{"id":76,"date":"2021-07-12T14:51:13","date_gmt":"2021-07-12T18:51:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/chapter\/content-marketing\/"},"modified":"2023-08-15T12:43:21","modified_gmt":"2023-08-15T16:43:21","slug":"content-marketing","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/chapter\/content-marketing\/","title":{"raw":"Content Marketing","rendered":"Content Marketing"},"content":{"raw":"<div class=\"textbox textbox--learning-objectives\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Learning Objectives<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n\r\nBy the end of this chapter, you should be able to:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Develop<\/strong> a content marketing strategy<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Map<\/strong> appropriate content types across your conversion funnel<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Explain<\/strong> the purpose of content calendars<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Describe<\/strong> several content marketing do\u2019s and don\u2019ts<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<h1>Content Marketing and the Customer Journey<\/h1>\r\nTo start the discussion of content marketing, let\u2019s first review some key concepts and how they tie into a content marketing strategy. As mentioned in the <a class=\"internal\" href=\"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/chapter\/customer-journey\/\"><strong>Customer Journey Mapping<\/strong><\/a> chapter, we have broken down the customer journey into the following five stages:\r\n\r\n<img class=\"aligncenter wp-image-69\" src=\"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2022\/01\/Conversion-Funnel-2.png\" alt=\"The Conversion Funnel: Awareness to engagement to conversion to retention to advocacy.\" width=\"400\" height=\"452\" \/>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Awareness\r\n<\/strong>A prospective customer learns about an organization, product, or service.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Engagement\r\n<\/strong>A relationship develops between the prospective customer and the organization via several, positive interactions.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Conversion\r\n<\/strong>The prospective customer decides to buy a product or service from the organization.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Retention\r\n<\/strong>The customer has a strong and loyal relationship with the organization and becomes a regular customer or active user.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Advocacy\r\n<\/strong>A regular customer is satisfied with the organization's products and\/or services and recommends them to others.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nSince organizations want to market to and support prospective customers at every stage of this journey, it is essential to plan specific content for each stage along this journey. The following image highlights different content categories as customers move through the customer journey.<a id=\"retcccj\"><\/a>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_473\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"2342\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-473\" src=\"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2021\/07\/Content-Marketing-Conversion-Funnel.png\" alt=\"A diagram showing what types of content are used to reach customers at different stages of the customer journey. Image description available.\" width=\"2342\" height=\"1251\" \/> <a href=\"#cccjid\">Content Categories in the Customer Journey [Image Description]<\/a>[\/caption]On the left-hand side, we see the five customer journey stages \u2013 awareness, engagement, conversion, retention, and advocacy. And next to each of these stages, there are a few content categories that might be helpful to prospects and\/or customers. For each stage, organizations should ask:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>What information is our target audience seeking?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>How can we best support \/ help them?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Which pain points and questions can we address proactively?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>And how can we move them more quickly to the next stage?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nSimply stated, as your target customers move through each of these stages, marketers need to identify the specific content that is most important at that stage. Please note that the content details and requirements will be significantly influenced by the type of organization, the customer persona, and the specific customer journey. But let\u2019s look at some common types of content across a customer journey.\r\n<h2>Top of Funnel (Awareness, Initial Engagement)<\/h2>\r\nAt the top of the funnel, organizations are usually trying to drive awareness. As a result, many of the goals associated with this stage include:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>increase traffic<\/li>\r\n \t<li>increase our social media fans and followers<\/li>\r\n \t<li>increase media coverage<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nTo achieve these goals, organizations need to create and map content that matches the needs of customer personas in the awareness stage of a customer journey. Typically, this would include content that brings awareness of your organization, products, services, and solutions. Often this stage includes content like videos, paid ads, social media posts, etc.\r\n<h2>Middle of Funnel (Ongoing Engagement, Secondary Conversions)<\/h2>\r\nAt the middle of the funnel, prospective customers are interested and considering their options. They are aware you exist but are seeking more information about your solutions and\/or trying to better understand who you are and what you offer. These leads may have come from an advertisement, link in a post, forwarded email, etc. In this stage, marketers want to make sure to offer content like blog posts, articles, case studies, webinars, videos, etc. that highlight why your organization is the most qualified and why you offer the best solutions to meet the target customer\u2019s needs.\r\n<h2>Bottom of Funnel (Primary Conversion, Retention, Advocacy)<\/h2>\r\nAt the bottom of the funnel, you will have qualified marketing, sales, product, or services leads. These leads have expressed interest, have been engaging with your organization or content, but have not yet committed to your primary conversion \u2013 usually a paid purchase. At this stage, marketers want to create content that will create an incentive for leads to convert. This content might include targeted ads, specific email offers and messages, and other lead magnets that provide an opportunity to convert.\r\n\r\nAlso included in this stage are new and repeat customers because remember the bottom of the funnel does not end at the point of purchase but continues post-purchase to ensure satisfied customers and to develop brand advocates. Remember the importance of customer referrals from the last chapter. So, your content marketing strategy needs to continue to support your leads long after they convert. Every organization should encourage their customers to become brand influencers and advocates \u2013 in essence, to start marketing on the organization\u2019s behalf and to become an unofficial sale force. The easiest way to seed these kinds of conversations is to provide content that customers can easily share with their own networks. However, do make sure that your customers are satisfied with their customer experience, and feel connected to the brand and the brand's community. This is because viral content can go both ways and complaints tend to spread much faster than praises.\r\n<h1>Content Strategy<\/h1>\r\nTo develop your content strategy, there are several questions you need to address. In answering these questions, you can ensure your content plan and activities meet the needs of your target audience and are sustainable by your marketing team and the organizational resources you have available. The following key questions answer the what, why, how, where, when, and who for any content strategy:\r\n<h2>What<\/h2>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>What are our content objectives?<\/strong>\r\nYour content objectives should tie in and support your overarching marketing and organizational objectives.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>What do our community and customers want to hear from us?<\/strong>\r\nA content strategy is about promoting messages that your community and customers want to read, see, or hear. It is no longer about pushing brand messages unless those messages align with what your target audience finds interesting and wants to engage with. Remember it is not just about your organization; it is about your target audience in relation to your organization.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>What topics are we going to cover?\r\n<\/strong>Spend some time listening to your target audience e.g., on social media, to see and hear which topics they find most engaging or are most passionate about. Your topics should be driven by your target audience and their preferences. That said, conduct a brainstorming session with your own team because they may have ideas, as well. Then, compare your list to what you discover with your target audience.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>What formats are we going to use, e.g., blogs, podcasts, videos, infographics, etc.?<\/strong>\r\nSimilarly, find out which content formats perform the best or get the most reactions (likes, shares, comments, etc.) from your target audience. Once again, this is not about your organization\u2019s preferences, but rather the content preferences of the community.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h2>Why<\/h2>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Why does anyone care about our content?<\/strong>\r\nMarketers need to be clear about why their target audience cares about the content being produced. Creating content for content's sake makes no sense. Since there is so much content being produced and shared, marketers need to produce content that gets above the noise. In essence, what is the benefit to your target audience?<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Why are we creating this content?<\/strong>\r\nOnce you know why your target audience wants this content, ask if this content makes sense for your organization? The answer to this question should align with your goals and objectives and what you want your target audience to do.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h2>How<\/h2>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>How are we adding value to our customers \/ community?<\/strong>\r\nAgain, being clear on the benefits your content will provide to your target audience is key. When there is value in the content, people will pay attention, share, and discuss that content. Your organization is also then seen as a valuable contributor the community. So, when you post or share content of value, the community will take notice.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>How are we going to deliver our message?<\/strong>\r\nThis question is a follow up to the content formats. For every piece of content, there is the content production side and the content delivery side. Make sure you know how to deliver your content to those places where your target audience is located.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>How should we say it (tone, language, imagery, etc.)?<\/strong>\r\nAnother benefit of listening to your target audience is learning about their language, tone, and imagery preferences. To be a part of their conversation, use similar vocabulary, tone, e.g., casual or formal, and imagery most commonly used.