Content Marketing Guide

content marketing

guide

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Content Marketing is the technique of creating communicative information that is valuable and relevant to a speci�ied target audience, with the purpose of engaging them and driving them towards an action which is pro�itable to the company.

“”- Content Marketing Institute

‘Communicative information’ means: email,strategy guide, tweet, blog post, Facebookstatus, website text, video, TV ad, business card, white paper and much more. This is content and content is also your brand.

content marketing

guide

Why is content marketing important?

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5 reasons why your company needs a content marketing strategy.

First, meaningful content marketingis important because we live in a world of information overload; competition is fierce and if you don't deliver what people want:a) They won't find you in the first place b) They are only a click away from a competitor.

Second, developing quality content will attract many more natural links to your site. No need to build links artificially, which is not good practice and less effective.

Third, if your content is of a high quality, useful and relevant, customers will continue to refer to it over time. This is the process that builds trust and brand recall. Eventually these people will reward you with their business. This really does happen, look at Instagram for example.

Fourth, when it comes to content marketing , don’t wait for your competitors, be proactive. What matters is that companies in other industries are embracing content marketing and they are altering the expectations of YOUR customers.

Fifth, good content creates customer loyalty and has a measurable effect on your customer’s behaviour.

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Aims

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In a previous guide, ‘Digital Marketing Strategy: The Rules of Engagement’ , the importance of setting S.M.A.R.T (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely) objectives was discussed in detail and emphasized as a necessary element of any digital marketing plan and here is why...

Speci�icMeasurableAttainableRelevantTimely

Audience

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Research & understand your target audience. It is important to understand your target customers both in terms of demographics (age, gender, social status etc.) and also what interests and inspires them, their lifestyle, habitsopinions etc.

You should always be aware that your audience will be moving through different stages of the 'sales funnel'. At eachstage they will require different information or content. Content must therefore be responsive according to the user's specific context. Ensure your company expertise applies to all stages of the process to make it as relevant to the customer as possible.

The intersection between your understanding of your target customer’s 'persona', their stage in thebuying process and your company expertise is the bull’s eye in the target you’re aiming at.

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Audience

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“Where can I buy good discounted running shoes?”

@customer retweeted @LewisHamilton

Customer subscribed to ‘CosmopolitanOnline’

@customer is now following @rihanna

reply: “I would highly recommend the iPhone 5!”

Customer shared ‘McDonald’s UK’s photo

Indicators of engagement: - Comments- Shares- Likes (Facebook)- Retweets (Twitter)- Repins (Pinterest)- +1’s- Follows- Questions asked- Replies given- Email subscriptions- Blog visits

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AttributesCompany Expertise

“We have 24 hour helplines”

Customer Needs

5.03am “I need access to my account...now!”

Understanding your audience: who they are and what they engage with, you can begin gathering a list of topics that match your expertise as a company, and the problems/ frustrations/interest your customers have (remember that bulls eye) .

By matching your expertise with the pain points of your target audience, you have immediately identified a mountain of potential content you can begin to mine.

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Content is your brand

Getting it wrong

Getting it right

Timely

...and your brand is defined by your audience.

Your ‘brand’ is the promise and expectations that reside in a customer’s mind, which are recognized and connected with every time they come into contact with one of your services or products. Yourbrand is not something that is solely yours, and nor can you entirely control it. Instead, your brandis the mutually created essence of your company, built by yourselves and your audience largelythrough the sharing of content.

This means each time a customer interacts with your company; there is the potential for your brand to either be strengthened or weakened depending on that interaction. That interaction with your brand could be through advertising, your website or even a phone conversation. This means you need effective brand management and sufficient brand awareness at every outlet your company has because: your brand affects all of your content.

A good brand: builds companies, develops a strong sense of identity and allows trusted relationshipsto build between businesses and their clients, and a good brand ensures you stand out in today’sincreasingly saturated marketplace.

I will never buy coffee from tax dodging Starbucks again personally. RT and #SpreadtheCheer

5 out of 5 18 March 2013

Beautiful!elelellieSize: UK 6 / US 2This dress really is amazing. I am a size 6 and the dress fits perfectly! It's made out of good material and it's really comfortable. Its definitely worth the money!!!

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YESTERDAY YOU SAID

TOMORROW


Stop, Read, Think.Change.

If you know your audience and you know your brand, you know how your content is going to look, sound, feel, communicate and interact with that audience. This is the value of thoroughly undertaking the first three steps of creating your content marketing strategy.

After all: good content marketing should make a target customer, stop, read, think and behave differently, irrelevant of whether that target customer is an individual (B2C) or another company (B2B).

“I will do it today!”


B2B Content Marketing

80% of business decision-makers prefer to get company information in a series of articles versus an advertisement.

70% say content marketing makes them feel closer to the sponsoring company.

60% of consumers feel more positive about a company after reading custom content on its site.

91% of B2B marketers use content marketing.

B2C Content Marketing

86% of B2C marketers use content marketing.

70% of consumers prefer getting to know a company via articles rather than ads.

According to 37% of marketing managers, the most important channel for engaging customers is content-led websites.

90% of consumers find custom content useful, and 78% believe that organizations providing custom content are interested in building good relationships with them.

Vs’


B2B & B2C statistics insights

These statistics demonstrate that companies talk to their customers in meaningful conversations whether in B2B or B2C environments.

