The Ultimate Guide to

Content
Marketing
Strategy
How to Build Relationships
& Create Content That Drive
Business Impact

Traackr
The Ultimate Guide to
Content
Marketing
Strategy
How to Build Relationships
& Create Content That Drive
Business Impact

Traackr
 Foreword

In todays age of ubiquitous connectivity, marketers are

challenged to stand out amongst the sheer volume of
information confronting their target audience.
At the same time, information overload drives consumers

Becoming the best answer for your domain of expertise

powerful tools in a marketers mix to attract, engage

and inspire action. Content is the currency for building

commerce.

can be one of the most impactful actions a business can

reaching new audiences with brand messages that are

credible and trusted.

Lee Odden
CEO, TopRank Online Marketing, Author of Optimize

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 Content &

messy ocean of noise.

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stays stealth and wont have impact. Without content, you

dont have a way to participate and you wont have a voice

and content marketing strategies consciously or implicitly,

if youre doing either, youre doing both.

This guide shows you how these two digital marketing

youll know which topics and conversations have the

greatest impact on your objectives.

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 Content Shows No Signs
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In the last 10 years, B2B and B2C organizations alike
have quickly adopted content-driven strategies to
strategies so your digital marketing initiatives attract and attract, nurture, enable, inspire, educate and support
their customers. Even as the platforms and tactics
change, content as a strategy to reach audiences
remains powerful and continues to grow.

Get Started & Maintain Momentum The Content Marketing Institute, in their annual
studies, has shown that consumer- and business-
facing marketers are spending more on content year
after year.* B2B organizations currently spend on
average 33% of their marketing budgets on content
and nearly half plan to increase that number.*

The 2012 study by Social Media Examiner indicates

that content is on the mind of the vast majority of
marketers. Some 58% are already blogging and 62%
of marketers surveyed want to know more about
the practice. A whopping 69% want to do more via
YouTube and video marketing.

Yet despite recognizing content is the way to be

a digitally mature marketing organization, 88% of
marketers struggle with building and engaging an
audience and want to learn more.

2013 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends

B2C Marketers Use, Invest Heavily in Content Marketing

2013 Social Media Marketing Industry Report

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 Gain Insights

the crowd.
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You can learn a lot by simply listening to your audience and

you need to listen with a purpose because watching an

endless stream of content roll down your screen will get
you nowhere.

In this section, well cover how you can structure your

Get to Know Your Audience

Conduct Content & Opportunity Audits
Plan & Prepare Content
Keep up with Top Stories
Seize Real-time Opportunities

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Know Your Target Content and
Opportunity Audit
An audit is typically something you do at the beginning
by showing you what is most interesting and engaging to of a project or at a key point during the lifecycle of your
initiatives to evaluate trends. Depending on your goals
where there are holes in a given conversation so you can and organization, you can spend several days to several
months getting a feel for the conversations happening
online, taking note of trends, noticing gaps where you
can bring your brands unique expertise to the table and
can better grasp trends, spot opportunities and determine
based on the content they are already producing.
prevents you from getting overwhelmed with too much
information.
General sentiment towards your topics
What your competition is doing
Figure out where conversations are headed
See what content works and what doesnt How your brand is perceived or not perceived
Figure out where the gaps are How your brand can insert itself into the conversation
Formulate questions you can answer

Listening helps me understand

provide insights for every step of the editorial planning
process from research to content preparation to real-time
engagement. even tone of voice or reactions to
certain topics. This context helps
inform key content decisions so
that I can pursue a relationship with

Sahana Jayaraman
Social Business Strategist, FleishmanHillard

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 Keeping Up With
Top Stories
After your audit, youll create a general content plan that While your audit and content planning phases happen
infrequently, youll want to stay on top of content

the foundation for your editorial calendar.

If your project is a shorter-term campaign, you may want point you to the most important articles
are always on top of whats hot and;
how you can work together on content. are clued in to whats coming next.

