How do you get under the skin of the target audience and learn what your customers want and need to know? And how to make content so great that readers keep coming back for more?

1. Content That Connects
Byron White
President & CEO
LifeTips.com

2. Connection
 Connection demanded
 Get under my skin
 Inhabit my life
 Touch my heart

3. Connection (cont.)
 Search box log files
 Review customer FAQ’s
 Discuss needs with service reps
 Discuss needs with customers
 Last Resort: Keyword suggestion tools

4. Bite Size and Super Size Content
 Understand the paradox of choice
 Many choices, products and services
 Learn my decision making logic
 Feed me what I want, at the right time
 If the size is not right, I’ll move on

5. Bite Size and Super Size Content
 Create deep info for deep readers
 Create light info for impulsive buyers
 Monitor traffic patterns with analytics
 Create deep or light as needed

6. Personalization
 Showcase something that matters
 Make it personal to individual needs and desires
 Make it exclusive, limited and/or one-of-a-kind
 Identify the fanatics and make them happy

7. Personalization (cont.)

8. Personalization (cont.)

9. Stories
 Our culture thrives on stories
 Great stories are contagious
 Tune in to “what happens next”
 Learn how to be smart
 Connect with surprise and delight

10. Stories (cont.)
 Story Marketing: The Lost Ball
 Superbowl Ads: 60 second stories
 You Tube: Home brew video goes big
 Current TV: MTV meets PBS
 Sisomo by Kevin Roberts

11. Freshness
 Reasons to keep coming back
 Exposure to new worlds and ideas
 Fresh ideas turn browsers to buyers
 Humor and entertainment connects
 Surprise and delight

12. Value
 Find specific things
 Find them in a hurry
 Unbiased comparison
 Straightforward advice

13. Value (cont.)
 Create several paths to products/services
 Create shortcuts that get to what readers want
 Bring in 3rd party comparison content
 Offer “authority” insight and wisdom

14. Value (cont.)
 Develop a Content Haiku
 Every word on your web page matters
 Find the right words to put in the right place
 Test various designs and visual presentations
 Measure the results and the conversions variation

15. Simplicity
 Clarify why I should buy
 Tell me what is in it for me
 Show me what I get if I pay more
 Encourage me to take action

16. Credibility
 Brand: Enhance without compromising
 Awards: Target the best shows
 Publicity: Find the angle for a story
 Certifications: Recognition of experience
 On Demand Books: Earn authority status

17. Creativity
 Celebrate your products
 Provide rich visuals
 Close retail and online gap
 Look outside yourself or company
 Create something that matters

18. Innovation
 Stay on top of new technologies
 Engage new technology before your competition
 If it does not work, abandon it quickly
 If it works, make it yours

19. Innovation (cont.)
 Customization: Design your own shoes
 Search: Create your own Google
 Flash: No longer a SEO problem
 Zoom: Emulates retail experience
 Tools: Page Strength Tools

20. Great Writers
“Writing is easy: All you do is sit staring at a
blank piece of paper (screen) until the drops
of blood form on your forehead.”
—Gene Fowler

21. Talent Pool
 JournalismJobs.com
 MediaBistro.com
 AJR.com (American Journalism Review)
 Online news sites (BostonWorks,
Providence Journal Online, etc.)
 Craigslist.org
 Byline articles

22. Talent Pool (cont.)
 Recognize the Talent
– Well-furnished minds and well-traversed experience
– Exceptional curiosity about every subject
– Above average wit and sense of humor
– Vivid imagination and powerful analytical thought

23. Define The Project
 Improve search engine listing positions
 Drive more organic traffic
 Encourage repeat visits
 Influence decision process
 Improve conversions rates

24. Determine The Placement
 Preliminary: First impressions and headline
architecture
 Investigating: Knowledge seeking and trust
building
 Capability: Show how products solve problems
 Permission: Drive action, sign up, download
or buy

25. Define The Style
 What’s Your Point?
– Engage Laughter
– Spark a Debate
– Motivate and Empower
– Take a Stand
– Drama and Intensity
– Clever and Witty

26. Define The Style (cont.)
 Find Your Voice: Informational, Advertorial,
Active, Passive
 Placement: Where on the site?
First layer, second layer, etc.
 Visuals: Connect the content to images.
Tell the story.

27. What’s Your Story?
 What makes your story unique?
 What’s your competitor’s story?

28. Establish a Mantra
“A sacred verbal formula repeated in prayer,
meditation, or incantation, such as an
invocation of a god, a magic spell or portion
of a scripture containing mystical potentials.”

29. Establish a Mantra (cont.)
Green Bay Packers Winning is Everything
IBM Think
Disney Fun Family Entertainment
March of Dimes Save Babies
Wendy’s Healthy Fast Food
U.S. Army Be All You Can Be

30. Develop A Flawless Process
 Brainstorm session that uncovers the story
 Methodology to get under the target’s skin
 Nail the value proposition
 Clarify the call to action
 Research the rich keywords and scent trail
 Manage the feedback

31. Engage And Connect
 Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?
– Who is your target audience?
– What are you going to tell them?
– Where are you going to tell them this information?
– When are you going to do this?
– Why is it important?
– How is it going to matter?

32. Understand Your Readers
 Readers want to be able to find specific things
 Readers are in a hurry
 Readers love personalization, “it’s all about me”
 Readers want advice
 Readers want up-to-date, relevant,
straightforward content

33. Implement Smart SEO Rules
 Create original content (no dup content issues)
 Clean and unique meta strategy
 Remember: not all links are created equally
 Consistent site maps and architecture
 Surround the link phrases with rich keywords
 Avoid “stuffing” keywords, readers must come first

34. Bring Science To The Art
 A/B split testing
 Track conversions
 Monitor traffic
 Perpetually Revise
 Track stickiness

35. Stay Fresh
 Freshness validates commitment
 Commitment is necessary for success

36. Hire The Pros
“If each of us hires people who are smaller
than we are, we shall become a company of
dwarfs. But if each of us hires people who
are bigger than we are, we shall become a
company of giants.”
—David Ogilvy