Stephanie Diamond - Content marketing strategies for dummies

Content Marketing Strategies For Dummies

Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com

Copyright 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Media and software compilation copyright 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2015957831

ISBN: 978-1-119-15454-9

ISBN 978-1-119-15456-3 (ebk); ISBN ePDF 978-1-119-15463-1

1. Table of Contents

Traditional advertising is in turmoil. Online advertising is increasingly expensive, and consumers are becoming cautious of what they click next.

The reality is that todays customers will make a buying decision only after arming themselves with research that gives them enough confidence that theyre making an intelligent decision.

Educational-based marketing (a.k.a. content marketing) is the new driver for online sales. It's also proving to be the most effective technique in engaging an audience with your brand early in the purchase cycle so much so that thought leaders in online marketing have said, Content Marketing is the only marketing left.

The growth of content marketing continues to revolutionize the way that we communicate and engage with existing and perspective clients. It is the only form of marketing today that capitalizes on educating customers and actually addressing customer problems by publishing relevant content.

Content marketing is about publishing interesting media that is of high value to your readers. Through quality content, this marketing positions you as an authority in your market, building trust and loyalty that translates into lifelong customers.

Content marketing is complex, which makes deciding where to start challenging. There are many moving parts, which makes learning it quite difficult. This book simplifies all the key elements and lays out strategies and formulas that take you through the process no matter what level or size of organization.

Combining this strategy with the right tools enables you to build and scale a marketing plan that works well with your business.

When Stephanie approached me about her writing this book, I could not think of anyone more suited. She not only is experienced in the field but has also already cowritten the successful Social Media Marketing For Dummies book in several editions. With her deep knowledge of the topic, she has managed to distill a complex subject perfectly for readers of all kinds, small businesses, brands, and newcomers.

Paul Clifford
CEO & Founder, Kudani.com

Much has been written about content marketing in the last few years. Its a hot topic that continues to attract attention. If done correctly, it can help grow your business and add revenue to your bottom line. But very little has been written about how to develop the underlying content marketing strategy that is crucial to your success.

The quality of the questions you ask yourself about your business will determine how well you serve your customers and your community. So the first question you need to ask yourself is, How do I create a content marketing strategy so that I can serve my customers? Content Marketing Strategies For Dummies is written to help you answer this and many other crucial questions about content marketing.

Content marketing is how you provide your customers with the information they need to make decisions and solve problems. So why are so many content marketers falling short in this critical area? More specifically, what problems hold you back from creating the content you need you?

According to several reports, including the 2014 B2B Spotlight Report ( https://www.brighttalk.com/webcast/1166/137365 ), the three greatest problems you have as a content marketer are:

• You dont have enough time: As a business person, your schedule is already full. Adding content marketing to the mix makes it almost impossible to get that marketing done right.
• You cant create enough content: No matter how much content you create, its never going to be enough.
• You dont know what to write about that will engage your audience: You run out of ideas and dont have the time to spend researching new ones that will resonate with your specific audience.

Heres the good news: You can tackle and solve all these problems with the strategic content marketing plan that this book helps you develop and execute. The book is full of resources and solid, research-backed advice. Sprinkled throughout are the book are pointers to downloadable worksheets that help you customize and implement your own content marketing strategy. Each chapter also ends with a mind map (a great learning tool), of the chapters contents. You can refer to these mind maps to help you assimilate all the key points of your ongoing content marketing efforts. As you read this book, use them to develop a solid framework and assimilate the key points for your ongoing content marketing efforts.