general assembly blogging for business - final

Blogging For business

Ritika PuriChief Story Wrangler, UserGrasp

Cultivate Your Brand. Grow Your Reach.

Suzanne BaranChief Strategy Officer, Sticks and Stones Agency

your blog = growth engine.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN 2

Between-the-Lines:-Fails & Wins-Learning Curves-Actionable Tactics.

‣ Know Your Goals‣ Build Connections‣ Recruit an Audience‣ Get Started

Why blog? 3

Teach. Learn. Lead. Connect.‣ Solve your audience’s problems‣ Connect through compelling stories‣ Learn something new‣ Build human interest & trust

Stop SellingYour Turn

Blogging + Open Dialogue = Win

Know your goals.

BLOGGING FOR BUSINESS

Business TypeSoftware

Target AudienceMarketers (Small Business to Fortune 500)

Goals-Customer Acquisition & Loyalty

-Visibility

-Social Capital

5Know your goals

CRAZY EGG’S STORY

Source: Public interviews with Russ Henneberry (former editor) & Kathryn Aragon (current editor); conducted via Ritika Puri; 2012-2013

CRAZY EGG’S STORY

Know Your Goals 6

‣ Produce actionable content‣ Recruit industry leading contributors‣ Drive conversions (trial sign-ups)

“Traffic growth has been on average 10 to 15 percent month over month, and subscriber growth really picked up at the six month mark.” -Russ Henneberry (Former CrazyEgg Editor),

January 2013

Source: Public interviews with Russ Henneberry (former editor) & Kathryn Aragon (current editor); conducted via Ritika Puri; 2012-2013

7Know Your Goals

Key areas & examples

Know Your goals 8

Revenue

Brand Assets Networking

Influence

-Leads-Customers-Retention

-Community-Pre-launch audience-Customer Feedback-Social Virality

-Partnerships-Introductions

-SEO-Branding-Social Presence

Sales

Build connections.

BLOGGING FOR BUSINESS

Build connections 10

Business TypeB2B - Advertising solutions

Target Audience-Small to medium business owners -Local and national markets

Goals- Education and participation- Create & deliver content via multiple channels

- Consistent messaging across all platforms

AT&T’S STORY

Source: AT&T Small Business Solutions Content Marketing Plan; led by Suzanne Baran; 2012

Build connections 11

AT&T’S STORY

Source: AT&T Ad Solutions Market Facts, adsolutions.att.com, 2012; Local Insights Report, corporate.yp.com; 2012

‣ Many products and services ‣ 12 business verticals‣ Diverse target customers‣ Fragmented and limited content

‣ No consolidated strategy‣ YP and AT&T brand identity crisis

Build connections 12

AT&T’S STORY

Source: Content Marketing Plan; led by Suzanne Baran; 2012

‣ Unite customer needs‣ Specify topics & types‣ Alleviate pain points‣ Define outcome

Build connections 13

AT&T’S STORY

Source: http://adsolutions.yp.com, 2013;

Customers Content

Build connections 14

‣ Solve users’ problems‣ Communicate human-to-human‣ Be quality driven‣ Don’t self-promote

Source: Scott Brinker (Ion Interactive) for SearchEngineLand

Content sales

Build connections 15

‣ Understand user psychology‣ Build relationships‣ Sell through storytelling

Source: Scott Brinker (Ion Interactive) for SearchEngineLand

Recruit an audience.

BLOGGING FOR BUSINESS

Business TypeMarketing Agency

Target AudienceStartup Founders

Goals-PR

-Exposure

-Leads

17Recruit an audience

ONBOARDLY’S STORY

Source: Interviews with Renee Warren (Co-Founder) conducted via Ritika Puri; 2013

18Recruit an audience

ONBOARDLY’S STORY

Source: Interviews with Renee Warren (Co-Founder) conducted via Ritika Puri; 2013

‣ Growth began at four-month mark‣ As of January 2013, blog has driven 42,000 unique visits‣ 10-40% month over month growth for 6 consecutive months

“Our blog drives approximately 70% of our overall traffic.” -Renee Warren, Onboardly Co-Founder, June 2013

Recruit an audience 19

ONBOARDLY’S STORY‣ Guest posts through high-traffic channels‣ Off-site interviews‣ Dedication to SEO

“Choose 3 core keywords for your blog categories. Then, identify a list of secondary keywords that are slightly less competitive to support your high-level effort.”

-Heather Anne Carson, Onboardly Co-Founder, June 2013

Source: Interviews with Renee Warren (Co-Founder) conducted via Ritika Puri; 2013

Core strategies

Recruit an audience 20

Guest Posts

Social Promotion

Answer Existing Questions

Paid Channel Acquisition

SEOContentSyndication

LinkedIn Groups

Quora

Communities

Business Partners

Media Channels

Active

Passive

Get started.BLOGGING FOR BUSINESS

Areas to Tackle

Get Started 22

Audience

Voice Development Business

-Personas-Psychology-Interests-Attitude

-Tone-Style-Brand Persona

-Budget-Tools-Editorial Calendar-Content Types-SEO

-Conversions-Sales-Distribution

Sales

Voice, Tone & Messaging

Get started 23

Source: Margot Bloomstein: Message Matters, Content Strategy Conference Notes; 2011, Kevan Gilbert, blog,contentgather,com; 2012

Voice, Tone & Messaging

Get started 24

Source: Margot Bloomstein: Message Matters, Content Strategy Conference Notes; 2011, Kevan Gilbert, blog,contentgather,com; 2012

“If you don’t know why or what you need to communicate, how will you know if you succeed?” -Margot Bloomstein

‣ Keep it consistent‣ Infuse personality‣ Have a two-way conversation

Voice, Tone & Messaging

Get started 25

Source: Margot Bloomstein: Message Matters Duo Consulting Confab conference; 2011

Card Sorting

Step one:-Who we are-Who we are not-Who we’d like to be

Voice, Tone & Messaging

Get started 26

Source: AT&T | YP Content Marketing Plan by Suzanne Baran; 2012

EDITORIAL CALENDAR + SEO

Get started 27

Source: Kapost.com; 2013, AT&T | YP Content Marketing Plan by Suzanne Baran; 2012

EDITORIAL CALENDAR & SEO

Get started 28

Source: YP Content Marketing Plan by Suzanne Baran; 2012