Swiss Army MarketersWhat you Need to Climb the Content Marketing Mountain.

Some rights reserved By Public Domain PhotosEmilian Robert Vicol

Devin is a Content Strategist and multi-tooled marketer at Cincom Systems, Inc. Before that he worked at several of the most successful advertising agencies in the mid-west. Follow him on Twitter @soccerD (he’s also a soccer nerd and coach) or connect with him on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/devinmeister/

AUTHOR :Devin B. Meister

New Tools, New Roles…,..….…4 Swiss Inspiration…………………..5

The Right Tools for the Job……12 Ready for Adventure ……………18

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Despite the sudden growth of new marketing job titles – content strategist, digital strategist, SEO and PPC experts - marketing software company Hubspot suggests that there might be even more new critical marketing roles emerging. One report estimated that content marketing expenditures exceeded $40 billion in 2011. That’s great for big companies with big budgets. But what about the rest of us?

Helping SMBs to the TopBecause marketing has changed, the tools you need are vastly different. Companies now need a combination of inbound (customers finding you) and outbound (you communicating with customers.) This guide outlines the tools you need on your team. If you’re lucky, you can find them in a combination of people. If you are really fortunate, sometimes even one.

Introduction:New Tools, New Roles

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“

Content marketers should have a good balance of the more traditional marketing skills with search marketing skills and expert content development skills.” - Jessica Lee - Content and Media Manager

The desire, make that necessity,to connect through stories hasn’t changed over time. People have always connected through stories. Stories help people remember and empathize with our heroes (your customer’s) journey to success.What has changed are the methods we can use and places we can tell those stories. And measure the results. And re-purpose those stories to different audiences and through different media. There are a lot of things to do, to do it well. That’s why you need marketers with a broad skill set that are razor-sharp and able tackle any content job. I call them Swiss Army Marketers after the world-famous tool, the Swiss Army Knife.

The Swiss Army Knife was designed for one reason and a variety of purposes. It gives Swiss Army soldiers all the tools they’d need for any problems they are likely to encounter in the Swiss Alps. Similarly, Swiss Army Marketers have all the tools that a business will need to produce, promote, and measure relevant content for their audience.

Swiss Army Marketers

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SwissInspiration

Image License Some rights reserved by jimwhiteheaducsc

The Right ToolsThe Swiss Army Knife consists of a carefully selected variety of tools. So should your content marketing team.

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Big Knife

Precise Cuts

Openers

Saw Blade

Screwdriver

File

Some skills Swiss Army Marketers possess:• Content Strategy• Creative (Writing) Story telling• Investigator• SEO/PPC• Creative Direction/Editing• Nurturing• Marketing Automation• Analytics

Content StrategyA Key to survival in the Swiss Alps is knowing where you are now and where you want to go. That’s what a content strategy does for your marketing. It tells you where you are currently. It identifies where you want to go. It enables you to plot a path to between the two and what resources you’ll need to accomplish each step along the way.

(All right, I know the orginal Swiss Army Knife doesn’t have a compass – but you really need this tool, both outdoors and on your marketing team.)

Swiss Army Marketers

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“In my experience, the content strategist is a rare breed who's often willing and able to embrace whatever role is necessary to deliver on the promise of useful, useable content.” ― Kristina Halvorson, Content Strategy for the Web

The Compass

By RambergMediaImagesKeith Ramsey

If you understand the concept of “content,” then the idea of a content strategy seems simple. Until you start to dig in. Then you understand quickly that it is simple, and complicated at the same time. To start your content strategy out right follow this outline:*1. Define your marketing objectives and what you want to

accomplish. Consider both inbound and outbound.2. Identify your buyer personas.3. Map out your buyers journey.4. Create a content inventory.5. Audit the content to determine what is most valuable to the

buyers.6. Identify any content gaps in the buyers journey.7. Determine what content needs to be created to fill that gap.

Create it.8. Pat yourself on the back. You’re in the top ½ of marketers

now.9. Check the results against your marketing objectives. 10. Likely realize you still have a long ways to go. Get back to

work.

*This 10 Step Content Strategy is to a real content strategy as a napkin drawing is a map to the top of the Matterhorn. It points you in the right direction, but the real work is up to you. Or somebody. But there’s a lot of work between here and there.

10 Step Content Strategy

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“Good news: The writers find a home as “content producers” and “content managers” on the corporate side, in companies of all shapes and sizes.” – Anne Handley, Marketing Profs, (referring to the shrinking newspaper industry) via Content Marketing Institute.

InvestigatorCutting through the clutter, asking the right questions and doing the research to uncover information your audience is interested in is what makes content marketing work. And it is big work. Otherwise your audience would do it themselves. It’s up to the marketer to help before you earn the trust and right to sell.

You’ll do that by cutting up big chunks of information from all the information that’s available. Then cut into that into smaller pieces. Then cut it again. This enables you and other marketers to use and build from. It also makes the information more digestible. That makes it more manageable and digestible. You audience will thank you for it.

Swiss Army Marketers

http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2012/11/failed-content-marketing-predictions/ accessed 11/30/2012

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The Big Knife

Creative WritingThe ultimate purpose of marketing is to get people to take action. To do that, they need to be persuaded. Where the journalist might convince with the facts, creative writing must persuade the heart that it’s the right thing to do. It’s a delicate balance between art and science that requires precision cuts and small tweaks. Luckily, today we have the science (analytics) to support the art.

Precise Cuts

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“What really decides consumers to buy or not to buy is the content of your advertising, not its form.” - David Ogilvy

Call-to-action.Sometimes it’s not spoken, hopefully not forgotten, but marketing exists for one ultimate reason: to cause an action. Doing that requires a call-to-action at some point. So what makes a great call to action? While only you will know you’re audience, here are some examples to start your testing.