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h2>Where<\/h2>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Where will we get the content<\/strong> (assess your limitations)?\r\nMany organizations create ambitious content plans. However, plan realistically keeping your content production capabilities in mind. For example, if you plan to distribute lots of videos, do you have people within your organization, who have the video production and editing skills to support this? If not, do you have a sizable video production budget to hire outside resources to complete some of these tasks? If that does not seem likely, you may want to reduce your video content plans and replace it with content that your organization can more easily produce. There are always trade-offs, but it is recommended to play to your organizational strengths.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Where will we curate content?<\/strong>\r\nOne complaint that frequently comes up is the amount of time required to create original content. However, the majority of the content you share should not be original content, but rather content created by others. Marketers should be finding relevant content that is of interest to their target audience. Where does that content live? What other websites, communities, or news sites can we introduce to our community that they would find interesting?<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Where will our content be published?<\/strong>\r\nWhile there may be many places to distribute your content, focus on the top 1-2 channels and do them well. Once you have built up a loyal following, consider expanding to other channels or platforms. Unless your organization has a very large team and large budget, managing a meaningful presence across several marketing channels can become quite challenging to maintain and sustain. And usually, the quality of the content and target audience interactions suffer when managing too many channels.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h2>When<\/h2>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>When will our content be published?<\/strong>\r\nTactically, it is important to know when to publish content to get the most interactions and engagement. Again, listening to your target audience, reviewing your customer personas, as well as understanding the cadence of your target audience\u2019s daily, weekly, monthly, and seasonal rhythms can be quite beneficial in knowing when to publish content. For example, if your target audience is mothers with young children, you may want to think about posting content in the evenings after the children have been put to bed. But, if you are targeting working professionals, you might want to post in the morning prior to the workday\u2019s start or during lunch time when these workers might take a lunch break.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>When will our content need to be updated?<\/strong>\r\nAnother area marketers often forget to think about is updating of content. In today's ever-changing markets, content can quickly become old and stale. However, updating content can provide an opportunity to present the information again in a new context or to a new audience. Think about developing a content review process and updating content with fresh eyes. Your content is an asset, and you should try to leverage it as much as possible.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h2>Who<\/h2>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Who will be responsible for producing the content?<\/strong>\r\nAs mentioned, producing content takes time. Make sure you have clearly outlined who is responsible for which part of the content production. More importantly, keep in mind that with multiple people involved, there may be dependencies. For example, if the graphics designers will be creating all the graphics for an article, by when do you need those graphics so that you can finish the article for the paid advertisement deadline?<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Who will maintain the content over time?<\/strong>\r\nWhen planning for content to be updated, who will be responsible for making sure the content is properly maintained, e.g., making sure links are still working, etc.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Who will monitor, interact, and support with the content?<\/strong>\r\nOften marketers spend lots of time planning the launch and distribution of content, but who will interact with the community when people leave comments or ask questions? The goal of content marketing is to engage and interact with your target community. Make sure there is someone responsible for engaging with the community, being responsive, and managing the open dialog that content marketing sparks.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h1>Content Calendars<\/h1>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_73\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"2145\"]<img class=\"wp-image-73 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2022\/01\/Content-Calendar-e1675292023927.png\" alt=\"A sample editorial calendar in a spreadsheet. It identifies topics, dates, channels, etc.\" width=\"2145\" height=\"670\" \/> Editorial Calendar (sample)[\/caption]\r\n\r\nNow, that you have a solid content strategy, you will need to create a content plan that highlights when content will be distributed, on which platforms, covering which topics, for which target audience(s), showing who\u2019s responsible, and all the content production details. Typically, all of this information will live within a content calendar. <strong>Content calendars<\/strong> map out all the details related to the content that marketers plan to create. They are useful tactical tools because they can:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Provide a comprehensive content overview<\/li>\r\n \t<li>List what needs to be done<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Highlight missing opportunities, e.g., if the content is all focused on the same target audience or the same format<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nThe above image provides a simple example of a content calendar. As you can see, Excel or Google Sheets work well for this type of plan. However, there are many content calendar templates and here are two from Hubspot and Hootsuite:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/blog\/tabid\/6307\/bid\/33415\/the-social-media-publishing-schedule-every-marketer-needs-template.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Social Media Content Calendar Template Every Marketer Needs <\/a>(Free Hubspot Template)<\/li>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hootsuite.com\/how-to-create-a-social-media-content-calendar\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">How to Create a Social Media Content Calendar: Tips and Templates<\/a> (Hootsuite)<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nYou can also conduct a search on Google for content calendar and templates. While most templates cover the basic attributes for managing your content, there are a few areas you may want to make sure are included in your content calendar:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Target Audience<\/strong>\r\nSince you may be targeting different audiences, this is a nice way to see at-a-glance that you have a good mix of content targeting a variety of stakeholders \/ audiences.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Content \/ Media Type<\/strong>\r\nBe sure to add the type of media for your post: infographic, video, story, text post, audio, etc. This ensures you have a nice mix and that all posts are not the same type of content \/ media.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Dependencies<\/strong>\r\nIn some cases, your post(s) may be dependent on someone else completing part of it or completing something else related to it. It's good to write down these dependencies so that you know who needs to get what to you and by when.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Content Themes \/ Topics\r\n<\/strong>Many marketers may have common themes or topics that repeat on a regular basis, e.g., Trivia Tuesdays, Throwback Thursdays, Funny Fridays, etc. Categorizing your content this way, makes it easier to find and curate content that fits into the appropriate \"bucket\". From a follower\u2019s perspective, it also creates a pattern to your posts so that followers know what to expect and when.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Comments \/ Notes<\/strong>\r\nThere may be some additional comments or notes you want to include. Give yourself a space to include these.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nFor marketers managing multiple marketing channels, you can either put all your content into one calendar or have multiple content calendars, e.g., a social media content calendar, email content calendar, blog post content calendar, conference calendar, etc. The choice is up to you to decide which system will work best for your team and organization.\r\n<h1>Promotional vs. Original vs. Curated Content<\/h1>\r\n<img class=\"aligncenter wp-image-481\" src=\"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2021\/07\/Ideal-Content-Mix-Promotional-Original-Curated-e1692117728964.png\" alt=\"A pie chart. Curated is 65%. Original is 25%. Promotional is 10%.\" width=\"500\" height=\"404\" \/>\r\n\r\nOne frequently asked question is how do I find time to create and manage all this content? This is perhaps the biggest misunderstanding about content marketing; the perception that all content must be original content. As mentioned before, the majority of content shared, should actually be from other sources. The above pie chart provides a guideline on content splits:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Promotional<\/strong> (10%)\r\nPromotional content refers to content that is trying to sell and\/or heavily promote an offer and should be ~10% of all the posts distributed. This is because most people do not like being sold to all the time. Remember content marketing is about building relationships with your community and to do this, marketers cannot be selling all the time. If there is too much selling content, your target audience will simply stop listening.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Original<\/strong> (25%)\r\nOriginal content is content that your organization creates. As mentioned in the content strategy, you want to create original content that provides value and benefits to your target audience and that aligns with your organizational goals and objectives. However, original content takes time and money. It is also tempting to have original content focus on the organization. So, to limit your content marketing feeling too much like self-promotion, you will want to limit the number of posts that highlight your organization. Generally speaking, you want ~25% of your posts to be original.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Curated<\/strong> (65%)\r\nThe bulk of your content should be curated content. Curated content is content created and distributed by others that is of interest to your target audience. This could be articles, market research, complementary products or services to your offerings, or any other content that your target audience might find of interest. By sharing content from others, you show your target audience that you are willing to share content produced by others and that you are also happy to share any content of value regardless of who produced it and give someone else credit for it. An important benefit of this strategy is that when you do post your own original content, the other content producers, whose content you have promoted, are more likely to reciprocate and share your content with their networks. Most importantly, this signals to your target audience that you are simply looking for the best content for them, regardless of the source.