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//-->Act-On Best Practices for Email Delivery&8 Content MarketingMistakes to AvoidCopyright 2012 © Act-On Software. All rights reserved.i8 Content Marketing Mistakes to AvoidAct-On Best Practices for Email Delivery8 Content Marketing Mistakes toAvoidExecutive SummaryOnly a handful of marketers can hit a home run every time they stepup to bat. Let’s face it, we’ve all had our share of flops. But failurescan be learning experiences; a mistake or misstep can provideinsight into what to avoid in the future. Heinz Marketing’s Matt Heinzsuggests that you not “overthink your content marketing strategy. It’smore important to have a bias for action and get rolling.” In this onlinediscussion, Matt gets things rolling by sharing some content marketing“gotchas” to avoid, and he’s in good company, with input fromMarketing Interactions’ Ardath Albee, Babcock & Jenkins’ CarmenHill, The Funnelholic’s Craig Rosenberg, and The Sales Lion’s MarcusSheridan. This list of “don’ts” can help you avoid some of the morecommon content marketing mistakes these experts have seen (andperhaps even made themselves!).Checklist1. Don’t neglect to do the groundwork.2. Don’t focus on yourself—focus on the buyer instead.3. Don’t pitch your product at every stage.4. Don’t overlook calls to action.5. Don’t forget that effective content marketing is a two-waystreet.6. Don’t produce content that lacks substance.7. Don’t treat content marketing as an afterthought.8. Don’t underestimate the power of various formats.“Before you start anymarketing activity (nomatter how strategic ortactical), you have to knowwhy you’re doing it.”—Matt Heinz,Heinz Marketing8 Content Marketing Mistakes to Avoid1. Don’t neglect to do the groundwork.Before you start anymarketing activity (no matter how strategic or tactical), youhave to know why you’re doing it. What does success looklike? How does this activity translate to immediate or eventualsales and revenue? (Heinz)I think the biggest mistake is not doing the foundational, big-Copyright 2012 © Act-On Software. All rights reserved.18 Content Marketing Mistakes to AvoidAct-On Best Practices for Email Delivery“Nobody else cares thatmuch about us. Ourcontent needs a lot less‘we’ and a lot more ‘you.’”—Carmen Hill,Babcock & Jenkinspicture work. You have to know whom you’re talking to, whatthey need and want to know, and where their interests intersectwith yours. All the other mistakes we make emanate from thatvoid. (Hill)2. Don’t focus on yourself—focus on the buyer instead.I’d argue that marketers who do not build buyer insightsor develop personas will forever revert to content orientedthat’s around products, because that’s what they know best.Focusing on buyers is a shift to skill sets that takes appliedeffort. (Albee)Think like the end user, not like a business owner. Too manybusiness owners and marketers are writing more for “their”way of seeing the world. They talk too much about themselves;I always like to say it’s a blog, not a brag. Great contentmarketing is about education. It’s about teaching. And it’sabout good old-fashioned communication. To be great atcontent marketing, the focus has to be about the reader, andnot the company/writer. (Sheridan)Try as we might, we tend to see things through the lens of ourcompany, our product, our need to get a bunch of leads in thepipeline by the end of the quarter, etc. Nobody else cares thatmuch about us. Our content needs a lot less “we” and a lotmore “you.” (Hill).3. Don’t pitch your product at every stage.Contentmarketers can be overly sales-y at inappropriate times.Whitepapers and datasheets have their place at the rightpoint in the sales cycle. In the meantime, give the peoplewhat they want: interesting content that makes their lifebetter. (Rosenberg)Too many content programs focus on new features, chest-beating on company milestones, and otherwise weavingstrong product tie-ins into every new piece of contentcreated. That content has its place, but your readers(customers and prospects) will gravitate toward content thatindependently provides value. What are your customer’sissues? What do they need help with, right now? That’s thecontent that will spread like wildfire for you. (Heinz)Copyright 2012 © Act-On Software. All rights reserved.28 Content Marketing Mistakes to AvoidAct-On Best Practices for Email Delivery“Content marketing isnot a bolt-on to othermarketing efforts. Contentmarketing is a practicethat integrates all of yourcontent-driven initiativeinto a consistent andholistic experience foryour target markets. Or itshould be. ”—Ardath Albee,Marketing Interactions4. Don’t overlook calls to action.Every