Building the Perfect Content Marketing Mix - Top Priorities for 2015 - Part 1

INTERNAL PROCESSES & TACTICSTrack 1 of 32

BUILDING THE PERFECT CONTENT MARKETING MIX

Top Priorities for 2015

PART I

S P O N S O R E D B Y

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BUILDING THE PERFECT CONTENT MARKETING MIXTop Priorities for 2015 Part 1

INTRODUCTIONFEEL LIKE ITS TIME TO MIX UP YOUR MARKETING PLAYLIST? While theres a lot you could be doing, sometimes its hard to know which tracks to start, stop, or pause. To help you find the right mix to meet your marketing goals, we consolidated responses from the 2015 Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends research report section Which content marketing initiatives are you working on now, and in the next 12 months? We broke out the results as follows:

By priority By business type (B2B, B2C and nonprofit) By geography (North America, Australia, United Kingdom)

Part I covers two playlists: Internal Processes and Content Marketing Strategy Tactics. From channels to platforms to audience segmentation, learn how you can best establish your content marketing strategy and structure your team internally for more efficient processes.

Part II: Playlist 3 (coming soon) is where you can mix things up a bit with different Execution Tactics. See how to create and deliver the best content to meet your business objectives.

While some geographies and business types have similar priorities, others are finding their own unique beats and the differences may surprise you. We hope you find the following findings insightful and inspirational as you make your plans for the year ahead.

Enjoy! Joe Pulizzi

PLAYLISTS

From internal alignment to efficient processes, learn how you can best structure and manage your content marketing teams:

Better internal communication/ collaboration/ team operations ................................ 4Understanding/ using content marketing technology .................................................. 6Getting buy-in from executive management .......... 8

PLAYLIST 1: INTERNAL PROCESSES

From channels to platforms to audience segmentation, learn how you can best establish your content marketing strategy:

Increasing understanding of your audience .........10Developing an email strategy ...................................12Tying content to business goals ...............................14Measuring content marketing ROI ...........................16Creating a documented content .............................18 marketing strategy

Building a strong mobile strategy ............................20Progressive profiling ....................................................22Creating a channel plan for social media ..............24Creating a subscription model .................................26

PLAYLIST 2: CONTENT MARKETING STRATEGY TACTICS

BUILDING THE PERFECT CONTENT MARKETING MIXTop Priorities for 2015 Part 1

INTERNAL PROCESSESTrack 1 of 3

BETTER INTERNAL COMMUNICATION/ COLLABORATION/TEAM OPERATIONS

WHAT THE NUMBERS SAY...

Almost half of B2B and B2C marketers are focusing on building better internal teams now, with even more (55%) nonprofit marketers making this a current initiative. With fewer people choosing to put this off until next year, we can see that better internal processes and operations among content marketing teams is a top priority for most marketers in the immediate future.

WORKING ON THIS NOW

WORKING ON THIS IN NEXT 12 MONTHS

North America B2B 48% 24%North America B2C 49% 27%North America Nonprofit 55% 27%Australia for-profit 49% 28%UK for-profit 48% 26%

The need for a solid, organized and strategic content marketing team isnt new. However, as content marketing evolves and becomes more of a standard practice in many organizations, many are finding that their growing teams need better collaboration processes and communication to become more efficient. What this looks like, however, can vary greatly depending on your organizations size, content marketing maturity, budget, and more.

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From How Enterprises Structure, Scale, and Spend on Content: How can you best organize your content marketing teams? In most cases, while content marketing officially sits within the marketing department, many different parts of the organization (and even some outside contributors) must be involved in order to make it successful. This hybrid organizational structure can create a number of different models, including:

For more information, check out CMIs reports: The State of Content Marketing Operations for the Enterprise and 6 Keys to Shifting an Enterprise to a Content Marketing Mindset.

A model with a central content

marketing strategist whose responsiblity is to coordinate all

the different moving parts from across the organization

How to Organize Your Internal Content Marketing Team:1TACTIC

An ad hoc model where

internal contributors get involved,

as neededA model that

includes a mix of internal and

external content marketing

experts

A model in which channel managers are assigned when there is a primary

owned media platform, such

as blogs

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INTERNAL PROCESSES Track 2 of 3


While almost half of marketers in most categories are focusing on finding the right marketing technologies and understanding whats available, we do see numbers skewing slightly lower for nonprofit organizations. With traditionally leaner budgets and resources, this may merely reflect some restrictions in those areas rather than a lack of desire to progress their marketing technologies.

