Content

Marketing
Definition &
Strategy
Learning
objectives
Pre-requisite for student: Introduction to Digital Marketing is
recommended.
The student is able to /
understands

• thewhat‘WHY’ of content
content marketing is
• the benefits of content
•
marketing.
the connection of content marketing strategy to company’s
marketing
•
business
the essentials of effective content marketing
• strategy
set up an effective content marketing
strategy
strategy
 1. Content Marketing Definition
2. Content Marketing types and
channels
Content 3. Benefits of Content Marketing
4. Content Marketing Strategy
s ○ relation to Business and
Marketing
○ objectives and metrics
○ Strategy
target group, ie. Buyer
Personas
5. ○ Customer Journey
Assignments
In-Class Activity: recap and
discussion on
pre-course assignment
• What is content marketing? Rely on sources.
• Students need to think an example of their own prior to
the
course; come up with an example for content
marketing which
Discussion
you in pairs / groups and
found interesting/successful of 3-4 forfor
argue 10your
1. minutes
choice
Is content marketing inbound or outbound
marketing
2. In which channels can one do content marketing
3. Share your findings about the brands / companies
(re: pre-
course assignment)
1.Content Marketing
Definition
What Is Content What Is Not Content
Marketing? Marketing?
“Content marketing is a
strategic
marketing approach focused on •
creating Advertising
• Pushing through own
and distributing valuable, relevant,
and
message
consistent content to attract and retain • Non-measurable
a
clearly defined audience — and, •
• Easy
Relevant only to big
ultimately, brands
• Appreciated by target group
to drive profitable customer action.”
• Useful - target group typically •
https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/what-is-con
searches
tent • Free
It raises awareness, not
- for content
marketing/
sales
• Continuous
• Planned and measurable
• Results come quickly
Read further:
https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/2989/inbound-marketing
-vs-outbound-marketing.aspx
What content
does
Content increases brand visibility
Instead of reading a sales pitch, customers or potential customers may be reading an article that provides
advice or guidance,
promoting the brand in different areas outside its corporate website or traditional locations.
Content helps create backlinks for search engine
optimisation
Good (SEO)
articles are often recycled by other people online. Have you ever quoted an article or added a link back to a
page about a
certain subject? By adding someone else’s article to your web page, you are creating a backlink that Google sees
and it
acknowledges that the original content must have value to be added to another website.
Content encourages conversion rate
optimisation
Clever content such(CRO)
as buying guides can convert browsers into buyers. If you are visiting online retailers such as
Sears in the
United States or John Lewis in the UK, you will notice with more expensive goods, such as those in their large
appliance category,
they offer ‘buying guides’. This free online advice offers useful information before a purchase takes place. A well-
written guide can
Content
convert inspires
browsers social
into buyers and offer greater reassurance about the company’s expertise.
shares
Have you ever shared an article on Twitter? Retweeted, liked or commented on content created by someone else?
Content can
inspire social shares, especially where the contentis vivid and interactive Digital tools make it easy to share
content across social
channels.
2. Content Marketing Types
And
Channels
• Blogs
“A father” of content marketing.
The Furrow magazine by John Deere, est. in
• Reports, articles, guides 1895.
• Whitepapers Still going strong - now online, too, of course.
• Videos
• Social media posts
• Print media (eg. customer
magazines)
• Webinars, e-books
• Podcasts
• Infographs
• Newsletters
• Influencer marketing
• Native advertising
• Events
A tip: Content Curation
You don’t need to create content from the
scratch.
Curated content or the process of content curation has been described by
researchers Aristea
Fotopoulou and Nick Couldry from Goldsmiths College, University of London, as
‘finding,
categorizing and organizing
Content curation relevant
can be a useful way online content
of creating on specific
content issues’
on specific themes such as
product
reviews, where you are telling the story about the story. As an example, you may curate
content by
gathering up a series of articles written about Snapchat Specs, assessing the different
perspectives
and range of advice provided and turning this into a post for your blog.
Fotopoulou, A. and Couldry, N. (2015) ‘Telling the story of the stories: Online content curation and digital
engagement’,
Information Communication and Society, 18 (2), pp.
235–49.
3. Benefits of Content
Marketing