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h1>Content Marketing Do\u2019s and Don\u2019ts<\/h1>\r\nSo far, we\u2019ve talked about developing a content marketing strategy and plan. But what are tips and tricks to successfully launching a content marketing strategy? Here are few do\u2019s and don\u2019ts that build on many of the concepts and questions already discussed:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Do\u2019s\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Add Value<\/strong>\r\nReview your customer personas and customer journeys to make sure you are addressing the pain points, goals, and questions that your prospective and exiting customers have.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Tell Stories<\/strong>\r\nApply the concepts and frameworks from the <a class=\"internal\" href=\"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/chapter\/fundamentals-of-storytelling\/\"><strong>Fundamentals of Storytelling<\/strong><\/a> and <a class=\"internal\" href=\"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/chapter\/visual-storytelling\/\"><strong>Visual Storytelling<\/strong><\/a> chapters.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Encourage Conversations \/ Discussion\r\n<\/strong>Remember content marketing is merely a vehicle to learn more about your target audience, to engage with them, to find out what they are most interested in and passionate about, and to build longer term relationships.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Experiment<\/strong>\r\nTry a variety of different content formats, topics, etc. Marketers willing to experiment can sometimes stumble across some great discussions that lead to valuable customer insights and even viral sharing.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Don\u2019ts\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Hard Sell<\/strong>\r\nAgain, no one likes communications to only be about selling. Mix up your messages to also include curated content and content that simply benefits the community.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Be Generic<\/strong>\r\nThe details are the interesting parts. Your goals is not to be like everyone else; be unique and highlight how what you are offering and who you are is different from others in your industry.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Ignore Your Community \/ Leads<\/strong>\r\nMake sure to follow up and respond to messages from your community. Pay attention to your target audience and they will pay attention to you.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h2>Developing Content \/ Lead Magnets<\/h2>\r\nIn the last chapter, we introduced the concept of lead magnets. Remember a <strong>lead magnet<\/strong> is a free item or service that is given away for the purpose of gathering contact details. Now that we have walked through how to build a content strategy and plan, you may want to think about incorporating lead magnets into your content plans. So, the following lists provide several examples of lead magnets in the various categories:\r\n<div class=\"h5p\">[h5p id=\"2\"]<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"pdf\">\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Educational Lead Magnets<\/strong>\r\nEducational lead magnets teach your target audience something they do not already know:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Training \/ Tutorials<\/strong>\u00a0<em>(How-to)<\/em>\r\nCreate a variety of how-to training \/ tutorial content. Please note that this content can be produced as:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Video<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Audio<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Written or Video Transcript<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Short course<\/strong>\r\nOffer a short course or a portion of a longer course for free.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Sample Chapter \/ Video Clip \/ Audio Clip<\/strong>\r\nCreate a trailer or teaser of a longer piece of content.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Downloadable eBook \/ PDF \/ Report \/ Guide \/ Audiobook<\/strong>\r\nCreate a download piece of content<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Mind Map \/ Concept Map \/ Framework<\/strong>\r\nThis content works particularly well in design by providing others with visual concepts.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Infographics<\/strong>\r\nVisualize some text-heavy content in an infographic. Free services like\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.canva.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Canva<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/piktochart.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Piktochart<\/a>, and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.visme.co\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Visme<\/a>\u00a0offer many infographic templates.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Webinar sign-up \/ Event Tickets<\/strong>\r\nOffer an educational webinar or in-person event.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Predictions \/ Forecasts<\/strong>\r\nPublish some predictions or forecasts about your industry or other area of interest.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Presentations<\/strong>\r\nProvide an educational presentation.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Newsletters<\/strong>\r\nCreate an educational newsletter or newsletter series.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Virtual Library \/ Vault<\/strong>\r\nBuild an online library or source where leads can access a variety of content on a specific topic.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Market Research \/ Roundup \/ State of the Industry<\/strong>\r\nConduct some market research and provide a summary of your findings.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Recordings \/ Replays with additional commentary<\/strong>\r\nRecord some content or replay some existing content with additional commentary provided by you or your team.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Coles \/ Cliff Notes \/ Content Summaries<\/strong><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Useful Lead Magnets\r\n<\/strong>Useful lead magnets provide solutions with which your target audience can solve a problem:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Cheat Sheets \/ List of Shortcuts<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Checklists<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Calculators, e.g., ROI calculators, Calorie Calculator, etc.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Case Studies \/ Examples<\/li>\r\n \t<li>File &amp; Design Templates (a.k.a. Swipe Files), e.g., Content Calendar Templates (digital or printable)<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Toolkits, e.g., design themes, digital assets, icons, etc.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Scripts, e.g., Code Scripts, etc.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>List of Resources \/ Inspirations<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Calendars \/ Plans or Planner Pages<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Idea Generators<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Recipes<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Community-building Lead Magnets<\/strong>\r\nThese lead magnets create a way for target audiences to build a community based on the things they have in common:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Direct challenges, e.g., Bottle Cap Challenge<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Members-only website or portal<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Vertical, \u201cniche\u201d group forums\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/joinmastodon.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mastodon<\/a>\u00a0(open, Twitter-like)<\/li>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/pixelfed.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">PixelFed<\/a>\u00a0(open, Instagram- like)<\/li>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.okuna.io\/a\/login\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Okuna<\/a>\u00a0(open social network)<\/li>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mahara.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mahara<\/a>\u00a0(open eportfolios)<\/li>\r\n \t<li>\u00a0Slack forums<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Social Media Groups, e.g., Facebook \/ LinkedIn Groups<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Entertaining Lead Magnets<\/strong>\r\nThe following lead magnets may inspire or entertain your audience:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Quizzes<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Surveys<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Contests \/ Giveaways<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Comic Strips<\/li>\r\n \t<li>List of Quotes \/ Image with a Quote (a.k.a. Quotography)<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Desktop Wallpaper<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Zoom Virtual Background<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Web \/ Mobile App or Game \/ Interactive<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Manifesto<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Bottom-of-funnel Lead Magnets<\/strong>\r\nThese lead magnets (offers) move the target customer from lead to customer:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Free Shipping<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Free Trial (service, course, or product)<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Coupon \/ Discount Codes<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Free Service Session \/ Consultation \/ Coaching Session<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Free Quote<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Instant access to a free add-on or premium service \/ feature<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Buy-one-get-one (BOGO) Offer<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Catalog<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Case Studies<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Moving Up a Waiting List<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<h1>Summary<\/h1>\r\nTo successfully build your content strategy and plan, be sure to answer the following questions:\r\n<table class=\"grid\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;\" border=\"0\"><caption>Content Strategy Questions<\/caption>\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<th style=\"width: 25%;\" scope=\"row\">WHAT<\/th>\r\n<td style=\"width: 75%;\">\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>What are our content objectives?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>What does our community\/customers want to hear from us?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>What topics are we going to cover?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>What formats are we going to use, e.g., blogs, podcasts, videos, infographics, etc.?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<th style=\"width: 25%;\" scope=\"row\">WHY<\/th>\r\n<td style=\"width: 75%;\">\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Why does anyone care about our content?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Why are we creating this content?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<th style=\"width: 25%;\" scope=\"row\">HOW<\/th>\r\n<td style=\"width: 75%;\">\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>How are we adding value to our customers\/community?