Content Marketing Strategy Workshop August 24, 2015 // New York City Michael Brenner Head of Strategy, NewsCred @BrennerMichael
Goals for Strategy Workshop Understand what an effective content marketing strategy looks like Determine where your content will live. Understand important site elements Understand Editorial Strategy and gain clarity on editorial mission and topics Brainstorm content ideas Understand distribution best practices Determine the measures of success @BrennerMichael
Content Marketing Strategy
@BrennerMichael
Just 3 Things . . . The world has changed.
Most content stinks. Attract people through stories they love.
@BrennerMichael
Content today must compete with pictures of babies and kittens.
@BrennerMichael
@BrennerMichael
Content marketing trends
@BrennerMichael 12
“ We need to stop interrupting what people are interested in, and start delivering what people are interested in.
� @BrennerMichael
@BrennerMichael
We tune out the noise. @BrennerMichael
@BrennerMichael 16
“ The buyer journey is nothing more than a series of questions that must be answered.
�
- IDC -
@BrennerMichael
Online Communities Search Engines eBooks Email Newsletters Editorial Articles White Papers Podcasts Case Studies Online Videos Webcasts Virtual Trade Shows Product Literature Trial Software Online Vendor Demos
Awareness
Begin decision process
Consideration Align IT with business objectives
Identify business problem
Explore technology options
Preference Determine solution strategy
Establish requirements/ build RFP
Assess ROI
Research products/ vendors Research solutions
Make decision
Build short list
@BrennerMichael
@BrennerMichael
Ann Handley: “Take your brand out of the story. . . . . .Make your customers the hero.�
What Brands Publish Our Natural Instinct
Content Marketing
What Customers Want Charity
@BrennerMichael
Exercise:
Why does your brand exist? What purpose does it serve?
Your Brand Purpose
Content Marketing
What Customers Want
@BrennerMichael
Content Marketing Defined “Content marketing is the marketing and business process for 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.” -Content Marketing Institute •
Not advertising or PR
•
It is continuous not campaign-based
•
Customer-focused, not brand-focused
•
Seeks to answer customer questions across the buyer journey
•
Owned media = An asset for your business with LTV and ROI @BrennerMichael
The Promise of Content Marketing:
To earn your audience . . . . . . versus buying it!
@BrennerMichael
24
Key factors to content marketing success: 1.
Documented content strategy and mission statement
2.
Have someone accountable for content
3.
Consistently publish quality content
4.
Map content to consumer journey
5.
Paid Distribution
6.
Focus on Content Subscribers
7.
Track Content Marketing ROI @BrennerMichael
Now: Give yourself a grade . . Best Practice
R
Y
G
Have a documented content strategy? Have someone managing content Content hub maps to the consumer journey Publishing quality, volume and variety Social activation of content
Overall:
?
Paid distribution
Focus on Content Subscriptions Measurement template / ROI defined @BrennerMichael
Why is it important to have a documented content strategy?
Content Marketing Mission Statement Become a destination for [target audience] interested in [topics]. To help them [customer value]. This will help us [content marketing goals] • Earn your audience’s attention vs. just buying it • Reach, engage and convert NEW buyers
AmEx Open Forum Example: Help Small Businesses Do More Business. To become the largest source of inbound leads.
@BrennerMichael
What Is Your Content Marketing Mission Statement?
Become a (premier?) destination for [target audience] interested in [topics] to help them [customer value].
@BrennerMichael
Steps to crafting a content strategy
Discovery • Current
State • Target Audience • Business Case • Mission Statement • Budget
Destination Branding + Design • Branding • UX • Platform
Roles + Responsibility • Who
Editorial Strategy
does what? • Structure • Tech Partner • Topics • Agency • Types • Sources • SEO
Distribution + Optimization
Measurement • Business
Case KPIs • Define report • How often
• SEO • Platforms • Paid • Owned • Earned • Email
Newsletter
@BrennerMichael
Building the content marketing business case 1. Reach early stage buyers
2. Engage new buyers with your brand
3. Conversions you would have never reached
@BrennerMichael
60-70% of marketing content goes completely unused. *Sirius Decisions
@BrennerMichael
@BrennerMichael
TWEET THIS!
