How to turn content into your strategic competitive advantage. Session presentation by Laura Kinoshita at the 2011 Social Media Summit, Honolulu Convention Center.
Turning Content into Your Strategic Competitive Advantage
1. Turning Content into Your
Strategic Advantage
Laura K. Kinoshita
Web: http://laura-kinoshita.com
Twitter: @lkinoshita
#ContentPlan
2. Laura Kinoshita, President
Kinoshita Communications LLC
http://laura-kinoshita.com
Certified HubSpot Inbound Marketer,
Educator and Partner
Author: West Hawaii Social Media Report
http://bit.ly/westhawaii
3. Online Content Strategy
• Purpose of a Content Strategy
• How to Set Your Content Goals
• How to Set Traffic Goals
• How to Define Your Point of Difference and
Topic Emphasis
• How to Manage Your Content Inventory
• How to Tag and Categorize Your Content
• Content Tasks & Responsibilities
• How to Make an Editorial Calendar
4. Purpose of a Content Strategy
• Clearly define your online
content goals
• Define the steps to achieve
your goals
7. Content Goals
• Your content will tell people whether they are
in the right place.
• You need to match targeted audience needs
to your products and services
• Be clear about who you are writing for:
– Female marketing managers, age 35-55, who are
passionate about becoming #1 in their field and
will not settle for 2nd best. Exceptionally results-
focused.
12. Defining Your Point of Difference
• What makes you different?
• What will keep people coming back for more?
Ways to find out:
- Ask: 3 top qualities
- List your favorite brands; who you’d like to
emulate
13. Defining Your Topic Emphasis
• What topics will your customers care about
most?
• What phrases are they using to find your
website?
• A keyword grading tool can help you find best:
– Traffic, Relevance and Ranking
14. Defining Your Topic Emphasis
Your Customer’s
Problems & Desires: What You Have to Offer:
• What your customer wants • How your products &
and needs services can solve deep
problems and fulfill desires
(Frequently Shared) (Rarely Shared)
15. Topic Emphasis: Ideal Customer
• What is the criteria you use to define a good
lead from a bad one?
• If you market and sell to other businesses,
describe that type of business.
• If you market and sell to consumers, describe
your ideal customer prospect.
• You may have multiple client profiles.
16. Topic Emphasis: Ideal Customer
Develop the character
• Start with the basics:
– Old? Young? Age? Married? Children? Education?
• What is their name? Where did they grow up?
– Hair/eye color? Religion? Beliefs/values? Favorite
TV shows? Activities? Books?
17. Now GO DEEPER:
• Think about the Biggest Problems and
Deepest Desires of your ideal customer
prospect:
– What keeps them awake at night?
– What problems to they run into over and over
again?
– What is frustrating them?
• What is the absolute worst thing that could
happen to them if they don’t get their
problem solved?
18. Even Deeper:
• Think about your client’s Family, Friends &
Colleagues
• What is the WORST thing that could possibly
happen?
• What is the BEST thing?
This is How You Unpack the Value
19. Create a Story
Jim, 52, is a successful business owner in Kona. He was born in Honolulu,
graduated from Honokaa High School. Jim has bought and sold many businesses
over the years and now runs a liquor store in Waimea and retail outlet in Uilani
Plaza. Jim also works part-time at the Waimea golf club and likes to go fishing on
Sundays. Jim is married and has two children, Joshua, age 25 and Mikela age 19.
Jim knows he could be attracting more businesses with online media, but doesn’t
know exactly how. He doesn’t have time to learn new technology, and frankly, he
doesn’t have an interest in it. But during Christmas his daughter Mikela showed
him how she uses her mobile phone to get reviews on restaurants and
recommendations for new places to shop. Mikela suggested Jim “claim” his store
on popular travel sites and use a QR code to attract more business to his retail
store. Jim had no idea what she was talking about.
Jim needs to be educated about how to use mobile marketing to attract more
customers into his retail store without spending a lot of money. Jim’s ideal
solution will build off the Web site he already has and won’t take a lot of time to
manage. Jim would like to talk to someone about ways he can leverage new
technology.
20. Dramatic Transformation
• Helps explain why some products sell better
than others
• Exposes important gaps or conflicting
messages that you may otherwise miss
• Helps you answer day-to-day marketing
questions with confidence:
– Does this promotion make sense?
– Are the right messages getting through to the
right people?
21. • Download a Customer Avatar Worksheet at
SMCHI Booth or:
http://info.laura-kinoshita.com/customer-avatar-worksheet
22. Managing Your Content Inventory
• Ensure the mechanics of your content is
closely aligned to your content goals:
– Include the all-important terms your target
audience usually searches for
– Create additional tags, if necessary.