WORKING ON THIS NOW



The number of tools and technologies that can help with content marketing has exploded. You simply cant afford to buy into every new, shiny solution thats presented to you, nor do you have time and mental bandwidth to try and implement every possible solution. So, its your job to not only understand all the different options you have from full-service suites to specialized vendors but also how those options can deliver a measurable impact on your programs.

UNDERSTANDING/USING CONTENT MARKETING TECHNOLOGY

From 12 Questions to Ask When Making a Content Marketing Technology Decision: When considering certain marketing technology solutions for your organization, ask yourself the following questions:

INTERNAL PROCESSES Track 2 of 3

For more marketing technology tips, read CMIs eGuide: How to Choose Technology that Drives Better Content Marketing Results.

How to Better Understand Marketing Technology: Quick Tips2TACTIC

While there are many other questions to consider when choosing the right marketing technology, these should give you a solid starting point and a sense of whether the solution youre considering is right for your organization.

Can the technology really measure results (i.e., is data at

the heart of the software)?

Is there room for offline

marketing?

What other companies are

using it?

Is it easy to use?

What is the companys/

technologys reputation?

How will this technology help me support my business goals?

Does it integrate easily

with other software?

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Nearly half of all marketers we surveyed agree that getting buy-in from executive management is a top priority for them right now. Without that buy-in, most of the other objectives and priorities theyve laid out for content marketing programs wont come to fruition. So, marketers are putting in the time and effort to lay a foundation with senior leadership to gain support for upcoming content marketing initiatives. This holds true across all organization types we surveyed: B2B, B2C, and nonprofit.

WORKING ON THIS NOW



There may be lots of enthusiasm inside your organization to build a robust content marketing program, but the harsh reality is that without your senior-most executives buy-in, your program wont have the support it needs to truly be successful. This means you need to get your CMO, CFO, or even your CEO sold on the idea that content marketing can have an impact on your companys objectives.

GETTING BUY-IN FROM EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT



From Jon Griffins Getting Buy-in for your Content Marketing: A 3-Point Process: In order to gain executive buy-in, you need to embrace your inner salesperson:

For more tips on getting executive buy-in, read CMIs eGuide, Building the Case for Content Marketing.

STEP 1: Know your facts, and have a series of key points you want to bring up when presenting, like how important it is to nurture your brands reputation, the visibility and share of voice your company will receive with a strong content strategy, and how it will enhance your customer interactions.

STEP 2: Then, be prepared to walk through the data that supports your key points, and have a firm and well-thought-out action plan to present on how youre going to execute.

How to Get Buy-In From Executive Management: Quick Tips3TACTIC

CONTENT MARKETING STRATEGY TACTICSTrack 1 of 9

INCREASING UNDERSTANDING OF YOUR AUDIENCE


Over half of marketers surveyed, across B2B, B2C, and nonprofit, agree that gaining a better understanding of your audience is a top priority right now. In our 2015 research, this was the highest-rated strategy tactic among the list of initiatives marketers stated they were currently focused on; and with the ways consumers get exposed to your content changing so rapidly, we can understand why.

This means that many are likely: Firming up those audience personas Mapping out the different content needs their audiences may have throughout the sales cycle Working to understand all the different content channels and how theyll impact different

content elements

WORKING ON THIS NOW



Though you may have done a lot of work around audience profiling and content mapping to those profiles, if youre like most marketers, youre only beginning to scratch the surface. Not only are your audiences needs evolving, so are the media through which theyre experiencing your content. Having a truly deep understanding of your audience so you can create the right content to meet their needs at any specific time is an ongoing and uphill battle for most marketers, to say the least.

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From Analyzing Human Data: Take a Dive to Find Out What Your Customers Really Feel: While listening tools are great at helping you understand your share of voice and what people are saying about you online, theres a big gap in understanding how your consumers truly feel.

One thing to consider: sentiment analysis. Its what helps marketers understand the intent behind what consumers are saying, and can provide invaluable insight into your audiences needs at levels youve never experienced before.

However, if youre enlisting a tool or software to help you mine your online chatter for sentiment, be sure its sophisticated enough to measure context: Take the time to customize your solution so it truly fits your needs, and so you can understand more than just what a customers saying, but how theyre feeling when doing so, as well.

Get more tips about building your audience.

How to Better Understand Your Audience: Quick Tips4TACTIC


DEVELOPING AN EMAIL STRATEGY


Most marketers we surveyed agreed that developing an email strategy is a top priority for them right now. This is an interesting insight, as you would assume that most companies already have an email strategy; it certainly isnt a new technology or content marketing practice. However, with new features from popular email programs and increased sophistication in the field, it seems that most marketers are taking the time to see how this new world of email marketing fits into their content marketing strategy.

