SearchLove San Diego 2017 | Hana Abaza | Aiming for Impact: A Conversion-Centric Approach to Content...

AIMING FOR IMPACTA Conversion Minded Approach to Content MarketingHana Abaza, Head of Marketing, Shopify Plus@hanaabaza

CONTENT

ENVIRONMENT

COMPLEX

will produce more content this year

77%

of B2Cmarketers 76%of B2B

marketers

Over 800K “Mind-Blowing” Marketing Posts

Half a Million Ultimate Guides to Marketing

Too many to count.

CONSUMERS ARE CREATING MORE CONTENT THAN EVER

DESPITE THE NOISE

CONTENT CAN BE A POWERFUL GROWTH DRIVER

Define your brand, generate leads, nurture prospects, persuade buyers, and empower advocates.

WE NEED TO CHANGE HOW WE THINK ABOUT CONTENT MARKETING

Content needs to be more targeted, relevant and engaging.

HOW CAN WE GET MORE TRAFFIC?

HOW DO WE GET THE DESIRED OUTCOME WITH LESS TRAFFIC?

CONTENT PROBLEMS(regardless of

size/sophistication)

Too much content that underperformsPersona misalignment (or no personas)Silod Content and SEO teams Not enough time, money, resourcesFocus on traffic, not on impact

HOW DO YOU OPTIMIZE FOR IMPACT WITH CONTENT MARKETING?

Personas & Positioning, Content/Market Fit, Optimization

Sorry, no shortcuts or hacks. You need to take the scenic route.


CONTENT / MARKET FIT

CORE DRIVERS

PERSONAS & POSITIONING

STRATEGIC OPTIMIZATIO

N

PERSONASThese are your new BFFs – find

out everything you can about them

“By not deciding on one of these personas, we paid a gigantic, invisible ‘optionality’ tax.”

Source: readthink.com

- Brian Halligan, CEO of HubSpot

https://readthink.com/hubspot-s-playbook-for-going-from-startup-to-scale-up-29ab85d3a3e1%23.rrbst5c1f

PEOPLE (AND PERSONAS) ARE MULTI-FACETED


BEHAVIORALDEMOGRAPHIC “OTHER”

AgeGenderIncomeMarital Status

EducationLocation

(this is easy)

SearchSocial

WebsiteContent

EmailProduct

(this is harder)

Account-based

Tech usageInterests OpinionsIndustryUse Case

(this depends)

Personas & Audience Segments

Audience SegmentContent Marketers

B2B CompaniesUse HubSpot


HOW MANY PERSONAS? DECISION MAKER VS. INFLUENCER


THERE’S A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BUYER PERSONAS AND USER PERSONAS

Your buyer process and business model need to inform person

development

Audience SegmentB2B Marketers

Mid-Size CompanyUse HubSpot


UNDERSTANDING CURRENT USERS CAN HELP FUEL A CONTENT THAT ATTRACTS MORE OF YOUR PEOPLE


UNDERSTAND WHO THEY ARE AND WHERE THEY ARE IN THE “INNOVATION” CYCLE


These people self-educate.Historical search terms?

Content, tactics and channels change. Need case studies,

proof, validation.

GETTING TO KNOW PERSONAS

Talk to leadsTalk to customersTalk to internal teamsAudience surveysFacebook insightsTargeted social pollsProduct usage reports Tools (Built With, Datanyze etc.)

Resources: adespresso.com, twitter.com, bizible.com

Upload customer listResearch personas

PersonasInsights

CustomersConnections

https://adespresso.com/academy/blog/how-to-use-facebooks-audience-insights-to-create-buyer-personas/

https://blog.twitter.com/2015/introducing-new-audience-insights-for-brands

http://www.bizible.com/blog/bid/383945/How-To-Use-LinkedIn-For-Persona-Research

High-volume

Listenters

Marketing automation

CMS

Payment GatewayEcommerce

Platform

Yay, Personas! Now what?