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>How are we going to deliver our message?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>How should we say it (tone, language, imagery, etc.)?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<th style=\"width: 25%;\" scope=\"row\">WHERE<\/th>\r\n<td style=\"width: 75%;\">\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Where will we get the content (assess your limitations)?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Where will we curate content?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Where will our content need to be updated?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<th style=\"width: 25%;\" scope=\"row\">WHEN<\/th>\r\n<td style=\"width: 75%;\">\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>When will our content be published?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>When will our content need to be updated?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<th style=\"width: 25%;\" scope=\"row\">WHO<\/th>\r\n<td style=\"width: 75%;\">\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Who will be responsible for producing the content?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Who will maintain the content over time?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Who will monitor and interact with the content?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\nAnd using some of the lead magnet ideas from this chapter, map your content against the appropriate stages of your customer journey:\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_473\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"2342\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-473\" src=\"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2021\/07\/Content-Marketing-Conversion-Funnel.png\" alt=\"A diagram showing what types of content are used to reach customers at different stages of the customer journey. Image description available.\" width=\"2342\" height=\"1251\" \/> <a href=\"#cccjid\">Content Categories in the Customer Journey [Image Description]<\/a>[\/caption]\r\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--key-takeaways\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Key Takeaways<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n\r\nContent marketing can be a powerful strategic and tactical approach to connecting to and learning about target audiences.\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>As target customers move through each of the five customer journey stages \u2013 awareness, engagement, conversion, retention, and advocacy - marketers need to identify the specific content that is most important at each stage.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>To develop your content strategy, marketers need to answer key what, why, how, where, when, and who questions to ensure their content plan and activities meet the needs of the target audience and are sustainable by the marketing team and the organizational resources available.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Content marketing is not just about creating content, its goal is to build meaningful relationships with prospective and existing target audiences.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>The ideal content mix contains ~10% promotion content, 25% original content, and 65% curated content.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--exercises\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Content Marketing - Additional Resources<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n\r\nHere are some additional content marketing articles:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/optinmonster.com\/9-lead-magnets-to-increase-subscribers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">69 Highly Effective Lead Magnet Ideas<\/a><\/li>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/copygoals.com\/lead-magnet-templates\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Where to find 100+ Free Lead Magnet Templates<\/a><\/li>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/logobly.com\/blog\/freebie-sites-for-founders-makers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">97 Amazing Freebie (Content Creation) Sites For Founders &amp; Makers<\/a><\/li>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.socialmediaexaminer.com\/stock-video-stock-image-stock-audio-resources-creators-marketers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">13 Stock Video, Stock Image, and Stock Audio Resources for Creators and Marketers<\/a><\/li>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/awesomeopensource.com\/projects\/social-network\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Top 149 Social Network Open-Source Projects<\/a><\/li>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thepodcasthost.com\/websites-hosting\/best-podcast-hosting\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">10 Best Podcast Hosting Platforms\r\n<\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nAnd, here are several free industry certifications related to content marketing:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.semrush.com\/academy\/courses\/content-marketing-toolkit-course\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SEMrush Content Marketing Toolkit Course<\/a> (3 hrs. \u2013 SEMrush)<\/li>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.semrush.com\/academy\/courses\/content-marketing-fundamentals-course-with-ashley-segura\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Content Marketing Fundamentals Course with Ashley Segura<\/a> (2 hrs. \u2013 SEMrush)<\/li>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/academy.hubspot.com\/courses\/content-marketing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hubspot Content Marketing Certification<\/a> (6 hrs. \u2013 Hubspot)<\/li>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/creatoracademy.youtube.com\/page\/course\/great-content?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">YouTube Creator Academy \u2013 Create Great Content<\/a> (1 hr.)<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<h3>Image Descriptions<\/h3>\r\n<strong><a id=\"cccjid\"><\/a>Content Categories in the Customer Journey Image Description:<\/strong>\r\n\r\nA diagram showing what types of content are used to reach customers at different stages of the customer journey. Image description available.\r\n<table style=\"border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%; height: 180px;\" border=\"0\">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr style=\"height: 18px;\">\r\n<th style=\"width: 15%; height: 18px;\" scope=\"col\">Part of Funnel<\/th>\r\n<th style=\"width: 15%; height: 18px;\" scope=\"col\">Stage<\/th>\r\n<th style=\"width: 35%; height: 18px;\" scope=\"col\">Customer Type<\/th>\r\n<th style=\"width: 35%; height: 18px;\" scope=\"col\">Types of Content<\/th>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr style=\"height: 18px;\">\r\n<td style=\"width: 15%; height: 18px;\">Top<\/td>\r\n<td style=\"width: 15%; height: 18px;\">Awareness<\/td>\r\n<td style=\"width: 35%; height: 18px;\">Visitors<\/td>\r\n<td style=\"width: 35%; height: 18px;\">Online ads, videos, photos<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr style=\"height: 36px;\">\r\n<td style=\"width: 15%; height: 36px;\">Top<\/td>\r\n<td style=\"width: 15%; height: 36px;\">Engagement<\/td>\r\n<td style=\"width: 35%; height: 36px;\">Followers<\/td>\r\n<td style=\"width: 35%; height: 36px;\">Posts, videos, blogs, content, emails, resources, tools<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr style=\"height: 36px;\">\r\n<td style=\"width: 15%; height: 36px;\">Middle<\/td>\r\n<td style=\"width: 15%; height: 36px;\">Conversion<\/td>\r\n<td style=\"width: 35%; height: 36px;\">Click throughs, content consumers, subscribers<\/td>\r\n<td style=\"width: 35%; height: 36px;\">Lead magnets, targeted ads, offers\/promotions<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr style=\"height: 36px;\">\r\n<td style=\"width: 15%; height: 36px;\">Bottom<\/td>\r\n<td style=\"width: 15%; height: 36px;\">Retention<\/td>\r\n<td style=\"width: 35%; height: 36px;\">Prospects, customers, repeat customers<\/td>\r\n<td style=\"width: 35%; height: 36px;\">Onboarding, support, community management<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr style=\"height: 36px;\">\r\n<td style=\"width: 15%; height: 36px;\">Bottom<\/td>\r\n<td style=\"width: 15%; height: 36px;\">Advocacy<\/td>\r\n<td style=\"width: 35%; height: 36px;\">Brand advocates<\/td>\r\n<td style=\"width: 35%; height: 36px;\">Viral content, influencers, evangelists<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n<a href=\"#retcccj\">Return to the Content Categories in the Customer Journey image<\/a>\r\n<h3>Media Attributions<\/h3>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Conversion funnel by Rochelle Grayson is licensed under a\u00a0<a class=\"internal\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY 4.0 licence<\/a>.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Content marketing conversion funnel by Rochelle Grayson is licensed under a <a class=\"internal\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY 4.0 licence<\/a>.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Editorial Calendar (sample) by JD Lasica is licensed under a <a class=\"internal\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY 4.0 licence<\/a>.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Ideal content mix \u2013 promotional \u2013 original \u2013 Curated by Rochelle Grayson is licensed under a <a class=\"internal\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY 4.0 licence<\/a>.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>","rendered":"<div class=\"textbox textbox--learning-objectives\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Learning Objectives<\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<p>By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Develop<\/strong> a content marketing strategy<\/li>\n<li><strong>Map<\/strong> appropriate content types across your conversion funnel<\/li>\n<li><strong>Explain<\/strong> the purpose of content calendars<\/li>\n<li><strong>Describe<\/strong> several content marketing do\u2019s and don\u2019ts<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h1>Content Marketing and the Customer Journey<\/h1>\n<p>To start the discussion of content marketing, let\u2019s first review some key concepts and how they tie into a content marketing strategy. As mentioned in the <a class=\"internal\" href=\"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/chapter\/customer-journey\/\"><strong>Customer Journey Mapping<\/strong><\/a> chapter, we have broken down the customer journey into the following five stages:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-69\" src=\"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2022\/01\/Conversion-Funnel-2.png\" alt=\"The Conversion Funnel: Awareness to engagement to conversion to retention to advocacy.\" width=\"400\" height=\"452\" srcset=\"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2022\/01\/Conversion-Funnel-2.png 1782w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2022\/01\/Conversion-Funnel-2-266x300.png 266w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2022\/01\/Conversion-Funnel-2-907x1024.png 907w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2022\/01\/Conversion-Funnel-2-768x867.png 768w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2022\/01\/Conversion-Funnel-2-1360x1536.png 1360w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2022\/01\/Conversion-Funnel-2-65x73.png 65w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2022\/01\/Conversion-Funnel-2-225x254.png 225w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2022\/01\/Conversion-Funnel-2-350x395.png 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Awareness<br \/>\n<\/strong>A prospective customer learns about an organization, product, or service.