Introduction to Content Marketing Strategy: What We\u2019ll Cover<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
If you\u2019re new to content marketing, read the whole thing. If you care about a particular section, jump around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sections:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Preparing for Battle<\/a>\n
- \n
- Buyer Personas<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Content Audiences (and Why It Isn\u2019t Always Your Core Customer\/User)<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
- SWOT and Strategy Audits<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Estimating Impact and Feasibility of Your Strategy<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- The Economics of Content<\/a>\n
- \n
- Cheap vs. Expensive content<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
- How much does it \u201ccost\u201d to rank?<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Maximizing Resources & ROI<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Content Planning<\/a>\n
- \n
- How Buyers Search, and How Searchers Buy<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Business KPIs and What to Track<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Keyword\/Topic research<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Content Models (Pillar & Cluster Model)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Content Creation<\/a>\n
- \n
- Link + Share hooks<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Promotion tactics<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Measuring Results<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Content Optimization<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Content Auditing and Maintenance<\/a>\n
- \n
- Looking Forward & Changing Course<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Yep, it\u2019s gonna be a big guide. Let\u2019s do this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nPreparing for Battle (the Building Blocks of Content Strategy)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
\u201cIf you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.\u201d \u2013 Sun Tzu<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Knowing yourself consists of knowing your strengths and weaknesses, and it also consists of knowing who your customer is and how you will reach them (and win their love and loyalty).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Knowing your enemy means knowing the competitive landscape as well as the content marketing space as a whole, and understanding how you can operate on an edge that you can win. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We can also say: know your landscape. This consists in knowing not only your customer and your competition, but the influencers, blogs, publications, and platforms you can use to distribute and amplify your content, and how you can use these tools to reach your potential customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You do all this before you ever put pen to paper, by the way; but you also refine this knowledge over time and with new learnings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Buyer Personas (a Quick and Dirty Guide)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The first thing to think about when embarking on a content marketing program<\/a> is who you\u2019re hoping to reach. Who is your buyer, how do they prefer to learn about products, and what type of language do they use to describe their problems and hopes?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For these questions, buyer personas can be invaluable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These aren\u2019t just content marketing problems, of course. Personas are also helpful for product strategy and go-to-market strategy, among other things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ll briefly cover the dos and don\u2019ts of buyer personas here, but if you want a really robust method of doing personas, read this guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First, what is a persona? This is my favorite definition<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n
\u201cPersonas are fictional representations<\/strong> and generalizations of a cluster of your target users<\/strong>who exhibit similar attitudes, goals, and behaviors in relation to your product<\/strong>. They\u2019re human-like snapshots of relevant and meaningful<\/strong> commonalities in your customer groups and are based on user research.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve bolded several parts, because I think ignoring them is largely why most personas suck and why they fail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fictional representations<\/strong>: Your persona isn\u2019t a real person, so it shouldn\u2019t be a successful customer or account you choose to profile. It\u2019s a generalization that is used to help craft messaging, campaigns, and business decisions, so it needs to be somewhat loose and archetypical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cluster of your target users:<\/strong> Your persona won\u2019t be a one-to-one match for each individual customer. Think about it as a mean \u2013 variance means that each individual data point (customer) will still probably vary from the average (your persona), but defining the average (the center of the cluster) will still help you reach each individual data point in the cluster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nIn relation to your product:<\/strong> Your persona\u2019s characteristics should map to things related to your product and the buying process that a customer goes through to reach your product and use it. The dimensions you define shouldn\u2019t be stupid and irrelevant things like their eye color, gender, or if they like to ski (unless you sell skis).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Relevant and meaningful:<\/strong> I just wanted to repeat that your persona shouldn\u2019t be a cheesy representation of a cartoon character with a cute name and hobbies and interests that aren\u2019t relevant to what you\u2019re doing with your business. Leave the superfluous character development to your novel writing side hustle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Based on user research<\/strong>: Very important! Don\u2019t make shit up! Do your research. Apply evidence-based personas, and you\u2019ll make better decisions. Though you\u2019ll never reach the perfect representation of your customer, you do want what you define to be accurate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So a good persona might look like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nImage Source<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A bad persona might look like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\nI\u2019m not trilingual (yet<\/a>), and it probably wouldn\u2019t matter if I were (unless you\u2019re Duolingo or teaching people how to learn Spanish). 3.23 blog posts is too specific to be useful, and it doesn\u2019t matter that I\u2019m male, 27 years old, or that I enjoy extreme sports, if what you\u2019re selling is a SaaS tool to better manage your client proposals. And what an atrociously distracting stock photo <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A good heuristic<\/strong>: if a model helps you make better decisions, it\u2019s a good model. There\u2019s no perfect model<\/a>, but models should be consistently directionally accurate and useful. If your persona helps you reach your audience with content, it\u2019s worth creating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another note: your personas aren\u2019t static. Audiences change, and so do product strategies. Additionally, you\u2019ll learn more about your customers as you progress, so take a look at your personas every three to six months and update them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Content Audiences (and Why It Isn\u2019t Always Your Core Customer\/User)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Defining your customer is one thing, and it\u2019s important. But it\u2019s also important to note that, in content marketing strategy<\/a>, your audience isn\u2019t always your customers\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Huh?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
