Insights from Kevin Spacey, Julie Fleischer (Kraft Foods), Robert Rose (CMI), Jay Baer (NY Times), Jason Miller (Senior Content Marketing Manger, LinkedIn), Jonathon Colman (Content Strategist Facebook), and more..

1. As an award-­‐winning publisher for more than 30 years, LeisureMedia360 has successfully created content for
Virginia Tourism, more than a dozen CVBs, and many small businesses from marinas to realtors to restaurants.
Content Marketing Strategies
for 2015 -­‐ and Beyond
By Steve Beyer

2. If Kevin Spacey says it, you know it’s true
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJnP2wsgnoA&feature=youtu.be

3. 1. You need a Scalable Website. Responsive design might help.
● Today anywhere from 20% to nearly half of your website visitation
is coming from mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets.
o 50% of website visitors want contact info.
o Non-­mobile friendly site will loose visitors.
Responsive design means a
website that is easy to read and
navigate across a wide range of
devices.
Content when you want, how you
want, where you want it.

4. 2. Do an Evaluation of your Existing Content.
A simple website checklist is a
real time saver. Then pieces can
be delegated or tackled one by
one.
● Periodic audits can really go a long
way to improving your site. Remove
outdated or obsolete information. Add
new content as it becomes available.
o Shorten existing content to freshen
it up.
o Changing out the images on your
home page and landing pages can
help engage visitors, especially
repeat visitors.
o Study the most popular pages and
use Google Analytics.

5. 3. Create a Content Strategy for 2015
● What is your website’s goal? This is the most important question
to ask.
o What do you want to accomplish with your website?
o What is the call for action?
A strategy will save time and
money.
Growth of custom content is
surging—69% of content
marketers plan to increase
their spending on content in
2015.
77% of marketers said “yes
we use content marketing”
Source: CMI 2015 B-to-C Content Marketing Trends Research

6. 4. SEO with Penguin and Panda Google Programs.
o Panda focused on sites with in-­depth, regularly updated content vs. sites
with too much advertising and poor navigation.
o Penguin focused on quality.

7. 5. The Hummingbird Effect.
Google’s biggest change
of late is the little
hummingbird.
● Hummingbird is paying more attention to each word in a query,
ensuring that the whole query—the whole sentence or conversation or
meaning—is taken into account, rather than particular words.
o Pages matching the meaning do better, rather than pages matching
just a few words.
o It’s more important than ever to write meaningful content for your
website
o Push it out to the world thru social media platforms.
o What are the phrases or questions prospects will use to find your
location?
“What do I feed a
hummingbird?”

8. 6. Size Does Not Matter.
● You do not have to be a huge company with a big budget.
o River Pools & Spa in Warsaw, VA built a tremendous business by adding valuable
content to his website.
• Frequently asked questions.
• Information about pool costs.
• A blog.
• Testimonials.
o It’s now on the first page of Google search for thousands of searches.
Do you have to be the size of:
• Orlando
• Los Angeles
• New York
• San Francisco
or Miami
to do content marketing?

9. 7. First Get Your Website Humming and Then Advertise to Drive Traffic!
LeisureMedia360
Brands

10. Leisure Media 360 content marketing program
– print examples

11. LeisureMedia360
content marketing
program – online
application
examples
Repurposed

12. LeisureMedia360 content marketing program – online application examples, cont’d

13. Notes and Takeaways From
Content Marketing World
2014

14. Andrew Davis
Author of
Brandscaping: Unleashing the
Power of Partnership

15. The Consumer Journey
1. Moment
of
Inspiration-­‐Bigger
Opportunity
2. Trigger
-­‐ Take
Action
3. Initial
Consideration
4. Active
Evaluation
5. Moment
of
Purchase
• Beginning
of
new
relationship
• New
part
of
loyalty
loop

16. Own The Consumer Journey
Example: Cain’s Arcade
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faIFNkdq96U

17. Own The Consumer Journey, Cont’d
• Stop creating campaigns
• Start making commitments
• Make a commitment to telling a story bigger
than you

