the ultimate

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Content marketing is the marketing and business process for creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action. —Content Marketing Institute

Practical Insights, Tips and Resources for Content Marketing Success

CONTENT

STRATEGY

5 Things you Need to Know for Strategic Success

1. What are your primary business objectives? How can marketing support those objectives? Set clear goals on what your organization needs from its content marketing efforts.

2. What is your target market? Who is your target buyer within that market? Creating a Buyer Persona will help you focus on a specific audience – namely the people who want to buy your products/services. Surveys are a good way to collect this information.

3. How can you reach your Buyers? Where does your buyer go to stay current on industry trends, tools and insights? Create a roadmap for placing your content accordingly.

4. What are the gaps in your current content marketing efforts? Now that you’ve determined your target buyer, relevant channels and overall goals, perform a content audit to identify what’s working, what’s not.

5. What’s your publishing plan? Create a content/campaign calendar to schedule, track and monitor content creation.

When playing the Game of Content, it’s important to have a strategy.

93% OF B2B ORGANIZATIONS RELY ON CONTENT MARKETING FOR BRAND BUILDING AND DEMAND GENERATION. (CONTENT MARKETING INSTITUTE) 

Content provided by: Cristi Kirisits, VeriFone

CREATIVE CONTENT

How to “Unstuck” (or “Unsuck”) Your Brand’s Content with Creative Storytelling

1. If your brand was a person, how would he or she communicate? Have a distinctive, authentic voice. Remember that you’re communicating with real people.

2. Tell not Sell. Avoid sales pitches - remember that the primary goal is to build a relationship with prospective buyers.

3. SEO: Include key search phrases in your content to improve organic search engine page ranking.

4. Nothing wrong with keeping tabs on your competitors. Keep tabs on what’s working, what’s not.

5. Take a risk. Have fun. People enjoy humor, so experiment with some entertaining content - but avoid being crass or offense!

BUYERS SAY ONLINE CONTENT HAS A MAJOR OR MODERATE IMPACT ON VENDOR PREFERENCE AND SELECTION 

87%

SAY “BLATANTLY SELF-PROMOTIONAL” CONTENT IS A MAJOR TURN OFF. (INBOUNDWRITER.COM)

43%BUT 

Content provided by: Nancy Harr, SunTrust Bank

SOCIAL MEDIA

LEAD GENERATION

From Click to Close – How Marketing Automation Drives the Pipeline

1. Lead gen isn’t about creating a list of names and numbers. It’s about identifying and engaging people that meet your criteria for qualification and sales-readiness.

2. The lead lifecycle begins with a click and ends with a close. Marketers should be invested in all stages by sourcing and influencing leads, moving them through the funnel.

3. Content marketing for lead generation isn’t over-hyped, just misapplied. Focus on quality over quantity with qualifying content in the appropriate channels.

4. Invest the time in properly planning a campaign so that you can objectively evaluate it upon completion. Goals and reporting methods should be in place before execution.

CONTENT MARKETING COSTS LESS THAN TRADITIONAL MARKETING AND GENERATES ABOUT 3 TIMES AS MANY LEADS. (DEMANDMETRIC) 62%

Content provided by Ryan Johnston, Pardot

THE RATE OF YEAR-OVER-YEAR GROWTH IN UNIQUE SITE TRAFFIC FOR CONTENT MARKETING LEADERS COMPARED TO FOLLOWERS (19.7% VS 2.5%).(ABERDEEN GROUP)

7.8x

Tapping into Unstructured Conversations with Structured Content

1. Engage, Engage, Engage. Social media is about conversation–an online dinner party. Have something interesting and relevant to say – and leverage your content accordingly. The goals of social media are participation, then changing behavior. Content can stimulate conversation, or users can generate unique content to stimulate conversations. Either way, content leads to conversations, conversations build relationships and relationships drive ROI.

2. So many social channels, so little time. Determine who your audience is, where they go for information and which social channels they frequent the most. Focus your time and energy on those channels.

3. How to lose friends and taint your brand? Overt sales pitches. Leave that to your sales team.

4. Remember those church signs/marquees? Your social networks aren’t just a place to post slogans or quotes. Encourage conversation and be sure to actively participate in others’ conversations.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Content provided by Lizzy Nephew, Porsche North America

More Bang for Your Blogging Efforts

1. No one really wants to read about you - but rather what value you can provide for them. So blog about your customer’s challenges, not about your company

2. Tell a good story, have a sense of humor, and try newsjacking. No one wants to read boring product information - so be both entertaining and informative and don’t forget to include links back to other pages on your site.

3. What do your buyers really care about? Have conversations with your sales team or customer service reps - write about what your customers are talking about.

4. Show not tell. Paint a picture with your words, create an experience.

67%

B2B COMPANIES THAT BLOG GENERATE

MORE LEADS THAN THOSE THAT DON’T.

(WEBDAMSOLUTIONS.COM)

CONTENT CREATION

DEEP DIVE

Content provided by: Tom Ouellette, Cbeyond

This infographic summarizes the TAG Marketing workshop on Content Marketing, May 13, 2014.

Stroud & Associates developed and designed this infographic. A special thanks to Shannon Rentner, Ashley Sasnett, and Jennifer Slaughter for developing and editing the content.

CONTENT MARKETING

2014 RESOURCES

CLICK LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION

CONTENT STRATEGY & CONTENT CREATION2014 B2B Content Marketing Research: Strategy is Key to Effectiveness50 Content Marketing Predictions for 2014

SOCIAL MEDIA & CONTENT MARKETINGSocial Media Tools: How To Simplify Your Social Media MarketingTop Social Media Mistakes, According to the Experts Content Creates Engagement 11 Big Myths About Social Media and Content Marketing Here’s the Difference Between Content Marketing and Social Media Content marketing: take your message to the people

BLOGGING YOUR CONTENT MARKETINGHow to Strategically Use B2B Content Marketing for Branding Secret Ingredients Of ‘Delicious’ Blog Posts5 Steps to Creating an Effective Content MixCrap. The Content Marketing Deluge.The Other C Word: What makes great content marketing greatReady, Set, Write: The Ultimate Guide to BloggingWhat the Best Business Bloggers Do (And You Should Too)11 Pro Tips for Better Business Blogging

LEAD GENERATIONRearchitected Demand WaterfallYou’re Doing It Wrong: Demand GenerationHow To Do It Right: Demand Generation25 B2B Marketing Automation Thought Leaders to Follow on TwitterThe Complete Guide to Automated Scoring & GradingAll You Need to Know About Aligning Sales and Marketing for Qualified LeadsTop 10 Takeaways from the Lead Gen Summit 2013

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A publication by:

Shannon Rentner | Digital Marketing Strategies for building

profitable relationships | www.shannonrentner.com

Stroud & Associates | Strategic Marketing by Design

stroudassociates.com

Click for FREE Content Strategy Tools!Content Audit: For those who have digital content and want to identify the gaps.

Content Calendar: For those that want to get their content marketing program cranking.