CONTENT MARKETING

ACCORDING TO INDUSTRY
THOUGHT LEADERS

HOW TO CREATE A
KILLER CONTENT
STRATEGY

Table of Contents
12 Introduction
11 Phase 1: Research and Plan
13 Phase 2: Create Assets
15 Phase 3: Share and Measure
17 Conclusion

2/

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Introduction

A Recipe for
Content Success

A
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Ho ience infor
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If your company is like most, youve probably tried some

hat
gw
rin en
o
l
e
exp ats b
few blog posts or launched an infographic. Maybe youve
h
om
e fr and w
m
even established a regular publishing cadence aof
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coe-books,
n
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i
e
do
t id are
bes itors ast.
whitepapers, or how-to videos on YouTube.
e
t
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p
T
pe he
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type of content marketing already. Maybe youve written a

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ch
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Wh ked f
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wo in th
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pas

journey, however, you probably could and want to

rs

always thinking about the next creative project that will

tito

pe

tS
Pas ts

No matter where you are in your content marketing

do more. Self-proclaimed content marketing geeks are

Too few resources for writing, design, and publication

Rush-order projects from executives that take higher

And even if you do create a fantastic content marketing

piece, you might not have the necessary support to
activate it fully across all of your digital channels.

R
TO
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R
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Lack of internal enthusiasm about content marketing

R
OU
Y
E

LI
INA

m the
delight audiences and drive mega-sharing. But
Co all too
often, obstacles get in the way:

PLA

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3/

Thats where the worlds foremost content marketing

experts can help. In this e-book, we share brand new
content marketing expertise from Jay Baer, Ann Handley,
Jason Miller, and Chris Penn to help you create the content
marketing strategy youve always dreamed of.
With the right combination of planning, process, and
execution, youll be prepared to see your content
marketing project through to completion and ROI. Follow
the flowchart for tips on how to manage every step of
the process, and turn to our companion e-book How to
Measure Your Content Marketing, According to Salesforces
Content Marketing Team to better measure the fruits of
your labor.

About the Author

Heike Young
Global Content Lead
Salesforce

Heike Young is Global Content Lead at Salesforce. Her

favorite part of content marketing is getting to discover,
See the full content process
map at the end of this
e-book.

research, and execute creative ways to communicate across

digital media. Before joining Salesforce, Heike edited the
best selling For Dummies series.
Follow Heike on Twitter at @youngheike.

4/

Phase 1

Research and Plan

Looking for Inspiration
by Jason Miller
So, how do you figure out what your awesome content

to LinkedIn came from a jazz CD cover image Id seen. The

marketing project should be about? For me, its a combination

cover paired illustration with vector art, and it just screamed

of inspiration, creativity, and owning a conversation. Answer

sophistication. I saw an opportunity to create marketing

the questions:

e-books about how to properly market on LinkedIn in the

same sophisticated vein that CD had inspired.

What big conversations are my prospects and customers

a part of?
How competitive are those conversations?
Can I disrupt that space and/or dominate it?

To answer these questions, I start with a combination of

Jason Miller

keyword research and social listening. Then I put together a list

Senior Manager, Content

LinkedIn

of the questions and topics that my product or service relates

to.
If you take your time and do this first step right, you cant miss.
With so much data at our fingertips, its no longer a question

Jason Miller is Senior Manager, Content

of whether or not a certain piece of content will have an

Marketing at LinkedIn where he leads the

audience. Once you find an opportunity, its full steam ahead.

global content marketing and social efforts for

Youll probably find your best ideas in the most unexpected

LinkedIn Marketing Solutions. Hes also the

places, so arm yourself with a note-taking app (I use Microsoft

author of the Amazon #1 best selling book

One Note) for tracking inspiration on the go.

Welcome to the Funnel, and Forbes named

him to their list of the Worlds Top 40 Social

The next step is to take that inspiration, adopt a unique angle,

Marketing Talent.

and add some personality. For me, that personality element

usually takes the form of a face-melting guitar solo, KISS

Follow Jason on Twitter at @jasonmillerca.

reference, or throwback to Black Sabbath or Ozzy Osbourne.

For example, the idea for The Sophisticated Marketers Guide

5/

Research and Plan

IDEA GENERATION

CHOOSE THE FORMAT

Finalize Your
Idea
Narrow it down to one
winner everyone likes.

