By Geraint Holliman, Content Marketing specialist Content marketing is the current ‘go to’ strategy for marketers who are trying to cut through the noise and clutter of the market place and generate real sales. But few people actually know what ‘content’ really is, let alone ‘content marketing’ and simply recycling sales materials and calling it ‘content’ is not the route to success. In this session we’ll answer the questions: What are ‘content’ and ‘content marketing’? How does content marketing work? Why is content marketing being compared to publishing? What are the key elements of a content marketing strategy? What approach to take in evaluating content marketing?

1. CONTENT MARKETING
‘The only marketing that’s left’
MMC Learning
Sponsored by
15th NOVEMBER 2013

2. Get Qualified in Digital Marketing
• Masters in Digital Marketing
– www.digitalmarketingmsc.com
• Diploma in Digital Marketing
– www.DiplomaInDigitalMarketing.com
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3. Your speaker today
Geraint Holliman
Director of Strategy & Planning and Head of Content Marketing at integrated agency,
DirectionGroup.
A practising content marketer, content strategist and author of the forthcoming academic paper
‘Content Marketing: B2B marketers’ perceptions of best practice’.
Geraint is a Content Marketing, Brand and Marketing Strategy trainer worldwide.
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3

4. Questions we’re going to answer today
• What are ‘content’ and ‘content marketing’?
• How content marketing works?
• Why is content marketing compared to
‘publishing’?
• What are the key elements of a content
marketing strategy
• What approach to take in evaluating content
marketing
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5. 94%
64%
60%
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Of UK marketing professionals use content marketing
Of UK marketers are planning to increase their content
marketing budget in 2014
Of UK senior UK marketing professionals believe that
in future brands will be built by aligning themselves
with engaging content
Sources: Content Marketing Institute/ DMA - The State of Content Marketing in the UK 2013, Marketing Week 2013

6. Content Marketing has been
around a long time (1895 actually)
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Source: http://www.deere.com/wps/dcom/en_US/industry/agriculture/our_offerings/furrow/furrow.page
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7. Makeitsocialltd.wordpress.com
The end of Interruptive Marketing as we know it
“The notion of marketing to your customers by repeatedly interrupting them with
advertising or other marketing messages is simply not enough any more - the web has
changed the rules” Seth Godin
60% of B2B buying decisions are being investigated, evaluated, compared BEFORE the
selling brand is even contacted
Source: Harvard Business Review Jul/Aug 2012
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8. What is ‘Content’?
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9. Firstly, why content marketing?
“Nobody cares about what your
company does. Nobody cares
about your products. Nobody
cares about your services. They
want to know what YOU can do
for THEM”
David Meerman Scott
MSc interview, Manchester Met University, Jan 2013
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10. What is Content ?
• “Any information provided by a brand
in a format which is relevant,
compelling and timely to the
audience’s needs at the point at
which they engage with it and that
does not overtly seek to sell the brand
or its products”(Holliman 2013)
• It’s not simply offering product
information in a new or different
format
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11. Why does content matter?
BECAUSE
HAS MADE IT SO
Google turned content into currency!
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Content drives reach – builds awareness
Consumers seek it
Content aids learning, decision making and purchase
Content fuels social media marketing
Content facilitates the “inbound” effect
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12. Content is the worm on the Inbound
marketing hook
http://scrapcationgetaway.blogspot.co.uk/
• Inbound Marketing “The process of
creating text, audio, video and other
online assets and optimizing them
to appear when prospective
customers are ready to pull the
trigger on a purchase” - Jay Baer
• Customers seek you out because of
the quality of the information you
offer to help them make better
decisions.
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13. What content isn’t
• Just about your product
• Not just your brochureware uploaded to your site
• Full of overt selling messages
• The sole responsibility of just one person
• Necessarily unique every time you communicate
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14. What makes content great?
• RELEVANT to the audience and its needs from the brand
• COMPELLING in that it encourages the recipient to engage
further with the brand by undertaking a subsequent action
such as download further content or contact the brand
directly, and
• TIMELY because it is delivered to the audience at the time
that is most appropriate to where they are in their purchase
consideration process.
(Holliman 2013)
• Content so valuable people would pay for it
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15. Unanswered questions
• Does your content help customers make a
better decision?
• Ask yourself: What questions do my
customers have which are going unanswered?
• Your content should be answering those
questions
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16. “If you can deliver content that your
prospects find interesting and
informative and entertaining, they’ll see
you as a trusted source of information an adviser”
Handley & Chapman , ‘Content Rules’ 2010
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17. What is ‘Content Marketing’?
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18. What is Content Marketing?
‘Content marketing is a technique for creating, distributing and sharing of
relevant content to engage customers with brands at the appropriate point in
their consideration processes such that it encourages them convert to a
business building outcome.’
By the use of:
Originated content
Curated content
Licensed content
User generated content
Interactive content (tools)
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DRIVING PROFITABLE CUSTOMER OUTCOMES
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19. “Content is king…
...but context is God.”
Gary Vaynerchuk, NY Expo 2012
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20. Content doesn’t sit in a vacuum
Poll 1
CONTENT
Blogs, videos,
ebooks, white
papers, podcast,
infographic, etc
SEO
On-page/off-page
link building
keyword analysis
SOCIAL MEDIA
Twitter, LinkedIn,
forums
blogs, portals
It needs to be integrated with other marketing
activities
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21. “Content is the only marketing left”
Seth Godin
“Content marketing is the future of
marketing”
Prof Don Schultz at CMW 2013
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22. Case Study - River Pools
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•
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•
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2008 a tiny, regional pool installer
“What questions do my customers
have unanswered?” blogposts
“My goal is to give more valuable,
helpful and remarkable content to
consumers than anyone else in the
field, which will in turn lead to more
sales” Marcus Sheridan ,CEO
Blogpost, videos and an ebook ‘How
to buy a pool – without getting
ripped off’
Despite recession now has 5% of
USA market share
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23. Case study - Will it Blend?
BEFORE
•
Blendtec - struggling blender manufacturer
•
Declining share, big competitors
•
Great product + Weak branding = Weak Sales
October 2006
•
Emailed customers ‘What should we blend?’
•
Video camera + one white coat
•
CEO Tom Dickson presents
2013
•
180 videos
•
294 millions Youtube views
•
700,000 subscribers to YouTube channel
•
They only tweet and facebook their videos
•
700% increase in retail sales solely due to videos
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http://www.youtube.com/user/Blendtec

