Discover tips on how to build an audience development strategy. We love these tips from top content marketing experts so much that we are rereleasing this eBook.

1. #CMWorld

2. !
ometimes the world of content marketing can seem as confusing as a
Mad Hatter’s tea party. We may never know why a raven is like a writing
desk, but we can help you make sense of the content marketing world.
From creating a strategy to audience development to visual content to
finding the “real” ROI of a content marketing program, TopRank Online
Marketing and Content Marketing Institute present a new series of Alice
in Wonderland themed eBooks: Content Marketing in Wonderland.
Over 40 major brands and thought leaders presenting at the upcoming
#CMWorld conference have contributed their strategies and practical
advice in this series. Their stories will help make your journey in the
content marketing world a successful one – all the way to Cleveland
September 8-11, 2014
We look forward to seeing you there!
Welcome to the Tea Party
S
Lee Odden, CEO TopRank Online Marketing! Joe Pulizzi, CEO Content Marketing Institute!

3. Who doesn’t like an adventure?
Let us take you on a Content
Marketing adventure with 4 new
#CMWorld speaker eBooks:
•! Content Marketing Strategy
•! Audience Development
•! Visual Content Marketing
•! Real Content ROI
A new eBook will publish weekly
as we approach the ultimate
content marketing adventure:
The Content Marketing World
conference Sept 8-11, 2014.
Content Marketing in Wonderland
?:+'@-A' ?:+'!!-A'
?:+'!#-A' ?:+'%B-A'

4. Brand Contributors

5. Adele Revella
Alan Porter
Andrew Davis
Ann Handley
Ardath Albee
Brant McLean
Brian Clark
Brian Kardon
Bruce McDuffee
Carla Johnson
David Jones
Gurdeep Dhillon
Heidi Cohen
Jascha Kaykas-Wolff
Jason Miller
Jay Acunzo
Jeff Charney
Jeff Rohrs
Jen Dennis
Jesse Noyes
Jim Kukral
40+ Content Marketing Experts
JoAnn Sciarrino
Joe Pulizzi
Jonathon Colman
Julie Fleischer
Lee Odden
Leigh Blaylock
Maggie Burke
Mark Schaefer
Michael Brenner
Nicole Smith
Pam Didner
Paull Young
Pawan Deshpande
Rebecca Lieb
Rick Short
Robert Rose
Scott Abel
Scott Monty
Scott Stratten
Steve Clayton
Tim Washer
“Why is a raven like content marketing?”

6. “Does your content lead
readers on a journey, or
does it merely stuff them as
leads into a pipeline?”
Ann Handley @annhandley
#CMWorld

7. #CMWorld
Tweedledee tells Alice a story about The Walrus and The Carpenter, who
happen upon a bed of oysters and invite them on a journey. The eldest oyster
declines the invitation:
But four young Oysters hurried up,
All eager for the treat:
Their coats were brushed, their faces washed,
Their shoes were clean and neat—
And this was odd, because, you know,
They hadn’t any feet.
When Lewis Carroll wrote that 143 years ago in Through the Looking-Glass,
he couldn’t have fathomed that we’d be talking about his little oysters in a
content marketing context. But Carroll’s tale is a handy metaphor for the
power of story in growing oysters… err, audience.
How so?
Audience and Oysters
Ann Handley @annhandley
Chief Content Officer,
MarketingProfs
#CMWorld Presentation:
Moving from Journalist to Content
Marketer

8. #CMWorld
Trust builds connection. The little oysters followed because they trust their
leaders and they are eager to share in what appeared to be an epic journey.
Content marketing takeaway: Are you merely stuffing a pipeline full of
leads? Or are you building an audience who will rely on you for information,
advice, and help, and will seek out your expertise?
Great narrative reaches your audience’s audience. The Walrus and The
Carpenter lead the young oysters, collecting other oysters along the way. The
word spreads because it’s impossible to resist a good story. The journey
itself also feels part of something bigger.
Content marketing takeaway: Are you creating content worth sharing and
inspiring your audience to share your story for you? Are you leading them on
a journey and into a relationship? Or are you talking too much about what
you do or what you sell and not enough about what it does for them?
Audience and Oysters
Ann Handley @annhandley
Chief Content Officer,
MarketingProfs
#CMWorld Presentation:
Moving from Journalist to Content
Marketer

