How to convert company knowledge into a winning content marketing formula

In the early days of Google (pre-IPO), Larry Page was asked how they were going to make a business out of search. His answer was along the lines of “we’re not building a search engine, we’re building Artificial Intelligence”.

Fast forward 16 or so years and here we are on the verge of what is commonly termed the ‘fourth Industrial Revolution’ where Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data is set to revolutionise business and indeed, society in general.

In fact we’re starting to see the early signs. For example, search is gradually shifting from two handed (desktop, laptop) to one handed (tablet, mobile) to no handed (Echo, Siri).

Yes, we really are starting to speak to the machines.

So try not to get too hung up on the latest Google Algo change or the latest SEO trick of the week. The direction of travel is clear: Knowledge and Authority is what will separate the winners from the losers in this brave new world.

So in this post I’m going to provide a step by step formula for converting the knowledge that you have within your company and building a powerful and long term winning content marketing formula.

But first up, let’s consider an important question…

Why Content Marketing?

When you analyze any business activity it all boils down to the same thing: We all want more people to buy more of our stuff, more often.

But these days, savvy businesses have realised that in order to stand out from a market that’s hyper-distracted with social media, mobile phones, chat apps and constant connectivity they need a way to attract attention and maintain engagement.

And that’s where Content Marketing comes in.

It helps successful brands because it’s the sweet spot where SEO, Blogging, Social Media, List Building and even Paid Search converge.

It’s like the glue that binds everything together.

So what type of content should you create?

Well essentially there are two main types of content. Let’s consider them both briefly.

Authority Content vs Conversion Content

When you create content you need to consider what goals you want to achieve.

Authority Content is very much about establishing your business as a leader in your field and demonstrating your knowledge and expertise.

It’s about helping you develop relationships and also, speaking bluntly, to earn backlinks and get social media traction.

But whilst Authority and Leadership may seem like the more attractive attributes, its close cousin Conversion Content will often be the deciding factor between making the sale and missing the opportunity.

My advice is to create both types as they serve very distinct purposes.

But fortunately you don’t have to scratch your head wondering how to do it because I’ve got you covered. Below I explain some common content frameworks that you can use to create content for Authority and Conversion.

Let’s start with Authority Content.

Authority Content

Being an Authority brings certain advantages. You’ll find that some or all of the following tends to happen:

• You get more backlinks to your website

• You get more traffic to your website

• You get invited to contribute on popular blogs

• You get more social media activity

• You get interviewed or appear in Podcasts

• You get invited to speak at events

The key thing to bear in mind with Authority Content is that it’s much easier when you’ve got some influential friends on your side helping you to promote it. So before you put pen to paper you have to do some research.

What you really need to focus on is identifying and outreaching to Influencers. Now by Influencers I mean a person or a business who a) has a blog b) has a following on social media and who is c) in a complementary, non competing market.

Basically we’re looking for businesses and bloggers who will work with you in some way, shape or form whether that’s joint content ventures, appearing in your content or promoting it to their followers.

Now we’re not talking Oprah Winfrey or Tony Robbins here (although that would be nice). There are TONS of up and coming bloggers and other businesses who fit the bill.

You may already know some of them or you can look for them in blog aggregators like Alltop. Or maybe you can search in LinkedIn.

The point is that you need to have a list of targets up front and you need to start to get on their radar.

That means signing up to their blog or adding their blog to feedly so you know when they have new content. It means making comments on their blog posts and following them on social media and promoting their content.

Basically support them, help them and get known to them - make friends really.

Once you’ve got your list of targets and you’ve started to get to know them you can start to create your Authority Content. Here are the types of content that are proven to work.

Definitive/Essential/Complete Guides

Call them what you will, nothing says ‘Expert’ or ‘Authority’ like a well-crafted Guide. From five to twenty thousand words in length these are Heavyweight Content that will cement your position as the knowledgeable ‘voice of your industry’.

Let’s face it, someone needs to be the voice - it might as well be you!

 

Don’t be frightened to link to and reference your Influencers work either. Once they know that they’re featured there’s only one thing they’re going to do - promote the heck out of it!

Guest Blogging

Guest blogging has had a bit of a bad press in recent years. But that’s not the type of guest blogging I’m talking about. Now that you’re starting to build relationships with genuine bloggers and businesses and you’re creating Authority Content you can start to contribute to their blog too.