– Organize content logically and intuitively as
possible
23. Managing Your Content Inventory
• Content needs to include the tags and
categories that your audience uses to find
solutions to their problems.
– Big Island Marketing
– Social Media Marketing
– Hawaii Marketing
– Facebook for Business
24. Managing Your Content Inventory
• Responsibilities include:
– Tag inventory of existing content
– Correctly categorize site to support content goals
– Update/remove broken links
– Remove spam
– Keep articles up-to-date (timeline for removing
old content; correct typos, errors
25. How to Tag and Categorize
Your Content
• Tags support “information clusters”
• Tags add extra layer of search relevancy
• Use tags that are truly relevant to the article
• The “social layer” will rise over next 2 years
26. Content Tasks & Responsibilities
• Determine publishing frequency
• Source new content and information
• Ensure factual accuracy of articles
• Manage copyright issues
• Ensure technical accuracy, correct formatting
and layout
• Schedule and publish posts
• Set standards and style guidelines for authors
29. Identify Your “Authority Topics”
Authority Topic Main Sub-Topic Flagship Content Target Release
Covered Title Ideas Date
Facebook •
Marketing in •
Hawaii •
Web Marketing •
•
•
Social Media •
Measurement •
•
Hawaii Public •
Relations •
•
30. Identify Your Main Sub-Topic Areas
Authority Topic Main Sub-Topic Covered Flagship Content Target
Title Ideas Release Date
Web Marketing • Key elements of a
landing page
• Sales copyrighting
• Effective conversion
offers
Social Media • Outputs vs. Outcomes
Measurement • Total Value Cube
• Failure of AVE
Hawaii Public • How to use Twitter in
Relations your media plan
• Working with travel
media
31. Flagship Content
• Seriously useful resources that can be shared
with others (worthy of a press release).
• Developed for the purpose of generating
traffic through widespread social sharing;
linking and bookmarking.
• Designed to attract links from other high-
profile blogs reaching the same desired target
audience.
32. Brainstorm Flagship Content
Authority Topic Main Sub-Topic Covered Flagship Content Ideas Target
Release
Date
Web Marketing • Key elements of a • Special web sales
landing page package for coffee
• Sales copyrighting industry
• Effective conversion • Landing Page
offers Bootcamp
Social Media • Outputs vs. Outcomes • Measurement
Measurement • Total Value Cube Seminar/Workshop
• Failure of AVE • Live panel review of
media metrics
Hawaii Public • How to use Twitter in • Twitter chat with top
Relations your media plan travel media
• Working with travel • How to Do Your Own
media PR Webinar
• PRSA Conference
33. Target Release Dates to
News & Key Events
Authority Topic Main Sub-Topic Covered Flagship Content Ideas Target
Release
Date
Web Marketing • Key elements of a • Special web sales Nov
landing page package for coffee 2011
• Sales copyrighting industry
• Effective conversion • Landing Page
offers Bootcamp
Social Media • Outputs vs. Outcomes • Measurement Feb
Measurement • Total Value Cube Seminar/Workshop 2012
• Failure of AVE • Live panel review of
media metrics
Hawaii Public • How to use Twitter in • Twitter chat with top March
Relations your media plan travel media 2010
• Working with travel • How to Do Your Own
media PR Webinar
• PRSA Conference
34. Editorial Calendar
Release Blog Post Titles Flagship Product
Date Content Promotions
Nov 4 • Key elements of a landing page Coffee Industry $150 savings on
Nov 11 • How to do a conversion offer Web Marketing email marketing
Nov 18 • Best practices of email Boot Camp setup; 1 free
marketing landing page
Dec 5 • ROI: Outputs vs. Outcomes Measurement
Dec 12 • Advertising vs. Earned Media Seminar
Dec 19 • The Total Value Cube
Jan 9 • Twitter in Your Media Plan TwitterChat Enroll in
Jan 16 • Travel Media in Social Media with Famous Measurement
Jan 23 • Free ways to promote your PR Author Class (50% off)
Feb 3 • Online Brand Management Sweepstakes $150 discount
Feb 10 • How to Use Check-Ins & Deals Promotion on Facebook
Feb 14 • Facebook vs. Google+ landing page
Senior marketing strategist with 16+ years of experience working in marketing, public relations and since 2008, social media. I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Communications from California State University at Fullerton, one of the top-performing Communication colleges in the United States, and I founded Kinoshita Communications in 2007 to help small- and mid-sized organizations with marketing and PR needs. I am also a certified inbound marketing professional, educator and columnist on social media topics, which means I help organizations connect with their customers and constituencies online and help them improve their digital marketing assets to attract more traffic, and turn more of that traffic into leads, relationships, sales and outcomes for their business or non-profit.HubSpot is a social media solutions provider for more than 5,000 companies worldwide and the #2 fastest-growing software company as rated by Inc. magazineBefore moving to Hawaii in 2001, I served as managing supervisor at Fleishman-Hillard, an international leader in strategic communications. Believe social media is the way for locally owned businesses to innovate on products and services, and provide superior customer service. Believe it’s the way locally owned businesses can better compete against offshore, big-box brands. Moreover, I recognize through my experience in this field that social media is here to stay and that it is the natural result of how humans communicate and share online
Purpose of a content strategy:To clearly define your goals Define the steps to achieve your goalsActive participation in today’s workshop will enable you to walk out of here today with a clear pathway toward the steps you need to achieve your goals. You will never have to wonder about what to write about again. You will have the answers to everyday questions such as, what type of promotion will be effective, or will this site design work, or what images and colors should I use. You will have the answers to all of these questions through your content plan.
