creating mind blowing content

22
THE INBOUND MARKETER’S GUIDE TO CREATING MIND BLOWING CONTENT

Upload: wesley-yuhn

Post on 16-Aug-2015

60 views

Category:

Marketing


1 download

TRANSCRIPT

THE INBOUND MARKETER’S GUIDE TO

CREATING MIND BLOWING

CONTENT

www.quintainmarketing.com | 3

Quintain Marketing is a full service marketing agency committed to the belief that there is a place in the market for a highly focused marketing agency which can provide its clients a distinct range of services in a thoughtful, professional and personal way. Our product is a relationship, not simply a transaction or process delivery. We’re passionate about creativity and sticklers for quality, while also obsessed with providing our customers top notch service. That’s why so many of them – big and small – keep coming back.

Why ContentCreating Great Top of the Funnel ContentThe “How To’s” of Purchasing...Let’s CompareIf I Only Knew Then What I Know Now...Share the View from 10,000 Feet“I Didn’t See that Coming...”Here’s the PlanTeach the PDQ’s ASAPShare Your ToolsA Strong FoundationGoing ForwardThe Best of the BestMeasure ItConclusion

TABLE OF CONTENTS

www.quintainmarketing.com | 5

6101418

2022242628303234363840

John is the President / Creative Director ofQuintain Marketing. With over 20 years of

sales, leadership and marketing experience,John has an insider’s understanding of what

businesses need as well as the creative skills todevelop marketing solutions that are unique and effective.Before entering the marketing field, John spent 13 years inthe professional services and IT industries. Through his ITbackground, John has led the expansion of Quintain Marketing’sproduct offerings.

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////JOHN BOOTH

01 | WHY CONTENT

Open up just about any marketing journal or magazine these days and you’ll find an article on inbound marketing. This strategy, which emphasizes the creation and publication of original content -- including blog posts, case studies, white papers, videos and photos -- for the purpose of generating leads, enhancing a brand’s visibility, and putting the company’s subject matter expertise on display, is growing dramatically in popularity due to its proven effectiveness.

Last year, HiveFire, a Cambridge, Mass.-based internet marketing software solutions company, surveyed nearly 400 marketing professionals about the state of the business-to-business, or B2B, market, and discovered that marketers are retreating from traditional marketing tactics such as search marketing and have made inbound marketing the most-used tactic in their brand-enhancing tool box. In fact, twice as many B2B marketers now employ inbound marketing as they do print, TV and radio advertising, according to the survey.

www.quintainmarketing.com | 76 | www.quintainmarketing.com

Five Must-Have Content CharacteristicsLayout: All of your topics should focus on educating and informing. You already have brochures and sales material and this is not more of the same. Make sure that your content is written to educate, and not to sell.

Orderly: Provide your content in a format that is easy to understand and share. People love lists.

Important: All content needs value, critical value. Don’t talk for the sake of talking…

Timelessness: The information provided in your content should be “evergreen”, meaning it should never go out of date (Forever relevant).

Familiarity: You already understand the issues and the solutions. Talk about what you know.

Why is inbound marketing so popular?

‣ When done properly, inbound marketing improves the quality of leads for a business, which in turn results in a higher close rate

‣ Compared to other forms of marketing, inbound marketing is very inexpensive

‣ Inbound marketing reaches prospective customers where they spend the most time - online

With research pointing to the continued growth in popularity of content marketing as a business marketing strategy, it has become increasingly important to understand not only what inbound marketing is, but how to generate great content.

www.quintainmarketing.com | 98 | www.quintainmarketing.com

02 | CREATING GREAT TOP OF THE FuNNEL CONTENT

Understanding the sales funnel and developing strategies to attract and nurture prospective clients at the top, middle, and bottom of the funnel is at the heart of what makes inbound marketing such an effective strategy. The concept of the sales funnel is nothing new.