Behind every piece of bad content is an executive who asked for it.
@BrennerMichael
Conduct A Content Audit • • • • •
Content Type Audience / Target Buyer Stage Primary Destination Performance
@BrennerMichael
Look at Content by Buyer Stage Early-Stage Content 6%
Late-Stage Content
Early Stage Middle Stage Late Stage
66%
28%
Middle-Stage Content
@BrennerMichael
Your Business Goals Select one or more from the list (or add your own): 1.
Create affinity for your core products and brands
2.
To reach new potential buyers with unbranded search
1.
To retain existing customers
2.
Upsell existing customers / retention
3.
Convert them through digital offers, paths to sale @BrennerMichael
Joe Pulizzi: “Don’t build your house on rented land.” - Publish On Your Own Content Hub -
@BrennerMichael
Consider Your Destination and Branding
@BrennerMichael
Design Structure 1) 2) 3)
4)
5) 6)
Categories across the top show visitor what space you are in Images help humanize the site and break text Published content horizontally shows frequency (add dates and authors) Share buttons encourage social sharing Mid-stage offer on right Newsletter/subscription sign up
@BrennerMichael
Categories across the top show visitor what space you are in
Images are authentic and create context for the content
Author bylines show authenticity and the dates show frequency
Share buttons encourage social sharing
Recommended or Most Popular
@BrennerMichael
Heavy call-to-action + subscription
Define Content Marketing Roles and Functions
Content Marketer / Editor
Community Manager
Analytics
Designer
Curation
Contributors
SEO / Paid Specialist
Strategizes,
Distributes content across social channels, engages online communities, and contributes to content projects.
Defines best/ worst
Brings content to life through the user experience and rich visuals.
Fines and re-
Any content creatorblogger, photographer, designer — who contributes to your project.
Manages the paid distribution of content online.
writes, and oversees content projects to ensure brand consistency and alignment with business objectives.
performers, conversion optimization and measurement
purposes the best content from your business and from around the web.
communications.
@BrennerMichael
Editorial Strategy
April 27, 2015
What we’ll cover in this section: • Thinking and acting like a publisher • Mapping keywords to the buyer journey • The “persona filter” • The importance of imagery • The impact of volume on reach and conversion
@BrennerMichael
What Are We Going to Write About?
@BrennerMichael
Unique Point of View Trap How brands can become consumed with their story, not their customers.
@BrennerMichael
@BrennerMichael
The Biggest Mistake Brands Make With Content Marketing Is Making The Content All About Them Think and Act like a Publisher!
Effective Editorial Strategy •
Thinking and acting like a publisher
•
Create the content your audience (actually) wants
•
Build an audience, then monetize it
•
Manage content as an asset with an ROI @BrennerMichael
How do you give a pile of bricks order? •
What are different ways you could organize content?
•
Consider recurring themes / series / trigger events
•
Look at publishers in your space
@BrennerMichael
Reach, Engage and Convert the Right People.
What is Content Marketing? (10-3000 X)
Who is the best Content Marketing provider? (2-10 X) Middle-stage
Brand Searches
NewsCred Content Marketing software is how awesome?
Search / Social Volume
Early-stage Searches
@BrennerMichael
@BrennerMichael
@BrennerMichael
@BrennerMichael
@BrennerMichael
Research Keywords, Then Filter By Personas Persona
Stage
Questions/Concerns
Keywords
Main
Early
What is [your solution]
[your solution]
Middle
How to succeed with [Your solution]
[your solution]
Late
How much is [your solution]
[your solution]
Persona
Stage
Questions/Concerns
Keywords
Secondary
Early
Xyz
Xyz
Middle
Xyz
Xyz
Late
Xyz
Xyz
@BrennerMichael
Utilize the Right Mix of Content Custom Content Share on-brand stories and recipes which are created specifically for your brand.
Licensed Content Boost credibility, publishing cadence, and direct traffic with a high-volume of fully-licensed, compliant content.
Community Content Leverage content from customers, employees, influencers that grows and engages your community.