9. #CMWorld
Audience and Oysters
Your words are your emissaries. It’s poetry, the way the Walrus and The
Carpenter communicate with their audience. The time has come, the Walrus
says at one point: “To talk of many things: Of cabbages—and kings—And
why the sea is boiling hot—And whether pigs have wings.”
The language is sparse, but still it paints a vivid and evocative picture,
doesn’t it? It captures the attention of the little oysters.
Content marketing takeaway: In Looking-Glass, the words are literally
poetry. But the larger takeaway for marketers is to step up your writing. Words
are our emissaries and ambassadors, carrying important messages for us.
Think of it this way: If a visitor came to your website without its branding in
place, would he or she recognize it as yours? If you stripped your branding
from all your properties and lined up your words alongside a competitor’s,
would you stand out?
So the question becomes: Are you telling your story from your unique
perspective, with a voice and style that’s clearly all you?
Ann Handley @annhandley
Chief Content Officer,
MarketingProfs
#CMWorld Presentation:
Moving from Journalist to Content
Marketer

10. #CMWorld
Tell the Best Story for Your Audience
“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to."
"I don't much care where –"
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
That exchange between Alice and the Cheshire Cat is as good a reminder
as any about the need for a strategy before one starts slinging content at
the metaphorical wall.
For all of the hype we hear about content - the need for it, it’s primacy, the
fuel behind social, the debate of quantity (I’ve heard the term “content
bombing”) versus quality (scarcity will drive demand, right?), content this,
content that - it can be too tempting to simply jump in and produce
without a well thought-out strategy.
If, like Alice, you don’t much care what kind of audience you attract, then
the Cheshire Cat is quite right: it doesn’t matter which kind of content you
create.
If, however, you have some goals in mind and know what outcomes you’d
like to see, you’ll have a foothold.
Scott Monty @ScottMonty
Executive VP of Strategy at
SHIFT Communications
#CMWorld Presentation:
What You Need to Do Now to
Find and Nurture Your
Company Spokesperson

11. #CMWorld
Tell the Best Story for Your Audience
Here are some essential questions to ask yourself:
- What’s your story?
- How do you want people to perceive your brand/product/service?
- What formats will you select (text, audio, video) and on what platforms?
- Who is best to tell your story; who will your audience trust most?
- What action do you want them to take based on the interaction?
- What’s next?
One of the most critical points is to map out the audience journey based on
where they are in the sales cycle. If they’re researching, they’ll need a
completely different kind of content than those who are purchasing.
But the key is how you move them from one phase to the next by building a
relationship with them around the relevant content. They should return like
readers to a long book, enjoying chapter after chapter of the story you tell.
And then, like Alice, they’ll be saying, “I can’t go back to yesterday
because I was a different person then.”
Scott Monty @ScottMonty
Executive VP of Strategy at
SHIFT Communications
#CMWorld Presentation:
What You Need to Do Now to
Find and Nurture Your
Company Spokesperson

12. “Not once have we shared
a brand’s content because
it was Tuesday at 1pm.
People share emotions.”
Scott Stratten @unmarketing
#CMWorld

