Coaching Session 5 – Content Marketing

In this lesson:

  1. Content Marketing
    1. Definition
    2. Stages
    3. Types
    4. Channels

Portfolio

  1. Create a content marketing strategy with 2 content types each, per stage

 

Content Marketing

Content marketing is a marketing strategy used to attract, engage, and retain an audience by creating and sharing relevant articles, videos, podcasts, and other media. This approach establishes expertise, promotes brand awareness, and keeps your business top of mind when it’s time to buy what you sell.

 

How Content Marketing Works

  1. Awareness stage
  2. Consideration stage
  3. Closing stage

 

Awareness Stage

At the first stage of the sales process, your content should focus on the top concerns of your audience. Writing about their pain points, challenges, and questions gives you the best chance of engaging with them.

 

Best content for this stage: articles, blog posts, e-books, videos, newsletters

 

Example:

A restaurant writes a blog post about how to plan a menu for a graduation party in the spring.

 

Consideration Stage

In the consideration stage, content should offer a hybrid of helpful information and marketing. It should educate the reader about what features or functions to look for and how various features address their needs.

 

Best content for this stage: case studies, how-to articles, how-to videos, checklists/worksheets

 

Example:

A cloud-based phone system company creates a checklist entitled “8 Ways to Improve Your Phone Customer Service” that details the features and functions that make great customer service possible.

 

Closing Stage

Content marketing plays an important role when a prospect is close to buying. At this stage, you can focus on sales, as long as you continue to drive home why you’re the best choice rather than just how great your services or products are.

 

Best content for this stage: case studies, user-generated content, buyer’s guide, product video, research report

 

Example:

A consulting firm creates a research report proving that businesses that engage in strategic planning, assessments by outsiders, and other services—shaped by what services it offers—experience higher growth.

 

Process

  • Identify your audience. To create content for a particular reader, you need to have a clear idea of their priorities, challenges, and preferences.
  • Determine the right formats. The right format corresponds with what stage of the sales cycle you’re creating content for.
  • Decide who will write, edit, and proofread your copy. An audience will judge your content on its quality, and they should.
  • Determine how you’ll distribute. Will you post content on your site, email it to people, or print it for an event?
  • Choose a sustainable schedule. It’s easy to make a content marketing plan that’s overly ambitious. 
  • Follow best practices. Compelling content is clearly written, without jargon that only you and your peers will know.

 

Types of Content Marketing

  • Blog posts. Distill your content marketing strategy into your blog schedule or strategy. The company blog can and should be used to cross-promote other content, which will help keep posts on a consistent schedule.
  • EBooks. EBook content should follow some sort of narrative structure, and include a lot of good, visual design. The goal of an eBook is to educate, but it’s important to keep language consistent with your brand voice.
  • Video. The trick to effectively using video as part of a content strategy is keeping it as timeless as possible so that you aren’t forced to continuously spend time and money creating more. High-quality video content can also be used to expose your brand to YouTube’s large and active audience. 
  • Infographics. Use as little text as possible and let the imagery tell the story. If you don’t have a killer in-house graphics artist, find a talented freelancer who can make something beautiful and informative.
  • Cheat sheets. These are short—two or three pages at most. That means there won’t be a lot of room for big images, so you’ll want to use text formatting to make them easy for a reader to quickly scan through. Link or point to other resources for more in-depth learning. 
  • Workbooks and templates. These resources are great ways to keep your brand in front of buyers while continuing to inform. They should be designed for print and made as interactive and practical as possible. 
  • White papers and reports. These materials are similar to an ebook in that they are primarily educational, but white papers and reports are generally less graphically designed and use language that is a little more professional. They can also create opportunities to partner with other organizations.
  • Slide decks. Slide decks are a great format for breaking down complex ideas into simple steps or bite-sized pieces. Keep the slides simple: Use minimal text in one font and big graphics throughout. 
  • Case studies. Build case studies with real numbers and complete stories. This will help keep the content focused on the value and results, not the brand.
  • Demos. This is where a free assessment, evaluation, or trial works nicely to start the dialogue and to begin to fully qualify your most interested leads. If you have an e-commerce-based product, you can leverage a discount code to use at the time of the transaction to establish some urgency around making the purchase. 

 

Channel

  • Owned: Sharing your content on the brand’s own social media channels—like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Pinterest—is a quick, customizable, and free opportunity to connect with your target audience.
  • Organic: Weaving some SEO best practices into your content will help make a good impression with Google and move your website up the rankings list.
  • Paid: Most social networks allow for some kind of paid advertising, such as sponsored content, pay-per-click (PPC), search engine marketing (SEM), display, and retargeting.
  • Earned: This is the most valuable, but hardest to create. Earned social media promotion happens when your audience chooses to share your content with their network.

 

Portfolio

Please submit the following:

  • Create a content marketing strategy with 2 content types each, per stage

 

Email Subject: DM – Portfolio 5

 

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Examples

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Portfolio 5

DM - Portfolio 5

 

2 Corinthians 9:8

“And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” 

 

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