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Engagement<br \/>\n<\/strong>A relationship develops between the prospective customer and the organization via several, positive interactions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Conversion<br \/>\n<\/strong>The prospective customer decides to buy a product or service from the organization.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Retention<br \/>\n<\/strong>The customer has a strong and loyal relationship with the organization and becomes a regular customer or active user.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Advocacy<br \/>\n<\/strong>A regular customer is satisfied with the organization&#8217;s products and\/or services and recommends them to others.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Since organizations want to market to and support prospective customers at every stage of this journey, it is essential to plan specific content for each stage along this journey. The following image highlights different content categories as customers move through the customer journey.<a id=\"retcccj\"><\/a><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_473\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-473\" style=\"width: 2342px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-473\" src=\"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2021\/07\/Content-Marketing-Conversion-Funnel.png\" alt=\"A diagram showing what types of content are used to reach customers at different stages of the customer journey. Image description available.\" width=\"2342\" height=\"1251\" srcset=\"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2021\/07\/Content-Marketing-Conversion-Funnel.png 2342w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2021\/07\/Content-Marketing-Conversion-Funnel-300x160.png 300w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2021\/07\/Content-Marketing-Conversion-Funnel-1024x547.png 1024w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2021\/07\/Content-Marketing-Conversion-Funnel-768x410.png 768w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2021\/07\/Content-Marketing-Conversion-Funnel-1536x820.png 1536w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2021\/07\/Content-Marketing-Conversion-Funnel-2048x1094.png 2048w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2021\/07\/Content-Marketing-Conversion-Funnel-65x35.png 65w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2021\/07\/Content-Marketing-Conversion-Funnel-225x120.png 225w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2021\/07\/Content-Marketing-Conversion-Funnel-350x187.png 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2342px) 100vw, 2342px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-473\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"#cccjid\">Content Categories in the Customer Journey [Image Description]<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>On the left-hand side, we see the five customer journey stages \u2013 awareness, engagement, conversion, retention, and advocacy. And next to each of these stages, there are a few content categories that might be helpful to prospects and\/or customers. For each stage, organizations should ask:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What information is our target audience seeking?<\/li>\n<li>How can we best support \/ help them?<\/li>\n<li>Which pain points and questions can we address proactively?<\/li>\n<li>And how can we move them more quickly to the next stage?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Simply stated, as your target customers move through each of these stages, marketers need to identify the specific content that is most important at that stage. Please note that the content details and requirements will be significantly influenced by the type of organization, the customer persona, and the specific customer journey. But let\u2019s look at some common types of content across a customer journey.<\/p>\n<h2>Top of Funnel (Awareness, Initial Engagement)<\/h2>\n<p>At the top of the funnel, organizations are usually trying to drive awareness. As a result, many of the goals associated with this stage include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>increase traffic<\/li>\n<li>increase our social media fans and followers<\/li>\n<li>increase media coverage<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>To achieve these goals, organizations need to create and map content that matches the needs of customer personas in the awareness stage of a customer journey. Typically, this would include content that brings awareness of your organization, products, services, and solutions. Often this stage includes content like videos, paid ads, social media posts, etc.<\/p>\n<h2>Middle of Funnel (Ongoing Engagement, Secondary Conversions)<\/h2>\n<p>At the middle of the funnel, prospective customers are interested and considering their options. They are aware you exist but are seeking more information about your solutions and\/or trying to better understand who you are and what you offer. These leads may have come from an advertisement, link in a post, forwarded email, etc. In this stage, marketers want to make sure to offer content like blog posts, articles, case studies, webinars, videos, etc. that highlight why your organization is the most qualified and why you offer the best solutions to meet the target customer\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n<h2>Bottom of Funnel (Primary Conversion, Retention, Advocacy)<\/h2>\n<p>At the bottom of the funnel, you will have qualified marketing, sales, product, or services leads. These leads have expressed interest, have been engaging with your organization or content, but have not yet committed to your primary conversion \u2013 usually a paid purchase. At this stage, marketers want to create content that will create an incentive for leads to convert. This content might include targeted ads, specific email offers and messages, and other lead magnets that provide an opportunity to convert.<\/p>\n<p>Also included in this stage are new and repeat customers because remember the bottom of the funnel does not end at the point of purchase but continues post-purchase to ensure satisfied customers and to develop brand advocates. Remember the importance of customer referrals from the last chapter. So, your content marketing strategy needs to continue to support your leads long after they convert. Every organization should encourage their customers to become brand influencers and advocates \u2013 in essence, to start marketing on the organization\u2019s behalf and to become an unofficial sale force. The easiest way to seed these kinds of conversations is to provide content that customers can easily share with their own networks. However, do make sure that your customers are satisfied with their customer experience, and feel connected to the brand and the brand&#8217;s community. This is because viral content can go both ways and complaints tend to spread much faster than praises.<\/p>\n<h1>Content Strategy<\/h1>\n<p>To develop your content strategy, there are several questions you need to address. In answering these questions, you can ensure your content plan and activities meet the needs of your target audience and are sustainable by your marketing team and the organizational resources you have available. The following key questions answer the what, why, how, where, when, and who for any content strategy:<\/p>\n<h2>What<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>What are our content objectives?<\/strong><br \/>\nYour content objectives should tie in and support your overarching marketing and organizational objectives.<\/li>\n<li><strong>What do our community and customers want to hear from us?<\/strong><br \/>\nA content strategy is about promoting messages that your community and customers want to read, see, or hear. It is no longer about pushing brand messages unless those messages align with what your target audience finds interesting and wants to engage with. Remember it is not just about your organization; it is about your target audience in relation to your organization.<\/li>\n<li><strong>What topics are we going to cover?<br \/>\n<\/strong>Spend some time listening to your target audience e.g., on social media, to see and hear which topics they find most engaging or are most passionate about. Your topics should be driven by your target audience and their preferences. That said, conduct a brainstorming session with your own team because they may have ideas, as well. Then, compare your list to what you discover with your target audience.<\/li>\n<li><strong>What formats are we going to use, e.g., blogs, podcasts, videos, infographics, etc.?<\/strong><br \/>\nSimilarly, find out which content formats perform the best or get the most reactions (likes, shares, comments, etc.) from your target audience. Once again, this is not about your organization\u2019s preferences, but rather the content preferences of the community.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Why<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Why does anyone care about our content?<\/strong><br \/>\nMarketers need to be clear about why their target audience cares about the content being produced. Creating content for content&#8217;s sake makes no sense. Since there is so much content being produced and shared, marketers need to produce content that gets above the noise. In essence, what is the benefit to your target audience?<\/li>\n<li><strong>Why are we creating this content?<\/strong><br \/>\nOnce you know why your target audience wants this content, ask if this content makes sense for your organization? The answer to this question should align with your goals and objectives and what you want your target audience to do.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>How<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>How are we adding value to our customers \/ community?<\/strong><br \/>\nAgain, being clear on the benefits your content will provide to your target audience is key. When there is value in the content, people will pay attention, share, and discuss that content. Your organization is also then seen as a valuable contributor the community. So, when you post or share content of value, the community will take notice.<\/li>\n<li><strong>How are we going to deliver our message?<\/strong><br \/>\nThis question is a follow up to the content formats. For every piece of content, there is the content production side and the content delivery side. Make sure you know how to deliver your content to those places where your target audience is located.<\/li>\n<li><strong>How should we say it (tone, language, imagery, etc.)?<\/strong><br \/>\nAnother benefit of listening to your target audience is learning about their language, tone, and imagery preferences. To be a part of their conversation, use similar vocabulary, tone, e.g., casual or formal, and imagery most commonly used.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Where<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Where will we get the content<\/strong> (assess your limitations)?<br \/>\nMany organizations create ambitious content plans. However, plan realistically keeping your content production capabilities in mind. For example, if you plan to distribute lots of videos, do you have people within your organization, who have the video production and editing skills to support this? If not, do you have a sizable video production budget to hire outside resources to complete some of these tasks? If that does not seem likely, you may want to reduce your video content plans and replace it with content that your organization can more easily produce. There are always trade-offs, but it is recommended to play to your organizational strengths.