nterested in content tips, tools, tactics, and techniques for winning more business? Stuck in a blog and social media content rut? Suffering from OPC (other people’s content) syndrom? Content calendar looking a bit, empty? Conversions, traffic, and search rankings reek? Can’t understand why you’re not getting social shares and backlinks? Tired of hearing people parrot the generic, “Just write good content” line and standard content creation methods? If you answered yes to any of these questions, this session’s for you. If it’s written or visual, live or recorded, we’ll cover it.

1. Created and presented by Kevin R. Mullett
(@kmullett) at the 2017 Zenith Digital Marketing
Conference in Duluth, MN on Thursday, April 27th.
#Zenith2017
This is content. Personalized, visual, content.
Content Tips, Tools, Tactics, &
Techniques for Winning More
Business

2. Remember, being useful to your audience isn’t a
trick or a trend. It is MUCH less susceptible to
Google algo changes. And you don’t need fancy
tools or a big budget to do that. I want you to be
grounded in the understanding that everything I
am discussing today is based on the fundamental
principle of being useful and awesome.
Being useful to your audience
doesn’t require a big budget or
fancy tools
#zenith2016 @kmullett

3. You see Billy, when a company really loves it’s
customers…
So Uncle Kev, where do useful content ideas come
from?

4. - 6 tools and a great article explaining how to get started with personas.
Developing audience personas takes time and thought, but your marketing and content will be better
for the effort. Rather than me trying to explain it all here, I have linked to an excellent article by
Kevan Lee over the buffer app blog. http://bit.ly/1eG1t3J
Fakecrow – Free persona template
Xtensio User Persona Creator – (Free, Create an account)
UserForge – Cloud based sync/share persona dev. (freemium)
MakeMyPersona by HubSpot - Persona Word Doc Generator (gated)
Smaply – Visualization of Personas, Stakeholder Maps, Journey Maps (They have some free pen
and paper tools)
Up Close & Persona – Step by step word persona builder
See also » http://bit.ly/1eG3EUJ
Mosaic - the cross-channel segmentation concept from experian.
Who’s in your audience
The Complete Beginner’s Guide
by Kevan Lee

5. - 14 tools to help discover where your audience is hanging out and what they like. But, your client
facing staff should be able to provide persona insight as well. Use these tools to help record those
thoughts and do some research of your own. It’s time to get serious about data enrichment.
• Contactually – CRM/Contacts (starting at $29/user/mo)
• FullContact – Contacts, dedupe, data enrichment
• MineMyMail – Extract all emails addresses, add profile pics, social, gravatar, twitter,
• Social Data Hub in Google Analytics -
• Reachable – (no pricing) Discovers and scores the maze of relationships among people and
among companies
• Datanyze – Feemium email finder, Data enrichment, comp (pricing?)
• Riffle by Crowdriff – Free Chrome data enrichment extension
• Towerdata formerly Rapleaf – Starting at .01/email for email/audience information, data
enrichment, intelligence, data hygiene
• Rapportive by LinkedIn – Free data enrichment in Gmail
• salesforceIQ – iOS, Android, Chrome ext, Data enrichment, relationship intelligence starting at
$25/user/mo (formerly RelateIQ)
• MailChimp – SocialPro add-on starts at $1/mo.
• Linkedin Connected iOS app (formerly Contacts and Connect HQ – Contact management with
social tie-in. Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Yahoo, Google Voice, Evernote, TripIt, MailChimp,
Constant Contact, Aweber, CSV import, Address books and Calendars. Sidekick – profiles in
gmail, outlook, and apple mail, see who opens your email and one what type of device,
schedule emails
• Nimble – Social CRM, contact management/enrichment, sales and marketing automation,
reporting, (Starting at $15/mo)
• Archetypes - tool
• Facebook Audience Insights
• Twitter Audience Insights
Where is our audience & what do they like?

6. Solve people’s problems, answer their questions,
evoke emotion and entertain them. And you
don’t need fancy tools or a big budget to do
that.
Remember to include events, interviews, life,
behind the scenes, step by step and how to
explanations, and solutions.
Think value, first.
Solve People’s Problems, Answer
Their Questions, Evoke Emotion,
And Entertain them
#zenith2016 @kmullett

7. Solve people’s problems
Make sure your content is solving people’s
problems. Your site should become a resource
with tools that provide real solutions for them.
This is more than just answers, this content
should save them time and help them perform a
task.
Provide stats, inspiration, specifications, apps,
calculators, templates, generators, facilitate
communication, and so forth.

8. Answer people’s questions
Answer people’s questions. Become a local school of _________
information and knowledge! And don’t just stop with becoming a subject
matter expert, really provide value.
Your site should be a relevant reference point to find out information that
proves that you are subject matter experts. You should answer who, what,
where, why, when, how, and how much questions before they are asked.
And do so with authority and relevance.

9. Evoke emotion
Does your content evoke emotion? Does it feed their wants, hopes, and desires?
Does it create feelings of efficacy, inclusion, or belonging? Have you invited them
into your community and made them feel welcome and wanted? Have you stirred
up or created controversy?
Don’t just create emotion, creation emotional connections and relationships!