It’s almost a self-fulfilling prophecy. Once you’re in the habit of producing great stuff you’ll notice that all sorts of doors start to open.

And you don’t have to create anything necessarily ground breaking. You can base your guest content on your most popular content. The advantages of guest blogging are that you’ll pick up backlinks to your content as well as getting introduced to a new audience.

List Based Content

Whether it’s ‘10 Best X’ or ‘21 Ways to Achieve Y’ we just can’t seem to get enough of lists and they’ve got a role to play in any content strategy.

Don’t write them off as being too lightweight but likewise avoid building your entire strategy around them.

The starting point is your headline - once you’ve nailed that the content almost writes itself.

From there you just need to start compiling your list and there are easy to follow formulas for doing this.

Expert Roundup

Similar to a Definitive Guide this is powerful long form content with a difference - it’s written by your Influencers.

All you need to do is to find an angle for a particular issue or question and invite responses from your Influencers.

 

 

The really great thing is that you cover three bases: 1) you create great content, 2) you get to strengthen relationships with your Influencers and 3) you get your content out in front of your Influencers audience.

What’s not to like?

The trick is to identify a question that isn’t too broad, but that doesn’t require a one word answer either.

The only fly in the ointment is not to build your entire content strategy around it or people may feel you’re abusing the relationship. Ideally it should be just one of many options in your marketing arsenal.

Comparison Content

Your prospects are busy. They don’t have the time to go around and research all the options. That’s why they’ll appreciate it when you do all the hard work for them by creating content that compares different options.

It could be product based like Apple vs Android or service based like comparing different types of web hosting.

 

 

This type of content allows you to act as an independent expert advising them on the best option for their needs.

That’s a powerful place to be.

Infographics

OK, I’m the first to admit that Infographics have been overdone in recent years.

But a high quality Infographic can still generate a ton of links, shares and interest in your business.

The key is to avoid trying to fit in dozens of facts and figures or it ends up being a jumbled mess. Just pick one main argument and support it with no more than a dozen facts.

Click image to open interactive version (via E-Commerce Content Marketing).

Content For Conversion

Traffic and shares is great right? But would you prefer 10,000 uninterested visitors or 1,000 motivated buyers?

I know which I’d prefer.

And that’s an important point because increasing traffic takes time, money and effort whereas you can get a much faster return on your marketing investment with conversion techniques.

So here are some tried and tested types of content that use the knowledge that you have within your business already.

How To Guides

If you’re really stuck getting out of the blocks with Content Marketing then ‘How To’ Guides are a great place to start.

 

 

Evergreen, easy to create and with a foot in the traffic camp too, ‘How To Guides’ position you as an expert and they are popular with your audience.

Even better, they leverage your knowledge and experience and lend themselves to different content formats such as blogs, pdfs, video, podcast, etc..

Buyers’ Guides

Imagine setting the benchmark against which lesser competitors are measured in the mind of your prospects.

 

 

That’s the power of a well crafted Buyer’s Guide.

And what’s great is that they’re so easy to create. Think of all the sales calls, emails and presentations you or your sales team have done. Most of it is either in your outbox or somewhere else on your hard drive. Either that or it’s up in your head.

You’ve just got to bundle all that knowledge up into one place.

Video

The web is increasingly visual, especially the social web and video is the perfect opportunity for you to demonstrate your knowledge.

But don’t think that video needs to be expensive or require super professional lighting and sound. Not convinced? Well consider the unboxing phenomena that’s growing exponentially. How easy is it to unbox products and demonstrate your expertise by talking through all if the features and benefits?

Or maybe you can create whiteboard videos for services. Camera shy? How about screen capture videos using free tools like Jing?

Video can also complement your other types of content such as How To Guides and Buyers’ Guides.

Case Studies

It would be nice if everyone believed everything we said about ourselves and our businesses. But in the real world your prospects want to see proof that you can deliver what you say you can.

One of the best ways to achieve that is with Case Studies.

By putting your best customers in the spotlight you can follow a tried and tested format of their experiences before, during and after using your products or services.

This type of User Generated Content is easy to obtain. Your sales team know who your best clients are. So put that knowledge to work and start creating your library of Case Studies.

Wrap Up

The world of online marketing is changing rapidly. The businesses that succeed will be the ones who leverage the knowledge within their businesses to build a dynamic and sustainable Content Marketing Strategy.

You can create content for authority or content for conversion using tried and tested Content Frameworks so there is no need to re-invent the wheel.