Rachel Burger details her Agile content marketing strategy from "why" to "how." This presentation is primarily for digital marketers looking to break into new processes for fast team-centric growth. Some specifics have been removed for client privacy.

1. CONTENT
MARKETING
Stay trill.

2. MOST
CONTENT MARKETING
IS DOOMED TO FAIL.

3. The average person
is exposed to 4,000
to 10,000 brand
messages per day.

4. 2,000,000
blog posts are
published per day.

5. 55% of people
reading any article
will spend 15
seconds or less on it.

6. 75% of all content is not linked
to from external sources at all.

7. Source: Targetprocess

9. WE CAN WIN.Winning at content is no joke.

10. Content marketing is 3x more cost-effective than
paid marketing.
87% of B2B buyers trust influencer content
more than any other buyer referral method.
Small businesses with blogs get 126% more lead
growth than small businesses without.
Content marketing rakes in conversion rates 6x
higher than other methods.
Websites with blog content get 434% more
search engine-indexed pages than other
business sites that don’t publish content.
47% of B2B buyers consume 3-5 pieces of content
prior to engaging with sales.
Content marketing strategies generate over 4x
more leads per $1000 spent within 36 months—
and that ratio grows with time.
Buyers are willing to share information about
themselves for white papers (76%), eBooks (63%),
webinars (79%), case studies (57%) and analyst
reports (66%).
70% of people prefer to learn about a company
through an article over an ad .
96% of B2B buyers look for information from
industry-specific thought leaders before buying.
82% of customers have a more positive outlook
on a company after reading custom content, and
70% of customers feel closer to a business after
engaging.
74% of companies find that lead quality and
quantity increases after they introduced a
content marketing strategy.

11. Content marketing is 3x more cost-effective than
paid marketing.
87% of B2B buyers trust influencer content
more than any other buyer referral method.
Small businesses with blogs get 126% more lead
growth than small businesses without.
Content marketing rakes in conversion rates 6x
higher than other methods.
Websites with blog content get 434% more
search engine-indexed pages than other
business sites that don’t publish content.
47% of B2B buyers consume 3-5 pieces of content
prior to engaging with sales.
Content marketing strategies generate over 4x
more leads per $1000 spent within 36 months—
and that ratio grows with time.
Buyers are willing to share information about
themselves for white papers (76%), eBooks (63%),
webinars (79%), case studies (57%) and analyst
reports (66%).
70% of people prefer to learn about a company
through an article over an ad .
96% of B2B buyers look for information from
industry-specific thought leaders before buying.
82% of customers have a more positive outlook
on a company after reading custom content, and
70% of customers feel closer to a business after
engaging.
74% of companies find that lead quality and
quantity increases after they introduced a
content marketing strategy.
Feel free to explore just how
well content marketing works
and why it’s so impactful with
these selected statistics after
the presentation.

12. Insanely
COOL AND EFFECTIVE
CONTENT MARKETING
CAMPAIGNS.

17. “Dear Kitten” gets 5,400 searches per month as of July 2018.
Dear Kitten videos have been viewed over 90 million times on official channels.
Attributed to pushing BuzzFeed to $100 million in revenue for the first time.
Friskies saw a 57.8% brand lift among people exposed to the video.Absolutely.
Did “Dear Kitten” Work?
Started in 2013 and sponsored by BuzzFeed and Friskies

20. OUR CONTENT
MARKETING
STRATEGY
IS ROOTED INAgile

21. Values, goals, metrics, topic selection, process, calendar, outlets, and the future

22. TRADITIONAL
MARKETING VALUES
LEAD TO
TRADITIONAL
MARKETING PROBLEMS.
Values, goals, metrics, topic selection, process, calendar, outlets, and the future

23. 1. Traditional marketing believes efficiency determines success.
The problem is that “efficiency” has no context.
Values, goals, metrics, topic selection, process, calendar, outlets, and the future

24. 1. Agile marketing believes
teamwork, responsiveness, and customer focus determine success.
The result is an adaptive strategy with higher ROI and lowered risk over time.
Values, goals, metrics, topic selection, process, calendar, outlets, and the future

25. 2. Traditional marketing believes in hiring a specialized workforce.
The problem is that skills expire.
Values, goals, metrics, topic selection, process, calendar, outlets, and the future

