OUR APPROACH

HOW WE DEVELOP CONTENT MARKETING

How We Deliver This Service

Our approach to Content Marketing includes these key phases:

• Review of your Ideal Client Profile (ICP) from our Positioning service
• Definition of your major goals
• Brainstorming session with your executives to ascertain your best advice for your ideal clients’ top 5 goals, opportunities and challenges
• Introduction to publisher mind-set and associated tools
• Review of your available resources that can be part of this program
• Definition of the core strategy: short-form and long-form
• Implementation of Marketing Automation (if not yet completed)
• Definition of Social Media Marketing strategy (if not yet completed)
• Production of long-form pieces
• Production of short-form pieces
• Reporting to show progress against goals

Review of your ICP from our Positioning Service

In this phase, we review the ICP we created for you from our Positioning service. If you have not acquired this service, we strongly recommend it as a precursor to effective content marketing. We pay particular attention to the top goals, opportunities and challenges of your ideal clients that were identified through the ICP process.

Definition Of Your Major Goals

In this phase, we help you define the goals you want to content marketing program to accomplish for your firm. Content marketing can be applied to your firm to achieve a wide range of objectives. Your goals will determine the kind of content marketing program we create for you. For instance, if you need to nurture leads more than you need to pull leads deep into the funnel, we place greater emphasis on short-form content assets and consistent exposure to those pieces. We also help you establish a reasonable budget and ROI projections. The result of this phase is that your content marketing strategy will be in alignment with your goals.

Brainstorming Session With Your Executives To Ascertain Your Best Advice For Your Ideal Clients’ Top 5 Goals, Opportunities And Challenges

In this phase, we brainstorm with your top executives to develop an idea list that forms the foundation of your overall content marketing strategy. We take each goal, opportunity and challenge that matter to your ideal client and ask your executives to define your best advice. What do you recommend?

There are many nuances to how this advice should be structured. You do have to be careful about giving away ideas to competitors. It is advisable to setup a straw person. You have to provide enough depth to your ideas to prove that you are the expert. You also need to structure ideas in to facilitate the in-bound journey. This is where our expertise is unmatched in the industry as your guide to developing ideas for content marketing.

The result of this phase is that you will have a strong set of ideas for content marketing that your ideal clients will not be able to resist.

Introduction To Publisher Mind-Set And Associated Tools

In this phase, we introduce you to the concept of operating like a publisher and why this is important. Content marketing programs operate on many of the same principles as do successful publications. For instance:

• You likely need an editorial calendar.
• You need a publishing platform to broadcast your content.
• You need writers and an editorial review process.
• You need project management to keep the program on time.

We introduce several tools and processes that will likely need to be put in place. Even if we do all of the production work for you, you need to understand the overall process so you can participate, at a minimum, in review and approval of pieces to be published.

The result of this phase is that we bring an additional and valuable set of ideas to the table to shape your messages – ideas that come from the market. We also capture the organic language the clients use to describe your firm and services. This can prove invaluable in being persuasive to other like-minded people.

Review Of Your Available Resources That Can Be Part Of This Program

In this phase, we define human resources and technical resources that will be part of this program. This helps make it very clear – who is going to do what?

For human resources, we define how much of the work-load will be carried by our team versus your team. For instance, we mutually develop answers to these questions:

• Who will develop the editorial calendar?
• Who will develop the outline for long-form content, such as eBooks?
• Who will write short-form pieces?
• Who will proof and edit long-form pieces?
• Who will approve the content for publication?
• Who will actually publish the content to your website, social channels, email marketing and other areas?

For technical resources, we define how much of the work-load will be carried by our team versus your team. For instance, we mutually develop answers to these questions:

• What publishing platform will you use?
• If you do not have a publishing platform, which one is right for you and who will deploy it?
• What technologies will you use to produce the content and share it amongst reviewers?
• What marketing automation platform will you use and who will use it?
• If you do not have a marketing automation platform, which one is right for you and who will deploy it?
• Which social media channels will you use?
• What technologies, such as content management systems, do these channels require?

The result of this phase is that you will have a firm understanding for who is responsible for specific tasks and tools to support your content marketing program.

Definition Of The Core Strategy: Short-Form And Long-Form

In this phase, we develop a year-long content marketing strategy that includes the following:

Short-form pieces in the form of an editorial calendar:

• How many to create.
• Who will create them.
• The headline and sub-headline for each piece.
• When they will be published.
• How they’ll be reviewed, edited and approved.
• How they’ll be published via email marketing, your website, 3rd party outlets and social media channels.

Long-form pieces:

• How many to create.
• Who will create them.
• An outline of the core sections of the pieces.
• When they will be published.
• How they’ll be reviewed, edited and approved.
• How they’ll be promoted to your market.

The result of this phase is that you will have a core content marketing program that is ready to be executed for 12 months.

Implementation Of Marketing Automation

If marketing automation has not been fully implemented at your organization, this is a precursor to an effective content marketing program. To be clear, a marketing automation implementation is a separate service and not part of content marketing. Please see our blog-post: Content Marketing Without Marketing Automation – It Just Doesn’t Make Sense.

Implementation Of Social Media Marketing

If a social media marketing strategy has not been fully implemented at your organization, this is a precursor to an effective content marketing program. To be clear, a social media marketing strategy is a separate service and not part of content marketing. Please see our blog-post: How Digital Marketing Creates Sales Funnel Velocity.

Production Of Long-Form Pieces

In this phase, we convert the outlines for the long-form pieces into their full-form. If this is an eBook, we develop each chapter of the eBook and submit to your firm for edits and approval. If this is a webinar or a video script, we also develop these and submit your edits and approval.

Once the core writing is complete, we produce the final piece. If this is for a webinar, we produce a slide-deck using your brand standards. If this is for an eBook, we produce a final PDF using your brand standards. The result of this phase is that you will have long-form pieces that are ready for promotion and inclusion into your marketing automation platform.

Production Of Short-Form Pieces

In this phase, we develop each short-form piece based on the schedule outlined in the editorial calendar. We submit each piece to your firm for edits and approval. We then usually publish the pieces through your channels including website, social media and 3rd party websites. The result of this phase is that you will have consistent messages in front of ideal prospects, causing them to lean in to your organization.

Reporting To Show Progress Against Goals

In this phase, we analyze the outcomes of your content marketing program. Specifically, we look at:

• Total registrations for long-form pieces.
• Total downloads of long-form pieces
• Total views of short-form pieces.
• Views, likes, shares and click-throughs from social media channels
• Views, opens and clicks from email marketing campaigns.

The result of this phase is that you will know how your content marketing spend delivered real ROI to your organization and how to improve content marketing in the coming year.

See What Can You Expect for details about the outcomes of this service.

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