Interactive

Research
The best ideas come from exploring what
competitors are doing and whats been
done in the past.

Customer
Suggestions
Think about common
audience suggestions.

Competitors

Past Success

What are the

hot ideas and
channels?

Whats
worked for
you in the
past?

Video

Select the
Format

E-Book

How will your

audience most easily
grasp the information
youre sharing?

Slide Deck

Brainstorming

Infographic

Gather ideas from

stakeholders around your
company and team.

Webinar
Research

BRAINSTORM JOURNEY

FINALIZE YOUR CONTENT

PLAN YOUR LAUNCH

Customer Journey

Secure Buy-in

Launch Date

Its important to think about how your piece of

content will fit into the overall content
marketing customer journey.

Secure buy-in from your

team and from executives
and stakeholders.

Decide when you will

launch your piece of
content.

z Data
Use

Lead Nurture

Follow Ups

How will you

nurture leads
from this
piece?

Are follow-up
pieces of
content
needed?

Use data to inform your

process and help secure
buy-in.

Product
Release

Internal
Campaigns

Will this coincide

with a product
release?

Can your content

align with a
campaign?

Holiday
Should your
content align
with a specific
holiday or date?

Gather Data
Prove the how, what, and
why of your piece of
content.

6/

The Sophisticated Marketing series was born, and its been the most

Tips and Pointers

What form will your content marketing piece take? We

usually think of written content when we imagine content, but
dont rule out a webinar, video series, or even slide deck. It all
depends on how your audience will most easily consume the
information youre sharing. If its more detailed information
theyll return to again and again, maybe an e-book is best. If its
information best shown rather than told, maybe a video is just
the ticket.

When should you publish? With a little planning, you can

perfectly time the launch of your content to match up with
important events. For example, content themed to coincide with
a major holiday can be highly shareable, but keep in mind that
you want to invest time and resources in content that will be
evergreen, not shared for a week and then forgotten.

What does it really mean to use data to inform your content

creation process? When we say to use data to inform your
content creation process, what do we really mean? Ultimately, its
all about focusing on your customer. The more research you do
in the beginning of your content creation process, the better your
final content will resonate. Seek data from your customer service
and social listening teams to see what questions are top-of-mind
for customers. Ask your web team which keywords and calls to
action are most effective. You can rely on a wealth of data to help
you drive better content.

successful content series for LinkedIn to date.

Another one of my favorite content ideas came from Behind the
Music, a VH1 series that told the story of successful musicians rises to
success. I thought this concept could apply to my favorite marketing
campaigns, to take readers behind the scenes from the marketers
who conceived the ideas. The best part of that campaign was that
the Dollar Shave Club CEO replied to our request and shared the
story behind his wildly successful viral videos. Taking it full circle, we
originally reached out to him on LinkedIn!

Where do your passions and

content marketing goals meet?
Thats the gateway to your best
content marketing idea ever.
No matter what type of content Im creating, I refer to the best advice
I ever got in my marketing career from Ann Handley (see more of
her great advice later in this e-book). Ann told me that if I could
figure out a way to inject my personality and love for heavy metal into
my content marketing (especially at a time when B2B content was
seen as stale and boring), I might be onto something. She was right.
Where do your passions and content marketing goals meet? Thats
the gateway to your best content marketing idea ever.

7/

Thinking Strategically Before You Get Tactical

by Jay Baer
The goal of any major content marketing initiative is not to

Create an optimal share of behavior pie chart to better

create great content, but rather to improve your business

understand this. For example, the ideal next steps in your

because of that great content. Unless youre selling ads, this

customers journey might be: For every 100 people that view

content needs to drive meaningful customer behavior, not

this amazing, un-gated Slideshare presentation, we expect

just aggregate eyeballs. Thats why it is so critically important

50% of them to provide their email address in exchange

to understand the customer journey before the content is

for an e-book; we expect 25% of them to sign-up for a pre-

produced.

recorded webinar, and we expect 10% of them to request a

software demo. The other 15% we expect to do something

The first step is understand in what stage of the customer

else, or nothing.

funnel this content execution lives. Is it targeted to people

who have no relationship with the company (or maybe no

Then, pay attention to what actually happens. If your behavior

awareness at all)? Is it targeted to people who have heard of

ratios are way off your expectations, you may need to better

your business, but have never tried the product, done a demo,

align your content or your calls to action.

etc.? Or, is it targeted to people who have already kicked the

tires, and this content is intended to push them the last mile
toward becoming an official lead (or sale)? All of those are
viable funnel stages for this content to occupy, but they are
very different in terms of what you want someone to do after
they consume your amazing content.