WORKING ON THIS NOW



As weve seen these past few years, email isnt going anywhere. Though it may be getting more sophisticated, harder to penetrate, and more complex in its audience segmentation offerings, it remains at the top as a content marketing priority.

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From Andrew Davis 4 Branded Content Lessons From a Content Cancellation: A successful email strategy should contain the following elements:

RELIABILITY: Your consumers should come to expect it on a certain day or at a certain time, and in a consistent format.

UNIQUENESS: What value are you bringing to your readers with your email? Think of something unique something that is different from what anyone else around you is creating.

PERSONALIZATION: Give your readers the ability to choose which communications they want from you from topics to delivery timing.

How to Develop an Email Strategy: Quick Tips5TACTIC


TYING CONTENT TO BUSINESS GOALS


This years research shows that tying content to business goals is a large focus for marketers right now. With almost half of B2C and nonprofit marketers focusing on this now, we did see a bit of an increase for B2B NA participants; 56% stated this is an initiative they are working on right now.

WORKING ON THIS NOW



A critical part of any content marketing strategy is the ability to tie your efforts to your business goals. While this typically happens at the onset of many content marketing programs, its also something many marketers look to revise and refine as their business priorities evolve. Additionally, your business goals may differ across multiple business units, leaving marketers to tailor their content marketing programs for each specific initiative. Either way, its a complex endeavor, and one we see many marketers focusing on in the immediate future.

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From 2 Essential Elements for Getting Started with Content Marketing: Your content should be created with a specific marketing or business goal in mind. As you develop your content marketing plans, ask yourself the following questions:

Do I need to raise

awareness for my brand?

Do I need to build my

email list?

Do I need to nurture

prospects along their buyers

journey?

Do I need to retain customers

and/or increase their purchases (up-sell/

cross-sell)?

Do I need to convert customers

to evangelists?

Do I need to convert my

audience to paying

customers?

This should be a constant dialog among members of your content marketing team as your content evolves and plans shift. Keeping an eye on your critical business goals will help ensure youre focused on the right things, at the right time.

How to Tie Your Content to Business Goals: Quick Tips6TACTIC


MEASURING CONTENT MARKETING ROI


Perhaps one of the biggest themes we heard again and again from survey respondents this year was the need to better understand how to measure the ROI of their content marketing programs. Nearly half of B2B and B2C marketers listed this as a top initiative they are working on right now, with a slightly lower percentage focusing on this in the next 12 months. For nonprofit marketers, however, the numbers are slightly lower: Only 30% of nonprofit respondents are focusing on ROI right now, with an increase to 39% working to include that in the next 12 months.

WORKING ON THIS NOW



You many feel that your content marketing program is meeting your business goals, but how can you know for sure? Establishing a solid way to measure the ROI of your content marketing is perhaps one of the most critical, and challenging, parts of your job. It involves taking a critical look at each and every aspect of your plan, and requires a deep understanding of the data needed to justify many of your program elements.

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How to Measure Your Content Marketing ROI: Quick Tips7TACTIC

CONSUMPTION METRICS: Web programs like Google Analytics will help you measure how well your content is performing, and can oftentimes be a direct link back to the value of your investment. Site visits, downloads, cost-per-visitor and other valuable KPIs can all be measured here.

LEAD GENERATION METRICS:Be sure your site is set up to track and measure not only how many leads youre getting through traditional methods (download forms, etc.), but also to track how people are getting there. Determining the dollar value associated behind a lead is also critical here.

SHARING METRICS: Social media might be trickier to measure, but its still important. Determine how youre using social media to support your content marketing, and measure accordingly (i.e., as a link referral source to your website, to help increase web conversions, or to simply help share your content more broadly).

SALES METRICS: Perhaps the most critical of your KPIs, youll need to ensure your infrastructure is set up to track how a sale can be measured and tied back to your content. For example, if you can track how a visitor came to your site, which content they saw, which downloads they chose and, ultimately, which products they purchased, you can more easily determine which content pieces are helping drive sales the most.


There are a million ways to slice and dice your data to help measure the ROI of your content marketing programs.

