why your content marketing is failing (and how to fix it)
TRANSCRIPT
Why Your Content Marketing is Failing
(and how to fix it)
customerjourneymarketer.com
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What is Content Marketing?
Content marketing is the marketing and business process for creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience – with the objective of drivingprofitable customer action.
“Traditional marketing and advertising is telling the world you’re a rock star.
Content Marketing is showing the world that you are one.”
-Robert Rose, Chief Strategy Officer, CMI
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Content is the Fuel of our Digital Marketing Engines
Content is the Fuel to our Digital Marketing Engines.
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But Not Everyone Gets the Same Mileage out of it…
41% of marketers say
content marketing has positive ROI
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B2B Marketers are Increasing Spend on Content Marketing
And 70% are not effective?!
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EVERYONE FAILSAT CONTENT MARKETING.
(some just more often than others)
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Some more positive ways to look at failure…
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Why is your Content Marketing Failing?
not working?
What can we learn?
People & Process
Personas, Customers
Planning & Strategy
Production & Design
Publishing & Promotion
Performance& Metrics
rePurposing& Refining
People & Process
7 P’s of the Content Marketing Life Cycle
customerjourneymarketer.com
Personas & Customers
Personas & Customers
Planning & Strategy
Production & Design
Publishing & Promotion
Performance& Metrics
rePurposing& Refining
People & Process
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You Take an Inside-Out Approach
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You’re not driving qualified traffic
Target audience
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Find “Triple Threat” Topics
Business objectives,
Value props
Customer Needs
Customer Interests Priority 1 topics
Priority 2 topics
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Your Content Sells More than it Educates
We see 3,000-20,000 brand messages a day
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You pull a “Trojan Horse”
Outside:Looks like free educational content (to help me)
Inside:Selling the product/service(all about you)
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Your Content Doesn’t Answer Your Customers’ Questions
27% of search queries
are questions
70% growth in “how to”
searches on youtube72% of buyers turn to
Google in the “awareness” stage
research
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What Questions are Your Customers Asking?
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You Don’t Understand Your CustomersIndividual
Job titles
Key responsibilities
Motivators
Top priorities and concerns
Pain points
Common objections
Role in purchasing process
Consumption preferences
Terminology & language
Organization
Industry vertical
Company size
Business model
Org structure
Technology stack
Geographic locations
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How do customers solve the problem before they come to you?
Manually
“Low-End” Competitor
Free Tool
Homegrown Solution
“High-End” Competitor
Not doing anything
Outsourcing
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Identify and Capitalize on Buying Triggers
What common events set customers off in search of a solution?
Planning & Strategy People
& Process
Personas & Customers
Planning & Strategy
Production & Design
Publishing & Promotion
Performance& Metrics
rePurposing& Refining
People & Process
Random Acts of Content
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You Don’t Have A Documented Plan & Strategy
READY! FIRE! AIM!
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90% of the buyer’s journey is
self-directed
11.4the average number of pieces of content consumers engage
with before making a B2B purchase
ROAD TO ADVOCACY
Your Content Strategy Isn’t Aligned with the Customer Journey
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Click here to learn more about this customer journey stages model
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You think Customer Journeys are Linear
Engagement Content 1
Education Content 2
“First they get this content then they get that, next they this…”
Research Content 3
EvaluationContent 4
JustificationContent 5
This does NOT work.
@gdaz customerjourneymarketer.comDon’t try to play God.
@gdaz customerjourneymarketer.comSmartBear Confidential and Proprietary
?
“Why do I have a problem?!"
“What solutions are available?What factors should I consider?”
“Does this product solve my problem(s) & meet my needs/requirements?”
"Why should I choose this? How can I get my boss and team members on board?”
“Hello, brand, do I like you, are you relevant to me?”
“How do I get it? How difficult will it be to implement and change current process?”