Jay Baer
Bestselling Author, Global Keynote
Speaker, and Entrepreneur.

And thats key to content success at the strategic, business

level: knowing what a content consumer is likely to know

Jay Baer is author of four New York Times best

about your business before reading/watching/downloading,

selling books, including Youtility, a new marketing

and specifying precisely what you want them to do after

framework for the age of information overload.

they experience the magic of your content. What is realistic

He is also the founder of Convince & Convert,

at that critical point, when theyve just finished enjoying your

a strategy consulting firm that helps prominent

content? Do you want them to buy? To call? To sign-up for a

companies gain and keep more customers

more detailed webinar? To subscribe to your email or YouTube

through the smart intersection of technology,

channel? To like your Facebook page?

social media, and customer service.

The best practice here is to articulate your top three desired

Follow Jay on Twitter at @jaybaer.

behaviors after someone consumes this content execution.

8/

Phase 2

Create Assets
Writing GPS
by Ann Handley
The writer Andre Dubus (House of Sand and Fog) has described
writing as inching your way along a very dark, very long tunnel:

3. Seek out data and examples. What credible source

supports your main idea?

you can make out the next few feet in front of you, but youre
not quite certain where youll end up or when youll get there.

4. Organize. What structure helps communicate your point?

What helps with the uncertainty and enormity of the task is to

A how-to guide? A client narrative? Case study? Organize using

start with some kind of process to guide the way.

a format that suits that type of story.

Process? Ew. I know. Process is one of those things that in many

parts of life I consider hopelessly boring and mind-numbing.
Like alphabetizing canned goods. Or peeling beets.
But in writing marketing content, process is necessary, because
you need a road map to get you where you need to be.

Ann Handley
Chief Content Officer
Marketing Profs

Heres my 12-step Writing GPS for creating longer content

pieces like blog posts, e-books, and whitepapers.
1. Set your goal. Whats your business goal? What are you
trying to achieve? Anything you write should align with a larger

Ann Handley is the author of the Wall Street

Journal bestseller Everybody Writes (Wiley) and
the Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs. Get

(business or marketing) goal.

to know her at AnnHandley.com.

2. Reframe. Put your reader into it. Reframe the idea to relate

Follow her on Twitter at @marketingprofs.

it to your readers. Why does it matter to them? Ask yourself,

So what? and then answer, Because... Repeat that so
what/because query and response string as many times as
necessary until youve exhausted any ability to come up with
an answer. Express your reframed idea as a clear message.

9/

5. Write to one person. Imagine the one person youre helping with
this piece of writing. And then write directly to that person.

Tips and Pointers

Content creators work best when theyre not in silos. Try

to set up a meeting with your writer, designer, videographer,
or any other creatives early in the process. Then everyone
can collaborate to be sure all content they create
megaphones the overarching ideas of your piece.
Dont forget to have an outside pair of eyes read your
content. Its science! According to a recent Wired article,
When were proofreading our own work, we know the
meaning we want to convey. Because we expect that
meaning to be there, its easier for us to miss when parts (or
all) of it are absent. The reason we dont see our own typos
is because what we see on the screen is competing with the
version that exists in our heads. So partner up for a better
finished product.
Think of your dream content marketing project as a
Thanksgiving turkey. According to Rebecca Liebs analogy.
She explains, You cook up this giant bird to serve up on
one glorious occasion and then proceed to slice and dice
this thing for weeks on end. If you are like most families, you
are going to be repurposing this bird as leftovers for quite
some time creating everything from sandwiches, to soups,
and more. Your content marketing strategy can be thought
of in the same way.

6. Produce The Ugly First Draft (TUFD). Just barf up that first
draft. Get it out. Dont worry about grammar, complete sentences, or
readability. Youll tackle all that later.
7. Walk away. Put some distance between your first draft and the
second.
8. Rewrite. Shape that mess into something that a reader wants to
read. In your head, swap places with your reader as you do so.
9. Give it a great headline or title. Spend as much time on the
headline as you do on the writing itself. Respect the headline.
10. Have someone else edit. Ideally, the person who edits your
piece will have a tight grip on grammar, usage, style, and punctuation.
Like a bona fide editor.
11. One final look for readability. Does your piece look inviting,
alluring, easy to scan? With short paragraphs and bold subheads? Are
lists numbered or bulleted?
12. Publish, but not without answering one more reader question:
What now? What do you want readers to do next? Sign up for email
updates? Buy something?
There is no one way to write, just as there is no one way to roast a
turkey or raise a child. But the Writing GPS can guide you in the right
direction or at least, keep you from getting hopelessly lost.