See, sometimes your primary audience (who you produce content for) is different than the end audience (your customer). If SEO is your main model, then you\u2019ll need backlinks to make it work, and very few of your customers will have the ability to give you authoritative backlinks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even if you\u2019re drumming up awareness and educating an industry on a product they\u2019ve never heard of (and didn\u2019t know how to search for), you\u2019re often speaking first to the influencers in the space, who then in turn speak to your customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nSo the question then becomes: who are your industries influencers? Sometimes, at least in SEO, we call these people the Linkerati<\/a> (those in power with the ability to bestow powerful backlinks).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Your best bet is to do three things:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Know the landscape (understand who is powerful).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Make friends with the influencers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Craft content so it appeals to their tastes.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
If everyone did just these three steps, you\u2019d hear far fewer people complain about poor results from their content marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here are five methods for mapping out your influencer landscape\/Linkerati:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Ask your customers who they read\/trust when you do persona research<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Find top influencers using Buzzsumo (and other methods)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Find top blogs and publications using Ahrefs (and other methods)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Find \u201cunderground\u201d channels where influencers congregate<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Find the top conferences and meetups in your space<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
In my opinion, you should do all of these things. If you want content marketing to really work well, networking and relationships shouldn\u2019t be an afterthought, but a core part of how you operate. As Robert Greene suggests<\/a>, \u201cDo Not Build Fortresses To Protect Yourself (Isolation Is Dangerous).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. Ask your customers who they read\/trust when you do persona research<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you talk to your customers, ask them what they read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I build this into my persona research. When I send out customer surveys, I include a few questions like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- How do you learn new skills\/info? (scale, followed by a bunch of factors like \u201cblogs\u201d and \u201cconferences\u201d)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- What publications do you read? (open ended)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
You\u2019ll sometimes find that different personas have different tastes in blogs and content. This is an important thing to note, as it can define how your form comarketing partnerships and PR launches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2. Find top influencers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Apart from publications, you want to identify individuals who command a ton of influence and reach. Sometimes you\u2019ll know these people just by knowing your space. For example, if you\u2019re in the CRO or Analytics spaces, you know that Peep Laja<\/a> and Avinash Kaushik<\/a> are influential names.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But if you want to formalize the research process, BuzzSumo<\/a> is a great tool for this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nYou can also look for \u201ctop influencers to follow on Twitter lists,\u201d but I wouldn\u2019t stop at these, since they tend to be circle jerks that list the same people on every list. That means the people on the list are constantly getting hounded with requests, so they\u2019ll be less likely to work with you (and probably not as effective anyway).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
3. Find top blogs and publications<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Content marketing almost always relies on SEO as a distribution avenue, so you\u2019ll want to find the top blogs in your space. First and foremost, look at Ahrefs to find similar domains to your own and your top competitors:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nI like to find which sites link to competitors content as well:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nSecond, you can use a tool like Growth Bot<\/a> to find organic competitors to different blogs:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThird, you can scrape those awful software comparison aggregator sites like Capterra to find others in your immediate and secondary product categories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nFinally, you probably know a lot of the top blogs or you can search for them with queries like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n
\u201cTop [keyword] blogs in [year]\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Put all of these on a spreadsheet with their corresponding domain authority. A fast way to find domain authority is with a bulk domain analyzer such that Ahrefs has.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nImage Source<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
4. Find \u201cunderground\u201d channels where influencers congregate<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
The people who matter usually talk to each other, and not always on public forums. Sometimes there are Slack groups, and sometimes there are Facebook or LInkedIn groups. Sometimes it happens in person. I can\u2019t speak to the industry you operate in, but you need to get to know it well enough to know where these secret circles are and how you can get invited in. These are probably the most important piece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
