The document outlines 10 steps to creating an effective content marketing strategy: 1) Identify goals, 2) Identify target audience, 3) Create a buyer's journey map, 4) Develop content topics, 5) Develop content, 6) Share content, 7) Promote content, 8) Repurpose content, 9) Analyze results, and 10) Enjoy the benefits of increased sales, brand awareness, and trust from customers. It provides examples and tips for each step, such as developing content for the awareness, consideration, and decision stages of the buyer's journey, and using social media ads to promote content. The goal of the strategy is to educate and value customers to build trust and increase business outcomes.

1. Welcome

2. What is content
marketing?

3. “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

4. More simply . . .

5. Content marketing is online media (blogs,
social media posts, videos, GIFs, etc.)
that offers helpful, relevant information
to your ideal customers and drives
decision-making behavior.

6. Content marketing DOES
NOT directly sell products
or services.

7. Content marketing can:
• Help you reach and build relationships with your ideal customers.
• Establish you as a trusted expert in your industry.
• Increase brand awareness.
• Send people to your website, which increases leads.
• Help you provide value to your customers, which builds trust in you.
• Improve your SEO rankings.
Why use content marketing?

8. Content marketing includes, but is not limited to:
• Blogs
• Downloads
• Infographics
• Landing pages
• Social media posts
• Videos
• Webinars
• Whitepapers
• Any other online medium that can provide helpful, relevant information
Examples of Content Marketing

9. 10 Steps to Creating Great
Content

10. [1]
Identify Goals

11. 1. Identify your goals.
What do you want to accomplish? Whatever your goal, it should
be measurable.
• Do you want to build your email list by __%?
• Increase family photo session sales by __%?
• Book __ headshots in June?
• Transition to only shooting weddings by 20__?
• Improve your local SEO rankings to appear on the first page of Google
search?

12. Example Goal:
I want to increase family photo
session sales by 20% in Q3, meaning
I need to book an additional 5
sessions in July-September.

13. [2]
Identify Target
Audience

14. 2. Identify your target audience.
All of your marketing efforts need to be centered around your
target audience.
• Who are your ideal clients?
• How do they consume media?
• Where can you reach them (Facebook, Instagram, etc.)?
• What are their pain points and how are you the solution?
• What questions do they need answered?

15. 2. Identify your target audience.
Example Target Audience
• Demographics
• Women ages 25-40
• Have children under age 10
• Live within 30 miles of
Lafayette, IN
• Have a household income of
$60,000-$200,000
• Prefer blogs and short videos
• Use Facebook heavily
• Also enjoy Pinterest and
Instagram
• Pain points
• Family photos are stressful
(organization, happy kids,
choosing outfits, etc.)

16. [3]
Create a Buyer’s
Journey

17. 3. Develop a buyer’s journey.
A buyer’s journey is a three-step process.
Graphic from HubSpot: https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/what-is-the-buyers-journey#sm.00001bjsa4gilbd91ubnpt8os266q.
Content marketing allows you to lead your ideal clients through
the buyer’s journey without being pushy or salesy.

18. 3. Develop a buyer’s journey.
Family Photography Example
Awareness
• Problem: It’s been a while since we’ve had family photos taken. Should I fix this?
Consideration
• Research: Okay. I want to have family photos taken. What are my options?
Decision
• Solution/Purchase: I’m ready to book a session! Who should be my photographer?

19. [4]
Develop Content
Topics

20. 4. Develop content topics.
What questions do your ideal clients have?
• What should we wear for family photos?
• How can I make sure my kids are happy for family photos?
• Isn’t taking photos of my kids on my phone good enough?
• Do I really need to hire a professional photographer? My sister has a
great camera.
• What questions should I ask a photographer before booking a session?

21. 4. Develop content topics.
Awareness
•Problem: It’s been a while since we’ve had family photos taken. Should I fix this?
•Video: “Why It’s Important for YOU to Be in Your Family Photos”
Consideration
• Research: Okay. I want to have family photos taken. What are my options?
• Blog: “Five Reasons to Hire a Professional Photographer for Family Photos”
Decision
• Solution/Purchase: I’m ready to book a session! Who should I hire?
• Landing Page: “Book Now”

22. 4. Develop content topics.
Awareness
•Problem: It’s been a while since we’ve had family photos taken. Should I fix this?
•Video: “Why It’s Important for YOU to Be in Your Family Photos”
Consideration
• Research: Okay. I want to have family photos taken. What are my options?
• Blog: “Five Reasons to Hire a Professional Photographer for Family Photos”
Decision
• Solution/Purchase: I’m ready to book a session! Who should I hire?
• Blog: “Five Questions to Ask a Family Photographer Before Booking a Session” that
links to a landing page to book a session

23. [5]
Develop
Content

24. As you create content, you need to:
1. Create relevant, helpful information that speaks to your best customers.
2. Use proper grammar and punctuation.
3. Utilize strategic keywords and best SEO practices.
4. Create a path that leads customers through the buyer’s journey.
• CTAs (graphics & text)
• Internal links
• Example: http://www.ball-law.com/what-to-do-after-car-accident/
5. Use visuals (People retain 10% of what they hear but 65% of what
they see according to HubSpot).
4. Develop your content!

25. Tips for Developing Awareness Content
• Don’t be salesy.
• Don’t even mention your business.
• Aim to please, not to sell.
• Develop content with your clients’ best interests in mind.
4. Develop your content!

