We're All Publishers, Now.

2013 will be the year of Content Marketing, will you be ready?

What is Content Marketing?

How do I do Content Marketing?

According to Content Marketing Institute (CMI), it is defined:

Content marketing is a marketing technique of creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.

Content marketing goes deeper than what we may have done in the past and the tools to distribute content are more accessible than ever before.

Earlier this month, Joe Pulizzi, founder of CMI, was the guest speaker at a BMA Chicago luncheon. I walked away with an insiders’ perspective and new ideas.  Content marketing may not be a new concept, in fact it has been around for quite awhile. Pulizzi made reference to the cookbooks Jell-O developed to sell its (new) gelatin product. Think Coca-Cola, Harley Davidson and Red Bull and the strategies used to cultivate and educate their loyal audiences. We should be creating the ‘stories to sell products/services’ and our content should be as good or better than any publisher.

What am I going to say? Start with “why?” Check out Simon Sinek’s TEDx Talk about inspirational leadership (video has garnered nearly 8 million views).

What keeps our customers awake at night? How can we address these issues and reassure our customers that we have the solutions they don’t even realize they need?

According to Pulizzi, go deep and small by developing quality content that fits with your overall marketing vision and editorial calendar with the customer/client as primary focus.

Here’s an example:

• Develop key topics that you want to cover for the year, say 4-6.
• Next, dive deep into keywords connected/derived from the key topics.
• Then, create unique content products scheduled for distribution through the year that includes ebooks, blogs/editorial, video and slide decks, etc.

Your ebook is the main product with extended shelf life for blog entries, info graphics, landing page, social media posts, etc. (Replace ebook with case study, research report or video and you’ll have enough content for several months.)

Tracking results can be achieved using your website analytics for page visits, Google Analytics and alerts to make adjustments in your key topics and key words for the next content marketing product.

Content Marketing Unspoken Rules

1. One Call To Action
2. Give Content as Gift (freebie)
3. Social Media Etiquette (promote others and keep your own self-promotion and thought leadership entries to a minimum).