In a world where big data can tell you where your readers/viewers/listeners are from, where they go for dinner, and the time/date/place they were born, it can be easy to convince yourself that you should create content for a customer avatar that doesn't exist in the real world. With more content being produced than ever before, the best and brightest in content marketing know that building an audience that actually cares might be the only way to stay relevant and profitable—for entrepreneurs, marketers, and big business alike.
Slides were a collaborative effort from the Fizzle team, including Corbett Barr and Chase Reeves.
18. “The way to succeed in a startup is not
to be an expert on startups, but to be
an expert on your users and the
problem you're solving for them."
!
- Paul Graham
http://paulgraham.com/before.html
1
24. ¯¯¯ What does he/she
think & feel?
What really counts?
What major preoccupations?
Worries and aspirations?
What does he/she see?
What’s in the environment?
What do his/her friends look like?
What does the market offer?
What does he/she
say & do?
Attitude in public? Appearance?
Behavior towards others?
What does he/she hear?
From friends? From boss?
From influencers?
1
26. "We could broadly generalize about our users
(savvy, self-reliant, techie, motivated), but we
realized that we couldn’t rattle off the four
or five archetypical MailChimp users.”
!
- the mailchimp blog
27. how to do audience research
like mailchimp
1. interview stakeholders to see who you assume your
audience is
2. rank pool of active users by industry
3. identify subjects from popular industries and
interview, interview interview
4. analyze what you see and hear
5. share the findings with your team
1
source: http://blog.mailchimp.com/new-mailchimp-user-persona-research/
40. 1
“just because it’s important to you, it
doesn’t mean that it’s important to your
audience. Focus on the latter and not
the former.”
!
- seth godin
41. 1
“great content is the best
seo strategy.”
!
- rob flaherty
http://www.ravelrumba.com/blog/editorial-seo/
47. average time on post
÷words in post
= apples to apples
(GATHER)
2
48. three questions to ask
1. what’s working well?
2. what’s not working so well?
3. what might you do differently?
2
(evaluate)
49. what to consider
1. length
2. Content type (audio/video/written)
3. Content purpose (teach/inspire/entertain)
4. Relevance to the audience
2
(evaluate)
50. what to try
1. try new lengths
2. try new formats
3. try to teach, inspire, and entertain
4. try solving a real problem for your audience
2
(experiment)
55. Write (Create) for the
body of work you want
(your brand) to have in 5
years.
2
56. questions? what’s on your mind?
1. converting visitors to subscribers to customers
2. growing your audience
3. telling your story
4. onboarding subscribers and customers
5. creating content for customers
57. My closing thoughts:
1. most content is exceedingly average at best
2. there is still room for your content to stand out if you…
✴ care enough to understand the humans in your audience
✴ put in the work to create engaging + valuable art (content)
3. great content is the best way to build an audience who
cares
4. audiences who care are audiences who are profitable