Small Business Guide to Content Strategy
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Transcript of Small Business Guide to Content Strategy
What is Content Strategy?
“Planning for the creation, delivery, and governance of useful, usable content.”
-Kristina Halvorson, Brain Traffic
In Other Words…It’s A Map
Credit: U.S. Army Europe Images
The map that leads to you users
Strategy MattersAlignment builds trust
Users know what to expect and what comes next
Resources used most effectively & efficiently
No Shirt, No Shoes, No ContentContent creation without strategy lacks theme & purpose
Lack of purpose confuses your audience
Confused audiences don’t convert
Don’t Waste Resources
Credit: Grant Hutchinson on Flickr
Good Content Is…Useful
Solves a problem
Has context
Considerate
Consistent
If there’s no substance…you’re just creating noise.
Generic Gets Overlooked• People don’t pay more for generic
• People don’t get excited about generic
• People don’t share average, they share greatness
Developing Your Content Strategy
Allocate A Budget & Timeline
Like any company initiative, this is going to take time and resources.
Plan for it.
What Are You Budgeting For?• Content audit
• Analytics review
• Identification of problems
• Smart guesses
• Experiments
• User testing
• Evaluation
• Implementation
Forecasting & Projections
Start With Where You Win
A small catering company has a 50% conversion rate for calls about their funeral luncheons.
What Comes Before That?
Current website generates 5 calls per month.
Lead Value
Average order value x conversion rate = lead value
$1000 x 50% = $500
Content Value
average # of leads x average lead value
5 x $500 = $2500
Estimating The Value Of Improvements
Content isn’t magic - use realistic estimates
Quantifying The Possible Impact
Landing page redesign to get 2 more calls each month.
Two new leads = $1000/month incremental value
Costs: Content Creation Isn’t Free
Time x Resources = Cost of Content
6 hours x $50/hr = $300
Net Upside$1000 - $300
= $700 first month + $1000/month thereafter
…and that’s for just one landing page
What If It Doesn’t Work?
Maximum Gain - estimated amount you’ll save
Maximum Loss - what it costs to create/fix the content
Calculating Probability of SuccessMax Loss: Estimate of project cost x probability of failure
$600 x 25% = $150
Max Gain: Estimated gain x probability of success $800 x 75% = $600
When you add up all the potential savings, it’s easier to understand where Content Strategy fits in your budget.
Set ObjectivesDefine what you want to accomplish
Set realistic goals & stretch goals
Plan how you’ll measure
Research, Research, Research
Market, user, and competitive research
Quantitative and qualitative Data
Get used to asking WHY
User Stories
Who’s the user?
What do they want?
Why?
Content Audit
There are tons of templates available online - choose what makes sense for your biz, your goals,
and your budget.
Fix What Needs FixingDoes it match the audience wants/needs?
Is it clear, easy to follow, and understandable?
Does it make it easy for the reader to take the next step?
Is it accurate and up-to-date?
Can we do better?
Find The Gaps
Client: Grieving Martha
Flesh Out Your Content Map
Remember the map - how do your customers get from point A to point B?
Plan For Different Types Of ContentPages
Blog posts
Product listings
Landing pages
Social Images
Include In Your Content PlanWho are we creating this for?
What do we want them to get out of it?
Where is it going to be posted?
When is it going to be published?
Why are we doing this?
Outline Your New ContentPrimary message
Target audience
Key terminology
Supporting messaging
Voice & tone
Create Your Editorial CalendarCoSchedule
http://coschedule.com/editorial-calendar-template
HubSpot http://offers.hubspot.com/blog-editorial-calendar
Vertical Measures http://www.verticalmeasures.com/content-editorial-calendar-template/
Google Docs templates https://drive.google.com/templates?q=editorial+calendar&ddrp=1
Measure, Analyze, IterateRemember those objectives we started with?
Compare your performance to your goals.
Did it work? Why or why not?
Do it again or try something new.