Content Mix (Monthly Average) Licensed Content User / Employee
30%
50% Licensed Custom Social Custom Content
20% @BrennerMichael
How To Rank For SEO? The 3 Vs (Content Mix)
Volume
Value
Variety
Number of posts on the topic
The best answer on the internet
Text, images, video, slides @BrennerMichael
Imagery matters
60,000 X the brain processes images faster than text.
78% of consumers say that the quality of a product image is “very important� in selecting and purchasing a product
94% more total views on content featuring compelling images than content without images.
@BrennerMichael
Case Study: Bloomberg uses stunning imagery to bring “dry� topics to life
66
‘Big Data’
@BrennerMichael
‘Technology’
@BrennerMichael
‘Intraday Settlement Compresses Trading Cycle’
@BrennerMichael
‘Transform Data Into A Strategic Access’
@BrennerMichael
‘Intraday Settlement Compresses Trading Cycle’
The Impact Of Volume On Reach and Conversion • • • •
•
Publishers publish every day on each topic, category or theme Organic Traffic goes up with each new article published Diminishing return? (see below) Optimize content budget vs. paid distribution budget Increasing frequency will increase Organic + Social % of Total PVs
A few times a year
< monthly
1-2X per month
1-2X per week
1 per day
More than 1 per day
Blog Post Brainstorm
Content Amplification and Distribution
What we’ll cover in this section: • The Converged Media approach • Best Practices for Distribution: • Email • Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram) • Paid
@BrennerMichael
Maximizing the Reach of Your Content A â&#x20AC;&#x153;converged mediaâ&#x20AC;? approach utilizes paid, owned, and earned media to deliver content the audience wants and maximizing the reach of that content.
Paid Social Influencer
Maximize organic buzz, social engagement, and PR
Organic traffic & SEO
Leverage your owned content and channels
Quickly grow your audience & jumpstart engagement
Converged
Paid Content Distribution (Outbrain, Sharethrough)
@BrennerMichael
Social networks dominate content discovery
Social media can have a real impact on your bottom line.
78% of consumers said that companiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; social media posts impact their purchasing decision
30% of buyers say that social media is very important in making their purchasing decisions
@BrennerMichael
Best Practices: Overall •
Establish a unique voice and stick with it
•
Maintain a consistent cadence
•
Be transparent and authentic
•
•
Give due credit to authors and sources
Respond to fans (and haters) in a timely manner
•
Truly know your audience
•
Have variety of content: original, licensed, UGC (see below)
•
Play to the strengths of each platform: post the content that makes the most sense
Other people’s content
Your helpful posts
Promotional
@BrennerMichael
Tactics for distribution 1. Ad networks (example: Google AdWords)
2. Organic Social (example: LinkedIn) 3. Paid Social (example: LinkedIn Sponsored Update)
4. Native advertising (example: Sharethrough) 5. SEO 6. Lead nurturing (both paid & earned) (example: newsletter)
@BrennerMichael
Tactics for distribution 1. Ad networks (example: Google AdWords)
2. Organic Social (example: LinkedIn) 3. Paid Social (example: LinkedIn Sponsored Update)
4. Native advertising (example: Sharethrough) 5. SEO 6. Lead nurturing (both paid & earned) (example: newsletter)
@BrennerMichael
Benefits of email newsletter distribution 1. Keep your audience engaged 2. Free distribution channel
45% of NewsCredâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s traffic came from
3. Provides instantaneous trackable results
4. Nurture and convert leads @BrennerMichael
Newsletters are Vital for Identifying Trends and Takeaways
•
Digestible content: Top 2 posts are infographics.
•
The BuzzFeed effect: 4 of top 10 articles had headlines with words like: "top," "best," "most.”
•
Know your audience: 35% of top 20 articles have the mention of "content marketing" or "content marketers.”
•
Stats matter: 70% of top 10 articles have numbers in the headline.
•
Stay familiar: 25% of top 20 articles have a brand name mentioned in the headline - Ello, Vice, BuzzFeed, Nike, and Red Bull.
@BrennerMichael
Steps to creating an email marketing plan
Who will manage?
What content will you include?
Determine sending frequency and goals
Make a schedule
@BrennerMichael
Creating a Social Media Content Plan
Just because you can publish to every social channel, doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t mean you should. Find out which channels are most important for your audience and focus on 2 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 3 to start.