13. #CMWorld
“I don't think..." then you shouldn't talk, said the Hatter.”
Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
Monthly, weekly, daily. In the afternoon. In the morning.
When you ask people how often they should produce content, the answer
always ends up being about a spot on the calendar. It used to be biweekly in
the old days. Then became weekly and now it seems multiple times a day. 3
blog posts a week, 10 tweets a day, 5 Instagram pics and 1 Facebook post
an hour. With a picture. And a motivational quote.
But not even once have I, or you, shared a piece of another brand’s content
because it was “Tuesday at 2pm” or because it was a picture with 10% text
on Facebook. People share emotions. When you evoke that, people react.
The surest way to create the one emotion that doesn’t lead to sharing
content, apathy, is to send out content because you “should”.
Blog when you have something to say that is worth saying. Share a picture
on Facebook when it’s something worth seeing. Creating content for the sake
of content is killing our audience slowly.
The best thing we can do when someone comes into our content funnel is to
make them feel glad they did.
Respect Your Audience
Scott Stratten @unmarketing
President at Unmarketing
#CMWorld Keynote:
Data, Digits & Dummies - What
You Know about Content
Marketing May Be Wrong

14. #CMWorld
Compelling Content Methodology
We’re ignoring the basics. So many of us start contributing to content
without thought. Marking off content checklists that were created long before
our time. Introducing bad habits from previous employers. Stop.
Don't waste your time creating content without thought. Because it's wasting our
prospect's time opening it and hitting that dreaded "unsubscribe" button. We're
losing prospects with content written for the wrong audience. Bad content.
Bad content wastes our company’s money too. Consider this: for every 10
hours you spend writing a piece, 3 hours are spent getting approvals from
stakeholders and merging edits, 2 hours are spent by content reviewers, 2
hours are spent in design, and 50 hours are spent for translation and
regional review. And those 67 hours don’t include the time it takes to share,
repurpose, and update the piece.
If understanding audience isn't top on your priority list, stop creating or
asking others to create content.
Convince leadership with numbers. Focus on understanding your audience
by developing personas. Need to convince your boss? Multiply an average
marketing salary by the average time spent creating and sharing a piece
(content cost). Determine download and share rates of existing pieces
(content success).
Leigh Blaylock @leighblaylock
Manager of Content Marketing
at Red Hat
#CMWorld Presentation:
Avoiding Content Chaos: A
Phased, Repeatable Approach

15. #CMWorld
Compelling Content Methodology
Build personas simply. Start simple with personas. Interview co-workers who
are potential buyers within your company’s industry. For example, a technology
company selling IT solutions with an IT team facing the same challenges.
Use those interviews as a persona foundation that you can grow as time and
resources become available. And don’t go at it alone. Ask around to see if
others are interested in joining your persona development team.
Don’t stop with persona development. Personas are only effective if they’re
used. To help:
•! Create an interactive “Understanding buyer personas” training. How do
you convince content contributors to attend? Feed them.
•! Create short, scannable persona resources so contributors can quickly get
what they need.
•! Put processes in place so that content contributors have to identify the
persona before they create content (e.g., build a persona question into a
content template).
Create compelling content. You’re ready!
Leigh Blaylock @leighblaylock
Manager of Content Marketing
at Red Hat
#CMWorld Presentation:
Avoiding Content Chaos: A
Phased, Repeatable Approach

16. “Publication is not
distribution and a content
marketing strategy without
audience development is
no strategy at all.”
Jeff Rohrs @jkrohrs
#CMWorld

17. #CMWorld
All content marketers are a bit mad. There is more content being produced every day
than any person could consume in a lifetime; and yet, we venture forth to do what?
Produce more content.
We do so because we’re betting on ourselves. We’re betting that we can rise above
all that other content and reach clients, prospects, and influencers that matter to our
company. And so 99 percent of our effort goes into creating amazing content
thinking best content wins. And then we hit “publish” and wait. And wait. And wait.
We collectively suffer from Audience Assumption Disorder, the magical belief that
great content magnetically draws the audiences we need to succeed. However,
publication is not distribution, and a content marketing strategy without an audience
development plan is no strategy at all.
There is no magic potion you can drink to make your audience magically double or
triple in size; rather, there is the hard work of growing your audience with each new
piece of content you produce. You must always be building audiences (ABBA).
Audience development is part and parcel of content marketing, and it’s simply not
enough to put 1 percent of your effort there. You must create content with your
audience and action in mind.
(ABBA) Always Be Building Audiences
Jeff Rohrs @jkrohrs
President at ExactTarget
#CMWorld Presentation:
The Legal Ramifications of
Content Marketing

