In part two of our four part webinar series, Transformation2015, the “The New Content Marketing Blueprint,” attendees learned the essential elements to drive traffic, leads and sales through content marketing.
Do you have a content marketing strategy in place for 2015? You should! Let’s take a look at the big picture. There are major shifts happening within content marketing including blending with social, advertising becoming less blatant, content marketers are seeing higher search rankings, guest blogging is returning and content marketing budgets are reaching new record highs.
In fact, 52 percent of The New Content Marketing Blueprint webinar attendees said they plan to increase their content marketing budgets in 2015. The Content Marketing Institute found similar data: 55 percent of B2B marketers plan to increase their budgets in 2015. (2015, CMI).
Marketers have also begun to realize the importance of having a written strategy. According to the Content Marketing Institute 35 percent of B2B marketers have a written content marketing strategy in place. (2015, CMI).
Below you’ll find an overview of the six key components of your content marketing blueprint for 2015. For a more in depth look be sure to check out our full webcast.
1. Goals and Metrics
First and foremost you need to know your primary content marketing goals. Common goals include: brand awareness, engagement, lead generation, customer retention and up-sell. For example if your content marketing goal is to achieve brand awareness the possible metrics to gage your brand awareness would be:
• Web traffic
• Page/Document/ Video views
• Downloads
• Social chatter
• Referrals
In addition to analytics, you can use website heat maps to illustrate how your audience is engaging with your content.
2. Buyer Personas
The next step is defining your customer personas. This means defining their demographics, interests, technology involvement, goals, education and more. Let’s take a look at two cosmetic surgery personas
• A 35 year old adult female is striving to look their best. She wants a long term effective procedure and the price is inconsequential. We would define her persona as:
– Interest level: High
– Psychographic: Age = enemy
– Role: Decision maker with means
• A young female requires a surgical procedure following a mastectomy. She is seeking to regain or improve pre-diagnosis appearance. She is looking for encouragement and support. We would define her persona as:
– Interest level: Medium
– Psychographic: Reconstruction is a part of emotional healing
– Role: Decision maker with means
These are clearly two different types of personas. In order to be reached they would need different messages delivered in different formats.
3. The Buyer Journey
Always deliver the right content, in the right format to the right audience and the right time. The first step in doing this is identifying the gap between the content you have and the content you need.
4. Messaging Guide
Have a brand messaging guide in place. This is your organizations guide for on-brand content. It should include:
• Voice: What we say
• Tone: How we say what we say
• Grammar and Mechanics
• Personas: The audience you serve
• Brand Standards, Graphic Identity
5. Content Calendar
In our last webinar series, we focused on the importance of content calendar creation. Why? Google looks for fresh content, meaning you will be ranked higher in search and you’ll see an increase in website traffic. More website traffic equals more leads. Remember: content fuels ALL digital channels.
6.) Content Amplification
In 2015 the greatest shift we are seeing when it comes to content marketing is the shift from content creation to content amplification. B2B marketers use an average of 13 content tactics. The most popular tactics used by B2B consumers (other than blogs) are social media and articles on your website. When focusing on amplification don’t forget to repurpose older content. Leveraging original content to its fullest extent means improving SEO, attracting different personas and reinforcing your message.
Want to learn more about The New Content Marketing Blueprint? Listen to our webcast:
AIS Media, is currently hosting the new webinar series Transformation 2015, focused on the definitive new trends driving digital marketing performance. Jumpstart a successful year with a performance-driven digital strategy for site design, content, email, search and social marketing and drive your top line and maximize ROI from every digital channel. Join AIS Media for our new webinar series and launch your own digital marketing transformation.