Presented at the 2015 ASAE Great Ideas Conference in Orlando, Florida. Scott Oser of Oser and Associates, Megan Becker of Electronic Retailing Association and Suzanne Carawan of HighRoad Solution presented the concepts of content marketing and inbound using HubSpot.

1. Content Activation:
Turning Words into Action
March 10, 2015
Suzanne Carawan, Chief Marketing Officer, HighRoad Solution
Scott Oser, President, Scott Oser Associates
Megan Becker, Marketing Manager, Electronic Retailing Association

2. Agenda
• Introduction of Speakers
• Discussion #1: Define Content Marketing
• Our Working Definition of Content Marketing
• Where is the Market Now?
• Discussion #2: What Is Your Organization Doing?
• Essential Elements of Content Marketing
• Discussion #3 – Re-Purposing Conversation
• ERA: How We Got Started with Content Marketing
• Discussion #4 – Two Strategies

3. What is Content Marketing?
Discussion #1:
How do YOU define
Content Marketing?

4. How We Define Content Marketing:
• “Content marketing is a strategic marketing
approach focused on creating and distributing
valuable, relevant, and consistent content to
attract and retain a clearly-defined audience
— and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer
action.”
• Content Marketing Institute

5. 2014 State of Digital Marketing Report

9. Conclusion: Associations are Behind

10. Are You Doing Content Marketing?
Discussion #2:
What is your association
doing in regards to
content marketing?

11. Essential Elements of Content Marketing
Content Strategy vs. Content Marketing
“Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach…
…focused on creating and distributing valuable,
relevant, and consistent content…”

12. Content Strategy vs. Content Marketing
Content Strategy: The “Brains”
Bigger picture, goal oriented, drives the
content marketing plan.
Content Marketing: The “Beauty”
Tactical output and delivery of your content
strategy.
Content Strategy
Define Goals
Identify Audience(s)
Develop Buyer Personas
Content Mission Statement
Topic Areas
Channels and Delivery
Content Marketing Plan
Content Calendar
Content Marketing
Articles News Releases
Blog Posts Online Community
Brochures Photos
Case Studies Podcasts
eBooks Print Ads
Education Sessions Social Media
Email Testimonials
eNewsletters Videos
Infographics Webinars
Interviews White papers

13. Are You Re-Purposing Content?
Discussion #3:
Are you currently
re-purposing any of
your content?

14. ERA’s Approach to Content Marketing
• Goals:
– Grow our list
– Identify more lead opportunities for membership and
sales
– Grow membership
– Increase event attendance
• Target Audience: Direct Response Marketers
– Though our membership is comprised of both marketers
and suppliers, our target audience for content is
marketers.
• Buyer Persona: Marketing Mike
– Who at each company typically makes buying decisions
as it relates to membership and sales
– Budget Friendly Options
Content Strategy
X Define Goals
X Identify Audience(s)
X
Develop Buyer
Personas
Content Mission
Statement
Topic Areas
Channels and
Delivery
Content Marketing
Plan
Content Calendar

15. Buyer Persona: Marketing Mike

16. Buyer Persona: Marketing Mike

17. Content Mission Statement
• “Welcome to the Electronic Retailing
Association (retailing.org), the place where
direct response marketers can find useful
information, insights, and resources for
growing their business.”
The content mission statement addresses:
• The core target audience: direct response
marketers
• What will be delivered to the audience:
useful information, insights, and resources
• The outcome for the audience: growing
their business
Content Strategy
X Define Goals
X Identify Audience(s)
X
Develop Buyer
Personas
X
Content Mission
Statement
Topic Areas
Channels and
Delivery
Content Marketing
Plan
Content Calendar

18. Topic Areas
• 10 overarching topic areas identified by
Content Committee.
• These topic areas address the problems
that our target audience is facing.
Topic Areas
 Advocacy
 Brand Marketing
 Consumer Behavior
 Digital Marketing
 Traditional DRTV
 E-Commerce
 International Markets
 Retail
 Self-Regulation
 Support Services
Consumer Behavior
(Sub-Categories)
 Buying Habits
 Consumer Demographics
 Consumer Trends
Content Strategy
X Define Goals
X Identify Audience(s)
X
Develop Buyer
Personas
X
Content Mission
Statement
X Topic Areas
Channels and
Delivery
Content Marketing
Plan
Content Calendar

19. Channels and Delivery
Blog.Retailing.org
Content Strategy
X Define Goals
X Identify Audience(s)
X
Develop Buyer
Personas
X
Content Mission
Statement
X Topic Areas
X
Channels and
Delivery
Content Marketing
Plan
Content Calendar

20. Content Calendar and Plan In Action
Content Strategy
X Define Goals
X Identify Audience(s)
X
Develop Buyer
Personas
X
Content Mission
Statement
X Topic Areas
X
Channels and
Delivery
X
Content Marketing
Plan
X Content Calendar

21. Success of Our Blog
The blog is the beating heart of ERA’s Content Marketing Strategy.
ERA Blog Views by month since June 2014

22. Member Feedback and Engagement
Written Directly to our CEO About Our Blog:
• Blog content has been excellent. I feel I have read more information
on the blog type formats you are sending out in the past 6 months
than in all my years combined. They are short yet informative.
• Content is exactly what has been talked about for years. I feel the
transition has happened where ERA is becoming a true multiplatform
association and not just TV.

23. Get Started: DRTV eBook – June 2014
1. Start small and see what happens.
2. Don’t lose faith if it doesn’t work, try something else.
3. Test, Test, Test….and Test, again.
519 Views
351 Submissions
67 New Contacts

25. The Not-So-Successful Attempts
What do all of these have in common?

26. Expert Predictions for 2015 – Jan 2015

28. So how did we take one
piece of content and turn
it into 11+++ pieces of
content?

29. Content Re-Purposing at It’s Finest
Topic: Web Optimization for Direct Response
Speaker: Oded Noy
Pre-Show Speaker Interview
1. Video Interview
2. Blog Post
3. In-Person
Education Session
4. Post-Session
Speaker Interview
5. Post-Session Video
Recording

30. Blogging: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10…

31. 11 (coming soon!)
Web Optimization for
Direct Response eBook
+ relevant content
+ engagement
+ lead generation
+ list growth

32. The +++

33. • Give the audience what they want, what they respond to
• Produce valuable content
• Find ways to build “content momentum” through re-purposing
Moving Forward

34. Discussion #4: Two Strategies
Discussion #4:
What are the two things
you’re going to do when
you get back to your
office?

35. Resources for You
• Content Marketing Playbook:
– Content Marketing Plan Methodology
– Assets Database Template
– Contributor Directory
– Content Quality Assessment Tool
– Content Editorial Calendar
• HighRoadU www.highroadu.com

36. Resources:
State of Digital Marketing in
Associations Report
• Download the Report:
• http://pages.highroadsolution.com/2014digitalmarketing
• Participate in 2015 Survey:
• http://pages.highroadsolution.com/take2015report

37. Continue the Conversation
Register:
http://pages.highroadsolution.com/lunchbunch

38. Contact Us
Suzanne Carawan
Chief Marketing Officer
HighRoad Solution
scarawan@highroadsolution.com
703.297.8480
@suzannecarawan
Scott Oser
President
Scott Oser Associates
scott@scottoserassociates.com
301-279-0468
@scottoser
Megan Becker
Marketing Manager
Electronic Retailing Association
mbecker@retailing.org
703-908-1021
@meganbecker_era