8 Steps for Getting the Most out of Your Content

Content Strategy
By: Calsidyrose
  1. Know your current and ideal customers and what they need and want. Remember that your ideal customers are not the blue-sky early adopter types who just love your product. They’re good for PR and proof of concept but they will never be your customer base because they’re always on to the Next Big Thing. Your ideal customers may be SMB owners, IT organizations, records managers, compliance directors, C-suite executives, service providers or MSPs: these are the businesses that will make you a success if you can reach out and convince them.
  2. Know how your ideal customers consume content. IT consumes information differently from the C-Suite and you are probably marketing to them both. Understand what they want to know when they are researching, their motivations, and what convinces them to take action.
  3. Identify your top 1-3 current marketing initiatives. Examples include brand awareness, positioning, lead generation, reference customers, or shortened sales cycles. A larger company might have three to a dozen or more marketing initiatives going on at the same time, and must decide which initiative will have the best return on investment from creating content assets. A smaller company may have just 1 or 2 survival initiatives, and will need content assets to support them.
  4. Identify the content that your major customers prefer. Examples abound including white papers, executive summaries, case studies, press releases, video, audio, ebooks, websites, how-to manuals, and more. Compare the lists. When all of your ideal buyer communities prefer to consume the same type of asset, then offering that asset should be at or near the top of the creation priority list. Another priority is marketing to a sweet spot or ideal customer community and creating your first few assets with them in mind. Most content types can be leveraged to several customer groups but some of these take finessing. Be aware of who you are targeting before you create the assets.
  5. Create the content. If you have existing content then great, update it as needed and start it working for you. If you need to create new assets, prioritize content creation by need, cost, time to create, and expected ROI. Do not automatically go with the cheapest or easiest option. If you can quickly create a podcast and get it out there while you create more in-depth assets, then fine. But do not spend a year recording throw-away podcasts when what your customers really want is a strong white paper.
  6. Work with your designer to develop a landing page specifically for the content’s link. If your content is digital as most of them will be, do not promote a link to your home page. Send them to a landing page that your designer has created specifically for the asset. For in-depth content such as white papers or research reports you may safely include an information form with minimal questions. Most readers expect this with downloads. If the content asset is short like an infographic, you probably will not want to capture information but you should include a strong call to action on its landing page.
  7. Promote the asset. Content works well for outbound marketing when you are actively pushing prospects to the asset. And content is particularly attractive with inbound marketing, the process of getting your customers to come to you because of the quantity and quality of your content. This is why it is vital to promote new content using search engine optimization and multiple media channels. Be certain to track your results.
  8. Repeat the above process with the next content asset. Keep tracking, modifying and creating as your leads grow.

 

Holy Walking Dead, Batman!

This is the greatest Walking Dead infographic ever and I wish I’d thought of it: Marketo’s “The Walking Dead Survival Guide for Marketers.”

Disclosure: I was a big Walking Dead fan until one night I was home alone watching a WD marathon. My dog barks at passing people and squirrels so I wouldn’t have given barking a second thought… but he didn’t bark. From his position on the carpet he growled, got up slowly, walked stiff-legged to the front door, and stood there growling with his hackles raised. I stared at him for a moment then turned off the TV and never watched the show again.

True story.

 

 

 

 

 

How to Repurpose Content, or Am I Shooting Myself in the Foot?

Christine Taylor
By: MEME TN

I might be shooting myself in the foot because I make my living creating content for B2B marketers. But I see a lot of perfectly good content that is aging on a website and losing its investment value by the day.

Someone spent money or time to write this piece — a white paper, report, Q&A, blog, case study, article, whatever. Sure, if the piece is good and well promoted then it made back its money and time investment many times over. A single piece of content can bring in qualified leads, which Sales should be turning into purchase orders. In this sense a 600-word blog or 5-page white paper earns back its weight in gold.

But why not increase that initial investment even more by leveraging those existing assets?

  • Turn the white paper into an article.
  • Turn the article into an ebook.
  • Turn the ebook into an infographic.
  • Turn the infographic into a presentation on SlideShare.
  • Turn the SlideShare presentation into a Q&A.
  • Expand the Q&A to create a new white paper.

See how it works?

And heh, since I can help you review and repurpose maybe I’m not shooting myself in the foot too badly. If you need a content review and repurposing plan let me know; I’m happy to help.

Marketing and the Zombie Hunters of The Walking Dead

http://lnkd.in/b8U_Dai

Hilarious and sadly true story about Marketing Zombies, with an affectionate nod to “The Walking Dead.”

From “Marketing Zombies Curating Content” by Buddy Scalera:

Gick Rimes turned his gaze to his team. There was Haryl Hixon, a bowman as accurate as a superhero. Michette, who wielded a machete sword like a samurai. And his pre-teen son, Carrrl, who is finally becoming a cool guy.

They were survivors — and killers. They were neither good nor bad. They did what was necessary to survive.

They. Were. Marketers.

Webcast: Enterprise Cloud Backup (Clear The Confusion & Understand What You Really Need)

By: Mattias

When I was at Taneja Group I gave a Brightalk presentation on the issues surrounding enterprise cloud backup.

  • What is enterprise cloud backup and how is it different from consumer and SMB?
  • What are the big benefits and the big issues around cloud backup, and how can you get the benefits without the problems?
  • What are the critical and the nice-to-have features of enterprise cloud backup products and services?
  • Different strokes for different folks: architectural decisions and drivers
  • Shareholder needs: Vendors, Enterprise, Service Providers
  • Type of backup: File, object, block?
  • Type of product: Appliance, array or software?
  • Type of deployment: On-site system or Backup as a Service?
  • Roadmap to primary storage and the hybrid cloud

I’m happy to co-create and moderate your webcast too. Give me a call at 760-954-1807 or email me at christine@christineltaylor.com.

Thanks!