’re going to change
understand what they do. Many the culture of the company.” ~
understand how they do it. Marcus Sheridan, The Sales Lion, Inbound & Content
However, very few understand Marketing Made Easy
why they do it. ~ Simon
Sinek, Start with the Why

5. BEFORE YOU START THE MARATHON…
What are your goals?
Start with the why
New Customers
Awareness
Tell Your Story
Foster Community, Sharing

6. BEFORE YOU START THE MARATHON…
Who are you trying to reach?
Build personas
Priorities
Expectations Benchmarks
Decision
Obstacles
Process

7. BEFORE YOU START THE MARATHON…
How do you find out what
your personas want?
Listen!
Interviews Conferences Reviews Social Media

8. BEFORE YOU START THE MARATHON…
Inquire
Attend
Join
Buy
Subscribe
Donate
What do you want them to do?

9. What is your
BEFORE YOU START THE MARATHON…
blog focus?
Your
Story
Your
Your Personas
Stuff
Your
Expertise
“Throw away
your work
persona. Start
being who you
really are.” –
Heather Meza, Content
Marketer for Cisco Systems
Your Blog

10. Are you prepared to stick with it?
BEFORE YOU START THE MARATHON…

11. ACT LIKE A PUBLISHER
@PolePositionMkg
#how2blog

12. Go beyond thinking like a publisher
YOU ARE A PUBLISHER

13. YOU ARE A PUBLISHER
Develop a vision for your ideal team! Chart by DivvyHQ.com

14. Working with Content Owners
YOU ARE A PUBLISHER
Identify information silos
Include owners in your new structure
Create an environment of sharing

15. Working with Content Creators
YOU ARE A PUBLISHER
Look beyond the mar-com department
Not all contributors have to be writers
Fill gaps with outside help, if necessary

16. YOU ARE A PUBLISHER
Workflow by DivvyHQ.com

17. Establish Your
YOU ARE A PUBLISHER
Guidelines
• Overall voice
• Encourage personality
among content
contributors that fits
within your voice
• Style that will govern
written content (AP
Style is most common)
• Principles for building
positive online
communities
• Individual
responsibilities
• Crisis management

18. CHOOSING THE RIGHT TOOLS
@PolePositionMkg
#how2blog

19. Listening Dashboard
THE RIGHT TOOLS
News
Google Alerts
Google Insights Social Networks
RSS Feeds
Bottlenose.com
Competitors

20. RSS Feed News Trends
THE RIGHT TOOLS (BOTTLENOSE.COM)
Social Profiles Comments

21. Idea Storage Tools
THE RIGHT TOOLS
Evernote.com
Spreadsheet
Where will you store your Google Docs
WordPress Editorial Calendar
ideas for future use? Edit Flow for Wordpress
DivvyHQ.com ($)
Kapost.com ($$)

22. Content Planning / Workflow Tools
THE RIGHT TOOLS
Publish and schedule posts
Draft and pending status options
Unscheduled posts visible
WordPress Editorial Calendar
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/editorial-
calendar/
Drag-and-drop movement
Edit Flow
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/edit-flow/

23. Distribution Tools
THE RIGHT TOOLS
HootSuite RSS
TweetDeck TwitterFeed
Seesmic Ping.fm
Bit.ly SocialOomph

24. Mobile Tools
THE RIGHT TOOLS
Ave. time spent
per interaction
43
39
30
17
“The only screen that matters is the
one in front of me. We will have a one- WPTouch from
screen world.” ~ Mitch Joel, author of Six BraveNewCode.com ($)
Pixels of Separation

25. Get ‘er done!
PLAN YOUR EDITORIAL CALENDAR
@PolePositionMkg
#how2blog

26. EDITORIAL CALENDAR
Don’t wing it!
Plan like a publisher.

27. EDITORIAL CALENDAR: 3 TYPES OF CONTENT
Cornerstone Content
High Value Content to
Content rank for
Inform &
Evergreen
Educate
Easy to
find, easy to Attract links
share

28. Connection Content
EDITORIAL CALENDAR: 3 TYPES OF CONTENT
• Creating content for the
smaller, more impassioned
groups
• Building a sense of energy and
community around shared
interests or issues
• Make it entertaining and useful
• Has the potential to spark
disagreement

29. Customer Content
EDITORIAL CALENDAR: 3 TYPES OF CONTENT
Content intended to
convince personas that
they should do business
with you.
Thought
Expertise
Leadership

30. Start with your personas
EDITORIAL CALENDAR: BRAINSTORMING
“Listening is the greatest content marketing tool in the
world. You will never run out of content.” ~ Marcus Sheridan
They ask. You answer.
Involve customer service
Research
Think like a consumer in your industry

31. Your marketing plan
BRAINSTORMING CATEGORIES & TOPICS
Your Brand
New products/services
New markets
Sales: What’s hot? What needs a
boost?
Seasonal sales

32. EDITORIAL CALENDAR: BRAINSTORMING
Your competition
Their website
Their social media presence
Google Alerts
Their content Google Insights
RSS Feeds
Alexa.com
Their keywords Spyfu.com ($)
Compete.com ($$)

33. The Myth of ‘Special Sauce’
EDITORIAL CALENDAR: BRAINSTORMING
• McDonald’s finally reveals that special sauce is
Thousand Island dressing.
• In most cases, you have no ‘secret sauce.’
“We’re in an age of transparent
marketing. If you’re willing to
be transparent, you’ll be
successful.” ~ Marcus Sheridan

