How to Plan and Build a Content Marketing Strategy

How to Plan + Build a Content Marketing Strategy

Liz Bedor Brand Strategist, NewsCred

@lizbedor

There’s been a fundamental shift in the way we create,

consume and share content.

4.5 BILLION pieces of content

are shared every day

1.8 BILLION photos are uploaded

and shared

700 MILLION snapchats are sent

500 MILLION tweets are

posted

People tune out the noise.

We choose what matters.

We follow, like, subscribe and recommend only the things we

really care about.

We need to stop interrupting what people are interested in and be

what people are interested in.

Craig Davis ”

“

•  Delivering content your audience wants •  Content published consistently •  Customer experience drives engagement •  Managing content as a strategic asset with ROI

Content Marketing = Brand Publishing

Brand Purpose

What Customers

Want

Content Marketing

Ad campaigns

Demographics

Brand-led

Always-on content

The individual

Marketers are taking a new approach.

Value-driven

Organizations are dependent on content to fuel all of its marketing channels.

Introducing NewsCred. THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE CONTENT MARKETING SOLUTION.

SOFTWARE SERVICES CONTENT

Social Content Production

Workflows & Social Governance

Global Asset Management

Social Publishing & Distribution

Performance Measurement

Global Implementation

24/7 Support & Training

Strategy Workshops

Editorial Consulting

5,000 Licensed Publishers

Original Content Network

Rights-cleared UGC

1  Documented content strategy

2  Have someone accountable for content

3  Consistently publish quality content

4  Map content to consumer journey

5  Balance Paid, Owned, and Earned Media

6  Focus on Content Subscribers

7  Track Content Marketing ROI

Key Factors to Content Marketing Success:

Why is it Important to Have a Documented Content Strategy?

* Content Marketing World

EFFECTIVE CONTENT MARKETERS INEFFECTIVE CONTENT MARKETERS

DOCUMENTED CONTENT MARKETING STRATEGY

HAS A CONTENT MARKETING STRATEGY

NO STRATEGY

54% 11%

41% 44%

3% 44%

•  Thinking and acting like a publisher

•  Delivering content your audience wants

•  Managing content as an asset (with an ROI)

What is a Content Marketing Strategy?

Discovery Destination Team Editorial Customer Journey Measurement Optimization

•  Audience analysis

•  Business case

•  Current state

•  Budget

•  Branding

•  Design

•  Platform

•  Integrations

•  Agency

•  NewsCred

•  Internal teams

•  Structure

•  Topics

•  Types

•  Tone

•  SEO

•  Content by stage

•  Conversions

•  Subscriptions

•  Retention

•  Define report

•  Tools/software

•  What / when

•  Content

•  Platform

•  Distribution

The Content Marketing Roadmap

Discovery

Discovery Destination Team Editorial Customer Journey

Measurement Optimization

Understand Your Audience

•  Who are they?

•  What do they care about?

•  What are their challenges?

•  Where do they get their information?

•  How big is this demographic

•  Where do they live?

•  How much expertise does your audience already possess?

•  Does your audience know who you are?

•  How does your audience feel about you?

•  What questions do they expect you to answer?

Build the Content Marketing Business Case

Do Your Research Internally

Set Appropriate Goals

Align Program Goals with Company

Objectives

Ask for a Realistic Budget

Find the costs and ROI of other marketing

departments

Understand what metrics your

organization’s leadership cares

about most

Set goals that are realistic and expected

in order for your program to be

considered a success

Ask for the moon and the stars, with the hope

of just getting the moon

Identify the Content Marketing Business Case

Paid vs. Organic Search Traffic

Brand Awareness

Organic Search Share of Voice

Unbranded Organic Search Traffic

Cost per Lead

Conversions

Total Conversions

% of Leads Sourced by Content Marketing

Time on Site

Brand Health

Social Likes

Subscriptions

Repeat Visitors

Bounce Rate


Social Shares / Followers

Share of Voice / Offsite SEO

Conduct a Content Audit to Understand Current State

1. COST 2. UTILIZATION 3. PERFORMANCE

Find the Budget

Calculate the Costs of Unused Content

Borrow Budget from Underperforming

Digital Assets

Approach Budgeted Teams with a

Partnership Opportunity

Destination




KPIs / Reporting

Optimization

•  Create a space for the content to live to get the most out of

your marketing

•  Consolidate fragmented digital

content and present a one-stop-

shop environment

Determine Where Your Content Will Live

BRANDED NON-BRANDED

Pros Pros

Strong domain authority delivers search traffic Repairing trust issues with audience from history of too much promotional content