Just focus on answering your customers’ questions at each stage
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TRIAL
Make Sure Every Piece of Content is a Door, Bridge and Ladder
to more relevant content at same stage
Find you and enter the funnel at any stage
to later stages in the journey
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TRIAL
Make Sure Every Piece of Content is a Door, Bridge and Ladder
to more relevant content at same stage
Find you and enter the funnel at any stage
to later stages in the journey
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TRIAL
Make Sure Every Piece of Content is a Door, Bridge and Ladder
to more relevant content at same stage
Find you and enter the funnel at any stage
to later stages in the journey
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Content Planning Process
Goals & Objectives
Themes Research
Content Audit
Topics FormatsTimelineBudget
Resources
You Didn’t Define Business Objectives & Goals
TrafficFree tool downloads
Leads GeneratedContent Downloads
Qualified LeadsTrials
Trial ActivationsOpportunities
Opportunities WonRenewals
Upsell, Cross-sell
Metrics
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You Didn’t Do Your Research
Customer Competitive Keyword MarketPersona
Development
Problems/Pains
Conversion Obstacles
Interests
What questions are they asking?
Messaging
Strengths & Weaknesses
What topics are they talking about?
Competitive Rankings
Long-tail opportunities
Existing/New keywords
Skyscraper opportunities
Trends in marketplace
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Content Planning Process
Goals & Objectives
Themes Research
Content Audit
Topics FormatsTimelineBudget
Resources
You Create New Content Without Understanding What You Already Have
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Content Audit: Identify Opportunities and Gaps
Number assets / stage Types of assets / stage Performance of assets Age of content Location of content Distribution strategy Optimization, enhancement,
and re-purposing Keyword research
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Content Planning Process
Goals & Objectives
Themes Research
Content Audit
Topics FormatsTimelineBudget
Resources
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Experiment here
500250100501
Don’t roll the dice here…
You Allocate Resources Improperly
Production and Design
Quality
Quantity
Personas & Customers
Planning & Strategy
Production & Design
Publishing & Promotion
Performance& Metrics
rePurposing& Refining
People & Process
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Quality Content
Not Quality Content
Quantity > Quality
Santorini
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Long-Form Vs Short-Form Content
2,400+ average words for position #1 and #2 ranking content
Your Content Doesn’t Deliver Enough Value
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You Don’t Focus Enough on Titles
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Title Tips Google displays 50-60 characters of title
Keep titles under 55 Characters, 95% will display properly
• Lists• Numbers and data• How to’s• Why• “You”• Emotional words• Surprising• Questions• Problem/solution• Strong statements• Clear, specific• Scream Value!• Align with content
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Your Content Isn’t Visually EngagingVisual content is more than 40Xmore likely to get shared on social
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CTR: 0.632% CTR: 1.302%
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Your Content Isn’t Easily Consumable
Legible Organized structure Readability Section headers Bulleted, numbered lists Images, diagrams Bite-sized chunks
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Optimized for Mobile
57%users say they won’t
recommend a business with a poorly designed
mobile site.
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Your Web Experience is Outdated
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Your Content Isn’t Shareable
Publishing & Promotion
Personas & Customers
Planning & Strategy
Production & Design
Publishing & Promotion
Performance& Metrics
rePurposing& Refining
People & Process
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You don’t focus enough on SEO
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Your Content is Inconsistent
CadenceMessaging X-
Channel
Brand
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Your Distribution Strategy Isn’t Aligned with the Customer Journey
Engagement Education Research Evaluation Justification PurchaseAdoption -Advocacy
Social
Email & Lead Nurturing
Paid Advertising
Web: Search & Conversion
PR
Content Strategy
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You Don’t Leverage All the Channels at Your Disposal
You Don’t Leverage All the Data at your Disposal
Behavioral(Implicit)
Demo, Firmo(Explicit)
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Search Terms+how +to +soapui, +soapui +tutorial, +soapui +guide
You Don’t Think About User Intent
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Aligning Web Properties and Communities with the Customer Journey
Blog & Social
Resource Centers
Product Sections
Community & Support
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Informational Learn Section
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Product SectionCommercial
Transactional
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Data -> Customer Journey (Remarketing)Product Section
eBook Trial
Learn Section Open Source
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Automated Nurture and Lead Scoring
eBooksInfographics
WebinarsBlogs
Slideshares
DocumentationChecklistsTutorialsGuides
Weekly trainingFAQ
Case StudiesTestimonials
ROI CalculatorsSell your Boss
Analyst ReportsProduct Demos
TOFU TRIAL BOFU
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You Don’t Capitalize on Conversion Opportunities
Article -> eBook eBook -> Trial
Use Secondary CTAs
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You Haven’t Built a Content Network
Internal Teams
External Experts, Influencers
Industry Publications
CustomersPartners
• Follow• Share• Comment• Quote• Link• Contribute
Writers, bloggers
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I hope I get invited to a webinar today…
…said no one ever.