26. 2. Agile marketing believes in hiring a versatile workforce.
The result is a team that retains and attracts passionate, flexible, and
exceptional employees.
Values, goals, metrics, topic selection, process, calendar, outlets, and the future

27. 3. Traditional marketing believes in emphasizing internal stakeholders.
The problem is that there is no customer feedback loop.
Values, goals, metrics, topic selection, process, calendar, outlets, and the future

28. 3. Agile marketing believes in prioritizing customers,
even over revenue.
The result is a brand and content portfolio that increases over time.
Values, goals, metrics, topic selection, process, calendar, outlets, and the future

29. 4. Traditional marketing believes in sustaining business boundaries.
The problem is that this leads to “fuzzy” marketing promises.
Values, goals, metrics, topic selection, process, calendar, outlets, and the future

30. 4. Agile marketing believes in embedding itself in the business.
The result is a higher-quality end product and many outspoken, satisfied customers.
Values, goals, metrics, topic selection, process, calendar, outlets, and the future

31. AGILE CONTENT MARKETING
ONLY HAS TWO OBJECTIVES.
Values, goals, metrics, topic selection, process, calendar, outlets, and the future

32. 1. Curate and maintain customer trust.
2. Increase brand value.
Values, goals, metrics, topic selection, process, calendar, outlets, and the future

33. That means:
● Anticipating customer needs and desires
● Meaningfully delighting, entertaining, and helping
● Customer experience exceeds customer expectations
Values, goals, metrics, topic selection, process, calendar, outlets, and the future

34. EMPHASIS ON CUSTOMER TRUST
AND BRAND VALUE MEANS
completely rethinking
success indicators.
Values, goals, metrics, topic selection, process, calendar, outlets, and the future

35. TRADITIONAL CONTENT
MARKETING EXCLUSIVELY FOCUSES
ON INTERNAL BUSINESS GOALS.
Business Incentive Content Marketing Goal Measurement Proxy
Generate leads Content that converts Conversion rate per content
Drive website traffic Content that attracts Website visits per month
Increased market share Content that brands Branded searches per month
Values, goals, metrics, topic selection, process, calendar, outlets, and the future

36. TRADITIONAL CONTENT MARKETING
INCENTIVIZES BAD BEHAVIOR.
Immediate Consequences
Individual > Team Costly pivots Jeopardized SEO Excluded feedback
Disinterest in UX Unmeasured quality Skill-based hiring Risk aversion
Long-Term Systemic Problems
Eroded team trust Low ROI Google dependency Ignored customers
Uneven branding Stagnated quality Resource changes Fixed mindset
Values, goals, metrics, topic selection, process, calendar, outlets, and the future

37. Turns out 1,000 out of 1,000 marketers don’t want to get fired. Another complication?
The value of many metrics expire quickly.
QUANTITATIVE
METRICS CREATE MANY
OF THESE PROBLEMS.
Values, goals, metrics, topic selection, process, calendar, outlets, and the future

38. WE ONLY ASK THREE
QUESTIONS.
1. Are we building customer trust?
2. Are we creating brand value?
3. Are we improving over time?
Values, goals, metrics, topic selection, process, calendar, outlets, and the future

39. Are we
building
customer
trust?
IS THE CONTENT FINDABLE?
Domain authority, organic traffic, social traffic, pageviews, sessions, new users.
IS THE CONTENT CONSUMABLE?
Bounce rate, average time on page, average session duration, pages visited per
session, percent of pieces published on time, number of backlinks acquired.
IS THE CONTENT PERSONALIZED?
Traffic to lead ratio, return users, email subscribers, social followers.
IS THE CONTENT ACTIONABLE?
Social engagement, downloads, comments, clicks to main site, clicks to main site, call
to action (CTA) match percentage.
IS THE CONTENT OPTIMIZED?
Assisted marketing-qualified leads (MQLs), assisted sales-qualified leads (SALs),
click-through rate (CTR), social shares, churn rate.
Values, goals, metrics, topic selection, process, calendar, outlets, and the future