18. #CMWorld
To do these things, we’re going to have to build allegiances with some odd
characters:
•! The White Rabbits who handle email marketing—obsessed with time and
protective of their subscribers’ permission.
•! The Cheshire Cats of social media—with their ever-smiling faces and
audiences that can be as helpful as they are disruptive to traditional media.
•! The Mad Hatter of measurement—with his focus on performance metrics
to gauge whether and how you succeed.
Through these allegiances, we can achieve more than we ever could on our own.
Instead of a “publish and pray” mentality, we “build and serve” audiences
across email, mobile, and social channels—optimizing for the ones that
produce the greatest outcomes for our business.
Our challenge as content marketers today is to build upon our success just like
Lewis Carroll. Don’t fall prey to Audience Assumption Disorder. No matter how
great your content is, it could always benefit from more thought and
collaboration with peers to ensure that it resonates with a meaningful, target
audience and helps you grow your subscribers, fans, and followers for future
content.
Jeff Rohrs @jkrohrs
President at ExactTarget
#CMWorld Presentation:
The Legal Ramifications of
Content Marketing
(ABBA) Always Be Building Audiences

19. #CMWorld
Attracting an Audience 7 Ways
To attract an audience that converts to high quality leads and sales, follow
these 7 key content marketing tactics.
1. Know your target market. Expand your focus beyond prospects to include
influencers, end-users, buyers and fans. Create a tailored marketing persona
to ground your content creation.
2. Provide the 5 basic content types. Since prospects are at least 58% of
the way through the purchase process before they contact you, give them the
information they need to make a purchase decision. To this end, supply
detailed product information, answer prospect and customer questions,
teach customers to use your products, show customers how to style your
products, and supply customer ratings and reviews.
3. Extend your content offering with content curation. Content curation
success depends on discovering, selecting and packaging high value,
sharable information your prospects seek. To build thought leadership and
extend reach, content curation should account for 25% of your content.
Heidi Cohen @heidicohen
President at Riverside Marketing
Strategies
#CMWorld Presentation:
How to Develop a Content
Curation Strategy for Your
Organization

20. #CMWorld
Attracting an Audience 7 Ways
4. Integrate your brand 360° into every piece of content. Ensure every piece
of content contributes to building your brand and keeping your name top of
mind.
5. Maximize content marketing effectiveness to attract the largest
audience possible. Make your content irresistible with alluring headline,
attractive image, easy-to-scan text, appropriate social proof, and optimized
for findability.
6. Distribute your content broadly. Spend at least as much time promoting
your content as you do creating it. Leverage every distribution outlet at your
disposal including advertising where appropriate.
7. Incorporate a contextually relevant call-to-action in every piece of
content. Focus on getting interested readers into in your purchase funnel
rather than straight for the sale. Where appropriate link to product pages.
Use these 7 tactics while testing new ways to improve the contribution each
makes to building your audience.
Heidi Cohen @heidicohen
President at Riverside Marketing
Strategies
#CMWorld Presentation:
How to Develop a Content
Curation Strategy for Your
Organization

21. #CMWorld
Welcome to Wonderland (otherwise known as the Internet). In this magical
land, brands can be built and startups launched – if they please a certain
colorful and vocal group of characters known as the audience.
Why audience? Because in Wonderland, media producers are the most effective
marketers, and prospects will seek engaging and instructive content before
they’ll entertain your pitch.
1. Research (Down the Rabbit Hole) – For Alice, it all starts when she ventures
down the Rabbit Hole. Same for you, as you dive head first into the world (and
worldviews) of your prospects.
Research reveals their problems and desires, which become your topics. Search
and social media show you the language and attitudes defining those topics.
2. Observe (Find the Cheshire Cat’s Grin) - Alice encounters a curious cat,
who disappears all except for his gigantic grin. In our Wonderland, the grin is
all that matters. The audience determines what it likes, and they’ll tell you – by
sharing, linking, commenting, and buying.
Building an Audience in Wonderland
Brian Clark @brianclark
CEO at Copyblogger
#CMWorld Presentation:
Writer, Producer, Director: How
to Marry Content Marketing to
Your Business Model

