This is the presentation I gave to the Yes!Delft Marketing Cluster in October 2013.

1. online content marketing.
presentation to Yes!Delft
Marketing Cluster.

2. 1. what is content marketing?
2. developing a strategy
3. measuring results
4. getting started
2

3. me dennis saaltink
CheckZis (18 months)
founder
general management
business development
Reed Business (4 yrs)
online innovation
Chief Strategy Officer
Sanoma Media (7 yrs)
online publishing
product development
online media
advertising
concepting
3

4. today
 focus on B2B
 focus on online
4

5. 1. what is content marketing?
2. developing a strategy
3. measuring results
4. getting started
5

6. content marketing advertorial
6

7. content marketing magazine
7

8. content marketing exhibition
8

9. content marketing app
9

10. content marketing app
10

11. content marketing tool
11

12. content marketing website
12

13. content marketing nothing new
launched 1895
“…not to sell John Deere equipment directly but, instead, to
educate farmers on new technology and how they use it to
become more successful business owners and farmers.”
source: John Pulizzi, Content Marketing Institute, 2013
13

14. what’s the big deal
about
content marketing?
14

15. content plays key role in purchasing decisions
Impact of online content on vendor
preferences and selections according to B2B
decision makers worldwide, April 2013
Roles of content in purchasing decisions
according to B2B decision makers
worldwide, 2013 (% of respondents)
helps identify new solutions and approaches to solving
problems and needs
27%
Major
87%
58%
introduces fresh thought leadership on business issues and
challenges
38%
60%
Moderate
validates value of products and solutions in addressing our
needs
37%
highlights solution providers who understand our issues
and challenges
35%
12%
Small
provides valuable advice on best solutions and vendors
32%
None
1%
provides competitive data on solutions providers
27%
Source: CMO Council and Netline, June 2013
15

16. the rise of content marketing
 86% of B2C marketers are using
content marketing
 93% of B2B marketers are using it
64%
of marketers consider
content marketing to be
more important than
advertising
source: Econsultancy / Adobe, 2012 ; BtoB Magazine, Sep 2012 / Curata, Nov 2012 / Content Marketing Institute, 2012, 2013
16

17. content marketing among best ways to generate leads
Effectiveness and Difficulty of Lead Generation Tactics according to B2B professionals (in %)
60
Social media
50
Content Marketing
40
difficult
30
SEO
Mobile
Direct mail /
print ads
20
Online events
Email Marketing
Offline events
Paid search / online ads
10
Other
0
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
effective
Source: Ascend2 and Research underwriters, "Lead Generation Strategy Outlook
Report", April 2013 ; Team Analysis
17

18. budget
percent of total marketing budget spent on B2B Content
Marketing in North America
21%
20%
15%
11%
12%
on average, 30% of
marketing budget is
spent on Content
Marketing
11%
5%
2%
0%
2%
1-4%
5-9%
10-24% 25-49% 50-74% 75-99%
100%
unsure
source: 2014 B2B Content Marketing Trends, Content Marketing Institute / MarketingProfs
18

19. why is content marketing hot (but here to stay)?
investment
time to
effect
scalability
ROI
traditional advertising
medium
medium
low
low
performance-based*
low
short
medium
medium
exhibitions
medium
short
low
low
content marketing
medium
long
high
high
content marketing’s
Achilles heel
* i.e. Google Adsense
19

20. accelerators of content marketing
 digitization of marketing channels
 economic crisis: need for better ROI
“sustainable
marketing”
20

21. definition (one of many)
content
marketing
=
“the translation of an
organization’s knowledge and
expertise into distributable
content to drive valuable
prospect and customer action.”
21

22. in other words
converting
knowledge
into
business
22

23. building trust
knowledge and
skills are acquired
through experience
knowledge
trust
when people trust you,
they will prefer your
business to the next
trust is based on
perceived expertise
preference
23

24. content marketing is answering real questions
question
answer
customer question or
problem drives online user
behavior
content created by
marketer provides the
solution
how can I store my
documents safely without
losing accessibility?
“here’s a white paper on
cloud storage solutions. It
will show you the pros and
cons and steps towards
implementation.”
business
lead
the stepping stone to
conversion is created
“would you like a free
trial on our cloud storage
platform?”
24

