what content marketers wish you knew

1. Content Marketing for
Early-Stage Startups
(the stuff content marketers wish you knew)
October 21st, 2020 / StartUp Week Chattanooga

2. About
me (Laura Bosco)
• I believe relationships are the heart and
soul of every healthy business interaction.
• Research and estate sales are my whiskey.
• Dogs, wine, tea, and running are my coping
mechanisms.
• I’ve been a project manager for website
projects (including Rick Riordan and
Disney), a barista, and a restaurant
manager. AMA.

3. What the heck
I do all day
When I’m not running with this guy, I’m:
• Drafting articles for clients
• Compiling newsletters for clients
• Writing dialogue for a robot (no, seriously)
• Reading up on e v e r y t h i n g
• Working on home projects
• Hanging out on Twitter
• Praying my houseplants don’t die (again)

4. @lauraebosco
#startupweekcha

5. So, where
are we headed?
01. What is content marketing?
It’s not a content calendar and
it’s not hitting publish every
week.
02. Essential strategy work
Can’t skip this, sorry. Good
content marketing relies on
good strategy…and that relies
on real customer insights.
03. The “how-tos”
Outlining, writing, actually
publishing what you plan, and
making it better over time.

6. Why stick around
for that?
Good question!
*Rye, your furry co-guide

7. Both B2B and B2C are more
customer-centric than
ever…

8. Customer-centric companies are 60% more profitable
https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/de/Documents/
WM%20Digitalisierung.pdf
Marketers who conduct audience research are 303%
more successful
https://media.coschedule.com/uploads/State-of-Marketing-Strategy-2018-1.pdf
Moving up ONE point on Forrester’s Customer Experience Index
translated into an extra $244M for big box retailers
https://go.forrester.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Forrester-Light-On-
The-Horizon.pdf
1
2
3
Fast facts about today’s customer-
centric world:

9. “Whoever gets closest to their
customer wins.”
— Bernadette Jiwa
Storytelling Advisor

10. Content marketing
helps you
get and stay close
to your ideal
customer.

11. Meaning,
content marketing
can:
1. Directly increase your
revenue
2. Improve willingness-to-pay
2-5x
3. Establish your new brand
4. Help you break into a red
ocean
5. Set accurate customer
expectations
6. Attract the RIGHT audience
…and way more!

12. What is content
marketing, anyhow?

13. a useful definition
Content Marketing (n.):
using high-quality content (blogs,
newsletters, videos, media, etc.) to
improve customers’ lives and earn
their trust, loyalty, and purchases.

14. “#1 marketing tip of 2019, 2020,
and beyond:
Stop marketing. Start helping.
Community first. Always. People
First. Always. I promise it works.”
— Kristen LaFrance
Head of Retail at Shopify

15. What isn’t content
marketing?

16. It is:It is not:
- copywriting
- a content calendar
- publishing all the time
- managing a publication
- all about your business
- only for big teams
- super cheap
- easy
- persuasive
- organized strategy
- quality over quantity
- building a library
- primarily for your customer
- for any size team or company
- a high-ROI investment
- worth it

17. “Content marketing isn’t just publishing any
random content.
You first need to deeply understand your
audience and give them the solution they
need (as content) to help educate them
about your services.”
— Samirah Tabassum
Digital Marketer & Content writer

18. So, how do you get
started?
Well friend, you’re gonna need some strategy.

19. Great content marketing
depends on great strategy.

20. Content is a journey

21. You could start off heading toward the
nearest Starbucks. ☕
OR.

22. You could pick up a roadmap.

23. Strategy is your roadmap.

24. It also helps you escape the
marketing cycle of meh.

25. aka shiny object syndrome
via April Dunford; https://www.forgetthefunnel.com/resources/build-saas-marketing-system
better inputs, better strategy

26. To build a great strategy,
you’ll need these
ingredients:

27. 01. YOUR CUSTOMER
02. YOUR WHY
Their hopes, dreams, pain points, voice,
and journey to your product/service.
(This is the piece most companies miss!)
What you need content to do and how it
ties into your business goals—because it
should.
03. YOUR CONSTRAINTS
Every startup has them. What are your
real options given your constraints?
01. YOUR CONTENT
The stuff you write & publish based on
1-3.

