Building A Content Marketing Strategy
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The document discusses a new series of ebooks titled 'Content Marketing in Wonderland,' inspired by 'Alice in Wonderland,' aimed at enhancing content marketing strategies. It includes insights from over 40 experts and covers topics like content strategy, audience development, and visual content marketing, all in preparation for the 2014 Content Marketing World conference. Key themes highlighted include the importance of context in marketing, the need for strategic planning, and engaging with communities to amplify content success.
Building A Content Marketing Strategy
- 1. #CMWorld
- 2. Down the Rabbit Hole ! eyond story telling, what is there in the world of content marketing? Plenty! From creating a strategy to audience development to visual content to finding the “real” ROI of a content marketing program, TopRank Online Marketing and Content Marketing Institute introduce to you a new series of eBooks: Content Marketing in Wonderland. As a preview to the inspiring stories and wisdom to be found at the 2014 Content Marketing World conference, this series of 4 eBooks is themed with one of the most imaginative tales of all time: Alice in Wonderland. We’ve collected insights from over 40 major brands and thought leaders presenting at #CMWorld including all-new ideas, strategies and practical advice to help make your content marketing world a successful one. We look forward to seeing you in September! B Lee Odden, CEO TopRank Online Marketing! Joe Pulizzi, CEO Content Marketing Institute!
- 3. Content Marketing in Wonderland Just as Alice experienced her adventures, we’re taking you on a Content Marketing in Wonderland journey with 4 new eBooks: • Content Marketing Strategy • Audience Development • Visual Content Marketing • Real Content ROI A new eBook will publish weekly as we approach the ultimate content marketing adventure: The Content Marketing World conference Sept 8-11, 2014. !"#$%&'$ !"#$((&'$ !"#$()&'$ !"#$*+&'$
- 5. 40+ Content Marketing Experts Adele Revella Alan Porter Andrew Davis Ann Handley Ardath Albee Brant McLean Brian Clark Brian Kardon Bruce McDuffee Carla Johnson David Jones Gurdeep Dhillon Heidi Cohen Jascha Kaykas-Wolff Jason Miller Jay Acunzo Jeff Charney Jeff Rohrs Jen Dennis Jesse Noyes Jim Kukral JoAnn Sciarrino Joe Pulizzi Jonathon Colman Julie Fleischer Lee Odden Leigh Blaylock Maggie Burke Mark Schaefer Michael Brenner Nicole Smith Pam Didner Paull Young Pawan Deshpande Rebecca Lieb Rick Short Robert Rose Scott Abel Scott Monty Scott Stratten Steve Clayton Tim Washer
- 6. “Content strategy is the infrastructure of content marketing. Without answers to ‘why’ & ‘how’ the result is chaos.” Rebecca Lieb @lieblink #CMWorld
- 7. Content Strategy Content strategy is the infrastructure of content marketing. It answers two questions, it is documented, and it is communicated throughout the enterprise: 1. Why are we doing this? (goals) 2. How are we going to get it done? (process and governance) Rather than argue why enterprises require a formal content strategy, let’s examine what happens when they content-market without the infrastructure of content strategy. I can’t think of a better metaphor for such a situation than Alice in Wonderland. We could cast Alice as the content marketer, the Red Queen as the CEO, and the flamingoes, hedgehogs and soldiers as members of the marketing team. The resulting chaos is not unlike what’s being played out in companies all around the content marketing world. Rebecca Lieb @lieblink Industry Analyst, Altimeter Group #CMWorld Presentation: The Content Marketing Software Landscape: Marketer Needs & Vendor Solutions
- 8. Context is Queen When it comes to your Content Marketing Strategy, don’t forget the Queen. “Content is King!” is turning into one of the most overused pieces of marketing-speak in the industry. But there’s hope. A new phrase is bubbling up that helps fill in what this tired axiom is missing – “Context is Queen.” Guess what? You can have the greatest content in the world, but if you don’t find the right place for it, nobody sees it. In February this year, companies geared up for the “Big Game,” trying to duplicate the great real-time marketing brands hit a homerun with last year when the lights went out. Progressive has a pretty big social media presence, Flo has over 5 million fans, so we started thinking about it ourselves. After kicking around plenty of ideas, we netted out in a unique place. Jeff Charney @jeffcharney Chief Marketing Officer, Progressive Insurance #CMWorld Keynote: Inside Progressive’s Internal Content Creation Machine
- 9. Context is Queen Why try to yell the loudest in a room where we don’t belong? Why try to ride the wave with a “me, too” attitude? We went with a simple picture of Flo on the couch and the caption, “What do car insurance and football have in common? Nothing. Talk to you after the game!” We were just trying to show our fans that we “get it,” and let them enjoy the game. But the response from them, along with numerous publications including the Wall Street Journal, was overwhelmingly positive. The point of this story isn’t to beat our chests, although we are proud of the work. It’s to show that with an almost non-existent budget (we created one .jpeg image) and the acknowledgement that even the greatest content in the world won’t work out of context. We did something people connected with. Context. Long live the Queen. Jeff Charney @jeffcharney Chief Marketing Officer, Progressive Insurance #CMWorld Keynote: Inside Progressive’s Internal Content Creation Machine
