How to Create Epic Content

That’s True to Your Brand AND Drives Business

(With Ideas You Can Steal… !)

• Ann Handley • @MarketingProfs • 9.11.13

Hi, I’m Ann.

• Chief Content Officer of

MarketingProfs

• Columnist for Entrepreneur magazine

• Book author: Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business (Wiley)

(Need more…? See AnnHandley.com)

Your Guide to Epic Content in

3Easy Steps.

Step 1: Find a billion dollars.

You already inspire

emotional connections.

Step 2: Secure global brand recognition with rich emotional resonance.

Step 3: Procure a situation monitoring room.

J.K.

Your REAL-WORLD Guide to Epic Content in

3Mostly Easy Steps.

Content marketing means you consistently create and share

information that is…Packed with UTILITY

Seeded with INSPIRATIONHonestly EMPATHETIC

…to attract customers to you.

Content marketing means you consistently create and share

information that is…Packed with UTILITY

Seeded with INSPIRATIONHonestly EMPATHETIC

…to attract customers to you.

Content Marketing means…

You OWN the media. (Not rent it.)

Source: Velocity Partners, UK

89%of marketers are creating content.

Source: B2C Content Marketing

2013 Benchmarks, Budgets, Trends

MarketingProfs, Content Marketing Institute

55%of marketers are upping content budgets.

B2C Content Marketing

2013 Benchmarks, Budgets, Trends

MarketingProfs, Content Marketing Institute

10%of marketers have a content strategy.

B2C Content Marketing

2013 Benchmarks, Budgets, Trends

MarketingProfs, Content Marketing Institute

Just 36% of marketers say their content is effective.

“The best marketing doesn’t feel like marketing.”

—Tom Fishburne

Marketoonist.com

A Simple Formula for EPIC…

A Real-World Simple Formula for EPIC….

Useful x Enjoyable x Inspired = Effective

3 Keys to EPIC…1. Put the why before the what.2. Build audience.3. Create content worth sharing.

1. Put the why before the what.

The problem with a channel-first strategy…

Create a focused content mission.

...Huh?

Empathy:

Consider not what you do, but what you do for your customers.

Extreme empathy:

Would your customers THANK YOUfor your content?

1. WHO do you want to reach?

2. WHAT value are going to give them?

3. WHY is that important to them?

4. …and WHAT do you want them to do next?

Who: Urbanites who are considering living options in Seattle’s neighborhoods.

What: Facts about & local opportunities in Capitol Hill; tools to assist in rental options.

Why: To empower people to make informed rental decisions.

Results?

Ideas you can steal:

•Even if you sell technology or toasters or apartments or apps– your story is about people, not tools or tech.

•Your mission is bigger than your brand: What will people THANK YOU for?

•What can your content HELP people DO?

2. Build audience.

Kinvey: Establishing expertise is key to building audience, creating momentum.

Ultimate in “Content as a Service”: Extreme empathy.

“Your top-of-funnel content should be

intellectually divorced from your product, but emotionally wed to it.”

– Joe Chernov, Kinvey

Not a

one-off…

What happened?

•Last WEEK Kinvey grew the size of its community by nearly the entire size of the community in the 15 months that preceded its content marketing program.

•At the end of Q1, Kinvey launched its enterprise product. By the end of Q2, 71% of all enterprise leads were sourced by a content offer.

•More than 40% of everyone who opens a Kinvey account first converts on a content offer. (That number was 1.5% at the end of 2012.)

Ideas you can steal:

• Tell a story bigger than your brand: Will a reader THANK YOU?

• Find your foothold.

• Think content ecosystem, not content campaign.

• Build expertise; build audience

3. Create content worth sharing.

Share story, not stock.

#CaptureEuphoria

Connectingover-the-top experiences.

56

#CaptureEuphoria

Reaching our audience’s audience…

Reaching our audience’s audience… (lots of views, embeds, and so on…)

FOUR sales in the first hour!

Ideas you can steal:

• Make your story part of THE story: How can you tap into conversations people are already having?

• Show the human pulse of your organization.

• What content will delight your audience’s audience?

We have an EPIC opportunity....

To create marketing that has utility and empathy

and is full of inspiration.

Epic is more about brains than budget.

Here’s your chance.

Thank you, Crains!

Connect with me!

Ann Handley@marketingprofs

ann@marketingprofs.com