content marketing: what, why and how to kick butt at it, by shelly kramer

Content MarketingWhat, Why and How to

Kick Butt at It

Shelly Kramer, @shellykramer

© 2013 V3 Integrated Marketing

What is Inbound Marketing?

How to Start Your Initiatives by Gathering and Using Data

Why Social, SEO + Content are Key

Where to Start

How to Write Effective Content

Some things we’ll cover include:

How to Distribute Content Across the Web

The Importance of Tracking and Reporting

Marketing Today? Complicadio.

What We’re Used ToTraditional Marketing = Push Messaging

Display Ads

Direct Mail

TV + Radio

Yellow Pages

Cold Calling

Email Blast

Trade Shows

Traditional Marketing is Interruption

Old Way: Money x Media = Business

New Way: Time x Media = Business

The Formula Has Changed

What is Content Marketing?BloggingWebinars

Video + PodcastingCase Studies, White Papers

Email MarketingFlickr, Instagram

Social (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn)Tumblr, Scoop.It, Paper.li, Storify, etc.

And all of this is part of Content Marketing. And collectively, using these tactics is called “Inbound Marketing”

Inbound Marketing Drives Business

But you have to feed the inbound marketing machine. Great content

is how you do that.

Great Content is Like Breadcrumbs (super delicioso breadcrumbs)

Inbound marketing is the process of creating and spreading breadcrumbs on the Internet and hoping people will pick

them up. Those breadcrumbs are designed to lead them “home” -- to your website, blog, landing page, Facebook

page, etc. – wherever it is you want them to end up.

Inbound = Bees to Honey

Engaging in Social Channels = Marketing

Technique Effectiveness Rating

High Growth vs. Average Firms

What Do High Growth Companies Find Most Effective?

SEOCreating Content (Blogging)

Focus on DataEmail Marketing

Creating More Content (whitepapers, eBooks, newsletters, case studies)

Social Media Channels

Why Inbound?

Inbound marketing generates more leads for longer periods of time than traditional marketing.

Example:

Display ad in local business journal

runs once, exposure to people reading the paper

that week

Blog Post, White Paper, Case

StudyThese marketing resources live on your website and, properly optimized and marketed, can attract leads for a

long time to come.

Blog + Social + SEO Deliver Lower Cost Per Lead

You don’t start with social or with content. If you do, you will lose.

Start with data.Information is power.

Start With Competitive Analysis

What are we doing?What are our competitors doing?What kind of content are they

creating?Where do we have opportunities?Where do we suck?What can we realistically handle?

Our Prospects + Social

Who are our prospects?What are they doing?

Where do they hang out?

What do they talk about?What language do they use?

What do they need?How can we serve them?

What Does Your Data Show?

How many web visits per day/wk/mo?What % of traffic is unique vs. return?What keywords bring them to your site?What content brings them to your site?What are they doing there?

What sites refer them to your site?

Let Strategy Drive Tactics

• Personas. Who are our customers?• What problems do they have that we

can solve?• What products or services do they

need?• How do they talk about them?• Where are they online? When are they

online?

Let Strategy Drive Tactics

• How can we most effectively reach our target audience?

• What will our strategy be--what can we deliver of value?

• How can we capture leads?• What does success look like?• How will we measure our

progress?

Let’s Talk About Writing.Effective content is powerful.

Understand How SEO Works

To Write Effectively for the Web, Know This ….

What is SEO?

Search Engine Optimization

Or, the art of helping Google figure out what you’re talking about.

The Key to Good SEO?

People.

Ask yourself just one question: Is it good for people?

If it is, it’s good for SEO.

Why Do Keywords Matter?

Keywords are bite-sized

chunks of information that tell the search engines what your content is about.

Links Are Internet Gold

Links help search engines determine the trust and

authority your domain has due to the quality of incoming

links.

The more incoming links your site has, the more valuable it

is in Google’s eyes.

Why Is This?

It’s Simple.What people say about you is

more important (and viewed as more credible) than what

you say about yourself.

• That’s kind of a no-brainer, right?

Context is Critical

Google Has Wised Up

SEO wizards have been manipulating links to impact search results. Google’s latest algorithm changes focus less on

links and more on context.

Translated: relevant content will rule.

