Simpson Millar and Defining Marketing Strategy

Simpson Millar Digital Content Strategy September 2014

• Background & brief • Challenges

• NWI & Strategy

• Let’s clarify things

• Strategic approach

We’re going to be talking about:

THE BUSINESS CREATION AGENCY

Background

•  Simpson Millar are a national solicitor with a strong online presence •  There are three sides to the business: B2C, B2B and trade unions

•  B2B is currently separated into its own brand •  The link building strategy requires loving attention after the results from

the first Panda’s update. •  There is a broad content strategy intention

•  An extensive study of social media targets and market is available

Primary Brief

•  Exploiting your unique position in your markets to generate valuable insight and advice on issues your customers and prospects care most

about to maximise your lead generation.

Background & brief


Challenges

•  Crowded marketplace with some very noisy players – outthink not outspend

•  Limited time to focus on the digital environment to define the optimal direction

•  Difficulty to master digital tools and behavioural best practices due to resource shortage

•  Online communities can be fragmented •  Content production can be time-demanding

Challenges- Marketing Situation


•  Data is overwhelming •  The ordered studies don’t provide a solution

•  Lost the clarity of the initial marketing priority: how can you use your digital content to generate leads?

•  The evolution of business situation has slowed down the strategy process •  Limited resources

Challenges- Project


NWI & Strategy

CHECKLIST Brand Study Digital Audience & Influencer Personas Study

Best practices to develop a digital content strategy to reach my target audience (Outreach Strategy Development)

Guidelines and training to interact with my target audience online (Outreach Training)

I’ve done everything on the list.

Now what?

NWI – ‘Now What ?’ Issue



Where is my strategy?

Why can’t I find my strategy?

•  Here’s a clue: the strategy is not inside the ordered studies. •  The strategy was not delivered with the studies.

Why can’t I find my strategy?


Was it wrong to order marketing studies?

•  Not at all: the studies give insightful information about your digital market.

•  The studies are the base on which we can build a strong digital content strategy for Simpson Millar.

Let’s clarify things

Personas and Influencers

•  Digital engagement and interactions of your target audience •  Profiling of targets and influencers

•  Digital engagement and interactions of influencers

Digital landscape:

•  Competition comparison and activities •  Influencers identification

•  Best practice guidelines

What we already know


2: Digital Audience Personas: Opportunity Mapping •  Three key digital states were identified within the Simpson Millar potential online

marketplace Digital opportunities

Dig

ital o

ppor

tuni

ty

Age group

A G

I

N O

B

L

F

E M

1: Constant Connections

2: Review & Researchers

3: Limited Opportunities

Digital Audience Personas: Constant Connections Constant Connections

!  Sophisticated Internet users !  Internet used to help manage their busy lives !  Significant percentage are early adopters to new trends and websites !  Active in social media !  Communication and entertainment !  Multiple device users

Key content topics

!  Conveyancing !  Consumer !  Employment !  Family !  Family Services !  Medical Negligence !  Personal Injury !  Family Services

About this group

Digital networking summary

Digital interests

Outreach potential !  High

Lowest Highest

Internet use !  High

Internet frequency !  Every day

!  Social networking and communities !  Photo and video sharing !  Professional networking !  Blogs !  Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter , Google+

!  Business/Work !  Jobs and recruitment !  Video calling and communication !  TV and online content !  Making travel and holiday plans

Influencer profile

•  5 types of digital behaviour, from advocate to unique presence. •  The opportunity for influence per type of online behaviour

•  The interaction potential with the digital audience personas

We know •  Where to find them •  How influential they are

•  How often they interact with each persona of the target audience

Influencer Personas


Market opportunities

3: Digital Influencer Personas: Influencer Mapping In

fluen

ce O

ppor

tuni

ty

Individuals

Organisations

Individuals

Organisations

•  Via social query analysis we can identify key areas for consideration for social amplification and content outreach

Individuals

Organisations

Individuals

Organisations

Individuals

These groups represent the largest proportion of current Simpson and Millar social channel followers

Advocates

Independent and corporate views in line with Simpson Millar

!  They support Simpson Millar, the company, their expertise, their staff and their viewpoints. !  Relationship and / or connection with Simpson Millar is already established in some cases but not

every time. !  They are individuals, companies, and organisations. !  They will help spread the word through distributing content for us, both unique content provided to

them or by commenting on posts, retweeting, etc. !  They help create a firmer baseline for further outreach activity. New readers will see conversations

are already taking place.

