Do you struggle to create engaging content that converts leads? Or perhaps you have no idea what content marketing is. Well, look no further. As a certified content marketer, I’ve written a comprehensive guide to help you communicate with your audience. Whether you’re a director, designer, account manager or simply somebody who’s suffering from writer’s block, understanding content marketing is important, as to businesses as it’s classed as the foundation of inbound marketing strategies. The guide includes information on what content marketing is, how to refine your writing, generate ideas, build a content marketing framework and lots more to help grow your business and career.

1. Lost for words?
Understanding content marketing
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2. Right now I expect many of you are
wondering what content marketing is,
and how it can benefit your business.
I do not blame you, it can be a minefield of
long jargon words, that you may
not understand.
Don’t be disheartened, as a fully certified
Content Marketer I’m here to help, and eager
to share my knowledge with you to help create
regular, interesting, lead-generating content.
Amy Ford,
Senior Account Executive, Tann Westlake
TANNWESTLAKE.COM

3.  Blog posts
 Video content
 Social media posts
 Press releases
 Podcasts
 Email campaigns
 Website content
 Print collateral
At heart, content marketing creates a relationship with your audience and
builds trust. It will enable you to pull your target audience from one part of
your inbound marketing plan to another. For example - once somebody has
clicked through to your website, your content marketing should convert and
close the sale. Following that, it’ll then delight your existing customers with
on-going, valuable content. Keeping your retention rate high.
What can content marketing be?
Keep your
retention rate high
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4.  Empowered potential and existing customers
 Long-term relationships
 Brand awareness
 Education and entertainment for your audience
 Leads
What can a successful
content marketing strategy
acheive?
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If content is king,
then conversion
is queen.
Jon Munsell

5. “I’m all for
the scissors. I
believe more
in the scissors
than I do in the
pencil”
Know what to say, but not
how to say it?
If you’re unsure of your writing capabilities, follow these simple steps
to ensure you ace the power of storytelling.
On average people spend 20 hours per week reading digital media, so
you must stand out and add something worthwhile.
Quick tips on how to refine your writing:
 Begin by writing down 5-10 working titles
 Write your introduction and conclusion last
 Match the attitude of your reader - empathise with them
 Always include sub-headings
 Include a call to action (CTA)
 First drafts are usually sloppy, take a break and come back to it
 Avoid using contradictions (do not don’t)
 Write short snappy sentences and paragraphs
 Get somebody to proof your content
Your first draft will never be perfect, so don’t expect to produce
wonders first time around. It’s a fact I’ll most definitely edit this
guide 2,3,4 times until I’m satisfied. It’s a starting point that you
can build upon.
Remember to write content that cuts through the noise, so be liberal
with your delete button.
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6.  How to...
 Little known, advice, tips or tricks
 Interesting data
 Secret of
 Negative angle
 List format
Attention grabbing titles
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HOWCAN
YOUGRAB
THE
ATTENTION
OFAND
ENGAGE
PEOPLEWITH
EFFECTIVE
CONTENT?
How would you feel if I told you that 80% of viewers will read your
headline, with only 20% reading the whole article? I presume you’d
put a lot of thought behind that heading to ensure people click
through and read your content.
It’s important your headline is specific, full of how it will benefit your
audience, or if possible prompt the audience to read the content
right now. Perhaps this prompt might be a discount, or a 24 hour
offer, by adding these time limited offers some companies have seen
a 15% increase in open and click through rates.
Here are some ideas on title ideas that engage audiences
from the off:

7. What do most audiences love?
According to HubSpot, 47% of B2B buyers consume 3-5 pieces of
content before engaging with a salesperson. Write your content to fit
their needs.
 Emotive writing gets remembered - empathise with your
customers problems
 Make a human connection - don’t write for sales, write to solve your
readers problem or query then support this with what you can offer
 Tell a story to your audience
 Cut out the jargon - they will not connect with you if they cannot
understand your lingo. It will make you less credible and confident
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8. TANNWESTLAKE.COM
Writer’s
block?
Try these for inspiration...
Buzzsumo
Buzzsumo allows you to search for topics and review what people are
searching for, sharing the most and engaging with.
Quora
Quora is a great tool to understand what questions your audience may be
asking. The platform is seen to be the best answer to any questions.
Google Search Console
Look at what keywords are trending and performing best within your
industry. Then ensure these are scattered throughout your content.

9. How to build your
content marketing framework
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Now you should have more information on what content marketing
is, how to become a better writer, and what to do if you have writer’s
block. Let’s get into how exactly you can put together a content
marketing framework.
Analyse your ideas
Be realistic, how often can you write a blog post, review your
website’s content or record a vlog? Write down what you like to do
within the next 3 months.
Plan these and set a timeline
It’s best to only plan 3 months at a time. Trends, keywords and topics
can change so keeping on top of these will ensure your content is
up-to-date.
Create a workflow
If possible, delegate tasks out to everyone involved.
Review and edit
Remember to allow for edits in your timeframe.
Publish and promote
How do you want to drive people to your content? Ensure you’re
promoting the content in the right places to maximise impressions.
At Tann Westlake, we offer a number of services that can promote
your content. This may be an email campaign, social media ad or
Google AdWords.
Analyse the results
As your content should be constantly evolving, it’s important to sit
back, see the bigger picture and monitor your ROI. Look at analytics,
sales reports and set attribution tags through Google URL Builder.
1. Analyse your ideas
2. Plan these and set a timeline
3. Create a workflow
4. Review and edit
5. Publish and promote
6. Analyse the results

10. Recycling and
repurposing content
Reworking existing content into something completely new is genius
when a piece of content was very popular, and you don’t want to
appear spammy.
Here are 7 steps to recycling your content:
 Identify your content theme format
 List out supporting topics
 Choose the strongest supporting topics
 Create content for this supporting topic
 Create a guide for content that worked well elsewhere
 Recycle content into chapters
 Create the content and finalise
It’s important to always think back to the buyer persona and ask
what worked well on a specific piece of content. Was it the image,
video, title? Build on that. If it was the video, can you offer a part 2 or
a downloadable guide to that video? Or did you have a great piece of
content that didn’t perform well? Try rewording it and adjusting your
angle.
Repurposing content can attract new customers, strengthen
relationships with existing ones and build trust. Take note that
content is a theme that can be showcased in different formats.
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Recycle and Repurpose
Content

11. Overview
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2017
2017 and beyond presents more and more businesses utilising
digital marketing. Therefore, I hope this short guide has helped
you understand content marketing, and pointed you in the right
direction.
Should you have any questions, or comments, please don’t hesitate
to contact me directly via amy@tannwestlake.com or tweet me
@agkford.
and beyond

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