34. EDITORIAL CALENDAR: BRAINSTORMING
Your keywords
Variations that are too numerous for
website pages
Competitor keywords
(Compete, Alexa, Spyfu)
Brainstorm
“Sitesee”
Keyword research tools such
as Wordtracker or Google’s Keyword Tool

35. Other Sources
EDITORIAL CALENDAR: BRAINSTORMING
Your analytics
Your buying cycle
Industry bloggers
Industry conferences
Breaking news (newsjacking)
Your news (flip the release) and events
Your vendors and partners

36. Blog Post Types
EDITORIAL CALENDAR: TYPES OF POSTS
Human interest
How-to’s Lists Op-Ed
stories
Seasonal
Newsjacking Reviews Guest posts
concepts
Reimagined Creative
Videos Interviews
content product uses
Partner/Vendor
Case studies Series Contrarian
highlights
User-generated
Photos Core values Podcasts
content

37. CREATE ‘EPIC’ CONTENT (AT LEAST SOME OF THE TIME)
@PolePositionMkg
#how2blog

38. “Creating content is easy. What is epic content?
CREATING QUALITY CONTENT
Creating great content is hard.”
~ Ann Handley, Marketing Profs, co-author of
Content Rules
Enjoyable to take in
Demonstrates your
experience
Contains element
of surprise

39. CREATING QUALITY CONTENT
Your Website
Your Blog

40. Strong headlines
CREATING QUALITY CONTENT
Grab attention
Compel
Use keywords

41. 8 Headline Styles that Work*
CREATING QUALITY CONTENT
Direct Approach: Free Diabetes eBook
Indirect Approach: Cut the Sweet Talk
News Headline: Hospital Opens New Diabetes Clinic
How-to Headline: How to Lower Your Blood Sugar
Question Headline: Is Your Diabetes Out of Control?
Command Headline: Get Help for Your Diabetes Now
Reason Why Headline: Five Reasons Why You Need to Get
Your Diabetes Under Control
Testimonial Headline: “I Got My Life Back, Thanks to the
New Diabetes Clinic.”
*Adapted from The Copywriter’s Handbook by http://www.copyblogger.com/copy
Bob Bly and Copyblogger.com. writing-101/

42. 6 Content Must Haves
CREATING QUALITY CONTENT
1. Stimulating intro
(writing, videos, podcasts). Get
to the point with panache!
2. Images. In a social online
environment, pictures are a must.
But don’t use too many; it makes
mobile viewing difficult.
3. Be organized. Stick to the point
and don’t meander. Less is usually
more.
4. Speak to your reader and talk
human!
5. Links or attribution when you
use others’ work or ideas.
6. Soft call to action. Let your
readers know what to do next.

43. Don’t forget video and podcast
CREATING QUALITY CONTENT
Some content owners don’t like to write.
Allow them to provide information in the
way that makes them feel most comfortable.
• Audio interviews encourage verbal processing. Talk it out!
• Transcription gives you a great deal of raw content to work with. Can be
edited and repurposed in many ways.
• Try a Google+ Hangout
 Broadcast to the public
 Track viewership
 Record and share automatically on YouTube
• Don’t forget to optimize your YouTube video and embed videos on your
blog to garner views in both places.
Speechpad.com ($)
Dragon by Nuance.com ($)
Google+ Hangouts
Skype
YouTube

44. MAKE YOUR CONTENT FINDABLE
@PolePositionMkg
#how2blog

45. Balance quality with SEO
MAKE CONTENT FINDABLE
Epic content that can’t be found or shared
might as well be invisible.

46. Meta data: title tags
MAKE CONTENT FINDABLE
When it comes to Search engine
on-page results
optimization, the
title tag of any given
web page is the
Browser tabs
single most
important piece of
optimizable real
Social links
estate there is. ~
Stoney deGeyter, that guy who
spoke this morning

47. How to optimize title tags
MAKE CONTENT FINDABLE
<title>Website Marketing and SEO Strategy Company for Online Businesses</title>
<title>Website Marketing | SEO and Web Marketing Strategy Company</title>

48. MAKE CONTENT FINDABLE
Where to input
title tags and
descriptions

49. Optimize other aspects of
MAKE CONTENT FINDABLE
1. Use <h1> and <h2>
the of post subheads with
keywords
2. Integrate keywords
naturally
3. Select best categories
and tags

50. Optimize images
MAKE CONTENT FINDABLE
Ensure that keywords appear in Alt Tag

51. SOCIALIZE YOUR CONTENT
@PolePositionMkg
#how2blog

52. Benefits of social media
SOCIALIZE YOUR CONTENT
Traffic Links
Credibility Conversions

53. SOCIALIZE YOUR CONTENT

54. For optimal results, social
SOCIALIZE YOUR CONTENT
media requires…

55. Where is your audience?
SOCIALIZE YOUR CONTENT
Social giants
Industry-specific sites
Local sites

56. Be great with the channels you choose
SOCIALIZE YOUR CONTENT

57. Tips on socializing content
SOCIALIZE YOUR CONTENT
Make each post channel specific while
maintaining integrated, cross-channel strategy
Use each channel’s features to your best
advantage
Invite engagement
Use images and video
Consider contests, giveaways and promos
Use site and channel analytics to learn what’s
working

58. Additional resources
RESOURCES FOR FURTHER READING
Pole Position Marketing Library &
eMarketing Performance Blog
Content Rules by Ann Handley and CC Chapman
Launch by Michael Stelzner
Managing Content Marketing by Joe Pullizi and Robert Rose
Buyer Persona Institute at BuyerPersona.com
Optimize by Lee Odden
New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott
Inbound & Content Marketing Made Easy by Marcus Sheridan

59. Thank You!
Find Us www.PolePositionMarketing.com