About this group

Examples Content interests

!  Depends on the profile and their interest

!

Digital opportunity

Outreach potential !  Low – High !

Content frequency !  Varies

Step 1 2 3 4 5

Reach

Engagement

Relevance

Traffic potential

Value

!  https://twitter.com/Just_a_Drop !  Communication Workers Union Humanitarian

Aid (CWUHA) !  Royal Hospital for Neurodisability (RHN) !  The British Lung Foundation !  Sister companies

Digital Landscape

•  Comparative social media awareness •  Comparative link profile

•  Best practice guidelines

We know •  How aware the target audience is of competitors •  How trustworthy Simpson Millar and competitors are online

•  How to build a content strategy for the influencers and the target audience

Digital Landscape


Irwin Mitchell 48%

Simpson Millar

8%

Slater & Gordon

26%

Thompsons Solicitors

18%

Brand and Competitor Mentions

Brand Conversation Share – Who is Being Discussed?

Digital Landscape


Comparative Link Profile – August 2014


Comparative Domain Authority – August 2014

Develop custom pitches

Once you have prioritised your targets, develop custom pitches for each one. Remember what they are passionate about so that they

are easily hooked.

We are nearly there…


Define!objec*ves:!business!goals,!KPIs,!etc.!

Iden*fy!the!target!audience!

Iden*fy!the!relevant!influencers!

Observe!compe**on’s!behaviour!and!influence!

Purpose!relevant!content,!mapping,!produc*on,!scheduling!

Establish!the!relevant!distribu*on!channels!

Analyse!results!for!con*nuiing!improvements!

DIGITAL CONTENT STRATEGY

We need to know •  What results we want to achieve with

an online content strategy and how

to measure these. •  What is the available content, how is

it currently shared and with which results.

•  Where the content is being shared.

Strategic Approach

We would like to dive into your current content process to gain a knowledge of:

•  the existing content •  the distribution processes

•  the content in planning •  the content production processes

•  the lead generation process What we need from Simpson Millar

•  Access to Google Analytics

•  Access to social media tools in use (Sproutsocial, etc.) •  Access to lead tracking tools

•  Map of scheduled content production

Filling up the blanks with a content audit


At the end of our content audit, we will provide you with a short report highlighting:

•  Issues in format and distribution

•  Competitors best practices •  Issues in monitoring

•  Elements that are working and can be kept

This will give us the foundations for a content strategy.

Content audit: reporting


WAA would suggest composing a strategic content marketing plan during a strategic workshop:

•  Client and agency workshop to develop fully timed and costed content strategy plan. This will rely on the combination of knowledge and best

practices from the Personas & Influences audit, the Digital landscape audit and the Content audit. From this a full plan would be designed and

delivered that could be executed internally or via the WAA team (most likely a combination). Outcomes from this could include:

•  Definition of content strategy objectives •  Social media, SEO and PPC training and support schedule

•  Monthly content production for agreed period and pieces •  Agreed bought out cost budget (surveys, video, etc.)

Post audit workshop


Structure: Potential outcomes


Content!Strategy!!

Repurpose!/!Produce!content!in!mul*ple!formats!!

Map!digital!hub!in!order!to!store!content!!

Set!up!hub!management!

Map!content!crea*on!per!category!Map!influencers!per!

category!/!per!content!piece!

Data!capture!for!main!content!pieces!

Project!based!Social!Media!&!SEM!workshop!!

Monthly!*me!alloca*on!for!post/consultancy!/!repor*ng!!

Map!content!distribu*on!ac*va*on!

Data & Analytics

Simpson Millar and Defining Marketing Strategy