5. Find the top conferences and meetups in your space<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gotta get outside and actually meet people face to face sometimes. I find this is my greatest leverage point, as most people just cold email behind a computer, but if you can share a beer with people you can form a true bond. Plus, the \u201coff the record\u201d conversations you have at conferences will far outweigh the value of any content that is written for a public audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SWOT and Strategy Audits<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
What works for one company doesn\u2019t work for another. Backlinko<\/a>, HubSpot<\/a>, CXL<\/a>, WaitButWhy<\/a>, BuzzFeed, my personal blog \u2013 all different content strategies, all successful in their own right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That means you should never copy someone\u2019s strategy just because it works for them (or God forbid because you saw a representative give a talk at a conference).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In almost all cases, the best case scenario by copying someone\u2019s strategic playbook is that you\u2019ll hit some local maximum<\/a> that lies somewhere near mediocrity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
HubSpot can publish a handful of articles on long tail search keywords every day and they\u2019ll beat you all day at consistent content execution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brian Dean is uniquely suited to publishing infrequent, super comprehensive pieces specifically on the topic of SEO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CXL didn\u2019t invent research-based long form content, but we executed it to near perfect on a consistent basis. It\u2019d be hard to outperform CXL mimicking that form of content production (at least if you\u2019re also competing for conversion optimization search terms).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So you need to find your edge and exploit it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How do you do that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SWOT Analysis<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you\u2019ve ever taken a business class, your eyes may be glossing over at my mention of SWOT Analysis. Or maybe you\u2019re a nerd like me, and you actually enjoy this process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whatever the case, the SWOT Analysis is a helpful thought exercise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How do you complete one? You create a 2X2 matrix, with quadrants representing the following quadrants:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Strengths<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Weaknesses<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Opportunities<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Threats<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Strengths and Weaknesses are polar opposites, but they\u2019re both internal facing (what are your specific company\u2019s strengths or weaknesses?). Similarly, Opportunities and Threats are yin and yang, but they are outward faces (what market conditions represent opportunities or threats?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nImage Source<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
If we imagine a random SaaS company coming out of Y Combinator, one with a serial founder, we can fill out their hypothetical SWOT:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nEstimating Impact and Feasibility<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
You also need to weigh your ability to rank for given keywords or compete in your niche. I\u2019m diving into this deeper in the \u201ccontent economics\u201d section, but briefly, in your SWOT audit, you should think about the feasibility of your strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
HubSpot\u2019s esteemed Director of Acquisition, Matthew Barby<\/a>, said the following on GrowthHackers<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n
\u201cThe biggest hurdle of SEO is knowing what is realistic and what is not, and then being able to decide which is the right lever to pull at that moment. For a site like HubSpot.com, we have a TON of backlinks (which gives the site a load of authority). When we create new content around marketing\/sales\/service it will tend to rank a lot better than smaller sites because we\u2019ve built up this authority over a number of years. That means we get WAY more leverage from ramping up content creation than a brand new (or even smaller) site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For a new site, I generally try to shift the focus to building authority vs just publishing a bucket load of content. The questions I try to ask is, \u201chow can I build a steady flow of backlinks into the website?\u201d and \u201chow can I grow the number of people searching for my brand name?\u201d instead of \u201chow can I create as much content as possible.\u201d This sounds simple, but there\u2019s a lot that goes into figuring all this out, and it\u2019s where 9\/10 misspent cash comes from.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
While most of this article will focus on SEO, and thus keywords, it\u2019s important to note that\u2019s not the only route to content marketing success and it\u2019s not the only way to bring in customers. In some industries, say the SaaS management<\/a> niche, buyer\u2019s don\u2019t know what they\u2019re looking for. Or there\u2019s no real word for the term yet, at least not one that is searched frequently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In spaces like these, there are strategies as well, normally in the form of \u201cthought leadership\u201d style content (also called \u201cmovement first\u201d content<\/a>). Think about HubSpot\u2019s early evangelization of \u201cinbound marketing,\u201d WaitButWhy, or how Paul Graham<\/a> or Sam Altman<\/a> write.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anyway, if you can pull of that style of writing, the one where people simply search your name in Google so they can read your brilliant insights \u2013 well, you don\u2019t really need my advice, just keep writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Economics of Content<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
