Content Marketing
A type of marketing that involves the creation and sharing of online material (such as videos, blogs, and social media posts) that does
... [Show More] not explicitly promote a brand but is intended to stimulate interest in its products or services.
Search Marketing
The process of gaining traffic and visibility from search engines through both paid and unpaid efforts.
SEO
Earning traffic through unpaid or free listings
SEM
Buying traffic through paid search listings.
Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing, or SMM, is a form of internet marketing that involves creating and sharing content on social media networks in order to achieve your marketing and branding goals.
Email Marketing
The act of sending a commercial message, typically to a group of people, using email. In its broadest sense, every email sent to a potential or current customer could be considered email marketing. ... Marketing emails can be sent to a purchased lead list or a current customer database.
Product Creation
The overall process of strategy, organization, concept generation, product and marketing plan creation and evaluation, and commercialization of a new product.
Copywriting
The act of writing text for the purpose of advertising or other forms of marketing. The product, called copy, is written content aiming to increase brand awareness and ultimately persuade a person/group to take a particular action.
Customer Avatar
Digital speak for buyer persona or target audience
Be as specific as possible to craft personalized content, offers and campaigns
1. goals and values
2. sources of information
3. demographics
4. challenges and pain points
5. objections
Goals and Values
Product Creation:
What products/services can you develop to assist the avatar in meeting their goals?
Advertising:
How can you describe these offers in your ads and sales copy?
Content Marketing:
What blog posts, podcasts, newsletter, and other content vehicles might your avatar respond to?
Email Marketing:
How can you tailor your email subject lines and body copy to be consistent with the avatar's goals?
Sources of Info
My ideal customer would:
read ______, but no one else would.
subscribe to ______, but no one else would.
attend ______, but no one else would.
The idea is to find their niche.
Challenges/Pain Points
What is holding the avatar back from achieving their goal?
Objections
Why would the avatar decline to buy the product/service?
Prepare ahead of time to combat any objections the avatar may have.
Customer Journey
1. generate awareness
2. drive engagement
3. build subscribers/leads
4. increase conversions
5. build excitement
6. make the core offer sale
7. develop brand advocates
8. grow brand promoters
generate awareness
advertising, social media, search
Drive engagement
t's not enough to make a cold prospect aware, you must engage
blog posts, podcasts, videos
Build subscribers/leads
anyone who has given you permission to have a conversation with them
email, facebook, twitter, instagram, iTunes, stitcher
Increase conversions
convince the prospect to give you a little time or money
here we are beginning to onboard
build excitement
The value of the offers should exceed the price paid by the customer
Make the core offer sale
Prospects are much more likely to buy now that they have developed a relationship
Develop brand advocates
testimonials, reviews
You build this relationship by adding value and delivering on your promise - delivering consistently quality products
Grow brand promoters
Promoters go beyond advocacy
The brand is part of their life
A promoter is active whereas an advocate is more passive
Establishing Marketing Objectives
Increasing problem and solution awareness
Acquiring new leads/customers
Activating leads/customers
Monetizing existing leads/customers
Onboarding new leads/customers
Building community and advocacy
digital campaign - objective based
Coordinated actions intended to achieve a specific business goal
digital campaign - multi-parted
Content, landing pages, ads, etc.
digital campaign - seamless and subtle
Make your Call to Action (CTA) simple - don't propose on the first date
digital campaign - in flux
Much simpler to pivot/tweak digitally than traditionally
Acquisition campaigns
Acquire new prospects/customers
Acquisition campaigns do the work on the front end of the customer journey
not all about profit
Monetization Campaign
Generate revenue from existing leads/customers
Make profitable sales/offers to the leads/customers you acquired with your Acquisition campaign
Engagement campaigns
Create communities of brand advocates and promoters
Customer interactions should go beyond the simple transaction of buying goods/services
A superior product matched with a superior experience
Which Type of Campaign?
Do ask, "Which should I use right now?"
