CONTENT MARKETING. How to get noticed and grow your audience

Transcription

1 CONTENT MARKETING How to get noticed and grow your audience

2 Content only matters if people see it. So how can marketers help audiences find their amazing stories? In this e-book, learn how to go from audience development to ownership with Paul Caluori, the global director of AP Digital Services at The Associated Press. NOTE: The Content Services group is separate from the AP newsroom and the content created does not involve AP editorial staff.

3 3 CONTENT MARKETING Be relevant If you do not provide useful information to your target audience, it will not matter how well it s been promoted. Before publishing anything, make sure you have buyer personas and journeys for the specific types of individuals who will be deciding whether to purchase your product. A big mistake a lot of B2B marketers make is starting with the message they want to put out there instead of really looking at what their audience wants to hear and cares about, Joe Lazauskas, the editor-in-chief of Contently, told emarketer. Interviewing customers and sales teams, reading trade publications and attending events can all help keep you up to date on the latest industry trends. As long as readers find your content valuable, they will be more open to additional communications you send them in the future. First, make sure you have a content strategy, and that every single piece of content you produce hits a bull seye for a specific audience. LONI STARK, SENIOR DIRECTOR, STRATEGY AND PRODUCT MARKETING, ADOBE, VIA EMARKETER Read our e-book, How to tell authentic stories and win audiences trust, for more information.

4 4 CONTENT MARKETING Find the right channels Once you have your content ideas determined by market research, think about where you want to promote them.* With the digital landscape seemingly becoming further fragmented by the day, that s no easy feat. Each channel has its respective strengths and weaknesses, and keeping track of all of them will quickly bog down your strategy. Instead, refer to your personas and identify where they look for helpful information. Some personas will engage with longer-form [content] and some with shorter-form, Ardath Albee, CEO of B2B consulting firm Marketing Interactions, told emarketer. Some want visual. Certain platforms, such as LinkedIn, work well for whitepapers and thought-leadership articles, while others like Twitter require that visually driven approach to stand out in your news feed. While each channel requires different messaging, make sure to tie all of them back to your website, where there s more information about your products and services. * As a guide, one-third of U.S. B2B marketers promote content via two to four channels, while another 40 percent use five to seven channels, according to an Annuitas August 2015 survey. Content types that are effective according to B2B marketing executives worldwide, by stage of buying cycle % of respondents awareness consideration purchase loyalty advocacy Social media posts 83% 47% 28% 39% 47% Social media sites 83% 42% 17% 31% 36% Blog posts 81% 61% 22% 14% 25% Blogs 81% 61% 19% 25% 33% Infographics 81% 22% 6% 6% 11% 72% 69% 36% 36% 22% Search marketing 72% 47% 17% 3% 0% Mobile 69% 31% 17% 36% 19% Videos 69% 56% 39% 25% 33% Articles 67% 47% 11% 19% 22% Digital magazines 67% 31% 8% 25% 19% Website 67% 75% 56% 33% 28% Newsletters 64% 25% 11% 50% 19% Mobile content 58% 31% 11% 19% 17% Web-based events 56% 72% 53% 36% 31% E-books 53% 53% 19% 14% 8% Podcasts 53% 33% 6% 19% 0% Webinars/webcasts 50% 61% 28% 25% 22% Whitepapers 47% 78% 39% 22% 11% Mobile apps 44% 22% 14% 33% 28% Research reports 42% 69% 39% 19% 22% Case studies 39% 58% 47% 28% 31% Games/gamification 33% 19% 3% 17% 11% Source: Regalix, State of B2B Content Marketing 2015, Feb. 9, 2015, via emarketer

5 5 CONTENT MARKETING Narrow your focus Once you ve started promoting content in and on the groups and websites your target audience visits, hopefully you ve noticed an uptick in visitors and prospects downloading gated assets. Hone in on specific data you ve collected, such as job title and industry, and look for patterns of success within those demographics. Adjust your personas, if necessary, and research keywords these individuals use to find informative content on social media as well as search engines. Consumers have become accustomed to using social platforms as a means of researching and asking questions, Stacie Hall, senior director of marketing at GoDaddy, told emarketer. As you attract both non-targeted and targeted audiences to your content, though, note that you re only gaining visitors. Only once you ve converted them into subscribers, prospects and leads will you see consistent audience growth. Customer-related capabilities at their company according to marketers in North America, March 2016 % of respondents Use data about our customers to find similar audiences Understand our customers typical cross-channel buying journeys Deliver dynamic content across digital formats, such as display, mobile and video advertising, in response 58% 48% 48% Understand our customers cross-device behaviors 39% Note: n=212 Source: Econsultancy, Customer Recognition: How Marketing is Failing at its Top Priority in partnership with Epsilon and Conversant, Sep. 14, 2016, via emarkter

6 6 CONTENT MARKETING Own your audience All channels other than the ones you own are ultimately a means to an end. Increasing revenue through follow-up s and phone calls can only happen if you know the full picture of your audience. That s why content is so valuable as part of any marketing strategy when done well, it not only presents you as a thought leader, but also gives you the ability to ask for information from prospects and leads. You can invest your money into more brand marketing content as opposed to spending money to market to your customer through a platform where essentially somebody else is taking a fee, Jeremy Goldman, CEO and founder of Firebrand Group, a boutique digital marketing agency, told emarketer. if you own your audience through content, they keep coming back. PATRICIA TRAVALINE, CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER, SKYWORD, VIA EMARKETER And while quality always trumps quantity, establish some sort of regular basis for publishing to stay current and give your subscribers something new to think about. If you work your way through the four steps for each piece of content and experiment whenever possible, you ll be on your way toward getting noticed.

7 The definitive source for media innovation Working on a content marketing strategy? Get in touch with the authors: Paul Caluori Global director, digital services pcaluori@ap.org Jake Kreinberg Editor, AP Insights jkreinberg@ap.org