- 10. The Path to What’s Next Marketing campaigns often feel like a trip down the rabbit hole. The promise of value or a good story lures in the curious. From there – good luck. This confused wandering is almost always due to a lack of planning. We, the marketers, execute a great concept; content so alluring buyers can’t help but be pulled in. Then we neglect to provide a clearly defined path for that buyer to follow. That buyer is required to figure out for him or herself, asking question after question along the way, and stringing together answers when possible. Wandering works in fairy tales. But it’s disastrous when it comes to lead management. Before any campaign is executed, the entrances and exits that make up your buyer’s journey should be mapped out. Every asset you produce should lead somewhere. A lead should never form a perplexed look and ask, “What do I go now?” Jesse Noyes @noyesjesse Senior Director of Content Marketing at Kapost #CMWorld Panel: How CMOs Are Structuring Around Content Marketing
- 11. The Path to What’s Next Here are three of my favorite steps marketers should take: 1. Create a call-to-action (CTA) flow chart. This is a chart that lists out every campaign or theme you plan to address with your content. Each listed theme should include several CTAs to related assets. This ensures whoever contributes to your content knows exactly where to send the buyer next. 2. Create campaign flow charts for every campaign. Content marketing campaigns can get complex. There may be blog posts, social posts, display or search ads, videos, landing pages…the list goes on. Don’t get lost. Before you launch any campaign, create a flow chart that maps out all the entrance points and next steps for your campaign. 3. Stop focusing on channels and start unifying your content production. When the manager of any channel – whether it’s top of funnel or bottom – starts creating and deploying content on their own, it’s because they don’t have content to deploy or don’t how to find it. Establishing a content marketing operation results in a visible, strategic approach to content creation. And that means buyers don’t have to zig zag their way through your pipeline. Jesse Noyes @noyesjesse Senior Director of Content Marketing at Kapost #CMWorld Panel: How CMOs Are Structuring Around Content Marketing
- 12. Content Marketing Planning What lessons can you learn from Alice and friends to help you create a great Content Marketing Strategy? Here are three of my favorites: Things change. And they change fast. New channels, new formats, and new ways of interacting with your audience pop up much more often you might expect during the abstract “strategy” phase. But once you’re executing, count on it: You will see something special–like, say, a talking white rabbit—and you’re going to want to follow it. Fast. So weave experimentation into the fabric of your strategy. Otherwise, you’ll lose critical time selling ideas internally every time you want to try something new. Most organizations have a Queen of Hearts (or a few). Make engaging with them—and winning them over—a fundamental part of your vision. A good content marketing strategy should encompass plans for engagement with internal teams as well as interactions with prospects and customers. Jen Dennis @jendennis2000 Content Strategist & Marketer #CMWorld Panel What brands can learn from the newsroom
- 13. Content Marketing Planning Creating great content requires participation from many people. You might need HR’s help. Or approval from legal. Or your engineers' expertise. Or a quote from your CEO. You get the picture. Here’s the thing: All these people already have jobs, and those jobs aren’t in marketing. So they might not know, or care, about the value of content marketing. It’s your job to fire them up. Without their support, it’s “Off with their heads” for your plans. Sometimes a tea party will turn out to be stupid. Go to tea parties anyway. For all our talk about process and planning, this remains true: Creating a content marketing algorithm that produces ‘winning’ or ‘viral’ content every single time is impossible (Google would have built one already otherwise). Yes, establish KPIs and meet them. But expect—and plan for—the occasional miss. Don’t worry; you’ll learn something from the duds too. The original title for Alice in Wonderland was The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland. Make sure your strategy encourages, rather than eliminates, the adventures. Jen Dennis @jendennis2000 Content Strategist & Marketer #CMWorld Panel What brands can learn from the newsroom
- 14. “Look to your community for content to augment and help promote. The proverbial win-win is not a myth.” Jascha Kaykas-Wolff @kaykas #CMWorld
