Data from 28 responses

of organizations with a documented strategy consider their organization to be 60%effective at content marketing.

of organizations with a verbal strategy consider their organization to be 32%effective at content marketing.

So what does a documented content marketing strategy look like?

Average of 20 Months Before Content Marketing Became Cheaper Per Lead Than PPC

Increase Revenues: Increase Brand Visibility Increase Prospective Customer Engagement & Interest Increase Leads & Sales Increase Customer Retention & Repeat Purchases Increase Customer Referrals & Reviews Decrease Costs: Decrease Cost per Lead/Sale Increase Bandwidth of Existing Sales Team Decrease Customer Support Requests Increase Bandwidth of Existing Customer Support Team Decrease Hiring & Training Costs

Increase Revenues: Increase Brand Visibility Increase Prospective Customer Engagement & Interest Increase Leads & Sales Increase Customer Retention & Repeat Purchases Increase Customer Referrals & Reviews Decrease Costs: Decrease Cost per Lead/Sale Increase Bandwidth of Existing Sales Team Decrease Customer Support Requests Increase Bandwidth of Existing Customer Support Team Decrease Hiring & Training Costs Pick the most important 3 to your organization

Increase Revenues: Increase Brand Visibility Increase Prospective Customer Engagement & Interest Increase Leads & Sales Increase Customer Retention & Repeat Purchases Increase Customer Referrals & Reviews Decrease Costs: Decrease Cost per Lead/Sale Increase Bandwidth of Existing Sales Team Decrease Customer Support Requests Increase Bandwidth of Existing Customer Support Team Decrease Hiring & Training Costs

What is the age range of your typical buyer? Gender? Occupation Job Title Salary Geographic location (city, state, region, country) Frequent or one-time buyer?

Top industry sites customers likely consult while researching your product/service Social networks where customers are most active (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc) Typical length of buying cycle Official & unofficial phases & milestones in the buying cycle What kind of implicit need is a customer looking to fill? What other options do customers have (other than you) to fulfill this need?

Lots of gold in here: Customer email list Your Google Analytics account Your FAQs Your Customer Service Call Transcripts Your Customer Service Emails Your Social Profiles

Take Email Addresses. Process with Rapleaf.com or FullContact.com to get: Age Gender Geography Social Profiles

Social Profiles Twitter (Followerwonk, Scrape Twitter, Twitter Ads, etc.) Age Gender Geography Interests Commonly shared publications Audience Demographic/Publishing Data Popular Topics Tangential Products/Services

Social Logins Facebook Insights: Age Gender Geography Interests Related Products, Brands, and Services

The hardest part of building customer personas is validating them and basing them on data, not just your hunches. This is an ongoing process and it s often the hardest part of building a complete content marketing strategy.

3. Who are our target audiences that will buy from us? 4. Who are our target audiences that will consume and share our content?

3. Who are our target audiences that will buy from us? 4. Who are our target audiences that will consume and share our content? Common Examples: Stakeholders in your projects that may not have buying power. Industry peers. Industry journalists. Students & educators in the field. Organizations below your target audience that need a smaller provider. Organizations above your target audience that need a larger provider. Complementary industries & markets that you interact with.

Complete inventory of all your content creation and promotion resources. Names & what they ll commit to monthly Budget for tools & promotion Budget for external support

Questions to ask: Who in the company has knowledge to contribute, and how much time can they commit to each month? How can we convince them to contribute? Who will manage the process & cover editorial? Who will handle promotion across owned, earned, paid channels? What is their budget? What is our budget for tools? What is our budget for outside help? Content creation, consulting, etc.

This question has 2 components: 1. Topics 2. Formats. Focus on topics for now.

Questions to Ask: What are the 2-4 high level themes that encompass what your brand stands for? Example: B2B Software Training Company

Questions to Ask: What is our brand s editorial mission statement? It s not about what you sell, it s about what you stand for Inc.com Example: Welcome to Inc.com, the place where entrepreneurs and business owners can find useful information, advice, insights, resources and inspiration for running and growing their businesses.

Questions to Ask: What is our brand s editorial mission statement? It s not about what you sell, it s about what you stand for Landscape Architecture Example: We educate the commercial development community on the value and ROI of responsible landscape planning and management, and publish instructional content that demonstrates our expertise in site planning, permitting, mitigation, and restoration.

Questions to Ask: What is our target audience asking at each stage of the customer lifecycle? Awareness Engagement Conversion Retention

Identify 30 questions that a potential customer would have about each one of your services. 1. Write a text response. 2. Record it to video. 3. Publish the audio as a podcast. 90 pieces of content in 90 days. You re ahead of 90% of the competition.

Identify your key topical keywords.

Identify your key topical keywords. Drop them in KeywordTool.io

DJC? ArchDaily? Seattle Business Magazine? Newsletters? Master Builders Assoc? AGCWA? Newsletters? Direct Mail? Facebook Feed? Book Clubs? Reddit?

Questions to Ask: What are our [business] competitors doing well? What are our [topical] competitors doing well? What are they both missing?

Competitive Analysis Tools Open Site Explorer:

Competitive Analysis Tools BuzzSumo:

Competitive Analysis Tools SEMRush:

Competitive Analysis Tools Social:

Add Paid Budget to Social Posts Performing Well: If you see this after an hour or two, try putting $10 or $50 on it You ll get tons of free organic visibility from paying to promote an already popular post.

Add Paid Budget to Social Posts Performing Well: Get extremely targeted:

Editorial Calendar: