1. Content Marketing
That Doesn’t Suck
That Will Make You Rich!
by
Jackie Cohen
Director of Content Marketing and Communications Consulting
at
2. We’re going to talk about:
1. Creating things people want to consume,
rather than things they have to.
2. Anticipating your audience’s interests and
molding content strategy to fit that.
3. You. Not me. You.
3. Who’s on the microphone?
Jackie Cohen
20+ years creating content
high 7-digit audiences
LinkedIn.com/in/JackieCohen
4.
5. Ever notice how statistics about content
contradict one another? Different audiences.
E.G.: Longer articles have better SEO (Sprout Social RE: blog readership)
2/3 of people only read the headlines (McKinsey RE: Bloomberg readership)
Average audience statistics are no substitute for
data on your own audience. Survey or poll ‘em!
6. This presentation is content!
And you are the audience. Ladies and
gentlemen, we are a case study!
7. So what do I know about YOU?
Or what can I surmise about you?
• You are involved in brand
promotions, either within
(a)an agency or in-house
(b)at the brand.
* You like case studies in
presentations(that’s what OMI said)
* You can hear me but you can’t see me.
8. What are my content goals?
To convince you to give me a five-star rating
as a speaker.
To get invited to speak at more Online
Marketing Institute events.
9. What challenges must my
content overcome?
You’re tired, I’ll bet.
It’s harder to engage an audience when
they can’t see you on a stage.
10. Therefore my content strategy
should…
Not rehash stuff already covered in the
previous presentations.
Be creative about engagement.
Not remind people of sleep (Whoops!
How about some coffee instead?)
11. Okay, so what the heck was that?
1.Identified our goal
2.Studied our audience’s preferences
3.Factored in the challenges or
limitations in satisfying our audience’s
preferences.
4.Strategized on matching #1 and #2
while accounting for #3.
12. What didn’t we do?
We didn’t shoehorn someone else’s content
strategy into this particular situation.
13. What could we have done but
didn’t do?
We could have asked the audience
what they are interested in learning.
We could have tested and refined the
content in real time.
14. Congratulations! You were just post
mortemed! (Yep, I made it a verb.
Journalists love to turn nouns into verbs.)
Always do a post mortem
on content that has gone out.
Identify mistakes. Own them. Learn from
them. Try not to repeat them (but don’t
make yourself crazy).
15. 7 POINTERS FOR
NEARLY ALL CONTENT
TYPES:
1.Less is more!
(Anything that makes you stop reading, watching, or listening to
something should be the basis of your editing.)
16. 2. The medium should
mold your message
Work with what different content types can and can’t do.
Ditto for publishing platforms and schedules.
17. 3. Make a list of topics
for content before
you commit to an
editorial calendar.
18. 4. Try making your first
piece of content and
then base your style
guide on that.
19. 5. Lead by example:
Do at least one piece
yourself before you
start assigning or
delegating anything.
20. 6. Don’t reinvent the
wheel: Use
professionally written
style guides, buy
syndicated content,
etc.
23. Retain at least some of what I’ve told you about…
Let’s drill down on pointer
number three: Maintaining a list
of topics you will create content
about will help you formulate
a more realistic content
publishing schedule.
Create what I call an idea file. Save it as a to-do list
within whichever application you use most
frequently for calendaring. Populate it whenever
you think of good ideas – like when you get inspired
by other content.
24. Key Takeaways
Don’t do a one-size-fits-all content strategy unless you WANT
to put people to sleep.
Learn as much as you can about your audience and try to
align your content with their interests.
Less is more.
Create a topic list before you
Commit to any publishing schedule.