Document Your Content Marketing Strategy: Here’s How

WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.540 --> 00:00:02.740 Yeah, 2 00:00:04.740 --> 00:00:10.030 welcome back to BB growth. My name is James Carberry and I'm joined today by 3 00:00:10.040 --> 00:00:16.790 dan Sanchez and Nicole bump. Uh Nicole is the founder of bump inbound and she 4 00:00:16.790 --> 00:00:21.820 is a content enthusiast and we're gonna be talking to Nicole today about 5 00:00:21.820 --> 00:00:26.810 documenting your content strategy. We're going to get into what actually 6 00:00:26.810 --> 00:00:30.190 should be documented. We're going to talk about some of the mistakes that a 7 00:00:30.190 --> 00:00:34.320 lot of companies make as it relates to documenting their content strategy and 8 00:00:34.320 --> 00:00:39.050 Nicole to dive in. Why is content strategy and making sure it's 9 00:00:39.050 --> 00:00:43.520 documented something that you are so passionate about. So I started off, 10 00:00:43.530 --> 00:00:46.440 well, thank you first of all, thanks for having me on the show. I appreciate 11 00:00:46.440 --> 00:00:50.420 it. When I started off my business, I was mostly just doing content writing 12 00:00:50.430 --> 00:00:54.160 and that's all well and good when you get a really good brief from a client 13 00:00:54.160 --> 00:00:58.120 and they know exactly what they want, but a lot of people don't have a clear 14 00:00:58.120 --> 00:01:01.050 idea of what they want, they say, well I know I need to cover off on this 15 00:01:01.050 --> 00:01:04.280 topic. Here's a general idea of who I want to reach. Can you go write 16 00:01:04.280 --> 00:01:09.720 something for me and you know, sure I can do that, but it is maybe going to 17 00:01:09.720 --> 00:01:12.770 hit the mark. It's maybe not. We might need to go through a ton of rounds of 18 00:01:12.770 --> 00:01:16.770 revisions because we just don't have those inputs there. So if you've got 19 00:01:16.780 --> 00:01:22.400 the foundational inputs ready up front to inform your marketing, then all of 20 00:01:22.400 --> 00:01:25.360 your content, your calendar and then all of your subsequent content. Pieces 21 00:01:25.360 --> 00:01:28.400 can just flow so much easily and then, you know that they're much more likely 22 00:01:28.400 --> 00:01:31.920 to help you hit off on your goals as well. That makes a lot of sense. So 23 00:01:31.930 --> 00:01:36.580 Nicole what being in the business of content, you're probably working with a 24 00:01:36.580 --> 00:01:41.620 variety of different customers clients. What are some of the biggest mistakes 25 00:01:41.620 --> 00:01:45.760 that you see companies making as it relates to documenting their content 26 00:01:45.760 --> 00:01:49.250 strategy? Well, I'd say a lot of the biggest mistake is that a lot of people 27 00:01:49.250 --> 00:01:53.480 just aren't doing it at all. I mean, I think most of us know that we should, I 28 00:01:53.480 --> 00:01:57.430 mean Content Marketing Institute puts out that to be research report every 29 00:01:57.430 --> 00:02:00.710 year, right? That shows how important it is and how much more successful you 30 00:02:00.710 --> 00:02:06.040 are if you've got one. But people just still don't do it. And I, you know, 31 00:02:06.050 --> 00:02:11.120 I've got a few thoughts on why. I mean there's no one right way to do a 32 00:02:11.120 --> 00:02:14.350 content strategy. So I think that people can't get paralyzed with just 33 00:02:14.350 --> 00:02:17.680 not knowing how to do it and what should be in there. And then it can 34 00:02:17.680 --> 00:02:21.040 also be a little bit, it can be a little bit time intensive if you're 35 00:02:21.040 --> 00:02:25.520 going to put a lot of work into it. So that's why I think people just aren't 36 00:02:25.530 --> 00:02:30.940 doing it period. But then some of the other mistakes, I notice one of them 37 00:02:30.940 --> 00:02:38.060 being just not enough insight on the audience. It's not the same as an ideal 38 00:02:38.060 --> 00:02:41.640 customer profile, right? Like you might know, okay, I'm targeting manufacturers 39 00:02:41.640 --> 00:02:45.870 and this size and I want to hit the VP of marketing or, you know, whatever 40 00:02:45.870 --> 00:02:50.140 your your audiences, but you need more than that in your audience for content 41 00:02:50.140 --> 00:02:53.440 strategy, you really need to have some actionable insights that tell you what 42 00:02:53.440 --> 00:02:58.090 they want to hear about as it relates to what you're offering and thats a big 43 00:02:58.090 --> 00:03:02.260 area that I see people coming up short right now. How do you go about? Is it 44 00:03:02.260 --> 00:03:07.070 just a matter of as a marketer getting on the phone and talking to customers 45 00:03:07.070 --> 00:03:12.460 to extract that? Yeah, I would say that if you don't already have some good 46 00:03:12.460 --> 00:03:16.880 personas with actionable information from your wider marketing efforts, that 47 00:03:16.890 --> 00:03:20.320 that is the best way to go about doing it. Just get on the phone with a few of 48 00:03:20.320 --> 00:03:24.760 your prospects, or your customers sales can sometimes be a little protective of 49 00:03:24.760 --> 00:03:28.590 them, but, you know, bring them in the loop if you have to uh and if you 50 00:03:28.590 --> 00:03:32.410 absolutely can't get on the phone with someone for some reason, just find 51 00:03:32.410 --> 00:03:36.170 another way to really try to see the world through their eyes a little 52 00:03:36.170 --> 00:03:40.430 better. So, it