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