You Promote the Format > Topic
Performance & Metrics
Personas & Customers
Planning & Strategy
Production & Design
Publishing & Promotion
Performance& Metrics
rePurposing& Refining
People & Process
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• You Don’t Have a Clear Definition of Success
• Focusing too much on just conversion sales-driven metrics
• Forgetting about SEO factors • Not taking promotion effort and
reach into consideration• Not taking time into consideration
Common Content Metrics Mistakes
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Measuring Content Performance
Traffic, SEO
• Organic Visits• Traffic by
Channel• Page Rank and
authority• Inbound links
Engagement
• Social shares• Time on page• Pages/Session• Bounce Rate• Comments
Leads
• Net new leadsgenerated
• Qualified leads
Sales, Pipeline
• OpportunitiesInfluenced (#, $)
• Downloads /Opportunitiesinfluenced (%, $)
Repurposing and Refining
Personas & Customers
Planning & Strategy
Production & Design
Publishing & Promotion
Performance& Metrics
rePurposing& Refining
People & Process
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Your Content Isn’t Designed for Repurposing from the Start
It’s a lot easier to make a car eco-friendly if you design it that way from the start….
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Will this be relevant next month or next year? Three years from now?
NOT EVERGREEN
• News stories• Annual reports• Event, holiday or season• Pop culture fad
Your Content Isn’t Evergreen
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Designing Content for Re-purposingeBook OutlineI. Stand Alone Topic
a) Stand alone Sub-topicb) Stand alone Sub-topicc) Stand alone Sub-topic
II. Stand Alone Topica) Stand alone Sub-topicb) Stand alone Sub-topicc) Stand alone Sub-topic
III. Stand Alone Topica) Stand alone Sub-topicb) Stand alone Sub-topicc) Stand alone Sub-topic
IV. Stand Alone Topica) Stand alone Sub-topicb) Stand alone Sub-topicc) Stand alone Sub-topic
Keyword Research
Organic/SEO article I
Blog Posts
Cheat Sheet, one pager
Infographic
Template, worksheet
Organic/SEO article II
Blog Post
Organic/SEO article IIIClick here to read more about this approach
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Webinar Transcriptions
(Transcription)
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If your webinar deck isn’t optimized for slideshare, it wasn’t optimized for the webinar…
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People & Process
Personas, Customers
Planning & Strategy
Production & Design
Publishing & Promotion
Performance& Metrics
rePurposing& Refining
People & Process
People & Process
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You Don’t Have the Right Talent, Skills and Roles on your Team
• Content Marketing Manager(Editor in Chief)
• Writers (Internal and External)• Technical SEO Expert• Technical, Product, Domain
Experts• Web Team• Graphics and Design Team• Operations Team• Promotion Team• PR team• Business leader
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You Don’t Have an Efficient, Repeatable Process
Agile Marketing
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You thought you would have overnight success
It takes time. Don’t give up!
Thank you!
Gary DeAsi@gdazhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/garydeasi
CustomerJourneyMarketer.com
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