Content MarketingStrategy on a

Cocktail Napkin

Content MarketingStrategy on a

Cocktail Napkin

A flight of content marketingToo many marketers are just putting content out on sampler trays trying to give everyone a little of what they might want without knowing why they are doing what they are doing.

A little content on Facebook, a visual on Pin-terest, a little blog here, a little video there. Marketers are serving up content all over the place without any rhyme or reason to it because that’s what they think they should do.

Some sobering facts:According to Content Marketing Institute, 83% of marketers said they have a content marketing strategy, but only 35% said it was documented.The graph below represents the percentage of B2B marketers who have a content marketing strategy.

14% No

35% Yes and documented

3% Unsure

48% Yes and not documented

Conduct an interventionIf you don’t have a documented plan, stop what you’re doing right now and document your content marketing strategy. Once you get it written down, bring your team into it and create accountability.

The three most important elements:

Know what you’re trying to do

Know why you’re doing it

Know how you will accomplish it

Keep it simpleA content strategy doesn’t have to be a 16 pagereport. It can be a simple, one page document.Write it on a cocktail napkin, jot it on a deskblotter or send it in an email. Just get it in writing.Keep it short and sweet, but be sure to include:

Business goals

Objectives and KPIs

Target markets

Audience personas

Target keywords

Key messages

Distribution channels

Content creation tasks

Measurement metrics

Stop and ask “Why?”List all your marketing channels and ask why you’re distributing to that channel

Why are you on Facebook?

Why are you on Twitter?

Why are you on Pinterest?

Why are you on Youtube?

List all your content and ask why you’re creating that content

Why an ebook?

Why an e-newsletter?

Why an email blast?

Why a webinar?

Stop making excuses for poor planning

We’ve always done it

That’s what we do

Our competitor is doing it

Sober up and match your goals and KPIs to overall corporate goals. Keep asking the question “Why” until the answer is linked to an overall business goal for your brand. If there’s no business goal behind it, don’t do it.

Plan for resultsAn effective marketing strategy shows results and increases effectiveness. After you have questioned what you are doing and why, begin to plan based on overall corporate goals.

Create a hypothesis

Create a plan to test the hypothesis

Set KPIs

Establish metrics

Share your plan

Review and update your plan regularly

Take back your resourcesLess is more. Take back the resources you spend on things that aren’t part of the strategic plan and don’t contribute to corporate goals.Then, focus on being truly epic at the strategic content marketing that you have planned.

Stop bingemarketingDON’T do content marketing just to do content marketing. Create a strategy and then stop doing what doesn’t make sense for the business or for your customers.

DO find the areas of need for your brand

Where are there areas of need?

How can we fill the need?

What’s the most accessible need to fix right away?

Is there a way we could tell a story to fill the need?

The funnel rutMarketers have begun to think of certain mediums as brand mediums and certain mediums as deal closers. As you develop your content strategy, think of the message and the audience to determine what to create, when to create it, and how to distribute it.

Consider the entire customer journey and not just gaining awareness and share of mind at the top of the funnel.

Podcasts andvideo - not just top of the funnelRemove the invisible boundaries of the funnel and consider where your target audience is and how they want to get your content. As you consider podcasts and video as part of the strategic mix, think of them as vehicles to distribute content and create more interactive experiences for your audience.

Podcast case studies

Video product walkthroughs

Video white papers

Video case studies

Random acts of video and podcastingVideo and podcasting have not escaped the follies of the random content marketer. Before you consider adding video or podcasting into your marketing mix, be sure to ask why and then create a schedule for consistent distribution.

Produce one asset weekly to a targeted set of people

Establish consistency to create anticipation

Measure effectiveness over time

Consider your audience

Start with a taste testCreating corporate culture change and getting buy-in from senior level executives begins with giving the management a taste before offering them the whole bottle. Establishing a content marketing department or a content center of excellence will be easier if it’s approached in small steps.

Consider beginning with a pilot program. In a sales driven culture, the C-suite may be more likely to accept the change on a trial basis insteadof committing long term budgets to the efforts.

Once you’ve established a successful pilot program, you can toast your successes and expand your efforts.

A winning pilot programHere are some tips to set up the pilot and get buy-in for the long-term

Set measurable and attainable goals

Share your strategic plan with other departments

Narrow your focus to one or two key metrics

Set a short time frame – e.g. six months

Set a meeting to review after six months

Measure your efforts

Share your wins and areas for improvement

Establish best practices for the future

Last call: Becoming strategic and relevantSome last words of advice:

Determine overall corporate goals

Set content marketing goals based on corporate goals

Decide on channels and content

Rethink the marketing and sales funnel

Design a customer journey

Create relevant content

Let us know:e@ginzametrics.com

Twitter: @ginzametrics.comfacebook.com/ginzametrics

Let us know:e@ginzametrics.com

Twitter: @ginzametrics.comfacebook.com/ginzametrics

Questions?