@BrennerMichael
Where is your target buyer? Cheat Sheet:
@BrennerMichael *Buffer, Pew research 2013
Pros and Cons Pros
Cons
Everyone is on it!
High competition
Younger, tech-savvy crowd who loves information
Need to be able to keep up with cadence
Highly-targeted. Very educated audience of business professionals (great for B2B)
B2C companies need to figure out
Younger audience.
Hard if click-through is end-goal or text-heavy content
TK
TK
@BrennerMichael
Best practices across social channels
The positive feedback loop of social: Build an audience, share great content, engage on each platform.
Tag brands/people where appropriate 1. Good social media etiquette
2. Great way to show influencers some love 3. Can be a great way to get more followers
@BrennerMichael
Know the art of the hashtag
@BrennerMichael
What Is the ideal cadence for each channel?
Suggested Cadence
2 times per day, 5-7 days per week
1 tweet per hour
2x per day
Varies (best to test). 1-2 times per day ď&#x192; 2/3 times per week
On the low end, try for 5 pins/day. If you have more content you can go up to 30/day (Best results from 15-30 pins/day)
@BrennerMichael
Overwhelmed by that last slide? 1. Don’t be afraid to post the same piece of content multiple times. • Use the headline once • Use a quote from the article once (or many different quotes different times!) • Grab a stat from the article and share that 2. Pre-schedule tweets… but have an action plan in place for real-time. 3. Evergreen content is your friend!
4. Ask your writer/team to come up with multiple tweets per each article @BrennerMichael
Paid Distribution
Even great content needs a push The average Hollywood movie spends 50-60% of production budget on distribution.
@BrennerMichael
Paid Social Twitter: promoted tweets, lead generation cards, web cards, etc. Facebook: boosted posts, ad sets
LinkedIn: sponsored updates, ad campaigns â&#x20AC;˘
Unsure about what platform and what ad to use?
â&#x20AC;˘
A/B test until you get it right - companies who test are 75% more likely to show ROI for content marketing than those who fail to test their strategies.
Help new audiences discover your content with Outbrain or Taboola • “Recommended For You!” Get in front of audiences who are
Best choice for budget distribution
Already reading content
about your topic on other sites but who you aren’t already reaching. @BrennerMichael
Measurement
Three key metrics to measure for Brand Awareness Website Traffic • Visits • Time Spent on Site • Pages consumed per visit Social Engagement • Followers • Shares • Reach Content Consumption • Subscriptions • Content Downloads
@BrennerMichael
Define Key Measures and Targets
@BrennerMichael
Organic and Social Traffic: The Health Of Your Program 35,000
Traffic from Organic, Social & Referrals 30,000
Unique Visitors
25,000 20,000 15,000 10,000 5,000 0
@BrennerMichael
@BrennerMichael
What to track and when Track top content / shares / topics on related sites monthly • • • • • •
• •
Top 50 Influencers 10 Blog Sites Terms You Need To Know 10 Predictions For… What Is [Keyword]? Infographics SlideShares Videos
@BrennerMichael
Social KPI Overview: Audience size + Engagement Facebook
Brand Awareness
Page likes, page visits, impressions, reach
Followers, impressions, reach, follower/following ratio
Company page likes, page views, visitors
Engagement
Post likes, comments, shares, clicks, â&#x20AC;&#x153;stories createdâ&#x20AC;?
RTs, favorites, replies, @mentions, clicks, engagement rate
Likes, comments, shares, clicks, engagement
Lead Generation
Link clicks to form or gated page, blog subscribe
Lead generation card clicks, link clicks to gated page, blog subscribe
Link clicks to form or gated page
@BrennerMichael
In Conclusionâ&#x20AC;¦
Key factors to content marketing success: 1.
Documented content strategy and mission statement
2.
Have someone accountable for content
3.
Consistently publish quality content
4.
Map content to consumer journey
5.
Balance Paid, Owned, and Earned Media
6.
Focus on Content Subscribers
7.
Track Content Marketing ROI @BrennerMichael
Hope youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re excited to create amazing content!
Thank you! @BrennerMichael