The document outlines a 7-step process for creating an effective content marketing strategy: 1) Define objectives, 2) Identify your brand's unique value proposition, 3) Establish metrics for measurement, 4) Profile target audiences, 5) Research audience needs, 6) Plan appropriate content formats, and 7) Develop an amplification plan to promote content. The strategy emphasizes understanding audiences, creating useful content, and distributing content through multiple channels to meet business goals such as increasing awareness, sales, or loyalty.

1. Create a Content
Marketing
Strategy Your
Customers Will
Love, in 7 Steps

2. ConvinceAndConvert.com

3. Content Marketing
Isn’t New

4. How to keep your plants
watered on vacation,
circa 1910 (from U.K.
cigarette company)

5. How to keep your plants
watered on vacation,
circa 2013 (from Lowe’s,
via Vine video)

6. Content Creates
Trust, and This Has
Always Been True

7. And Trust is the Filter
Through Which All
Business Success
Must Pass

8. Our Emphasis on
Content is What’s New

9. Nearly a third of B2B
marketers are spending
25% of their budget (or
more) on content
marketing
Content
Marketing
Institute,
2014

10. Why?
!
The Old Ways of Marketing
Don’t Work (like they used to)

11. Top-of-mind
Awareness is Difficult
and Expensive

12. Inbound Marketing
is Only Half the
Battle

13. Inbound marketing doesn’t create demand for your
products, it simply fulfills it. Nobody goes to Google
and says “just surprise me.”

14. Content Marketing
Works if it is Useful,
Inspirational,
Motivational.

15. if
you have a documented
strategy

16. 83% of B2B marketers have a content
strategy, but only 35% have it
documented
Content
Marketing
Institute,
2014

17. let’s fix that
also, my company - Convince & Convert -
creates killer content marketing strategic plans
for some of the most interesting companies in
the world.
!
!
ConvinceAndConvert.com

18. Content Marketing Strategy in 7 Steps
objectives 1
what’s your one thing? 2
measurement 3
audiences 4
audience needs 5
content executions 6
content amplification 7

19. 1
Objectives

20. Why are you doing
this at all?

21. Is Content
Marketing going to
increase
awareness?

22. Is Content
Marketing going to
increase sales?

23. Is Content
Marketing going to
increase loyalty?

24. Content objectives are
all over the board. Don’t
do that. Pick a rationale
for content marketing
and stick with it.

25. Remember: the goal is
NOT to be good at content.
!
The goal is to be good at
business because
of content.

26. document this:
Because of content
marketing, our customers
will _______, our
prospective customers will
________, and our
business will _________.

27. 2
What’s Your One Thing?

28. Guess what? Someone
has already thought of
your great idea.

29. What’s special
about YOU and
YOUR content?

30. It’s usually not your
products and
services

31. Your “ONE THING” is
the soul of your
company that shines
through all your
content marketing

32. Give yourself
permission to make
the story BIGGER

33. How to buy a used car
infographic….from a
locksmith!

34. document this:
People will care about our
content because of
_______. Our content will
inspire and motivate them
because of _________.

35. 3
Measurement

36. Your objectives
dictate your metrics

37. If your objective is
brand awareness,
you must measure
that, not
something else

38. The 4 Categories of
Content Marketing
Metrics

39. Remember: if you
want to track
behavior, you have
to do something
that is trackable

40. !
!
!
ConvinceAndConvert.com

41. Don’t track
everything. Track a
few things that
actually matter

42. document this:
We will know our content is
working because we will
track _______,
________, and
____________.

43. 4
Audiences

44. Your objectives also
dictate your
audiences

45. Use personas to
model your desired
audiences

46. Who are they? What
do they like? How
do they spend their
time? What
influences them?

47. document this:
The audiences for our
content marketing are
described by this persona
(_______), this persona
(_______), and this
persona (_______).