An Online Content Strategy is a tool that helps users achieve their goals*while on your website Not your goals, their goalsThere will be time for selling later, the purpose of your site is to create a brand experience, show what your company stands for, and what it doesn’t Brand experience
Know who you are writing for and and for who you are not.It’s NOT about “Your” Needs – it’s about your audience’s needs. These are not the same and the more you can stand firm on the distinction, the more valuable you will be to decision-makers.Who are the types of people you want to work with? (Who are the types of people you definitely don’t want to work with?) Be as clear as possible. For example, Business owners, age 35-55 who are committed to using marketing to help generate annual sales of $2 million or more. Marketing managers who are passionately committed to becoming #1 in their industry and will not settle for 2nd best.Forward-thinking achievers who are very experienced and smart about what they do.Marketing managers who understand the difference between “Exceptional” and “Average” Marketing managers who are exceptionally results-focused.
Not all traffic is the sameDifferent traffic sources will convert at different ratesSome is top of the funnel, some traffic is middle of the funnel, some traffic is ready to buy right away.
Develop a content mindset and culture at your company.Instead of thinking you need to put information in your audience’s lap, create interesting information that draws your audience in!
Your best keywords aren’t necessarily what you think they will be. Look at phrases people are using to actually find your site. Compare to high-traffic keywords for your industry and competitors. Make sure the keywords you are targeting will bring the traffic you need to your siteLow traffic keywords may be highly optimized to your business, but consider the risk of low traffic
Also, entertaining, useful
Defining your Ideal Customer Prospect
The more real the person is, the better your marketing and content will be. Develop the person as you would a character in a book. The deeper and more rich you go, the more worthwhile the profile will be to your business. This is what separates the successful websites from the rest of the pack.Look at the profile pages of the Fans that follow your business page to get some clues.Don’t be afraid to guess, you can refine the profile as you collect more / better data
This is where the gold is at: (But you have to have a true sense of your character before you start) The goal is to reach the full range of emotional issues that can potentially surround a decision around your businessA fundamental element of the marketing process, which most businesses miss.When you begin doing this exercise you will discover other deep, motivating behaviors that are affecting your customer’s relationship with you, probably without you even realizing it!
- What might they be saying about your customer if they knew they were having problems? What type of advice would they give? What might your customer be secretly afraid of if their problem isn’t solved, or gets worse? What could be the worst thing that could happen? How would that make your customer feel? Would there be serious financial or social ramifications?Now imagine the BEST CASE scenario. How can your product or service help your customer? What would your customer think the ideal “dream situation” would look like? Would they want personalized support? Some sort of subscription or member service? Free pick-up or delivery? The value and peace-of-mind you provide is often much greater than you think. Consider the hidden social and emotional benefits your product or service could provide. This is called “unwrapping the value.”
This is the story that pulls it all together:
Developing a customer avatar can lead to dramatic transformation in your business.It helps explain why some products sell better than others, and exposes important gaps or conflicting messages that you might otherwise have missed.You’ll also be able to answer many of the daily marketing questions that pop up with confidence. Questions that all marketers ask themselves, such as, “Does this promotion make sense?” or “Are the right messages getting through to the right people?”
Metadata: Page Title, How to Manage Your Content Inventory
Inventory ManagementList every tag and category on your website.Look how many articles you have in each category; Track how many articles in each.Find which content areas are strong, and which have gaps.
Inventory ManagementNow that you know where you are going, see where you are
Content TreatmentSocial layer – incentives and rewards for “liking” a page
Content Tasks & Responsibilities
The 3-4 Things You Must Be Known ForWhen people think of you, they think of these words/phrasesSkills you want your name to be synonymous withTopics that will define your brand
In 10 minutes, I came up with 12 weeks of content, plus promotion strategies and content giveaways designed to increase traffic and leads for any business.