This eBook is the first of three from TopRank Marketing & Content Marketing World. Inside you'll find valuable advice from some of today's top marketers on content marketing strategy.
eBook: The Big Picture of Content Marketing Strategy
2. Bright Lights, Big Content!
Since the first movie theatre opened in 1905, people have been drawn to the big
screen for stories to make them laugh, cry and imagine the world differently.
A good movie can entertain. A great movie will leave you feeling engaged and
invested in the characters of the story in anticipation of what’s next. A great
content marketing strategy can have a similar effect between buyers and brands.
To bridge that connection between the great Hollywood movies of the past and
successful content marketing of today, we’ve partnered with TopRank Online
Marketing to create a triple feature covering strategy to measurement.
Featuring some of the top “stars” in the content marketing world, this series is the
perfect prequel to the main event: Content Marketing World 2015 in Cleveland,
September 8-11, 2015.
So grab your date, buy some popcorn and a drink, then find a good seat. This
year’s show just might be the biggest and best ever. You won’t want to miss it!
Joe Pulizzi
Founder, Content Marketing Institute &
Content Marketing World
Joe Pulizzi
6. Robert Rose
Robert Rose
@Robert_Rose
Chief Strategy Officer
Content Marketing Institute
#CMWorld Presentation:
Content Creation Management
– Building a New Process For
Our Business & Content
Marketing Success
Favorite Movie:
Princess Bride
Hey Kid, You Ready For Your
Content Marketing Close-Up?
This is content marketing. It ain’t "content friends,” and it
ain’t "Let’s-talk-about-us marketing.” It was Hitchcock who
said, “drama is life with the dull bits cut out.” And that, my
friend, is great content marketing. It’s the life of the
business with the dull bits removed.
What’s the biggest part of the “big picture” of
content marketing?
You have to create value beyond the product or service
you’re selling. That’s right, kid. Marketing doesn’t change
content’s purpose, content changes marketing’s purpose.
It’s about creating value that has everything to do with why
you’re in the business, but is rarely about your product or
service. It’s the kind of thing that, by itself, sells tickets, puts
butts in the seats and opens big.
Like I said kid – it’s time to listen up. You’re ready for your
close up.
7. Sarah
Compagnoni
Sarah Leitz-Compagnoni
@SarahCompagnoni
Strategic Marketing Manager
TechSmith Corporation
#CMWorld Presentation:
How to Structure Your Marketing
Department Around Paid,
Earned and Owned Media
Favorite Movie:
Pride and Prejudice
Building a Blockbuster
Content Marketing Strategy
A movie doesn’t hit the theaters as soon as an idea pops
into the director’s head. They need the right cast, script, set
design and promotions to create a box office hit. Likewise,
great content marketing starts well before anyone clicks a
link.
RomCom, Action, or Thriller?
With a box office hit, the story is clear and the team knows
what their audience will like. The same goes for content
marketing. Before you put pen to paper you need to know
who you’re trying to reach and why they would care about
your story.
Pick the Right Cast
A great story only gets you partway there. A great
supporting staff is the only way a film makes it past the
cutting room floor.
8. Sarah
Compagnoni
You need someone:
•! To set the vision and direct the campaign
•! Who can write and design great content
•! Who knows how to reach your audience
Content marketing is so much more than a great white
paper or customer story. To make an impact you need to
understand who you’re trying to reach, what they care
about, and have a great team in place to bring home an
Oscar!
Sarah Leitz-Compagnoni
@SarahCompagnoni
Strategic Marketing Manager
TechSmith Corporation
#CMWorld Presentation:
How to Structure Your Marketing
Department Around Paid,
Earned and Owned Media
Favorite Movie:
Pride and Prejudice
Building a Blockbuster
Content Marketing Strategy
Content marketing is more than just
a great customer story.
%
9. Chris Moody
Chris Moody
@cnmoody
Director of Marketing – Content
and Social
Oracle
#CMWorld Presentation:
How Senior Marketers and
CMOs are Structuring Around
Content Marketing
Favorite Movie:
The Way, Way Back
Optimize Before You Innovate
Instead of thinking of content in terms of creating all new
stuff, look at what you're already doing. We send lots of
email. Usually, it gets archived or lost and useful
information lives and dies in our inboxes.