24. Why is ‘Content Marketing’ being
compared to publishing?
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25. Image: gapingvoid.com
Think like a PUBLISHER not and advertiser
• Be ‘helpful’ (Jay Baer, ‘Youtility’ 2013)
• Think ‘subscribers’ not ‘customers’
• Is your content so good customer would pay for it?
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26. “Successful publishing is all about the
reader. . .your customers. If you are not
solving their pain points with relevant
and compelling content, you are adding
to the noise, the clutter.”
Joe Pulizzi, ‘Get content, get customers’, 2009
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27. • The best content tells a story about your brand: Storybranding
• Kendall Haven (NASA) from 300 sources distilled -‘Story proof:
the science behind the startling power of the story’
“A story is a narrative about a character dealing with some obstacle to
achieve an important goal”
Jim Signorelli, ‘Storybranding’ 2012
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28. But let’s be clear here…..
• Yes, you’re in the publishing business, but only
as a means to an end.
• It’s about OUTCOMES, not eyeballs
• “Work backwards to make your content
marketing program a driver of revenue, not
just page views.”
Jay Baer, “The NOW Revolution” 2011
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29. What are the key elements of a
Content Marketing strategy?
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30. Put content at the heart of your future
marketing strategy
• Content drives results from SEO
• Shareable content drives awareness for your brand
• For most companies a change to a content-led
marketing strategy is a big ask
• It’s not the way marketing has been done to date
• Its NOT just product specs recycled as content
• Think ‘content culture’ not ‘content campaign’
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31. CONTENT STRATEGY
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32. Content Strategy
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Build a detailed picture of them
Who are ideal customers and prospects?
Concerns, needs and interests?
Where are they in the buying cycle?
Influencer or purchaser?
Develop buyer personas
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33. Content Strategy
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34. Content Strategy
• How well have you addressed the personas with previous
content?
• Audit helps identify holes and how to be repurposed.
• Gather all your previous content into one location
• THINK: what is genuine content and what is just sales B.S.?
Type of content
Topic covered
Buyer persona
Leads/
customer
Dates created
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35. Don’t push your buyers. Pull them
Awareness
BUYING
Cycle
NOT
Selling
Cycle
Blog posts, social media updates
Research/ education
eBooks, Webinars, Industry reports
Comparison/ validation
Case studies, Demos, Customer
testimonials
Purchase
Analyst reports, detailed product
info
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36. Sponsored by
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37. Content Strategy
It’s a roadmap of what content, what topics and when to use them:
1. Create spreadsheet – 6 to 12 months
2. Identify the macro moments across the year
3. Work back from marketing goals. How many pieces of content will you
need to reach them?
4. Populate calendar with specific publishing tasks. List for each date: topic,
title, targeted persona.
5. Note SEO keywords, stage of buying cycle the content addresses, call to
action or other inbound goals addresses
6. Look for opportunities to repurpose or reimagine
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38. Content Marketing Plan 2013
January
February March
April
Macro moment
Retail
Sales
MWC
New GSMA Japan GO
standard Live
Hero Content
InfoVideo of
graphic on MWC
NFC retail highlights
spend
Hook/keywords
convenience,
security
Syndication
May
June
July
September ctober
O
NovemberDecember
Tourism
mobile
money
Research
findings
report
NFC
Congress
NFC
Summit
Convenience,
innovation convenience,
security
innovation ROI,
, flexibility security,
trust
Whitepap
er of
implicatio
ns of new
standard
innovation integrated consistenoffer,
cy,
flexibility, reducing
trust
risk
Talking
heads
video
convenience,
security
Blog
Blog
Blog
Blog
Blog
Blog
Blog
Blog
Blog
Blog
Blog
Blog
On/Off PR
On/Off PR
On/Off PR
On/Off PR
On/Off PR
On/Off PR
On/Off PR
On/Off PR
On/Off PR
On/Off PR
On/Off PR
On/Off PR
Facebook
Facebook
Facebook
Facebook
Facebook
Facebook
Facebook
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Facebook
Facebook
Facebook
Facebook
Twitter
Twitter
Twitter
Twitter
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Twitter
Twitter
Twitter
Twitter
Twitter
Twitter
Twitter
LinkedIn
Groups
Email
footer
E news
article
Pinterest
LinkedIn
Groups
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E news
article
YouTube
LinkedIn
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article
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marketing
LinkedIn
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article
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article
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article
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article
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Feedburner
Vimeo
Customer