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Where will we curate content?<\/strong><br \/>\nOne complaint that frequently comes up is the amount of time required to create original content. However, the majority of the content you share should not be original content, but rather content created by others. Marketers should be finding relevant content that is of interest to their target audience. Where does that content live? What other websites, communities, or news sites can we introduce to our community that they would find interesting?<\/li>\n<li><strong>Where will our content be published?<\/strong><br \/>\nWhile there may be many places to distribute your content, focus on the top 1-2 channels and do them well. Once you have built up a loyal following, consider expanding to other channels or platforms. Unless your organization has a very large team and large budget, managing a meaningful presence across several marketing channels can become quite challenging to maintain and sustain. And usually, the quality of the content and target audience interactions suffer when managing too many channels.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>When<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>When will our content be published?<\/strong><br \/>\nTactically, it is important to know when to publish content to get the most interactions and engagement. Again, listening to your target audience, reviewing your customer personas, as well as understanding the cadence of your target audience\u2019s daily, weekly, monthly, and seasonal rhythms can be quite beneficial in knowing when to publish content. For example, if your target audience is mothers with young children, you may want to think about posting content in the evenings after the children have been put to bed. But, if you are targeting working professionals, you might want to post in the morning prior to the workday\u2019s start or during lunch time when these workers might take a lunch break.<\/li>\n<li><strong>When will our content need to be updated?<\/strong><br \/>\nAnother area marketers often forget to think about is updating of content. In today&#8217;s ever-changing markets, content can quickly become old and stale. However, updating content can provide an opportunity to present the information again in a new context or to a new audience. Think about developing a content review process and updating content with fresh eyes. Your content is an asset, and you should try to leverage it as much as possible.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Who<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Who will be responsible for producing the content?<\/strong><br \/>\nAs mentioned, producing content takes time. Make sure you have clearly outlined who is responsible for which part of the content production. More importantly, keep in mind that with multiple people involved, there may be dependencies. For example, if the graphics designers will be creating all the graphics for an article, by when do you need those graphics so that you can finish the article for the paid advertisement deadline?<\/li>\n<li><strong>Who will maintain the content over time?<\/strong><br \/>\nWhen planning for content to be updated, who will be responsible for making sure the content is properly maintained, e.g., making sure links are still working, etc.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Who will monitor, interact, and support with the content?<\/strong><br \/>\nOften marketers spend lots of time planning the launch and distribution of content, but who will interact with the community when people leave comments or ask questions? The goal of content marketing is to engage and interact with your target community. Make sure there is someone responsible for engaging with the community, being responsive, and managing the open dialog that content marketing sparks.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h1>Content Calendars<\/h1>\n<figure id=\"attachment_73\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-73\" style=\"width: 2145px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-73 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2022\/01\/Content-Calendar-e1675292023927.png\" alt=\"A sample editorial calendar in a spreadsheet. It identifies topics, dates, channels, etc.\" width=\"2145\" height=\"670\" srcset=\"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2022\/01\/Content-Calendar-e1675292023927.png 2145w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2022\/01\/Content-Calendar-e1675292023927-300x94.png 300w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2022\/01\/Content-Calendar-e1675292023927-1024x320.png 1024w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2022\/01\/Content-Calendar-e1675292023927-768x240.png 768w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2022\/01\/Content-Calendar-e1675292023927-1536x480.png 1536w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2022\/01\/Content-Calendar-e1675292023927-2048x640.png 2048w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2022\/01\/Content-Calendar-e1675292023927-65x20.png 65w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2022\/01\/Content-Calendar-e1675292023927-225x70.png 225w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2022\/01\/Content-Calendar-e1675292023927-350x109.png 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2145px) 100vw, 2145px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-73\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Editorial Calendar (sample)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Now, that you have a solid content strategy, you will need to create a content plan that highlights when content will be distributed, on which platforms, covering which topics, for which target audience(s), showing who\u2019s responsible, and all the content production details. Typically, all of this information will live within a content calendar. <strong>Content calendars<\/strong> map out all the details related to the content that marketers plan to create. They are useful tactical tools because they can:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Provide a comprehensive content overview<\/li>\n<li>List what needs to be done<\/li>\n<li>Highlight missing opportunities, e.g., if the content is all focused on the same target audience or the same format<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The above image provides a simple example of a content calendar. As you can see, Excel or Google Sheets work well for this type of plan. However, there are many content calendar templates and here are two from Hubspot and Hootsuite:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/blog\/tabid\/6307\/bid\/33415\/the-social-media-publishing-schedule-every-marketer-needs-template.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Social Media Content Calendar Template Every Marketer Needs <\/a>(Free Hubspot Template)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hootsuite.com\/how-to-create-a-social-media-content-calendar\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">How to Create a Social Media Content Calendar: Tips and Templates<\/a> (Hootsuite)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You can also conduct a search on Google for content calendar and templates. While most templates cover the basic attributes for managing your content, there are a few areas you may want to make sure are included in your content calendar:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Target Audience<\/strong><br \/>\nSince you may be targeting different audiences, this is a nice way to see at-a-glance that you have a good mix of content targeting a variety of stakeholders \/ audiences.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Content \/ Media Type<\/strong><br \/>\nBe sure to add the type of media for your post: infographic, video, story, text post, audio, etc. This ensures you have a nice mix and that all posts are not the same type of content \/ media.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Dependencies<\/strong><br \/>\nIn some cases, your post(s) may be dependent on someone else completing part of it or completing something else related to it. It&#8217;s good to write down these dependencies so that you know who needs to get what to you and by when.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Content Themes \/ Topics<br \/>\n<\/strong>Many marketers may have common themes or topics that repeat on a regular basis, e.g., Trivia Tuesdays, Throwback Thursdays, Funny Fridays, etc. Categorizing your content this way, makes it easier to find and curate content that fits into the appropriate &#8220;bucket&#8221;. From a follower\u2019s perspective, it also creates a pattern to your posts so that followers know what to expect and when.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Comments \/ Notes<\/strong><br \/>\nThere may be some additional comments or notes you want to include. Give yourself a space to include these.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For marketers managing multiple marketing channels, you can either put all your content into one calendar or have multiple content calendars, e.g., a social media content calendar, email content calendar, blog post content calendar, conference calendar, etc. The choice is up to you to decide which system will work best for your team and organization.<\/p>\n<h1>Promotional vs. Original vs. Curated Content<\/h1>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-481\" src=\"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2021\/07\/Ideal-Content-Mix-Promotional-Original-Curated-e1692117728964.png\" alt=\"A pie chart. Curated is 65%. Original is 25%. Promotional is 10%.\" width=\"500\" height=\"404\" srcset=\"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2021\/07\/Ideal-Content-Mix-Promotional-Original-Curated-e1692117728964.png 1212w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2021\/07\/Ideal-Content-Mix-Promotional-Original-Curated-e1692117728964-300x243.png 300w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2021\/07\/Ideal-Content-Mix-Promotional-Original-Curated-e1692117728964-1024x828.png 1024w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2021\/07\/Ideal-Content-Mix-Promotional-Original-Curated-e1692117728964-768x621.png 768w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2021\/07\/Ideal-Content-Mix-Promotional-Original-Curated-e1692117728964-65x53.png 65w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2021\/07\/Ideal-Content-Mix-Promotional-Original-Curated-e1692117728964-225x182.png 225w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2021\/07\/Ideal-Content-Mix-Promotional-Original-Curated-e1692117728964-350x283.png 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>One frequently asked question is how do I find time to create and manage all this content? This is perhaps the biggest misunderstanding about content marketing; the perception that all content must be original content. As mentioned before, the majority of content shared, should actually be from other sources. The above pie chart provides a guideline on content splits:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Promotional<\/strong> (10%)<br \/>\nPromotional content refers to content that is trying to sell and\/or heavily promote an offer and should be ~10% of all the posts distributed. This is because most people do not like being sold to all the time. Remember content marketing is about building relationships with your community and to do this, marketers cannot be selling all the time. If there is too much selling content, your target audience will simply stop listening.