Content has become noticeably more popular in recent years. You have probably seen on many of the social media channels the onslaught of articles, infographics, blogs, photos, social posts and videos all trying to communicate a message and compete for the readers’ attention. ! All types of companies, big and small as well as entrepreneurs, and consultants are producing content to let their voice be known, all while trying to carve out their own slice of the market. It’s a daunting task to say the least. What’s even more challenging is the marketer’s job of trying to capture the attention of the people most important to them and measure the efficacy of their content.

1. !
Why is
Content Marketing
Critical For a
Healthy Business?
Published By:
Scott MacFarland | Summer 2015

2. Content has become noticeably more popular in
recent years. You have probably seen on many of
the social media channels the onslaught of articles,
infographics, blogs, photos, social posts and videos
all trying to communicate a message and compete
for the readers’ attention.
!
All types of companies, big and small as well as
entrepreneurs, and consultants are producing
content to let their voice be known, all while trying
to carve out their own slice of the market. It’s a
daunting task to say the least. What’s even more
challenging is the marketer’s job of trying to capture
the attention of the people most important to them
and measure the efficacy of their content.
!
Content Did You Know?
Content marketing
is a strategic
marketing approach
focused on creating
and distributing
valuable, relevant,
and consistent
content to attract
and retain a clearly-
defined audience —
and, ultimately, to
drive profitable
customer action.
“
”- Content Marketing Institute
Photo Credit: UnSplash
2

3. Content
!
Is your marketing message in front of your
prospects so they can see it?
!
blogs, videos, social posts, presentations, live chat, eBooks,
case studies, website, landing pages, emails, text messages,
webex, Google hangouts, demonstrations, advertising, public
relations, podcasts, slideshare, mobile coupons, mobile apps,
display / retargeting, DOOH, crowdsourcing…
— the list is endless!
Photo Credit: UnSplash
Content Question
3

4. Photo Credit: UnSplash
The Content Marketing
Institute’s 2015 Report
shows that marketers
are creating more
content this year
than last year.
Content Creation
- Content Marketing Institute
4
69% of B2C
70% of B2B

5. Those of us who produce content for a living
understand that our job is not just about telling a
story to engage the prospective customer just to
obtain eyeballs on our content. Yes, that is very
important. The real factor that is rarely discussed
and even more rarely executed in marketing
departments is how to measure content so that
ROI is determined.
!
When was the last time you discovered when
one of your customers purchased your product
or service because? They saw your social media
post last Tuesday at 3:15pm? Your email last week
at 8:00am? Your video on YouTube today at
6:30pm? Or your mobile ad or coupon that
appeared at lunchtime? I venture to say that a high
percentage of marketers do not know this answer
and if they think they did, their data may not be as
accurate as they think.
!
Customers Can Be Tricky
Typically customers remember
the last touch point they had
with the company, the most
memorable one or the
instance in which the company
appeared over and over again
creating multiple favorable
impressions over time.
Graphic: Canva | Photo Credit: HubSpot
Content Marketing Used
Most Frequently
Blogging
Social !
Media
65% 64%
- HubSpot
5