Loyalty
Focus
Infographic
August
Business
case for
NFC
Video
interview
with
Gemalto
CEO
customer ROI,
retention security,
trust
Vimeo
New
Product
Launch
Podcast
Vimeo
Retail
focus
Banking
focus
Podcast of Video case Podcast of Podcast
Congress studies
Summit
highlights
highlights
Vimeo
Tumblr
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39. I don’t know what to talk about!
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1. Chat with customers. Ask something like, "What's your biggest marketing challenge? Name one business goal for 2014."
2. Interview luminaries. Q&A interviews with thought leaders, strategic partners, creative thinkers
3. Share real-time photos. Configure your blog to work with Flickr so that you can upload photos from industry events, meet-ups, or other gatherings.
4. Ask customer service. What are customers contacting us about? What problems do they have
5. Monitor search keywords. What keywords are people using when they land on your blog
6. Monitor social media keywords, too. Monitoring social conversations and trending keyword topics on Twitter, blogs, and social status updates
7. Research online. Use something like Google AdWords Keyword Tool to determine what people are searching for.
8. Trawl industry news. Share an opinion about a recent news story that`s affecting your industry or audience.
9. Get inspired by your own passions. piqued curiosity that draws in more readers.
10. Go behind the scenes. Show things that your readers or followers don't usually get to see.
11. Go to an event. Before , during and after an event, talk about what you hope to get out of it,
12. How—to content. Any type of content that helps someone create something or solve a problem has value for others
13. Best practices or productivity tips. Do you have tips or tricks to be more effective in an area?
14. Reach into your community. Create content that showcases your readers, viewers, commenters, and other active members of your community
15. Dig in the archives. lf you've been creating content for a while, what have you done that you might revisit or update? 1
16. Invite guest posts. Give your readers or employees the chance to create a guest post for your blog.
17. Check out your competitors. What are your competitors creating content around?
18. Create a regular content series. A themed series is a great way to help you create regular content.
19. Mine Facebook, Linkedln, SlideShare, and other social networks. Find a LinkedIn question you`d like to address and answer it;
20. Start a meme. A meme is simply an idea that is spread from individual to individual, culturally.
21 Offer your two penn’th. Review a book, iPhone app, favourite news sites, wallpaper sources, whatever.
22. Channel your inner surly teenager. Take the opposing or contrarian view on an issue that`s on your mind or in the news, or in your industry
23. Host an event . Schedule after—hour drinks, lunch, or even morning coffee around a topic or theme and invite everyone who might want to come. Encourage
people to document and share the event in whatever
24. Curate the voices of many. Are your employees creating content of any sort
25. Curate from elsewhere, too. Curating content & news from several must-read sources to a central location helps create a valuable destination site for readers.
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40. Evaluating content marketing?
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41. What does success look like?
Common ineffective answers:
• Generate a lot of buzz and online conversation
• Having our video go viral
• A-list influencers or web-celebs talking about us in positive ways
Better, effective answers:
• Generate at least 100 new mentions of our product on-line
• Having more than 10,000 views across all sharing platforms
• Having 10 bloggers write positive posts
• Achieve 25 positive reviews on Amazon/ Bazaarvoice
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42. The 4 types of content success
measure
Consumption
Sharing
Lead Gen
Sales
http://www.slideshare.net/jaybaer/a-field-guide-to-the-4-types-of-content-marketing-metrics
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43. For you to do
• Is your content just sales messaging in
disguise?
• Consider what unanswered questions you
customers have about your product/category
• What content would address those questions?
• How could you make content ‘so valuable’
customers would pay for it?
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44. Further reading
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Content Rules – Handley & Chapman
Get content, get customers – Joe Pulizzi & Newt Barrett
Inbound Marketing – Halligan & Shah
Youtility – Jay Baer
Launch – Mike Stelzner
Managing Customer Relationships – Peppers & Rogers
Permission Marketing – Seth Godin
Meatball Sundae – Seth Godin
Optimize – Lee Odden
Accelerate – Arnie Kuenn
The Now Revolution – Jay Baer
New Rules for Marketing & PR – David Meerman Scott
Trust Agents – Rogan & Smith
Story Branding – Jim Signorelli
The Cluetrain Manifesto – Levine, Locke, Searls & Weinberger
Likeonomics – Rohit Bhargavia
One to One Future – Peppers & Rogers
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45. END
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46. Contact
gerainth@directiongroup.com
LinkedIn geraintholliman
Twitter geraintholliman
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