Image source:
https://thepointsguy.com/news/i-spent-24-hours-
in-times-square-and-i-had-an-awesome-ti
me/
Trade
shows
Banne
r
advertisin
g
Changes
in
Consume
r
Attention
The customer is in
control.
Content Marketing –
WHY?
• According to Demand Metric,
content marketing costs 62%
less
than traditional marketing and
generates 3 times as many
leads.
• It’s no surprise that 90% of
organizations use content
marketing as part of their
marketing
efforts and that it continues to
grow
Source:
in popularity.
Lyfemarketing

Futher reading:
https://www.thehoth.com/blog/boring-niche-content/
Benefits of content
marketing
● Establish
Increase website traffic.
authority and
trust.
●
● Create
Developbrand
brandawareness.
personality.
● Connect with your
audience.
● Fuel social media and PR.
● Support the conversion
funnel.
● Improve conversion rates.
4. Content Marketing
Strategy Business
Strategy

Marketing
Strategy

Content Marketing
Strategy
Social Media Video etc.
Strategy Strategy
Quiz! (this is in-class
activation)
True or false?
• content marketing = advertising
• content marketing can be applied in small
companies, too
• content marketing brings results quickly
• content marketing doesn’t cost anything
 Content Marketing
–Strategy
what is
• Set goals, a) objectives and b) relevant metrics and c)
it?
• Ie. a) Increase awareness, sales, customer service, employer brand.
KPI’s
Remember
• SMART
Ie. b) # of returning visitors, best converting content, # of returning
•customers
Target = know your (potential)
• Buyer
customers
• Their buying behavior - customer
personas
• journey
Create a Content
• How – by creating content - to help your buyer personas to reach
Mission
their goals.
• Resource
And to become your customers.
realistically
• People, budget
Content Marketing Strategy:
Closer Look at the Following
Strategy Parts

GOALS, WHY AND HOW CUSTOMER CONTENT ASSIGNMENTS

OBJECTIVES & TO BUILD A JOURNEY MISSION
METRICS BUYER PERSONA
GOALS,
OBJECTIVES
&
METRICS
 What is the difference between a
business,
marketing or content strategy

What do you want

to achieve with
your target
audience?

