8 biggest mistakes content marketers make and how to avoid them
TRANSCRIPT
8 Biggest Mistakes Content Marketers Make & How to Avoid ThemEllen GomesSr. Content Marketing Manager
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About Me• Sr. Content Marketing Manager at
Marketo• Fun Fact: I’m a fanatical pet mom...
check out @pudge_the_corgi• I’m hip, I’m cool, I’m on twitter:
@egomes1019
• This webinar is being recorded! Slides and recording will be sent to you after the webinar concludes.
• Have a question? Use the chat box and I’ll get to your questions after the webinar.
• Posting to social? Use our hashtag - #mktgnation• There is a brief survey after the webinar
Housekeeping
Content
Today’s Agenda:
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1 NOT KNOWING YOUR AUDIENCE
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Content Across The Lifecycle
Content is the glue that holds people’s
interest throughout the entire customer
lifecycle.
@egomes1019
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‒ Do research‒ Create personas‒ Document your personas‒ Understand how to talk to your personas across the
lifecycle
@egomes1019
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2 NOT DEFINING YOUR STRATEGY
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A Documented Content Strategy Is Critical
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Create a Style Guide• Who is your company?
• Who do you sell to?
• Who makes up the content team?
• Style and writing tone
• Grammar guidelines
• Content types and structure
• Content promotion
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Create Process Documents
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Build a Creative Brief• What is your content idea?
• What key topic does this address?
• What form should the content ideally take?
• What business goal does this content support?
• Who is the target audience?
• What voice should this content have?
• What goals are you trying to achieve?
• What is the main thesis you want to get across?
• Where will this be promoted and when?
• What is the due date?
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Create and Share Editorial Calendars• What is the asset or blog topic?
• Who is the intended audience?
• Which content team member owns the project management?
• When is it expected to publish?
• Where is it in the production process?
• Who requested it?
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‒ WRITE IT DOWN‒ Document your goals‒ Document your process‒ Document your style guide‒ SHARE THEM
@egomes1019
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3 NOT UNDERSTANDING WHAT CONTENT ALREADY EXISTS
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Be a Content LibrarianUnderstand what content exists and where• How old is it?
• What format?
• How well did it perform?
• How can people find it?
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‒ Understand what you have‒ Identify any gaps‒ What worked? What did not?
@egomes1019
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4 FALLING INTO THE TRAP OF “MORE”
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Content Marketing Is Important
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Businesses Are Investing More
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There is Pressure for “MORE” Content
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More ≠ Better
Yay! No!
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‒ Understand what you already have (step 3)‒ Use what you have strategically‒ Don’t be afraid to say ‘no’
@egomes1019
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5 PRODUCING CONTENT ON AN ISLAND
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Content + SEOSEO makes sure you are found+Content makes being found, easier and more engaging
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Content + Social
Content Requests
Content Produced
Distribution on Social
Engagement
Feedback & Results
“Social media users have risen by 176M in the last year, with 12 new active mobile social users
joining every second.”—Social Media Today
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Include OthersInternal Employee Blogging Rewards Program• A program micro-site and ebook that
includes:• Incentives and Recognition• Introduce them to content team • Submission and approval process• Content guidelines• Writing resources
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‒ Collaborate with other teams‒ Ask for input‒ Make content a whole organization effort
@egomes1019
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6 FALLING BEHIND THE TIMES
Evolve
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Don’t Rinse & Repeat
• Definitive Guides
• Ebooks
• Infographics
• Micrographics
• Interactive Content
• Activity Books/Worksheets
• Articles
• Presentations
• Webinars
• Blog
• Streaming Video
• Video
• Creative Emails
• And more…
“Think Outside The Ebook”
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‒ Understand what success looks like for you‒ Be willing to test new formats
@egomes1019
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7 NOT DISTRIBUTING YOUR CONTENT EFFECTIVELY
More than 3.5 Billion people,
around the world, use the internet
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You’re Creating Relevant Content
HigherEd
B2B: Enterprise
HealthcareConsumer
CompetitorCustomers
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Leverage Behaviors & Personas
Higher Education Healthcare Enterprises
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‒ Use the right tools‒ Deliver the right content to the right person‒ Create a cross-channel, personal experience
@egomes1019
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8 FAILING TO TIE YOUR CONTENT TO ROI
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Measurement is Still a Challenge For Many Content Marketers
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Define Your Metrics Early
1•Lift in website traffic, new visitors, social shares, referring domains, form fill outs, comments and site interactions
2•Subscription to email or RSS, new names, % new names per program
3•# Leads (right demographics, desired behavior), investment per lead
4•Engagement score for set of programs per month
5• # of opportunities
6• First Touch Ratio
7• Multi Touch Ratio
8• Pipeline
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5: Understand Your Results
Tie your Content to revenueWatched our
demo video on home page
Registered for Analytics Webinar
Downloaded Analytics Survey
Results
Attended “Top 10 Marketing
Reports” Webinar
Engaged with a Social Post
Connected with Sales Rep
3 months
$100K
$100K
First Touch
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5: Understand Your Results
Watched Our Demo Video
on Home page
Registered for Analytics Webinar
Downloaded Analytics
Survey Results
Attended “Top 10 Marketing
Reports” Webinar
Engaged with a Social Post
Connected with Sales Rep$25K
$0
$25K
$25K $100K
$25K
3 months
Multi Touch
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Example: A Program Designed to be Measureable
955 shares (blog)10.8K downloads440 new names$35.7K MT pipeline
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Track All Touches Across All People
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‒ Set goals at the start of any content asset‒ Build measurement into your process‒ Track content beyond early-stage metrics‒ ITERATE: Use your metrics to make future content
decisions
@egomes1019
Top 8 Mistakes Content Marketers Make 1. Not Knowing Your Audience2. Not Defining Your Strategy3. Not Understanding What Content Already Exists4. Falling Into the Trap of “More”5. Producing Content on an Island6. Falling Behind the Times7. Not Distributing Your Content Effectively8. Not Tying Your Content to ROI @egomes1019
Top Takeaways (or, how to avoid mistakes):• Research & understand your audience• Write your content strategy & process down• Understand the content you already have• Create content for impact, not volume• Be a content collaborator• Trendy IS valuable• Make sure your content is seen—have a solid distribution plan• Set goals early, measure your impact & iterate
@egomes1019