6. Photo Credit: HubSpot
“
”- YourBrandExposed.com
Customers are
very smart, but
what they can’t do
is recall 100% of
the time the
absolute marketing
initiative that
caused them
to purchase.
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7. Nearly everything in a business can be described
as playing an important role in content marketing.
However, is it true that not everything in marketing
should be measured? As a career marketer I have
learned to navigate how to craft a marketing
strategy and media mix that can be measured. I
have also learned that not every detail that can
be measured should be measured.
!
If you’re spending time gathering data to put into
a report just so you can look good in front of
executives, maybe you should be honest with
yourself and report numbers and trends that
actually matter. This can be difficult because the
most important numbers are not easy to obtain
unless you have people and technology to help
gather that information over periods of time.
!
!
Should Everything
Be Measured?
Photo Credit: UnSplash
- Vital
21% say they are successful !
at tracking ROI
of those with a !
documented strategy !
say they are successful
35%
“
”
If you don’t
measure it
you can’t
improve it.
- Content Marketing Institute
B2B Marketers
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8. Before you begin measuring anything, you must create a plan that clearly outlines what
is important, otherwise, you will end up spending time trying to measure everything, and
most of it will not be as helpful to you as you would have expected. Don’t fall into this
trap that I like to call “manic measurement.” It’s a major productivity killer. Here are 6
simple questions to ask your marketing team that will help them
start thinking about a measurement plan. This will also help prevent
manic measurement from happening.
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
Create A Measurement Plan
!
• Why do we want to measure?
• How do we plan on measuring the process?
• How often do we need to capture data and measure?
• Once we have the data, how do we plan on using it for an immediate
plan of action as well as for long-term trending analysis?
• What tools and resources are needed?
• If our measurement plan is successful, what must happen?
!
!
Graphic: Canva | Photo Credit: UnSplash
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9. Photo Credit: UnSplash
Content ROI
Can every
marketer
measure every
piece of content
to establish ROI?
Companies are now spending
16% of their overall budget
on marketing content
70% of content created by
marketing is never used
True or False?
Answer: Page 26
9

10. Photo Credit: UnSplash
Marketers know the value of their content
extremely well. They wouldn't be
producing content if they didn't see that
it has value. But, can we all honestly say
every piece of content we create can be
tracked all the way to ROI?
– I don’t think so.
!
However, if you have a measurement plan
in place, content has a much better
chance of being measured so that it will
be determined if it is valuable or not.
Increased value most likely leads to
increased sales.
Content ROI
In marketing, content
may be important,
however, increased
revenues and profitability
are the goals.
Think about how
your content plays
a role in these.
If your website’s
ranking matters to
you whatsoever,
content marketing
puts you in a
position of SEO
power in 2015.
“
”- SocialMediaToday
10

11. Repurpose Content Who Do You Trust?
Company
advertising
is trusted
!
!
of the time
Don’t just create content once
and use it once. That’s bad
business. Make sure you create
it once and post, tweet, produce
and blog about it several times
to get maximum value and return
on content investment.
Company
experts
are trusted
!
!
of the time
47% 66%
- Forbes
11
Photo Credit: UnSplash
!
!
Tip: Create your marketing content internally and deploy it in
as many places as possible. Create it once, use it 10 times!
!
!

12. Photo Credit: UnSplash
Real World Example:
Marketers cringe when the CEO strolls in the office and asks the
question, “Do you know what your ROI is on the content your team is
producing?” You better have a well thought-out answer for this or else
your job may be on the line.
!
On page 13 are many ways for your marketing team to create
heightened content awareness all from repurposing your content.
When you try this, you will soon see that open rates, views, clicks,
form submissions, inquiries and overall brand lift occurs. Make sure
you know these numbers and review them frequently. Then, when
the CEO walks in your office, your answer won’t be a fluffy, creative
response that sounds like you really have no idea what you’re talking
about.
!
!
Do you know what your ROI is on the content
your marketing team is producing?
12

13. Photo Credit: scoop.it
If you are unsure of
ways to repurpose
your content, take a
look at how scoop.it
does it. This graphic
gives some ideas of
how to take your
existing content and
use it in other ways.
This also can prove
that your cost to
produce content is
lower than just
producing it once
and distributing it
once.
!
13

14. Photo Credit: YourBrandExposed
Research shows that lists with 10 items had 4
times as many social shares than the second
most popular list that had even more items on it.
The goal here is to generate more eyeballs and
shares so that your content is seen and more
customer touchpoints are created.
!
Tip:
For instance, If you know your blog took 1 hour
to write, and is also getting 1,000 views per
month and then shared 4 times beyond that,
you can then provide a metric that determines
the cost of producing that content along with the
number of people that saw it. This can become
a great data point that suggests your content
marketing is more cost effective than even paid
media.
Lists with 10 items on
average received the
most social shares
(on average 10,621
social shares)
Lists with 10 items
also have
as many
social shares on
average than the 2nd
most popular list: 23
4
- iblogzone
Social Sharing
14
x

