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1. 5 Steps to Effective Content Marketing:
How to extract the maximum revenue from
your content
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2. Join the conversation on Twitter
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3. Today’s team
Dr. Flint McGlaughlin Ninan Chacko
Managing Director CEO
PR Newswire
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4. PART 1:
A Case Study from the MECLABS Library
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5. Case Study: Background
Case Study ID: CS1067
Record Location: MarketingSherpa Research Library
Research Partner: Sermo, Inc.
Research Notes:
Background: Sermo is the largest physicians-only social network that allows
pharmaceutical companies to conduct survey research and promote products
to its audience.
Goal: To reduce cost-per-lead
Approach: To leverage the power of Sermo’s social network and create a
content marketing campaign to add to the company’s current direct-response
campaigns.
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6. Case Study: Background
Homepage
• Sermo is the largest online
community, exclusive to
physicians.
• By leveraging its network of
physicians, Sermo can allow
companies in the
pharmaceutical industry to
conduct cost-effective
market research for their
products.
• Sermo utilizes multiple ways
to drive people to its
website.
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7. Case Study: Current Situation
Direct Mail Lead Campaign
Yellow Pages Ads
Rented Email Lists
Could content marketing generate more qualified leads?
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8. Case Study: Content Marketing Strategy
Sermo Content Sample
• With the survey data
from its network of
more than 125,000
physicians in 68
specialties, Sermo was
able to create custom
content to be syndicated
across multiple external
channels.
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9. Case Study: Content Marketing Strategy
Industry
Newsletter
• Sermo began to syndicate its content through
different industry publications like this
FiercePharma Newsletter.
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10. Case Study: Content Marketing Strategy
Landing Page
• People interested in
the content clicked
through and were
given the opportunity
to download the full
report of a specific
study.
• Visitors were required
to provide their name
and email in order to
see the report.
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11. Case Study: Before and After
Before: Basic Lead Form
Before: Direct Response
After: Content Marketing After: Content Focused
Lead Form
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12. Case Study: Results
90% Decrease in Cost-Per-Lead
The new content marketing campaign reduced cost-per-lead by 90%
Campaign Type Lead Cost Relative Difference
Direct Response $295* -
Content Marketing $30* 90%
 What you needcontent marketing strategy,from mainly able toresponse
campaigns to a
to understand: By moving
Sermo was
direct
reduce
cost-per-lead by 90% and build a content asset for the company.
*Lead cost numbers have been anonymized to protect Sermo.
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13. Why does Content Marketing Work?
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14. Why does Content Marketing Work?
F Key Principles
1. There is a natural progression in the development of any
relationship. Healthy relationships typically move through a series
of transitional commitments.
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15. Relational Transitions
Marriage
Engagement
Serious
relationship
First date
Exchange
numbers
Conversation
Initial
meeting
Icon Source: Icon Drawer
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16. Why Does Content Marketing Work?
F Key Principles
1. There is a natural progression in the development of any
relationship. Healthy relationships typically move through a series
of transitional commitments.
2. In a business context, there are generally three key levels of
customer relationship/commitment:
1. Relational
2. Transactional
3. Contractual
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17. The Role of Content Marketing
For many businesses,
Ongoing content marketing can
Contractual Contractual
Relationship facilitate a smooth
transition into a
transactional relationship.
Product - Tier #3
Transactional Product - Tier #2
Product - Tier #1
Content Marketing
Webinars/Events
Relational Newsletters/Emails/Publications
Website/Blog/Social
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18. Two Common Errors with Content Marketing
Macro-Distortion: Some companies overlook/minimize the
importance of the micro-decision in the overall conversion
process.
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19. ERROR #1: Macro-Distortion
Some companies try to move Ongoing
Contractual
past the relational stage Relationship
before the prospect is ready.
Product - Tier #3
Product - Tier #2
Product - Tier #1
Webinars/Events
Newsletters/Emails/Publications
Website/Blog/Social
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20. Two Common Errors with Content Marketing
Macro-Distortion: Some companies overlook/minimize the
importance of the micro-decision in the overall conversion
process.