Find Ways to Optimize Your Current Strategy
One of the best examples of optimizing content strategy is
that of a customer who sells tires online. Their reps were
answering more than 150 questions per week.
Someone would ask, "What's the best tire for my Honda
Odyssey?" A rep would provide a detailed response with
several tires specific to that car. They'd talk about their
favorite, why that works best and delight their prospect with
detailed information. Unfortunately, that was all dying in
their inbox.
10. Create Efficiencies Through Optimization
Now, they BCC an email address specific to each rep. That
routes it into their content marketing software for a
marketer. They strip out identifying information, add in some
images, throw in trackable links and then they have an
amazing blog post.
The company then shares the content on their blog. The
content integrates with their marketing automation solution
and can be pulled into any landing page or email they need
to send. It is searchable, it ranks well, and it delivers a very
relevant answer to anyone asking that question.
By the way, those trackable links are specific to the rep. If
someone clicks and buys that tire, the rep gets paid. They
now make money for what would have been a 1-to-1 email.
Needless to say, they have a large amount of user
generated content.
Chris Moody
Optimize Before You Innovate
Chris Moody
@cnmoody
Director of Marketing – Content
and Social
Oracle
#CMWorld Presentation:
How Senior Marketers and
CMOs are Structuring Around
Content Marketing
Favorite Movie:
The Way, Way Back
12. Cleve Gibbon
Cleve Gibbon
@cleveg
Chief Marketing Technology
Officer
Cognifide Limited
#CMWorld Presentation:
The New Formal for Content
Architecture – Grow Slow or Die
Fast
Favorite Movie:
Kung Fu Hustle
A Fullscreen Approach
to Content Marketing
Tactics without strategy is noise before defeat. We have to
think big, but start small. Believe success is easier done
than said by approaching all content marketing strategies
TACTically:
•! Test: Build your (small) hypothesis that will explain your
expected outcomes.
•! Audience: Define who your target audience is and
understand why and where you need to reach them.
•! Content: Be clear on what on you need to say and why
it’s relevant to your audience at that point in their lives.
•! Technology: Use technology to best deliver the
message to its audience.
Apply copious amounts of TACT to your content, because
campaigns come and go but content lives on. Effective
content marketing needs content to be managed as a
product. Start with what you make then move to what you
manage and monetize.
13. Joanne
Cleaver
Joanne Cleaver
@jycleaver
Development Director
American Society of
Journalists and Authors
Educational Foundation
#CMWorld Presentation:
How to Effectively Outsource
Content to Freelancers
Favorite Movie:
Bad Santa
Build Your Content Marketing
Crew with Freelancers
Sometimes you need the right writer, at the right time, for
the right piece, for the right client. When you have strong
ongoing relationships with experienced freelancers, you can
assemble a dream team for any client.
In years past, editors maintained a ‘stable’ of writers. That
implied a team of workhorses waiting to be harnessed for
heavy work. Now, freelance writers, editors and project
managers are involved in projects from concept to
execution.
Freelancers are a ‘halo’ of talent for thinly staffed
agencies and companies. When you engage them at
every point, you gain insight and ideas that win clients and
expand client projects and relationships.
14. Joanne
Cleaver
Tactics for cultivating a halo of freelance talent:
Help your freelancers grow professionally. When you
give them assignments that help them stretch their skills,
experience and areas of content mastery, you are polishing
your firm’s reputation while strengthening loyalty.
Tap prescreened freelance talent pools, such as the
“Find a Writer” search service offered by the American
Society of Journalists and Authors and the subscribers to
Freelance Success.
Build Your Content Marketing
Crew with Freelancers
Give freelancers assignments that
will stretch their skills.
%
Joanne Cleaver
@jycleaver
Development Director
American Society of
Journalists and Authors
Educational Foundation
#CMWorld Presentation:
How to Effectively Outsource
Content to Freelancers
Favorite Movie:
Bad Santa
15. Carlos
Abler
Carlos Abler
@Carlos_Abler
Leader: Content Marketing
Strategy
3M
#CMWorld Presentation:
Getting Employees Involved in
Your Content Marketing Practice
Favorite Movie:
Ran
Who is the Hero in Your
Content Marketing Movie?
