Content Marketing - Beyond the Bullshit

Hannah Smith@hannah_bo_banna

Content MarketingBeyond the Bullshit

Think Visibility Hannah Smith @hannah_bo_bannaSeptember 2012 Distilled.net

Hannah SmithSEO Consultant – Distilledhannah.smith@distilled.net@hannah_bo_banna

SEOmoz Associate & SEOChick.

No longer has red hair.

I set myself a challenge...

talk about content marketing

without mentioning...

old spicedollar shave clubok cupidoyster

because

you’ve heard it before

#yawn

everybody’s talking about

content marketing

but

what the hell is it?

&

why should you care?

hopefully this presentation will help

I am an

seo

with problems

which I’m

hoping

you can

relate to

Problem 1.

Problem 1.

I need to build

links

(sometimes) my clients reject my link building ideas & therefore

preventme from building links

why?

we’re

victimsof our own success...

we know what

the linkerati <3

BUTmost clients do not want their brand associated with

zombies, bacon, cats, conspiracy theory,

controversy or drama

even if they’ll get links out of it...

the lesson?

content needs to support

brand positioning

SPEAKER NAME - EDIT FOOTER

Using Content Marketing to

support brand positioning…

it’s a tough niche & we

*need* links

BUTthe client did not want their brand associated with

zombies, bacon, cats, conspiracy theory, controversy or drama

solution - support the brand’s positioning as

the small business champion

handily enoughthey were already creating some content...

we figured we could help by creating

remarkable content

that would support their brand position as

the small business champion

& that would support their

existing content strategy

411 links

from 111 domains

160 links

from 36 domains

147 links

from 48 domains

the client is and so are we

but there’s a trade off...

this sort of content will be

far less successful than

zombies, bacon, cats, conspiracy theory,

controversy or drama

but that’s ok

their CEO loves the content

their customers love it

This isn’t *just* content for links – this is content for their customers.

They include it in email newsletters & other marketing activity.

so content marketing is just using content for

link buildingright?

wrong.

remember I said I was an seo with

problems?

Problem 2.

how do you ‘get found’ by customers who

don’t know they need you yet?

SPEAKER NAME - EDIT FOOTER

Using content marketing for

Lead Generation

Salesforce

have a strong domain & already rank well for keywords customers are likely to search for when they’re ready to buy.

but

how could they attract customers higher up the sales funnel who don’t know they need a

tool like Salesforce yet?

create content

strong domain - it’ll likely rank

we need to consider

more

than just search engine visibility...

because search engines

are not the only way we find content

so Salesforce created content people would

want to share

then Salesforce let people know it was there

via the corporate Facebook/Twitter/Google+accounts

home page takeover of the corporate site

enlisted the help of 15 expert advocates

email newsletters

guest blogging

PR

advertising onTwitterLinkedIn Google Display Network

Results• Traffic for January was up 80% YoY• Traffic from social sites was up 2500%

See - http://www.seomoz.org/blog/socialsuccess-an-inbound-marketing-case-study-for-b2b

Results (you actually care about)• 6500 newsletter sign ups• 10,000 eBook downloads

See - http://www.seomoz.org/blog/socialsuccess-an-inbound-marketing-case-study-for-b2b

leads = money#justsayin’

do links = money?

Problem 3.

rankings are great but

no one’s buying

SPEAKER NAME - EDIT FOOTER

Conversion Rate Optimisation

grossly simplified CRO process

sorry @pav

find out

why people buy

&

why they don’t

figure out which benefits

aren’t being communicated & which

objections

aren’t being addressed

create new pages to

test

improved messaging against your current page

Read more - http://conversionfactory.com/downloads/checklists.pdf or speak to Pav

end result?

more money

& your boss / client loves you

right now you’re probably thinking

wait, that’s CRO not

content marketing

SPEAKER NAME - EDIT FOOTER

What is Content Marketing?

it’s the creation and sharing of content in order to:

attract, acquire and engage current and potential customers

with the objective of:

driving profitable customer action

it’s about creating

profitable relationships

with customers

not just link building...

SPEAKER NAME - EDIT FOOTER

Content Marketing Misconceptions

misconception 1:

content marketing is

‘free’

Cute? Sure

just not true.

also, it’s not

cheap

Cheap “SEO content” looks like this

Cheap article marketing looks like this

Cheap “articles” read like this

the creation and sharing of content in order to:

attract, acquire and engage current and potential customers

with the objective of:

driving profitable customer action

Misconception 2:when it comes to content marketing

more is more

SPEAKER NAME - EDIT FOOTER

Kerry Lauerman, Editor in Chief, Salon.comSource: http://open.salon.com/blog/kerry_lauerman/2012/02/03/hit_record

33% fewer posts;40% more traffic

misconception 3:

content marketing belongs on your

blog

bandcamp.com - FAQs

Misconception 4...

if you build it they will come...

you are not Kevin Costner...

SPEAKER NAME - EDIT FOOTER

Takeaways

sometimes people don’t take seos

seriously

because often our activities

aren’t fully aligned with branding and marketing goals

content marketing is a discipline that

complementsseo & we ought to leverage it

because

attracting, acquiring and engaging current and potential customers

with the objective of:

driving profitable customer action

is something your client / boss is going to

significantly

more than

it gives you and your clients; or you and your marketing department / boss the opportunity to

align your objectives,

& stop fighting against each other

think

beyondlinks

think

beyondsearch engine traffic

&make more money

hannah.smith@distilled.net@hannah_bo_banna

questions?

Image CreditsZombies - http://www.xfirstaidkits.com/v/Zombie-Proof-Architecture/Bacon - http://www.flickr.com/photos/samsmith/2747313794/sizes/l/Cat - http://www.flickr.com/photos/paolomargari/1992019542/sizes/l/Conspiracy - http://www.alienandufopictures.com/ufo_pictures.htmlControversy - http://xkcd.com/386/Failure to communicate - http://theinfluentials.wordpress.com/2012/06/18/failure-to-communicate/Future of marketing - https://plus.google.com/112310499813770104747/posts/JBesS2cnAGoField of dreams - http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/field-of-dreams