There are essentially four buckets of content marketing metrics that matter. To effectively measure the ROI of your program, determine which of these KPIs will be most meaningful to your senior management and help you tie your content marketing efforts to your business goals:

How to Measure Your Content Marketing ROI: Quick Tips7TACTIC


CREATING A DOCUMENTED CONTENT MARKETING STRATEGY


This year, almost half of B2B and B2C marketers listed creating a documented content marketing strategy as a top priority, with one-third stating it will be a priority for them in the next 12 months. A slightly lower percentage of nonprofit marketers listed this as a top priority now. Over the next year, however, the theme was consistent across all three groups: creating a documented strategy is top-of-mind for marketers who may already have a verbal one, but are looking to drive more efficiencies.

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Perhaps one of the most resounding themes from our content marketing research this year was the need to not only have a content marketing strategy but to document it, as well. Marketers who take the time to document their strategies feel more efficient, organized, and better set up to succeed in the future. In addition, they are able to more clearly justify their content marketing budgets as theyve established clear goals, processes, and metrics.

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How to Create a Documented Content Marketing Strategy: Quick Tips8TACTIC


From Developing Your Content Marketing Strategy: What You Need to Know: The first thing to remember when creating a documented strategy is that theres no right answer or template you need to follow. However, there are a few common elements that each strategy document includes, such as:

For more, download CMIs The Essentials of a Documented Content Marketing Strategy: 36 Questions to Answer

A BUSINESS PLAN FOR INNOVATION: This will ensure everyones expectations are aligned and that youre covered in case certain initiatives might fail.

A BUSINESS PLAN FOR CONTENT MARKETING: Keep in mind that this does not guarantee an ROI on your program, but will establish how you plan to measure once the plan gets underway.

PERSONA DEVELOPMENT AND CONTENT MAPPING: This will identify and document who your buyers are as people as well as what their needs are throughout each stage of the buying cycle.

YOUR BRAND STORY: This establishes your content pillars and framework for helping you determine the best ways to tell your story.

A CHANNEL PLAN: i.e., where will your content live once developed, and which will be most beneficial to you?


BUILDING A STRONG MOBILE STRATEGY


Even with the mounds of data to argue why marketers need a better mobile strategy, only one-third of marketers (or fewer) are working on this right now. A larger portion of survey respondents indicated that a better mobile strategy was a focus for the next 12 months, more so in the B2C segment than in the other groups of respondents.

WORKING ON THIS NOW



The need to optimize your content for mobile is clear: Content is being consumed through mobile devices. Yet marketers are still struggling to determine the best ways to use the mobile channel and enhance how consumers can engage and interact with content on various devices.

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From How to Create a Mobile-First Content Marketing Strategy: There are a few things every marketer should consider when looking to enhance consumers experience with their content on a mobile device:

For more information on creating a better mobile strategy, see How Your Content Plan Should Change to Improve Mobile Engagement.

How to Build a Better Mobile Strategy: Quick Tips9TACTIC

When targeting your content online, consider creating localized content. Use Google Trends to determine what topics are trending in different geographic regions, and where you could tailor your content to meet their needs.

Also using Google Analytics, drill down into your audiences to see what terms people are using to visit your site or view your content. These keywords can help inform future content you create.

Video consumption is very popular on mobile devices; according to some studies its the most used content format on this channel. Plus, thanks to Vine and Instagram, creating mobile video is now easier than ever, making it a no-brainer for marketers to add to their content marketing mix.

Reduce abandon rates by making it easy for consumers to interact with your content from a design perspective; remember that touch-enabled functionality can be challenging on smaller mobile devices.

Make it easy for conversions to happen on mobile devices, such as through a sign-up form or download request. You can do this by shortening the form fields you require, or enabling contextual keyboards depending on which information your form is requesting.


PROGRESSIVE PROFILING


Progressive profiling may not be top-of-mind for marketers right now; however, it is something they expect to turn more attention to in the next 12 months. Interestingly, B2C marketers planned the biggest increase in focus on this initiative over the next 12 months versus what they do now, with a slightly lower, but still notable increase, by their B2B peers.

WORKING ON THIS NOW



A smart lead-capture tactic, progressive profiling allows you to pre-populate your forms using information you already know about your prospects, and lets you build out that information over time as they interact with your content (rather than bombarding them with multiple fields to complete at once). Marketers have come to use this as an effective content marketing tactic to increase conversion rates and give prospects a better experience with your content.

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From The Content Match Game: Tips for Better Content Alignment Throughout the Buying Cycle: As youre gathering information progressively about your leads, also consider what content your leads may want and/or need at different stages of the sales cycle, and be prepared to give them only what theyve indicated is most useful.

