Content Marketing –Definition & Best Practices

Gazalla Gaya10/16/12

What is Content Marketing?

An umbrella term for all content that you create for your audience. Examples include: Blogs Landing Pages Newsletters Whitepapers EBooks Podcasts Videos Webcasts/Webinars Social Media

Inbound Marketing Rising [Infographic] by Hubspot

Objective in Content Marketing?

Attract and retain customers and turn them into brand ambassadors

Build your site into a trusted authority in your industry

Keep your visitors coming back and staying longer

Increase conversion rates Lead generation

Content Marketing vs. Traditional Advertising [Infographic] by Marketo

Content MarketingBest Practices - Dos

1. Believability

2. Listen first

“ The new marketing isn’t about self-promotion; it’s about giving customers what they

need to become educated consumers. This is the age of information marketing. Education

marketing. Content marketing.”” Joe Pulizzi

3. Build trust

Content MarketingDon’ts (Factors that erode trust)

Constantly talking about yourself not about the customers needs and wants

Making it difficult to understand what you do or offer

Poor quality, design/content. Neglected/website/blog etc.

Inconsistency in providing content.

Doing nothing – not engaging=no growth

Content MarketingBest Practices

Know who your client is (persona) - Create a client persona

WIIFM ( Speak to their needs) Content Audit – Take a good look

at the content and messages you are sending out

Provide valuable info.

“Good content shares or solves; it doesn’t hawk your wares or push sales-driven messages. It provides value by positioning you as a reliable and valuable resource.” – Ann Handley in Content Rules

Content MarketingBest Practices

Answer your customers’ questions

Create a sense of community

Allow your content to have wings

Set up a listening dashboard (Google Reader, Google Alerts, twitter.com, relevant blogs)

Measurement and metrics so you know what’s working

Content MarketingBest Practices

Provide many different types of content

Be willing to try new things – and pull the plug on anything that’s not working.

Get on a schedule and stick with it.

Content MarketingBest Practices

Take care of your customers – giveaways, featuring them in case studies

If you make a mistake apologize and move on – You don’t own your brand – your customers do

BlogsBest Practices

Think of each post in your blog as part of a larger story

Don’t think so much about what YOU want to say but more about what your audience WANTS TO HEAR.

Create a community Encourage dialogue and

social shares Try to create shareable

content, content that multiplies

Spend time on other blogs in your niche

NewslettersBest Practices

Never spam Always get

permission (double opt-in)

Segment your lists and send only app material based on readers interest and previous buying behaviors

WhitepapersBest Practices

Usually used only if you are a B2B business

Usually a very long report that’s downloadable

Always try to solve a pain in the market, give a solution to a problem your niche is facing

They require a lot of time and effort, so you can always have a lead capture for whitepapers

Always provide a printable format, easily downloadable in the form of a PDF

Especially good to convince prospects to become customers

EbooksBest Practices

Usually used as an introductory guide to a subject

Best if prepared in an easily scannable format such as bullet points and numbered lists

Make liberal use of call-out boxes on your site

Ideal for lead capture

Great people to followQuick tips on how to be a part of the conversation

Joe Pulizzi - @juntajoe

Ann Handley - @MarketingProfs

Kristina Halvorson - @halvorson

Marcus Sheridan - @thesaleslion

Jon Morrow - @jonmorrow

Brian Clark - @copyblogger

Jay Baer - @jaybaer

Presented by @Gazalla

@Gazalla

http://webcontentblog.com

Credits

SLIDE SOURCES

2 VIDEO:

www.videoinforgraphs.com

3-4 IMAGE: Flickr image by eschipul

3-4 QUOTE: Joe Pulizzi

http://webcontentblog.com