how to create outstanding content across europe by kevin gibbons and chelsea blacker

Content Marketing in Europe

Kevin Gibbons & Chelsea Blacker

e: [email protected] / [email protected]: @kevgibbo / @chelseablackerw: www.blueglass.co.uk

Who Are BlueGlass?We speak over 25 languages

BlueGlass UK,London, England • BlueGlass EMEA,

Zürich, Switzerland

Agenda

Part I – How to Run Content Marketing Campaigns

Part II – How to Achieve Success in Europe

Part I: How to Run Content Marketing Campaigns

Biggest Mistakes of Content Marketing= Starting With the Wrong Questions

If You’re Chasing the Google Algorithm Something is Wrong!

Tactics Get Oversaturated

(It’s not about sharing content with your mates)

It’s Not About Creating a Buzz

“Your brand is the single most important investment you can make in

your business”Steve Forbes

Every Content Campaign Should Start With Goals

• Profit per Customer?

• Number of Customers?

• Market Share?• Customer Lifetime

Value

• Total Revenue?• Net Profit?• Volume of Sales?• Average Order Value?

But It Needs to be Aligned & Measuring the Right Goals

Content Should be Driven by Brand Strategy, Not Channel-Specific Tactics

BrandStrategy

SEO

PPC

SocialMedia

Digital PR

MarketingStrategy

ContentStrategy

Affiliate

Understanding Your Audience

Monitoring Your Audience

Converting Your Audience

Targeting Your Audience

Marketing to Your Audience

Build Your Content Around Audience

• How does your audience interact with your content?• What content do prospects need before they

purchase?• Is your tone of voice consistent across all channels?• How many channels do customers typically come

from?• Do returning customers have a different behaviour to

new visitors?• Can you tailor the experience to multiple personas?• What is the lifetime value of a new customer

once they’ve visited content? <-- Measure this!

Focus on Consumer Opportunities

Google Vertical Search is a Big Threat to Affiliates

Which Brands are Market Leaders in Content?

Be the Vertical Market Leader – Give users the best content experience

possible

Get them to Subscribe, Follow & Download Content – so that they come

back directly!

Successful campaigns require a sustained content strategy (not 1 infographic!)

Learn What Works & Scale Quality Content

Make Content Consumer-Led & Data-Driven to Have a Newsworthy Hook &

Angle

Every Story Needs an Audience… If you haven’t got one, leverage someone

else’s!

Promoted business card content:- Generated links/shares from

authority environmental blogs- Increased ranking for “business

cards” from #3 to #1 in Google!

Leverage Organic Search from Overall Strategy

Inspire Social Influencers & Authority Authors

Promote via Content Distribution & Paid Social

Provide Unique Content to Affiliates

What affiliates would contribute to the overall multi-touch profile for your brand

Do the affiliates your working match your brand values? (cash back affiliates might not go with high value e-coms products)

Are all affiliates updated with the latest offers and opportunities?

Does your affiliate programme prioritise end of funnel activity or are you incorrectly benefiting affiliates in driving “research” activity?

Capture & Retarget Potential Customers

Again & again (via multiple channels)

Don’t Rely on Google – Build an Audience

Part II: How to Achieve Success in

Europe

http://fiz-x.com/how-to-make-a-lightsaber/

Promoted electronic components infographicAcquired 100+ links/co-citations from 65 unique domains across 5 countries

What We Learned With Content in Europe

Translated & promoted infographic across 12 countries:Generated over 100 quality links & thousands of social shares from authority publications.

What We Learned With Content in Europe

Carefully Craft Content to Targeted Audiences

Data Driven = More Newsworthy & Shareable

A one-fits all approach doesn’t work!

Translation isn’t good enough!

You Still Need Local Knowledge

But without centralisation it looks like this!

Centralised Strategy + Local Knowledge = Best International SEO

Success

Ditch the Silos to Improve Efficiencies

@KevGibbo

International SEO Tips

BlueGlass.co.uk@BlueGlass @KevGibbo

Algorithm changes happen in English about 6 months before rolling out in other languages, anticipate how to improve link building issues before updates lead you down the wrong path.

Don’t Wait Before a Google Penalty Hits…


Many languages have very limited geographic reach, ensure content can be tailored.

Tailor Your Content Specifically


Low domain authority in small markets isn’t unusual, it’s simply because these markets don’t attain the same volume

Quality Links Are All Relative to the Market


Build logical bridges between content in the same language. Ensure previously built links are asked to point to most relevant language page.

Try to clearly separate geo-location content

Understand local behaviour & holiday timetables

Outreach is much easier when it’s personal

Timing is important – it all needs to line-up

HREFLANG Can Work Very Well – Especially for Lower Populated Countries

@KevGibbo

Country Tips

@KevGibbo

• Hobby bloggers or webmasters of non-commercial websites can be very sceptical of outreach requests

• Good opportunities in other German speaking countries such as Austria and Switzerland.

• Target just a few websites and personally address them, explaining the benefit to their site to share your link.

• Content/emails must be written by a native speaker.• German people are quite straight forward – just tell them

what you want!

Germany


• Yandex has market share – and old-school tactics still work here, but build carefully, focusing on natural links if you can.

• As a general rule, Russian web users are a bit younger than in other western European countries so take this into account when creating content for them.

• Outreach in English can work, better than other European countries.

Russia


• There is very limited resource and audience compared with other markets.

• Nordic users are very web savvy, but SEO is far behind.• While most users are fluent in English, they do search in

their mother tongue so it’s not enough to write content in English.

• Lots of consumer protection laws around sending unsolicited emails, personal relationships work better.

The Nordics


• When approaching French speaking webmasters, only speak in French. Make sure your grammar is correct.

• Co-branded content partnerships work much better than link exchanges for content.

France

@KevGibbo

• Italian market is very small, which means you can get away building links from sites with standards below those of English language websites.

• Even Italian national media websites often have very average domain authority scores.

Italy


• Very commercially savvy• Building blogger relationships can be a long-process, but

pays off long-term• To gain access to top quality sites, create a piece of

content which shifts a niche’s standards or knowledge base.

• Don’t expect quick results, the American market takes a while.

USA

Key Takeaways

Integrate a Single Strategy with a Range of Local Expertise

It’s All Relative Understand the different market approaches

Focus on Brand & Audience Building Consider the Risk of Relying Too Heavily on

Google

Kevin Gibbonse: [email protected]: @kevgibbow: www.blueglass.co.uk

Chelsea Blackere: [email protected]

t: @chelseablackerw: www.blueglass.co.uk

how to create outstanding content across europe by kevin gibbons and chelsea blacker

Marketing

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