Marketers often focus on the moment of intent—that time period when the consumer is ready to move forward and take action. Maybe it’s a phone call, maybe it’s an in-store visit or maybe just a specific search query. But the consumer’s journey does not start at the moment of intent. It begins many steps back with needs, desires and interest. To reach these consumers at their pre-intent phases, brands need to develop a content marketing strategy that accounts for the consumer’s mindset while in the interest and discovery phases, where content focus is less confined.

1. Before The Moment Of Intent:
Utilizing Content To Shape The Customer Journey
John Harris
Location3 Media

2. @netharris
#AAFCOS

6. EXHIBIT A

7. THE TRADITIONAL MENTAL MODEL OF MARKETING
S3mulus
First
Second
Moment
Moment
of
Truth
of
Truth
Sales
Experience
Representa3ve,
Website
or
In-­‐store

8. THE NEW MENTAL MODEL OF MARKETING
S3mulus
First
Second
Moment
Moment
of
Truth
of
Truth
Pre-­‐Tail
Sales
Experience
Research,
Educa3on,
Representa3ve,
Valida3on
Website
or
In-­‐store

9. In 2010, we needed information from 5.4 sources before making a purchase.
By the end of 2011, we needed 10.4.
Source: Jay Baer, Convince and Convert

11. The Buyer’s Journey: A consumer-directed, socially-influenced, brand-inspired pursuit of truth and opportunity.
Research Content Content
Interest Retail Validation
Content Intent Communities
Brands
Input Discovery Decision
Content Friends Content
Authorities
Content

12. SEARCH
LEADS CONTENT SOCIAL
BRAND

13. CONTENT
BRAND STORYTELLING
SHARED SOCIALLY
DRIVES ENGAGEMENT
IMPACTS SEARCH RANK
DELIVERS LEADS
DON’T THINK OF IT AS MARKETING
IT’S HOW A BRAND LIVES IN THE DIGITAL WORLD

14. CONTENT AND SEO
Brand Website Keywords
Brand Social Media Assets Title tags
Press Release Optimization URLs
Directory Submissions Content Website META data
Link-building Distribution Optimization Images
Blogger/Influencer Outreach Text
Guest Blog Posts Headers
Social Syndication Internal linking
Content
Development
Online distribution and engagement of unique, Onsite keyword structure can
fresh and relevant content can influence over influence over 25% of organic
50% of organic ranking factors ranking factors
Blog
Product/Service/Category Sub-pages
Resource Section
Infographics, Video, Posts

15. THE MOMENT OF INTENT
Awareness
Interest
Intent Keyword-centric content
• Relevant to the search query
Decision

17. We spend only 3% of our time
online using search engines

18. MOMENTS OF PRE-INTENT
Awareness
Context-centric content
• Relevant to the point of Interest
distribution
Intent
Decision

19. SHOW STETSON
“PORK PIE
HAT” “FELT HAT”

20. MOMENTS OF PRE-INTENT
Discovery-centric content
• Relevant and Valuable to
someone’s life
Awareness
Interest
Intent
Decision

22. Content marketing is educating and inspiring people enough to do business with you.

23. Nothing that comes out of the mouth of a brand or any other institution has remotely the
influence of what comes from the mouths of 7 billion bystanders freely trading opinions online.

24. Information + Inspiration x Influence = Intent

25. Great Content Doesn’t Just Happen

26. Understand The Understand The
Needs of Your Deliver Value To
Behavior of Your
Your Audience
Audience Audience

29. Sell something and you make a customer today. Help someone and you make a customer for life. @jaybaer

31. Content = YOUTILITY
Source: Jay Baer, Convince and Convert

34. INSPIRATION

35. RELEVANT FUN

36. PRODUCT

39. THE L3 CONTENT INTEGRATION MODEL
CUSTOMER-CENTRIC, PLATFORM-NEUTRAL
How is your Keywords, Owned, Refine
content intended to Create, Curate &
Formats, Channels Earned & Paid Rinse
serve the needs of & Owners
Repurpose
Media Repeat
your customers?
AUDIENCE PURPOSE AUDIT FRAMEWORK STRATEGY CREATION OPTIMIZATION DISTRIBUTION MEASURE OPTIMIZATION
Who is your Evaluate Content Brand Narrative Findability Findability
content intended to Inventory & Content Pillars Shareability Shareability
serve Performance Content Calendar Performance Performance

40. The Human Behind The Click

41. 
DEMOGRAPHICS

42. PERSONAS
Demographics
Psychographics
Personal Motivations
Pain Points
Brand Requirements
Digital Behavior
Digital Channels

44. Meet C
hristy

45. her husband
ng in Phoenix, Arizona with
Christy is a 45 year old wife and mother livi ancial advisor and the girl’s
activity
Kevin and their two girls. Between her career as a fin sts. Her simple goal is one
tively prioritize time for her intere
schedules, Christy has to ac recipe, read one chapter of
this
t with one friend, try one new
“me thing” a day – connec ds a busy life but wouldn’t
have it any
month’s book club selection before bed. She lea
other way.
time and unwind, usually
y va cation to foster quality family
Every year she plans a 10 da ir as a daily reminder to sm
ile
urns with one special souven
on a beach. She always ret
e.
and breathe amidst the hustl
her suit
sionally. When she takes off
Christy’s work demand s that she dress very profes n’t look sloppy. Christy has
in something comfy that does
after work she wants to relax h both pregnancies. Kevin tel
ls
ars, having gained weight wit
been a size 14 for many ye ortable with her body, but sh
e gets
her every day tha t she’s beautiful. She’s comf men. Christy wants
Christy
g plus-sized options for wo
frustrate d with the limited and borin vibrant life.
get dressed and reflect her
clothe s that make her excited to