28. 01. your customer

29. “Probably the most important
#contentmarketing lesson I
learned as a Senior Editor:
If you don’t care about your
audience, you can’t expect them
to care about you.”
— Dr. Fio D
Former Senior Editor at Hotjar

30. https://twitter.com/KateBour/status/1150790072230436864

31. “Fall in love with your customers
rather than your product.
Focus on the benefits and stories that
inspire and motivate. Content
marketing is part of your customer
experience. Make it great and they’ll
rave about you.
— Jen Phillips April
Content Marketer and Copywriter

32. Talk to your customers!

33. Get to know them.
Really well.

34. via Rand Fishkin; https://sparktoro.com/blog/22-minutes-on-audience-intelligence/

35. Basic info
• Who are they?
• Where are they?
• Who do they pay attention/
listen to?
• What do they like about you?
• What makes them nervous
about you?
Journey to you
• When did they become aware
they have a problem?
• Why does that problem hurt?
• When did they think
something like you could fix
that problem?
• What else did they consider?
• What brought them to you?
Life with you
• What’s their life like now that
they’ve found you?
• Why do they stick around?
• What would they miss most if
you left?
• What frustrates them about
you?
• What’s their life like now that
they’ve found you?

36. Good questions*
to ask:
*these and more on Stuart Balcombe’s cheatsheet
Do not skip this one!

37. Understand their journey
theirs. not yours.
and not what you think their journey should be!

38. via https://kerrybodine.com/product/journey-map-template/

39. via https://www.nngroup.com/articles/analyze-customer-journey-map/

40. Currently doing this with a fellow marketer for a client.
And y’all, the insights.
Daisy is an awesome SEO content marketer, btw.

41. talk to your customers!
Seriously,

42. It’s the only way you’ll
figure the good stuff out.

43. Tools for customer research
Online sleuthing
• Sparktoro
• Sales Safari
Real-time conversations
• Zoom (recording)
• Rev (transcriptions)
• Question cheat sheet (via
customer research
consultant Stuart Balcombe)
Suggested snacks*
• popcorn
• tea
*if you keep your mouth full, you have to shut and listen 😁
(note: not recommended for video)

44. 02. your why

45. What are your business
goals this year/quarter?

46. A. Reduce churn
B. Hire 2-3 more employees
C. Reduce length of sales cycle
D. Improve brand awareness
E. Close x new customers
Example Goals

47. How will content help you
meet your goals?

48. “If your strategy isn’t aligned with
your larger business goals, you
don’t have a strategy, you have a
content calendar.”
— Adrienne Barnes
SaaS Consultant and Content Marketer

49. A. Reduce churn
B. Hire 2-3 more employees
C. Reduce length of sales
cycle
D. Improve brand
awareness
E. Close x new customers
Goals Content
A. Positioning, onboarding, and
customer education
B. Recruiting & culture showcase
C. Bottom of funnel content: case
studies & answers to sales
questions
D. Top of funnel content, data
reports, community features
E. Pain point posts, teardowns,
customer success stories

50. We wanted to: Attract more ideal customers like one
super cool customer
So we: Did a featured case study on that
super cool customer
Guess what? Found another
super cool customer 💸
Founder:
Actual email
excerpt from
became-a-client:
“Hello! I recently learned
about [cool company] via the
[case study] and I am highly
motivated to have a call
with you…”

51. Btw…Clear goals will help
you evaluate and prioritize
your ideas later on
(so you don’t throw spaghetti at a wall
and hope something sticks)

52. 03. your constraints

53. What are your biggest
limits?

54. • Time: 10 hours per week
• Customer understanding: not sure what their pain
points are
• Multiple customer types: catering to several
audiences
• Product development: haven’t launched
• Money: can’t afford to outsource
• Resources: only you can do it; minimal blog capacity
• Red ocean: your competitors have loads of content
• Expertise: you’re not an expert in the subject matter
Common startup constraints:

