Content Marketing Strategies For Dummies

Blogs and social platforms are all the rage right now?especially for strategists looking to cultivate influence among target audience members through content marketing. Content Marketing Strategies For Dummies explains how you can use content marketing to gain an edge over your competition, even in the most crowded of marketplaces. This timely text introduces you to the Five C Cycle: Company Focus, Customer Experience, Content Creation, Channel Promotion, and Closed-Loop Analysis. The Five C Cycle drives the creation and documentation of a targeted content marketing strategy, and allows you to approach your content marketing campaign with confidence. By helping you determine your company's focus, uncover your customers' experience with data, develop channel promotions across social platforms, create actionable online content, and use closed-loop analysis to build on previous success, this will become your go-to content marketing guide.

Content marketing entails creating and curating content online via blog posts, social media platforms, and more. The goal is to acquire and retain customers by creating content that brings value to their lives, and that encourages them to engage with your brand. This easy-to-understand guide will help you do just that.

• Analyze customer data to better understand your target audience's journey
• Leverage social platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, to develop channel promotions
• Create and curate intelligent, engaging content that leads to action
• Build upon your previous success with closed-loop analysis

Whether you work for a large corporation, are part of a small business, are a solo thought leader, or are an educator, Content Marketing Strategies For Dummies tells you how to gain a critical, competitive advantage through targeted content marketing strategies.

