before the moment of intent: utilizing content to shape the buyer's journey
DESCRIPTION
Marketers often focus on the moment of intent—that time period when the consumer is ready to move forward and take action. Maybe it’s a phone call, maybe it’s an in-store visit or maybe just a specific search query. But the consumer’s journey does not start at the moment of intent. It begins many steps back with needs, desires and interest. To reach these consumers at their pre-intent phases, brands need to develop a content marketing strategy that accounts for the consumer’s mindset while in the interest and discovery phases, where content focus is less confined.TRANSCRIPT
Before The Moment Of Intent:
Utilizing Content To Shape The Customer Journey
John Harris Location3 Media
@netharris #AAFCOS
EXHIBIT A
THE TRADITIONAL MENTAL MODEL OF MARKETING
First Moment of Truth
Second Moment of Truth
S3mulus
Sales Representa3ve, Website or In-‐store
Experience
THE NEW MENTAL MODEL OF MARKETING
First Moment of Truth
Second Moment of Truth
S3mulus
Pre-‐Tail Research, Educa3on,
Valida3on
Sales Representa3ve, Website or In-‐store
Experience
In 2010, we needed information from 5.4 sources before making a purchase. By the end of 2011, we needed 10.4.
Source: Jay Baer, Convince and Convert
Input
Brands
Intent Communities
Retail
Discovery
Friends Content
Validation
Authorities
Decision
Interest
Research
Content
Content
Content
Content
Content
The Buyer’s Journey: A consumer-directed, socially-influenced, brand-inspired pursuit of truth and opportunity.
CONTENT
SEARCH
SOCIAL
BRAND
LEADS
CONTENT BRAND STORYTELLING SHARED SOCIALLY DRIVES ENGAGEMENT IMPACTS SEARCH RANK DELIVERS LEADS DON’T THINK OF IT AS MARKETING IT’S HOW A BRAND LIVES IN THE DIGITAL WORLD
CONTENT AND SEO
Website Optimization
Content Development
Content Distribution
Keywords Title tags URLs META data Images Text Headers Internal linking
Blog Product/Service/Category Sub-pages
Resource Section Infographics, Video, Posts
Brand Website Brand Social Media Assets
Press Release Optimization Directory Submissions
Link-building Blogger/Influencer Outreach
Guest Blog Posts Social Syndication
Online distribution and engagement of unique, fresh and relevant content can influence over
50% of organic ranking factors
Onsite keyword structure can influence over 25% of organic
ranking factors
THE MOMENT OF INTENT
Decision
Intent
Interest
Awareness
Keyword-centric content • Relevant to the search query
We spend only 3% of our time online using search engines
MOMENTS OF PRE-INTENT
Decision
Intent
Interest
Awareness Context-centric content • Relevant to the point of
distribution
“FELT HAT”
SHOW STETSON
“PORK PIE HAT”
MOMENTS OF PRE-INTENT
Decision
Intent
Interest
Awareness
Discovery-centric content • Relevant and Valuable to
someone’s life
Content marketing is educating and inspiring people enough to do business with you.
Nothing that comes out of the mouth of a brand or any other institution has remotely the
influence of what comes from the mouths of 7 billion bystanders freely trading opinions online.
Information + Inspiration x Influence = Intent
Great Content Doesn’t Just Happen
Understand The Needs of Your
Audience
Understand The Behavior of Your
Audience
Deliver Value To Your Audience
Sell something and you make a customer today. Help someone and you make a customer for life. @jaybaer
Content = YOUTILITY
Source: Jay Baer, Convince and Convert
INSPIRATION
RELEVANT FUN
PRODUCT
THE L3 CONTENT INTEGRATION MODEL CUSTOMER-CENTRIC, PLATFORM-NEUTRAL
OPTIMIZATION MEASURE DISTRIBUTION OPTIMIZATION CREATION STRATEGY FRAMEWORK AUDIT PURPOSE AUDIENCE
Who is your content intended to
serve
How is your content intended to serve the needs of your customers?
Keywords, Formats, Channels
& Owners
Evaluate Content Inventory &
Performance
Brand Narrative Content Pillars
Content Calendar
Create, Curate & Repurpose
Findability Shareability Performance
Owned, Earned & Paid
Media
Findability Shareability Performance
Refine Rinse
Repeat
The Human Behind The Click
DEMOGRAPHICS
Demographics
Psychographics
Personal Motivations
Pain Points
Brand Requirements
Digital Behavior
Digital Channels
PERSONAS
Meet Christy
Christy
Christy is a 45 year old wife and mother living in Phoenix, Arizona with her husband
Kevin and their two girls. Between her career as a financial advisor and the girl’s activity
schedules, Christy has to actively prioritize time for her interests. Her simple goal is one
“me thing” a day – connect with one friend, try one new recipe, read one chapter of this
month’s book club selection before bed. She leads a busy life but wouldn’t have it any
other way.
Every year she plans a 10 day vacation to foster quality family time and unwind, usually
on a beach. She always returns with one special souvenir as a daily reminder to smile
and breathe amidst the hustle.