48. 5
Audience Needs

49. What content do your
audiences WANT
from you?
!
What is Youtility for
them?

50. Youtility is marketing so
useful, people would
pay for it
!
!
!
YoutilityBook.com (free resources)

51. Multiple sources to find audience
NEEDS:
!
• Web analytics (popular content)
• Internal search data
• Search analytics (popular search terms)
• Social listening
• Sales/customer service
• Customer interviews

52. Remember: don’t
settle for data.
!
Get real insights.

53. Organize your
audience needs by
persona and
buying stage

54. Awareness!
Confirmation!
Interest!
Purchase!
features
price
suitability
and
risk
avoidance

55. How much content
do you need?

56. Personas
X
Buying Stages
X
Questions per Stage

57. Personas (5)
X
Buying Stages (4)
X
Questions per Stage (5)
= 100 pieces of content

58. Don’t be afraid to
pursue
Cooperative Content

59. Instagram photo posted by
dog lover, and noticed by
NestlePurina’s Beggin
Strips brand

60. With permission, Beggin
re-crops photo and posts
to it own Instagram
account

61. Beggin then re-crops again,
adds watermark and
headline, and posts to its
Facebook page. Cooperative
Content at work!

62. Employees are also
a great source of
Cooperative Content

63. document this:
Our buying stages
are_______,
_______,_______ and
______. We have listed all
the questions our personas
need to move through each
stage here: _______.

64. 6
Content Executions

65. Remember: don’t do this
step
out of order.
!
You don’t have to have a
blog, you have to satisfy
audience needs.

66. Use personas and
audience research to
determine optimal
content types

67. What works in
content marketing
varies considerably.
Content
Marketing
Institute,
2014

68. Remember: don’t
rely on other
people’s case
studies…do your
own research

69. Remember: if you
only pay attention
to averages, you’ll
always be an
average marketer

70. Two main types of
content executions:
Bricks Feathers

71. Bricks are:
!
• Heavier
• More permanent
• More production value
• Passed along and saved
• Usually targeted closer to decision

72. Awareness!
Confirmation!
Interest!
Purchase!
features
price
suitability
and
risk
avoidance

73. Feathers are:
!
• Lighter
• Disposable
• Less production value
• Usually targeted at initial stages

74. Awareness!
Confirmation!
Interest!
Purchase!
features
price
suitability
and
risk
avoidance

75. This very
detailed
research
report is a
brick

76. This blog post is
a feather

77. Unless personas have
VERY clear content
format preferences,
consider atomizing
content across
multiple types

78. Remember: you can
take your bricks and
turn them into many
feathers, in many
places

79. The BBC now creates 15-second news
stories with Instagram video. A BBC
television broadcast is a brick. This is
a feather.

80. Create a content planning
worksheet: Date
Format/Channel
Author
Description
Persona(s)
Audience Need(s)
Funnel Stage
Call-to-Action
Measurement

83. Remember: define
WHAT you want
content consumers
to do next
!

84. Put your content
strategy on a
detailed calendar
with views by week,
month, quarter, year

85. Excel or Google docs
at first, dedicated
software eventually
for calendaring

86. document this:
For each audience need, we
will create content in one or
more ways, and will create
a worksheet to organize
content, timelines, and
calls-to-action.

87. 7
Content Amplification

88. The fact that you
created some
content does NOT
mean anyone will see
it (or care about it)

89. Remember: Content is
fire.
!
Social media is
gasoline.
!

90. You must market
your marketing and
create a distribution
plan for each piece
of content

91. Amplification options:
Employees’ social
Customers’ social
Email (internal +
external)
Organic search
Paid search
Display ads
Organice social
Paid social
Guest posts
Earned meda (PR)
Offline ads

92. document this:
For this piece of content,
we will amplify it with
______, ______, and
______.

93. Content Marketing Strategy in 7 Steps
objectives 1
what’s your one thing? 2
measurement 3
audiences 4
audience needs 5
content executions 6
content amplification 7

94. Remember: your job is
not to make brochures
!
Your job is to tell
interesting and
informative stories.

95. ConvinceAndConvert.com
how can we help you?