Horizontal-Diffusion: Some companies spend more time
attempting to move their customers horizontally and not vertically.
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21. ERROR #2: Horizontal-Diffusion
Some companies only focus Ongoing
Contractual
on relational content and Relationship
never actually drive people
up the funnel.
Product - Tier #3
Product - Tier #2
Product - Tier #1
Webinars/Events
Newsletters/Emails/Publications
Website/Blog/Social
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22. Today’s Focus
Today, we will discuss how to avoid these common
errors and effectively use content marketing to build
profitable relationships with your prospects.
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23. PART 2:
A 5-Step Framework for Effective Content
Marketing
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24. Five Steps to Effective Content Marketing
STEP 1: Map your existing content across the funnel
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25. STEP 1: Map Content
F Key Principles
1. When mapping content, the goal is to simplify and sequence your
content/product mix as clearly as possible.
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26. STEP 1: Map Content
Simplify
From this… To this…
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27. STEP 1: Map Content
Sequence
???? Content &
Contractual ????
Product Maps
????
????
Transactional
????
????
????
Relational ????
????
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28. STEP 1: Map Content
Simplify
Not this But This
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29. STEP 1: Map Content
Sequence Not this
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30. STEP 1: Map Content
Sequence But This
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31. STEP 1: Map Content
F Key Principles
1. When mapping content, the goal is to simplify and sequence your
content/product mix as clearly as possible.
2. Often, our offerings can be clear to us but confusing to our prospects.
As marketers, we must learn to see our offerings through the eyes of
our customers.
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32. Five Steps to Effective Content Marketing
STEP 1: Map your existing content across the funnel
STEP 2: Craft a biographical sketch of your ideal customer
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33. STEP 2: Conduct a Biographical Sketch
• First, identify the key
prospects/audience
that you intend to
serve. Marketing CE/MO
Practitioner
• Next, list the key
traits and behaviors
of these prospect
categories.
Agencies Academics
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34. STEP 2: Conduct a Biographical Sketch
Biographical Sketch of a Marketing Practitioner
• She/he is a well-educated marketing practitioner.
• She/he strives to be honorable in a notoriously
dishonorable profession.
• She/he is tired of marketing advice that is not
backed up with evidence that it works.
• She/he is laser-focused on achieving tangible ROI for
marketing efforts.
• She/he understands that “adequacy is the enemy of
excellence.”
• So she/he works hard to achieve that ROI.
• But she/he struggles against market forces and
management that doesn’t share his/her vision.
• And she/he desperately wants to hit his/her
numbers in the meantime.
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35. STEP 2: Conduct a Biographical Sketch
Sample Content (Webinars)
• Finally, connect content to • Copywriting on Tight Deadlines: How ordinary
the biographical sketch of marketers are achieving 103% gains with a step-by-
step framework
your customer(s).
• Subject Lines Tested: How to write subject lines that
double your clickthrough rate
• Quick Win Clinic (Part I): The 5 easiest changes to
make to your landing pages right now
• 263% Higher Conversion Rate: How reducing anxiety
helped one company improve conversion rate three-
fold
• Discovering Your Value Proposition: 6 ways to stand
out in a crowded marketplace
• Five Steps to Better Metrics: How one marketer
leveraged Web analytics for an annual revenue
increase of $500,000
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36. STEP 2: Conduct a Biographical Sketch
How do I write content that applies to multiple
? customer segments? Do I always have to write
separate content for each customer type?
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37. Five Steps to Effective Content Marketing
STEP 1: Map your existing content across the funnel
STEP 2: Conduct a biography sketch (profiles and path) of you ideal
customer
STEP 3: Identify distribution channels in which you have the
greatest potential influence
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38. STEP 3: Identify Influential Channels
Content Channels
By identifying key distribution channels in Sermo’s space, Jon was able to
maximize the influence of its content.