Every seasoned sales person knows that at the top of the funnel (otherwise known as “TOFU”) is a very large pool of unqualified leads. The goal is to sort through those leads to find the hidden gems – prospective customers that need your product/service and have the budget to pay for it.

TOFu - Top of the Funnel

www.quintainmarketing.com | 1110 | www.quintainmarketing.com

Before you can qualify those leads, you need to help them find you (make sure they know you exist!) and then get enough information about them to determine whether they are a good fit for your business.

If your business is like ours, there are literally thousands (if not millions) of potential customers out there, but you might not want to do business with a large number of them.

How do you do this? Offer them answers to their questions and solutions to their problems.

Because most people begin their buying process online, one of the most powerful strategies for attracting visitors and converting leads at the top of the funnel is to create keyword-rich content in the form of blogs, whitepapers, how-to guides, ebooks, etc.

The idea is that when someone is out there Googling to learn more about a topic related to your products or services, they find you. The key to a great top of the funnel offer is content that answers your prospects’ questions or solves their problems – NOT content that is trying to sell something.

There’s plenty of time to make a sales pitch later. In this ebook, we’re sharing 12 different themes that will help you create mind blowing top of the funnel content.

GET FOuND

CONVERT

ANALYZE

by more qualified leads

leads into sales

results to constantly improve

www.quintainmarketing.com | 1312 | www.quintainmarketing.com

03 | THE “HOW TO’S” OF PuRCHASING...

Knowledge is power. The more you educate your prospective customers, the more empowered they will become to evaluate options and, ultimately, make the decision to purchase.

Think about how you buy. When you first realize that you have a need, you don’t generally jump right into evaluating a specific product or service. Instead, you focus on learning more about the various options. Who are the major suppliers? What type of product or service is going to best fit your needs?

At this early stage in the buying process, great content helps to guide your prospect with information that reduces the unknown and improves the likelihood that they will achieve business success using your service or product.

www.quintainmarketing.com | 1514 | www.quintainmarketing.com

What does this look like in practice? You might write a blog, eBook or whitepaper with a title such as: ‣ Know the 4 Key Parts Needed for a Successful… ‣ 7 Things You Must Know Before… ‣ Is Your Coverage Complete?

As you prepare your content, consider organizing information into a logical process, or series of steps. This is unfamiliar territory for your audience, so step-by-step directions make it easier for them to absorb the information you are providing. Examples include:

‣ Review Our 3 Stage Process for a Successful… ‣ 4 Simple Steps to…

Your focus is education and not product information. It’s still too early in the process to be selling.

Time To Plan Your Content Single-minded: Cover only one idea per page.

Shape the conversation: Begin with relevance - add your perspective and finish with the next steps.

Engage: Consider adding details to past blog topics.

Chunk it out: Break up your content into stages and offer each piece over a defined time period. This will increase the likelihood that all of your content is consumed.

Boost it: Great content does not just come in written form. Add video, podcasts or webinars. (People learn in different ways)

Reuse: Update your content annually or more often if needed. Your audience today is not going to be the same in 6 months.

Schedule: All of your content should be planned out in your Marketing Calendar. (Don’t have a marketing calendar? Use ours!)

www.quintainmarketing.com | 1716 | www.quintainmarketing.com

04 | LET’S COMPARE

As the old saying goes, “You don’t know what you don’t know.”

This is very true for uneducated buyers and often leads them down the path of shopping based on price. Because of their lack of knowledge, they simply don’t know what questions to ask.

Your content can be an important educational tool that provides them with a list of the questions that they should be asking as they do research and make their purchasing decisions. You know the questions … they’re the ones that cut out the fluff and get right to the meat of the matter.

What’s it look like…?

‣ 7 Questions Your Service Provider Would Rather Not Answer ‣ 9 Questions That Level The Playing Field ‣ 3 Questions to Ask After the Project is Completed ‣ 6 Questions to Ask Before You Are Given a Quote…

The more you can place your feet in their shoes, the greater the authority you will earn.

www.quintainmarketing.com | 1918 | www.quintainmarketing.com

04 | “IF I ONLY KNEW THEN WHAT I

KNOW NOW...”