55. Whatever yours are, don’t
ignore them.

56. Factor them into your strategy.
They’ll limit your options
(and that’s a good thing).

57. Let’s imagine this
scenario…

58. 01. YOUR CUSTOMER
02. YOUR WHY
Avid home plant grower. Needs help
choosing, selecting, and keeping
houseplants alive. Has tried Googling &
calling grandma.
Increase new signups for your app by 20%
next quarter.
03. YOUR CONSTRAINTS
• 1 person content team (aka you)
• New product
• Nurseries & plant stores put out loads
of basic info on plant species
• TBH, you don’t know a ton about plants
01. YOUR CONTENT
• Intersect the “I have a pain, how do I
solve it? phase of the customer
journey, when they’re asking, “why is
my snake plant dying?” or “how do I
choose plants for a mid-century-
modern house?” or “best plant stands”
• Address those pain points/questions
and drive toward free trial on app or
similar incentive.
• Interview botanists and plant experts
Inspiration: https://growandconvert.com/content-marketing/pain-point-seo-increase-sales-cupandleaf/

59. 04. your content
The next section. 😉

60. Strategy Resources
Listen: Using customer insights to level up content strategy (Adrienne Barnes)
Read: Content Marketing strategy Guide (Animalz)
Buy: Doing content right (Steph Smith)
Tangential: Obviously Awesome (April Dunford)

61. Okay, so how do you
actually produce that
content?

62. Creating content
Writing, publishing, measuring, and improving content that
builds your brand and converts your customers

63. Remember,
we want to do
these things:
01. Get it right x4
Deliver the right message, the
right way, to the right people,
at the right time.
02. Build a useful library
Build a library of evergreen
content…so you can do #1
continually.
03. Generate compound
ROI
Earn trust, loyalty, and
purchases—repeatedly.

64. Generating ideas
🤔

65. “Write to educate your customers to be
better, smarter buyers.
Give them the confidence to engage with
your sales team as a buyer.
Make them smarter than their crazy uncle
Larry (B2C) or their know it all boss (B2B).”
— Bill Rice
Founder/CEO of Kaleidico

66. Need ideas? Ask yourself these
questions:
• What are customers’ pain points and frustrations?
• How can you intersect your customer’s journey to you?
• What do customers ask during sales calls?
• What do customers need to know to use your product/service?
• How can you promote horseback back riding vs. saddles?
• What original data or case studies can you use?
• What do you have a unique or counter-culture perspective on?

67. “Create content that solves customer
problems.
Know what they search for and create
content that satisfies it.
Also, don’t half-ass it. Quality matters
now more than ever.”
— Jacob Miller
Marketing at Headway

68. https://twitter.com/kaleighf/status/1318934035377303552

69. Talk to your customers!

70. Prioritizing ideas

71. Does it align with your
strategy?
Don’t do it
Does it add tangible value
to your customer?
Have you written about
this before?
Yes
Do you have something
new & interesting to say?
No
Update the old post
YesNo
YesNo
Do you have/can you
afford the resources to do
it?
Yes
Write about it!
No
No
Yes

72. Sitting down to write
✍

73. The writing process
RESEARCH
OUTLINE
DRAFT
EDIT

74. What the writing process
actually feels like 😉

75. The writing process
RESEARCH
What’s already out there?
Who’s already written about this
and what angle did they take?
What gaps can you fill?
What data/original research is out
there?
OUTLINE
What does your reader
need to know?
What advice, how-to, or perspective
is most valuable to your customer?
DRAFT
Just get it down
Form the “clay” of what you’re
writing, so you can shape it later. If
this feels hard, join the club.
EDIT
Make it “good enough”
Wait 24 hours, face your inner
critic, and shape it up. Don’t
publish crap, but do remember done
is better than perfect.

