1. Content Marketing
Beyond the Bullshit
Think Visibility Hannah Smith Smith
Hannah @hannah_bo_banna
September 2012 @hannah_bo_banna
Distilled.net

2. Hannah Smith
SEO Consultant – Distilled
hannah.smith@distilled.net
@hannah_bo_banna
SEOmoz Associate & SEOChick.
No longer has red hair.

3. I set myself a challenge...
talk about
content
marketing

4. without mentioning...
old spice
dollar shave club
ok cupid
oyster

5. because
you’ve heard
it before

6. #yawn

7. everybody’s talking about
content
marketing

8. but
what the hell
is it?

9. &
why should you care?

10. hopefully this presentation will help

11. I am an
seo

12. with
problems

13. which I’m
hoping

14. you can
relate to

15. Problem 1.

16. Problem 1.
I need to build
links

17. (sometimes) my clients reject my link building ideas & therefore
prevent
me from building links

18. 

19. why?

20. we’re
victims
of our own success...

21. we know what
the
linkerati <3

32. BUT
most clients do not want their brand associated with
zombies, bacon, cats,
conspiracy theory,
controversy
or drama
even if they’ll get links out of it...

34. the lesson?

35. content needs to support
brand positioning

36. SPEAKER NAME - EDIT FOOTER
Using Content
Marketing to
support brand
positioning…

38. it’s a tough niche & we
*need* links

39. BUT
the client did not want their brand associated with
zombies, bacon, cats,
conspiracy theory,
controversy or drama

40. solution - support the brand’s positioning as
the small business
champion

41. handily enough
they were already creating some content...

44. we figured we could help by creating
remarkable
content

45. that would support their brand position as
the small business
champion

46. & that would support their
existing content
strategy

49. 411 links
from 111 domains

51. 160 links
from 36 domains

53. 147 links
from 48 domains

54. the client is

and so are we

55. but there’s a trade off...
this sort of content will be
far less successful
than

56. zombies, bacon, cats,
conspiracy theory,
controversy
or drama

57. but that’s ok

58. their CEO loves
the content

59. their customers
love it

60. This isn’t *just* content for links –
this is content for their customers.
They include it in email newsletters
& other marketing activity.

61. so content marketing is just using content for
link building
right?

62. wrong.

63. remember I said I was an seo with
problems?

64. Problem 2.

65. how do you ‘get found’ by customers who
don’t know they
need you yet?

66. SPEAKER NAME - EDIT FOOTER
Using content
marketing for
Lead Generation

67. Salesforce
have a strong domain & already rank
well for keywords customers are likely to
search for when they’re ready to buy.

68. but
how could they attract customers higher up
the sales funnel who don’t know they need a
tool like Salesforce yet?

69. create content

70. strong domain -
it’ll likely rank

71. we need to consider
more
than just search engine visibility...

72. because search engines
are not
the only way we find content

74. so Salesforce created content people would
want
to share

78. then Salesforce let people know it was there

79. via the corporate
Facebook/Twitter/Google+
accounts

80. home page takeover
of the corporate site

81. enlisted the help of
15 expert advocates

82. email newsletters

83. guest blogging

84. PR

85. advertising on
Twitter
LinkedIn
Google Display Network

86. Results
• Traffic for January was up 80% YoY
• Traffic from social sites was up 2500%
See - http://www.seomoz.org/blog/socialsuccess-an-inbound-marketing-case-study-for-b2b

87. Results (you actually care about)
• 6500 newsletter sign ups
• 10,000 eBook downloads
See - http://www.seomoz.org/blog/socialsuccess-an-inbound-marketing-case-study-for-b2b

88. leads = money
#justsayin’

89. do links = money?

90. Problem 3.

91. rankings are great but
no one’s buying

92. SPEAKER NAME - EDIT FOOTER
Conversion Rate
Optimisation

94. grossly
simplified
CRO process

95. sorry @pav

96. find out
why people buy
&
why they don’t

97. figure out which
benefits
aren’t being communicated
& which
objections
aren’t being addressed

98. create new pages to
test
improved messaging against your current page
Read more - http://conversionfactory.com/downloads/checklists.pdf or speak to Pav 

99. end result?
more money

100. & your boss / client loves you

101. right now you’re probably thinking

102. wait, that’s CRO not
content marketing

103. SPEAKER NAME - EDIT FOOTER
What is Content
Marketing?

104. it’s the creation and sharing of content in order to:
attract, acquire and engage
current and potential customers
with the objective of:
driving profitable customer action

105. it’s about creating
profitable
relationships
with
customers

106. not just link building...

107. SPEAKER NAME - EDIT FOOTER
Content Marketing
Misconceptions

108. misconception 1:
content marketing is
‘free’

110. Cute? Sure
just not true.

111. also, it’s not
cheap

112. Cheap “SEO content” looks like this

113. Cheap article marketing looks like this

114. Cheap “articles” read like this

116. the creation and sharing of content in order to:
attract, acquire and engage
current and potential customers
with the objective of:
driving profitable customer action

117. Misconception 2:
when it comes to content marketing
more is more

118. SPEAKER NAME - EDIT FOOTER
33% fewer posts;
40% more traffic
Kerry Lauerman, Editor in Chief, Salon.com
Source: http://open.salon.com/blog/kerry_lauerman/2012/02/03/hit_record

119. misconception 3:
content marketing
belongs on your
blog

126. bandcamp.com - FAQs

127. Misconception 4...
if you build it
they will come...

128. you are not
Kevin Costner...

129. SPEAKER NAME - EDIT FOOTER
Takeaways

130. sometimes people don’t take seos
seriously

131. because often our activities
aren’t fully aligned
with branding and marketing goals

132. content marketing is a discipline that
complements
seo & we ought to leverage it

133. because

134. attracting, acquiring and engaging
current and potential customers
with the objective of:
driving profitable customer action

135. is something your client / boss is going to

136. significantly
more than

142. it gives you and your clients; or you and your marketing
department / boss the opportunity to
align your objectives,

143. & stop fighting
against each other

144. think
beyond
links

145. think
beyond
search engine traffic

146. &
make more money

147. questions?
hannah.smith@distilled.net
@hannah_bo_banna

148. Image Credits
Zombies - http://www.xfirstaidkits.com/v/Zombie-Proof-Architecture/
Bacon - http://www.flickr.com/photos/samsmith/2747313794/sizes/l/
Cat - http://www.flickr.com/photos/paolomargari/1992019542/sizes/l/
Conspiracy - http://www.alienandufopictures.com/ufo_pictures.html
Controversy - http://xkcd.com/386/
Failure to communicate - http://theinfluentials.wordpress.com/2012/06/18/failure-to-communicate/
Future of marketing - https://plus.google.com/112310499813770104747/posts/JBesS2cnAGo
Field of dreams - http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/field-of-dreams