Associate with positive brand perception Changing brand perception / disassociate from

current brand perception

Cons Cons

Audience may discredit content for being promotional

Forfeit existing domain authority search traffic

Associate with negative brand perception

Comparing Branded vs. Non-branded

www.pepsi.com •  Associates Pepsi with pop culture +

music

•  Looks and feels like Pepsi

•  Pepsi contests and products promoted in some content

•  Leverages Pepsi domain authority

Branded: Pepsi’s Pepsi Pulse

www.makeup.com •  Only disclaimer that it is powered

by L’Oreal is at very bottom of site

•  Reads like beauty magazine

•  “Shop the Story” links to L’Oreal products

•  Links to L’Oreal social sites

Non-branded: L ’Oréal’s Makeup.com

www.content-loop.com •  “Powered by Capgemini” tag at

top of page

•  Content does not mention or promote Capgemini services

•  Only Capgemini CTAs and banner advertisements

Somewhere Between: Capgemini’s Content Loop

Important Site Elements

1  Categories across the top show visitor what space you are in

2  Images are authentic and create context for the content

3  Published content with dates shows frequency

4  Share buttons encourage social sharing

5  Related articles/top stories increase engagement and time on site

6  Heavy call-to-action

7  Subscription

Categories Across the Top Show Visitor What Space You Are In

Images are Authentic and Create Context for the Content

Published Content with Dates Shows Frequency

Share Buttons Encourage Social Sharing

Recommended Reading

Heavy Call-to-Action + Subscription



Team

Managing Editor

Strategizes, writes,

and oversees

content projects to

ensure brand

consistency and

alignment with

business

objectives.

Community Manager

Distributes content

across social

channels, engages

online communities,

and contributes to

content projects.

Designer Brings content to life

through the user

experience and rich

visuals.

Contributors Any content creator-

blogger,

photographer,

designer — who

contributes to your

project.

SEO / Paid Specialist

Manages the paid

distribution of

content online.

Analyst Defines best/ worst

performers,

conversion

optimization and

measurement

communications.

Curator Finds and re-

purposes the best

content from your

business and from

around the web.

A Successful Content Marketing Program Requires a Dedicated Team of Experts

The Importance of a Managing Editor

Create + Manage Editorial

Calendar

Top-level view of everything you’re pushing out to the

web

Align strategy with overall business goals

Maintain Website

Updates

SEO meta data

Formatting, tagging images and videos

Categorizing + tagging posts

Author data

Update static pages

Supervise Writer Network

Suggest ideal topics

Enforce tone of voice

Ask for revisions

Communicate with writers

Edit, Format, Schedule,

Publish

Enforce consistency

Be the voice of the company

Know content well enough to inject

internal links

Reference upcoming events or webinars

Test + Optimize

Test plugins

Demo new products



Editorial

Brand Purpose

What Customers

Want

Content Marketing

What Should You Write About?

This is where you live

How American Express OPEN Forum Does It

Brand Purpose

What Customers

Want

Content Marketing

Insights, Inspiration, and Connections to Grow Your Business

Acquire new card members

Increase of card member spending

Grow their small business

Make smart small business decisions

Buyer Journey Should Fuel Your SEO Keyword Strategy…

…Because Ranking High for SEO Keywords Should be a Core Objective for Your Content Marketing Program

Organic search is responsible for 64% of all web traffic

Only 2% of users travel to the 2nd page of Google

18% of users click on the first organic listing

Source: Eyetools Inc

Additional Things to Consider in Your SEO Strategy

Source: Eyetools Inc

BRANDED KEYWORDS

Keywords that include your product or brand

ONSITE SEO

What you publish on your site and what topics on

which you think you have authority

UNBRANDED KEYWORDS

Keywords that exclude your product or brand

OFFSITE SEO

What other sources say about your site and what

topics on which they think you have authority

Most heavily weighted variable in organic search.

Tone of Voice

A simple request can be articulated several different ways.

“You wouldn’t happen to have a pen I could borrow, would you?”

“Do you have a pen I can borrow?”

“Pass me that pen.”

