How To Walk On The Sea Of Content. There are two really big things that keep content marketing from working as well as it could for you: 1. Too much focus on quantity, rather than quality. 2. Not truly understanding your audience. And they are related. I think that most people revert to creating more rather than "more valuable" because they don't understand their audience well enough to know what more valuable means. So on quantity... we are in our own way. We're content hoarders. We think if a piece of content gets 1 view per month it must be good and worth keeping. That simply isn't true. Be willing the edit – promote more, iterate or replace. And we'll never be able to stop the quantity problem completely. Because even if we only put out the best quality content around a topic, we'll still be competing with all the content made be everyone else in the space. And that's where audience understanding comes in. The better we know our audience — as humans, not canned personas — the better we can create the content they crave, and the better optimized it will be for the right audience to find it, engage with it, and share it. That type of understanding is an ongoing process, not a moment in time. This presentation given at the Digital Marketing For Business conference covers those two points, and provides strategies on overcoming both challenges. For more info, please visit http://www.centerline.net or contact me (John Lane) via Twitter: @johnvlane Thanks!

1. | @johnvlane
We…

2. content…
| @johnvlane
We are drowning in

3. content.
| @johnvlane
…what we need is more

4. | @johnvlane
How To Walk
On The Sea
Of Content

5. Big Point 1.
There’s too much focus on
quantity of content
as the path to content
marketing success.
| @johnvlane

6. | @johnvlane

7. | @johnvlane
What does drowning look like?

8. | @johnvlane
680,000+ Videos
when searching for “IBM”
12,100+ Videos
when searching for “IBM System z”

9. | @johnvlane
44,987+ Instagram Images Tagged #IBM

10. Accurate?Owned?
Is all this content…
On Brand?
| @johnvlane

11. You’re not IBM.
!
But you have the
same challenge.
!
(Or worse.)
| @johnvlane

12. 164,000,000+ Results For
“Content Marketing Agency”
| @johnvlane

13. Specifc Searches Don’t Necessarily
Narrow The Field (But They’re Important)
| @johnvlane

14. | @johnvlane
We’re Content Hoarders

15. | @johnvlane
We’re Content Hoarders
YOU ARE HERE

16. | @johnvlane

17. Big Content v. Small Ball
| @johnvlane

18. | @johnvlane
BUY
COMPARE
SOLVE
LEARN
AWARENESS
LANDING PAGES/
MICROSITES
CUSTOMER
REFERENCES
THOUGHT
LEADERSHIP PIECES
SALES ENABLEMENT
TOOLS
ASSESSMENT TOOLS/
ROI CALCULATORS
SERIOUS GAMES/
SIMULATIONS
PRODUCT/SERVICE
DEMOS
DIGITAL ADS
SEO/SEM
TRADITIONAL ADS
OVERVIEW
VIDEOS/
ANIMATIONS
Goals Are About Movement

19. | @johnvlane

20. Yes, content marketing is
a daily discipline (kind of).
!
But it’s actually more of a
relevance discipline.
| @johnvlane

21. Quantity of content
is a problem we can never
completely overcome.
!
(We can only control ourselves.)
| @johnvlane

22. Big Point 2.
We truly believe we
know our audience
| @johnvlane
but we really don’t know them at all.

23. Persona Creation

24. But…

25. | @johnvlane
Who The Hell Are These People, Really?

26. | @johnvlane
Who The Hell Are These People, Really?
What’s so funny?
And why doesn’t she get the joke?

29. | @johnvlane
Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle

30. | @johnvlane

31. | @johnvlane
“We’re looking at who’s written those comments, what their influence is and
what comments have the most potential for helping us create new content.”
!
Iain Tait - Global Interactive Creative Director at Wieden+Kennedy

32. | @johnvlane
So… What Really Comes First?

33. To strengthen the connection
between audience and content:
Focus on relevance.
| @johnvlane

34. | @johnvlane

35. How do you determine
what relevance means?
!
(And address both our big points.)
| @johnvlane

36. | @johnvlane
Content Inventory, Audit, Gap Analysis.

37. | @johnvlane
Content Inventory, Audit, Gap Analysis.

38. | @johnvlane
Create New Math
World Relevance
Age
+ Accuracy
+ Utility
+ Channel Distribution
Brand Relevance
Message + Design + Effectiveness

39. Map To “Moments Of Need”

40. | @johnvlane
Tools To Help You Get To “Why”

41. | @johnvlane
Feedback Loops

42. | @johnvlane
Feedback Loops

43. CREATE
DELIVER
ACTIVATE
Edit — The Content Lifecycle Optimization
Replace Iterate Promote
| @johnvlane
PLAN
MONITOR &!
MEASURE

44. | @johnvlane
Staying Afloat? Swimming? Walking On Water?

45. | @johnvlane

46. | @johnvlane

48. | @johnvlane

49. Thank you!
Connect here:
Here:
Here:
Here:
And here, too:
centerline.net
twitter.com/johnvlane
twitter.com/centerline
linkedin.com/in/johnvlane
facebook.com/centerlinedigital
| @johnvlane

50. Resources
Tom Webster: “Why You Don’t Need Content Strategy”
“Rolex: How A 109-Year-Old Brand Thrives In The Digital Age”
Rand Fishkin: “Content Marketers Could Become Their Own Worst Enemy”
“Content Marketing Will Never Work” from Travelblather
“The Big Problem Of Ad Fatigue”
Centerline Digital: Content Planning Guide
“How To Create and Customize Pivot Tables In Excel”
5 Whys (via Wikipedia)
The Brand Gap Book
The Brand Gap on SlideShare
| @johnvlane