All content has a cost and an associated return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some content, such as roundup posts or listicles, is easy and cheap to produce (and therefore easy to replicate and scale).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nSome content, such as original research or thought leadership based on years of experience, is hard and expensive to produce (and thus more difficult to scale, but also more difficult for your competitors to replicate).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nIn the early stages, it\u2019s likely you\u2019re going to need to work hard and spend more to outcompete the bigger players in your space. Because you have a low domain authority, you\u2019ll need to make up for it in content quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Additionally, since you have no audience or build in brand recognition, you need to break through the \u2018noise\u2019 in the blogging space, of which there is a ton. Normally this means overindexing on \u201cawareness\u201d level content in the beginning, with the goal that you can eventually easy rank your \u201cconsideration\u201d and \u201cdecision\u201d stage content that actually brings in the bacon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, as you begin to produce content regularly and to learn more about SEO, you\u2019ll likely learn what your \u201chotspot\u201d is \u2013 the minimum effective dose required to rank blog posts and convert visitors. Any additional cost above this reduces your ROI, and especially at scale, incurs consecutive marginal costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Normally, it takes an ungodly amount of effort to rank in the beginning stages (up to a DA of about 50 or 60), and then the curve begins to flatten (though never completely) in the upper echelons of website authority. When your DA is that high, as long as your site architecture and technical SEO best practices are followed, you can rank posts with a slightly lower quality (though never too low).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nYour long term goal in a content marketing program is to lower the cost of content production as low as you can without compromising on brand promises or return on content efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nImage Source<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
At HubSpot, we\u2019re roughly between the \u201ctemplated content\u201d and \u201cuser-generated\u201d content stages. Now, we can produce comparison pages like this one:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nWe can also very quickly rank \u201cconsideration\u201d level listicles, which are comparatively easy to produce and bring in a very high conversion rate for blog posts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe effectiveness of templatized content only comes with scale and maturity though. For one, you need the domain authority to rank tons of posts without crafting individual promotion or link building campaigns for each (which would rapidly augment the costs of your content marketing program).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Second, you need a lot of production resources and infrastructure to make templatized content work at scale, especially if you\u2019ll be running SEO experiments on them or hoping to do any conversion optimization on them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nContent marketing, like many facets of marketing, is a flywheel. The more you add to it and the more energy you put into it, the faster it spins (and the rewards compound with time). You put in the effort early in order to reap the rewards later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nImage Source<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
So in the beginning, it may help to plan out your transactional pages and bottom funnel content<\/a>. But don\u2019t expect to rank that stuff incredibly quickly without having some solid strategy to build up your authority. Generally, you can do this through a) lots of high traffic\/high interest awareness level content on the same topic b) a shit load of link building or c) being in an uncompetitive space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2026or some combination of the three. However, if you want to make content marketing work, in the beginning you should expect to invest a lot more time than you\u2019d like to in awareness level content (it\u2019s the leverage that gets you the returns down the line).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nHow Much Does it Cost to Produce Content That \u201cWins\u201d?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- How much effort do you have to put into a piece of content to get it to rank?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- How many words is it?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- How long does it take your writer to write?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- How many hours of promotion, link building, and distribution do you need?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
The potential \u201ccost\u201d here is infinite (just look at a WaitButWhy article). There\u2019s usually a point of diminishing returns you want to aim for with production quality and cost. The tough part: it\u2019s really hard to prescriptively say what that is for any given industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In B2B SaaS, it used to be that you could write a 2500 word article with an added infographic, because all the others were only 2000 words. It\u2019s becoming harder to do that because of increased competition. Additionally, it\u2019s not only about word count, but about content density<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, in B2B SaaS, you may actually have to invest in a \u201ctopic cluster\u201d that consists of many slightly related blog posts if you want to have a chance ranking any of them, let alone all of them. It might require significant link building as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(More on constructing Pillars and Clusters below)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
In general, the best way to gauge the content quality necessary to rank is to look at what\u2019s currently ranking for keywords you want to go after. This can be as simple as a Google search (even better if you\u2019ve installed Mozbar to see DA and backlinks):<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nYou can also use Ahrefs\u2019 keyword explorer to view the landscape of a search term:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nFinally, after writing a few posts and seeing where they land after publication, you can get an intuitive sense of how strong your site authority is. This gives you a fingerspitzengef\u00fchl<\/a> when it comes to content production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maximizing Resources & ROI<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
When you understand how much effort it takes to rank, you can model out what it would cost to achieve the goals your organization hopes to achieve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s say it takes, on average, a 5000 word pillar page to rank for super competitive terms (\u201ccustomer satisfaction\u201d) and 2000 words to rank for long tail and less competitive terms (\u201chow to measure customer satisfaction\u201d). Let\u2019s say a 5000 word costs you $1000 and a 2000 word post costs you $300. In addition, you need to do some manual content promotion and link building, and let\u2019s say that costs about $250 per blog post and $750 per pillar page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, you can tie that in with any SLA<\/a> or quarterly traffic and conversion goals you have. It makes it vastly easier to calculate a content budget, and it also helps you to realize if your plan, given the costs, will even potentially be able to hit your goals you\u2019ve set.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nBasically, just calculate your minimum viable production capacity as well as the maximum resources you could potentially allot to your content marketing program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- What\u2019s the average time to produce a piece of content?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- How many producers (writers, designers, etc.) can you put on task?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- What\u2019s the average time of promotion and distribution?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Given those numbers, how many pieces of content can your produce in 1 year (and 1 month)? Does that match up with your expectations in terms of traffic or conversions?\n