22. #CMWorld
Research helps you develop a strategy. But actually putting the content out
there is the only way to know what works. And you need an initial promotional
catalyst, either via the right influencers or paid distribution channels.
3. Iterate (Embrace the Mad Tea Party) - Wonderland is real-time, where
strategy constantly evolves. Like the riddles posed to Alice at the Mad Tea
Party, the real-time Internet presents a constant stream of answers to the
question of what your prospects need to know to do business with you – if
you’re looking.
Ride your winners, shed your losers, and know that the prospect has way more
control of the buying process than you do. The companies that win embrace the
madness in the ordinary course of business, not as “marketing campaigns.”
Just remember, most of Wonderland doesn’t matter. Delight your perfect
prospect with a unique voice and content that takes a stand, and let the cards
fall where they may with those who are not your intended audience.
Building an Audience in Wonderland
Brian Clark @brianclark
CEO at Copyblogger
#CMWorld Presentation:
Writer, Producer, Director: How
to Marry Content Marketing to
Your Business Model

23. “Develop empathy for the
people using your content
through context, curiosity
& real-time feedback.”
Jonathon Colman @jcolman
#CMWorld

24. #CMWorld
“You would have to be half mad to dream me up.”
— Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
Listen: empathy is hard. Really hard. You may think diamonds are hard, but
that’s nothing compared to empathy, my friend.
It’s hard to have real empathy for real people’s experiences if we don’t get to
really know the people themselves. Not just in aggregate analytics or search
queries… I mean the real deal: actually talking with people.
Or, better still, listening to them.
Developing empathy for the people using your content, services, or products
can help you learn how to serve them better. Here are three ways to jump-
start your empathy:
1. Context
2. Curiosity
3. Real-time feedback
Serve Your Audience Better: Empathy
Jonathon Colman @jcolman
Content Strategist at Facebook
#CMWorld Presentation:
Building Better Products with
Content Strategy

25. #CMWorld
1. You can’t develop empathy without context
Talk and build a relationship with some of the real people who use your content,
services, or products. Even a handful will do. Arrange to talk with them in
person. Watch them as they browse your site or use your app on mobile while
waiting in line at the coffee shop. This gives you a new understanding of what
people need from you and your content.
2. Embody the notion of “Curiouser and curiouser!”
One of the most powerful questions that you can ask a person is “Why?” Sure,
you may be great at using analytics to measure every nuance of people’s
behavior on your site or in your app. But analytics only tell us what people did,
not why they did it. So don’t presume that you know—just ask.
3. Real-time feedback
Many companies put up displays all over the office that are filled with analytics
data and milestone metrics. But what about feedback from the people using your
content? You can display that, too. And while you can build metrics around this
feedback (sentiment, influence, comments/hour, etc.), it’s even more powerful to
display people’s actual comments directly on screen. Follow that up by building
rapid workflows to solve problems and you’re putting empathy into action!
Serve Your Audience Better: Empathy
Jonathon Colman @jcolman
Content Strategist at Facebook
#CMWorld Presentation:
Building Better Products with
Content Strategy

26. #CMWorld
Content Performances
"The audience is the most revered member of the theater. Without an audience, there is no theater.
Everything done is ultimately for the enjoyment of the audience. They are our guests, fellow
players, and the last spoke in the wheel which can then begin to roll. They make the performance
meaningful." - Viola Spolin
Creating clear, concise, compelling content is a requirement. But, it’s not
enough. In order to create successful content marketing programs, we must
start thinking of our prospects and customers as our audience. And, we need
to learn how to treat them that way.
Audiences exist to be entertained or informed about something that
interests them. They don’t wake up wondering about your latest product or
service, your new partner program, and they certainly don’t care about your
lead generation goals.
Provide value in a creative package. As content marketers, we should aim
to treat those we hope to attract as we would an audience at a theatre or a
lecture. We must rise above the noise and differentiate ourselves from the
competition.
Scott Abel @scottabel
Chief Strategist at The Content
Wrangler
#CMWorld Panel:
Oh No! Please Don’t Do That:
Avoiding the Big Mistakes When
Going Global