26. Tips for Developing Consideration Content
• Don’t be salesy.
• But, you can sprinkle mentions of your business and services or the way
you do things.
• Remember that readers/viewers know they have a problem and are
exploring solutions.
4. Develop your content!

27. Tips for Developing Decision Content
• You can blatantly talk about your business and make your business
appear as the solution.
• Include a clear way for customers to take action and make a decision.
• Landing page
• Contact form
4. Develop your content!

28. [6]
Share Your
Content

29. 6. Share your content!
Then, share it again! And again! And again!
• Less than .05% of your followers see a Facebook post.
• 37% of businesses only share their content once.
• Great content is (almost) timeless.
• The trick is to present content differently each time.

30. 6. Share your content!
How do you present content differently?
Example: “Five Tips for Great Family Photos”
• First: So, you want to have great family photos. Use these tips!
• Second: It’s always a great idea to pack a snack for the kiddos during
family photos! Check out these other tips for great family photos!
• Third: Why schedule family photos during golden hour?
• Fourth: What colors should you avoid wearing during family photos?
• Fifth: Use these tips for fun, stress-free family photos!

31. [7]
Promote Your
Content

32. Use Facebook’s inexpensive, paid advertising options to
reach your best audience because less than 0.5 percent of your
fans actually see your page posts.
With targeted ads you can:
• Increase your organization’s brand awareness.
• Drive more traffic to your website and improve search rankings.
• Receive higher conversion rates that are also cost effective.
• Gain better insights on your best clients.
7. Use targeted, paid advertising.

33. 7. Use targeted, paid advertising.
Facebook’s paid advertising options include:
• Like ads
• Click ads
• Boosted posts

34. The main goal of like ads is
to increase your following on
Facebook. These ads are also
targeted towards a specific
audience that you want to
like your page.
7. Use targeted, paid advertising.

35. Click ads are targeted ads
aimed at driving people to
your website through link
clicks. We can select a
specific portion of the
population to receive the ad
on Facebook.
7. Use targeted, paid advertising.

36. Boosted posts are posts
from your page that, for a
fee, appear higher on users’
News Feeds. Boosted posts
are also able to target
specific audiences.
7. Use targeted, paid advertising.

37. [8]
Repurpose Your
Content

38. 8. Repurpose your content.
Get the most out of your content!
• Use the same copy for multiple mediums.
• Repurpose pieces of a buyer’s journey.

39. 8. Repurpose your content.
Awareness
• Problem: It’s been a while since we’ve had family photos taken. Should I fix this?
• Video: “Why It’s Important for YOU to Be in Your Family Photos”
Consideration
• Research: Okay. I want to have family photos taken. What are my options?
• Blog: “Five Reasons to Hire a Professional Photographer for Family Photos”
Decision
• Solution/Purchase: I’m ready to book a session! Who should I hire?
• Landing Page: “Book Now”

40. 8. Repurpose your content.
Awareness
• Problem: It’s been a while since we’ve had family photos taken. Should I fix this?
• Video: “Five Tips for Great Family Photos”
Consideration
• Research: Okay. I want to have family photos taken. What are my options?
• Blog: “Five Reasons to Hire a Professional Photographer for Family Photos”
Decision
• Solution/Purchase: I’m ready to book a session! Who should I hire?
• Landing Page: “Book Now”

41. 8. Repurpose your content.
Awareness
• Problem: It’s been a while since we’ve had family photos taken. Should I fix this?
• Blog: “Five Reasons to Have Family Photos Taken Annually”
Consideration
• Research: Okay. I want to schedule family photos, but what should we wear?
• Download: “What to Wear for Family Photos”
Decision
• Solution/Purchase: I’m ready to book a session! Who should I hire?
• Landing Page: “Book Now”

42. [9]
Analyze Results

43. 9. Analyze your results.
Determine what is (and isn’t) working.
First, you must develop goals for your content marketing.
• These goals will set a foundation for your content marketing strategy.
Second, pay attention to your analytics.
• Google Analytics is especially helpful.

44. 9. Analyze your results.
Here are the top analytics you should be paying attention to.
• Pageviews
• Unique pageviews
• Average time on page
• Bounce rate (no interactions with the page)
• Exit rate (percentage of those who leave website per page)

45. [10]
Enjoy the
Benefits!

46. 10. Enjoy the benefits of CM!
If you effectively utilize content marketing, you can expect:
• Clients who feel valued and trust you.
• Educated clients who respect your products or service and value you as the expert.
• Clients with realistic expectations of your products and services.
• Improved SEO rankings.
• Increased brand awareness.
• An increase in sales.

47. [Review]

48. 1.Identify your goals.
2.Identify your target audience.
3.Develop your target audience’s buyer’s journey.
4.Develop content topics based off of the buyer’s journey.
5.Develop content.
6.Share your content. Then, share it again!
7.Promote your content.
8.Repurpose your content.
9.Analyze your results. Determine what is (and isn’t) working.
10.Enjoy the benefits of content marketing!
Content Marketing Review

49. Questions?

50. Downloads & Resources
Slides – https://www.slideshare.net/KellyRice1

51. Downloads & Resources
“How to Write a Blog” - http://www.treefrogmarketing.com/how-
to-write-a-blog-post/

52. Downloads & Resources
“What Is Content Marketing?” by Content Marketing Institute -
http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/what-is-content-marketing/