Do you have a content marketing strategy?

[jbutcherseo]

Hi guys. I'm new to the forum and am looking for feedback.

I am doing a webinar towards the end of the month on "Why Your Content Marketing Is Failing" and was looking for some input into people's past and present experiences of content marketing. For example:

1) Do you feel it has worked for you?
2) If not, why do you think that is? If it has, what kind of ROI have you experienced?
3) Do you feel that it is just another buzzword and will be replaced by something else soon
4) Any other thoughts or opinions on the use of targeted content for marketing purposes

Any input would be much appreciated, I'm putting the content together over the weekend and it would be interesting to hear people's opinions on this.

Thanks guys

 

[PIngels]

I think there are enough case studies to show that it works if you do it right.

The problems companies face, in my opinion are:

• They struggle to generate enough high quality, relevant and engaging content. They are, after all, not publishers.
• They don't realize it takes time to build up enough of a presence to start seeing ROI
• It is sometimes difficult to measure ROI and even more so to give guarantees which makes it more difficult to sell the concept to the marketing department.
• They get overwhelmed by the complexity of multi-channel publishing

Of course, there are answers to all this challenges and I suppose this is what your webinar will be about.

 

[atladasmedia]

Here are my answer to your questions. I will reply from my POV and not from my clients' side.

1) Do you feel it has worked for you?
Definitely, Google Analytics has showed me that 40% of my traffic come from keywords that are related with my blog titles.

2) If not, why do you think that is? If it has, what kind of ROI have you experienced?
Build credibility and relationship with potential clients

3) Do you feel that it is just another buzzword and will be replaced by something else soon

No. Content incudes pics, blog posts, videos, memes, quotes, infographics, applications etc that can be used for competitions, lead conversion, traffic, seo etc. It is how you set up your multichannel strategy to distribute the content that makes the difference. Channels might vary but content will always be there.

4) Any other thoughts or opinions on the use of targeted content for marketing purposes

Have a monthly content calendar down and pre-define the channels you will use to distribute this content. If you distribute content as you go allong then it is very likely that you will fail.

Now PIngels:

They struggle to generate enough high quality, relevant and engaging content. They are, after all, not publishers.

This is partly true but depends who you target and what you are trying to achieve. Some times you might struggle due to the very nature of your industry sector (for example Legal)

They don't realize it takes time to build up enough of a presence to start seeing ROI

Agreed - this is because the internet trained us to believe that everything should be fast and easy. If you roll back 30 years the very same people would never expect results or evaluate a traditional direct marketing campaign in less than 6 months to a year.

It is sometimes difficult to measure ROI and even more so to give guarantees which makes it more difficult to sell the concept to the marketing department.
They get overwhelmed by the complexity of multi-channel publishing

I disagree here. There are tens if not hundreds of tool that can measure the activity of your online marketing strategy. The problem is you need a person to work full time in your initiatives. You need a strategy based on your products and monitoring trends very closely on a daily basis. Multi-channel can be confusing ONLY if you dont have a multi-channel strategy in place to execute your content calendar. If you are organised and pre-plan what you want to do, you will be ok

 

[atladasmedia]

Unless you have been hiding under a rock, you know that content marketing is an absolutely necessary addition to your online marketing strategy in 2013

Very constructive reply Manjeet. I am sure he now feels wiser and that your advise will add extreme value to his webinar.

 

[PIngels]

I disagree here. There are tens if not hundreds of tool that can measure the activity of your online marketing strategy.

Yes, there are hundreds of tools to measure marketing effectiveness but they still fall short of measuring the true effectiveness of intangible metrics. The adage: "if it exists, it can be measured" is a bit over optimistic. Intangibles is a critical metric but it can often only be deduced from more tangible metrics.

E.g. I cannot directly measure lead quality unless the user engages with my content and event then I have to deduce the meaning from those activities. As an example: I frequently receive white papers from a company and I am very interested in their services but I have not yet made use of their services for various reasons. They have no way of knowing this state of affairs because they cannot measure my interest. They can only deduce it from my continued interest in their content but that could mean any number of things - mostly that I am interest in the content because it's good content and not that I am interested in their service.

 

[Clicky Leap]

There is now a definite emphasis on QUALITY content rather than just content for the sake of the content.

I would advise looking at your competitors and seeing what content they are producing and find gaps (what area are they not covering etc...)...

The advantage of great content is that it will also naturally attract links and not just traffic.

By content I don't just mean written content (think infographs, quiz, answer questions, connect with users in same industry on Twitter to help promote content etc...)

Add Neil Patel's blog (http://www.quicksprout.com/) to your RSS reader and start to find out how great content marketers do it.

 

[PIngels]

There is now a definite emphasis on QUALITY content rather than just content for the sake of the content.

I agree - it all about quality content now and rightly so.