- 15. Content & Community How to build your content strategy inside a community of 170 million monthly users. A key marketing focus at BitTorrent is to develop a content strategy showcasing our users’ stories, across product lines. Let’s focus on one of our products, BitTorrent Bundle, which illustrates our three core tenets that you can employ for your company: 1.! Content drives the experience inside and out: User stories and artist content from the community highlight the product better than anyone. 2.! Tight coordination between the artists/users, product, product marketing and communications drives success. 3.! Good content that drives a specific product should impact wider brand strategies and goals. Jascha Kaykas-Wolff @kaykas CMO at BitTorrent #CMWorld Panel How CMOs Are Structuring Around Content Marketing
- 16. Content & Community Tip 1: Look to your community for content that you can augment and help promote. The proverbial win-win is not a myth. The best record stores craft stories on top of the artists’ content. Our content strategy is collaborative with the artist community in this same vein. Tip 2: Don’t do it alone. Coordinating with your community and their team for resources can have an exponentially positive impact. Working closely with our community (and in this case, G-eazy and his team): 4.7MM Bundle user sessions for G-eazy’s bundle and G-eazy’s new album debuted at #2 on Billboard initially and #1 on the hip hop list. Tip 3: Focus on the ‘Bright Spots’ to keep the momentum going. A success with your community is the best ingredient to start the next recipe. This is how we build momentum. Collaborating with our users helps identify artists to feature. We choose projects that amplify our brand; that stand for the same thing. In fact, we just blew through 100 million downloads, and each win makes it easier to drive future successes. Jascha Kaykas-Wolff @kaykas CMO at BitTorrent #CMWorld Panel How CMOs Are Structuring Around Content Marketing
- 17. Content Marketing Experience Content marketing is the fuel propelling the marketing engine. We should no longer think of content marketing as a means to just develop thought leadership, generate awareness or build demand. Content touches all aspects of a customer's experience or a buyer's journey. It doesn't stop when they first learn about you or when the sale is closed. To succeed with a content marketing strategy, it's important to: •! Get out of your comfort zone, be willing to experiment and test different content formats and types; •! Align your content goals to the overall goals of the company, not just marketing or demand gen goals; •! Connect with other content marketers to stay current on new technologies, platforms and channels Brian E. Kardon @bkardon Chief Marketing Officer at Lattice Engines #CMWorld Panel How CMOs Are Structuring Around Content
- 18. When Content Goes Global “They only speak French in France, don’t they?” I’ve actually had this conversation more than once. It happens when marketing groups make decisions on what languages to translate their content into based on geography. “We sell this product all over Europe, but not in France so we don’t need French.” What about Switzerland, Belgium, Holland and other countries in Europe where French is spoken? What about a French speaker living and working in Germany? 50% of the world is bilingual and we need to accommodate that. Does that mean we need to translate everything into all 6,900 spoken languages? No. 80% of the world’s population can be reached with just twelve languages. If you can’t support twelve languages or more for global coverage, then think on a regional basis. People move around so provide support for that. What are the top five languages spoken in the region you want to market to? In the USA it’s English, Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog (Philippines), and French. Alan J. Porter @alanjporter Content Marketing Manager at Caterpillar Inc. #CMWorld Case Study From the Midwest to the World: Developing a Business Driven Globalization Strategy for Content Marketing
- 19. When Content Goes Global Multi-lingual people think of different subjects in different languages. For instance a Swiss person may think about his car In German, food In French, and movies in English, because that’s how he experiences them. Figure out the predominate language for the experience you are trying to market in the region you are targeting. There’s a reason that here at Caterpillar our website for Africa includes content in Chinese – it’s because a large percentage of the construction industry working in Africa are Chinese. Stop thinking about global content in terms of geographical boundaries. Content translation and localization decisions need to be determined on a regional basis informed by a mix of culture, industry and market knowledge —not based solely on nationality. Alan J. Porter @alanjporter Content Marketing Manager at Caterpillar Inc. #CMWorld Case Study From the Midwest to the World: Developing a Business Driven Globalization Strategy for Content Marketing
