This document provides guidance on building a content marketing strategy from scratch. It begins by establishing why content marketing is important, noting statistics on its effectiveness and cost savings compared to traditional marketing. It then discusses starting with a strategy by defining goals, budgets, responsibilities and logistics. Key aspects of a strategy include understanding the audience, defining content pillars around which to build the strategy, and generating ideas from sources like keywords, customer feedback and seasonal trends. The document stresses the importance of quality over quantity in content.

1. How to build a content marketing
strategy from scratch
Dana Gagnon
D i r e c t o r o f B r a n d e d
C o n t e n t , P l u r a l s i g h t
@ChicagoDana

2. • What’s content marketing and
why does it matter?
• How to think about strategy
• Defining content pillars
• Generating ideas
The lineup

3. “Either write something worth
reading or do something
worth writing.”
-Benjamin Franklin

4. 78% of CMOs see content marketing as the future of
marketing
70% of customers feel closer to a company as a
result of content marketing
Costs 62% less than traditional marketing
On average, companies with blogs produce 67%
more leads per month
Source: http://www.demandmetric.com/content/content-marketing-infographic
Why content marketing?

5. Where do you start?
Blog
Social
Your audience + goals

6. Start with a strategy.
Start asking questions.
The audience:
• Who are our customers/potential customers?
• What are their challenges/concerns?
• How do we reach them/where are they online?
The content:
• What stories do we want to tell?
• What are our key differentiators?
• What’s our voice and point of view?
• How can we be helpful, not salesy?

7. Define goals
Lead gen, brand awareness, SEO, engagement,
establish credibility?
Budget + who’s responsible
In-house vs. external, publishing costs/tools? What
are the risks?
The logistics

8. Finding a strategy that works
“Focus on the core problem your business solves and put out
lots of content and enthusiasm and ideas about how to solve
that problem.” – Laura Fitton, Founder of OneForty.com (now
part of HubSpot)

9. Define your
content pillars

10. Technical content
How-tos, op-ed, new features, demos
Goals achieved: Thought leadership, brand awareness/credibility, SEO

11. Career
Advice columns, training/interview tips
Goals achieved: Thought leadership, brand awareness /credibility, SEO

12. Lifestyle
Social contests, polls/surveys, photo galleries
Goals achieved: Engagement, establishing brand voice

13. Where do ideas come from?
• Keywords
• Q&A sites
• Listening
• Seasonal trends/dates

14. Ideas: Analytics – internal/external search

15. Ideas: Keywords in Google Suggest

16. Ideas: Google Keyword tool

17. Ideas: Google Keyword Tool

18. Ideas: Quora

19. Ideas: Industry-specific & internal forums

20. Ideas: Listening
• Customer service/support site
• Sales team
• Social
• Customer stories

21. Ideas: Listening

22. Ideas: Seasonal trends/dates
Build a content calendar for:
• Year-end/mid-year review
• Content tied to “holidays”
• Cycles within your industry

23. Ideas: Seasonal trends/dates

24. Ideas: Seasonal trends/dates

25. Ideas: Read daily!

26. Now what?
Quality content is king!

27. Dana Gagnon
Thank you!
Director of Branded Content, Pluralsight
@ChicagoDana
dana-gagnon@pluralsight.com