Foreword xiii

 Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Foolish Assumptions 2

Icons Used in This Book 2

Beyond the Book 3

Where to Go from Here 3

Part I: Getting Started with Content Marketing Strategies 5

Chapter 1: Establishing Your Content Marketing Strategy 7

Understanding the Components of a Content Marketing Strategy 7

Determining the company focus 8

Uncovering the customer experience 9

Creating quality content 9

Developing channel promotions 10

Deploying check-back analysis 11

Communicating Your Mission 12

Crafting your statement 12

Reviewing real mission statements 13

Establishing Your Goals 16

Uncovering your goals 16

Picking KPIs 18

Expanding Your Corporate Mindset 18

Creating a culture of content 19

Thinking about reputation 21

Using content to serve customers 23

Dipping into User Design and Habits 26

Recognizing the importance of UX design in your strategy 26

Observing product habits 27

Chapter 2: Capturing Your Customer’s Attention 31

Focusing on Attention 32

Seeking the “attention web” 32

Looking at attention triggers 37

Making Your Content Easy to Consume 39

Reading in patterns 39

Considering design elements and typography 41

Deploying Interactive Content 44

Chapter 3: Understanding Your Business Model and Brand 49

Separating Your Business Model from Your Brand 50

Understanding the business you’re in 51

Looking at some popular online business models 52

Considering the freemium model 57

Analyzing Your Business Model 60

Discovering Your Brand 61

Benefitting from attention to your brand 61

Knowing your current brand reality 63

Solidifying the Look of the Brand 64

Considering design components 64

Using a digital asset management tool 66

Developing Success Measures for Your Brand 68

Producing Engaging Branded Content 69

Chapter 4: Facilitating Buy-In from Your Team 73

Presenting the Big Picture 73

Identifying your audiences 74

Using the Five-Prong Approach (FPA) to collect buy-in information 75

Engaging the Leadership Team and Identifying Roles 78

Understanding what leaders want to know 79

Understanding how roles will work 80

Communicating the Essentials to Everyone 80

Expecting resistance to change 81

Establishing results that will be shared 82

Chapter 5: Putting Your Content Marketing Plan and Presentation Together 85

Reorganizing for Success 85

Busting silos 86

Advocating change 88

Identifying the Components of Your Content Marketing Plan 89

Documenting needed resources 89

Measuring success 90

Establishing the timeline 91

Presenting Your Plan 92

Revisiting the Five-Prong Approach 92

Putting It All Together: Your Presentation 95

Part II: Uncovering the Customer Experience 99

Chapter 6: Dipping into Customer Data 101

Understanding Big Data 101

Looking at different kinds of Big Data 102

Looking at problems with big data 103

Uncovering the Role Big Data Plays in Content Marketing 104

Improving your content marketing 105

Using real-time content 105

Discovering the Internet of Things 106

Reviewing IoT market size 106

Impacting content marketing 109

Visualizing Big Data 111

Chapter 7: Discovering Buyer Personas 113

Reviewing Persona Development 113

Understanding how persona creation improves content 115

Taking action to understand your customers 117

Collecting Information 118

Finding different data types 118

Deploying listening tools 120

Conducting one-on-one interviews 124

Documenting your personas 125

Avoiding Common Mistakes 125

Looking at How Generations Differ 127

Understanding millennials 127

Meeting Gen C 129

Identifying a Prospect’s Emotions 130

Keeping Up with Trends 131

Chapter 8: Taking the Buyer’s Journey 135

Harnessing the Customer Experience 136

Looking at the customer experience from both sides 136

Benefitting from an omni-channel approach 138

Uncovering Commercial Intent 140

Defending Against Competitors 143

Researching competitors 143

Analyzing your competitor’s content 146

Identifying the Stages of the Buyer’s Journey 148

Understanding the buying process and journey map 148

Benefitting from the journey map 150

Focusing on content for each part of the journey 151

Personalizing Your Content 154

Chapter 9: Embracing Sales Enablement 157

Discovering Sales Enablement 157

Gaining a competitive advantage 158

Evaluating your current status 159

Understanding the new role of sales reps 161

Training Your Salesforce 162

Coaching Your Reps to Become Winners 164

Checking Out Sales Enablement Blogs 165

Part III: Creating Actionable Content 169

Chapter 10: Examining Your Content Plan 171

Evaluating Your Content 171

Benefitting from a content plan 172

Determining content maturity 175

Assessing Your Content 176

Interviewing your stakeholders 176

Conducting a content audit 177

Visualizing Your Sites 179

Mapping your content ecosystem 179

Picturing website content 180

Creating Your Plan 181

Focusing on Specialized Content 183

Creating pillar content 183

Utilizing “evergreen” content 185

Using graphics and other visuals 186

Going viral 187

Chapter 11: Exploring Content Types 189

Dipping into Content Categories 189

Working with Original Short- and Long-Form Content 191

Using Curation 193

Examining five curation models 194

Understanding how to curate 195

Making Use of User-Generated Content 197

Understanding the positives 197

Dealing with the negatives 198

Repurposing Content to Add Value 199

Benefitting from repurposing 199

Planning goals and picking content 199

Viewing Aggregated Visual Content 201

Dealing with Live Video Content 202

Extending Business News 203

Offering Online Courses 204

Managing Content Formats 206

Chapter 12: Storytelling for Content Marketers 213

Storytelling to Engage Your Audience 213

Seeking the science behind stories 213

Finding your product stories 216

Structuring Your Content Using Stories 220

Crafting the story 221

Incorporating copywriting 222

Chapter 13: Creating Processes and Systems for Your Content 225

Organizing the Content Process 225

