Content Marketing Strategy Guide (2013)

“Internet
Marketing
for
Growing
Businesses”

http://righthandplanning.com

Right Hand Planning’s
Content Marketing Guide
How to Develop A Content Marketing Strategy
Build an integrated marketing system that drives traffic, leads and sales.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Connect with Buyers Everywhere
Build Awareness, Authority and Trust among Shoppers
2. Make Sales on Your Schedule
Execute pre-planned content to meet company sales goals
3. Build an Automatic Sales Funnel
Automatically collect leads and send follow-up emails
4. A Simple Social Media Strategy
A manageable way anyone can use social media
5. FREE Content Sharing Sites
Several fast free places to share your content online
6. Paid Promotion Options
Spending a little money can greatly reduce time to results (i.e. Sales)

“Internet
Marketing
for
Growing
Businesses”


Integrated Marketing System
Overview of the integrated marketing system discussed here. It
develops new traffic and creates ongoing relationships and sales.

“Internet
Marketing
for
Growing
Businesses”


1. Connect with Buyers Everywhere
Below is the general process or “Purchase Funnel” that buyers go
through when selecting a product.
Upper Funnel
Searchers learn about options to solve their problem.
List all potential questions a researcher might ask:
– The customer has the most questions at top of funnel
– Opportunity to develop a lot of content to answer searchers’
questions
Topics to mix and match into Top-Funnel content:
• Symptoms and descriptions of the problems your products
solve
• Problem-solving products and capabilities

“Internet
Marketing
for
Growing
Businesses”


• Company history, legacy, reputation, credentials
• Media mentions of company and quotes from company leaders
Middle Funnel
Searchers evaluate alternatives, get to know the brands and begin to
discover the products that speak to them.
Topics to mix and match into Middle Funnel content:
• Explanations and comparisons of your products
• Your product advantages versus alternatives
• Your product benefits (not features)
Social Media Opportunities
In the “Brand Engagement” and “Final Engagement” stages,
searchers (potential customers) look for answers from your company
directly or consult others via social media to get questions answered
or to seek out what others are saying about you.
This is why it’s vital to have a presence and be active on popular
social media sites.
Lower Funnel
At the Lower Funnel people are in the final decision-making stages.
It’s important to offer details and assurances to get them to select you
over the competition.
Topics to mix and match the items into Lower Funnel content:
• Product specifications
• How-to-use videos
• Evidence of results
• Customer testimonials
• Promotions like sales, bundles, current discounts, etc.

“Internet
Marketing
for
Growing
Businesses”


Content Example
Just like in the diagram above, in the example below the search goes
from broad to narrow. In this example, consider how shoppers might
search for a low MPG car:
• First they search for low MPG car options
• Then they decide if they want a small or family-size car
• Then they consider foreign or domestic
• They pick one and research manufacturers
• Finally they pick a brand look at the models and options

“Internet
Marketing
for
Growing
Businesses”


Types of Content and Uses
This graph from Distill shows the many types of content there are and
effective ways to use them.
CONTENT WRITING SEO TIP: Use Actual Search Terms in
Headlines, URL and Content
To help your content get seen without heavy promotion and backlinks
include an exact phrase a searcher might use in the:
• Title
• URL

“Internet
Marketing
for
Growing
Businesses”


• Headline
These areas are the “on-site SEO” sections of your site and are a
big part of how Google indexes and understands your material. Use
them to your advantage!
Proof: 11 of 15 Terms on Google Page One
This example from our Right Hand Planning website shows that for
11 of the 15 keywords listed, the search term closely matches the
page URL.
For more information and a clearer view of this chart see this page :
http://righthandplanning.com/on-site-seo-compared-to-backlinks/ (notice the
search term in the URL)
Learn More
Content Marketing Services:
http://righthandplanning.com/article-writing-services/

“Internet
Marketing
for
Growing
Businesses”


2. Get Sales on Your Schedule
Prepare for future sales with pre-planned content based on your
company calendar.
In the purchase Funnel examples above we were looking at making
sales based on a buyer’s timeline.
But every company also has internal events and times at which the
company needs to make sales according to its schedule.
Typical Company Sales Events:
• Seasonal – Need to sell remaining seasonal goods before next
season
• Regular Sales – Set sales events buyers have come to expect
• Model Year Closeouts – Sell remaining inventory before new
improved models arrive
• Holidays – Fourth of July, Christmas, End of Summer sales
• Tax Time – Push of services before tax year closes or after refunds
arrive
• End of Fiscal Year – Increase cash flow, reduce goods before
company closes fiscal year numbers
Sales during these times can be more important to the company than to a
buyer, therefore it’s necessary to have a strong content marketing plan in
place to combine company and customer sales cycles.
Content Strategy: Match Company Goals with Buyer Sales Funnel
Pre-planning your content calendar with company sales needs in mind will
help you meet sales goals.