Business Content Marketing Content

goals goals goals
Increase conversation rates
Sales forecast Brand
Brand awareness
Profit share
Market Engaging with customers
knowledge
Brand
attitude Educating current and potential
Brand action (buying)
customers
intention
Brand loyalty Fostering brand loyalty
Content
Metrics
Goals Metric
s• set relevant conversion goals for
different
stages of customer journey: newsletter
and
blog subscription, video views, content
downloads, purchase
• engagement: number of shares and
comments in social media, analytics
• metrics:
educating customers: content
nr of pages per session, time on page,
downloads,
sessions
users on per
site user, etc
• fostering brand loyalty: nr of returning
users
SMART
Objectives
Specific: They must clearly describe what it is you want to achieve.
Measurable: They should have clear metrics that can be measured before and after
and
objective is met.
Achievable: They should be realistic for your business to achieve by a certain time.
Relevant: They should relate to the overall business or individual objectives.
Remember: you
get what you
complete the measure / what your objectives are. Relevance is important!
Timed: They should have a target date for completion to encourage action to be
objective.
Further
taken toreading (tip: useful in the group
assignment):
https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/smart-goal
s.htm
l
Why
SMART?
• They direct your marketing to the right EXAMPLE:
A local garden company (sells plants,
•Ie.
direction.
They are measurable. If objectives
align with business goals. garden
•measurable,
are not and useful for all objectives in
Good
they’re not worth much.
equipment, etc.) from Turku is expanding
their
digital services. Next year’s focus is on a new
marketing service,
Specific Which of the following is/are SMART
Measurabl • Our planning.
garden
objectives?
objective is to grow by
e • Our objective is to sell garden planning
20%.
Achievable: service
Relevant • worth
Our objective
10 000 €isinto2023.
be the biggest
Timed garden
planning company in Finland during
2023.
WHY AND HOW
TO
BUILD A BUYER
PERSONA
Buyer
persona
• Fictional character that is created to represent a type of
customer.
• Personas are used in conjunction with segmentation, where the personas
differentthe
represent
segments.
• Personas are represented through their demographics, history, personality,
ambitions and
goals, frustrations, preferred brands and other characteristics that are
important to the
• company.
When the buyer is not the same as user/consumer important to create buyer
user and
persona
persona
WHY HOW TO USE?
?
• You can draw the attention of • Talk to your persona in his/her
customers by offering them tone of
content or helping them.
potential
interesting
• Excellent way to create •voice.
own
mind,
When what
making is important
content, for
always
interesting and meaningful
targeted, customer
your (and not to your
keep in
•content
Customers expect •company)
Better results in SEO and SEA,
content you plan your keywords for
•
personalized
Buyer persona is a model – a when
your
persona – who describes your
fictional •persona (f. ex. painpoints)
When sharing content in social
customer.
typical
• NOTE! Buyer persona is NOT media,
you can target more precisely,
”a 30- when
50 year old man”. you target to your persona (f. ex.
according to his/her interests)
Buyer
Personas
How to build?
1. Do audience
● Who is already buying from you? Interview some of them.
research
● Study your website and social analytics. For example Facebook
Audience
● Insights.
See what the competition is
2.up
Identify
to customer pain points
• Social listening
3. Identify customer goals
4. Understand how your brand can help
5. How can you reach him/her? What news and social
media
channel s/heresearch
6. Turn your uses? into buyer
personas
Templates:
•
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LjXUD2T80m9abqmqQRgJva5Xds3OxL
•
qtm
https://www.impactplus.com/blog/great-buyer-persona-examples-free-te
EOXkTX_wpI/edit
• Further reading:
mplate
https://blog.hootsuite.com/buyer-persona/
(see Student Sarah, Rachel Stay at Home Mom
Good, editable
template

How to Create Detailed Buyer Personas

for
Your Business [Free Persona Template]
Empathy
map
An empathy map is
a
collaborative tool that we
can
be used to gain a deeper
insight into our customers.
Much like a buyer persona,
an empathy
represent map can
a group of users,
such as a customer
segment.
Empathy
map
A tool to gain deeper insight
into
the needs / experience of the
target group you work for.
Use this to identify your
persona’s goals and
painpoints.

Bron: Basisboek customer journey © 2018 Noordhoff

uitgevers b.v.
Empathy Map – The Creation
Process
In-Class Group Activity: create a broad
empathy map
Managerial problem to solve: “Why would somebody buy a new iPhone?”
Before you start the exercise, you will need at least basic understanding of your user segments
(e.g. Sally
the College Student, Sean the Young Professional).
You can use this template:
https://www.ijlan.nl/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/empathy-map-poster.pdf
Encourage everyone to write down their thoughts regarding each of the empathy map’s
quadrants. Review who will posing questions like these to help team members better
Choose a moderator,
the completed
visualize their empathy map and discuss any patterns and outliers.
users:
What environment are the users in when using your product?
Are they having fun, or do they want to get it over with?
What’s their life like outside of using the product?
What kind of day are they having?
If all else fails, try a bit of role-playing, where one person “plays” the user, and ask them
questions or play
At
thethe
roleend of the
of the session,
product, wrap up
eliciting what was learned. Did anyone’s opinions change? Is there
responses.
a better
direction to go with the product design? Were any of the responses based on data, or pure
assumption?
These answers are partly why you made an empathy map in the first place.
CUSTOMER
JOURNEY
Customer
Journey
• There are many different illustrations – and even terms – in
journey
customer
• description
Common to them all is that their purpose is to describe the
path which
• potential
In content marketing
customer thewhen
takes marketer’s task solution
searching is to provide
to his/her
needs.which
content
• takes
In the
customer
the potential customer through different stages of the
following slides you see four different
journey towards
illustrations, each purchase and brand loyalty
emphasizing a different point of view.
• Do you see the same logic in all of them?
Buyer’s Journey (= Customer Journey)
= Process buyers go through to become aware of, consider, and decide to purchase a
new product or
service.