76. Research

77. My research,
process (ish):
01. What’s on Google?
What are the most common
search results and why are they
up there? What related
questions show up?
02. What’s the community
saying?
Twitter, reddit, Slack groups…
what are they wrestling with or
chatting about?
03. What do the other
folks say?
How have competitors covered
this? What do they do well and/
or poorly?

78. Outline

80. Verbal processer?
Write down key questions. Then record yourself answering them
for 5-10 minutes (try Otter).
Use the recording to form your outline.
Or, hand it to a ghostwriter.
(Handy tip via Kieran Tie, Content Strategist for ConvertKit, Productboard, and more.)

81. Draft

82. Write to your customer
and speak their language

83. “…use their words; create
content around their
objections and motivations to
buy."
— Lucy Heskins
Marketing Lead at Career Cake TV

84. Remember, you’re telling
a story.

85. “Put quality first.
You want well-written, engaging and
informational content.
Always think: What will be useful or
valuable to my audience? Bring it to
life with voice and storytelling.”
— Laura Bauer
Content Writer

86. “Information and data is useful at best,
but no more than that; whereas a
story (and the best stories are always
about people) engages, thrills,
horrifies, inspires, moves, startles,
stuns, shocks, hilariates, and causes
readers, while weeping and laughing,
to throw money at you.”
—Brian Doyle
shared via Holly Simmons

87. “SEO is helpful to drive organic traffic and awareness,
but writing to flesh out a KW [keyword] is boring and
unsustainable.
Add fresh perspective & unique POV (whether writer-
specific or brand-wide).
1. Customers/readers will associate you with a certain
stance & regard you as an expert.
2. Other publications (who *are* writing for SEO) will
quote your original content & link back.
3. It displays original thought & experimentation —
plus showcases your brand as an employer.”
— Allie Decker
Content at Hubspot

88. Editing tips*
*whenever possible, wait 24 hours to
“let the body heat go out of it” (E.B. White said that)

89. This is where the magic
happens. ✨

90. @visualizevalue
*not a COVID graph

91. CRIBS
Confusing, Repeated, Interesting, Boring, Surprising
@david_perell; https://twitter.com/david_perell/status/1313962584329027584
01. Confusing
If your writing is confusing
because you’re trying to sound
smart, replace your SAT words
with ones that everyone
understands/
02. Repeated
Good writing is concise…if
you’re repeating yourself, your
writing isn’t as concise as it
should be. Delete repetitive
parts.
03. Interesting
“Interesting” is the holy grail
of online writing. It happens
when insight meets
entertainment. Double down
here.

92. CRIBS
Confusing, Repeated, Interesting, Boring, Surprising
04. Boring
Readers have a zero-tolerance
policy for boredom. If you want
to skip a part or your mind
wanders, delete or rewrite that
part.
05. Surprising
Your job as a writer is to
surprise your reader by telling
them things they didn’t know or
expect. Comfort the confused
or confuse the comforted.
@david_perell; https://twitter.com/david_perell/status/1313962584329027584

93. P.S. Everyone skims
so make it skimmable (bullets, headers, lists, etc.)

94. Can you ask a community
member to review it?

95. “Connect your ideas instead of
protecting them (guest post and
share content from others in your
industry.”
— William Frazier
Writer & Designer

96. Leap when you’re almost
ready.
aka publish the damn thing already

97. “Be authentic in what you write. We
often search for the perfect words to
sound *exactly* how we want to sound,
but there is something more genuine,
interesting, and beautiful in our
imperfections and authenticity.”
— Make a Mark

98. Writing + Editing Resources
Use: Grammarly
Use: Hemingway Editor
Read: Writing Well (Julian Shapiro)
Sign up for: Cup of Copy (Kaleigh Moore)

99. Getting it out there
📣

100. “Distribution…is often overlooked and
addressing that as a part of a coherent
content strategy is super important.
Just writing, or recording, or filming
is not enough.”
— Alex Balabanov
Marketing Director at VIS