VALUE PROP(S)POSITIONING

ALIGNMENT

How do people think

about the product?

What’s the value for

each persona?

Proof pointsProduct story

Big “C” Content

“Marketing is about making it easy for people to find, evaluate and buy your products.

Positioning is figuring out what your product is in the first place.”

More April: rocketwatcher.com

- April Dunford, CEO of Sprintly

http://www.rocketwatcher.com/blog/category/messaging

“Marketing can polish a turd. Positioning can turn turds into fertilizer.”


- April Dunford, CEO of Sprintly


HOW DO PEOPLE THINK ABOUT YOUR PRODUCT?

Are you a turd or are you fertilizer?

WHAT’S THE CONTEXT IN WHICH PEOPLE THINK ABOUT YOUR PRODUCT?

Price, customers, competition, brand, channels, message

WHAT LANGUAGE DO PEOPLE USE TO TALK ABOUT ABOUT YOUR PRODUCT?

How do your customers explain your product to their colleagues? What do they search on Google?

“Marketing is too important to be left to the marketing department.”


- David Packard, Co0founder, Hewlett Packard


This is the “why” — what’s the guiding narrative?

Secondary Message Secondary Message Secondary Message Secondary Message Secondary MessageExpand upon key messaging. Why does this matter?

Expand upon key messaging. Why does this matter?




For example, Netflix might look something like this…

The best entertainment, straight to your device. We know what you’ll love before you do.

Great Content Straight to Your Device Recommendations Convenience Low CostExpand upon key messaging. Why does this matter?





Hana Abaza

Changing and changing fast, be on a platform that will change with youWhere they’ll be tomorrow







Proof Points:• Point #1• Point #2





Hana Abaza













Product Story:• Point #1• Point #2





Hana Abaza


















CONTENT• Search• Owned • Contributed





Hana Abaza


CONTENT/MARKET FIT

Align content with your personas, channels, market and biz model

THE CONTENT MARKETING POWER LAW

A small portion of your content is responsible for the majority of

your results.

THE VAST MAJORITY OF CONTENT UNDERPERFORMS

Buzzsumo analyzed one million random B2B blog articles.

Source: buzzsumo.com

http://buzzsumo.com/

CONTENT MARKETERS NEED TO THINK LIKE PRODUCT MARKETERS TO MAKE A BIG IMPACT

Price, customers, competition, brand, channels, message

CONTENT MARKET FIT

What is the context with which people understand your content and is it aligned with what your market is looking for (knowingly or unknowingly)

Blog Articles“Snacky” Content

Long Form

Premium (gated)ebooks/whitepapers

Webinars

WHAT CONTENT TYPES DO YOU FOCUS ON?

Visual ContentSlideShare, Videos

Infographics

ALIGNING CONTENT MARKETING

(Re)search vs. IntentTopicsFormat ChannelsExperienceBrand, Voice & ToneLandscape (crowded vs. empty)

YOUR DON’T ACTUALLY OWN YOUR AUDIENCE

They can go wherever they want. The world owes you nothing.

CONTENT IDEATION

Consider the topic, timing and distribution at the point of

inception.

GIVE ME ALL THE KEYWORD TOOLS!

A BLENDED APPROACH IS BEST

Ideation/brainstormingKeyword toolsBuzzsumoAnswer The PublicInternal Data Lead Scoring People

OPTIMIZATION

How and where should you spend time optimizing?

OPTIMIZING THE EXPERIENCE

The basics CTAs Context DiscoverabilityUrgency

SEARCH VS. RESEARCH

People batch research. Are you optimizing for them to discover more content what they get to

you?

Urgency!

GREAT CONTENT ISN’T ENOUGH

You need deep persona knowledge, content market fit

and a good experience.

SearchLove San Diego 2017 | Hana Abaza | Aiming for Impact: A Conversion-Centric Approach to Content...

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