Awereness
Potential customer becomes aware
of
the problem s/he needs to solve.
• Outbound advertising – traditional
media, too!
Consideration
Potential customer is aware of
what
the problem is – now s/he’s
looking • SEO, SEM
for solution. • Native advertising, influencer
Decision marketing
Potential
customer
is looking for the
best • Website
product/service, • Customer
with the best
deal.
Advocacy
• Social networks ~word of
service
• Blogs
mouth
Graphics source:
https://insights.newscred.com/ Further
reading:
https://www.crazyegg.com/blog/guides/buyers-jo
urney/
INBOUND MARKETING
METHODOLOGY
From a stranger to a loyal
promoter
Successful
inbound
marketing
strategy
that engages in
conversation
with
potential
customers
Engagement builds connections
with
a client. Image source: Campaign Creators on
Unsplash
CONTENT
MISSION
Content
Mission
● when creating content mission, you need to think how you can help your
buyer persona
● with
whatyour
are his/her
contentproblems /
● what are his/her goals, and how your content can help him/her to achieve
painpoints?
those?
● make first a keyword analysis, and and include those keywords in your
content mission
For
example:
Our content mission is to ease our buyer personas in their recruiting challenges.
We provide
useful tips, information and content in how to succeed in finding and hiring the
best peoplerecruiting, how to find best
keywords:
to open positions.
workers
But
remember!
Inbound marketing does not
exclude outbound
marketing
activities. Only a
combination of
these two strategies
competitiveness of will be
a key
companies.
advantage in building
5.
Assignments
is section includes also the in-
class
tivities, which are presented
earlier
Inidividual assignment
difference between in- and outbound
marketing
STEP 1
Look for two organizations or
brands.
STEP 2
And use social content marketing examples to show
how
a brand uses inbound or outbound marketing,
respectively.
STEP 3
Show these examples (screenshots) in a Powerpoint
presentation (maximum 6 slides) Substantiate your
choices
in the notes below and don’t forget to mention the
sources.
STEP 4
On the final slide mention your learning outcome,
what
insight(s) do you take along after this
assignment?
Pre-Course
Assignment
• What is content marketing? Rely on sources.
• Students need to think an example of their own prior to
the
course; come up with an example for content
marketing which
you found interesting/successful and argue for your
choice
• use .pptx or .word in reporting
• be prepared to discuss in class
Group Assignment: Build Content
Marketing
Strategy for your company
1. Decide a company which you build a strategy for. It can be BtoC or
BtoB
company. The key elements (1-4) of the strategy are mentioned on
slide 25.
2. Build a content marketing strategy for your company. . When
building
Get buyer
into the minds of your buyer
• personas,
persona think through
what is his/her andoranswer
pain point to these
objective questions:
for which s/he
• what are steps in his/her journey, and what kind of content could
seeks help?
• how do you (channels) reach him/her in different
you offer?
•
stages
how would you help conversion in different
stages

Make a customer journey for your persona

1. Utilize these slides and trustworthy
sources.

1. Format: .doc or .pptx. Quality over

quantity.
Assessment
Build Content Marketing Strategy for your
company
Fail:
Strategy is inferior; missing most elements and not content
marketing related.
Pass:
Strategy contains some elements, but is not quite logical nor
realistic. Use of
sources is limited.
Outstandin
g:
Strategy demonstrates expertise and profound understanding of
content
marketing strategy
Important
Notice
The DEMS material aims to enhance digital marketing skills in higher
education,
comprehending the essential needs in organizations. You have access
to
extensive
Note: The slide setsincludes
material with in-class activities
contents and assignments,
and figures as well
retrieved from the as
detailed and
internet
user
is instructions
thus subject to for teacher.
changes. The sources have been announced
according to the
rules of fair use. The publisher´s responsibility is restricted to the
original
material stored at www.dems.pro. All material is produced for open
use and co-
funded by Erasmus +.