Part Two of my presentation series for the Inbound E-marketing class I teach at Carroll Community College. Key Topics: - Getting Started with a Content Marketing Plan - Executing Your Content Marketing Plan - Achieving Long-term Success

1. +
Inbound E-marketing:
The Content Marketing Plan
Mary Ann Davis| mdavis@carrollcc.edu
Carroll Community College | 2016

2. +
The Inbound/Content Marketing
Plan
 Getting Started with a Content Marketing Plan
 Executing Your Content Marketing Plan
 Achieving Long-term Success

3. + Creating an Inbound/Content
Marketing Plan

4. +
Checklist: Content Marketing Plan
 Identify audience needs & interests
 Research competitor content marketing efforts
 Establish goals
 Determine the content type(s) & branded
destination
 Decide on free or paid assets

5. +
Audience Research: Methods
Search
Like a
Customer
Websites & BlogsSocial Media
Eavesdrop

6. +
Audience Research
Listen for
Wants &
Needs
Identify
Popular Sites
Ask the
Audience

7. +
Competitor Research
Review Published Content
Search Websites & Blogs
Social Media

8. +
Competitor Research
Eavesdrop on Conversations
Websites & Blogs
Incoming Links &
Blog Comments
Social Media
Friends
Followers
Connections &
Groups

9. +
Establish Goals
 Realistic
 Based on quality, not quantity
 Account for resources

10. +
Paid Assets
 Why am I offering content online?
 What do I want to get from my content?
 What do I want people to do with my content?
 Who do I want to read or view my content?
Questions to Answer:

11. + Executing Your Inbound/Content
Marketing Plan

12. +
Methods
 Link building strategies
 Content coverage
 Images, video & sound
 Interlinking & cross-promoting
 Best practices

13. +
Link Building Strategies
Process of publishing shareworthy content & building
relationships with people online to boost website
organic links & traffic.

14. +
Content Coverage
Putting practices into place that allow your content &
conversations to gain maximum exposure & growth
from your efforts.
 Apply Creative Commons attribution license
 Add logo to infographics, white papers & e-books
 Attach contact forms sparingly – requiring contact
information to access content can reduce the number
of shares

15. +
Images, Video & Sound
Enhance your content; don’t clutter it.

16. +
Cross-promotions &
Inter & Intralinking
 Cross-promoting – increase awareness of
content & available channels
 Interlinking – linking social media content from
your core online destination site
(i.e. a YouTube video from a blog post or adding
a SlideShare app from your Facebook Page)
 Intralinking – linking a newer blog post from an
older blog post

17. +
Best Practices
 Follow the law - Copyrights & Fair Use, Libel,
Privacy, etc…
 Know your words live online for a long time –
consider your words & their long-term effect on
your brand; even if you delete your original post,
the quotation may still be visible in other users’
comments
 Practice content marketing etiquette

18. +
Checklist: Etiquette Don’ts
 Publish too much self-promotion
 Intentionally or accidentally spamming
 Send automated messages
 Forget about attributing sources
 Sound inauthentic & too corporate – sound
human
 Overlook acknowledging people – respond to
comments

19. + Achieving Long-term Success

20. +
Key Success Factors
 Integrating content marketing efforts
 Analyzing results & fine-tuning the strategy
 Building the team

21. +
Integrating Content Marketing
Efforts
Cross Promote
Channels & Content
Find Content Marketing
Opportunities
Make it Shareable
(AddThis or ShareThis buttons)

22. +
Finding Content Marketing
Opportunities
 Search for opportunities
 Connect with sites & people – relationship building
 Register with …
 Help a Reporter Out – www.helpareporter.com
 ProfNet Connect - www.profnetconnect.com/ (connects
journalists, bloggers & writers with experts)
 Guest blogging

23. +
Analyzing Results &
Fine-tuning The Strategy
 Knowing what to track
 Using tools that to analyze metrics
 Conduct ongoing research
 Retooling your strategy
Monitor Conversations About Your Business

24. +
Knowing What to Track
 Identify hard & soft metrics
 Measure Return on Impressions, Opportunity,
Objectives & Engagement

25. +
Identify Hard & Soft Metrics
 Hard metrics (quantitative) – based on how many
people consume, share or discuss your content
 Soft metrics (qualitative) – based on online
perceptions and sentiments

26. +
Return on Impressions
 Impressions (hard metric)
 Perceptions (soft metric) – how people feel about
your business based on the content that’s shared

27. +
Return on Opportunity
Evaluates the opportunity that specific content
marketing efforts present versus the time &
monetary commitment they require.

28. +
Return on Objectives
The analysis of whether content marketing
efforts are moving the business in the right
direction to meet its long-term objectives.

29. +
Return on Engagement
Identifying how people engage with you & your
content.

30. +
Tools
Social Media
Built-in Analytics
Social Media
Third-party Analytics
Google
Analytics

31. +
Conduct Ongoing Research
Email & Online
Surveys
Listening &
Joining
Conversations
Online Polls

32. +
Retooling Your Strategy
 Keep pace with digital marketing changes
 Improve performance of under-performing efforts
 Check original goals still apply
 Take advantage of new content efforts

33. +
Building the Team
 Identify resources
 Establish expectations & requirements
 Find help with creating, sharing & promoting content
– know the skills you need (e.g. strong copywriting)
& recruit that from inside or outside of the
organization
 Monitor performance – make sure that content &
conversations align with your strategy

34. +
Identify Resource Needs
 Content creators
 Writers
 Graphic designers
 Audio & video technicians
 Sharers – resources that search for opportunities to
promote content
 Conversers – resources assigned to participate in
your & others’ content conversations
Internal Staff & External Freelancers

35. +
Establish Expectations &
Requirements
 Provide specific content requirements – including
word count, images, tagging & other pertinent details
 Give examples of style expectations – review
previous posts
 Communicate writing guidelines – the do’s & don’ts
for representing the business

36. Mary Ann Davis
Digital Marketer & Strategist
Specializing in developing strategic marketing plans using
an effective mix of multi-channel approaches that grow
business development.
about.me/mary_ann_davis
mary_ann_davis@outlook.com