“Internet
Marketing
for
Growing
Businesses”


For example, be sure to develop and deploy Upper Funnel content well
before the sales will be needed by the company.
Also have Middle and Lower Funnel content ready in time to convert
shoppers who are at the buying stage.
Other Factors to put in your Content Calendar:
• Topics
• Target Keywords (aka Search Terms)
• Purpose - upper, middle, lower funnel
• Release Dates
• Medium – Facebook, blog, press release, sales flyer
• Type - infographic, video, article, product spec sheet
The exact time timing to release the content depends on your product
sales cycle, but the point is that pre-planning content will help you meet
your goals without resorting to expensive advertising buys or sales at
steep discounts.

“Internet
Marketing
for
Growing
Businesses”


3. Build an Automatic Sales Funnel
Automatically collect leads and send follow-up emails
The four components of a successful email marketing system:
Offer – Create a compelling offer to give people a reason to sign up
for your information. Offers will vary depending on your sales process
and product price.
Simple offers are free informational documents. Higher-end goods
might justify free personal consultations or other more valuable
services – for example, think of those free DVD offers seen on TV for
investments or expensive beds.
Optin Form
Add an Optin form with a clear and helpful incentive can be placed in
several locations on your site to build a growing email list of your
customers.
Optin Form Example
Landing Page (or Sales Page)

“Internet
Marketing
for
Growing
Businesses”


Is a long-form version of an optin form. it is a page with only one
focus – to get your visitors to “convert” – by taking action such as
making a purchase, giving an email address, calling a phone number,
scheduling an appointment, watching a video – whatever your
desired call to action is.
If the goal is an email sign up, prospects can be entered into the
same Follow Up Series as the optin form, or a different list if the sales
page is for a different product/offer than the optin form.
Follow Up Service – An email “auto responder” like AWeber (or Mail
Chimp or Get Response to name just a few) is the easiest way to
follow up with customers automatically who optin in to your email list.
An auto responder sends out your “giveaway” content automatically
to every new subscriber upon sign up.
Follow up Series
Equally important, an autoresponder is used to send out a series of
emails automatically on a pre-set schedule to every prospect.
These emails should be carefully designed to address customer
questions and concerns as they get to know your products and brand
with a few sales pitches sprinkled in.
While your follow up series is running it’s still easy to send out
monthly newsletters, news events or product and sales promotions to
these same subscribers. Just don’t overdo it on the sales pitches or
overall number of communications or people will unsubscribe.

“Internet
Marketing
for
Growing
Businesses”


4. A Simple Social Media Strategy
Here are the basics of a simple social media strategy:
• Find
• Follow
• Share - other people’s content
• Post - your own content
Quick Note – You should be checking social media daily, if not twice
a day (morning and end of day). If this feels like a lot at first, it will be
faster and easier as you become more familiar with the medium and
get in the habit of using it.
FIND Your Audience’s Social Media Preferences
Facebook and Twitter are often safe bets and must-haves but it’s
worth taking a moment to understand your audience and your
intended uses to see if there are other social media platforms that are
even better for you.
For example many younger users are moving from Facebook to
Instagram, and Pinterest is popular among women and good for
businesses that rely on visual content (design, photography, food,
fashion etc.) and LinkedIn can be useful for professional services.
Twitter is a good supplemental social media tool to and is great for
announcing or chronicling live events.
Don’t forget that YouTube has Subscribers too if videos are
important to you.
Also, many of these can be linked together like Instagram to
Facebook and Facebook to Twitter.