content asset shouldhave a call to action. This does not mean “have a sales repcall me” (unless this is late stage). It means providing accessto the next step. What would your prospect be interested ingiven the content they have just viewed? Build pathways andtell connected stories that help to build momentum throughthe pipe. (Albee)5. Don’t forget that effective content marketing is a two-way street.Creating content isn’t enough. To reallyaccelerate your audience and impact, you must devote timeto responding, commenting, engaging questions and soon. If you’re just a one-way communication channel, evenwith good content, your prospects will go elsewhere for theinteraction they crave. (Heinz)6. Don’t produce content that lacks substance.Too often,we focus on platforms, channels and formats, rather than thesubstance of the information and the story it supports. At thisyear’s SXSW, Audrey Gray of American Express advised that weput our energy into what we’re making rather than the platform:“Create content that makes you feel smarter, celebrates humanartistry, or that has with real-world value.” (Hill)They are afraid to produce gutsy content that actually gives anopinion. We have too many boring blogs living in the world ofgray, with not enough black-and-white. (Sheridan)7. Don’t treat content marketing as an afterthought.Contentmarketing is not a bolt-on to other marketing efforts. Contentmarketing is a practice that integrates all of your content-driveninitiative into a consistent and holistic experience for yourtarget markets. Or it should be. I see it implemented as analso-ran with webinars, white paper efforts and social mediarun separately. This creates a fragmented experience for youraudience. Content marketing is at its best when it’s used topull everything together so that an experience in one channelmakes sense or adds value when the audience switches toanother channel. This is one reason why editorial calendars areso important. (Albee)They aren’t relentless in their pursuit of producing great content.In other words, it’s not a culture of the company, it’s a “If we havetime to write a blog post, let’s try to get it done...” (Sheridan)Copyright 2012 © Act-On Software. All rights reserved.38 Content Marketing Mistakes to AvoidAct-On Best Practices for Email Delivery“Content is an asset. Usingit once and then relegatingit to a resource list page onthe corporate website is ashame.”—Ardath Albee,Marketing Interactions8. Don’t underestimate the power of various formats.Written content may be the core of your content strategy, butdon’t forget video. Or podcasts. Or short, embedded slidepresentations. Or whatever other formats your audiencenaturally gravitates toward. (Heinz)Content is an asset. Using it once and then relegating it toa resource list page on the corporate website is a shame.Marketers will benefit tremendously by embracing the Rule of5. This means that for every piece of content developed, thereshould be 5 uses, applications or reinvention options for acontent asset. Turn a webinar into a white paper. Then breakthe white paper into a series of articles and blog posts andconnect them via hyperlinks. Take one topic and develop 5different angles to approach it, creating 5 different formats ofcontent. (Albee)In ClosingAbout Act-On SoftwareAct-On’s fully integrated cloud-based platform enablesmarketers to realize their creative expression to the fullest.Act-On’s rapid implementation, intuitive user interfaceand complete tool set enable marketing and salesprofessionals to execute and optimize their campaignsand calculate the critical metrics to define success.The Act-On platform features an integrated suite of toolsto create web forms, landing pages, and emails. Act-On’splatform also offers Twitter Prospector to enable marketersto use Twitter and other social media properties as a leadsource and for reputation management.Combined with a best-in-class email engine and a seriesof easy-to-use tools for website visitor tracking, leadscoring, lead nurturing, and one-click integration withleading web conferencing and CRM solutions, the Act-Onplatform is the foundation for successful business growthstrategies for the Fortune 5,000,000.Good content marketing is an on-goingcommitment, not a one-time investment. Ifyou focus on eliminating these “don’ts” fromyour work, you can hit a home run with everycampaign. You will find that quality contentbuilds upon itself, delivering consistent long-term engagement and creating brand loyaltywithin your customer base.Contact us:www.actonsoftware.com(877) 530.1555Copyright 2012 © Act-On Software. All rights reserved.4 [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]