was david ogilvy that provided some really great advice about, 53 00:03:40.430 --> 00:03:44.990 like, read the stuff they're reading. Uh check out their trade publications, 54 00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:48.550 check out the forums and groups that they're in online. I mean, I get a lot 55 00:03:48.550 --> 00:03:53.100 of information for my own stuff from being in the D GMG group, date their 56 00:03:53.100 --> 00:03:58.530 hearts group. Those are all people that could be clients of mine, it's some 57 00:03:58.530 --> 00:04:02.500 stage of the game. So I love just listening to their conversations, you 58 00:04:02.500 --> 00:04:07.610 know, so um just you need to figure out how to better understand their day to 59 00:04:07.610 --> 00:04:11.650 day and what they're going through and their challenges as it relates to what 60 00:04:11.650 --> 00:04:16.500 you offer. That makes a lot of sense. So my last question for you, Nicole, 61 00:04:16.500 --> 00:04:22.029 before I handed over to dan is around the specifics of what actually needs 62 00:04:22.040 --> 00:04:26.620 you alluded to a couple of things, but what actually needs to be included in 63 00:04:26.620 --> 00:04:30.580 that documented content strategy. Yeah, so I can hit off on this at a really 64 00:04:30.580 --> 00:04:34.770 high level and then if anybody wants to dive into something specific, got some 65 00:04:34.780 --> 00:04:39.110 tips and things written down. So the first thing really is that the why, why 66 00:04:39.110 --> 00:04:42.190 are you creating content in the first place? And that should definitely 67 00:04:42.190 --> 00:04:45.660 ladder up to what you're trying to accomplish and marketing and ultimately 68 00:04:45.660 --> 00:04:49.860 in your business at large, um to help you meet business objectives, if you 69 00:04:49.860 --> 00:04:52.160 don't know why you're creating content, you probably shouldn't be doing it 70 00:04:52.340 --> 00:04:55.230 audience insights. I already mentioned a little bit about this and it's 71 00:04:55.230 --> 00:04:59.150 arguably the most important part is having those actionable audience 72 00:04:59.540 --> 00:05:05.310 nuggets um, from there. I also like to figure out what some of the key word 73 00:05:05.310 --> 00:05:09.700 opportunities are. So most people when they're doing content do have some sort 74 00:05:09.700 --> 00:05:13.540 of organic goals associated with it. If you don't, if you're really just using 75 00:05:13.540 --> 00:05:17.350 it for, you know, sales enablement or something like that, then maybe this 76 00:05:17.350 --> 00:05:21.000 doesn't belong there for you. But I find that most people would, would like 77 00:05:21.000 --> 00:05:25.500 to see where they can optimize for search. And then another thing actually 78 00:05:25.500 --> 00:05:29.970 that I see people confused about a little bit is your content mission 79 00:05:29.970 --> 00:05:36.320 statement. So really, what is your unique value? So outside of your 80 00:05:36.320 --> 00:05:40.470 products and services, what do you want to offer to people through your content? 81 00:05:40.480 --> 00:05:44.100 That's different than what they can get somewhere else? It's really important 82 00:05:44.100 --> 00:05:49.170 to define who you want to be in that way through your content. Um and then 83 00:05:49.170 --> 00:05:53.810 you can use that mission statement to really um run everything by. So you 84 00:05:53.810 --> 00:05:57.540 have a question. Well, should I be doing X? Well, does it fit with your 85 00:05:57.540 --> 00:06:01.330 mission statement? Okay. You're just about to share some of them from Andy. 86 00:06:01.330 --> 00:06:04.710 But I was going to ask Nicole, do you have any examples of brands that have 87 00:06:04.710 --> 00:06:09.030 really nailed it with that mission statement? That's a good question. I 88 00:06:09.030 --> 00:06:13.760 don't um I don't have anything off the top of my head about someone that's 89 00:06:13.760 --> 00:06:17.800 nailed it, but I was going to share an example of one that I'm working on 90 00:06:17.800 --> 00:06:22.870 right now for a client. They're in the quality quality management space, they 91 00:06:22.870 --> 00:06:28.770 have a SAS solution and right now they're, they're blog just says, you 92 00:06:28.770 --> 00:06:33.120 know, like news and perspective on quality, you know, like that, that's 93 00:06:33.120 --> 00:06:37.730 not really a mission. So what I'm, what I'm helping or suggesting that they 94 00:06:37.730 --> 00:06:41.350 move to is something more along the lines of, you know, we are where you 95 00:06:41.350 --> 00:06:45.820 can wear quality champions can come to learn how to transform their quality 96 00:06:45.820 --> 00:06:49.990 organization from a cost center to a profit center. So that's something 97 00:06:49.990 --> 00:06:53.760 they're really passionate about and their whole product helps people do 98 00:06:53.760 --> 00:06:57.380 that. But now they can also teach people about that through their content. 99 00:06:57.390 --> 00:07:02.010 And as, as a reader or somebody that shows up on their site, I know exactly 100 00:07:02.010 --> 00:07:04.660 what I'm getting in, the value that I'm going to get from it while I'm there. 