10. And entertain people.
Don’t forget to entertain visitors. Be interesting, humorous, and intriguing if
you want to be word-of-mouth and share worthy.
Normally I show Will It Blend from the brilliant folks at Blendtec. -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIODuCUsL0c, but I will gladly give a nod
to the hilarious commercials from the folks at Duluth Trading Co.
And entertain people

11. Solve people’s problems, answer their questions, evoke emotion and
entertain them. And you don’t need fancy tools or a big budget to
do that.
Remember to include events, interviews, life, behind the scenes, step
by step and how to explanations, and solutions.
If nothing about your company
or products is worth writing
about then seo and content isn’t
your problem

12. Fix reputation issues to avoid
wasted marketing spend and
visibility
- 2 tools and 7 platforms? Are these tools, channels, or platforms? Yes. Some of you may
be spending money to garner attention, only to be rejected during the review process
because you’re not spending resources to mange what their research will surface. And I’m
pretty sure this isn’t how the Best Western Luxbury Inn would like to be portrayed online.

13. Unlock shares and backlinks with: the right content type, for the right audience, in the right place, and at the right time
You can unlock (earn) social shares and offsite backlinks by providing: the right
content and type, for the right audience, in the right place, and at the right time.
It helps if this is accompanied by a purpose, goal, and strategy.

14. The right content type or format could include: blogging, listicles, infographics, memes, videos, podcasts, eBooks,
guides, white papers, polls, how-tos, reviews, stories, etc.

15. Properly identifying and creating personas for your ideal audience is a task unto itself. But, it is a worthy task to tackle,
and when you are aware of the right context, market and locations, segments, and your clients intent to purchase, you
can provide content that is extremely relevant to them.

16. Where should your content live? Careful consideration should be given to where your content will be placed so
the value of backlinks can be maximized. This could include landing pages, marketing pages, blog posts,
events, news, f.a.q. articles, various forms of embedded content, or event off-site content with a citation or link
CTA.

17. Timing could be everything when it comes to content. Consider your content (editorial) calendar carefully to hit
events, seasonality, holidays, and to take advantage of news-jacking, trend-jacking, campaigns, lead nurturing
programs, conversion points and sales paths associated with your funnel, and of course, when your audience is
attentive and receptive to your message.

18. You will do, are doing, & did
something

19. What is the desired action or
next step

20. Stop being so subtle

21. Content marketing isn’t just
blogging You just
watched our
100 minute toy
commercial.

22. Social Media’s direct impact on
seo isn’t clear, but …
“Either way, companies earnestly active
on social media tend to create more
interactions and coverage, leading to
earned off-site backlinks and citations
which unquestionably impact SEO.”

23. Social media is free to use, not
free to do

24. Yeah O.P.C. (Other People’s
Content) You Won’t Care About
Me

25. If it’s easy or automated is it
really valuable, unique, & worth
sharing

26. Scheduling and automation
aren’t the same thing and both
require monitoring and
management

27. SEO doesn’t replace good
content but without it your good
content isn’t reaching everyone it
could
#zenith2016 @kmullett

28. Just write good content is a lie
Near me
keywords , NAP, or
literally – near me
RIGHT NOW?
Which of these is your competition doing well?

29. Every site has two audiences and
you need to understand and
please both

30. Your content may be good, but
it’s not suffer long load times,
poor ui/ux, and full screen
interstitial good

31. Organizing and optimizing your
content opportunity

32. Increase the odds of your content
striking twice

33. The questions are out there

34. Google will tell you what’s
similar
Match client questions and concerns with
what Google thinks is related, i.e. the SUBJECT
you should be writing about. Things not strings.
Go for Answer box & Featured snippet wins.
Clues, NOT answers.

35. Matching content to searcher
intent and SERP results gets
muddy

36. What fuels your competitors
content and backlinks success

37. Discovering content and
influencers

38. Don’t gamble with your elevator
pitch

39. Get ready to perform

40. News flash, you’re in public right
now

41. » STORYBOARD IDEAS
- EVENTS, INTERVIEWS, LIFE, BEHIND
THE SCENES, STEP BY STEP, HOW TOs,
& SOLUTIONS
- THINK DIRTY JOBS & HOW IT’S MADE!
» PLAN FOR B-ROLL
» ADD BACON
» CREATE INTROS/OUTROS
» USE A SERVICE IF NEEDED
PIXAR'S 22 RULES OF STORYTELLING--VISUALIZED
Tell me a story

42. Be prepared & be efficient» TITLE (EPISODE, SHOW, EVENT NAME)
» DESCRIPTION
» HASHTAGS & KEYWORDS
» LINKS TO SUPPORTING ARTICLES
» LOCATION/GEO
» COPYRIGHT & ATTRIBUTION
» EQUIPMENT (PHOTOGRAPHY/VIDEO)
» PARTICIPANT, SUBJECT NAMES, MODEL, COLLABORATORS
WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHY, HOW

43. Did it really fail or did we fail to
measure it

44. All hail the magical animated .gif

45. Desktop/web based photo &
image tools

46. I know copyright is confusing, but
…
» PUBLIC DOMAIN
- PRE 1922 EXCEPT …
» CREATIVE COMMONS
- WITH ATTRIBUTION
- COMMERCIAL USE
» FAIR USE - (HOW I USE IT HERE)
» SPECIAL EXCEPTIONS
» STOCK
- ROYALTY-FREE
- RIGHTS MANAGED

47. Thou shalt not copy images from
Google

48. Let’s polish up your performance

49. Shoot, edit, and post tools for
video

50. The other marketing tool stuff
drawer

51. Tools for making information
more visual

52. Tools for when you are in a
tough spot

53. Tools to keep an eye out for
plagiarism

54. Kevin Mullett – Ask me about centrally
managing a network of multi-location
websites & social media channels
#zenith2017