Mistakes are painful, but every successful journey includes moments when you strayed off the path. Take WD-40, for example. Short for the fortieth water deterrent formula tested by the manufacturer, this common household product would never have made it to the market if its inventors hadn’tpersevered through their initial failures.

When you share your blunders and mistakes, and offer your success stories, your audience will truly take notice and listen.

What does it look like…? ‣ 8 Mistakes Made by First Time Buyers of… ‣ 3 Mistakes That Seem Minor But Will Have a Dramatic Impact

on… ‣ The 10 Most Common Mistakes We See Year After Year ‣ First Time? Don’t Make These 6 Mistakes

Odds are there is more than one person involved or affected by a purchase. Use “mistakes” to introduce the need to include departments or groups not obviously impacted by the sale.

www.quintainmarketing.com | 2120 | www.quintainmarketing.com

05 | SHARE THE VIEW FROM 10,000 FEET

The experience you have in your field, combined with your day-to-day activities, means that you have knowledge that would often take a lifetime to replicate. It’s easy to take for granted the perspective that comes with this experience.

Subtle changes in the economy, technology or regulation can mean big changes to your industry. Sharing your perspective on what these changes or developments mean validates your position as an expert in the field.

What’s it look like…?

‣ 7 Potential Outcomes of… ‣ 4 Ways a Change in Legislation Will Impact… ‣ 6 Ways an Aging Society is Changing…

Continuing to inform the marketplace with predictions that position your voice as an insider with unique access and information - two key pieces to any successful transaction.

www.quintainmarketing.com | 2322 | www.quintainmarketing.com

06 | “I DIDN’T SEE THAT COMING...”

Sure they didn’t, but you did…

Use your industry experience to help newbies avoid common pitfalls. Create content that will help your audience to recognize the “writing on the wall” when they otherwise might miss the warning signals. When you share your perspective and offer suggestions that minimize risk and cost, you become a trusted advisor.

What’s it look like? ‣ 5 Signs That There Is Trouble On The Horizon ‣ 3 Common Signals That You’re Over Budget ‣ 8 Signs The Account Is At Risk

As a trusted advisor, you will have more influence, and often access, early in the decision making process.

www.quintainmarketing.com | 2524 | www.quintainmarketing.com

07 | HERE’S THE PLAN

Travel is always easier when you have a road map.

Tying together your experience and pairing it with a game plan is a great way to reduce your prospect’s anxiety. Content that focuses on the plan can be used to reduce your clients’ and prospects’ fear and, at the same time, gives you an opportunity to promote your competency and the solutions you offer.

What does it look like...? ‣ 8 Steps To Higher Employee Moral ‣ 5 Steps To Increasing Your Website Traffic ‣ 12 Ways To Lower The Cost Of Employee Benefits ‣ 6 Step Plan To A Successful Product Launch

Positioning your solutions is the next step in your relationship with a prospect.

www.quintainmarketing.com | 2726 | www.quintainmarketing.com

08 | TEACH THE PDQ’S ASAP

Every industry has its unique terms and acronyms. This can be an added source of frustration for someone unfamiliar with common buzzwords. Provide an easy solution by creating content that lists the most common terms and provides simple, clear definitions.

To get started, think about what terms your customers and prospects must know. Focus on content to demystify commonly misused or misunderstood words.

What does it look like…?

‣ 10 Social Media Terms You Should Know ‣ 8 Key Association Regulatory Terms ‣ The 12 Most Important Military Intelligence Terms

Information written in non-industry language or jargon is easy to share with all involved in the decision making process.

www.quintainmarketing.com | 2928 | www.quintainmarketing.com

09 | SHARE YOuR TOOLS

If you are an industry expert, your knowledge of your field includes an understanding of the best tools and resources available. Sharing where you stay up to date or find the best industry intelligence adds to your credibility. Recommending websites, blogs or books is an opportunity to demonstrate your selflessness and willingness to educate.