- 20. Help Your Audience Be Better One of the best content marketing strategies I have found that drives revenue growth is to help the people in your target audience be better at something. Naturally, the thing you choose to help them be better should intersect with the unique expertise of your company. As an example, if a company is in the business of creating, printing and selling airplane navigation charts, this firm could help their target audience (pilots) be better at flying by teaching them to be more proficient at reading charts. Notice that the strategy does not include teaching them how to use their specific product. By keeping the lessons general and not about your company, the bond is much stronger and more authentic. Granted, for this strategy to grow your business, you must let them know who is offering this education and what your firm does sell. By offering your expertise freely with no strings attached, your firm has given the people in your target audience a gift. Bruce McDuffee @brucemcduffee Senior Manager, Content Marketing at Boeing #CMWorld Industry Lab Manufacturing Industry Content Marketing
- 21. Help Your Audience Be Better When the day comes around and they need to purchase what you offer, they will want to reciprocate by purchasing from the company that helped them be better. Here are 3 steps to get started: 1. Pick a particular area of expertise where your company excels. If you make bicycle shoes, you may have expertise in efficient pedaling techniques or adjusting your bike setup for more efficiency. If you repair computers, you might be an expert in using Windows 8. 2. Determine an area where the people in your target audience have problems, pain or passion causing them to want to be better. This thing should intersect with the expertise chosen in step one. 3. Decide how you will share your expertise. Will you set up live seminars? Webinars? A podcast series? An enewsletter series? eBooks? Then go ahead and execute with good content marketing practices. Heck, this is sounding like it could be your content marketing mission statement, “To help the people in our target audience be better _________________ “. Bruce McDuffee @brucemcduffee Senior Manager, Content Marketing at Boeing #CMWorld Industry Lab Manufacturing Industry Content Marketing
- 22. “Does your content inspire you to share? You can never fail by making customers, prospects & employees feel inspired.” Paull Young @paullyoung #CMWorld
- 23. 3 Steps to Content Inspiration At charity: water we believe that inspiration is the most important part of our digital strategy. The trick is: inspiration is easier said than done. Stop for a second and consider this question (and please be honest with yourself!): What piece of content has your brand produced recently that you would describe as inspirational? Have you been inspired to share content from your brand personally? Not because you felt like it was your job, but because you wanted your friends and family to be inspired? Creating content that truly inspires comes down to three key items: 1. Build a great team For truly inspiring creative content, you need inspired creative people on your team. I don’t believe that it’s easy to outsource this. For great content you need blood, sweat and tears from committed creatives - not freelancers working against the clock. Paull Young @paullyoung Director of Digital at charitywater.org #CMWorld Presentation Creating a Movement Through Content Marketing
- 24. 3 Steps to Content Inspiration 2. Give them the freedom to do great work If your planned output is inspiration you need to measure the creatives work by inspiration, and nothing else. It’s the marketer’s job to drive eyeballs, and products job to drive conversions. The creatives need to rigidly focus on creating something they believe will inspire. 3. Make their output one of the most important things for your brand You need senior staff to care deeply about the content. They need to fight internal battles to ensure the creatives have time and resources to do excellent work. They need to invest their own time in pushing for excellence. Ultimately: senior people need to passionately care about creating inspiring content, or the content just won’t be inspiring. You can never fail by making your customers, prospects and employees feel inspired. Paull Young @paullyoung Director of Digital at charitywater.org #CMWorld Presentation Creating a Movement Through Content Marketing
- 25. Risks & Rewards of Content The thing about content marketing is…we all want a piece of that cake. You know, the cake that causes Alice to grow? Yes, the one labeled EAT ME. We want to produce content that is so great for our audience that all of our metrics explode. But in most cases, that’s not how it works. There are ups and downs and you’re always looking for ways to get better. If you’re ready to go down this rabbit hole, here are some tips and best practices, tied to some of our favorite quotes from Alice in Wonderland: "I don't see how he can ever finish, if he doesn't begin.” This one’s pretty straightforward. You’ll never run a successful content marketing campaign if you don’t give it a shot. Pick a target audience, find a way that you can truly help them with content, and make it happen. Because “at any rate, there’s no harm in trying!” Gurdeep Dhillon @gurdeepd Vice President, Customer LoB Marketing at SAP #CMWorld Panel How Brands Are Scaling Content Marketing