Let’s Get Really Geeky

Behavior on site, behavior off site. What they do matters. What that means about the relevancy of your

content. What that tells search engines. Freaky!

Why Link Out When Writing

Linking is the Fundamental Basis of the Web

Search engines want to know you’re “connected” and linking

out is as important as incoming links, from a credibility standpoint.

How to Link Out• Link out to relevant content early in the body copy

• Link to relevant pages approximately every 120 words of content

• Link under phrases, not single words• Link to relevant interior pages of your site or other sites

• Link with naturally relevant anchor text

• The key? Again, it’s simple. It’s all about people. Focus on the fundamentals of what search engines are looking for – serving

up relevant results to those searchers, who are people.

How Do We Get Links?

The Power of Social ChannelsSharing great content on a regular basis gets you noticed. You become regarded

as an authority. People then create other content and link to your content …

that’s the magic of relevant link building.

How to Write Great Content

Step 1: Remove

How to Write Great Blog Content

Ditch corporate speak

Use contractions

Write like people talk

Dumb it down

Don’t be cute, Don’t be mean

Write for the audience

Make it scannable

Minimum of 300 words

Maximum of 600 words

Writing for the Web is Different

(But ridiculously easy, too)

Be interesting, helpful, relevant,

timely or funny

Use keywords that make sense

Write a great headline, using the

right keywords

Sell it in the first paragraph

Post Titles

Keep your title under 60 characters.

This ensures the full title is visible in a search, increasing the likelihood of a

click-thru.

8:10 vs. 2:10

Meta Descriptions

Tell Search Engines What Your Post is About

Keep your Meta description under 165 characters so the full description is

visible as a search result

But Wait, I’m a Purist

Don’t want to SEO your posts because you’re writing for your readers?

<GMAB>

Using smart SEO makes it easier for them and gives you better odds that

they’ll read your content.

Titles and Meta Descriptions

Ramble vs. SEO Focus

I Am Unorganized

Ramble, ramble ramble, ramble, ramble for 300 more words (and they’re already

gone) then get to the point of the post

Productivity Tools for Small Businesses

The best productivity tools for small businesses make life easier. Our

favorites include PaySimple, Freshbooks and Kapost.

Don’t Dance Around, Sell It

Be Smart, Repurpose ContentCreate video, upload to YouTube

Write blog post, embed video

Feature guest blog, republished with attribution

Guest blog somewhere else, Google Authorship

Create a presentation

Presentation uploaded to SlideShare

Write blog post, embed SlideShare preso

Write for your corporate blog or

nag your company to start a blog and contribute to it)

Engaging in Social Media Channels = Marketing

How These Channels Drive Business

Reporting is critical.

Install Analytics, Then LOOK at Them

Try Tynt, It’s Pretty Awesome

Know Where Your Stuff Goes

WordPress? All-in-One SEO Pack

Blogging Drives Traffic

Data Drives Strategy

Blogging Drives Traffic

Be Strategic About Where and How You Share Content

A Good Editorial Calendar Will Save Your Sanity

Build relationships

before you need them.

Remember

WRITING great content is the easy part. Getting people to read it is the hard part. And getting them to share it (or

to do something else for you) is equally as difficult. Unless you invest

in making friends. First.

Ways to Measure Success

Shares of Blog Content/Blog SubscribersGrowing Friend/Follower Base Across Channels

Most Popular Blog Posts/TweetsBlog Comments/Action on Blog for Branded Campaign

Website Traffic, Facebook InsightsLinkedIn Company Followers/Connection Requests

G+ Followers + CirclesSuccess Stories + Testimonials

Truth: Your Analytics Are Your Roadmap. Use them to help drive your brand strategy in content +

social efforts.

Other Ways to Measure Success

Ability to Drive Social ConversionsGetting Your Readers and Site Visitors to DO Something

Improved Brand ReputationGreater “Share of Voice”

More Leads + Opportunities/Increased Revenue

The Web changes everything about business. And when you understand how to create

great content, you’ve got an edge.

Stalk Me, Anytime

Shelly@V3im.com816.200.2520

LinkedInShelly DeMotte Kramertwitter.com/shellykramer facebook.com/shellykramer

www.v3im.com