Attain stardom by becoming your customer’s hero and help
them achieve their goals. But from what type of peril are
they suffering? What kind of hero do THEY need YOU to
be? Use the archetypes below to explore which best fits
your audience’s needs. Your content may combine one or
more of these, but typically one will be dominant.
Thought Leader: Transcend buzzwords or meme-jacking
with a new model for interpreting their world that generates
continuous new value. Provide the next “4Ps” or
paradigmatic language driving discourse for years to come.
Diagnostician: Help them find the right solution by better
understanding their current situation then deliver paths
forward to transform it. Think solutions selling.
Journalist: Keep them up-to-date by presenting
information that helps them develop an informed
perspective.
16. Mentor: Help your customers achieve Jedi-like mastery of
a skill. Beyond competence lies excellence.
Assistant: Help them get from A to B, install a TV, plan a
vacation, be alerted or reminded.
Spiritual Advisor: Help them find life’s ultimate purpose
and explore the deeper meaning behind things.
Storyteller/Entertainer: Feed the human need for novelty,
wonderment, humor, love, tragedy, aspiration, the mythic
and other worlds.
Friend: Listen, love and support. Anticipate needs with
personalized attention. This one may be a delivery mode of
the other archetypes. Friends are often our greatest heroes.
Who is the Hero in Your
Content Marketing Movie?
Carlos
Abler
Carlos Abler
@Carlos_Abler
Leader: Content Marketing
Strategy
3M
#CMWorld Presentation:
Getting Employees Involved in
Your Content Marketing Practice
Favorite Movie:
Ran
18. Jay Baer
Jay Baer
@JayBaer
Author, President
Convince and Convert
#CMWorld Presentation:
Content Atomization: Making
More Content From Less
Through Smart Planning
Favorite Movie:
This Is Spinal Tap
7 Steps to Blockbuster
Content Marketing
Like trying to cut your own hair without a mirror,
implementing content marketing without a strategy is
possible, just not advisable. Here's the 7-step process we
use at Convince & Convert to create content marketing
strategic plans for our clients:
1. Determine Objectives for Content Marketing: Why are
you doing this at all?
2. What’s Your One Thing? What will you create in your
content marketing program that sets you apart?
3. Measure Your Content Marketing: Your objectives
dictate your metrics.
4. Define Your Audiences: Your objectives also dictate
your audiences. Understand your audiences like you
understand your family.
19. Jay Baer
5. Focus on Audience Needs: What do your audiences
need to know from you? Organize those needs to create a
customer journey map of necessary content.
6. Create a Content Execution Plan: Where and how do
your audiences consume information? Build a plan that
shows what content you’ll create daily, weekly, monthly, and
quarterly.
7. Create a Content Amplification Plan: The reality is that
just creating content isn’t enough. In many cases, you need
to market your marketing.
7 Steps to Blockbuster
Content Marketing
Understand your audiences like you
understand your family.
%
Jay Baer
@JayBaer
Author, President
Convince and Convert
#CMWorld Presentation:
Content Atomization: Making
More Content From Less
Through Smart Planning
Favorite Movie:
This Is Spinal Tap
20. John Jantsch
Keyword Research is the
Director of Content Marketing
There was a time when the term ‘keyword research’ was
applied only in the context of search engine optimization or
pay per click advertising.
Incorporate Keyword Research into Content Marketing
Today, SEO doesn’t really exist outside of the context of
content marketing and keyword research techniques must
be applied in a much broader sense to help inform an
overall marketing and content strategy.
For example, as a business tries to better understand how
to attract their ideal customer, it’s essential that they fully
understand the questions these ideal clients wrestle with as
they go online and search for solutions. These questions, or
more accurately, the answers to these questions, must be
the basis of their content approach.
Sounds logical enough, but how do you go about
doing that?
John Jantsch
@ducttape
Founder
Duct Tape Marketing
#CMWorld Presentation:
Developing a New Sales
Playbook in the Social Age
Favorite Movie:
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
21. John Jantsch
John Jantsch
@ducttape
Founder
Duct Tape Marketing
#CMWorld Presentation:
Developing a New Sales
Playbook in the Social Age
Favorite Movie:
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
1. Start by employing a very traditional keyword research
approach that kicks off with internal and external
brainstorming. (Involve the entire team – marketing, sales
and service.)