Elle Woulfe, Senior Marketing Programs Manager at Eloqua, advises marketers to focus on product-related information once a prospect has been classified as a true lead (i.e., someone who has demonstrated interest in your company). To help the lead become sales-ready, focus on delivering the right content pieces, such as white papers, case studies, demo videos and product comparisons.

How to Utilize Progressive Profiling: Quick Tips10TACTIC


CREATING A CHANNEL PLAN FOR SOCIAL MEDIA

WHAT THE NUMBERS SAY...WORKING ON

THIS NOWWORKING ON THIS

IN NEXT 12 MONTHS

North America B2B 37% 29%

North America B2C 45% 30%

North America Nonprofit 41% 28%

Australia for-profit 44% 38%

UK for-profit 41% 33%

Good content needs strong delivery channels, but with so many social media platforms available, its hard to know which ones to invest in. Developing a channel plan for social media can help, and with marketers creating more content than ever, and utilizing more social media platforms than ever, a solid plan is the only way to ensure your team is working as efficiently as possible.

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With social media playing such a pivotal role in content marketing particularly when it comes to distribution its not surprising that developing a channel plan is high on the list of marketer priorities across the board. Interestingly, B2B marketers were on the lower end of the statistical spectrum, both in terms of prioritizing the creation of a social media channel plan now and doing so in the future.


How to Create a Channel Plan for Social Media: Quick Tips11TACTIC

From How to Build Social Media Into Your Content Marketing Processes: Its important for marketers to have a dedicated plan for every channel on which they intend to distribute social media content on. To create this plan, ask the following questions for each channel youre on now or are considering using soon:

Whats the ultimate goal

of the channel?

Whats the desired action?

What is the specific type of

content the audience wants to get in this

channel?

What is the ideal velocity?

Whats the right tone for the channel?

Identifying answers to these questions will help you focus in on the right activities, versus trying to be everywhere at once.


CREATING A SUBSCRIPTION MODEL

WHAT THE NUMBERS SAY...WORKING ON

THIS NOWWORKING ON THIS

IN NEXT 12 MONTHS

North America B2B 17% 20%

North America B2C 20% 20%

North America Nonprofit 14% 15%

Australia for-profit 24% 18%

UK for-profit 24% 21%

Gathering email addresses is important, but whats more important for marketers is to gather a tribe of subscribers people interested in continuing to consume your content over time. Understanding the value of these subscribers, and how best to engage with them, can be an extremely powerful tool for your content marketing program.

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Retaining audience loyalty and engagement is an essential component of achieving sustainable success with content marketing. So it comes as a surprise that driving subscriptions is such a low priority among the marketers surveyed particularly nonprofit marketers. With only 14% of respondents working on this tactic now, and only 15% planning to do so in the next 12 months, it is the lowest-rated of all the strategy tactics in our nonprofit research.


From Your Epic Content Marketing Plan: 3 Steps for Driving Subscriptions: How can you grow your subscription channels to help meet your content marketing goals?

How to Create a Subscription Model: Quick Tips12TACTIC

MAKE CONTENT-FOR-CONTENT OFFERS: (i.e., offer them something in exchange for signing up for your email list).

LEVERAGE POP-UPS: When used well, these can be a great way to drive subscribers while they are engaging with content on your site.

MAKE CONTENT-FOR-CONTENT OFFERS: Decide which specific offers you want to provide readers, and stick with a clear call to action when trying to attract subscribers.

About Content Marketing InstituteContent Marketing Institute (CMI) is the leading global content marketing education and training organization. CMI teaches enterprise brands how to attract and retain customers through compelling, multi-channel storytelling. CMIs Content Marketing World event, the largest content marketing-focused event, is held every September, and Content Marketing World Sydney, every March. CMI also produces the quarterly magazine Chief Content Officer, and provides strategic consulting and content marketing research for some of the best-known brands in the world. CMI is a 2012, 2013, and 2014 Inc. 500 company.

To see all of CMIs original content marketing research, visit our Research Page. Learn how to create a documented content marketing strategy, a key component for improving overall content marketing effectiveness.

About BrightcoveBrightcove Inc. (NASDAQ:BCOV) is a leading global provider of powerful cloud solutions for delivering and monetizing video across connected devices. The company offers a full suite of products and services that reduce the cost and complexity associated with publishing, distributing, measuring and monetizing video across devices. Brightcove has more than 5,500 customers in over 70 countries that rely on the companys cloud solutions to successfully publish high-quality video experiences to audiences everywhere.

To learn more, visit www.brightcove.com.

DONT MISS Part 2 of Building

the Perfect Content Marketing Playlist:

Top Priorities for 2015.Coming Soon

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