27. #CMWorld
Content Performances
Here are a few tips to help you develop your audience:
•! Don’t be boring! Shake it up a bit. If it’s something amazing — truly
amazing — consider sharing it.
•! Step outside your comfort zone. Share content that dares to be
different. Daring content is interesting content.
•! Publish great content from a wide variety of sources, even from your
competitors. Doing so shows competence and confidence.
•! Have fun. Comedy can attract and repel. The trick is to attract more than
you repel. Be selective, but not afraid.
•! Be authentic. No one likes a phony baloney. Just be who you are and the
audience that values what you share will follow.
Without an audience, there’s no reason for you — or your content — to
exist. Without an audience, all you are doing is rehearsing.
Scott Abel @scottabel
Chief Strategist at The Content
Wrangler
#CMWorld Panel:
Oh No! Please Don’t Do That:
Avoiding the Big Mistakes When
Going Global

28. #CMWorld
Speak Customer
“Speak English!' said the Eaglet. 'I don't know the meaning of half those long words, and I don't
believe you do either!” Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
Marketers know that it’s essential to use meaningful words to engage their
audiences. So why is audience-focused content as scarce as white roses in
the Queen of Heart’s garden? And what can we do to choose our words more
wisely?
The source of our dilemma is fairly simple. When we spend most of our time
with internal stakeholders who speak the company language, and almost no
time with the external audiences who have entirely different needs and
perceptions, it’s easy to miss the fact that we have a failure to
communicate.
As it turns out, this problem is self-reinforcing. The pressure to do
something to influence audiences puts so much emphasis on marketing
deliverables that there is never enough time to get to know the people who
matter most.
Adele Revella @buyerpersona
CEO and Founder, Buyer Persona
Institute
#CMWorld Presentation:
How SAP Builds Processes and
Personas that Align Their 1600-
Person Marketing Team

29. #CMWorld
Speak Customer
Fortunately, companies are starting to notice that this is a rabbit hole they
can’t escape without one or more of the following investments:
1. Make listening a top priority. Spend at least a few hours each month in
actual conversation with buyers. Don’t distance yourself with a survey based
on the questions that matter to you. Get on the phone and have an
unscripted conversation with a real buyer, asking them to tell you their own
story about how they make the decisions you want to influence.
2. Talk to your sales and marketing peers about what you’re hearing from
buyers, the new knowledge or insights you’re gaining, and how this
information could reshape your marketing activities so that you can deliver
more value to your audiences.
3. Build buyer personas that capture the essence of what you hear, and
make sure that everyone on the marketing team relies on them to make
audience-focused decisions. When the internal dialogue begins to look like a
Mad Tea Party, look for clarity by listening to what your buyer persona has to
say.
Adele Revella @buyerpersona
CEO and Founder, Buyer Persona
Institute
#CMWorld Presentation:
How SAP Builds Processes and
Personas that Align Their 1600-
Person Marketing Team

30. LEARN EVEN MORE ABOUT CONTENT MARKETING
Join 3,500 industry peers from 50 countries, 100+ speakers,
and leading Fortune 500 brands at:
CONTENT MARKETING WORLD 2015
September 8-11, 2015
www.contentmarketingworld.com
REGISTER TODAY
Use code
“TopRank”
for $100 off
of Main Event
and All-Access
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33. Be sure to check out the next eBook in the
Content Marketing in Wonderland series:
A Visual Content Marketing Strategy
at: toprankblog.com
Next: Visual Content
Coming: Aug 18, 2014