101 00:07:05.040 --> 00:07:09.540 So the content mission is really about defining who you're creating content 102 00:07:09.540 --> 00:07:14.240 for what they're going to get from it and why that is a benefit for them. And 103 00:07:14.240 --> 00:07:18.580 that helps you align all your marketing around that. What so beyond beyond the 104 00:07:18.580 --> 00:07:23.540 content mission, what comes next and that documented content strategy? Yeah. 105 00:07:23.550 --> 00:07:26.710 So once you have those things like your goals, your audience insights, you've 106 00:07:26.710 --> 00:07:30.310 got some keyword opportunities, You have your content mission, it starts to 107 00:07:30.310 --> 00:07:34.670 look really a lot more clear what you should be producing for your content. 108 00:07:34.670 --> 00:07:38.120 So this is where you start actually outlining at a high level what you want 109 00:07:38.120 --> 00:07:41.820 to produce, like what sort of content initiatives, what sort of content types, 110 00:07:41.830 --> 00:07:46.390 maybe some pillar topics are going to help you start to serve that audience 111 00:07:46.390 --> 00:07:50.560 in those ways to help you reach your goals. And then the final piece, 112 00:07:50.940 --> 00:07:54.010 arguably the final pieces how you going to distribute it. Right? So a lot of 113 00:07:54.010 --> 00:07:58.130 people forget this part to instill this mentality. If you build it, they will 114 00:07:58.130 --> 00:08:03.410 come and that's just not usually the case with content, unless you've got a 115 00:08:03.420 --> 00:08:08.450 giant audience already waiting, most of us don't. Uh so you really do need to 116 00:08:08.450 --> 00:08:10.860 figure out how you're going to get it out there, whether that's through some 117 00:08:10.860 --> 00:08:15.470 owned channels, possibly with some paid distribution as well. So I guess one 118 00:08:15.470 --> 00:08:18.890 thing I attack on that I'm still trying to work through and it's really just 119 00:08:18.890 --> 00:08:22.550 very different with everybody that was governance as well. Um it's kind of a 120 00:08:23.240 --> 00:08:28.610 big, you know, annoying kind of a word, but you just think about like what, 121 00:08:28.620 --> 00:08:33.350 what resources and processes do you need to actually execute on this stuff. 122 00:08:33.840 --> 00:08:37.679 There was a good conversation, I think it was in the D GMG group the other day 123 00:08:37.679 --> 00:08:42.690 about I really am having trouble. I want to do this podcast, but I really 124 00:08:42.690 --> 00:08:46.440 need my subject matter experts and they're too busy and I can't get them 125 00:08:46.440 --> 00:08:50.760 and work with me. Well, if your subject matter experts are not bought in, they 126 00:08:50.760 --> 00:08:54.280 don't have time to work with you, then you need to find another way to do it 127 00:08:54.280 --> 00:08:57.710 or find another approach right? You need to have the right resources on 128 00:08:57.710 --> 00:09:01.360 board or you're never going to be able to execute on your strategy. Fantastic 129 00:09:01.360 --> 00:09:05.840 point. I would also argue that I was not a subject matter expert at all in 130 00:09:05.840 --> 00:09:09.320 the area of B two B marketing. When we first started GDP Growth, I just 131 00:09:09.320 --> 00:09:12.960 started interviewing B two B marketing practitioners who also happened to be 132 00:09:12.960 --> 00:09:18.270 our buyers and I just started asking them questions out of curiosity. And I 133 00:09:18.270 --> 00:09:22.170 remember talking to Anthony Canada, he was the CMO of gain site at the time 134 00:09:22.180 --> 00:09:27.380 and I had no idea what he was talking about when he kept talking about 135 00:09:27.380 --> 00:09:32.420 building a category. It just went completely over my head but was 136 00:09:32.420 --> 00:09:36.790 fortunately able to win it and kind of curiously asked question enough 137 00:09:36.790 --> 00:09:41.220 questions to be able to move the interview along. But to that point I I 138 00:09:41.220 --> 00:09:45.010 think so many people get and B two B marketing isn't necessarily a technical 139 00:09:45.010 --> 00:09:50.170 skill so there might be instances where it's much harder than the road that I 140 00:09:50.170 --> 00:09:55.070 had that I had to pave whenever I was first starting to be to be growth. But 141 00:09:55.080 --> 00:09:58.780 that's a that's a great point. Nicole dan, what are your thoughts around what 142 00:09:58.780 --> 00:10:02.440 Nicole just shared? I just want to start off with the fact that I used to 143 00:10:02.440 --> 00:10:05.850 be like long ago, the person that's not plans were stupid because nobody read 144 00:10:05.850 --> 00:10:09.930 them and things change too fast. And then I started running into problems, 145 00:10:09.940 --> 00:10:12.760 right? There's problems when you don't have a plan, when you actually don't 146 00:10:12.760 --> 00:10:16.990 document things and write them down usually because you're winging it, you 147 00:10:16.990 --> 00:10:20.790 don't even know what the document which leads to less predictability in your 148 00:10:20.790 --> 00:10:24.650 outcomes and generally you're operating under massive assumptions that 149 00:10:24.650 --> 00:10:28.160 everybody even understands where you're trying to get to in the long term, both 150 00:10:28.160 --> 00:10:32.250 your employees and your senior leaders and your peers, Like nobody really even 151 00:10:32.250 --> 00:10:37.290 knows exactly what the end goal looks like. So I become a big fan of planning 152 00:10:37.300 --> 00:10:41.630 from business plans to marketing plans shoot a week ago, we did like a whole 153 00:10:41.630 --> 00:10:46.100 episode on just podcast marketing plans. So I'm a huge fan of this Nicole and 154 00:10:46.100 --> 00:10:48.650 some of the things you brought