15. !
Infographics are shared 2x more than
presentations, and 3x more than
documents on other social networks,
such as LinkedIn,Twitter and Facebook.
“
”
Photo Credit: YourBrandExposed
– Slideshare
15

16. Photo Credit: YourBrandExposed
!
Posts with visuals receive more
page visits and engagement
than those without. – WishPond
94% more
16

17. Photo Credit: UnSplash
As you know, content
comes in many forms.
Therefore, you must pay
close attention to how you
produce your content and
deliver it to your customers.
Content Tips
17
Get a jump start with
these amazing 8 tips!

18. Photo Credit: UnSplash
Long Form Content
If you’ve been told like I have to write content articles
and blogs in 1,000 words or less, you better think again.
Longer articles that are 3,000-10,000 words in length get
shared approximately twice as much as articles that are
0-1,000 words. Wow, I guess size does really matter!
- Content Marketing Institute
Content Tips
01
18

19. Photo Credit: UnSplash
Some Days Are Better Than Others
Facebook: Engagement peaks on Thursday and Friday
Twitter: B2C Engagement is highest on Wednesdays & weekends
LinkedIn: Best days to post are Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
Pinterest: Best day to Pin - Saturday
Google+: Weekdays are best
Instagram: Mondays have slight edge over the other days
!
!
!
!
- QuickSprout
Content Tips
19
02

20. Photo Credit: UnSplash
Resources
Every marketer needs resources. Here are a few of my favorite
tools to use when creating content. Watch out, once you start
using them, you may never stop.
Content Tips
HubSpot Topic Generator http://www.hubspot.com/blog-topic-generator
Hemingway App http://www.hemingwayapp.com
Headline Analyzer http://www.aminstitute.com/headline/
Canva (Design) https://www.canva.com
UnSplash (Photos) https://unsplash.com
Piktochart (Infographics) https://magic.piktochart.com
Trello (Organization) https://trello.com
- YourBrandExposed
20
03

21. Content Tips
21
04Infographics
These have become very popular now because people like
to view and scan photos and imagery more than read long
streams of text. Infographics are shared more often than
any other piece of content, even more than photos and
videos. Use them to tell a complex story that has lots of
data. It will help to simplify the process and get your point
across faster.
!
Tip: People’s brains process imagery 60,000 times
faster than text.
!
Photo Credit: UnSplash
- HubSpot

22. Photo Credit: UnSplash
Images
Facebook, posts with images receive more than twice as
many shares than posts without images. The same is
true with Twitter.
!
Tip: Take photos with your smartphone to help tell the
story, or you can use apps like Canva to help spruce-up
your articles. If you knew that your next post was going
to double in shares because it had a nice image, would
you use it? Of course you would.
- Content Marketing Institute
Content Tips
22
05

23. Photo Credit: HubSpot
Quizzes
The average quiz gets shared 1,900 times. Whoa, that’s a
lot higher than an infographic or long form article. Take
time to think about what quiz questions you want to ask
your audience and get it out to the constituents that mean
the most to your business. You will be surprised at how
much it will be shared far beyond your followers.
!
Tip: Quizzes are also great ways to conduct market
research.
!
!
- BuzzSumo
Content Tips
23
06

24. Photo Credit: UnSplash
Mobile Video
We all know that mobile video is on the rise.
However, I do not think anyone would accurately
estimate that 92% of mobile video viewers share
videos with others. If you haven’t thought about
this yet, maybe it’s time to start thinking about how
to integrate mobile video into your digital content
strategy.
!
!
! - Adeliestudios
Content Tips
24
07

