We’ve all heard the battle cries – Traditional marketing is dead! Content is king! But, how do you get started with content marketing? What types of content should you create and how can you ensure that it will ultimately help your brand achieve measurable business goals? In this 451 Marketing webinar, our EVP of Digital Marketing Francis Skipper will teach you how to craft a content marketing strategy that: - Provides value to your target audience - Improves search rankings and social signals - Drives traffic to your website - Nurtures leads and drives sales

1. Captivating Content Marketing

2. Francis Skipper
Executive Vice President
617-259-1605
francis@451marketing.com
linkedin.com/in/francisskipper
@fskip

3. “Content marketing is
the only marketing left”
-Seth Godin

4. What is Content Marketing?
Creating and delivering valuable content
to your target audience

5. Why Content Marketing?
• Generates 3x more leads than
traditional marketing
• Build trust, create value among
suspects – people who want to
know what you know, not what
you sell (not yet)
• Decrease costs, increase
customers, scalable/repeatable

6. Why Content Marketing?
• Position as an expert
• Attract new customers
• Maintain a dialogue with existing
and past clients
• Increase social signals

7. What is Content?
Whitepapers, eBooks,
Case Studies
Audio or Video
Content
Blog and Social Posts
Events and Content from
Events (Webinars, Workshops)
Images and Infographics
Email Newsletters

8. Google Hummingbird
“Semantic relevance
is the new king”
- Eric Enge
Stone Temple Consulting

9. Google Hummingbird

10. Google Hummingbird

11. Cornerstone of Marketing
SEO
Social Media
Content Marketing
Brand Voice &
Personality

12. Content Directly Affects Search

13. Content Marketing Does NOT
Doesn’t directly convert or sell

14. Content Marketing Does
Does help push leads down the funnel

15. Content Marketing Strategy
4
1
PLAN
MEASURE
3
PUBLISH
2
CREATE

16. Who is Your Audience?
Who are your ideal customers?

17. Who is Your Audience?
Moms
Millennials
CIOs
Think about your current customers…

18. Who is Your Audience?
Content you create should
address your customers’ pain
points:
• a need
• a problem
• a desire
• a challenge
What are their biggest pain points/needs?

19. Identifying Pain Points
•
Check out common search
inquiries around your product
or industry using Google
Search Trends and Google
Keyword Tool
•
Address FAQs – ask your sales
people what customers are
asking them
Do your research – what do your customers need?

20. Where is Your Audience?
Do your research, know your platforms!
For instance:
• City dwellers are significantly more likely than rural residents to be on Twitter
• Women are five times as likely as men to use Pinterest
• Baby boomers are the fastest growing segment of Facebook
Where do they find information online?
Source: Pew Research Center

21. Audit Current Content
Catalog any existing content and categorize by:
Type
Date
Topic
Persona
Repurpose content that is outdated but still
valuable
Identify holes or missing content

22. Incorporate Social &
Search Goals
What things do you need to rank for in social and search?

23. Define Major Topics
• What do you know?
• Fill in content gaps from your
audit…
• Think about achieving search
and social goals
What do you want to be known for?

24. Define Team/Roles
• Designate an overall content
coordinator
• Have coordinator from each
functional area
• Designate members of senior
management team to
oversee/contribute – adds to validity
Set clear roles, expectations, and standards

25. Create a Content Calendar
• Color code by content type
• Clearly define ownership
• Create a checklist for social media
promotion
• Share as far in advance as possible to
allow time for creation
Use a shared calendar such as Google Calendar
to share content plan internally

26. As You Are Creating, Ask…
Is this content...
Unique?
Fun?
Credible?
Inspirational?
Beneficial to Share?
…Does this Inspire Sharing?

27. Portable Content
Answers Popular
Questions –
“How To”

28. Portable Content
Real-Time
Marketing

29. Portable Content
Real-Time
Marketing

30. Portable Content
Top 10s,
Best ofs,
and
Countdowns

31. Tools for Content Creation
• Set up Google alerts
• Set up streams in
Hootsuite (social
listings)

32. Publish

33. Make Sharing Simple!
Links to social properties on website
Share buttons with content

34. Measure and Adjust
What’s getting shared the most, by who, and when?

35. Build Trust
• Be consistent
• Be generous
• Become the authority
Follow through with your strategy – make sure your
audience can count on regular content

36. Takeaways:
Content marketing is a great way to build trust, enhance social media and search
marketing, and increase lead flow.
1. Plan
Define audience and needs
Audit current content
Incorporate social and search goals
Define major topics
Define team/roles
Create a calendar
2. Create
Create relevant, portable content
3. Publish
Publish content across platforms – make it shareable!
4. Measure
Measure effectiveness and adjust

37. Questions?

38. Francis Skipper
Director of Search Marketing
415.542.6250
francis@451marketing.com
linkedin.com/in/francisskipper
@fskip

39. Captivating Content Marketing