“Internet
Marketing
for
Growing
Businesses”


Many business owners don’t have a lot of time for social media so be
sure you’re picking the one or two social media that make sense for
your line of work and the ones that your customers use.
Selecting two social media platforms is usually plenty to stay in touch
with your customers as their activity is also likely to be concentrated
in just a few social media accounts as well.
How to Find Best Social Media
Check your competitors – Look at not just what they’re linking to,
but where the most followers and the most activity is.
Use SEMRush to find your top competitors, their keywords and where
their traffic comes from. The first ten results are free and this is often
enough to give you the information you need.
FIND and FOLLOW Influencers
Like the 80/20 rule, there are a few people on social media who hold
more sway than many of the smaller users combined, these are
called “influencers”.
To find influencers, you can see which names pop up, or use these
websites and tools:
• Klout
• Kred
• PeerIndex
• Alltop
Other People to Follow – As you participate in social media
consider adding to your Friend of Follow list:
• Big customers
• Big competitors
• Media
• Trade groups
• Local people and groups

“Internet
Marketing
for
Growing
Businesses”


• Non-competing business that share same target – e.g. if you’re
a restaurant, the movie theater next door
SHARE
Share the posts, tweets and content of other people you want to get
noticed by is good practice in social media.
Some people advise making 80% of your activities shares of other
people’s content and 20% of your own original posting – this won’t
apply for everyone, but the point is to “listen more than talk”.
Include in sharing Replies, Comments, Share, Like, Retweet,
Forward, RePins.
To use another cliché, “If you want a Friend or Follower BE a good
Friend on Follower”
POST
When you have something to offer, by all means chime in. Topics
might include:
• Sales
• News
• Blog Posts
• Media mentions
• Events
• Promotions
• Personal – about staff or self. Not too personal, but life events
like births or marriages or job promotions might be appropriate.
• Humorous
• Community news and events

“Internet
Marketing
for
Growing
Businesses”


Visuals like “memes” (photo with funny caption) and
infographics are becoming very important in social media. Mix
up your content to include items that can be consumed quickly or
passively (videos and audio).
FREE Social Media Tools
Use free tools like:
Google Alerts – Be altered any time a search term you’re watching
appears online. Google will “Google it” for you and email you.
Replyz (http://replyz.com),
Mention (http://mention.net)
Perch (http://perchapp.com/) to be alerted to new posts on social
sites you follow. A great tool for keeping up with competitors and
following social users you admire.
To be seen as a leader, stay on top of the popular topics in your field
– Use these tools find out what’s now…
• Google Trends
• Google Think Insights
• What the Trend
• Social Mention
• Trends Map
• TrendSpottr
To more easily manage your social media accounts use tools like
HootSuite (https://hootsuite.com/).
To find similar sites Google “Sites similar to ___” or enter a url into
Alexa.com and view the “Related Sites” tab.
You don’t need to use all of these, just find the 1 or 2 that feel easiest
for you to use.

“Internet
Marketing
for
Growing
Businesses”


5. FREE Content Sharing Sites
Articles, blog posts and written forms of content can be shared for
free on these sites (and more like them):
• Scoop.it
• Repost.it
• BizSugar
• Headliner.fm
• Rebelmouse
• MyBlogGuest
The first two sites also allow for curation of related material.
Share PDFs and PPTs on sites like:
• Slideshare
• Scribd
• DocStoc
Two popular video sharing sites in addition to YouTube are:
• Vimeo
• DailyMotion
Impact
If you’re creating content you might as well take a moment to upload
it to these sites. It will give you a little extra exposure, more backlinks
and will help Google index your material.

“Internet
Marketing
for
Growing
Businesses”


Also, Google likes to show a variety of types of content in their search
results (videos, slideshows, etc) and using these authority sites can
help get your content seen by searchers.
On the downside, free sites that allow anyone to upload content often
attract more uploaders than viewers so these might not result in a lot
of inbound traffic.
Also, Google does not give heavy weight to links from sites that
anyone can access. Google is more impressed with links from sites
that choose to link to you, rather than those that allow anyone to link
back to themselves.
Is it worth the effort?
It never hurts to gain the first hand experience that comes from trying
out these options. The only investment is your time.
The video and PDF/PPT sharing sites can be very helpful if 1.) You
upload very helpful content, fill out all the SEO areas (title,
description, tags) and then 2.) Add backlinks to the URLs where your
documents are.
How to add backlinks? Contact us (info@righthandplanning.com) or
buy a backlink package on SEOClerks.com.
Social Share – This site is very helpful in getting social bookmarks to
your content from a variety of different accounts owned by other
people.
There’s a free version and it’s best to use it to promote your off-site
content – like the PDF, PPT and video sharing sites mentioned
above.
GENERAL NOTE – Beware of over-linking or unnaturally linking to
content on your primary website because aggressive linking tactics
can results in Google penalizing your site in the search results.