25. Photo Credit: HubSpot
Brand Affinity, Equity and Loyalty
Marketers, if your content is being shared, discussed,
liked, favorited and even commented on, you are building
brand affinity and also establishing brand equity and
loyalty.
!
Tip: Monitor what customers are saying on social since
that’s the best place to capture the immediate pulse of
your customers and how they feel about your content.
Also, think about directing those customers into the sales
funnel so that you can begin to capture data and convert.
!
!
!
Content Tips
25
08

26. Photo Credit: UnSplash
We all pretty much know that content is
king and it always has been. But, can the
King deliver the goods when it comes to
revenue? That’s a really good question that
not every marketer can answer.
!
Let’s get back to the scenario of when the
CEO walks in your office and asks,
“Can you tell me what the ROI is of your
content?” Your answer should be,
“I am so glad you asked”— then you
can dive into how much more visibility
and vital exposure your content
received because of how you learned
to repurpose, measure and establish
content ROI.
Content is King
and it can lead to
increased revenue
if you plan your
content marketing
strategy carefully
26
“
”- YourBrandExposed.com

27. Photo Credit: UnSplash
About the Author:
27
Scott MacFarland has 28 years of content, marketing and digital expertise
while working in broadcast television, agencies, digital production,
corporate and start-ups. His marketing work has been seen and
experienced by customers around the globe. Scott has also been
recognized and awarded for his work with hundreds of domestic and
international brands in multiple industries.
!
Scott is an accomplished consultant, strategist, blogger, speaker, publisher
and thought leader on the topics of digital, social media, business and
content marketing. He is currently published on the Huffington Post,
LinkedIn, Pulse, Slideshare, Onboardonline and YourBrandExposed.com.
!
Scott MacFarland
Chief Evangelist | Digital Marketing Strategist
YourBrandExposed.com

28. Sources
Page 2 -
Content Marketing Institute
http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/what-is-content-marketing/
!
Page 4-
Content Marketing Institute
http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/
!
Page 5 -
Canva
HubSpot: http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/visual-content-marketing-strategy
!
Page 6 -
http://www.yourbrandexposed.com
!
Page 7 -
If you cant measure, you can’t prove
https://vtldesign.com/inbound-marketing/16-marketing-kpis-to-measure/
!
http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/
2014/10/2015_B2B_Research.pdf
!
Page 9 -
True or False? Both answers are True
http://www.docurated.com/all-things-productivity/marketing-performance-
measurements
!
!
Page 11 -
Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/sujanpatel/2015/02/18/9-actionable-content-
marketing-tips-from-top-industry-experts/2/
!
Page 13 -
http://leancontent.scoop.it
!
!
!
!
!
Page 14 -
http://www.iblogzone.com/2015/05/how-to-create-traffic-driving-blog-
posts-5-hacks.html
!
http://blog.wishpond.com/post/70300587846/10-reasons-visual-content-
will-dominate-2014
!
Page 15 -
https://blog.slideshare.net/2013/09/11/infographics-are-more-viral/
!
Page 16 -
http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/
2014/10/2015_B2C_Research.pdf
!
Page 17 -
http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/
2014/10/2015_B2C_Research.pdf
!
Page 18 -
blog.slideshare.net/2013/09/11/infographics-are-more-viral/
!
Page 21 -
http://www.quicksprout.com/2015/01/02/what-are-the-best-times-to-
post-on-social-media/
!
Page 22 -
60,000 times faster
http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33423/19-Reasons-You-
Should-Include-Visual-Content-in-Your-Marketing-Data.aspx
!
Page 23 - Quizzes
http://buzzsumo.com/blog/quizzes-content-marketings-secret-weapon/
!
Page 24 - mobile videos
http://www.adeliestudios.com/top-15-video-marketing-statistics-2015/
!
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29. !
Why is
Content Marketing
Critical For a
Healthy Business?
Published By:
Scott MacFarland | Summer 2015
Special thanks to
UnSplash.com for their
awesome photos!
Find Scott On:
Huffington Post
LinkedIn
Twitter
@scmacfarland
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