- \n
- If not, which levers can you tweak to meet those goals?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Here is where knowing how to build a growth model<\/a> helps a ton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ian Howells had an even more robust way to model out search traffic potential. Here\u2019s a quote from his GrowthHackers AMA<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n
\u201cI use a blend of search volume, intent, and \u201cattainable position\u201d. With any given project, I look to find the leader in the space. So if I was going to work on a site about outdoor\/camping products, I\u2019d likely toss REI into aHrefs and spit out all their keywords over 500 searches per month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019d then make an assumption about how close I could get to REI\u2019s rankings \u2013 say (for sake of argument) I was assuming I can get to 4 spots lower than REI. I\u2019ll just run a new column in excel\/google sheets adding 4 to all of their rankings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That new \u201cattainable position\u201d plus a CTR curve gets me a ballpark on the amount of traffic I could realistically hope to get for the site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A pivot table to roll these up by page then gives me a map of what pages I need and what the potential traffic is per page. I\u2019ll start with the biggest opp pages and just work my way down.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Beautiful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Content Planning: Creating a Roadmap and Course of Action<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
At this point, we have a rock solid strategic underpinning as well as a content growth model and expectations of how to hit our goals. Now how the hell do we plan and produce the actual content?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This section will cover keyword research (topic ideation<\/a>), content production, and promotion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How Buyers Search, and How Searchers Buy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019ve touched on the idea of the buyer\u2019s journey already, but generally speaking, it looks like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nImage Source<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
We start at a high level, attracting general readers who probably don\u2019t know about your business yet. Through compelling content and search strategy, we hope to bring them down to the consideration and decision stages, where hopefully they\u2019ll choose to buy from us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In content marketing strategy, each stage has specific goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Awareness stage goals:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Build links and domain authority + page rank.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Cast a wide net and bring in relevant traffic (though it may not convert right away, except maybe to an email list or lead magnet<\/a>).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Build up your \u201ctopical authority\u201d<\/a> and expertise to help you rank commercial terms.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Build relationships with influencers and movers and shakers in your field<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Build demand and interest.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Consideration\/Decision stage goals:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Convert traffic into users or customers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Rank for core business terms.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Educate buyers and differentiate your business.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Sell.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Capture demand.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
A proper content strategy includes all parts of the buyer\u2019s journey. An unbalanced strategy will never produce the results that a holistic one will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Business KPIs and What to Track<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ll breeze through this part because your specific goals will depend on your business. Generally speaking though, you\u2019ll want a way to track the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Website traffic data (traffic source, pageviews, etc)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- SERP tracking (position, CTR, visibility)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Conversions and business metrics (average order value, email signups, etc)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
Depending on your business, those business metrics could vary. Sometimes, it\u2019s a simple as an email subscription. Sometimes, it\u2019s a marketing qualified lead. Sometimes it\u2019s a customer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Who am I to tell you your business\u2019s goals though? Jot these down before you begin creating content and make sure you have a way to track them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Keyword\/Topic research<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
To start with keyword research, I like to get a bird\u2019s eye view of the space I\u2019m trying to conquer. For this, you can use Ahrefs to analyze competitors\u2019 sites and see what they\u2019re ranking for. Start by plugging your own in (or if you haven\u2019t started writing, your closest competitor):<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nYou can then use their \u201ccompeting domains\u201d report to find others in the space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nWithout fancy tools, you can also just do a quick Google search for blogs in your niche.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- Build up your \u201ctopical authority\u201d<\/a> and expertise to help you rank commercial terms.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- If not, which levers can you tweak to meet those goals?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Promotion tactics<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Business KPIs and What to Track<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
- How much does it \u201ccost\u201d to rank?<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Content Audiences (and Why It Isn\u2019t Always Your Core Customer\/User)<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Buyer Personas<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/beomniscient.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/organic-growth-model-1024x535.png\")
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