up already. I'm like I don't have that 155 00:10:48.650 --> 00:10:52.190 part of my content plants. I kind of just pull it all out from my marketing 156 00:10:52.190 --> 00:10:56.480 plan. I don't have them necessarily. I have an S. E. O. Plan and a podcast 157 00:10:56.480 --> 00:10:59.040 plan, but I don't have a holistic content marketing plan that kind of 158 00:10:59.040 --> 00:11:01.830 ties everything together. And so I have a few pieces missing. So it's been 159 00:11:01.830 --> 00:11:07.960 insightful. It helps. It's hard. They're hard. They're I think people 160 00:11:07.960 --> 00:11:11.060 don't think to write them because they don't think about the benefits of them. 161 00:11:11.340 --> 00:11:15.450 Um so they're undersold. They just seemed like busy work that nobody reads 162 00:11:15.640 --> 00:11:20.160 and I have had enough of the pain yet. I don't know. But I found it to be 163 00:11:20.160 --> 00:11:23.240 massively helpful, especially when you can remove yourself from a situation, 164 00:11:23.240 --> 00:11:27.250 because you can just refer to the plan all the time. Yeah. You know, it's 165 00:11:27.250 --> 00:11:31.330 something to that. It don't just create it and let it sit there, right? Like 166 00:11:31.340 --> 00:11:35.800 revisit this, at least I would say a recorder. So the way I like to 167 00:11:35.800 --> 00:11:39.310 recommend people use these as you create your content strategy. And then 168 00:11:39.310 --> 00:11:44.380 once this is done, it flows so easily into your editorial plan, which I 169 00:11:44.380 --> 00:11:47.570 realize some people think of these things interchangeably and they're 170 00:11:47.570 --> 00:11:53.050 really not right? So, the way I consider an editorial plan is the what 171 00:11:53.050 --> 00:11:56.460 you're going to produce and win. So you you may have defined your pillar 172 00:11:56.460 --> 00:12:00.250 content and your strategy, your pillar topics now. What are you gonna create 173 00:12:00.250 --> 00:12:03.500 around each of those pillars? You know what you're working title? What's your 174 00:12:03.500 --> 00:12:07.060 primary keyword? What's your, you know, persona you're hitting? When are you 175 00:12:07.060 --> 00:12:11.920 going to publish it? So that's your editorial calendar and it flows so much 176 00:12:11.920 --> 00:12:14.880 more easily if you've got the foundational elements in peace before 177 00:12:14.880 --> 00:12:18.830 it, right, you're always trying to come up with ideas and whatnot for what to 178 00:12:18.830 --> 00:12:22.640 write. But if you've got the content strategy be done, it's easier. And then, 179 00:12:22.640 --> 00:12:28.230 so if you use that strategy to create your calendar, probably are living in 180 00:12:28.230 --> 00:12:32.820 your calendar pretty often updating at least, you know, monthly, every quarter. 181 00:12:32.820 --> 00:12:37.660 Go back to your strategy and look at this and say, OK, what has worked? What 182 00:12:37.660 --> 00:12:42.540 hasn't worked? What metrics do we maybe need to adjust? What, what do we need 183 00:12:42.540 --> 00:12:45.510 to adjust a little bit as we move forward into the next quarter and 184 00:12:45.510 --> 00:12:51.310 adjust our next calendar? Or create our next calendar as a marketer, you're 185 00:12:51.310 --> 00:12:55.220 probably brainstorming outside the box ideas to engage your prospects and 186 00:12:55.220 --> 00:12:58.660 customers working remotely. And you've probably thought about sending them 187 00:12:58.660 --> 00:13:02.360 direct mail to break through the zoom fatigue. 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Go to craft um dot io 195 00:13:30.340 --> 00:13:34.360 slash growth to schedule a demo and receive a complimentary personalized 196 00:13:34.360 --> 00:13:38.200 gift from craft um to claim your personalized gift, go to craft um dot 197 00:13:38.200 --> 00:13:45.700 io slash growth. Absolutely. I kind of think of it as like a playbook or even 198 00:13:45.710 --> 00:13:48.840 the whole marketing department is like an engine, right? An engine. An engine 199 00:13:48.840 --> 00:13:52.470 needs to be consistent so that you can have consistent growth, right? If you 200 00:13:52.470 --> 00:13:56.160 don't have it documented. So that is performing in the same way every time. 201 00:13:56.640 --> 00:14:00.120 And how do you know how to tweak things in order to make, bring consistent 202 00:14:00.120 --> 00:14:04.260 growth and the documents? One part of that that piece question I have for you 203 00:14:04.260 --> 00:14:08.830 is um how do you, when it comes to dealing with the document? How do you 204 00:14:08.830 --> 00:14:12.520 deal with? Like I find that I'm constantly bombarded with like just new 205 00:14:12.520 --> 00:14:18.610 ideas deviations from the plan and just opportunities mostly. How do you 206 00:14:18.610 --> 00:14:24.210 account for that in your marketing plan? That's a good question. Well, I'm not 207 00:14:24.220 --> 00:14:29.760 always included on the execution of these plants, but I guess what I would 208 00:14:30.140 --> 00:14:35.670 recommend in this case is that you check your idea or your opportunity 209 00:14:35.670 --> 00:14:39.760 against that content mission, Right? Like does it have the opportunity to 210 00:14:39.760 --> 00:14:44.880 help us be more of what we said, we'd be for our audiences. If not, then 211 00:14:44.880 --> 00:14:48.910 maybe you scratch it. If it does, then I guess you're gonna have to look at 212 00:14:48.910 --> 00:14:54.390 your your priorities. Do you have the budget and the resources human and 213 00:14:54.390 --> 00:14:58.690 otherwise to execute on something in addition to what's already planned? If 214 00:14:58.690 --> 00:15:01.970 you do great, I mean give it go and just make sure you measure it and see 215 00:15:01.970 --> 00:15:05.750 how it goes. But if you don't, then you're going to have to prioritize it 216 00:15:05.750 --> 00:15:09.400 over something else. So that's I guess where all the metrics come in, right? 