46. SMB IT Managers
Enterprise IT Managers
Enterprise CIOs
Typically male Typically male Typically male
Late 20’s to early 40’s Mid 30’s to early 40’s 40’s – early 50’s
Demographics
Wide range of work experience depending on +/- 15 years as an IT professional at both enterprise and 20+ years of experience in IT for enterprise companies
industry/age mid-market companies
Success – advancing up career ladder Success – advancing up career ladder Maintaining a successful position
Personal
To never stop growing and learning To never stop growing and learning To submit technology to his will
Motivations To be perceived as intelligent and capable
To prove his mettle as a leader To make an impact as a thought leader
To leverage technology for impactful innovation
To deliver thoroughly vetted recommendations to bosses Make smart decisions, please stakeholders
Professional
To keep the company working and connected
To meet performance goals To help the enterprise operate efficiently and succeed
Motivations Cost control due to recession-shrunk budgets
To keep the company working and connected To build confidence with CEO and C-level team
Difficulties of switching providers
Worried about recommending the wrong solution to boss Bridging gap between his IT team and executives
Pain Points Getting adoption among users
Getting adoption among users Needs to prove ROI of his decisions
Need for scalability
Need for scalability Balancing breadth and depth of IT knowledge
Ease of deployment, training, and adoption Ease of deployment, training, and adoption Must be transformational, yet reliable
Brand
Affordable, scalable solution Reliable and impactful on business goals ROI must be clearly demonstrated
Requirements “Help me be the game-changer”
“Help me advance up the ladder” “Help me stay on top”
Research, Learn, Watch, Read, Listen, Shop, Share, Research, Learn, Watch, Read, Listen, Shop, Share, Like,
Digital Behavior Research, Learn, Read, Publish, Share, Like, Communicate
Like, Comment, Communicate
Comment, Communicate
Industry News,
Sports, Music, Finance, Movies, Industry News,
Business, Sports, Music, Finance, Movies,
Digital Channels Industry News,
Business, Sports, Finance, Social Media
Social Media
Social Media

47. Map The Path To Purchase
For Your Brand
Research Content Content
Interest Retail Validation
Content Intent Communities
Brands
Input Discovery Decision
Content Friends Content
Authorities
Content

48. TOOLS FOR GENERATING PERSONAS
Primary Research
Secondary Research
Attribution Modeling
Keyword and Search Insights Tools (Google Adwords, Soovle, Uber Suggest)
Social Monitoring
Facebook Ad Manager
Online Forums
Sales Force/Store-Level Employees/CRSs
Customer Feedback Loops

49. Content Pillars

50. CONTENT PILLARS INFORMATION & INSPIRATION
I • Product (rational benefits, features, value)
II • Customer Segments (application, education)
III • Brand (promise, emotional benefits, inspiration, motivation)
IV • Lifestyle (personal & professional growth, knowledge,
entertainment)

51. CONTENT PILLARS EXAMPLE

52. CONTENT PILLARS
1. Product and Brand
2. Enjoying a Better Internet Experience
3. Powering Your Lifestyle
4. Timely Content

53. 2. ENJOYING A BETTER
INTERNET EXPERIENCE

54. 2. ENJOYING A BETTER
INTERNET EXPERIENCE

55. 2. ENJOYING A BETTER
INTERNET EXPERIENCE
Example Content:
Infographic for Distribution to Personal Finance Blogs
“Three Steps for Ensuring You Found the Best Deal”
Offers practical resources including shopping search
engines, coupon code sites, and alternative places to look
such as Ebay and Craigslist.

56. 2. ENJOYING A BETTER
INTERNET EXPERIENCE
Example Content:
Guest Post on Internet Safety Blog
“Scam School: Avoiding the Next Generation of
Nigerian Princes”
Many internet users are familiar with the common
“Nigerian prince” scam setup, but may be unaware of
other similar setups with a different story. Concludes
with practical resources for identifying potential
scams.

57. CONTENT PILLARS
Keyword-centric
Customer-centric
Brand-centric
Idea-centric
Distribution-centric

58. Content Amplification

59. Each piece of content should be optimized and distributed across owned, earned/shared and paid media channels.
Below is a sample distribution list for a SINGLE content piece.
Social Blogger
LinkedIn Pin- You- Synd- Out- Influencer Comm-
Twitter Channel Forums terest PRWeb Tube Out-reach unity Q&A
ication reach
Earned/
Shared Outreach
Media
Media Comm- Blog
Face- Google LinkedIn Four- Pitch- Out- unity Comm-
book + Group Flickr square Engine Email
reach Outreach enting
Content
piece
Landing Internal Promoted Paid
Page Linking Forum Tweets Search GDN
Owned Paid
Media Media
Thank Face-
You book LinkedIn
Website Blog Ads Display
Page Ads

60. So…can you tell me if
the campaign was
successful?
Of course it was.

61. MEASURING SOCIAL & CONTENT INITIATIVES
Audience/Awareness Views/Consumption
Engagement Sharing
Actions Search Impact
@Location3

62. U7