Content Marketing

Exploring this crucial element of marketing, its implementation, current state and strategies for the future. Content promotion.

"With content marketing, people who consume your content should be able to get value and experience some results without having to purchase anything."

- Amy Harrison on Copyblogger

Resources

 * Good article: Content Marketing Tips on Personal Branding Blog (Susan Gilbert)

General Advice

 * Content marketing (highly recommend Copyblogger's eBook) means: creation of valuable content that has a marketing purpose.
 * It's a long-term strategy.
 * Pair it with good copywriting: text designed to get a specific action from the reader (join, shop, commit...)
 * Have a good headline, benefits, build trust, social proof. Include call to action.
 * Social proof: encourage comments (get a buddy to break the ice), tell stories about benefitting others, add testimonials and media references
 * Central theme: generosity!
 * Providing high quality content incites readers to keep coming back
 * Hence: e.g. solve problems or entertain
 * Be your audience's smart cool friend
 * Content marketing means slowly building a network
 * Methods and techniques:
 * Send real-life mail, hand out paper
 * Write a white paper
 * Create an e-mail course
 * Offer free/paid teleclasses
 * Build a membership site
 * Have a Facebook page
 * Be an active community member
 * Comment with purpose, be relevant
 * Create mini niche sites
 * Turn a good post into a video
 * Be real.
 * Make an eBook or book (e.g. from podcasts, blog posts, guides)
 * Write a manifesto
 * Write reviews
 * Hijack a story or headline to create your own content from (rewrite for relevance).
 * Browse e.g. reddit front page for it
 * Host a (virtual) conference
 * Praise others
 * Write for classic newspapers
 * Address objections
 * Combine your most generous self with your most creative self.
 * See more examples in the eBook.

Content Shock/Ingition
Jan 2015: Theory by Mark Schaefer, suggestions by Rachel Strella
 * Problem: content marketing is so effective "that we’ve become oversaturated, making it increasingly difficult [...] to break through the noise"
 * Stage creative campaigns, e.g. hashtag
 * Spend money to boost social media posts
 * Host your own community (be the hub)
 * Experiment with new ways to share

From the Copyblogger ebook - 10 Steps

 * 1) Build it on your own space (web domain).
 * 2) * Self-hosted Wordpress
 * 3) Have a solid cornerstone
 * 4) * Core tenets, basic philosophy - e.g. in 10 posts
 * 5) Make it worth reading
 * 6) * Attractive headline
 * 7) * Useful, problem-solving
 * 8) * Formatted to engage
 * 9) * Entertaining
 * 10) Publish in a secure environment (e.g. use Sucuri)
 * 11) Have a great design
 * 12) Create content to attract and widen audience
 * 13) Build an e-mail list
 * 14) After the above: start guest-posting
 * 15) * Always send people back to your own awesome site
 * 16) Make an offer soon
 * 17) Take your message to social media

Spinning a "Content Net"
Basic version consists of 3 components:
 * Blog - captures attention, inspires sharing, creates authority
 * Social media presence - enhance authority, network with others
 * E-mail list - with quality autoresponder to nurture relationship, prepare sale

Adaptive Content
Copyblogger's shtick for 2015

 "It serves up almost a customized experience for them that is different from what another person gets. Each experience is individualized to have maximum impact."'  

- Copyblogger

Bait Pieces

 * Free "Bait Piece": info booklet, white paper, report addressing an aspect of the problem I solve
 * Keep it simple: "10 ways to..." or a checklist
 * Solve a problem: don't worry giving away advice for free - it's bait
 * Make it valuable: work hard on this!
 * Target it: to my niche
 * Price it: "a $xx value"
 * Use Media: video, presentation, audio, images?
 * Promote it: e.g. in e-mails, with strong sales statement
 * Hard & Soft offer: hard offer to contact me right now (e.g. free consultation), soft: to only take my free report for now


 * Find the story behind my product. It needs:
 * A hero
 * A goal
 * Conflict
 * A mentor
 * A moral

Promoting (Sharing) Content

 * Start marketing right after you publish an article! First step:
 * Create a badge with: interesting image, headline & my URL (small)
 * Then, share that on social media. It stands out
 * How to find pics (or: create one yourself - snapshot of blog + artistic styling)
 * Square size
 * 560x292 if I use a custom image when posting a link
 * 600 places to share my content!

Content as a Referral Tool
Article on Copyblogger
 * 1) Invited content: e.g. guest posts
 * 2) Co-branded content: my partners distribute my e-book (co-branded with them)
 * 3) Sponsored content: I speak/present at somebody's event
 * 4) Curated content: bring together experts!
 * 5) Incentivized content: get customers to create & share related content
 * 6) * "Tell us the best use of our product"
 * 7) * "Show us your results with our service"
 * 8) * "Tell us why you want to win"