What does it look like…?

‣ Top 10 Resources For Benefit Plan Comparison ‣ 6 recommended Books For The New Business Owner ‣ 4 Blog Sites With The Most Current Industry Analysis

Remember it’s not the data that has value, but rather what you do with it.

www.quintainmarketing.com | 3130 | www.quintainmarketing.com

10 | A STRONG FOuNDATION

Success in anything is built on a solid foundation. The skills needed to succeed in your field are likely very diverse. Create content that offers information and expands the perspective of your audience.

When you expose your audience to new information, you showcase your knowledge. Your foundation might include administrative, planning or marketing resources. Achieving a goal requires diverse qualifications - attitudes, budget, experiences, tools, or training.

What does it look like…?

‣ 5 Tools You’ll Need to Get Boardroom Support ‣ 8 Skills Needed to Reduce Turnover ‣ 6 Attitude Adjustments That Demonstrate Expertise

Exposing a “blind spot” will lead to near instant credibility with your audience.

www.quintainmarketing.com | 3332 | www.quintainmarketing.com

11 | GOING FORWARD

Even with a well-planned buying process, there is a good chance the buyer has not purchased a perfect solution. It could be the result of an incomplete assessment of their needs or maybe their needs have changed since the process began. When you demonstrate your willingness to invest in the relationship even after the sale is made, you gain trust by placing the needs of the buyer ahead of your own.

What does it look like…?

‣ 7 Steps to Continued Compliance ‣ 10 Ways to Get the Most Out of Your CRM ‣ 5 Steps to Maintaining Peak Production

Help make the most of their purchase even if they didn’t buy from you.

www.quintainmarketing.com | 3534 | www.quintainmarketing.com

12 | THE BEST OF THE BEST

Stories are a great way to communicate a message. By creating content that highlights top performers or best practices, you can highlight the “human” side of your business. Shining the spotlight on people or companies that have succeeded also allows your prospect to visualize their success.

What does it look like…?

‣ 7 Essentials of Regulatory Compliance ‣ 12 Elements of a World Class Golf Event ‣ 6 Secrets to Nonstop Progress

Shine the spotlight on your client’s achievement, which is due in part to your product or service.

www.quintainmarketing.com | 3736 | www.quintainmarketing.com

13 | MEASuRE IT

The holy grail of any business is the ability to measure ROI. Managing by measurement demonstrates what’s working and what’s not and eliminates emotion from the analysis. It is also a compelling tool to use in discussions at the boardroom level.

Make it easy for your prospects to justify their purchase by creating content that highlights how your clients have achieved success using your product or service.

What does it look like…?

‣ 6 Metrics to Track Decreased Claims ‣ How do Promotional Products Impact Customer Satisfaction?

3 Necessary Tools ‣ 8 Tools to Track Customer Satisfaction

Measuring early and often will build your ROI case.

www.quintainmarketing.com | 3938 | www.quintainmarketing.com

14 | CONCLuSION

Great content is platform agnostic. It doesn’t matter whether you package your information as a blog, an eBook, a whitepaper, a podcast, or a video – the secret to creating amazing content is to touch on topics that resonate with your audience:

‣ Answer their questions ‣ Allay their fears ‣ Help them avoid common mistakes ‣ Give them access to helpful tools and resources ‣ Solve their problems

By giving your audience helpful information, you will be positioned as an expert. And that means that when they are ready to buy, you will be top of mind.

www.quintainmarketing.com | 4140 | www.quintainmarketing.com

READY TO TAKE YOuR MARKETING TO THE NExT LEVEL?

(866) 788-3226@quintain

www.quintainmarketing.com42 | www.quintainmarketing.com