“Internet
Marketing
for
Growing
Businesses”


What do we mean by primary site? The site you make sales on (your
“money” site). If you’re tempted to do heavy bookmarking or SEO
backlinking it’s better to do it to your blog if it’s separate from your
sales site, or to your article on one of the content curation sites.
6. Paid Promotion Options
Writing and sharing content and participating in social media are
important parts of long-term traffic and brand building.
These activities should always be ongoing to attract new customers,
outdistance competitors and keep pace with your industry.
But when you need sales right away, spending a little money can
speed up results.
Check out some Traditional promotional strategies and then some
Non-Traditional ideas we’ve listed below…
TRADITIONAL PROMOTIONAL STRATEGIES
The promotional strategies and tools below fall under these general
service types:
• Marketing Basics - Strategic Planning and Site Setup
• Content Marketing – Article writing, guest blogs strategies
• Outsource Packages – SEO, Social Media Plans, Local
Marketing Packages
• Marketing Tools – AdWords, Press Releases, Apps, Ezine
Advertising
To discuss any of the services here, call us during West Coast
business hours at (424) 237-7609.
MARKETING BASICS
Strategic Planning

“Internet
Marketing
for
Growing
Businesses”


Organize for success with clear marketing and sales goals and a
website optimized for search and conversions.
Goal Setting such as sales metrics and target keywords.
Site Optimization of links, content, sales process and on-site SEO
factors.
Learn More
Marketing Planning - http://righthandplanning.com/internet-
marketing-for-small-business/
Strategic Services - http://righthandplanning.com/internet-marketing-
strategies/
CONTENT MARKETING
Guest Post Services
Our two services include content writing and placement for two types
of guest blogging:
High Value Blogs - Get SEO “link juice” from high value pages.
Good for passing SEO “link juice” to your off-site content like
YouTube videos, etc.
High Quality Blog Posts - Get traffic from popular blogs in your
niche – Good for
Learn More - http://righthandplanning.com/guest-blog-services/
Content Writing Packages
Curated Blog Content – Impress readers and make Google happy
by regularly publishing articles on industry news, events and people
in your field. Each post includes 2 to 4 citation links to important
authority sites.

“Internet
Marketing
for
Growing
Businesses”


Authority Website Content – Expand your reach by answering a
wide range of customers’ questions and improve conversions with in-
depth product details with well-researched, high quality articles. Use
on your site to capture long-tail searches or share with partners to
gain valuable inbound links.
Learn More - http://righthandplanning.com/article-writing-services/
OUTSOURCE PACKAGES
Local Marketing
Citations and smart phones (and tablets) these are the things local
businesses need to appear online in the search results and in the
directories and maps of smart phones and tablets.
Citations are listings in business sites like yellowpages.com,
citysearch Yelp and others. The more you have, the more visible your
business will be in searches.
Smart phones by Apple and Android have their own databases for
their 411 directory and for the local business that appear on their
maps.
For businesses with local bricks and mortar locations a local
marketing plan is essential and the good news is they’re only a few
hundred dollars a year.
Learn More - http://righthandplanning.com/local-business-marketing/
Content-Based SEO and Social Media Packages
Content-based SEO is the new Google friendly method of writing and
posting high quality articles and sharing them on your site and
elsewhere online.
Keywords and backlinks are still part of the strategy but capturing
searches at stages and in many locations is now the main focus, as is
creating infographics and photo memes for sharing on social media.

