surf expo - digital content marketing for brick & mortar retailers
DESCRIPTION
Quality customer service and extensive product knowledge are important pieces of a brick & mortar business. It's what truly sets specialty retailers apart from the pack. Customers today require an online experience that matches the energy and attentiveness they receive in person, but how do you work this into your marketing strategy? In this seminar you’ll learn how to build your community efficiently and effectively through social media strategies, Pay Per Click advertising, and original content to enhance your SEO tactics. You will leave with easy steps to streamline your processes and maintain a strong presence on the right platforms.TRANSCRIPT
CONTENT MARKETING
MIKE DUNCAN CEO / CREATIVE DIRECTOR
WAREHOUSE SKATEBOARDS.COM
CONTENT ISN’T KING. YOUR CONTENT PLAN IS.
SO, WHAT EXACTLY IS CONTENT MARKETING?
@sageisland
Our definition:
Content marketing is the creating and sharing of published content with the intent of
acquiring customers—not through selling or promotions, but by delivering consistent, relevant,
valuable, informative, inspirational, or entertaining content for the purposes of building trust,
awareness, understanding,and positive sentiment.
WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?
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WEBISODES
WEBISODES
LONG-FORM VIDEO
SOCIAL VIDEO
APPS
BLOGS
MAGAZINES
E-ZINES
They’re Making Connections.
NOT TRYING TO MAKE A SALE.
@sageisland
10 STEPS TO CREATING AN EFFECTIVE CONTENT STRATEGY
STEP 1: DETERMINE YOUR OBJECTIVES.
@sageisland
» Understand your organizational priorities
» Set S.M.A.R.T. marketing objectives (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound)
» Start thinking about measuring success
» Consumption metrics — views, downloads, time on page
» Share metrics — tweets, likes, shares, Diggs, etc.
» Lead generation metrics — click-throughs to your site, newsletter sign ups, catalog requests, etc.
» Sales metrics — e-com funnel, brick & mortal sales
@sageisland
STEP 2: IDENTIFY YOUR AUDIENCE PERSONAS.
@sageisland
» Go deeper than your traditional target audiences
» Look at buying behavior, social and technological tendencies, leisure habits, needs and desires
» Focus on their content “watering holes”
» Use customer surveys or other basic demographic and psychographic research
» Use your search data from site analytics tools to identify themes
» Use your social media monitoring metrics
@sageisland
WHO’S YOUR CUSTOMER?
Joe Customer
CUSTOMER PERSONA:
DEMOGRAPHICS
PSYCHOGRAPHICS
PURCHASING BEHAVIOUR
NEEDS AND DESIRES
COMMON OBJECTIVES
MAIN SOURCES
Gender, Age, Income, Education
Insights, Motivations, Values
Shopping, Needs
Experience, Product, Service Style
Why Won’t they Purchase?
Online, Offline
STEP 3: CONSIDER YOUR AUDIENCES AND THEIR STAGE IN THE BUYING CYCLE.
@sageisland
» Develop key messages based on audience at the different stages of the “consumer decision journey” (sales funnel)
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CUSTOMER DECISION JOURNEY
STEP 4: DEVELOP THE STORIES.
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» Goal: create useful content that will be shared
» Gather a team with different perspectives on the consumer and product (athletes, product, brand, sales)
» Include your storytellers (agency, writer, videographer)
» Brainstorm the resonant stories
» Develop the storylines
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Be Authentic. GENUINE UNDERSTANDING !
= MEMORABLE!
@sageisland
YOU CAN BE AUTHENTIC!
“Some companies have customer service reps. We have ninjas. And they’re here to make sure everything about your shopping experience is awesome. Questions about fit? Issues with a return? Looking for a great chili recipe? Just holler at the Ninjas.”
DETERMINE YOUR VOICE.
Ditch the Sales Pitch. HELP PEOPLE SOLVE PROBLEMS.
@sageisland
DITCH THE SALES PITCH!
HELP PEOPLE SOLVE PROBLEMS!
KEEP IT SIMPLE. SIMPLE > COMPLEX EVERY TIME.
@sageisland
l n
KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID
STEP 5: NAIL DOWN YOUR CHANNELS.
@sageisland
Cross-reference story ideas against these channels:
» Owned: collateral, websites, social channels, etc.
» Earned: public and media relations opportunities
» Partnered: channels available for leverage with corporate or strategic partners
» Paid: advertising channels both off and online
- PPC, social ads but also content distribution networks such as Outbrain
@sageisland
» Set performance objectives/metrics for every channel
» Consumption metrics — views, downloads, time on page
» Share metrics — tweets, likes, shares, Diggs, etc.
» Lead generation metrics — click-throughs to your site, newsletter sign ups, catalog requests, etc.
» Sales metrics — e-com funnel or brick & mortar sales
@sageisland
DREAMING
CONSIDERING
BUYING
ADVOCATING
Awareness
Planning / Research / Evalustion
Shopping
Experiencing / Advocating / Bonding
STEP 6: CONFIRM YOUR RESOURCES AND WORKFLOW.
@sageisland
» Don’t rush to start developing content yet
» The best laid plans are derailed by not having the people or systems in place
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» Edit and direct all content production
» Ensure brand adherence and creative integrity
» Optimize for search
» Manage the distribution
» Measure its success and trigger necessary changes
Identifying who will be creating your content is a good start, but you should also think about who will:
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ARE WE EVER GOING TO DO ANYTHING?
STEP 7: CREATE.
@sageisland
» This is the part you’ve been waiting for, so knock yourself out!
@sageisland
» 40% Content Generated By & In Response to Fans » 40% Category/Context: Latest News, etc. !» 20% Brand & Products
MAKE IT MORE ABOUT YOUR CUSTOMERS.40/40/20
EMPOWER CUSTOMER CONTENT.40/40/20 and Building Relationships
STEP 8: OPTIMIZE FOR SEARCH ENGINES.
@sageisland
» Do your keyword research and use the relevant search terms your business dominates
» Don’t forget keywords that are relevant to your brand
» Include those keywords in your content’s title tags and meta descriptions
» Seriously consider engaging an SEO professional
Optimizing content means giving search engines required, essential data to determine what your content and brand is all about:
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STEP 9: DISTRIBUTE YOUR CONTENT.
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» Create a distribution chart by channel, week, etc.
» Detail your owned, earned, paid, and partnered channels and the appropriate timing for each
» Work your industry contacts for channel opportunities and interesting partnerships that will let your content shine
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GOALS IT SUPPORTS
AUDIENCE
STAGE OF BUYING CYCLE
POST FREQUENCYFACEBOOK 5-10 times per week TWITTER 2-3x per day
Instagram 1x/day optimally, 4-5x/week at the very least
Blog 1x/week, share across multiple platforms
STEP 10: LISTEN, RESPOND, MONITOR, MEASURE, REACT.
@sageisland
» Be ready to engage immediately
» Amp up and loop in your customer service, quality assurance, and social media people
» Monitor channels and performance against benchmarks
» Make small changes to content as necessary
» Be ready if big changes are needed
@sageisland
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
10.
Determine objectives Identify personas Develop key messages Develop stories Nail down channels Confirm resources and workflows Create content Optimize for search engines Distribute content Listen, respond, monitor, measure, react
@sageisland
MIKE DUNCAN CEO / CREATIVE DIRECTOR