18. Own The Consumer Journey, Cont’d
Think like an entertainment executive
Ex: Finding Nemo
• Nemo Effect
• Sold out clown
fish and
accessories

19. Own The Consumer Journey, Cont’d
Use Google Trends
• Look up clownfish
• Valuable content increases demand
4 simple secrets to building valuable content
1. Build suspense
2. Foster Aspirational Content
3. Drive Empathy
4. Harness Emotion, emotion leads to action
Create moments of inspiration

20. Julie Fleischer
Director Data + Content + Media
at Kraft Foods Group

21. Julie Fleischer
• Data drives content creation
• Right place, right moment
• 18 years ago started Food & Familymagazine
• Content marketing is smart, strategic and
campaign able

22. Robert Rose
Chief Strategist, CMI

23. How to Start Your Content Marketing Strategy
1. Stop and make it an integrated process
2. Create value to audiences
3. Develop content-­‐driven experiences
• Plan
• Audience
• Story
• Channels
• Process
• Conversation -­‐> Measurement
Robert Rose

24. Three Fundamental Shifts in Thinking:
1. Story before medium
2. Process not a project
3. Infused not separate
• The buyer’s journey is not guided
• You don’t have to be big, you have to be remarkable
• You have to be great with the group you want to be
great with
AND, an Integrated mix is the best!
Robert Rose

25. Jay Baer
NY Times Best-­‐Selling Author
“Content is Fire,
Social Media
is gasoline”

26. Jason Miller
Jason Miller Senior Content
Marketing Manager-­‐ LinkedIn

27. 3 Ways to Create Your Big
Rock “Claim it”
1. Create all encompassing guide to
whatever the hell conversation you
want to own
2. Write 5 relevant blogs then roll
them all together-­‐ Take 10 blogs roll
into 1
3. Collection of success stories
Jason Miller
Monday: 5 Tips (Simple)
Tuesday: Little Heavier
Wednesday: Drop the Bomb
(1,500-­‐3,000 words)
Thursday: Tabasco-­‐ Strong
Opinion
Friday: Chocolate Cake
Content-­‐leave for the
weekend with a smile-­‐ fun
stuff day

28. Jonathon Colman
Content Strategist at Facebook
Building Better products with Content Strategy
• Start with the Why
• Continue with How
• Then do What
1. Keep it simple
2. Get to the point
3. Talk like a person

29. Jonathon Colman
• Content leads design
• Design leads content
• Both lead experience
Experience
Experience
Content
Design
Content
Design

30. Jesse Desjardins
Head of Social at Tourism Australia
• Use Video to reach Millennials-­‐
• The article begins its life when you
hit publish”
• Ex: “My trip in a minute – JOSH”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
R5WgMuYPfws

31. Counties, States, CVBs &
Companies in the Room
• Australia
• California
• Cleveland
• San Francisco
• Canada
• Colonial
Williamsburg
• Portland
• Arizona
• Brand USA
• Branson
• NYC
• Lansing MI
• Salt Lake City
• Singapore
• Amish Country
• Marriott
• Boone, NC
• IHG Hotels
• Trip Advisor
• West
Hollywood
• Grand Rapids
MI

32. Jesse Desjardins Cont’d
• Social is great, but we need to stop renting.
• What is? à What could be?
• Can we make our customers the hero?
• Not just telling stories but giving a story to tell
• Get it shared
• Stories that are engineered make our
audience look good.
• Once they hear from you, what do they tell
their friends?

