Practical Content Strategy

Lots of people, including me, have written about Content Strategy and Marketing. Often we focus on describing the concept from a strategic point of view. Last week I had the opportuntiy to guide some students through a nuts & bolts exercice that focused on what to do to prepare a viable plan.

I asked them to examine their client project and answer these six questions each cascading from the previous:

1. define your online presence and channels
2. describe the objectives to be met via each channel
3. describe the content types required to meet those objectives
4. determine the source(s) of that content and plan for its sustained publication
5. define the website structure with a focus on its integration with all your online channels
6. define your SEO and include an Adwords campaign

1) Channels
Once upon a time the Internet channel was a website -- a one size fits all solution. No longer; now you can combine a variety of channels and you'll need to choose a combination right for your audience. Marketing a service to women 34-55? You'd better include Facebook.

Go to your audience don't wait for them to find you. Achieving this goal means finding out what Internet channels your audience uses and then combining them to achieve your goals. This can include websites, social media, mobile apps and so on.

2) Channel Objectives
Again, knowing your audience will help you make decisions here. If you're selling products you may decide to use Twitter to provide customer service, but your objective is that they'll click through to your site or mobile storefront app and make a purchase. Be clear why you're using a channel and what outcome you expect from it. That could easily mean a different call to action in each channel.

3) What Content is needed?
Now, you've determined the results you wish to achieve you can work out what you need to say and how you'll say it. Your Youtube channel might focus on product demos and information and feed people to your website to chat to a service rep. Different content and goals in your channels, but all leading to your ultimate call to action. Be clear what these will be and you'll save time and money and be more effective working with your clients.

4) Budget & planning content creation
What content have you decided you need to produce or acquire? Podcasts, whitepapers, articles, bloggng, news feeds, photography, charts? It won't fall from the sky. Aligning your content needs to your objectives will answer that question for you. Equally important, you need to budget for this work and see that it gets done in a timely fashion. Someone has to write that twice weekly blog: set aside the time, or assign someone as appropriate to your situation.

5) Your website is a hub of activity, not a static lump of pages
Your website is still a tremendous resource for static content and as a hub pulling together your other channels and pushing content back out to  them. Organize your site to support these goals. For many organizations this might mean abandoning the traditional "our site mirrors our organization chart" approach and replace it with a viewer-centric approach to presenting content.

6) Gain position on Google
Our goal here isn't only to attract people who already know your brand name, but especially those who do not. A big part of this objective is a recommendation to use AdWords as well as optimizing your site for search engines. SEO is important; adding Adwords to the mix will amplify its effect. Even with a Pagerank in flux you can still buy position in front of your audience. Paul Downs tells you why: My Grand Experiment: Turning Off AdWords and  Debating the Use of Google AdWords

Summing up: The process is a series of standard marketing 101 questions: who are my audience; what do I want to say to them; what action do I want them to take? Answer those questions first and the content you need and where you need to place it will shake out for you. All of this takes time and long-term effort -- yes, they were fibbing when you overheard people say, "Internet marketing is practically free."

Six Action Items To Build Online Referrals

Twice this week I've had a conversation with a small business owner about their Internet presence. Both were concerned with how to generate real world business from their digital efforts.

The first has a site where the content hasn't changed since its date of launch back in 2008, and the second has a newer, but static site. One is paying a hefty monthly fee for listing in a local business directory: with little discernable result. Both recognize that they need to take action to improve their  current results.

Growing your business with Internet Marketing is hard work. Being passive will not pay off. For the small business owner this means finding a budget to hire the expertise you need or learning how to do it yourself. More sweat equity, in other words, for many small business people.

I made six suggestions to both of them:

1. Blog regularly about your industry, the local community, and anything that relates them
2. Make sure your site's code is optimized for Google
3. Buy search position with Google AdWords
4. Make use of appropriate Social Media
5. Make sure there's an obvious call to action on your pages
6. Monitor and analyze your viewers' behaviour and tweak your site and messaging in response to it.

Each of those points deserve many more words than I can offer in the span of a short blog post, so forgive me for some broad strokes.

Your blogging voice

Corporate speak, marketing spin, awkwardly formal vocabulary ... those approaches seldom succeed in a blog. People read blogs because they're interesting and informative not because some one is overtly pounding the drum of a sales pitch. Be human; be yourself. Mitch Joel goes into this point in depth with this post at Six Pixels of Separation.

You  can't blog once or twice a year. Setting yourself a fixed day of the week to publish is probably the most effective way to guarantee that it gets done.  It is work and needs to be scheduled just like any other business task.

Good code helps Google

Here's where you do have to hire someone. Your teenage nephew is probably not the person to do this job. While it's not rocket science, it does take expertise and experience to properly code a web site. Ask your colleagues and competitors about their web developer. You don't want to make a mistake here as the wrong methods can mean a site that's invisible to seacrh engines -- I'm looking at you Flash.

SEO and SEM the plough horses of Internet Marketing

Paul Downs, in two posts in the New York Times last year, outlines his experience working Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing in tandem. He concludes convincingly to my ears that Google AdWords is essential to his online marketing efforts. I think they're well worth reading.
My Grand Experiment: Turning Off AdWords
Debating the Use of Google AdWords

Google Analytics is Free!

Make sure your web developer hooks your site into Google Analytics too. It's free and gives you the tools to monitor what people do when they do reach your site. Be prepared to make changes based on what you learn. It also hooks into your AdWords campaign so you can track its effectiveness. In Downs' first article linked above, he goes into some depth with how he uses Analytics to monitor his site and his marketing.

Build an online community

Social media is long term marketing. Finding and participating in your community of interest is the equivalent of joining the Rotary or Chamber of Commerce for my father's generation. Being a huckster in those places won't get you far; being a positive influence will.

It will take some research to find the platform that's right for you. Just like traditional marketing knowing your target market's demographic and where they can be found is the key. For example, women 35 to 54 represent one of the largest groups on Facebook. If that's your audience then you need to be there. The reverse is true as well. if your audience isn't on Facebook, then don't fritter away your resources there.

Learn More!

This Beginner's Guide may seem long, but if you're about to spend money and time it's worth it. Become an informed buyer.