25. consumer outcomes
After reading, viewing, hearing your
content, people will:
 make better decisions
 run less risk
value

26. business outcomes
After reading, viewing, hearing your
content, people will:
 prefer your business
 be marketable
value

27. content is the missing link between search and social
social
search
social networkers stumble
across interesting stuff
searchers have a mission
a latent need may surface
they won’t stop until their
problem is solved
[ focus on interesting content ]
[ focus on functional content ]
demand generation
demand fulfillment
27

28. 1. what is content marketing?
2. developing a strategy
3. measuring results
4. getting started
28

29. strategy
where to play
and
how to win
29

30. strategy
goals
“the translation of an
organization’s knowledge and
expertise into distributable
content to drive valuable
customer action.”
segmentation
creation
distribution
conversion
30

31. goals for you as business
goal
measure
1. drive sales
revenue
2. make customers happier
retention
3. save cost
cost
[ these are strategic marketing goals! ]
31

32. goals for you as a marketeer
customer
upsell
brand
awareness
lead
generation
customer
acquisition
customer
service
customer
retention
32

33. goals for your (prospective) customer
educate
explore
decide
evaluate
> how does this work?
> what’s in it for me?
> what are the alternative solutions?
> what will I buy?
> where can I buy it?
> did I make the right decision?
> is it worth staying with this supplier?
33

34. goals matching yours with theirs
customer
upsell
marketer
brand
awareness
lead
generation
customer
acquisition
customer
service
customer
retention
user
educate
explore
decide
evaluate
34

35. goals the visionary stuff
thought leadership
in your industry or niche
“A thought leader is an individual or firm
that is recognized as an authority in a
specialized field and whose expertise is
sought and often rewarded.”
- Wikipedia
35

36. goals thought leadership
customer
upsell
marketer
brand
awareness
lead
generation
customer
acquisition
customer
service
customer
retention
user
educate
explore
decide
evaluate
36

37. segmentation
find audiences that are:
1. relevant
duh..
2. attractive
size and €
3. targetable
you know where to reach them
4. serviceable
you know their info needs and
you have the info
37

38. creation topic
where to find inspiration:
 what are the 20 most asked questions to sales and customer support?
 what are people intensively discussing on relevant forums / social media?
 what keywords are relevant, much searched and with modest competition?
Google keyword planner
38

39. creation format
use of Content Marketing tactics and formats by B2B Marketers in North America
source: 2014 B2B Content Marketing Trends, Content Marketing Institute / MarketingProfs
39

40. creation format
did you notice
the content
marketing?
40

41. creation format
brand
awareness
format
lead
generation
customer
acquisition
customer
service
customer
upsell
customer
retention
your website
article
video
infographic
(buying) guide
b2c
&
b2b
product spec sheet
newsletter
demo
instructional
checklist
decision tree
calculator
slideshow
b2b
specific
report
whitepaper
webinar
case study
41

42. distribution
where is your
audience?
[ blog / social network / website ]
42

43. distribution Google is not stupid (anymore)
2003
2013
keywords
200+ factors
determine
PageRank
links
bad news: manipulation doesn’t work anymore
good news: focus on your customer, not Google
43

44. distribution SEO – just do your homework
content marketing
44

45. distribution shareable content
45

46. distribution some caution
Google does not like duplicate
content (= nearly exact copies), so:
share content
share link
to content
when format fits the
distribution platform
better
otherwise
slideshow on Slideshare
video on Youtube
Tweet about your
latest blogpost
46

47. conversion landing pages
 1 goal
 1 message: solution
to a problem
 1 call to action
 super analytics
47

48. conversion landing page example
48

49. conversion metrics in the funnel
customer
upsell
brand
awareness
lead
generation
customer
acquisition
customer
service
customer
retention
# of
pageviews
# of
leads
# of
customers
# of
social shares
lead quality
customer
value (€)
retention
rate (%)
customer
value (€)
retention
rate (%)
engagement
cost
49

50. conversion example
50

51. conversion example
51

52. conversion example
email
register
by email
download and next
call to action
follow up email (next day)
52