33. Huffington Post Example
1/3 from
80,000
bloggers
1/3 Curated
1/3 Their
content

34. Insights that shape future decisions
5 stages of Travel
Dreaming
Planning Booking
Experiencing
Sharing

35. Jesse Desjardins Cont’d
Hubspot: Quick ways to curate
industry content for your blog
1. Use Reader Services (Feedly & Digg)
2. Follow Trade Show Blogs
3. Monitor Social News Streams
4. Setup Google Alerts
5. Follow folks on Linked In
6. Check out Forums (Quora)
7. Read and subscribe to other peoples blogs

36. What’s the Hottest Thing
in Content Marketing?
Joe Pulizzi
Founder, Content Marketing
Institute and Author of Epic
Content Marketing

37. • Building a content marketing environment.
Content built around a centralized environment
that makes it easy & quick to deploy
• Story telling. Inspire people.
• Writing and words we use to tell your story
• Develop a strategy and review it
Joe Pulizzi

38. Joe Pulizzi
• Persona development that increases the relevance
so you can address the buyers needs through the
buying process
• Globalization of Content. Make sure message is
appropriate across the world
• Real time personalization
• Engaging people at a deeper level-­‐ emotionally

39. • Strategic, repeatable and accountable process
• People need to be able to find the content
otherwise it never reaches its potential metadata
• Content doesn’t come from marketing. Content
comes from customers, comes from sales, comes
from customer service, and comes from across the
organization. How does marketing evangelize this
message?
Joe Pulizzi

40. Joe Pulizzi: 8 Reasons to Rethink Print
1. It grabs attention
2. If focuses on customer relation
3. There are no audience development costs
4. No reliance on advertisers
5. What’s old is new again
6. Customers still need to know what questions
to ask
7. Print still excites people
8. Print lets people unplug

41. Need a “Content Marketing
Master Class?”
Sorry, but I can’t cover it all in
ONE presentation. But Joe
Pulizzi and the “Content
Marketing Institute” Can help!

42. Robert Magee
Department of Communication
Virginia Tech
• Conducted a study on Virginia Tech Alumni magazine open
rate and reader memory
• 675 participants contacted by phone, 337 with print, 338
with online.
• Print showed Superior Open Rate
• Greater recall memory for articles
• Greater recognition memory for articles
• Younger alumni expressed a preference for receiving an
online version of the magazine; but their recall was markedly
higher for the print version.

43. University of Vermont Tourism
Research Study
• 25 State Parks
• 15 Selected Attractions
• 8 Vermont Welcome Centers
• 8,555 questionnaires were collected
Visitor/Vermonters -­‐ in person!

44. University of Vermont Tourism
Research Study, Cont’d
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Friends & Family Print Media TV / Radio Social Media
Influencers on Decision to Vacation, by Age & Medium
Under 50 Over 50

45. University of Vermont Tourism
Research Study, Cont’d
• Print Media have an important
influence on visitors
• Brochures and magazine articles are
the most influenced forms of print
media for both groups

46. 2014 A Study of DMO Visitor Guides
By WACVB Education & Research Foundation & Destination
Analysts
• 9,611 Surveys Collected
• Travelers request visitor guides primarily to serve as a trip
planning tool
• Attractions and maps are the top content sought from
DMO visitor guides
• Nearly 70% of potential visitors actually travel to the
destination after receiving the DMO visitor guide

47. 2014 A Study of DMO Visitor Guides, Cont’d
• 1 out of 5 visitor guide users had not yet made their
destination decision when they requested a guide
• 90% ultimately decide to visit the destination because of
the visitor guide
• Visitor Guides are also effective at lengthening stays in
the destination
• Once travelers receive a DMO visitor guide, it largely
becomes the primary trip planning resource

48. Have
a
question
about
creating
engaging
content
for
your
own
marketing?
Steve
Beyer,
President
3424
Brambleton
Ave.,
Roanoke,
VA
24018
540-­‐989-­‐6138
office
847-­‐532-­‐4044
cell
sbeyer@leisuremedia360.com
Thank
you
Steve Beyer is President of Leisure Media 360, an integrated marketing firm specializing in travel,
quality of life and real estate publications, websites, and digital marketing. He has run the custom
publishing division for several media firms over the past 16 years and started content marketing for
brands like Microsoft, HP, IBM, Rockwell and more than 100 hospitals across the U.S. He is a sought-­‐after
speaker on this topic by publishing firms, content marketing conferences, sales meetings and webinars.
His sales management experience at both Hanley-­‐Wood Publishing and Penton Publishing generated
strong growth in revenues and kudos from clients on his superlative level of customer service.