Here are\u00a0some guidelines that successful brands such as Iron Mountain, IBM and AutoTrader have leaned\u00a0on.<\/p>\n (and to best integrate it into your daily\u00a0marketing processes)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n 1. Define Your Objectives<\/span> –<\/strong> The first question you need to ask is what is your goal in content\u00a0marketing? Is it education about a specific product line? Is it to be viewed as a thought leader?<\/p>\n Other objectives might be building awareness, providing education, or driving traffic and\u00a0generating leads. There is no right or wrong answer, but know the goals because they form\u00a0the hub of your strategy.<\/p>\n Storage and information services provider Iron Mountain had a very\u00a0clear goal in mind with its content marketing. After seeing a decline in outbound marketing\u00a0conversions, the firm decided to swap tactics away from traditional digital tactics such as email\u00a0and paid ads, and rely instead on content to strengthen its relationship with customers and\u00a0prospects and to enhance its position as a thought leader. Skyword worked with Iron Mountain to\u00a0create articles and reports on trending topics of interest to Iron Mountain buyers.<\/p>\n 2. Build Content Around Those Objectives<\/span> <\/strong>– Once you know your goals, you need to study your\u00a0audience to determine if they want news or evergreen content, or both, or perhaps how-to pieces,\u00a0instructional material, or deep-dive reports on trends. In order to determine the best content for\u00a0your customers, learn what they care about, what issues matter to them, and what pain points\u00a0they face in their businesses.<\/p>\n [comillas]There is no shortcut to knowing your audience. You need to talk to\u00a0them and study the market so that you can create compelling content that will engage them and\u00a0be shared.[\/comillas]<\/p>\n [comillas]Using a centralized platform helped reduce\u00a0time spent managing the writing process, and also drove up revenue because the content was\u00a0optimized for search and sharing.[\/comillas]<\/p>\n As a result<\/strong>, impressions rose 281 percent in 3 years and the\u00a0Skyword system helped generate 10 million in new revenue.<\/p>\n 3. SEO Matters \u2013<\/strong><\/span> Part and parcel of any content strategy is to define the best keywords, because\u00a0SEO plays a huge role in content marketing. You\u2019ll be distributing content across many online\u00a0channels, so you want it to be easily found. SEO is a powerful tool since many consumers may\u00a0first learn about your business or area of expertise via a search on a related topic.<\/p>\n Make sure\u00a0your content returns high. To ensure your business is on track with its SEO, AutoTrader writers\u00a0receive \u201can automated SEO scorecard\u201d with their pieces, which gives feedback on how their\u00a0articles and written materials will fare best with SEO.<\/p>\n 4. Establish an editorial calendar and assign writers to topics<\/span> <\/strong>\u2013This step is sometimes neglected\u00a0but it\u2019s vital. Are you pushing out content daily? Three times a day? Who hits publish\u00a0and when? Likewise, make sure you have properly allocated the necessary tasks in content\u00a0production such as writing, creating, fact checking and distributing.<\/p>\n 5. Develop a Library \u2013<\/strong> <\/span>The content, of course, is the backbone of a content strategy, and there\u00a0are a number of ways to approach the actual creation of content.<\/p>\n As an example, United Way\u00a0wanted to distribute timely and emotionally powerful material to its 1800 local affiliates. But\u00a0uncovering stories about the brands and the people behind the communities was time-consuming,\u00a0and that\u2019s why the association wanted a central resource for this information. United Way\u00a0worked with Skyword to create a pool of blog articles and local resource guides to include in its\u00a0content engine as part of an overarching strategy to provide a consistent message. Tapping into\u00a0content that matters to local communities served the brand\u2019s overall objectives \u2013 to encourage\u00a0more online visitors to take action and volunteer.<\/p>\n 6. Promote your Content –<\/strong> <\/span>Post the articles, papers, videos, etc. to your site but also to social\u00a0channels such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google. Also, be in touch with influencers in\u00a0your industry who can help spread the content.<\/p>\n IBM, for instance, recently developed a content\u00a0library to raise awareness about its solutions for mid-size businesses. IBM relied on a team of\u00a0bloggers and journalists to create relevant news articles on important trends and breaking news\u00a0to mid-size business owners and IT professionals. The content was optimized for search and\u00a0social and nearly 3,000 articles created generated more than 200 million social impressions and\u00a016,000 shares (as of August 2013), which in turn led customers to IBM sites to seek out more\u00a0information.<\/p>\n 7. Measure –<\/strong><\/span> You want to know if your content marketing is working so you can tweak and\u00a0improve it when need be. Establish the important metrics, such as shares, page views, traffic lifts,or even sales boosts. Change your content if it\u2019s not hitting the mark.<\/p>\n The team at Iron Mountain\u00a0found success with its content marketing approach based on the metrics that mattered \u2013 inbound\u00a0outreach via phone or the website. Since the content marketing program began, inbound\u00a0calls rose 5% and completions of the contact us form on the website are up 61%. Similarly,\u00a0AutoTrader tracked its best-performing topics so the content creators could focus on the areas\u00a0that generated the most engagement.<\/p>\n This series of articles about “Content Marketing” is brought to you by Skyword<\/a>. Skyword provides a wide range of services so that companies may connect with their audiences and generate a higher degree of engagement via top-quality contents for online search and social networking, currently the two main sources for content consumption.<\/p>\n Other articles of the CONTENT MARKETING SERIES:<\/strong><\/p>\n CONTENT MARKETING: What do we mean when we talk about “content marketing”?<\/a><\/p>\n CONTENT MARKETING: Flying Through the Fog: A Marketer\u2019s Guide to Navigating Search After Google Keywords Were Encrypted<\/a><\/p>\n CONTENT MARKETING:<\/b> What we can learn from Iron Mountain, IBM and Autotrader<\/a><\/p>\n CONTENT MARKETING:<\/b> Should Media Firms become Content Marketing Agencies?<\/a><\/p>\n CONTENT MARKETING:<\/b> Spanish Language: What opportunities does it afford?<\/a><\/p>\n CONTENT MARKETING: How P&G, Clorox and Tampico engage Hispanic audiences<\/a><\/p>\n![\"digital.letters1\"](\"https:\/\/www.portada-online.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/digital.letters1-290x193.jpg\")
<\/a>Content marketing is one of the most important and effective tools that a brand or agency can use\u00a0to build its business, reach new consumers and deepen loyalty with existing customers. To be\u00a0truly effective and engaging, brands will benefit from following a blueprint and adhering to some\u00a0established best practices as they embark on producing and distributing owned content.<\/p>\nSteps to start a content marketing strategy<\/h2>\n
Iron Mountain<\/h3>\n
AutoTrader.com<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.portada-online.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/4\/files\/2013\/09\/foto.contenido11.jpg\")
<\/a>AutoTrader.com confronted the issue of pain points when it revamped its content strategy. The\u00a0site has become a leading source in-car buying with more than 16 million monthly visitors.\u00a0However, the site was publishing eight articles a day from various contracted writers, and\u00a0that proved a drain on resources and time. AutoTrader needed to streamline that process with\u00a0one system for editing, distribution and even payment of writers. Using Skyword\u2019s platform,\u00a0AutoTrader now manages the writing process in a more organized fashion and also uses the\u00a0system for fact checking, SEO and spelling. Skyword\u2019s tech tools, among other features,\u00a0suggest desirable keywords for search optimization.<\/p>\nUnited Way<\/h3>\n
IBM<\/h3>\n