217 00:15:09.400 --> 00:15:12.680 You can say, okay, well this isn't working that well, maybe we could pause 218 00:15:12.680 --> 00:15:15.510 it for a couple months and try something new 219 00:15:16.540 --> 00:15:20.880 when you're first building plans. Do you often build in like how to balance 220 00:15:20.880 --> 00:15:24.310 the objectives? I find that sometimes I'm trying to achieve too much with a 221 00:15:24.310 --> 00:15:28.520 single piece of content. So how do you go about documented in such a way that 222 00:15:28.530 --> 00:15:33.650 you have objectives assigned to the types of content that you're producing, 223 00:15:34.440 --> 00:15:41.450 interesting? Um, so the way I typically think about it is that you want to make 224 00:15:41.450 --> 00:15:45.490 sure that you're covering off on these primary pain points of your audience, 225 00:15:45.490 --> 00:15:51.070 right? At least as you can serve them and then think about it in the lens of 226 00:15:51.070 --> 00:15:55.540 the buyer's journey as well. Right, So no one piece of content is typically 227 00:15:55.540 --> 00:15:59.110 going to achieve your goals. I mean, it could help you get there if you're 228 00:15:59.110 --> 00:16:02.880 looking for conversions. A really great piece of content might get you a bunch 229 00:16:02.880 --> 00:16:08.200 of conversions, but it's not your content program, right? Um, if you want 230 00:16:08.200 --> 00:16:12.880 to eventually that will run out of legs and you'll need something else. So I 231 00:16:12.880 --> 00:16:17.970 think about um okay, what are, what are people going to need from, from each 232 00:16:17.970 --> 00:16:20.430 stage of? I've never heard of you before, I don't even know what the 233 00:16:20.430 --> 00:16:25.480 challenges that you're saying I'm having too. Okay, I am kind of familiar 234 00:16:25.480 --> 00:16:28.720 that I might need something. What what kind of options are there out there to, 235 00:16:28.730 --> 00:16:33.490 you know, the buyer's journey? And if you can create content at each stage of 236 00:16:33.490 --> 00:16:38.150 that journey and then create clear paths through it. Right? So it's easy 237 00:16:38.150 --> 00:16:44.240 for people to find logical next content, then it all works together as a whole 238 00:16:44.250 --> 00:16:49.420 program rather than just overly relying on one piece. Is that the question? I 239 00:16:49.420 --> 00:16:53.600 think so. I have a follow up question is do you, I'm almost wondering, do you 240 00:16:53.610 --> 00:16:58.620 create a document that essentially informs the direction of the content? 241 00:16:58.630 --> 00:17:03.260 Or do you create a planning document of like these are the gaps essentially 242 00:17:03.260 --> 00:17:06.550 that we have. Like, you might look at if you're going to craft it to the 243 00:17:06.550 --> 00:17:11.270 journey, you might say like, oh, here's, here's the gaps we have in top of the 244 00:17:11.270 --> 00:17:14.359 funnel, middle of the funnel and bottom of the funnel, even just based on the 245 00:17:14.359 --> 00:17:17.859 five most asked questions at each part of the funnel, and we don't have a 246 00:17:17.869 --> 00:17:21.980 piece of content that addresses each one of those questions. And then do you, 247 00:17:21.990 --> 00:17:25.950 and then go create backfill it? Or do you just kind of create the strategic 248 00:17:25.950 --> 00:17:30.210 document that kind of gives the general overall direction that we're going? 249 00:17:30.220 --> 00:17:34.000 Yeah, I think it's a combination of both. So if you start with the overall 250 00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:39.430 strategic direction, then you can look at, you know, Yes, you maybe have gaps 251 00:17:39.430 --> 00:17:43.770 in the buyer's journey, but what are your goals first? So if you're really 252 00:17:44.140 --> 00:17:48.150 struggling with getting people to enter your journey, then it doesn't really 253 00:17:48.150 --> 00:17:53.520 make sense to start on your mid to lower funnel Nicole. I want to go back 254 00:17:53.520 --> 00:17:57.710 to the mission that you mentioned earlier. It's something that I've been 255 00:17:57.710 --> 00:18:03.310 thinking a lot about just with me to be growth. We started the show with our 256 00:18:03.320 --> 00:18:07.630 premise being that we talked to B two B marketing practitioners, not authors 257 00:18:07.630 --> 00:18:12.500 and consultants and thought leaders and people that have great content, but are 258 00:18:12.500 --> 00:18:17.370 there not necessarily in the house B two B marketers? And so that was our, 259 00:18:17.380 --> 00:18:23.060 that was our premise. We're starting to shift or this this year with Dan at the 260 00:18:23.060 --> 00:18:27.580 helm of GDP growth, we've started to shift that a little bit to say every 261 00:18:27.580 --> 00:18:31.710 other month, we're now doing a deep dive on a specific B2B marketing 262 00:18:31.720 --> 00:18:36.460 discipline. So last month we did account based marketing next month, 263 00:18:36.460 --> 00:18:42.800 we're doing demand