101. On a low DA site, pretty much
no one will happen upon
your content.

102. via https://www.animalz.co/blog/benchmark-report-2020/

103. Where do you distribute?
Where your customers hang
out.

104. via https://growandconvert.com/content-marketing/content-promotion/
A wise approach:

105. Talk with your customers!

106. Ideas
for promotion :
1. Your newsletter
2. Industry newsletters
3. Organic search (SEO)
4. Social Media
5. Other publication platforms
(Medium)
6. Ads
7. Niche communities
(subreddits, twitter, Hacker
News)
8. Slack communities
9. Guest posting on another blog

107. Make a list of your
options
your future self will thank you

109. Tracking results
📈

110. Have a purpose for
everything you publish.

111. “Different posts have different jobs.
Not every post will get you tons of
conversions.
It’s like laying tracks, not every article
is a destination, but they’re still
essential.”
— Josh Spilker
Content strategy for startups

112. Soft purposes : 1. Mentions or engagement from
industry/community
influencers
2. Documenting your
philosophy, value, stance, or
procedures
3. Solving a customer problem
4. Establishing your authority
5. Building out your expertise
on a main topic
6. Deep engagement (e.g. long
time on page)
7. Reducing time-to-resolution
(for service teams)

113. Hard purposes : 1. Newsletter signups
2. Demos booked
3. Trials started
4. Product purchases
5. Joining a community

114. “Having a blog isn’t to brag about
website traffic.
Content is meant to fulfill a purpose
in your sales funnel.”
— Kevin Daniel
SaaS Marketing Writer

115. Find a way* to track
your post’s purpose.
*this is hard and most brands are still figuring it out

116. Remember, only a small % of your
posts will have a “bang”
via https://www.animalz.co/blog/benchmark-report-2020/

117. “It’s art & science. Build the brand and play
the numbers but it’s a very delicate balance
and *that* is the piece that takes time.
You can see quick results if you do one or
other other, but to get results that actually
matter (revenue) you need both.”
— Bridget Poetker
Marketing at Big Time Software

118. Improving + reusing
♻

119. “Content can be repurposed.
For example, if you post to your blog, you can
repurpose that for your newsletter—maybe you
can republish on LinkedIn or Medium. Of course,
any post can be promoted via social media.
Always be looking for more than one way to use
your content.”
— Michelle Garrett
Writer and PR consultant

120. One article
could become* :
1. A newsletter
2. LinkedIn post
3. LinkedIn presentation
4. Medium post
5. Twitter thread
6. YouTube video
7. An article series
8. Instagram series

122. Reminder:
customers don’t read
everything you publish.
😉

123. *But always start with
one distribution channel in mind
via https://www.animalz.co/blog/content-promotion/

124. Pro tip: you can also
update successful posts.

125. via https://www.orbitmedia.com/blog/update-old-blog-posts/

126. This is low effort and
high reward.

127. In less time than writing a new article…

128. Closing encouragement
🤗

129. Hard stuff
they don’t tell
you:
1. This is a continuous thing;
it’s not one and done
2. None of it is super easy
3. You’ll want to burn it to the
ground every now and then (I
certainly do)
4. Writers think writing is
difficult
5. All of this is habit — habit
takes time to develop

130. I’m two years
into content with
one client and:
1. We’re changing our
positioning
2. We’re interviewing customers
for the first time*
3. We’re seeing over $75-100k+
deals directly influenced by
content
4. We’re changing up just about
everything
5. AND IT’S WORKING.
*do this sooner. Don’t be like us.

131. “It’s a long term play: be patient.
Too many startups abandon content
marketing before reaching and ROI
tipping point when they fail to see
immediate results.”
— Jared Lindzon
Freelance Journalist (in FastCo,
Fortune, The Guardian, & more)

132. Hang in there.
We’re all figuring it out as we go.
Don’t be afraid to join us.
💙

133. Thanks for spending
an hour with me! 🤗
If you have more questions
or are curious about what hiring a writer involves,
find me at: laurabosco.com ; @lauraebosco