10 /

Create Assets
Visual
Elements

REFINE YOUR OUTLINE

START DRAFTING

What visuals will

aid audience
understanding?

Conduct Interviews

Note Critical Points

Create it!

Interview key thought leaders and

stakeholders to become an expert
on the chosen topic.

Keep track of the critical points to

include in your content based on
topical and competitive research.

Write, film, design, and/or code a first

draft of your content piece. It doesnt
have to be perfect!

Design
Approve the initial
design concepts
for your piece.

Adjust

List Soundbites

Make changes to your

strategy and concepts
if needed.

Finalize any relevant

stats and quotes you
want to include.

Edit Critically
Take a step back, clear
your head, and then edit
critically.

PRODUCE SUPPORTING PIECES

Get Feedback
Seek outside feedback
and polish content and
visual elements.

Blog
Series

Write a series
of related blog
posts.

Images

Promo Video

Make different
images for
different social
channels.

Create a
30-second
video to
promote
your piece.

Finalize
Complete proofreading or
QA testing.

Infographic

Exec Byline

Create simple
visuals to better
convey your
major points.

Get an executive to
write about the
piece or
ghostwrite it
for them.

Create Additional
Content Pieces

More channels = more ways for

people to discover your content.

Get Approval

SlideShare
Create a visual
deck to post
on SlideShare.

Get final approval from

your team and the
projects major
stakeholders.

Phase 3

Share and Measure

Is Your Content Infectious?
by Chris Penn
Build it and they will come has been dead for quite some

Symptoms become the ways content engages with the

time. It is relevant in the early days of any new platform, from

audience. In infection, symptoms become ways for infectious

SEO in the late 1990s to the newest social network, but once

agents to spreadlike sneezing. How does your content inspire

the early days are done, build it and they will come ceases to

others to share? How vigorous a reaction does it provoke? How

be meaningful.

well optimized is your content for sharing, from obvious things

like share buttons to portability of content across disparate

Youve got great content and no ones sharing it. No ones

advertising systems?

talking about it. Your content isnt driving the business or even
moving the needle. What do you do? To better understand
this, lets turn from marketing to biology.
Three factors play a role in the spread of every infectious
disease: transmission, symptoms, and severity/lethality. Of
course, you dont anyone to compare your content to a disease,
but you do want it to be infectious. If we transmute these three

Chris Penn
VP, Marketing Technology
SHIFT Communications

factors to content marketing, we can make some comparisons

between the spread of infections and the spread of content.
Chris Penn is Vice President of Marketing
Transmission becomes the methods by which your content

Technology at SHIFT Communications, a

spreads and reaches new people. Its tempting for marketers

data-driven PR and marketing agency; a co-

to focus heavily on social media, but this is a mistake. Limiting

founder of PodCamp with Chris Brogan; a co-

yourself to one content distribution mechanism reduces

host of the Marketing Over Coffee marketing

your effectiveness. At SHIFT Communications, we focus on

podcast with John Wall; and professor at the

five core media types for content distribution: search, social

University of San Francisco online.

media, earned media, owned media, and paid media, in what

we call our Reflex Media Framework. Any sharing plan should

Follow Chris on Twitter at @cspenn.

incorporate all of these media types.

12 /

Share and Measure

INTERNAL ACTIVATION
Landing
Page
Create a landing
page for your piece
of content and
corresponding
tracking URLs so
you can monitor
performance.

EXTERNAL SNEAK PEEKS

MEDIA AND AD BUYS

Enable the Team

Thought Leaders

Secure Media and Ad Buys

Alert teams of the launch

date and tell them what
the piece is about.

Reach out to well known

personalities in your
industry with the piece.

Paying for extra reach can help when you first

launch a piece of new content. Just make sure
youre targeting a highly specific audience.

Social Posts
Advocates

Send suggested
posts for their social
media accounts.

Share the piece with top

customers and brand
advocates.

Cheat Sheets
Help sales reps
discuss with
prospects.