2. Add a trip to the Google Keyword Planner tool to develop
a list of core content themes. (Hint: Pay close attention to
ad sets that produce high bids. There’s a good chance
these are converting.)
3. Finish up by analyzing content people are actually
producing and sharing around your key themes with a tool
like BuzzSumo.
With this approach you might just be able to create an
annual content plan based on the “landmark” themes that
will drive long-term growth.
Yep, keyword research, it’s not just for SEO anymore.
Keyword Research is the
Director of Content Marketing
22. Loren
McDonald
Loren McDonald
@LorenMcDonald
VP, Industry Relations
Silverpop, an IBM Company
#CMWorld Presentation:
How to Create a World-Class
Speaker Program to Build Your
Brand & Generate Leads
Favorite Movie:
12 Angry Men
Repurpose & Serialize to
Scale Your Content Marketing
A key strategy for scaling your content marketing program
is to use an “asset leverage” model. With this approach, the
marketing team focuses on developing “umbrella” content
assets that in turn can be leveraged into several other
forms of content.
Develop Content That Can Be Leveraged
An example is to develop a research project and produce a
study or survey. Once the research is completed, the
findings can be leveraged into multiple content assets
including:
•! The research report itself
•! Press release
•! Blog posts
•! Bylined articles
•! Infographics
•! Webinars
•! Speaking opportunities
23. Loren
McDonald
Even More Content Assets!
•! Newsletter articles
•! Videos, audio blogs
•! Q&As
•! Social media posts
•! Pinterest Boards
•! SlideShare posts
•! Case studies
Additionally, think of these initiatives not as one-time
projects but recurring programs, such as annual benchmark
reports or consumer or client surveys.
Budgets and resources will be easier to obtain when
management can see how the initiative can become a
major annual project that is leveraged across multiple
content platforms.
Repurpose & Serialize to
Scale Your Content Marketing
Loren McDonald
@LorenMcDonald
VP, Industry Relations
Silverpop, an IBM Company
#CMWorld Presentation:
How to Create a World-Class
Speaker Program to Build Your
Brand & Generate Leads
Favorite Movie:
12 Angry Men
25. Kristina
Halvorson
Kristina Halvorson
@halvorson
CEO and Founder
Brain Traffic
#CMWorld Presentation:
Opening Keynote – Content VS.
The Customer
Favorite Movie:
Toy Story
Customer Satisfaction
= Box Office Success
Marketers need to advocate beyond the delivery of content,
and focus on building the customer relationship. This
involves taking some steps back and finding out what the
customer really wants from us.
In order to find out that information, we need to be brave
and ask our customers questions and be willing to hear
what their answers are. First and foremost, we need to find
a way to:
1.! Understand our customer’s business goals
2.! Practically execute content strategy
3.! Measure effectively
Understand Customer Needs
Content marketing is about building and deepening the
relationship with customers. Content marketers are
aspirational, creative and curious - and are looking for an
outlet for brand expression.
26. Kristina
Halvorson
There is no replacement for talking to customers. The
number one reason that we don’t talk to our customers is
because we’re afraid of what they’ll say, or that they’ll tell us
they don’t care.
Take a Practical Approach to Content Strategy
The role of a content strategist is to ensure that business
goals and user needs are very clearly articulated. Once
there is an understanding of what needs to get done, we
help identify scalability, internal capacity and how the
strategy will be executed. Ultimately we need to help
corporations make decisions about what they’re going to
do, and not going to do.
Measurement of Content Strategy
The shared metric across the board is customer
satisfaction. To measure up to our content success, we
must also take into consideration customer feedback and
sales support.
Customer Satisfaction
= Box Office Success
Kristina Halvorson
@halvorson
CEO and Founder
Brain Traffic
#CMWorld Presentation:
Opening Keynote – Content VS.