Exercises to Help Identify Your Tone of Voice

1.  Look at your internal communications 1.  How formal are they?

2.  Any commonly used words or phrases?

2.  How is the way you work different?

3.  How you might tell a customer about your business over the phone or face-to-face?

4.  Describe your company is three different ways, using different degrees of colloquial

language? If one way sticks out, try to identify what you like about it. 1.  An economically priced hotel located in the city center

2.  Easy on the wallet, this hotel enjoys having the city on its doorstep

3.  This cheap as chips hotel gives you a night’s shut eye, slap bang in the city

1.  Write the guide in the tone of voice itself

2.  Make it memorable

3.  Be comprehensive

1.  Examples of copy used in different contexts

2.  Lists of words and phrases that you like versus those you don’t like

3.  Specific grammar rules and examples in action

4.  Screen grabs of how copy might look on a page (length, headings, images, etc.)

4.  Account for different contexts

1.  Examples of copy at either ends of the scale (ie: formal letter of apology vs. Tweet)

Create a Tone of Voice Guide

What are different ways you could organize the content? Draw out common themes What topics and perspectives differentiate from other destinations? Consider recurring series

Content Categories: How Do You Give Order to a Pile of Bricks?

Content Categories Allow Readers to Quickly Find the Content That Interests Them Most

Different Types of Content Serve Different Purposes

Boost credibility and publishing cadence

Share on-brand stories created specifically for

your brand

LICENSED CONTENT ORIGNAL CONTENT USER-GENERATED

CONTENT

Connect your fans and community, share their stories and experiences

Why Licensed Content?

Boost Publishing Cadence Leverage Credibility Cost Efficient

With access to over 160k topics and

millions of articles a day, licensed

content allows you to boost your

publishing cadence.

Licensed content costs 3X less than

original content while driving equal value

in pageviews and shares (NewsCred).

Licensed content allows you to borrow

credibility from sources your audience

knows and trusts.

Get the Most Out of Your Original Content by Recycling It Into Different Formats

Start by creating an eBook

Read the eBook aloud and make it

an audio book

Interview a customer for a quote in the

eBook and put that up as a video

Take the audio from the video

and make a podcast

Create a presentation from the eBook with

highlights

A few times a year

1-2X per month

< monthly 1-2X per week

1 per day More than 1 per day

Increasing Publishing Frequency Increases Organic Traffic

1.  Will it interest your audience?

2.  Can it be distributed effectively to reach them?

3.  Does it align with your engagement goals?

4.  How is this an original idea?

5.  Does it fit your brand?

5 Question Editorial Final Gut Check



Customer Journey

Middle-Stage Content A combination of licensed and custom content that hits on niche topics specific to your offering and solutions: white papers, case studies, video and infographics.

Late-Stage Content Custom content promoting your products and services: tactical guides and case studies

Customer Stage Content Consistent cadence and mix of content as well as personalized recommendations: white papers, case studies, tactical guides

Retain

Evaluation

Purchase

Early-Stage Content Quality, licensed and custom content around broader, shareable topics that drives visibility and engagement: blog posts

Awareness

Content Through the Buyer Journey

Purchase

Case studies promoting product offering

Evaluation

High-value, gated content on niche topics

Awareness

Content around broad, shareable topics

Retain

Mix of all content from all stages

How American Express OPEN Fuels the Buyer Journey

The Value of Email Subscriptions

Subscribers are 9x more likely to convert than non-subscribers



Measurement

BRAND HEALTH How your digital audience feels about you.

BRAND AWARENESS/PERCEPTION How many of your early-stage prospects are finding their way to your

company website?

CONVERSIONS Prospects who became customers because of either helpful, useful

and/or entertaining content you provided them.

Content Marketing Business Cases


Brand Awareness

Organic Search Share of Voice

Unbranded Organic Search Traffic

Cost per Lead

Conversions

Total Conversions

% of Leads Sourced by Content Marketing

Time on Site

Brand Health

Social Likes

Subscriptions

Repeat Visitors

Bounce Rate


Social Shares / Followers

Share of Voice / Offsite SEO

* Benchmark metrics should be recorded prior to program launch to show growth

Key Performance Indicators by Business Case

There are Many Content Marketing Tools + Software

NewsCred’s Content Marketing Cloud Gives You All the Insights You Need to Be Successful, All in One Place

•  Content + Social Analytics

•  Audience Insights + Targeting

•  Influencer + Competitor Tracking

•  Custom Reporting



Optimization



Even great content needs a push The average Hollywood movie spends 50-60% of production budget on distribution.

After 6 Months, See What’s Working and What Isn’t

•  What characteristics do your best performing pieces of content have in common?

•  What categories are performing well / poorly?

•  What channels are people finding your content through?

•  Consider beginning paid distribution for your best content

•  Is your bounce rate high? People may not be identifying with your content.

•  Are you seeing an increase in conversions?

•  What is your most / least shared content?

•  How are people interacting with your brand on social?

•  What day of the week / time of day performs well / poorly?

Thank you!