“Internet
Marketing
for
Growing
Businesses”


These high-quality, multi-faceted plans have come a long way from
the “old days” of SEO (you know, 2 years ago!)
And they work great because the focus is on the customer user
experience, which is exactly what Google and customers want to see.
Learn More
SEO Example Plans - http://righthandplanning.com/small-business-
seo-los-angeles/ Contact us for additional options and prices (310)
464-7609
Social Media Example Plans - http://righthandplanning.com/social-
media-marketing-plan/ Contact us for additional options and prices
(424) 237-8155
MARKETING TOOLS
Google AdWords and Facebook Ads
There’s nothing like paid advertising to target buyers and bring in
quick sales. They’re effective.
The downside? Depending on your competition, they’re can be one of
the more expensive adverting methods. On the upside, they work.
Learn More including many free AdWords tips
http://righthandplanning.com/adwords-tips/
Press Releases
Press releases are a cost-effective way to announce news and
amplify your presence among all your business’ stakeholders.
A press release package includes writing of a professional press
release and distributing it through leading high-visibility outlets where
it’s likely to also be picked up by many smaller sites.

“Internet
Marketing
for
Growing
Businesses”


For example, we have a premium press release package for only
$400 that includes:
• Professionally Written Press Release
• PR Newswire Distribution Package (a $299 value)
• PR Web Distribution (a $199 value)
• Feature Placement in Yahoo and Google News
• Sent to 500+ High Authority Media Sites (incl. MSNBC, AOL)
• Mailed to150,000 niche media list, 250,000 news subscribers
and more…
Contact us at (424) 237-8155 to learn more about the Press Release
Package
Responsive Sites and Apps
Having an optimized site for smartphones and tablets isn’t a need for
the future it’s for today. We can make your site “responsive” so that it
automatically adjusts to fit a tablet or smart phone screen. It’s easy
and affordable and it’s a useful exercise that will get you focused on
exactly how to drive customers to the pages you want them to
see.
And Apps are a great way to get a permanent connection with
customers because they place an icon to your site on your
customer’s device. This gives you the ability to send “push
notifications”, which sends a message, including message alert icon,
to your customers’ phones whenever you want to announce a sale or
promote other news or events.
Apps can also do many other things:
• Make sales
• Allow for reservations
• Provide a news feed
• Give directions to your location
• Show your products or menu
• Push promotions out to users
The ability to offer promotions and news out to your audience can
results in direct sales or at least keep your company top of mind.

“Internet
Marketing
for
Growing
Businesses”


NON-TRADITIONAL MARKETING IDEAS
Ezine and Newsletter Advertising
Ezines are email newsletters that go out to a list of optin subscribers.
Sometimes it’s possible to have your article published in an ezine for
free.
Otherwise, ezines are at least great advertising opportunities
because they are very targeted and your ad will often be the only ad
in the mailing.
There are ezines on a wide variety of topics and subscriber lists vary
from hundreds to tens of thousands. To find an effective ezine:
• Select newsletter topics likely to be read by your target
audience
• Select topics that are compatible with a message about your
industry and product
Newsletter Topic Examples - There are multiple more specific
newsletter titles within these categories:
• Health
• Senior Living
• Life Advice
• Home and Consumer
• Religion & Spirituality
• Women
• Travel & Leisure
• Parenting

“Internet
Marketing
for
Growing
Businesses”


Ad Options and Rates Examples (subject to change):
Text only Ads - ~$100 - $200 (about $0.75 CPM)
Display Ads - $200 - $500. Can reach 1.9MM readers for $459 ($0.23
CPM)
Mixed Display, Text and Specials - $500 - $1,000
Solo Ads – Email to their list containing only your ad, no newsletter
or other communication from list owner. Rates vary by list.
THANK YOU!
Thank you for reading our “Content Marketing Strategy
Guide”. We hope you found it useful and we welcome
your comments at info @ righthandplanning.com.
I’m Pete Semple the owner of Right Hand Planning.
We’re a small business internet marketing consulting
agency located in the Westchester neighborhood (90045) on Los
Angeles’s Westside.
Do you have a small business marketing question or need? Give me
a call at (424) 237-8155.
Sincerely,
Pete Semple

Content Marketing Strategy Guide (2013)

Recommandé

Recommandé

Contenu connexe

Tendances

Tendances (20)

En vedette

En vedette (20)

Similaire à Content Marketing Strategy Guide (2013)

Similaire à Content Marketing Strategy Guide (2013) (20)

Dernier

Dernier (20)

Content Marketing Strategy Guide (2013)