Valuable Content Marketing - How to Make Quality Content Your Key to Success

From websites, white papers and blogs to tweets, newsletters and video, content is king in the digital world, now more than ever before. Get it right and you have a huge opportunity to connect with clients and customers in ways they appreciate and trust - they'll be knocking at your door wanting to do business with you. Valuable Content Marketing shows you how to create and share the type of information that clients, customers and search engines really want - on your website, using social media and through more traditional methods. Whether you're starting a business or aiming to grow, this book shows you how to get better results from your marketing efforts. Marketing with valuable content really works - this book shows you how to grow your business by raising awareness of your brand, turning prospects into buyers and buyers into long-term fans. This fully revised second edition of Valuable Content Marketing is a clear, practical guide that helps you make sense of marketing in the digital world and learn to enjoy the journey. It includes new ideas and examples, step-by-step action lists, quick tips and goal-driven chapter summaries to make understanding the key concepts easier than ever. Perfect for small-business owners and sales, marketing and branding professionals as well as practitioners in publicity or corporate communications, it provides inspiration from companies of all sizes that have got valuable content marketing right, from small companies like software development from Desynit to household names like HSBC.

List of contents

Foreword by Doug Kessler
About the authors
Introduction
Diagnostic
Part One Why valuable content?
01 Buying has changed. Has your marketing caught up?
The business development challenge
Who is winning with their marketing?
So what are these companies doing right?
The three factors transforming buyer behaviour
Take action
02 What is valuable content and why does it win you business?
Content versus valuable content
Hang on a minute. Is this form of marketing new?
Eight reasons to love valuable content marketing
Take action
03 Guiding principles for your valuable content
Eight guiding principles for valuable content marketing
Take action
Part Two What valuable content?
04 Blogging
Some blogging back to basics
How to create a successful business blog
How to write a valuable blog article
Making your blog look good and read well
Promoting your blog articles
Blog content can be visual
Blogging Q&A
Take action
05 Social media
Social networks: the main arenas for businesses
Which social platform is best for sharing content
Valuable content guidelines for all social networks
The future of social networks
Take action
06 Email newsletters
The importance of keeping in contact
Email newsletters, the valuable way
Email marketing tools - you have options
Build a community
What should your newsletter say?
Autoresponders - a valuable addition to your email strategy
Launching your newsletter
Take action
07 Search engine optimization
Why it's smart to get search engine savvy
How people use search engines
Use keyword research
What search engines want from you
Design your website for search
Getting the right help with SEO
What's new for search engines?
Take action
08 Deeper written content, ebooks, white papers, SlideShares and published books
Stock and flow: the value of going deeper
The most valuable content of all takes work
Your deeper written content options
What to write about in your key content pieces
Deeper content demands great design
The importance of a strong landing page
Should you make people fill out a form to download your content?
Repurposing and the value of integrated content campaigns
Take action
09 Video, audio, infographics and more
Different formats to connect with more people
The rise, rise and rise of video content
Awesome animations
Wonderful webinars
The power of infographics
Podcasts for business
Online games as sales tools
Mobile apps
Mix it up
Take action
10 Widen your reach: PR, guest blogging, events and paid advertising
The value of getting your content published in industry-leading media
Valuable content wins you PR opportunities
The etiquette of guest blogging
Events as content marketing
Paid advertising options
Take action
Part Three How to supercharge your business with valuable content
11 Pulling together a valuable content strategy
Creating and documenting your valuable content strategy
Step 1: Get clear on your goals
Step 2: Know your business
Step 3: Know your customers
Step 4: Find the story behind the content
Step 5: Nailing your valuable content sweet spot and vision
Step 6: Your content commitment and plan
Step 7: Prepare your platform and pick your tools
Step 8: Organizing to make it work
Step 9: Measuring for success
Step 10: Work out where you are now and plan the change
Content strategy on a page
Take action
12 Making your website valuable
Build your content strategy on firm foundations
Evaluation time: is your website up to the job?
The role of a valuable business website
The 80:20 rule of content
Provide content for every step along the path to a sale
Traditional website versus valuable website
Working with your website design and development team
Two important web design features
Marketing automation and the future of websites
Instructions for your web team
Ideas for key sections of your site
Launching your new website to the world
Take action
13 How to write valuable content
Can anyone learn to write valuable content?
Planning makes perfect
Some basic writing rules to improve everything you write
The right tone of voice for your business
Help with headline writing
Become a confident content writer
And finally: how to stop procrastinating and just do it!
Take action
14 How to sell with valuable content
Outbound selling isn't dead in the era of inbound marketing
Valuable content, not sales brochures
How to use valuable content to start sales conversations
Valuable content and the power of good sales follow-up
How should you follow up content downloads?
Getting marketing and sales working together on content
Action for sales people
15 Winning the challenge of constant content generation
The valuable content production process
What do you write about every month?
Getting your content read
Hold regular content planning meetings
Planning and using a content calendar
Building team spirit: a culture of valuable content
And continue
Take action
16 Troubleshooting Q&A: answers to the big content questions
Question 1: How do I find the time to write great content?
Question 2: How can I squeeze every drop of value out of my content and my team?
Question 3: How do I get over my fear of writing?
Question 4: How do you keep it interesting over time?
A final note: happy people create the best content
Take action
Conclusion and your new manifesto for marketing people love
Valuable resources
1. Get to know your customers questionnaire
2. Example measurement report
3. Content planning questions
4. Checklist for your website content
5. Questions to help you write a good case study
6. Checklist: Is this content valuable?
7. Recommended reading
Acknowledgements
Notes and references

About the author

Sonja Jefferson is a content consultant with a background in professional sales. Through her company, Valuable Content Ltd, she has helped business owners get their message across through various media formats.
Sharon Tanton is a copywriter with a background in telling stories. Working in radio, television, magazine features and internal communications, she helps companies convey their message in a way that audiences appreciate.

Product details

• Authors: Sonja Jefferson, Sonja Tanton Jefferson, Jefferson Sonja, Sharon Tanton, Tanton Sharon
• Publisher: Kogan Page
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 03.03.2016
• EAN: 9780749479343
• ISBN: 978-0-7494-7934-3
• No. of pages: 328
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Business > Advertising, marketing; BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Business Communication / General, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Marketing / General, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Development / Business Development, Sales & marketing, Sales and marketing