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Original<\/strong> (25%)<br \/>\nOriginal content is content that your organization creates. As mentioned in the content strategy, you want to create original content that provides value and benefits to your target audience and that aligns with your organizational goals and objectives. However, original content takes time and money. It is also tempting to have original content focus on the organization. So, to limit your content marketing feeling too much like self-promotion, you will want to limit the number of posts that highlight your organization. Generally speaking, you want ~25% of your posts to be original.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Curated<\/strong> (65%)<br \/>\nThe bulk of your content should be curated content. Curated content is content created and distributed by others that is of interest to your target audience. This could be articles, market research, complementary products or services to your offerings, or any other content that your target audience might find of interest. By sharing content from others, you show your target audience that you are willing to share content produced by others and that you are also happy to share any content of value regardless of who produced it and give someone else credit for it. An important benefit of this strategy is that when you do post your own original content, the other content producers, whose content you have promoted, are more likely to reciprocate and share your content with their networks. Most importantly, this signals to your target audience that you are simply looking for the best content for them, regardless of the source.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h1>Content Marketing Do\u2019s and Don\u2019ts<\/h1>\n<p>So far, we\u2019ve talked about developing a content marketing strategy and plan. But what are tips and tricks to successfully launching a content marketing strategy? Here are few do\u2019s and don\u2019ts that build on many of the concepts and questions already discussed:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Do\u2019s\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Add Value<\/strong><br \/>\nReview your customer personas and customer journeys to make sure you are addressing the pain points, goals, and questions that your prospective and exiting customers have.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Tell Stories<\/strong><br \/>\nApply the concepts and frameworks from the <a class=\"internal\" href=\"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/chapter\/fundamentals-of-storytelling\/\"><strong>Fundamentals of Storytelling<\/strong><\/a> and <a class=\"internal\" href=\"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/chapter\/visual-storytelling\/\"><strong>Visual Storytelling<\/strong><\/a> chapters.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Encourage Conversations \/ Discussion<br \/>\n<\/strong>Remember content marketing is merely a vehicle to learn more about your target audience, to engage with them, to find out what they are most interested in and passionate about, and to build longer term relationships.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Experiment<\/strong><br \/>\nTry a variety of different content formats, topics, etc. Marketers willing to experiment can sometimes stumble across some great discussions that lead to valuable customer insights and even viral sharing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019ts\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Hard Sell<\/strong><br \/>\nAgain, no one likes communications to only be about selling. Mix up your messages to also include curated content and content that simply benefits the community.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Be Generic<\/strong><br \/>\nThe details are the interesting parts. Your goals is not to be like everyone else; be unique and highlight how what you are offering and who you are is different from others in your industry.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ignore Your Community \/ Leads<\/strong><br \/>\nMake sure to follow up and respond to messages from your community. Pay attention to your target audience and they will pay attention to you.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Developing Content \/ Lead Magnets<\/h2>\n<p>In the last chapter, we introduced the concept of lead magnets. Remember a <strong>lead magnet<\/strong> is a free item or service that is given away for the purpose of gathering contact details. Now that we have walked through how to build a content strategy and plan, you may want to think about incorporating lead magnets into your content plans. So, the following lists provide several examples of lead magnets in the various categories:<\/p>\n<div class=\"h5p\">\n<div id=\"h5p-2\">\n<div class=\"h5p-iframe-wrapper\"><iframe id=\"h5p-iframe-2\" class=\"h5p-iframe\" data-content-id=\"2\" style=\"height:1px\" src=\"about:blank\" frameBorder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" title=\"Examples of Lead Magnets\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"pdf\">\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Educational Lead Magnets<\/strong><br \/>\nEducational lead magnets teach your target audience something they do not already know:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Training \/ Tutorials<\/strong>\u00a0<em>(How-to)<\/em><br \/>\nCreate a variety of how-to training \/ tutorial content. Please note that this content can be produced as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Video<\/li>\n<li>Audio<\/li>\n<li>Written or Video Transcript<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Short course<\/strong><br \/>\nOffer a short course or a portion of a longer course for free.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Sample Chapter \/ Video Clip \/ Audio Clip<\/strong><br \/>\nCreate a trailer or teaser of a longer piece of content.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Downloadable eBook \/ PDF \/ Report \/ Guide \/ Audiobook<\/strong><br \/>\nCreate a download piece of content<\/li>\n<li><strong>Mind Map \/ Concept Map \/ Framework<\/strong><br \/>\nThis content works particularly well in design by providing others with visual concepts.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Infographics<\/strong><br \/>\nVisualize some text-heavy content in an infographic. Free services like\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.canva.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Canva<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/piktochart.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Piktochart<\/a>, and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.visme.co\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Visme<\/a>\u00a0offer many infographic templates.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Webinar sign-up \/ Event Tickets<\/strong><br \/>\nOffer an educational webinar or in-person event.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Predictions \/ Forecasts<\/strong><br \/>\nPublish some predictions or forecasts about your industry or other area of interest.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Presentations<\/strong><br \/>\nProvide an educational presentation.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Newsletters<\/strong><br \/>\nCreate an educational newsletter or newsletter series.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Virtual Library \/ Vault<\/strong><br \/>\nBuild an online library or source where leads can access a variety of content on a specific topic.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Market Research \/ Roundup \/ State of the Industry<\/strong><br \/>\nConduct some market research and provide a summary of your findings.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Recordings \/ Replays with additional commentary<\/strong><br \/>\nRecord some content or replay some existing content with additional commentary provided by you or your team.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Coles \/ Cliff Notes \/ Content Summaries<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Useful Lead Magnets<br \/>\n<\/strong>Useful lead magnets provide solutions with which your target audience can solve a problem:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cheat Sheets \/ List of Shortcuts<\/li>\n<li>Checklists<\/li>\n<li>Calculators, e.g., ROI calculators, Calorie Calculator, etc.<\/li>\n<li>Case Studies \/ Examples<\/li>\n<li>File &amp; Design Templates (a.k.a. Swipe Files), e.g., Content Calendar Templates (digital or printable)<\/li>\n<li>Toolkits, e.g., design themes, digital assets, icons, etc.<\/li>\n<li>Scripts, e.g., Code Scripts, etc.<\/li>\n<li>List of Resources \/ Inspirations<\/li>\n<li>Calendars \/ Plans or Planner Pages<\/li>\n<li>Idea Generators<\/li>\n<li>Recipes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Community-building Lead Magnets<\/strong><br \/>\nThese lead magnets create a way for target audiences to build a community based on the things they have in common:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Direct challenges, e.g., Bottle Cap Challenge<\/li>\n<li>Members-only website or portal<\/li>\n<li>Vertical, \u201cniche\u201d group forums\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/joinmastodon.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mastodon<\/a>\u00a0(open, Twitter-like)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/pixelfed.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">PixelFed<\/a>\u00a0(open, Instagram- like)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.okuna.io\/a\/login\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Okuna<\/a>\u00a0(open social network)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mahara.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mahara<\/a>\u00a0(open eportfolios)<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0Slack forums<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Social Media Groups, e.g., Facebook \/ LinkedIn Groups<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Entertaining Lead Magnets<\/strong><br \/>\nThe following lead magnets may inspire or entertain your audience:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Quizzes<\/li>\n<li>Surveys<\/li>\n<li>Contests \/ Giveaways<\/li>\n<li>Comic Strips<\/li>\n<li>List of Quotes \/ Image with a Quote (a.k.a. Quotography)<\/li>\n<li>Desktop Wallpaper<\/li>\n<li>Zoom Virtual Background<\/li>\n<li>Web \/ Mobile App or Game \/ Interactive<\/li>\n<li>Manifesto<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Bottom-of-funnel Lead Magnets<\/strong><br \/>\nThese lead magnets (offers) move the target customer from lead to customer:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Free Shipping<\/li>\n<li>Free Trial (service, course, or product)<\/li>\n<li>Coupon \/ Discount Codes<\/li>\n<li>Free Service Session \/ Consultation \/ Coaching Session<\/li>\n<li>Free Quote<\/li>\n<li>Instant access to a free add-on or premium service \/ feature<\/li>\n<li>Buy-one-get-one (BOGO) Offer<\/li>\n<li>Catalog<\/li>\n<li>Case Studies<\/li>\n<li>Moving Up a Waiting List<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<h1>Summary<\/h1>\n<p>To successfully build your content strategy and plan, be sure to answer the following questions:<\/p>\n<table class=\"grid\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;\">\n<caption>Content Strategy Questions<\/caption>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th style=\"width: 25%;\" scope=\"row\">WHAT<\/th>\n<td style=\"width: 75%;\">\n<ul>\n<li>What are our content objectives?<\/li>\n<li>What does our community\/customers want to hear from us?<\/li>\n<li>What topics are we going to cover?<\/li>\n<li>What formats are we going to use, e.g., blogs, podcasts, videos, infographics, etc.?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th style=\"width: 25%;\" scope=\"row\">WHY<\/th>\n<td style=\"width: 75%;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Why does anyone care about our content?