Getting your employees on board with a robust content marketing program starts with asking if content marketing is right for your company in the first place. We'll tell you the questions you need to ask yourself, how to have the right goals, and more—all to set you up for true success (and hopefully a bigger budget).

2. Evangelizing content
marketing starts with a
story.

3. Marriott’s first foray
into content is the
stuff of marketing
legend.

4. “Why the heck would
anyone want to read
a blog from me?”
—James Willard Marriott

7. “Content marketing is the atomic particle of
all the rest of a brand’s marketing campaigns.”
—REBECCA LIEB, ALTIMETER GROUP
Content Marketing on the Rise

8. Name of section 8
• Why evangelizing content
matters
• Telling your story:
• Why should you do it?
• When should you do it?
• How should you do it?
Agenda

9. Why evangelizing
matters

10. Name of section 10
Great content marketing
requires commitment.
It’s tempting to jump straight into creating content—that’s the fun part.
But by taking the time to tell a story about why content marketing is
right for your company, you’ll set yourself up for true success.
(and hopefully get a bigger budget).

11. The three questions you need to answer to evangelize your
program:
How, When, and Why?

12. Content Marketing:
Why

13. Traditional Advertising Faces
Monumental Struggles
z
16%
Year-over-year
increase in
cutting cable
1/3
Millennials
claim they
watch no
broadcast TV
.1%
Average CTR
for banner ads
.35%
Average CTA
for mobile ads

14. B2B marketers now using content
marketing in a strategic fashion
86%
B2B marketers creating more content
than they were a year ago
76%
z
Leading marketers are moving
away from traditional advertising

15. B2C marketers now using content
marketing in a strategic fashion
76%
B2C marketers creating more content
than they were a year ago
69%
z
Leading marketers are moving
away from traditional advertising

16. Close rate for SEO leads
14.6%
Close rate for outbound leads
1.7%
z
Good content = Good SEO

17. Content Marketing:
When

18. This is a huge problem.
Only 53% of marketers have a
documented content strategy.

19. It’s impossible to evangelize a content
program without being able to show
that you’re doing it with purpose and
delivering towards business goals.
Let’s look at a few.

20. Define your goals
z
Brand awareness: A combination of widely used content metrics such as readers, return
readers, shares, and engaged time spent reading can be combined to create a detailed
brand awareness score.
Lead generation: Through the use of marketing automation software such as Marketo
and Salesforce, one can track and attribute how content marketing helps generate leads.
Lead nurturing: Smart content tracking will let you see how many pieces of content a lead
consumed during their purchase journey and will attribute a monetary value to the impact a
piece of content had in moving them through the funnel.
Sales enablement: Companies that excel at lead nurturing—largely thanks to their content
marketing efforts—generate 50 percent more sales-ready leads at a 33 percent lower cost.
Customer retention: Tracking the effect that post-purchase content consumption has on
future consumption makes the case for content marketing even stronger. Just consider the
lifetime value of your average customer.

21. Content marketing:
How

22. Content Measurement and
Optimization Methodology
CREATE
EN
GAGE
OPTIM
IZE
a
Create
• Premium content produced on Contently platform
by exclusive talent network.
• Content posted on top media titles such as CNN,
New York magazine, Sports Illustrated, The Wall
Street Journal, and more.
• A/B tested headlines and images.
a
Measured Engagement
• Content performance
reviewed on Contently.
• Insights to ensure clicks
and drive engagement
performance metrics.
a
Real-Time Optimization
• Contently editors adjust
headlines, images CPCs, and
publications to adjust
engagement.
• Editors pitch stories primed for
network performance.
• Insights from process fuel
continuous improvement.

23. Create: Audit your assets and
identify your audience

24. What is your brand voice?
What types of stories will you tell?
Will you build an in-house team, rely primarily on freelance talent, or some
combination of the two?
How will you structure your approval workflow so that you can publish fast
and effectively?
Create: Craft an execution plan

25. 1. How will you build a loyal readership? (Hint: Email!)
2. How will you leverage organic and paid social channels to reach new
readers?
3. How will you measure the success of the content you’re creating and get
better every day, month, year and quarter?
Engage, Measure, and Optimize

26. 1. Present the case for why content marketing is an
effective channel. Use our stats and quotes! :)
2. Identify your business goals and explain how content
will help you deliver on those goals.
3. Build a plan of attack: Leverage the create => engage
=> optimize methodology.
THE CHECKLIST