Your audience is made up of PEOPLE, not: prospects, sales targets, buyers, traders or publics and these PEOPLE, prefer useful, interesting content rather than ads and sales pitches.


Marketing people want to receive!Imagine this, what if you could go one step further and create content that your target audience actually looked forward to receiving?

The trick is to communicate with your target audiences without directly selling, so instead of pitchingand promoting your products and services, you should be providing content to your target audience which serves to make them better informed. The theory is that by delivering consistently high quality, valuable and relevant (those words again) information to your target audience, they will ultimately reward your efforts with their business long term.

We could save you money...


Tips and Tricks...

To take it to the next level, where people actually await your content marketing with baited breath, you need to be creative with it as well as valuable and relevant.

Here is a few tips to help you get started.

Think beyond your keywords to create something new and exciting

To �ind original content, look for inspiration that’s the opposite, keep an eye out for the content people aren’t looking for, the gaps in the search results that do appear.

If you have created a piece of content in one medium, for example a video, see if you can take it further, turn it into a blog post, info graphic or image.

Another way to come up with original content is to talk to your own team or better still your own clients.

Generate content based on audience feedback such as comments and especially questions

Find out what pieces of your content were successful and why, this is the plan, test, reviewformula.

AVOID“Have you heard the one about the SEO expert who walks into the bar, public house, pubs, bars, public houses, Irish pub, liquor house, drinks, beer, ale, wine...?”


Build your brand ArmyIf you get to grips producing relevant, valuable and creative content the chances are you can move your customers towards being ‘passionate subscribers’ and if you can do this then you are really achieving something with your content marketing.

Passionate Subscribers are the people that create fan sites, write, share and evangelize your brandbecause they want to. For example consider Apple:

1. They have no social media presence across any site2. They have no blog3. Seemingly they have no content marketing strategy at all

But there are Apple fan sites, articles about Apple and individuals who promote, recommend and protect the Apple brand. These are passionate subscribers of which Apple has an entire army and this should be your ultimate goal for your content marketing too, to build an army of consumers passionate about your brand and willing to fight for it.

Content, particularly content produced by happy customers is one of, if not the one, most powerful way of fulfilling your business objectives.

@HugeAppleFanFan and promoter of everything Apple!

Love my new Apple iPhone, EVERYONE should get one!about 1 hour ago via iPad


Find the right channels: Mobile

First and foremost you must understand which marketing channels are right for you. This is where your audience comes to your aid yet again. Understand who is using your content and for the purposes of marketing it, how they want to receive it from you.

#1 Mobile Devices

People are increasingly using mobile device to use the internet and read email. Understand how your audience is accessing your content (are they using smart phones, tablets, desktops or a mixture?) and how, if at all, that might affect the content your are producing.

Look Great On Every Platform



Content Marketing is the technique of creating communicative information that is valuable and relevant to a specified target audience, with the purpose of engaging them and driving them towards an action which is profitable to the company.




#2 social media

Does your audience use social media? If so, are they tweeters (twitter) or pinners (Pinterest)? Do they use Linked-in or are they on Facebook?

Find the right channels: Social

@TwitterGirlOffice Worker

Feeling pretty fresh for a Monday morning! #6amstartabout a minute ago

Mr Cloudspotting checked in at: ‘The Office’

20 minutes ago near Leeds, England

are you successfully

marketing your

content?

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@Leedswebagency

/cloudspottingagency

/cloudspotting

www.cloudspotting.co.uk

To �ind original content, look for inspiration that’s the opposite, keep an eye out for the content people aren’t looking for, the gaps in the search results that do appear.

Referenceswww.contentmarketinginstitute.com/2013/01/content-marketing-strategies-for-social-media/

www.b2bmarketinginsider.com/content-marketing/the-content-marketing-checklist-for-b2b-marketers

www.econsultancy.com/uk/blog/61898-10-ways-to-create-a-great-content-campaign?utm_medium=feeds&utm_source=blog

www.contentmarketinginstitute.com/2012/11/42-content-marketing-ideas-for-2013/

www.contentmarketinginstitute.com/2013/01/content-marketing-strategies-for-social-media/

www.marketeer.kapost.com/2013/01/content-marketing-building-blocks-targeted-content/

www.valuablecontent.co.uk/how-to-write-content-so-that-search-engines-will-find-you-and-people-will-like-you/

www.forums.seochat.com/search-engine-promotion-29/how-many-keywords-should-i-use-page-445961.html

www.blog.searchengineacademy.com/blog/seo/why-is-content-marketing-important-for-business-seo-isnt-everything-after-all/

www.mashable.com/2012/08/02/technology-companies-content-marketing/

www.contentmarketinginstitute.com/developing-a-strategy/******

www.contentmarketinginstitute.com/what-is-content-marketing/

www.contentmarketinginstitute.com/what-is-content-marketing/

www.contentplus.co.uk/marketing-resources/infographics/anatomy-of-content-marketing/

www.contentmarketinginstitute.com/2012/11/2013-b2c-consumer-content-marketing/

www.contentmarketinginstitute.com/2012/11/2013-b2c-consumer-content-marketing/

www.contentplus.co.uk/marketing-resources/infographics/anatomy-of-content-marketing/

www.the-cma.com/uploads/documents/cma-01.jpg

www.engage.tmgcustommedia.com/2011/07/content-marketing-stats/

Econsultancy/Outbrain content marketing survey results

Content Marketing Guide

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Transcript of Content Marketing Guide