The most successful content strategists will tell you a A good way to not just stay current, but get a feel for
calendar is essential for executing a content plan. Its even
these individuals may not be directly relevant to you
youre dealing with at least two peoples schedules. and your content, but they help shape the opinions of the
people who drive actions for you.
In our fast-paced digital world, its a good rule of thumb
to plan at least one month out so you can publish
consistently. More sophisticated organizations may plan
three months out, but the key is to have a solid plan for lost or distracted. Remember, when it comes to staying
your content. ahead in the content game, you dont need to listen to
everyone.
Keep in mind your calendar will probably not need to
Focus on the people with the most relevant and engaged
seize opportunities as they arise. With that said, youll audiences so youre always in the know and coming to the
want some strategy in place (based on your customer and table with fresh content that resonates.

judge opportunities.

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 Theres been a lot of misunderstanding about
For all the planning you do, real-time listening is the only
is certainly not popularity, nor is it a simple podium.

blogs, videos and more, you can ground yourself by

as a thought leader or expert on a topic. People listen

When you listen in real-time, youll uncover opportunities to
insert your messages and your content into conversations can change someones behavior or inspire them to
that are actively shaping the opinions of your buyers and consider to new ideas.

questions and share content youve created over time.

Increasingly people are crowd-sourcing content for their
own publications by inviting the audience to participate
via social channels -- youll want to be there when these can get on their radar.
opportunities arise.

Real-time listening is also a great source of inspiration for

interviews, infographics and more. By monitoring how content

is received and what it inspires within a given community,
youll get ideas for what you can bring to the table.

The foundation for social media

techniques and technologies to convert

conversations into lessons learned for a
business.

Technologist, ArCompany

>

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 Collaborate
Content
There are limitless ways to produce
and share content with the help of your

you the range of possibilities and lay

approaches.

Each section also presents ideas to spur your own creative

content. Real examples will show you the impact each
type of content can have on a given business goal from
awareness to lead generation to sales and advocacy.

Beginning with the least collaborative and moving towards

Curate Expert Content & Add Your Own Value Layer

Co-Create Content

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Get Inspired
audiences that help build awareness of products,
services and initiatives. But the key to success is to
Content and his or her audiences most likely dont want to
hear about minor improvements to a product or
service. They want something that has utility, either
you can get a number of ideas for your own content
educational, aspirational or inspirational.
production. You can see what types of content and which
subjects drive the most engagement on social channels.
Your content has to be worthy of being produced.
Theres a lot of noise and clutter as content and
sharing. Is it anchored on personal experiences or analysis
amongst marketing, brand and PR professionals. In
of others situations. Can your brand and publishing
platforms help promote their work? Are there subject
conversation and consumer trends across any industry
matter experts on your team who could engage with this
that may touch my clients business and build from
person? Do you agree or disagree with them? How can
there.
you further the conversation they started?

Macala Wright, Head Of Digital Innovation and

Strategy, Group Partners
because it will give you so many more ideas. If ever you

through what theyve written, ask them some questions in

their comments. As you get yourself out there, the ideas

blogs.

content.

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Curate Expert Content
& Add Your Own in Your Content
Creation
web because there is just so much of it out there. Your your content is a fantastic way to build a relationship with
the people who matter most to your business. There are
subset and easier to digest and analyze. many ways to get their participation without asking for too
much.
Curation is far more than pulling together a list of
interesting posts from the week. By carefully selecting

additional context, resources or insight on the topic, you you bring to the table and expanding your potential reach
are adding value to a larger discussion. to a relevant audience of potential customers.

perennialize their content, which adds value for your type of person you want at the right time. For example,
if your goal is to get your wine on more dinner tables,
creating enjoyable experiences by making it easier for your
browsing for recipes or planning dinner parties.

Embed their tweets in your posts.

Record a weekly podcast roundup of industry happenings

with your own analysis on top.