40. Are we
creating
brand
value?
IS OUR BRAND RECOGNIZED?
Direct traffic, referring domains, branded searches, branded keywords,
accepted articles to third-party sites.
IS OUR BRAND RANKING WELL?
Search Engine Results Page (SERP) comparative ranking, number of new
indexed pages, brand mentions, incoming guest post requests.
Values, goals, metrics, topic selection, process, calendar, outlets, and the future

41. Are we
improving
over time?
TO BE ANSWERED AFTER OUR FIRST RETROSPECTIVE.
Metrics used in the past: self evaluations, peer evaluations, time on site,
returning visitors, article length, article engagement, number of new tests
tried, amount of critical feedback actively discovered, personal project
creation, meeting participation,
Values, goals, metrics, topic selection, process, calendar, outlets, and the future

42. We must be willing to reevaluate how we answer our metric questions regularly.
These metrics will only be used through the end of 2018 before they are subject to review.
Values, goals, metrics, topic selection, process, calendar, outlets, and the future

43. WE ANTICIPATE SUCCESS
IN TWO WAYS.
1. Are we creating for people?
2. Are we creating for robots?
Values, goals, metrics, topic selection, process, calendar, outlets, and the future

44. WE WRITE ARTICLES FOR PEOPLE.
! Use data to see what our target audience is searching for (keywording).
! Use tools like Hemingway app to verify readability.
! Hire and support the highest quality content creators available.
! Use visual variety to encourage sharing and deeper page depth.
Values, goals, metrics, topic selection, process, calendar, outlets, and the future

45. WRITING ARTICLES FOR PEOPLE
ENCOURAGES OUR AUDIENCE TO
READ AND SHARE.
! Keywording provides estimates for how often something is searched in Google and how it’s
changed in popularity over time. This makes it easier to become customer focused.
! Quality is impossible to quantitatively measure, so we use engagement metrics.
! Readability comes from great writing. Research from the Content Marketing Institute suggests
measures like keeping content at a 7th- and 8th-grade level, even for B2B.
! Writers that can avoid the content click-out (why are you selling me something?) are invaluable.
! Readers are 94% more likely to engage with articles that have images.
Values, goals, metrics, topic selection, process, calendar, outlets, and the future

46. WE WRITE ARTICLES FOR ROBOTS.! Format the article in such a way that Google’s crawlers can identify the target keyword and
purpose of the post.
! Purposefully use metadata to further indicate the takeaways from the article, incentivizing
placement in alternative SERP rankings like for images and quick answers.
! Include the keyword in the URL and keep the URL as short as possible.
! Never stuff keywords or links; must pass automated filters like spam folders.
Values, goals, metrics, topic selection, process, calendar, outlets, and the future

47. WRITING ARTICLES FOR ROBOTS
ENCOURAGES SEARCH ENGINES
TO RANK OUR WEBSITE.
! Organic traffic traditionally drives 40%+ of revenue to online businesses.
! Metadata tells Google how it should prioritize content.
! Matt Cutts of Google says that slugs should be limited to between three to five words.
! Choose humans over robots if given a 50-50 choice every time to keep up with algorithm updates.
Values, goals, metrics, topic selection, process, calendar, outlets, and the future

48. Reflect
Owner analyzes data, production experience,
and brainstorms process improvements,
successes, and suggestions. Owner presents
findings at retrospective.
Create
Owner creates content first draft while design creates
affiliated assets. Social prepares for campaign.
Review
Owner solicits feedback from peers. Based on
needed revisions, the owner can either trash the
project, defer the project to a later date, delegate
the project to someone else with approval, or,
ideally, revise. Owner provides feedback to
social and design teams.
Targetprocess’s
Agile
Content Marketing
Production Cycle
Start
Owner (most often writer) defines target keywords, fills out
metadata, communicates with designer and social promoter
about upcoming content.
Revise
Owner, social manager, and designer(s) makes
changes according to feedback.
Approve
Owner uploads content to appropriate channel.
Social promoter promotes.
Document
Every piece of content will be tracked automatically in
Google Analytics for relevant success metrics.
Adjust
Team decides how to adjust to improve
the process going forward.
Values, goals, metrics, topic selection, process, calendar, outlets, and the future

49. WILL OUR CONTENT
MARKETING PLAN WORK?
We hope so, but we’re always
looking for feedback!

50. Questions? Comments?
Running out of time? Shy?
rachel@targetprocess.com