53. checklist
53

54. planning
“plans are nothing,
planning is everything!”
[ Dwight D. Eisenhower ]
54

55. planning content plan
what will we create?
topic
for whom?
segment
who will create it?
editor
in what form?
format
where will we place it?
distribution
how will we measure?
metrics
55

56. 1. what is content marketing?
2. developing a strategy
3. measuring results
4. getting started
56

57. selecting metrics
set simple goals
unambiguous
measurement
(SMART)
use metrics with
direct effect
the metrics you can
influence with
actions
make it a habit!
check your
metrics daily
57

58. conversion metrics in the funnel
customer
upsell
brand
awareness
lead
generation
customer
acquisition
customer
service
customer
retention
# of
pageviews
# of
leads
# of
customers
# of
social shares
lead quality
customer
value (€)
retention
rate (%)
customer
value (€)
retention
rate (%)
engagement
cost
58

59. measure – learn - adjust example
metric
result
possible actions
cost of content
production
too high
 find other suppliers
 do it yourself
 re-use / re-format existing content
views on content
too low
 change title / opening image
 try other distribution platforms
 assess relevance
click-through-rate
(CTR)
too low
 change your content (make it shorter,
more practical, better looking)
 improve call-to-action
conversion based on too low
paths from content
 improve usability of conversion path
 improve deal attractiveness
59

60. 1. what is content marketing?
2. developing a strategy
3. measuring results
4. getting started
60

61. inspiration
what are the 20 most
frequently asked questions
about your product or service?
like:
 how do i use this product?
 how do i solve this problem?
 how do i minimize risk?
 how do i maximize opportunity?
 where do i need to think about when buying a product like this?
 what do other people think about this product?
61

62. quick start
select 1 topic
the most asked
question by your
customers
select 1 target
segment
select 1 goal
select 1 format
a core customer group
marketing:
brand awareness – lead
generation – etc
list – article –
whitepaper –
infographic - etc
user:
educate – explore –
decide - evaluate
create the
content
create a
landing page
distribute the
content (link)
measure – learn
– adjust
do it yourself or hire
somebody
using whatever tool is
available (wordpress?)
to where your target
segment is
to provide input for the
next cycle
62

63. connecting the dots
topic
format
channel
article
topic A
blog post
topic B
white paper
topic C
e-book
company website
topic D
infographic
social network
topic E
video
content sharing
slideshow
external blog
checklist
“the media”
decision tree
Q&A
webinar
report
63

64. finally, some tips
be neutral
People will distrust any
organization which only
promotes itself
re-use
Re-using and re-formatting
your content is being smart
create evergreen
Content that will retain its
value over time – focus on
knowledge, avoid news
pay attention to style
Beautiful content
displays quality
64

65. and remember
content marketing
is
strategic marketing
it’s a full blown
marketing
activity
content first
[ not last ]
it’s not a
campaign
[ don’t hold your
breath ]
65

66. great resources
http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/
http://www.quicksprout.com/blog/
66

67. “To me, a brand is trust”
Steve Jobs
67

68. questions?
thoughts?
dennis@checkzis.com
68

69. 6 questions content marketers need to address
1. what are the 20 most asked questions by your
customers?
1
2. to answer these questions, what content is
available and what is lacking?
2
3. on what content and social platforms are your
(prospective) customers present?
3
4.
4
can you re-format the content to match the
selected channels?
5. what information do you need from a prospect to
make him marketable?
5
6. will your sales department properly deal with the
leads you deliver?
6
69

70. getting more content
Vimeo
YouTube
original content


the core of your content marketing
strategy – adds most value to users
distribute freely to online content
sharing platforms
Scribd
Pinterest
Slideshare
CheckZis
original
content
reports
articles
content curation


use external online content to
strengthen your content base
act as an expert filter for your audience
curated content
books
press releases
presentations
videos
70

71. social delivering the right content
Most Effective versus most Difficult Social Tactics used by B2B Marketing Professionals
Worldwide, Feb 2013
difficult
effective
Source: Ascend2 and Research underwriters, "Marketing Strategy Report: Social
Media", March 2013; Team Analysis
71

72. inspiration