Benefiting from a defined framework 226

Examining the systems needed 226

Determining Roles and Responsibilities 229

Managing the Workflow 230

Finding and assigning writers 230

Using an editorial calendar 233

Documenting Your Policies and Procedures 236

Content managers 237

Editors 237

Writers 237

Designers 239

Content system administrator 239

Web administrator 239

Part IV: Developing Channel Promotions 241

Chapter 14: Examining Channel Plans 243

Getting Started with Your Channel Plan 243

Benefitting from planning your channel content 244

Knowing what you need to create a channel plan 245

Preparing for a Channel Audit 246

Phase One: Current Channel Audit 246

Phase Two: Channel Content Review 249

Phase Three: New Channel Plans 250

Dipping into Some Major Channel Examples 251

Using Facebook for customer support: Avon 252

Tweeting for customer engagement: Warby Parker 253

Influencing through LinkedIn: Microsoft 253

Using Pinterest to gauge user interest: The Container Store 254

Documenting each channel’s plan 256

Chapter 15: Sharing Your Content 259

Embracing Shareability As a Strategy 259

Understanding sharing patterns 260

Sharing as a bottom‐line issue 261

Uncovering the Five Ws and One H of Online Sharing 263

Knowing who shares content, and why 264

Considering what they share 266

Discovering when they share 268

Observing where they share 269

Looking at how people share content 269

Adding Social Bookmarking 270

Making SEO a Priority 271

Deploying Hashtags to Encourage Sharing 275

Understanding hashtags 275

Using hashtag tools 275

Chapter 16: Looking at Paid, Earned, Shared, and Owned Media 279

Understanding Types of Media 279

Reviewing each media type 280

Determining your needs 281

Utilizing Paid Media 282

Discovering retargeting 282

Dealing with native advertising 283

Considering programmatic buying 285

Finding out what you need to know from advertisers 286

Championing Earned Media 286

Enhancing Shared Media 289

Amplifying Owned Media 290

Looking at the role of press releases 290

Spreading the message 291

Creating a Framework for Achieving the Right Mix 292

Section 1: Owned Channels 293

Section 2: Shared Media 294

Section 3: Paid Ads 294

Section 4: Earned Media 295

Section 5: Evaluate and Revise 295

Chapter 17: Delving into Syndication and Guest Posting 297

Understanding Syndication 298

Looking at content specifics 299

Uncovering syndication types 300

Looking at Online Syndicators 302

Establishing Your Syndication Plan 305

Discovering Guest Posting 306

Benefitting from guest posting 306

Pitching your guest posting to a blogger 307

Preparing to guest post 310

Starting your own guest blogging program 313

Chapter 18: Working with Influencers 315

Discovering the Evolving Role of Influencers 315

Understanding the six principles of persuasion 317

Understanding why influencers matter more now 319

Understanding how to measure expert influencers 320

Recognizing Influencer Types 321

Finding the Right Influencers 322

Discovering the influencers you need to target 322

Developing a system 326

Uncovering New Influencers 327

Influencing with Customer Advocacy 328

Enhancing Word of Mouth (WOM) with Advertising 331

Connecting with your audience 331

Identifying factors for WOMA 332

Paid Influencer Programs 332

Part V: Using Check-Back Analysis 337

Chapter 19: Reassessing Your Business Model and Brand Value 339

Validating Business Models 340

Looking at change 340

Revising your business model canvas 341

Reexamining your brand worksheet 342

Enhancing your business models 342

Reviewing Your Brand Status 343

Refreshing Visual Branding 344

Understanding what your branding means 345

Surveying about brand awareness 346

Locating a survey company 347

Chapter 20: Reviewing Your Content Marketing Strategy 351

Allowing for Failed Experiments 351

Looking Back at Your Content Marketing Strategy 353

Reviewing goals and KPIs 353

Assessing content maturity 354

Reevaluating Your Ecosystem 355

Part VI: The Part of Tens 359

Chapter 21: Ten Problems Content Marketers Face 361

Company Focus 361

Inadequate budget 362

Lack of buy-in 362

Customer Experience 362

Your content isn’t categorized for the buyer’s journey 362

Your content isn’t personalized 362

Content Promotion 363

It seems as though no one is listening 363

You’re not working with the right partners 363

Content Creation 363

Running out of good ideas 363

Decreasing content quality 364

Check-back Analysis 364

Not effectively monitoring customer sentiment 364

Inadequate measures to determine action 364

Chapter 22: Top Ten Blogs on Content Marketing 365

Buffer 365

Content Marketing Institute 366

Convince & Convert 366

Copyblogger 366

Oracle (Eloqua) Content Marketing Blog 366

HubSpot Marketing Blog 367

Marketo Content Marketing Guides 367

QuickSprout 367

Social Media Examiner 367

Social Triggers 368

Seth Godin 368

Chapter 23: Ten Free Tools for Content Marketing 369

BuzzSumo 369

Dropbox 370

Emotional Marketing Value Headline Analyzer 370

Evernote 370

Google Webmaster Tools 371

Grammarly 371

Piktochart 371

Screenpresso 371

SEO SiteCheckup 372

WordPress Calendar 372

Index 373

• Large corporations who have come to understand that developing a content marketing strategy is their best hope for a developing a competitive advantage.
• Small businesses with niche audiences as diverse as fashion and manufacturing who see that having a content strategy will save them from obscurity.
• Solo thought leaders and experts in their field who want to advance their brand.
• Educators who wish to understand how to employ content strategy to promote their thought leadership and help students understand its power for career advancement.

Stephanie Diamond is a marketing professional with more than 20 years of experience building profits in over 75 different industries. A strategic thinker, she has worked with solopreneurs, small business owners, and multibillion-dollar corporations. Follow her blog at Contentmarketingtoolbox.com/blog.