New business - Acquisition
Existing leads - Monetization
Comfortable - Engagement
If you don't know where to start, begin with an Acquisition campaign
Types of EPOs
ungated: Does not require contact info or a purchase to get value
gated: Requires contact info to get value
deep discount: Requires a purchase at a deep discount, generally 50% or greater
Designing an Ungated Offer
Entertainment: People pay a lot to be entertained, use short content to get across your message
Inspiration: Use inspirational content to challenge a buyer
Education: People want knowledge
Designing a Gated Offer
To graduate someone from prospect to lead, you need a gated offer to capture their contact info
Use for a specific problem in a specific market
You exchange value for the right to contact the lead in the future
Specificity is key to a gated offer b/c it increases relevancy
A simple "Subscribe to Newsletter" isn't enough
What Matters in a Gated Offer
A promise
An example
A shortcut
A solution
A discount
Rapid consumption is important b/c you want to provide value as quickly as possible
A Promise
Craft a clear promise and make sure it's in your title - don't try and be too clever
Tie the title to the benefit the target audience will receive
What are the prospects fears, concerns or desires?
An Example
Often the best content is a Case Study
Clearly state the benefit and add specificity to the offer
A Shortcut
Saving a person time is appealing and converts well
i.e. a list of healthy snacks can help someone eat a more nutritious diet
A Solution
Raise and answer a specific question to provide value
Helps establish you as an authority on the subject
A Discount
Opt-in to receive the discount
Wording is key to effectively tell the prospect how much they'll save
Generating Leads with Tools
Handout or cheat sheet
Similar to a free report, just very short
Resource list
If you're an expert, share your tools
Template
A preconfigured spreadsheet or a layout for designing something
These are powerful b/c they can be put to immediate use
Software
Offer a trial to capture an email address
Discount and coupon clubs
Offer exclusive savings and early access to sales
Quizzes and surveys
Fun an engaging
Assessment
Offer an assessment and then provide a grade
Factors in Gating
1. Is your offer extremely specific?
If so, make your promise very specific and provide a specific solution to a specific problem
2. Are you offering too much?
Focus on one big thing rather than many small things - stay on course
3. Does the offer speak to an end result?
Promise a solution
4. Does the offer deliver instant gratification?
NOW - be specific about timeline
5. Does the offer shift the relationship?
Move prospects closer to the purchase stage
6. Does the offer have a high perceived value?
Don't skimp
7. Does the offer have a high actual value?
Live up to your promise
8. Does the offer allow for rapid consumption?
Don't be a roadblock, help the prospect move to the next step
Designing Deep Discounts
Physical premiums
-May actually lose $
Offer a book
-Often an e-book
Webinars
-Call it a teleclasss, boot camp or training
Software
Splinter a service
According to research published in the book Marketing Metrics, it's about 50% easier to sell to an existing customer than to acquire a new one.
Deep Discounts
Deep discounts help leads overcome doubt about your business
Offer small wins
i.e. a gym selling a 7 day juice cleanse at a deep discount and saying it's the hardest part of getting started back on the road to fitness
Maximizing Profit
Cross-sell
-A related product
Immediate upsell
-More of the same
Build bundles and kits
-Create anew value proposition
Add a slack adjuster
-A product/service that costs much more than your typical offer
-Only a small number of sales will have a large impact
Recurring billing (a continuity offer)
-Offer anytime cancellation
-Be clear about the additional value
Content Marketing
Content is what people crave
Low-cost publishing makes creating content easy, but the ever-changing nature of the Internet makes it complex
A plan is necessary or else you're depending on dumb luck
Anticipate needs, then satisfy them
The Marketing Funnel
Awareness:
Entertain, inspire or educate
Evaluation:
Various choices, including competition, is evaluated
Conversion:
Convert leads into repeat and high-ticket buyers
The Marketing Funnel
Top of the Funnel (TOFU):
Entertain, inspire or educate with ungated content
Middle of the Funnel (MOFU):
Convert problem aware prospects into leads with gated content
Bottom of the Funnel (BOFU):
Convert leads into repeat and high-ticket buyers by helping them decide to buy
Top of the Funnel
Blog posts:
Raise awareness and help offer a solution
Nike Blog
Social media updates:
Free, valuable content
Infographics:
Entertaining AND educational
Create for free
Photographs:
Explain a lot in a single image
Breaks up text content
Digital magazines and books:
E-books
Podcasts:
Consumable content on the go
Microsites:
An auxiliary blog about a specific topic
Print magazines and newsletters:
Still viable but more expensive
Primary research:
Offer results so others don't have to collect their own
Middle of the Funnel
Educational resources:
Reports, white papers, webinars, etc.
