Taming the Content Beast: How to Avoid Content Creation Overwhelm

TAMING THE
CONTENT
BEAST
HOW TO AVOID CONTENT
CREATION OVERWHELM
Kim Gusta
Content Marketing & Copywriting for High-Tech Companies
www.kimgusta.com @kimgusta

COMMON CHALLENGES
IN TAMING THE BEAST

Source: “B2B Content Marketing: 2012 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends” by Content Marketing Institute & MarketingProfs


WHY TAME THE
BEAST?
• Content creation overwhelm
• Poor quality content
• Content marketing “just doesn’t work”
• Buyers delete, unsubscribe, or ignore


BUYER TURN-OFFS

86%: Vendor information doesn’t meet my
needs
77%: Too much marketing fluff

77%: Unclear value propositions

44%: Not enough real world examples

Source: “What Your Prospects Want and Don’t Want From You,” UBM TechWeb, May 2012


79% say the
quality of information
you provide

significantly affects
whether they’ll do business
with you

Source: “What Your Prospects Want and Don’t Want From You,” UBM TechWeb, May 2012


STRATEGY +
REPEATABLE PROCESS
=
GETTING CONTENT
UNDER CONTROL


STEPS FOR
TAMING THE BEAST
1. Know what your buyers want

2. Inventory what you’ve got

3. Use an editorial calendar

4. Think economies of scale

5. Steal/borrow/ask for content ideas


TAMING THE BEAST
STEP #1

Know What Your
Buyers Want


CONTENT WISDOM…

“Your opinion, although
interesting, is irrelevant.”

In other words, don’t guess.
Ask.

Source: Pragmatic Marketing www.pragmaticmarketing.com


CONTENT WISDOM…

NIHITO
(Nothing Interesting Happens in the Office)

Source: Pragmatic Marketing www.pragmaticmarketing.com


TALK TO YOUR BUYERS

1. What are their most important responsibilities?
2. What are their top obstacles/problems?
3. Why haven’t they considered a product like yours?
4. What alternatives do they believe will help?
5. How does their boss measure their success?
6. Where do they look for new information?


TAMING THE BEAST
STEP #2

Inventory What
You’ve Already Got


WHAT GOOD STUFF IS
LURKING OUT THERE?


WHY INVENTORY YOUR
EXISTING CONTENT?
• Some of it is probably out of date
• Some probably needs updating
• There might be good stuff you can easily repurpose
(if you only knew where it was…)


CONTENT WISDOM…

“It’s easier to edit
than to author.”
Source: A wise, former boss


STUFF


CONTENT INVENTORY FORM*

Include:
• Filename
• Date
• Owner
• Target audience
• Where to find it
• Sales cycle stage
• Status – is it current?

*Download your copy:
www.kimgusta.com/tamethebeast

© 2012 Kim Gusta Marketing

TAMING THE BEAST
STEP #3

Use an
Editorial Calendar


WHY USE AN
EDITORIAL CALENDAR?
• Project manages your content
• Forces you to think ahead
• Assigns names to tasks
• Prevents content gaps
• Helps manage big events like product launches


SAMPLE EDITORIAL
CALENDAR*

Include:
• Project or content
name
• Existing or new?
• Go-live date
• Expiration date
• Content home
• Campaign
• Responsible parties
*Download your copy:


TAMING THE BEAST
STEP #4

Think
Economies of Scale


OPTION #1:
CREATE LOTS OF CONTENT


WHICH LEADS TO …


OPTION #2:
REPURPOSE CONTENT

Transcribe
the
webinar

Articles


ADVANTAGES OF
REPURPOSING
• Saves time
• Consistent message
• Puts content into various formats for different learning
styles
• Good cure for “writer’s block/content block”


THE “RULE OF 5”

From one “How-To”webinar:
1. Blog posts (combine into articles)
2. Infographic Figure out
your “5”
BEFORE
3. Short YouTube videos the webinar

4. White paper
5. “Getting Started” guide or cheat sheet
Source: “The Rule of 5 for B2B Content Development,” Ardath Albee;s Marketing Interactions blog


TAMING THE BEAST
STEP #5

Steal/borrow/ask for
content ideas


STUCK FOR GOOD
CONTENT IDEAS?


ASK YOUR BUYERS
• Turn top 50 questions you get from your buyers (via email,
phone, face to face, etc.) into 50 blog posts
• One post for each question
• Great for SEO
• Use as foundation for building related content
• Don’t be afraid to answer every question (even the tough
ones)
• “How much is it?”
• “How do you compare to your competitors?”

Source: Marcus Sheridan, The Sales Lion. “How to Come Up with Your Company’s First 50 Blog Articles…in Less Than 30 Minutes”


Common Questions
Prospective Pool
Owners Ask

From Marcus Sheridan’s River
Pools and Spas Website


CONTENT FOR SALES STAGES

Source: “Customer Engagement: The Role of Content in the IT Purchase Process”, IDG Enterprise


CURATE GOOD STUFF
• Not everything needs to be created from scratch (but give
credit where due!)
• Curate or cite good stuff that helps your buyers:
• Analyst articles
• Research results
• Case studies
• Industry trends
• Especially useful in early sales stages
• Examples:
• Research: “Technology Buyers’ Biggest Marketing Turn-offs”
• Case study: “Extraordinary Benefits of Interviewing 100
Customers”


CREATE LISTS

• Popular & easy to
create
• Curates useful
resources
• Use List.ly
• Embed in blog
posts or other web 814
content views!


RESOURCES:

MORE CONTENT IDEAS

• “100 Content Marketing Examples” eBook

• “Content Repurposing: 5 Experts Share Their Favorite
Secrets”

• “30 Great Content Ideas for Your Website or Blog”

• “My industry is boring. How do I create interesting
content?”


YOUR 60 DAY PLAN
1. Interview 2 buyers.

2. Inventory* your existing content.

3. Brainstorm at least 30 questions your buyers ask.
Schedule the best ones in your editorial calendar.

4. Create an editorial calendar* for the next 60 days.

5. Before you create your next piece of content, think of five
different ways to repurpose it.

*Download templates from

www.kimgusta.com
© 2012 Kim Gusta Marketing

MORE HELPFUL RESOURCES
Visit: www.kimgusta.com/tamethebeast

• Reference Guide
• Customizable content templates
• More content & lead generation resources

@kimgusta
kim@kimgusta.com
www.kimgusta.com
Blog: kimgusta.com/blog

Taming the Content Beast: How to Avoid Content Creation Overwhelm

Recommandé

Recommandé

Contenu connexe

Dernier

Dernier (20)

En vedette

En vedette (20)

Taming the Content Beast: How to Avoid Content Creation Overwhelm