Crowdsource ideas / insights for your content and give

reports into one infographic.

decide what gets prime time attention.

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 Support Your
Nimble, the smart relationship manager, established
itself this year as a go-to source for social business
tips and advice. By working with collaborators from
across sectors, Nimble has built a blog that publishes
produce compelling content on a regular basis. Just like
a wide spectrum of voices on a daily basis.
you, they are looking for ideas, inspiration and interesting
stories to tell.

Providing resources or experiences that allow your

way to win their hearts. Not only are you supporting

content creation that will ultimately support your business
goals, you are nurturing relationships that will last much
longer than a short-lived campaign.

content creation is to leverage your own expertise to

do interesting, content-worthy things. For software
companies, your data can inspire content. For consumer
Our mission is to provide a platform that informs our products, you can create notable experiences.

consider all the contributors to be voices in the choir.

much faster than we could have alone.

Use your data or expertise to help them tell a story.
Alyson Stone
Director of Content Management, Nimble Provide infographics for them to illustrate their own pieces.

other content.

Do industry surveys and provide the results in advance to

Provide exclusive or tough-to-get content or experiences so

they have something to write about.

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 NetBase, social intelligence provider to global brands

most collaborative and perhaps most challenging way to educational resources on timely and relevant topics to
marketing executives. The NetBase library contains a
number of ebooks, authored by or in conjunction with

table. In these cases, its even more important than ever to

brands story.

These types of content tend to be larger pieces involving

more coordination and planning than the previous
examples. While more challenging, they are incredibly
engaging and have the potential to generate an enormous
response.

NetBase boosts its credibility,

expands its reach to potential customers by sharing
Coauthor a white paper. sophisticated resources straight from the experts.

Invite them to be involved in product development.

Your product must be great. Authentic
Co-host webinars & presentations.
they believe in.
Co-produce a web TV show.

nurture streams because youve earned their trust by

providing meaningful content and partnering with a
known authority.

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 Get Started
& Maintain
Momentum

you get the ball rolling, things fall

into place. Whether its writing
that holds you back or reaching

principles to help you get started

and maintain momentum as you

content marketing.

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 Whatever you ask of someone, make it as easy
You simply can not do everything or be for them as possible. Provide a draft, be clear and
show respect for their time.
direct all of your attention to that topic.

Time Box Your Writing Time

Keep an Inspiration File Limit how long you have to write, but do nothing
Ideas tend to show up on their own time so create but write during that time. Youll get more done
a document where you can record ideas as they than you thought possible.
come to you.

Measure Only What Matters

Just Write It When you are deciding what to measure, start with
There are countless resources for writers block, the end goal and seek out indicators that help you
but the bottom line is you just need to write it. account for it.
Word by word.

Take Small Steps

Set some realistic goals and create a plan to start. Reach out to one person or write one post
accomplish them. The plan will help you stay
focused.

Iterate & Build

One post, comment or email will bloom into a
Not everyone will respond favorably to you. Thats relationship over time. Recognize you are building,
ok. Stay focused on the end goal, roll with the not buzzing.
punches.

The more you know about someone before you

reach out, the better your chances of getting on
their radar.

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 VP Marketing, Traackr
@mainwilk

CEO, Traackr
@pierreloic

Danny Brown

@DannyBrown

Sahana Jayaraman
Social Business Strategist, FleishmanHillard
@hellosahana

CEO, TopRank Online Marketing, Author, Optimize

@leeodden

CXO, Traackr
@epapadim

CMO, NetBase
@lisajoyrosner

Alyson Stone
Director of Content Management, Nimble
@alyson2

Head Of Digital Innovation and Strategy, Group Partners

@macala

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that helps you get results with social media

and opportunities. Hundreds of leading

companies and forward-thinking agencies
have used Traackr to create and manage

You can explore some of the most common

content marketing, lead generation and

awareness-raising at www.traackr.com.

For more information

contact [email protected]