Christy’s work demands that she dress very professionally. When she takes off her suit
after work she wants to relax in something comfy that doesn’t look sloppy. Christy has
been a size 14 for many years, having gained weight with both pregnancies. Kevin tells
her every day that she’s beautiful. She’s comfortable with her body, but she gets
frustrated with the limited and boring plus-sized options for women. Christy wants
clothes that make her excited to get dressed and reflect her vibrant life.
Demographics
Typically male Late 20’s to early 40’s Wide range of work experience depending on industry/age
Typically male Mid 30’s to early 40’s +/- 15 years as an IT professional at both enterprise and mid-market companies
Typically male 40’s – early 50’s 20+ years of experience in IT for enterprise companies
Personal Motivations
Success – advancing up career ladder To never stop growing and learning To be perceived as intelligent and capable
Success – advancing up career ladder To never stop growing and learning To prove his mettle as a leader
Maintaining a successful position To submit technology to his will To make an impact as a thought leader
Professional Motivations
To leverage technology for impactful innovation To keep the company working and connected Cost control due to recession-shrunk budgets
To deliver thoroughly vetted recommendations to bosses To meet performance goals To keep the company working and connected
Make smart decisions, please stakeholders To help the enterprise operate efficiently and succeed To build confidence with CEO and C-level team
Pain Points Difficulties of switching providers Getting adoption among users Need for scalability
Worried about recommending the wrong solution to boss Getting adoption among users Need for scalability
Bridging gap between his IT team and executives Needs to prove ROI of his decisions Balancing breadth and depth of IT knowledge
Brand Requirements
Ease of deployment, training, and adoption Affordable, scalable solution “Help me be the game-changer”
Ease of deployment, training, and adoption Reliable and impactful on business goals “Help me advance up the ladder”
Must be transformational, yet reliable ROI must be clearly demonstrated “Help me stay on top”
Digital Behavior Research, Learn, Watch, Read, Listen, Shop, Share, Like, Comment, Communicate
Research, Learn, Watch, Read, Listen, Shop, Share, Like, Comment, Communicate Research, Learn, Read, Publish, Share, Like, Communicate
Digital Channels Industry News, Sports, Music, Finance, Movies, Social Media
Industry News, Business, Sports, Music, Finance, Movies, Social Media Industry News, Business, Sports, Finance, Social Media
SMB IT Managers Enterprise IT Managers Enterprise CIOs
Input
Brands
Intent Communities
Retail
Discovery
Friends Content
Validation
Authorities
Decision
Interest
Research
Content
Content
Content
Content
Content
Map The Path To Purchase For Your Brand
TOOLS FOR GENERATING PERSONAS Primary Research Secondary Research Attribution Modeling Keyword and Search Insights Tools (Google Adwords, Soovle, Uber Suggest) Social Monitoring Facebook Ad Manager Online Forums Sales Force/Store-Level Employees/CRSs Customer Feedback Loops
Content Pillars
CONTENT PILLARS INFORMATION & INSPIRATION
I • Product (rational benefits, features, value)
II • Customer Segments (application, education)
III • Brand (promise, emotional benefits, inspiration, motivation)
IV • Lifestyle (personal & professional growth, knowledge, entertainment)
CONTENT PILLARS EXAMPLE
CONTENT PILLARS
1. Product and Brand 2. Enjoying a Better Internet Experience 3. Powering Your Lifestyle 4. Timely Content
2. ENJOYING A BETTER INTERNET EXPERIENCE
2. ENJOYING A BETTER INTERNET EXPERIENCE
2. ENJOYING A BETTER INTERNET EXPERIENCE
Example Content: Infographic for Distribution to Personal Finance Blogs “Three Steps for Ensuring You Found the Best Deal” Offers practical resources including shopping search engines, coupon code sites, and alternative places to look such as Ebay and Craigslist.
2. ENJOYING A BETTER INTERNET EXPERIENCE
Example Content: Guest Post on Internet Safety Blog “Scam School: Avoiding the Next Generation of Nigerian Princes” Many internet users are familiar with the common “Nigerian prince” scam setup, but may be unaware of other similar setups with a different story. Concludes with practical resources for identifying potential scams.
CONTENT PILLARS
Keyword-centric
Customer-centric
Brand-centric
Idea-centric
Distribution-centric
Content Amplification
Each piece of content should be optimized and distributed across owned, earned/shared and paid media channels. Below is a sample distribution list for a SINGLE content piece.
Content piece
Owned Media
Website
Landing Page
Thank You
Page
Internal Linking
Blog
Forum
Earned/Shared Media
Face-book
Google+
LinkedIn Channel
LinkedIn Group
Forums
Flickr
Pin-terest
Four-square
PRWeb
Pitch-Engine
You-Tube
Social Synd-ication
Paid Media
Face-book Ads
Promoted Tweets
LinkedIn Ads
Paid Search
Display
GDN
Outreach
Media Out-reach
Blogger Out-reach
Comm-unity
Outreach
Influencer Out-reach
Blog Comm-enting
Comm-unity Q&A
Of course it was.
So…can you tell me if the campaign was
successful?
Audience/Awareness Views/Consumption
Engagement Sharing
Actions Search Impact
MEASURING SOCIAL & CONTENT INITIATIVES
@Location3
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