Content Marketing Strategy

Mike McGrailVelocity Digital

Hi, I’m Mike

What is content marketing?

“Content marketing is a marketing technique of 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”

What do you think of this video?

http://youtu.be/KRUIZyVdhCo

In my opinion, it sucks.

Why?

At the time, Blackberry was having serious issues with its image – it wasn’t cool anymore.

Do you think that video helped?

Hmmmm.

There’s nothing new about content marketing...

In fact, it’s as old as marketing itself.

But it’s very trendy right now...

and has never been more important!

Key advantages of content marketing...

• Raising awareness• Building relationships • Driving Leads and sales• Customer service and retention• SEOAside from SEO, the remaining four are standard aims of marketing. People often say that SEO is not marketing. Those people are wrong.

Google and Content

The Google algorithm favors fresh and relevant content. A content strategy not only achieves those four standard aims of marketing, but ensures a healthy SEO footprint. Please note, there’s a lot more to SEO than just content.

Healthy SEO helps to put a business in front of people. That’s marketing, right?

Key components of content marketing - Planning

What do we need to produce and when? Key sales periods? Quiet periods? Put it on paper!

What is the content?

Who’s it aimed at? Current customers? Prospects?

Who will do it? Who will lead? How will we collaborate across the business? How does it fit in with the wider marketing plan?

Where will it go? What platforms?

How will we know if it’s working?

Key components of content marketing - ThemesQuestion - what do you need in order to deliver a content marketing strategy?

Answer - something to talk about.

Sounds obvious, but many businesses struggle to see what they can talk about. There are four themes than can help this process...

Heritage Customer stories

Staff

Customer storiesCustomer stories

Production

Key components of content marketing - ContentWhat forms of content are there? The below and many more!

Customer storiesCustomer stories

Blogs

PDFs

Customer stories

Video

Imagery

Web-copy

Infographics

White-papers

Apps

EmailsSocial media updates

Key components of content marketing - PlatformsWhen you’ve created content, you need to put it somewhere. Ideally, you would hold it a platform that you own and have complete control of - your website for example. We don’t 100% own our social media profiles etc, and that means that the hub of your content strategy should be owned by you.

Key components of content marketing - PlatformsWhile, you should be holding key content (such as blog posts, videos and infographics ) on your hub, it is hugely important to create content suitable for other other platforms such as social media. Each social media platform has its own ways of working, and putting the same thing on Facebook and on Twitter for example, won’t work. Don’t treat social media platforms as a one-size fits all effort.

The buck doesn‘t stop at social media! Always think about how you can extend your content across media and platforms. There are times when a more in-depth approach is required - white-papers and essays often suit those needs.

While using multiple platforms can be effective, you must avoid spreading yourself too thin and offering a poor experience.

You have to focus on where your audience is and where they are acting. Fish where the fishes are.

Key components of content marketing - The Spread

Your platforms that sit outside of your hub should ultimately be used to increase the exposure of your content. Whether it be via the likes of social media or even RSS and email, you should be looking to bring people to your hub.

After all, where is business done? Usually within your hub.

However, you do need to create a balance of driving people to your hub content, but still offer value within each platform.

Key components of content marketing - Analysis

Too many businesses carry on with content marketing in a blind fashion, with very little awareness of its effects. This isn’t a ‘tick box’ exercise. A lot of time and money can be wasted. What does strong reporting entail?

•Business metrics - enquiries and sales

•Audience metrics - unique views, average time spent on page, pages per view etc

•Site effects - are people visiting key areas of site via content?

•Social metrics - likes, comments, re-tweets of content etc. These are all fine, however without gauging what effect they have on your site, they can be misleading

•Commentary

•Comparisons

What do you need to be successful at content marketing?Creativity

What do you need to be successful at content marketing?

Resources, including:

• Writers• Photographers• Designers• Video • Editors• Project managers• People to facilitate the spread• Analytical brains!

What do you need to be successful at content marketing?

Time

It takes time to get content marketing right. You also need to be able to be:

• Proactive• Reactive

Reactive is good!

What do you need to be successful at content marketing?

Analytical brains

You need a data nerd. Without them, the whole thing can come tumbling down...

Great examplesVideo

http://youtu.be/ZUG9qYTJMsI

Great examplesRe-active content - Oreo Superbowl

Great examplesBlog - TOMS shoes

http://blog.toms.com/

Great examplesFacebook - Dorset Cereals

https://www.facebook.com/dorsetcereals

Thanks for listening

My Twitter - @mike_mcgrailMy company - http://www.velocitydigital.co.ukMy email - m.mcgrail@velocitydigital.co.uk