<\/li>\n<li>Why are we creating this content?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th style=\"width: 25%;\" scope=\"row\">HOW<\/th>\n<td style=\"width: 75%;\">\n<ul>\n<li>How are we adding value to our customers\/community?<\/li>\n<li>How are we going to deliver our message?<\/li>\n<li>How should we say it (tone, language, imagery, etc.)?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th style=\"width: 25%;\" scope=\"row\">WHERE<\/th>\n<td style=\"width: 75%;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Where will we get the content (assess your limitations)?<\/li>\n<li>Where will we curate content?<\/li>\n<li>Where will our content need to be updated?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th style=\"width: 25%;\" scope=\"row\">WHEN<\/th>\n<td style=\"width: 75%;\">\n<ul>\n<li>When will our content be published?<\/li>\n<li>When will our content need to be updated?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th style=\"width: 25%;\" scope=\"row\">WHO<\/th>\n<td style=\"width: 75%;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Who will be responsible for producing the content?<\/li>\n<li>Who will maintain the content over time?<\/li>\n<li>Who will monitor and interact with the content?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>And using some of the lead magnet ideas from this chapter, map your content against the appropriate stages of your customer journey:<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_473\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-473\" style=\"width: 2342px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-473\" src=\"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2021\/07\/Content-Marketing-Conversion-Funnel.png\" alt=\"A diagram showing what types of content are used to reach customers at different stages of the customer journey. Image description available.\" width=\"2342\" height=\"1251\" srcset=\"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2021\/07\/Content-Marketing-Conversion-Funnel.png 2342w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2021\/07\/Content-Marketing-Conversion-Funnel-300x160.png 300w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2021\/07\/Content-Marketing-Conversion-Funnel-1024x547.png 1024w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2021\/07\/Content-Marketing-Conversion-Funnel-768x410.png 768w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2021\/07\/Content-Marketing-Conversion-Funnel-1536x820.png 1536w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2021\/07\/Content-Marketing-Conversion-Funnel-2048x1094.png 2048w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2021\/07\/Content-Marketing-Conversion-Funnel-65x35.png 65w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2021\/07\/Content-Marketing-Conversion-Funnel-225x120.png 225w, https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/388\/2021\/07\/Content-Marketing-Conversion-Funnel-350x187.png 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2342px) 100vw, 2342px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-473\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"#cccjid\">Content Categories in the Customer Journey [Image Description]<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--key-takeaways\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Key Takeaways<\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<p>Content marketing can be a powerful strategic and tactical approach to connecting to and learning about target audiences.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>As target customers move through each of the five customer journey stages \u2013 awareness, engagement, conversion, retention, and advocacy &#8211; marketers need to identify the specific content that is most important at each stage.<\/li>\n<li>To develop your content strategy, marketers need to answer key what, why, how, where, when, and who questions to ensure their content plan and activities meet the needs of the target audience and are sustainable by the marketing team and the organizational resources available.<\/li>\n<li>Content marketing is not just about creating content, its goal is to build meaningful relationships with prospective and existing target audiences.<\/li>\n<li>The ideal content mix contains ~10% promotion content, 25% original content, and 65% curated content.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--exercises\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Content Marketing &#8211; Additional Resources<\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<p>Here are some additional content marketing articles:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/optinmonster.com\/9-lead-magnets-to-increase-subscribers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">69 Highly Effective Lead Magnet Ideas<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/copygoals.com\/lead-magnet-templates\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Where to find 100+ Free Lead Magnet Templates<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/logobly.com\/blog\/freebie-sites-for-founders-makers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">97 Amazing Freebie (Content Creation) Sites For Founders &amp; Makers<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.socialmediaexaminer.com\/stock-video-stock-image-stock-audio-resources-creators-marketers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">13 Stock Video, Stock Image, and Stock Audio Resources for Creators and Marketers<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/awesomeopensource.com\/projects\/social-network\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Top 149 Social Network Open-Source Projects<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thepodcasthost.com\/websites-hosting\/best-podcast-hosting\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">10 Best Podcast Hosting Platforms<br \/>\n<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And, here are several free industry certifications related to content marketing:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.semrush.com\/academy\/courses\/content-marketing-toolkit-course\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SEMrush Content Marketing Toolkit Course<\/a> (3 hrs. \u2013 SEMrush)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.semrush.com\/academy\/courses\/content-marketing-fundamentals-course-with-ashley-segura\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Content Marketing Fundamentals Course with Ashley Segura<\/a> (2 hrs. \u2013 SEMrush)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/academy.hubspot.com\/courses\/content-marketing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hubspot Content Marketing Certification<\/a> (6 hrs. \u2013 Hubspot)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/creatoracademy.youtube.com\/page\/course\/great-content?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">YouTube Creator Academy \u2013 Create Great Content<\/a> (1 hr.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3>Image Descriptions<\/h3>\n<p><strong><a id=\"cccjid\"><\/a>Content Categories in the Customer Journey Image Description:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A diagram showing what types of content are used to reach customers at different stages of the customer journey. Image description available.<\/p>\n<table style=\"border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%; height: 180px;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr style=\"height: 18px;\">\n<th style=\"width: 15%; height: 18px;\" scope=\"col\">Part of Funnel<\/th>\n<th style=\"width: 15%; height: 18px;\" scope=\"col\">Stage<\/th>\n<th style=\"width: 35%; height: 18px;\" scope=\"col\">Customer Type<\/th>\n<th style=\"width: 35%; height: 18px;\" scope=\"col\">Types of Content<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 18px;\">\n<td style=\"width: 15%; height: 18px;\">Top<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 15%; height: 18px;\">Awareness<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 35%; height: 18px;\">Visitors<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 35%; height: 18px;\">Online ads, videos, photos<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 36px;\">\n<td style=\"width: 15%; height: 36px;\">Top<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 15%; height: 36px;\">Engagement<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 35%; height: 36px;\">Followers<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 35%; height: 36px;\">Posts, videos, blogs, content, emails, resources, tools<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 36px;\">\n<td style=\"width: 15%; height: 36px;\">Middle<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 15%; height: 36px;\">Conversion<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 35%; height: 36px;\">Click throughs, content consumers, subscribers<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 35%; height: 36px;\">Lead magnets, targeted ads, offers\/promotions<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 36px;\">\n<td style=\"width: 15%; height: 36px;\">Bottom<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 15%; height: 36px;\">Retention<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 35%; height: 36px;\">Prospects, customers, repeat customers<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 35%; height: 36px;\">Onboarding, support, community management<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 36px;\">\n<td style=\"width: 15%; height: 36px;\">Bottom<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 15%; height: 36px;\">Advocacy<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 35%; height: 36px;\">Brand advocates<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 35%; height: 36px;\">Viral content, influencers, evangelists<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><a href=\"#retcccj\">Return to the Content Categories in the Customer Journey image<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Media Attributions<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Conversion funnel by Rochelle Grayson is licensed under a\u00a0<a class=\"internal\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY 4.0 licence<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Content marketing conversion funnel by Rochelle Grayson is licensed under a <a class=\"internal\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY 4.0 licence<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Editorial Calendar (sample) by JD Lasica is licensed under a <a class=\"internal\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY 4.0 licence<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Ideal content mix \u2013 promotional \u2013 original \u2013 Curated by Rochelle Grayson is licensed under a <a class=\"internal\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY 4.0 licence<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"menu_order":2,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-76","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":66,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/76","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/76\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":482,"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/76\/revisions\/482"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/66"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/76\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=76"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=76"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/foundationsdigitalmarketing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=76"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}