shin, but it still feels like where that's uh to me seems 264 00:18:42.800 --> 00:18:48.620 like a solid premise. I don't feel like we necessarily have articulated a 265 00:18:48.620 --> 00:18:53.440 compelling mission for me to be growth that can get people excited at a deeper 266 00:18:53.440 --> 00:18:58.730 level beyond just like that, you know who we're talking to or the types of 267 00:18:58.730 --> 00:19:02.410 content we're sharing if you were on our team and helping us think through 268 00:19:02.410 --> 00:19:06.370 like what a compelling mission could be. Like how would you try to guide the 269 00:19:06.370 --> 00:19:13.720 conversation well? So I don't, I know a ton about your your efforts, but from 270 00:19:13.720 --> 00:19:21.640 what I do know, I see the value as this is where people were we to be, 271 00:19:21.650 --> 00:19:27.400 marketers come to learn almost best practices from their peers, which isn't 272 00:19:27.410 --> 00:19:31.500 necessarily something you just articulated, but it's it's what I find 273 00:19:31.500 --> 00:19:35.640 interesting about this show, right? Like you might not be a huge thought 274 00:19:35.640 --> 00:19:39.440 leader in the space, but you still have learned some cool stuff that other 275 00:19:39.440 --> 00:19:44.290 people might like to try out, and that's where I find value and listening 276 00:19:44.290 --> 00:19:48.720 to these sorts of interviews. So I guess I go back and ask you like, 277 00:19:48.730 --> 00:19:52.560 really, who do you want to be? Who do you want, what you want this podcast to 278 00:19:52.560 --> 00:19:56.400 be for your audience? Really, what is the unique value that you're providing 279 00:19:56.400 --> 00:20:01.450 that they can't go get somewhere else? Yeah, I think for me, I keep spinning 280 00:20:01.450 --> 00:20:05.910 around, I've been jamming with dan on this, um I keep spinning around this 281 00:20:05.910 --> 00:20:11.010 idea that we don't use the word friendship in business enough. And we 282 00:20:11.010 --> 00:20:15.650 we've started DeBose actually on on the call, we just hired Debo on monday to 283 00:20:15.650 --> 00:20:21.440 start leading mastermind groups for in house B two B marketers and so far 284 00:20:21.440 --> 00:20:25.760 they've gone, they've gone really well, we just kicked off our fourth group And 285 00:20:25.760 --> 00:20:30.210 so B2B growth as a content engine and what we're doing on clubhouse, what 286 00:20:30.210 --> 00:20:34.610 we're doing on the podcast and how we re purpose that content on linkedin. I 287 00:20:34.610 --> 00:20:40.810 think that that allows us to maybe like top of funnel, I guess, to build what I 288 00:20:40.810 --> 00:20:45.960 think is the more compelling reason to be connected to BB growth, which is the 289 00:20:45.960 --> 00:20:50.450 friendships that come deeper in the funnel. Like I don't, I almost want to 290 00:20:50.450 --> 00:20:53.990 think about it like a relationship funnel, like the content hearing from 291 00:20:53.990 --> 00:20:57.770 your peers is how you get exposure to them and then the deeper you get into 292 00:20:57.770 --> 00:21:01.610 the community, you can actually start building friendships, but it feels a 293 00:21:01.610 --> 00:21:06.210 little messy and it doesn't feel like I love that. I mean, you're not hearing 294 00:21:06.220 --> 00:21:12.180 anybody say come make some marketing friends, especially, especially right 295 00:21:12.180 --> 00:21:14.960 now where so many of us are disconnected from everybody else. I 296 00:21:14.960 --> 00:21:19.680 mean, and you know me, I'm always remote, but I can't even go to a coffee 297 00:21:19.680 --> 00:21:23.090 shop anymore. Right? So being able to connect and make some friendships if 298 00:21:23.090 --> 00:21:27.880 you're actually providing that, That's amazing. Yeah. And I was it's funny you 299 00:21:27.880 --> 00:21:30.720 said come make some marketing friends because I was literally thinking about 300 00:21:30.720 --> 00:21:33.510 calling. Like, and I don't know how to do that. You know from a branding 301 00:21:33.510 --> 00:21:36.180 perspective, I really like what we've done with BB growth in the brand that 302 00:21:36.180 --> 00:21:39.530 we've built with GDP Growth. But I was thinking some sort of subset called 303 00:21:39.530 --> 00:21:43.500 marketing friends. Whether that's like that's what we call our our mastermind 304 00:21:43.500 --> 00:21:47.050 groups or you know, I don't know how to work it in. But so hearing you say come 305 00:21:47.050 --> 00:21:50.590 make some marketing friends. My God, well there's your there's your new 306 00:21:50.590 --> 00:21:57.320 tagline for I love that. Yeah, I mean so maybe your value really is the 307 00:21:57.330 --> 00:22:03.810 connection part of the equation and I think it makes a lot of sense because 308 00:22:03.820 --> 00:22:08.460 the whole premise behind our business model is using podcasting to build 309 00:22:08.460 --> 00:22:12.310 genuine relationships with your ideal buyers and with other people in your 310 00:22:12.310 --> 00:22:15.860 industry by inviting them to be a guest on your show that kicks off the 311 00:22:15.860 --> 00:22:20.280 relationship. And and so I I just I see a lot of alignment there, but I'd be 312 00:22:20.280 --> 00:22:23.650 curious dance since you're I mean we've been jamming on this like what are your 313 00:22:23.650 --> 00:22:27.290 thoughts on it? It gets harder and harder the closer I get to it, right? 