The Customer
Favorite Movie:
Toy Story
27. Brian Clark
Brian Clark
@brianclark
CEO
Copyblogger Media
#CMWorld Presentation:
How Small Businesses Can
Dominate with Content
Marketing
Favorite Movie:
Lost in Translation
Effective Content Strategy:
Mapping the Buyer’s Storyboard
Thanks to the Internet, the buyer begins the journey alone
and empowered with information. A smart content
marketing strategy allows you to show up early, provide
valuable assistance along the path, and become the only
logical choice at the time of transaction.
The Buyer’s Shoes: Can you truly feel your prospect’s
pain or experience their desire? Step one is to put yourself
in their shoes and truly see things from their perspective.
Walking the Path: Standing in their shoes and seeing the
world as they do is critical, but it’s only the beginning. Now
you need to walk in those shoes and experience the
journey, once again from their perspective.
The buyer journey metaphor is perfect, but only if you truly
know the terrain. Then you can create the right content, to
be delivered at the right touch points at just the right time.
28. James Moat
James Moat
@digecomm
Director, Global Digital
Corporate Communications
Avery Dennison
#CMWorld Presentation:
Getting Employees Involved in
Your Content Marketing Practice
Favorite Movie:
Point Break
The X Factor for Social Content
Want to drive a successful social media content strategy?
The solution is right under your nose - employees are the
X factor!
Harness the Power of Employees
It’s a bold statement, but it can apply to any business,
whether we’re talking about websites, blogs, and/or social
media. The power of employees generating and sharing
content is a greatly undervalued asset.
Over the past year, across our entire social media portfolio,
we’ve grown from 3,000 followers to over 250,000. But we
realize it’s not just about our audience size, so we’re always
testing and trying different and innovative ways to:
•! Drive engagement
•! Improve click-thru traffic
•! Create sentiment and share voice/conversion
29. By focusing on quality and not quantity, we feel positioned
for success in the long-term. We weren’t the only ones to
agree with that methodology; we were humbled with
recognitions by Smart Insights and Innovation Enterprise
for our social media content strategy.
Part of our success can be attributed to a storytelling
framework that includes:
•! Sharing product innovations
•! Striving to be a leader in sustainability for our industries
•! Celebrating our culture and heritage
•! Advocating community investment by highlighting the
work of our foundation
•! Creating awareness of our career opportunities around
the globe
Sprinkle a little bit of passionate employees into the mix
and voila - you have a recipe for success!
The X Factor for Social Content
James Moat
@digecomm
Director, Global Digital
Corporate Communications
Avery Dennison
#CMWorld Presentation:
Getting Employees Involved in
Your Content Marketing Practice
Favorite Movie:
Point Break
James Moat
30. David Beebe
David Beebe
@davidbeebe
Vice President Global Creative
& Content Marketing
Marriott International
#CMWorld Presentation:
The Strategy & Execution
Behind Marriott’s Content
Marketing Studio
Favorite Movie:
The Devil Wears Prada
Content marketing is like a first date. If all you do is talk
about yourself, there won’t be a second date. Likewise, as a
brand, if all you do is talk about how great you are and
provide no value to the consumer, they won’t engage.
3 Tips for Creating Content That Builds Communities
1. Your content must be relatable for your audience and in
context to what the consumer is looking for.
2. Your content must add value. It must always inform or
entertain the reader.
3. Your content must elicit an emotional response. It must
connect with consumers psychologically and make them
feel something.
Content marketing, as I define it, is really another form of
service. It’s about serving a customer something valuable
and ultimately creating a raving brand fan.
First Rule of Content Marketing:
Don’t Talk About Yourself
31. CONTENT MARKETING WORLD
EBOOK CREDITS
THE BIG PICTURE OF
CONTENT MARKETING
STRATEGY
;.534,.;%@<%
"#$%&'!(")*!)+,-.#/$)-!
*1.0-.;%@<%
0#&1+.)!#.,-.%!2+1)%0-.3!
?353-%
!4#.0%.02+1)%0-.3/#1,564#2!!
777!!
0#&1+.)2+1)%0-.364#2!!
32. ORANGE YOU GLAD YOU STUCK AROUND?
SHARING IS CARING!
CLICK BELOW TO SHARE THIS EBOOK ON YOUR
FAVORITE SOCIAL NETWORKS!