• Ask to download• Ask to share• Ask to subscribe• Ask to contact• Ask for a trial• Ask to buy

The key is that you’re asking for something. Make sure that what you’re asking them to give you is worth the trade. Make sure that you’re asking at the proper time. The only way you will know is to start testing.

Case StudyOne common call-to-action is a dimensional mailing with a business reply card (BRC) and an offer or some sort of give-away. One example I’m connected with involved a a multi-media integrated campaign. In the end, it generated more than 1,900 pre-qualified leads, with a response rate of better than 10%.

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SEO/PPCWhen it comes time to really tighten up your marketing program, nothing turns the screws like good SEO. After all, having your customers find you organically is the most effective and cost-efficient way. Some reports indicate that 70% of a buyer’s research is done before they contact you. Guess what they are doing prior? Searching on the internet. Which makes Pay Per Click (PPC – ie. Google adwords, LinkedIn Ads) campaigns also a great place to be, especially if you’re starting with low awareness or a new category.

Studies shows that more than 70% of the buyer’s research is done before the initial contact.

Swiss Army Marketers

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Screwdrivers

The B2B Buyer’s Journey

Research before initial contact.Research afterinitial contact.

Creative Direction and EditingGetting the final product to shine as brightly as possible takes patience. And experience. You must file away all of the unnecessary parts and reveal just the essential piece. Go too far and the message is incomplete and lost. Don’t go far enough and the message is convoluted – and lost.

Swiss Army Marketers

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“Rules are what the artist breaks; the memorable never emerged from a formula.” - Bill Bernbach

File

“No matter how jaded you are, it's still fun to get a package in the mail, especially if it's something unexpected like a pizza box.” B2B Magazine, 2012

Marketing AutomationClearly everything we’ve covered to this point is a lot of work. But, like a saw makes quick cutting work through multiple cutting edges, marketing automation enables marketers to maintain multiple communication points above and beyond what would ever be possible manually. When done correctly it frees the marketer to focus on bigger strategies and content creation that require human interaction.

Swiss Army Marketers

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Saw Blade“Not implementing a Marketing Automation solution may be the ultimate career limiting move for today’s marketers. If you haven’t gotten started you’re already behind the 8 ball.” – IDC Group, November 2011

Nurture Campaign90.14% average open rateSee Case Study – Getting Unlost on page 17

AnalyticsMuch like the different openers on a Swiss Army Knife provides access to all kinds of goodness (I’m thinking beer or wine during sunset from a mountain top) marketing analytics provide access into what makes the audience tick. Analytics provide key insights into what the audience likes or doesn’t like. When they want one medium over the other and how they want receive it.

Tools like Google Analytics, Eloqua, and Hubspot provide actionable insight into your audience’s behavior.

Swiss Army Marketers

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Openers

Case study – Getting Un-lostOne company with multiple product groups had a newsletter that operated independently. It was sent through a 3rd third-party system, and at 10 years old, predated the company’s marketing automation and CRM system. But because the list was sent through the 3rd third-party, we had no idea who these contacts were. All we had was a name and an email address. They weren’t in the CRM system. They weren’t in the marketing automation system.

And we had no idea if they might have an interest in any of our solutions. Through basic analytics and public reaction, we felt that it was getting some engagement. But we still couldn’t identify subscribers in the sales process or tie any of them to a sale. We had to find out.

Finding the WayThrough features in the marketing automation, newsletter subscribers were able to tell us through their actions what they’re interests were. From there, we could align them with the clients products. Finally, based on the level of engagement with the resulting lead generation campaigns, a lead is triaged and followed up on by our sales organization. Lead follow up is centered on that content engaged with by that specific individual. The engagement with our audience in this behavior based content campaign has been outstanding. Straight Up the MountainThe results after two months: • 256% improvement in our campaign open rate• 1941% increase in our click to open rate• 1,513 potential opportunities identified• average of 18 new sales leads every week We answered the two big questions, or more accurately the prospects answered them. They told us who they are and what they’re interests are. Voluntarily. Automatically. Using existing content. We know which content has value and who values it.

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AnalyticsMuch like the different openers on a Swiss Army Knife provides access to all kinds of goodness (I’m thinking beer or wine during sunset from a mountain top) marketing analytics provide access into what makes the audience tick. Analytics provide key insights into what the audience likes or doesn’t like. When they want one medium over the other and how they want receive it.

Tools like Google Analytics, Eloqua, and Hubspot provide actionable insight into your audience’s behavior.

Swiss Army Marketers

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Openers

Putting it all Together - Results

So what happens when you bring all of the tools together? Good business, no matter how you measure it.

Web stats:• Increased organic traffic by 135% for

selected keywords. • Increased unique visitors by 93%• Improved average visit duration by

20%.

Sales ActivitiesCreating integrated campaigns and working hand in with sales resulted in: • A 20% increase in hand-offs from

Lead Generators to Inside Sales Reps.

• A 163% increase in the number of High Impact Presentations completed.

• An 85% increase in account opportunities.

• Increase in pipeline conservatively estimated at 85%—from $8.1 to $15 million for one product from one campaign alone.

“The new rules of attraction require a shift in direction. It's not about "pushing" your message, but "pulling" in your customers. And the way to pull is to publish content.”

Joe Pulizzi

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Each tool has a role. Any one without the other diminishes the overall preparedness and can leave the business and marketer stuck in the wilderness. Make sure that your marketing team includes at least one Swiss Army Marketer and you’ll be ready for anything. • If you’d like to learn more

about Swiss Army Marketers, contact Devin Meister at meister.devin@gmail.com or call 937-631-1423.

Ready for the Mountain? Put a Swiss Army Marketer work.

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