314 00:22:27.300 --> 00:22:31.750 But generally it's been hard because BTB growth is actually trying to 315 00:22:31.750 --> 00:22:35.320 achieve so many objectives with one podcast where a daily show we're 316 00:22:35.320 --> 00:22:40.300 producing a mountain of content, so trying to organize it in such a way to 317 00:22:40.310 --> 00:22:45.510 like align the mission has been has been a challenge, we at least have some 318 00:22:45.510 --> 00:22:49.060 things going for us and that we're very crystal clear on who our audience is, 319 00:22:49.440 --> 00:22:53.390 like the kinds of insights we try to get out of our show for that audience, 320 00:22:53.400 --> 00:22:58.240 so it's not like we're it's totally murky, like we have some insights into 321 00:22:58.240 --> 00:23:01.520 what we're doing, but it's a challenge and how many things we're trying to 322 00:23:01.520 --> 00:23:05.100 achieve with a building relationships and producing good content and 323 00:23:05.100 --> 00:23:10.050 establishing some thought leadership and trying to create pillar content 324 00:23:10.050 --> 00:23:13.620 that can be trickled out across other social media channels, in building 325 00:23:13.620 --> 00:23:17.490 relationships, you know, those are kind of like the three main things, but so I 326 00:23:17.490 --> 00:23:20.770 would say maybe there's one overarching mission that's a little more general 327 00:23:20.770 --> 00:23:24.600 around you know, peer to peer connections something or other, but 328 00:23:24.610 --> 00:23:28.400 then each of your major initiatives could have its own sort of like mini 329 00:23:28.400 --> 00:23:31.070 mission of what you're trying to accomplish as it ladders up to the 330 00:23:31.070 --> 00:23:36.410 other broader mission like that. All right, so just a reminder for those in 331 00:23:36.410 --> 00:23:40.090 the audience, if anybody is new, we are talking to Nicole bump, she's the 332 00:23:40.090 --> 00:23:45.780 founder of bump inbound and we are chatting about content strategy. If 333 00:23:45.780 --> 00:23:48.880 anybody in the audience has any questions, feel free to raise your hand 334 00:23:48.880 --> 00:23:53.510 will bring up on stage, maybe it's a question, maybe it's a comment or you 335 00:23:53.520 --> 00:23:58.140 just want to tell Nicole kind of what your content mission is or a story 336 00:23:58.140 --> 00:24:00.590 about how you've documented your content strategy, feel free to raise 337 00:24:00.590 --> 00:24:04.780 your hand and we'll bring you up dan any any other questions. And we've got 338 00:24:04.790 --> 00:24:09.180 we've got five more minutes with Nicole before we need to close it down when it 339 00:24:09.180 --> 00:24:14.570 comes to planning content, How many like categories of like objectives are 340 00:24:14.570 --> 00:24:17.990 usually looking at with the company, so many companies just kind of spewing all 341 00:24:17.990 --> 00:24:21.460 these ideas. How do you, do you have like a taxonomy or kind of like a list 342 00:24:21.460 --> 00:24:26.160 that usually go off of when trying to create? Don't know strategic objectives 343 00:24:26.170 --> 00:24:31.020 for the content plan. Good question. So I am working on one now, we're 344 00:24:31.020 --> 00:24:34.510 basically I asked them their top priorities and they gave me a different 345 00:24:34.510 --> 00:24:38.780 objective for like every stage of the funnel and it's one content person on 346 00:24:38.780 --> 00:24:42.250 their team to they have a larger marketing team but this person has to 347 00:24:42.250 --> 00:24:48.790 be in charge of all of it. And so what I suggested to him was that we try to 348 00:24:48.800 --> 00:24:52.700 whittle it down to what are your top few priorities? You know, let's start 349 00:24:52.700 --> 00:24:55.940 there with what, where are you struggling with most in your funnel is 350 00:24:55.940 --> 00:24:59.930 a good place to look when you're trying to figure out what to do first. And so 351 00:24:59.930 --> 00:25:04.360 what are your top priorities? And then, I mean we can we can bring more 352 00:25:04.740 --> 00:25:10.160 priorities in as we evolve the content strategy and revisit it. Um but let's 353 00:25:10.160 --> 00:25:16.980 start there. Um I also encourage people to focus on primary audiences as well, 354 00:25:16.980 --> 00:25:20.210 so you might have some secondary audiences that you want to bring in. 355 00:25:20.220 --> 00:25:24.870 But if there's a primary decision maker, like let's make sure that they are 356 00:25:24.880 --> 00:25:27.600 front and center and their needs are front and center in the content 357 00:25:27.600 --> 00:25:32.960 strategy as well. Fantastic for people listening right now. What would you 358 00:25:32.960 --> 00:25:36.540 recommend if they were gonna like? It's one of those things where you probably 359 00:25:36.540 --> 00:25:41.650 can knock out the whole thing today. So like what one thing can they do today 360 00:25:41.650 --> 00:25:45.230 to get the thing moving? And then in a month and then over the course of the 361 00:25:45.230 --> 00:25:48.840 year, what should they expect to have with a content marketing plan? That's a 362 00:25:48.840 --> 00:25:55.770 good question. Um I would say one thing you can do really easily is um get a 363 00:25:55.780 --> 00:25:59.960 report of your search visibility online and some in some S. E. O 364 00:25:59.960 --> 00:26:04.410 recommendations. So I just recently came across a company called inbound 365 00:26:04.410 --> 00:26:09.140 back office that can run these reports for you. Like within a few days, it's 366 00:26:09.140 --> 00:26:15.960 