Post on 21-Oct-2014
description
Utilising content marketing to move beyond generating sales into generating an engaged customer body.
What is content marketing?
Creating and distributing valuable and relevant content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience, with the objective of driving profitable customer action.
Content marketing
is like farming.
Farmers drive retention and build lifetime value through constant nurturing, fertilisation and re-sowing.
Google searches for content marketing
Why is content marketing worthwhile and what objectives can it achieve?
Content marketing helps to build trust and mitigate risk for buyers.
Content marketing is the digital bait that hooks prospects and then helps to pull them through the sales process.
It’s both a lead generation and lead nurturing tool.
The old B2B sales funnel model
The new B2B engagement cycle
Content marketing helps to lower the cost of lead generation over the longer term.
Content marketing augments the effect of word of mouth.
Word of mouth is the original social media in farming.
Content marketing helps your sales messages fly under the radar. This is useful as farmers are inherently cynical.
What role does content marketing currently play in marketing to New Zealand’s rural sector?
More than you think.
Content marketing has been used successfully by rural brands (in a basic form) for many years before it became a marketing industry buzz word.
It took the form of copy-based printed collateral (brochures, newsletters, field trials and case studies).
Traditionally, these elements have not always been used in a strategic, co-ordinated way to drive farmer engagement.
There has also been a strong focus on product / tactical issues rather than taking a broader thought leadership position.
Rural content marketers need to take a more creative, integrated approach and use more visual and video based strategies to drive digital engagement online.
Using a marketing automation platform such as HubSpot, Marketo, Eloqua, or Engage will help to create a more integrated approach and customised content.
Generating content that is useful and meaningful for the rural audience?
Tell real life stories with an authentic voice and context. Human stories with emotional potency connect with people on a much deeper level.
Be different and always give your content a ‘creative twist’ through humour, interesting graphics, use of analogies or a new “tone of voice”.
Drop the “me” focus – they don’t care about your products.
Talk about your prospect’s challenges and issues in a timely fashion.
Get inside their heads, so you know what’s on their minds, and what they really care about.
Educate the market – this will help to position you as a thought leader.
Commission original research and support your story with data to prove your case.
Interview your customers and / or invite experts to contribute to build trust quickly.
Use both created and curated content to engage with your audience.
Using content marketing streams to listen, engage, and offer personalised solutions.
3 categories of social listening
IBM used keyword research to find the exact language IT buyers use in their searches about software topics, and then designed a series of “how-to” videos on these topics.
14 tactics to use in your content marketing.
Blogging. Create interesting shareable content. Also helps with your SEO.
Case studies. A powerful way to build empathy and trust. Give them a twist.
Infographics. Great for making complex information easy to digest.
Videos. The most engaging way to connect with your audience.
Social media. A perfect way to show off your personality and content.
Research reports. Original research packaged up for easy consumption.
ebooks. Great for getting email contacts.
Tip Sheets. Can make a lot of information easily scannable and readable.
eNewsletters. Still one of the most successful content marketing tools around.
Slideshare presentations.
Article seeding / PR. Great for building credibility and thought leadership.
Webinars. Recorded webinars generate leads long after the actual event.
Podcasts. For those who prefer audio.
Invent a new metric.
And now for a live demonstration...
Email me if you’d like a copy of my presentationand our new B2B ebook
steve@ballantynetaylor.co.nzwww.ballantynetaylor.co.nz