2. rightsourcemarketing.com
About Me
Chief Marketing Technology
Officer
Content Marketing Institute
Consultant
Dad, BBQ Fan
Featured in Gourmet
Magazine
@willdavis
@rightsource
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7. rightsourcemarketing.com
The Game Has Changed
Prospects are educating themselves
Sirius Decisions - 70% of a prospect’s decision-making process
in B2B is complete before they even talk to a professional
IDG Research: Enterprise organizations download an average
of 10 informational assets during the purchase process.
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The Game Has Changed
78% of chief marketing officers think custom content is
the future of marketing. (Source: Hanley-Wood Business
Media)
78%
The average, annual spend on branded content
outsourcing was a $371,364, and $987,417 for
companies that exclusively outsource. (Source: Custom
Content Council)
$987,417
58% of consumers trust editorial content.
(Source: Nielsen)
58%
Companies with over 1,000 employees typically
allocate 24% of their marketing budget to content.
(Source: Content Marketing Institute and Marketing
Profs)
24%
82% of consumers like reading content from brands
when it’s relevant. (Source: The CMA)
82%
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Content Marketing Planning
B2B Marketers with a content marketing strategy are 600%
more likely to be effective
Only 44% of B2B Marketers have a written content marketing
strategy
Only 11% of companies that rate content marketing as
ineffective have a written strategy
2/3 of B2B Marketers without a content marketing strategy
are creating more content now than they did in the previous
year
View full CMI Research
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What is Content Marketing?
Source: Content Marketing Institute
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“Content marketing is a marketing
technique of creating and
distributing valuable, relevant and
consistent content to attract and
acquire a clearly defined audience
– with the objective of driving
profitable customer action.”
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Red Bull
“Red Bull has introduced its content marketing
around and about the product, but it is never
directly correlated to the drink itself. Nobody is
going to go to a website and spend 45 minutes
looking at video about a drink. But Red Bull has
aligned its brand unequivocally and consistently
with extreme sports and action. They are
number-one at creating content so engaging that
consumers will spend hours with it, or at least
significant minutes”
- Rebecca Lieb, Altimeter Group.
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The Content Marketer’s Mindset
Content marketing is not
another tactic
Content marketing is not
another line item
Content marketing impacts
marketing AND customer
service, public relations,
recruiting and more
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How Do I Attack Content Marketing?
First, understand that content creation is merely one, isolated,
basic step.
Content Planning
Content Creation
Content Optimization
Content Distribution
Content Reporting and Analysis
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Why Are We Doing This?
“Brands have to become publishers”
…but brands have different business models and
business goals than publishers.
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Content Supports Business Objectives
Yours isn’t selling ad impressions
How does your content marketing strategy fit
in with the business strategy to drive business
results for your firm?
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Content Supports Business Objectives
Business Objectives
Business Strategy
Marketing Objectives
Marketing Strategy
Content Objectives
Content Strategy
Content
Tactics
Content
MetricsCredit: Jay Baer/CMI
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Content Strategy Comes From:
Business Objectives
Business Strategy
Marketing Objectives
Marketing Strategy
Content Objectives
Content Strategy
Content
Tactics
Content
Metrics
Business objectives
(business plan)
Marketing objectives
(marketing plan)
Content objectives
(content plan)
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Answer these 12 questions
1. Why are we doing this?
2. What’s the goal?
3. What is our unique story?
4. Who is our audience?
5. Who is on our team? What
is everyone’s role?
6. Who will handle each piece
of content marketing?
7. What are our primary
themes?
8. What types of content
should we create?
9. When will each piece of
content get published?
10. How will we distribute
each piece of content?
11. How will we report on the
content marketing effort?
12. What’s the budget?
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Example: Understanding Your Audience
Who are your prospects and influencers?
What do they care about?
What problems do
they face?
How can you help
solve them?
What are their
objections?
Marketing
CFO
IT
Director
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Example: Digital Health Consulting Firm
Helps clients solve complex challenges across the
industry spectrum
From public companies to private companies to
investors
A nimble, experienced, unique team of expert
advisors, analyzers and problem solvers
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What Are Their Questions? Address
Who can help us commercialize our tech?
Who can we acquire that does XYZ?
What is their background?
Who have they worked with that’s like me?
What are their specialties?
How do they understand my company’s unique
challenges?
How do they work?
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…And So Many More From:
Talking with your clients
Talking with your prospects
Talking with your got-aways
Talking with your business development team
Reviewing analytics
Reviewing industry trends
Online research
RFP questions
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Address Questions With Content
Different content topics for different prospects
Different content topics for different stages
Different content types for different prospects
Different content types for different stages
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The Content Creation Challenge
Goal for each piece of content
– In line with overall marketing goal?
Stick to the plan
– If you wander, the audience wanders
Dedicated content staff
– Content creation duties can’t be shoehorned into existing
jobs
– Hire dedicated staff or outsource
– Writers should be great, not just good
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The Content Creation Challenge
Provide writers (internal or outsourced) with:
– Background
– Story framework
– Access to experts
– “Garbage in, garbage out”
Have content ready as back-up for emergencies
Enlist staff for content ideas
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The Content Creation Challenge
Keep the pipeline full of ideas
– Brainstorm
– What questions are customers/prospects asking?
– Spin off new topics from a successful idea
– Create series
Make sure enough content is in progress at all times
Edit
– Anything less than remarkable will be lost in the sea of
mediocrity
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Content Optimization
Not just for search engines (the robots) but
prospects (the humans) too
What do you want them to do?
What calls to action (CTAs)
should you include?
AKA – “Uh, Now what?”
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Content Optimization - Lead Capture
“Forms are the enemy of spread” – but…
“You can’t have a prospect if you don’t know who
they are”
Determine what information is worth a “gate” (fewer,
but known readers) and what isn’t
Determine follow-up process – be helpful but not
creepy
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Content Distribution
Where does your target audience live, online and off
(Google, Compete, Alexa)
Write down 5 sites right now!
– Social media as part of your content strategy
– Guest blogging
– Co-branded webinars, seminars, events
– Email (don’t miss out on this one)
– Print
– Mobile
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Content Reporting & Analysis
Consumption
• Traffic
• Page views
• Downloads
Sharing
• LinkedIn shares
• Tweets
• Emails
Lead Generation
• Lead forms
• Phone calls
Revenue
• $$$$
Measure everything that you possibly can
But - report very few, very business-focused KPIs
Discard vanity metrics wherever possible
How do KPIs align with business objectives?
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Track And Manage Prospects
Leverage your best content for your best leads
Use technology to nurture your leads
Do everything you can to track activities to revenue
generated
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