not expensive, it's like $100 or something and you will get an overview 367 00:26:15.960 --> 00:26:21.200 of how your ranking. Now, the areas where your ranking but not well. And so 368 00:26:21.200 --> 00:26:24.500 if you did a little improvement, you could be ranking much better. And then 369 00:26:24.500 --> 00:26:28.120 they'll do a quick gaffe analysis against some of your competitors to see 370 00:26:28.120 --> 00:26:32.270 where you have some opportunities there. So that's a quick way to say, okay, 371 00:26:32.740 --> 00:26:37.250 here's 5, 10 pieces of content I can create and optimize well and start 372 00:26:37.250 --> 00:26:41.240 doing better. That's one thing you can do is go to visit inbound back office 373 00:26:41.240 --> 00:26:45.380 dot com. Yes, I believe it like a certain service they need to sign up 374 00:26:45.380 --> 00:26:50.880 for or is it like a software? No, it's actually a service, but you, you have 375 00:26:50.880 --> 00:26:54.410 to do like a little onboarding meeting and tell them what you're looking for 376 00:26:54.420 --> 00:26:59.030 and then they just connect you and They charge you monthly. It's all hourly, 377 00:26:59.040 --> 00:27:02.610 but there's no minimums. So if you do your to our search visibility report, 378 00:27:02.610 --> 00:27:06.510 you get charged for two hours and it's like $100. So that's an easy one for 379 00:27:06.510 --> 00:27:10.680 today. What can people expect to do in a month in a month? I would suggest 380 00:27:10.680 --> 00:27:15.380 that you start getting some interviews lined up with some customers. So it 381 00:27:15.380 --> 00:27:18.980 might take a couple weeks to get someone on the phone. So start start 382 00:27:18.980 --> 00:27:22.070 now reaching out, figure out, you know, maybe ask your sales team, your 383 00:27:22.070 --> 00:27:25.560 customer service team, whoever it might be to connect you with some people that 384 00:27:25.560 --> 00:27:31.560 might be willing to chat and get some of those interviews on the calendar and 385 00:27:31.940 --> 00:27:36.940 30, 60 minutes just interview them all about all about their challenges around 386 00:27:36.940 --> 00:27:40.730 your product, how they're using it, what they're using before or currently. 387 00:27:40.730 --> 00:27:43.960 If they don't have your product yet, start getting some customer insights. 388 00:27:43.970 --> 00:27:47.170 Fantastic. And then I assume over the course of the year, they could probably 389 00:27:47.170 --> 00:27:51.800 unpack the full thing that we've been talking about. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. You 390 00:27:51.800 --> 00:27:55.290 don't need a year to do a content strategy. I think that nobody would 391 00:27:55.290 --> 00:27:59.090 ever do it if you did. But yeah, just gradually start working through the 392 00:27:59.090 --> 00:28:02.580 rest of it. And I am going to be trying to put out some materials that document 393 00:28:02.580 --> 00:28:05.950 all this stuff a little more completely, maybe a quarter. You should put out 394 00:28:05.950 --> 00:28:10.020 like a, a form that with questions. People can just fill in the questions 395 00:28:10.020 --> 00:28:14.620 and then bam it spits out the I'm building broadcasting. So I know it's 396 00:28:14.620 --> 00:28:18.920 possible like that would be, well, I might need to become marketing friends 397 00:28:18.920 --> 00:28:19.460 with you and 398 00:28:20.660 --> 00:28:27.270 I'm awesome nickel for those of us that are in the club house call right now, 399 00:28:27.340 --> 00:28:31.310 but also for the folks listening on the podcast when this goes live in a week 400 00:28:31.310 --> 00:28:35.960 or so what's the best way that, that our, our audience and our listeners can 401 00:28:35.960 --> 00:28:39.340 stay connected with you? I would say, come connect on linkedin. I always like 402 00:28:39.340 --> 00:28:42.950 to connect there. That's probably the best way to get in touch. Wonderful. 403 00:28:42.960 --> 00:28:46.940 Alright, Nicola, thank you so much for your time. Thank you to everyone here. 404 00:28:46.940 --> 00:28:51.190 That's, that's joined us live for joining us and we'll be back again 405 00:28:51.190 --> 00:28:55.160 tomorrow at 12 Eastern for the marketing at noon room here on 406 00:28:55.160 --> 00:28:59.400 clubhouse. If you're not already following dan and myself at Sanchez and 407 00:28:59.410 --> 00:29:03.610 James Carberry, you can also follow the GDP Growth club and then make sure to 408 00:29:03.620 --> 00:29:08.170 follow at Nicole bump as well. She is obviously in clubhouse because she's 409 00:29:08.170 --> 00:29:10.990 joining us today, so make sure to follow her as well. Thank you so much 410 00:29:10.990 --> 00:29:15.660 for listening. And uh, we will talk to you soon. Mm 411 00:29:17.040 --> 00:29:20.990 is the decision maker for your product or service. Abebe marketer, Are you 412 00:29:20.990 --> 00:29:25.190 looking to reach those buyers through the medium of podcasting? Considered 413 00:29:25.190 --> 00:29:30.410 becoming a co host of GDP growth. This show is consistently ranked as a top 414 00:29:30.410 --> 00:29:34.550 100 podcast in the marketing category of apple podcasts, and the show gets 415 00:29:34.550 --> 00:29:40.130 more than 130,000 downloads each month. We've already done the work of building 416 00:29:40.130 --> 00:29:44.160 the audience so you can focus on delivering incredible content to our 417 00:29:44.160 --> 00:29:48.560 listeners if you're interested, email Logan at Sweet Fish Media dot com.