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39. STEP 3: Identify Influential Channels
F Key Principles
One can measure the potential influence of a channel with three
criterion/factors:
1. REACH – How many are people are we influencing?
2. INTENSITY – To what depth is our influence on each person?
3. CAPACITY – To what degree can each person we have influenced
enact change?
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40. Five Steps to Effective Content Marketing
STEP 1: Map your existing content across the funnel
STEP 2: Conduct a biography sketch (profiles and path) of you ideal
customer
STEP 3: Identify distribution channels with the greatest potential
influence
STEP 4: Create a clear connection between relational content and
transactional and then contractual decisions
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41. STEP 4: Connect to Decisions
F Key Principles
Marketing only exists where choice exists. Marketers influence
choice. Indeed, any marketing effort (even content marketing) that
does not influence choice is waste.
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42. STEP 4: Connect to Decisions
Transactional Connection
Content connects to an incremental
transaction: the lead capture.
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43. STEP 4: Connect to Decisions
Is it better to put my content behind a
? registration “wall” or give it away for free?
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44. Five Steps to Effective Content Marketing
STEP 1: Map your existing content across the funnel
STEP 2: Craft a biographical sketch of your ideal customer
STEP 3: Identify distribution channels in which you have the
greatest potential influence
STEP 4: Create a clear connection between relational content to
transactional and then contractual decisions
STEP 5: Optimize the message of transactional and then
contractual transitions
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45. Experiment: Background
Experiment ID: TP1483 – SMO Barrier Page Test
Record Location: MarketingExperiments Research Library
Research Partner: Sermo, Inc.
Research Notes:
Background: After the success of the content marketing campaign, Jon
wanted to test on the landing page to extract more leads from the Fierce
Pharma traffic.
Goal: To increase lead rate on the content marketing landing page
Primary Research Question: Are users more likely to convert with only one
article featured or multiple articles?
Approach: A/B multifactor split test
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46. Experiment: Control Control
• The control followed many
so-called “best practices” of
landing page optimization.
• But Jon and the researchers
at MECLABS decided to add
multiple CTAs for Sermo’s
many other reports.
• They hypothesized that the
perceived value of the
individual reports would
increase when presented
alongside a larger selection
of content.
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47. Treatment
Experiment: Treatment
• Note the additional
surveys (content)
provided in attempt to
broaden the potential
appeal of the offer.
• Note the option to
search through specific
topics.
• Note the sidebar that
gave visitors the option
to learn about the main
offer directly.
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48. Experiment: Side-by-side
Control Treatment
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49. Experiment: Results
197% Increase in lead rate for returning visitors
The landing page’s lead rate increased by 197% for returning visitors
Relative Statistical Level
Design Lead Rate of Confidence
Difference
Control 18.2% - -
Treatment 54.1% 197% 99%
 What you need to understand:the increasing the number of available
reports, the perceived value of
By
individual reports may have
increased which offset the increase in friction on the page for
returning visitors.
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50. Summary: Putting it all together
F 1.
Key Principles
When mapping content, the goal is to simplify and sequence your
content/product mix as clearly as possible.
2. Often, our offerings can be clear to us but confusing to our prospects. As
marketers, we must learn to see our offerings through the eyes of our
customers.
3. One can measure the potential influence of a channel with three
criterion/factors: 1) Reach 2) Capacity 3) Intensity.
4. Marketing only exists where choice exists. Marketers influence choice.
Indeed, any marketing effort (even content marketing) that does not
influence choice is waste.
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51. Summary: Putting it all together
F Key Steps
STEP 1: Map your existing content across the funnel
STEP 2: Craft a biographical sketch of your ideal customer
STEP 3: Identify distribution channels in which you have the
greatest potential influence
STEP 4: Create a clear connection between relational content and
transactional and then contractual decisions
STEP 5: Optimize the message of transactional and then
contractual transitions
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52. MarketingExperiments Optimization Newsletter
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Join 98,000 of the top marketers from around the world as we work together to discover what really works.
MarketingExperiments.com/subscribe
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