- 26. Risks & Rewards of Content “I knew who I was this morning but I've changed a few times since then.” Modern marketing is about taking risks and not being afraid to fail. No matter how much we research and study our audience, we’re not always going to hit the mark when we create content. The key is to recognize the failures, learn from them, and move on. And the way to do this is simple… measure everything! “My dear, here we must run as fast as we can, just to stay in place. And if you wish to go anywhere you must run twice as fast as that.” To implement a successful content marketing strategy, you’ve got to have a team of passionate, dedicated, and agile people. They will need to stay ahead of the trends that impact their audience, the market forces that impact your own product or services, and the competition. And to be successful, they’ll have to create a consistent flow of magnetic content and NEVER sacrifice quality for quantity. Gurdeep Dhillon @gurdeepd Vice President, Customer LoB Marketing at SAP #CMWorld Panel How Brands Are Scaling Content Marketing
- 27. 10 Steps to Content Success 1. Always begin at the end! In other words, have a clear goal. It is critical to put your goal in writing. a. Define your target audience. b. Define precisely what you would like them to do. 2. Establish clear, easy to implement, valued, and connected metrics: a. Clear and concise b. Publish freely to your team c. Automate as much as possible 3. Commit to a defined process. Develop, define, tweak, and stick to it. 4. Establish key individuals as thought leaders in your target arena. Readers appreciate knowing the people behind the scenes. 5. Hire the right people. Things work when individuals have the innate philosophy. Things fail when the wrong individuals are put in these roles. Rick Short @RickShort21 Director of Marketing Communications at Indium Corporation #CMWorld Presentation B2B Blogging Driven by Employees
- 28. 10 Steps to Content Success 6. Commit to transparency and authenticity. 7. Establish a unique, honest, and consistent voice. You can’t be everything to everyone. Go to market as yourself and be consistently you. 8. Ownership is critical. Every project or assignment should have one, and only one, owner. 9. Develop and publish information that will be in demand in the future. “Be the answer, today, to the question your customer will ask tomorrow.” 10. Respect and support your content generators and purveyors. They are the geese laying the golden eggs Rick Short @RickShort21 Director of Marketing Communications at Indium Corporation #CMWorld Presentation B2B Blogging Driven by Employees
- 29. The Original Content Marketers For nearly 120 years, The Furrow has delivered relevant, thought-provoking content to millions of farmers and researchers, simultaneously strengthening the John Deere brand while cementing the magazine’s reputation for brand-agnostic journalism. And while I’m wary of anyone promising "The Secret" to anything, there is one element without which The Furrow could not have achieved the success it currently enjoys. Of the six field editors that contribute the bulk of the content to The Furrow, two are full-time farmers in addition to being on our editorial staff; one was raised on a good-sized cattle ranch in Montana, is still actively involved in the ranch’s operations, and runs a small herd of her own. One is a landlord…in the agricultural, as opposed to the residential, sense. The other two have a combined fifty-plus years in ag journalism and B2B communications. The bottom line is, these folks are bona fide, industry-recognized experts… in the subject matter, because they live it every day; in the consumers of that subject matter, because our writers are part of the larger audience for ag journalism, too; and in what motivates that audience to read, click, listen or view. David G. Jones Publications Manager at John Deere Ag & Turf Editor, The Furrow and Homestead #CMWorld Presentation John Deere and The Furrow: The Original Content Marketers
- 30. The Original Content Marketers What does that mean for us back here in the office? It means we can think about how to increase the reach of The Furrow, even as the number of large farms in the U.S. decreases. We can think about how to bring a magazine with 120 years of print history into the digital realm. We can think about how to raise the profile of The Furrow within our own organization. And while this may sound like content-marketing heresy, it ultimately means we don’t have to worry about our content resonating with our audience, because our providers are part of that audience. And that leads directly to my One Thing: Enlist the best writers, photographers and videographers you can find; listen to them, trust their judgment, pay them well, pay them promptly, and you’ll be ahead of the game. David G. Jones Publications Manager at John Deere Ag & Turf Editor, The Furrow and Homestead #CMWorld Presentation John Deere and The Furrow: The Original Content Marketers
- 31. LEARN EVEN MORE ABOUT CONTENT MARKETING Join 3,500 industry peers from 50 countries, 100+ speakers, and leading Fortune 500 brands at: CONTENT MARKETING WORLD 2015 September 8-11, 2015 www.contentmarketingworld.com REGISTER TODAY Use code “TopRank” for $100 off of Main Event and All-Access registrations.
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- 34. Next: Audience Development Be sure to check out the next eBook in the Content Marketing in Wonderland series: Building an Audience Development Strategy for Content Marketing at: marketingblog.com p Coming: Aug 11, 2014