Data from 28 responses

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of organizations with a

documented strategy

consider their organization to be

effective at content marketing.

(8)

of organizations with a

verbal strategy

consider their organization to be

effective at content marketing.

32%

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Average of 20 Months Before Content Marketing Became Cheaper Per Lead Than PPC

(22)

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Increase Revenues:

• Increase Brand Visibility

• Increase Prospective Customer Engagement & Interest

• Increase Leads & Sales

• Increase Customer Retention & Repeat Purchases

• Increase Customer Referrals & Reviews

Decrease Costs:

• Decrease Cost per Lead/Sale

• Increase Bandwidth of Existing Sales Team

• Decrease Customer Support Requests

• Increase Bandwidth of Existing Customer Support Team

• Decrease Hiring & Training Costs

(28)

• Increase Leads & Sales

Decrease Costs:

• Decrease Cost per Lead/Sale

• Increase Bandwidth of Existing Sales Team

(29)

• Increase Leads & Sales

Decrease Costs:

• Decrease Cost per Lead/Sale

• Increase Bandwidth of

Existing Sales Team

(30)

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• What is the age range of your typical buyer?

• Gender?

• Occupation

• Job Title

• Salary

• Geographic location (city, state, region, country)

(33)

• Top industry sites customers likely consult while researching your product/service

• Social networks where customers are most active (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc)

• Typical length of buying cycle

• Official & unofficial phases & milestones in the buying cycle

• What kind of implicit need is a customer looking to fill?

• What other options do customers have (other than you) to fulfill this need?

(34)

Lots of gold in here:

• Customer email list

• Your Google Analytics account

• Your FAQs

• Your Customer Service Call Transcripts

• Your Customer Service Emails

(35)

Take Email Addresses.

Process with Rapleaf.com or FullContact.com to get:

• Age

• Gender

• Geography

(36)

Social Profiles

Twitter (Followerwonk, Scrape Twitter, Twitter Ads, etc.)

• Age

• Gender

• Geography

• Interests

• Commonly shared publications

• Audience Demographic/Publishing Data

• Popular Topics

(37)

Social Logins Facebook Insights: • Age • Gender • Geography • Interests

(38)

The hardest part of building customer personas is validating them and basing them on data, not just your hunches.

This is an ongoing process and it’s often the hardest part of building a complete content marketing strategy.

(39)

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3. Who are our target audiences that will buy from us?

4. Who are our target audiences that will consume and share our content?

(41)

3. Who are our target audiences that will buy from us?

4. Who are our target audiences that will consume and share our content?

Common Examples:

• Stakeholders in your projects that may not have buying power.

• Industry peers.

• Industry journalists.

• Students & educators in the field.

• Organizations below your target audience that need a smaller provider.

• Organizations above your target audience that need a larger provider.

(42)

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Complete inventory of all your content creation

and promotion resources.

• Names & what they’ll commit to monthly

• Budget for tools & promotion

(45)

Questions to ask:

• Who in the company has knowledge to contribute, and how

much time can they commit to each month?

• How can we convince them to contribute?

• Who will manage the process & cover editorial?

• Who will handle promotion across owned, earned, paid channels? What is their budget?

• What is our budget for tools?

• What is our budget for outside help? Content creation, consulting, etc.

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This question has 2 components: 1. Topics

2. Formats.

(52)

Questions to Ask:

• What are the 2-4 high level themes that encompass what your brand stands for?

(53)

What is our brand’s editorial mission statement?

• “It’s not about what you sell, it’s about what you stand for…”

Inc.com Example:

“Welcome to Inc.com, the place where entrepreneurs and business owners can find useful information, advice, insights, resources and inspiration for running and growing their businesses.”

(54)

What is our brand’s editorial mission statement?

• “It’s not about what you sell, it’s about what you stand for…”

Landscape Architecture Example:

“We educate the commercial development community on the value and ROI of responsible landscape planning and management, and publish instructional content that demonstrates our expertise in site planning, permitting, mitigation, and restoration.”

(55)

• What is our target audience asking at each stage of the customer lifecycle?

• Awareness

• Engagement

• Conversion

(56)

Identify 30 questions that a potential customer would have about each one of your services.

1. Write a text response. 2. Record it to video.

3. Publish the audio as a podcast.

90 pieces of content in 90 days. You’re ahead of 90% of the competition.

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• DJC?

• ArchDaily?

• Seattle Business Magazine?

• Newsletters?

• Master Builders Assoc?

• AGCWA?

• Newsletters?

• Direct Mail?

• Facebook Feed?

• Book Clubs?

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• What are our [business] competitors doing well?

• What are our [topical] competitors doing well?

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Add Paid Budget to Social Posts Performing Well:

If you see this after an hour or two, try putting $10 or $50 on it…

You’ll get tons of free organic visibility from paying to promote an already popular post.

(87)

Add Paid Budget to Social Posts Performing Well:

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•

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