A content marketing planning tool to help marketers generate a matrix of ideas for the most engaging content types for their audiences
We created our Content Marketing Matrix to help our members audit their content marketing assets as part of creating a content marketing strategy. It can also be used for content ideation, i.e. to brainstorm future content ideas to generate leads, nurture prospects, encourage sharing, and generate backlinks for SEO.
Since we created it eight years ago it's been shared many times and has inspired many 'mashups' in different formats, as this Google search shows; great to see it's been useful!
I think our Content Marketing Matrix is a powerful mindtool for marketers since it's a content mapping tool, structured to help you think through two key dimensions of which types of content will best support the path to purchase for your target audience.…
What’s the secret to a successful finance content marketing strategy? Find out with 5 foolproof tips.
The finance world can be a tough place for a marketer. Creating inspiring finance content marketing that communicates your brand's messages, engages customers and keeps the compliance team happy is a tough nut to crack.
But fear not - there is a way to tick each of those boxes, and it’s all about taking a planned content-led approach.
Finance content marketing for brands
We’ve found that telling stories delivers particularly brilliant results for finance brands. Combining crucial strategic vision with user-friendly design opens up big possibilities for creative, shareable and high-impact finance content marketing.
Want to know how you can achieve this too? Take a look at our eight best-practice guiding principles when creating any kind of content marketing for a finance brand.
1. Directly answer customers’ financial questions
Using search insight and research data to find out which finance topics…
An introduction to best practices for using buyer web personas to create more customer-centric websites
Creating personas of website visitors is a powerful technique for helping increase the usability and customer-centricity of a website as part of a user-centered design (UCD) process. I've been a big fan of using personas since around 2003 I was introduced to it by Matt Dooley, a customer experience manager in the HSBC Global E-business team. At the time, they were following reports by Forrester on creating web personas.
This shows that they're certainly not new, indeed their equivalent of using customer thumbnails for customer segmentation or ad campaigns has existed for decades. However, I find they're still not so widely used when giving examples on training courses.
What is a web persona?
A simple definition of a web persona is: "a summary of the characteristics, needs, motivations, and environment of a key type of website user".
A more specific…
A simple process for weighting your content prioritization
The rise of always-on content marketing has led to a content tsunami, making cut-through more difficult, so teams need tools and approaches to balance their content priorities. In this post, I'll share our 'ABC process' which we use to simplify the process of content marketing prioritization and planning the most effective content to meet our clients' goals.
Marketing common sense ≠ common practice
It’s easy to get immersed in the joy of creating content and lose sight of the bigger picture. (I’ve been there too). The challenge is that when we as marketers put our heart into the job (and as much as we may know the truth is different) it’s easy to lose our heads and act as if our target customers are eagerly searching for what we have to offer.
The inconvenient truths…
Learn the 4 steps to creating a content marketing plan, with our content planning template and the RACE Framework
To help you develop a content marketing plan or review existing methods, I thought it could be helpful to share some of the planning techniques applied in our Content Marketing Learning Path. Take these 4 steps to create a content marketing plan today:
Step 1 Review current use of content marketing. This is a classic SWOT analysis where we have given examples of problems with content marketing programs that are often forgotten.
Step 2 Content marketing objectives and KPIs This uses an efficient planning table I have developed for summarising digital plans on one page. Here, as the example shows, it links objectives, strategies, and KPIs across the customer lifecycle shown as the RACE Planning approach.
Step 3 Content Gap analysis…
The manufacturing industry is experiencing rapid change. Catch up on the latest trends and innovations in this sector plus what we've learned about how to market a manufacturing company in 2021
Around the world, manufacturing marketers and managers are rapidly adapting and amending their marketing strategies to win more customers. Marketing for manufacturing is a unique skill, requiring a strong reliance on physical products in a digital world. That's why so many manufacturing businesses right now are relying on omnichannel marketing to acquire and retain high-value customers. We've got marketing strategies and tactics to help boost your profits. But first, let's take a deeper look into exactly how to market a manufacturing company.
How to market a manufacturing company with the RACE Framework
Regardless of your current levels of digital maturity, the RACE Framework is a structure you can use to take stock of your current manufacturing marketing efforts and find out how to…
Techniques for mapping your digital customer journeys across different touchpoints with the RACE Framework
Understanding your customer and how they interact with your business, directly and indirectly, is critical in driving improved value, repeat business, and longevity (and value) of your relationship. That's why you need a digital customer journey example.
Digital customer journey mapping helps you create a communication strategy that builds a conversation with your customers. Following your digital customers' journies helps you visualize current and planned customer journeys and the key touchpoints across different marketing channels.
So, where do you start when looking at your business and the journey a customer takes in the initial phases of a decision-making process and in follow-up phases as the relationship builds?
Using the RACE Framework to create digital customer journey examples
Our popular RACE Framework gives marketers a solid structure upon which to base their market research, customer experience (CX) analysis, customer journey mapping -…
Chinese social media is way ahead of the rest of the world when it comes to integrating customer experience in the funnel
The constant supply of new innovations in Chinese social media has not stopped in 2021. Many Chinese social media apps now double as payment solutions, so consumers can seamlessly move between their social media streams and make purchases without leaving the app.
Fast technology and a strong customer focus have shaped the social landscape in China. It’s only a matter of time before the Western social media ecosystem starts to adopt more commerce integrations. In this article, we explore five of the latest innovations to social media in China that have taken marketers and consumers alike by storm.
1. WeChat gesture recognition
Originally set up to mark Chinese Valentine’s Day, WeChat released a popular new feature in the summer of 2020 called gesture recognition. This is a hand gesture that uses two…
Digital marketing for healthcare is all about the customer. In a sector experiencing rapid digital transformation, integrating your touchpoints and journeys is more important than ever
We all know research and decision-making for 'your money or your life' are lengthy processes for our customers. That's why you need a dedicated healthcare digital marketing strategy to reassure your customers at every touchpoint in their journey.
Customer journeys and customer experience are important elements of all professional marketing, but where pharma and healthcare really come into their own is the complexity of their customer's omnichannel decision-making journey.
As we know, Digital Transformation in the medical sector is rapidly altering the traditional marketing and distribution methods for healthcare and pharmaceuticals, empowering healthcare providers and patients with a choice of platforms and touchpoints to suit their needs. As an example, take McKinsey's illustrated target prescriber journey below.
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'Strategic marketing beyond a single campaign metric': Brand evaluation requires deeper analysis of your campaign KPIs
A single brand evaluation metric such as 'brand awareness' can get a bad press as a marketing KPI. It's easy to see why, after all, just because I'm aware of your brand, it doesn't mean your marketing has been all that successful in driving demand or sales for a product.
To give a trite example, I'm aware of Donald Trump, North Korea and Protein World. It doesn't mean I like any of them. Nor does it mean I'd ever buy from them. Oh and before you say 'You can't buy from North Korea Rob you idiot'- I think you'll find you can.
Strategic brand evaluation runs much deeper. It's time to aim for strategic marketing beyond a single campaign metric.
"Strategic marketing beyond a single campaign metric"
Boosting brand awareness isn't pointless, far from it.…
