This document outlines 8 steps to building influence through content marketing: 1) Determine your audience, 2) Form your message, 3) Research publications, 4) Develop topic ideas, 5) Organize expertise in a knowledge bank, 6) Reach out to editors, 7) Create great content consistently, and 8) Maximize your content. Creating engaging content, finding time to publish, and pitching to influential sites are some of the top challenges marketers face that this 8 step process aims to address.
1. 8 Steps To Building Your
Brand’s Influence
@AMASTL
@InfluenceAndCo
@themattkamp
2. We build thought leadership for brands
through original, high-quality content.
• Founded in 2011 to address the
emerging trend of thought leadership,
now 55 FT employees
• Named to Forbes' “America’s Most
Promising Companies” list in 2014
• Considered “the largest provider of
thought leadership content in the
country”
14. THE TIME VALUE OF CONTENT: OUR NUMBERS
In a June blog post, we analyzed the
last 90 days of blog content:
24,197 article views of our own blog:
Only 10,481 views (43.3%) from past 90 days articles
13,716 views (56.7%) from 90+ days ago
More Content = More Opportunity Over Time
15. (GOOD) CONTENT
MARKETING IS HARD
Content Marketing Institute studies have found that only 38%
of marketers in 2015 say that their organization is at least
“effective” at content marketing.
25. Elements of a Documented Strategy
• Value prop
• Competitive analysis
• Brand voice
• Personas
• Pain points (i.e. topics)
• Mediums of distribution
• Goals / Metrics
Influence & Co.
31. Customer pain points
What objections do they have?
How are you different?
What are your core values?
What are the biggest misconceptions in your
industry?
33. Get the Most Out of Your Knowledge Bank
1.Update it regularly
2.Keep your audience in mind.
3.Crowdsource the knowledge
4.Organize your info by category & keywords
5.Make it accessible
Influence & Co.
46. WHEN WRITING AN ARTICLE, ASK YOURSELF:
Who (are you reaching)?
Where (can you reach them)?
What (do they care about)?
Why (should they act on your message)?
How (should they act after you reach them)?
When (are you reaching them in the buying
process)?
54. THE QUANTITATIVE APPROACH: THE METRICS
• Traffic
• Unique visitors per month
• Time on site
• Subscribers
• Social shares
• Call-to-action clicks
• Call-to-action click percentage
• Conversion percentages
• Number of leads
• Number of marketing qualified leads
• Sales numbers
55. THE KEY POINTS OF A SALE
TRUST AND
RESPECT
STAYING TOP-
OF-MIND
INTERNAL
TIMING &
RESOURCES
56. THE QUALITATIVE APPROACH: THE METRICS
Content is the fuel and foundation for business development:
• Opening doors for all business development
• Sales process
• Online profile credibility
• Social media
• Newsletter
• Blog
• Speaking & awards applications
• Lead capture
• Marketing automation / lead nurturing
• Hiring processes
• Customer education & engagement
57. MORAL OF THE STORY?
1. Always be testing.
2. Make data-driven decisions.
It’s not about link building, it’s about creating content that people want to share, want to read. That’s what Google’s doing — they’re rewarding content and moving content to the top that is relevant to the audience. Your goal is to be the expert controlling that message.
*Note: Talk about the challenges for marketers, recruiters, etc. all across your company and YOU guys are the source for it.*
*70% of buyers prefer to read content before making a purchase