Media

Promote

Share widely to media

outlets and industry
journalists.

On employee
newsletters, groups,
or bulletin boards.

Video Ads

Display Ads

Purchase YouTube
preroll or other
video ads.

Buy banner ads

on popular and
relevant sites.

Social Media

Third Parties

Where is your
audience most
social?

Amplify your reach

with third-party sites
and channels.

Top Sites
Facebook, Twitter,
and LinkedIn

PREPARE FOR NEXT TIME

Save Files
Make sure you save
all campaign assets
and workflows.

Monitor
How is the customer
journey progressing?
Can it be improved?

Track Performance

Assess

Track both short-term and

long-term performance.

Were there any data

or knowledge gaps
to be fixed?

Paid Posts

Industry e-newsletters
and podcasts

Sponsored or paid
blog posts.and
articles

LAUNCH TIME
Publish!
Make sure your piece and all corresponding
assets are set to publish on launch day with
proper enablement.

Note Feedback

Where is most referring traffic coming

from? Prioritize those channels for the
next time. Set up meetings to fix any
process issues.

A content marketers work

is never finished! Start
planning your next launch.

Newsletters

Spotify, Snapchat,
Meerkat, and beyond

PERFORMANCE REVIEW

Wrap Up

Next Time

Niche Sites

Record what customers say

about your piece in
comments and on social.

Whats Not?

Whats Working?

What parts of
the production
process didnt
work?

What parts of
the production
process
worked well?

Schedule

Tweak

Make sure you

have a steady
stream of content.
Dont frontload.

Adjust social
posts and blog
titles based on
whats working.

Finally, severity/lethality translates into how fast your content burns

out. How fast do you lose attention? How fast does your audience

Tips and Pointers

Be a better internal activator. One of the most fail-safe

ways to improve your content marketings performance is to
improve how you activate content internally. For example,
explain to your sales team how this piece of content will
prepare leads to buy. Or tell your service team that this
content answers a top FAQ. Make people at your company
enthused and compelled to share, and your reach will benefit
exponentially.

Even the most recognized brands pay to boost their

content. Just watch a few pre-roll ads on YouTube and youll
see some of the biggest names in advertising. Paying for extra
reach can really help when you first launch a piece of new
content and no one has seen or started sharing it yet. Just
make sure youre targeting a highly specific audience that
youre certain will benefit from the content youre sharing.

After launch day, start paying close attention to what

you can learn for next time. Where is most of your referring
traffic coming from, whether social, a bylined article, or a blog
post? Prioritize those channels for the next time you launch a
similar piece. Looking back on your production process, where
were your hangups? Set up some meetings to fix those issues.

move on? If you create content that is entirely topical (for example,
newsjacking blog posts) and nothing timeless, then your content will
always burn out quickly. Of course, if you create nothing but timeless
content, chances are it will lack the engaging vigor needed to convince
people to share.
Last, lets briefly touch on measurement. Medical organizations
that track epidemics use reach, symptoms, and severity as metrics
to determine levels of response to infections. Marketers should be
looking at reach, engagement, and action to measure contents spread

If you create content that is entirely

topical (for example, newsjacking
blog posts) and nothing timeless,
then your content will always burn
out quickly.
through the five core forms of media. Using tools such as Salesforce
Social Studio, Salesforce Pardot, and Google Analytics should be a
mandatory part of your measurement toolkit to effectively track how
your content is spreading.

14 /

Keep Learning:
Conclusion
Lets face it: Not every project will be a dream come true.
Bumps in the road might include changes in direction from
product marketing, rebranding, a less enthusiastic response
from customers, and so much more.
But sometimes and increasingly often as your content
marketing skills improve youll create content that fires on
all cylinders:

Engages your audience

Gets lots of love on social media
Inspires comments and conversation
Drives leads, clicks, or whatever metrics you care about
Inspires existing customers to stick with your business

How to Measure Your

Content Marketing
Check it out

As Jay wrote earlier, The goal of any major content

marketing initiative is not to create great content, but rather
to improve your business because of that great content.
Keep that ultimate goal at the forefront of any content
marketing endeavor, whether big or small.

15 /

LEARN MORE ABOUT

HOW SALESFORCE
CAN TRANSFORM
YOUR MARKETING
LEARN MORE
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specific advice that applies to your specific situation.
2015 Salesforce.com. All rights reserved.

16 /