Maintain a high quality or else leads will feel cheated once they provide their contact info
Useful resources:
Cheat sheets, lists, templates, software, surveys, quizzes, assessments, coupon clubs, etc.
Save the lead time and energy
Don't be passive, i.e. put a gate on the sidebar of a page. A missed gated offer doesn't create any leads.
MOFU - Squeeze Page
Drive traffic directly to your landing page using social media, email, SEO and paid traffic
Bottom of the Funnel
Demos:
The downside to buying online is the inability to touch
Demonstrate your product thru video, screenshots, etc.
Customer stories:
Prove your product can solve a problem
Comparison/spec sheets:
Compare your product to competition, as well as, among your own offerings
Webinars/events:
Use for complex, risky, or high-ticket items
Retargeting
Also known as remarketing, allows you to keep your brand in front of bounced traffic after they leave your website.
For most websites, only 2% of web traffic converts on the first visit. Retargeting is a tool designed to help companies reach the 98% of users who don't convert right away.
A cookie-based technology that uses simple Javascript code to anonymously 'follow' your audience all over the Web.
You place a small, unobtrusive piece of code on your site (the code is often referred to as a pixel). The code, or pixel, is unnoticeable to your site visitors and won't affect your site's performance.
Every time a new visitor comes to your site, the code drops an anonymous browser cookie. Later, when your cookied visitors browse the Web, the cookie will let your retargeting provider know to serve ads, ensuring that your ads are served to only to people who have previously visited your site.
Choosing Avatars
Decide which avatar this content targets
-Each avatar will possibly have different intents, motivations, and problems
-Some content will cross but the most effective content will speak directly
Distributing Content to Attract an Audience
Marketing thru email is still the best method for making offers and sending more content
-Growing and managing your email list is critical
Capturing leads thru search (SEM) is still important but often handled by major engines
Using social to drive traffic depends on your brand personality and platform requirements
Paying for traffic helps segment visitors and makes use of retargeting
-It is predictable
blog
a tool to help you manage certain pages of a site
The power of a good blog is that is can generate awareness for your company, brands, customer-facing employees, products, and services
The main purpose is to create awareness and engagement
Brainstorming Post Ideas
BuzzSumo is a site that allows you to analyze what content is performing well on social for a specific topic
-Search for keywords and phrases
-Adjust for specific types of content
-Compare to competition using their domain
Establish content segments
-Blog post formats that repeat on a schedule and follow a similar style/template
-Easily repeatable and quickly consumable
-Your audience will learn to expect them and this provides consistent value
Working with Content Creators
To engage outside content creators, include the following in a "Write for Us" section on your site:
-Acceptance of bylined articles
Most writers want to know you will link to their own site
-Statement of pay
If you want to pay for outside content
-Content categories
Outline the topics you want covered
-Contact form
Blog Headlining
Tap into self interest
"What's in it for me?"
Example: Grow Your Website Traffic In 3 Steps
Pique curiosity
Create an itch that needs to be scratched
Example: 20 Things You Didn't Know Your iPhone Could Do
Urgency and scarcity
Act now
Example: Limited Time Amazon Sale on Beats by Dre
Issue a warning
Protect from a threat
Example: Don't Buy Another Gallon of Milk Until You Read This
Borrow authority
Use social proof to leverage behavior of others
Example: What Usain Bolt Eats as a Midnight Snack
Reveal the new
Keep your audience informed
Example: New Tribe Discovered in the Amazon Rainforest
Content Creation
Successful content marketing often requires the persistent creation of great content on a regular basis.
This content could span from a simple blog post to an extremely complex interactive graphic. As with everything else, you can maximize your productivity by equipping your business with the right tools to tackle all kinds of digital content creation.
But in a constantly evolving digital landscape, tools come and go along with fads in various content types and formats. [Show Less]