Content Marketing that Breeds Better Customers

Content
Marketingthat Breeds Better Customers
Why Higher-Value Customers Pay Off in Gigantic Ways
BY ROBERT ROSE

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Why are we still focusing on the quantity of the content we create? We’re
generating tons of traffic — but it’s all bouncing away.
Stop Creating More Content.
Start Creating Better Content.
Creating remarkable content means spending time on experimentation. It means
taking the time to listen to your customer and using that to craft great content
— instead of just pumping it out in large quantities.
To get the best results, remember that content
marketing does not need to compete with your
other tactics — it should enhance them. Done right,
it becomes a centerpiece for them.
Better content ultimately translates to less work.
The end result is higher-value customers.
For example…

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What Can Happen When You Make Remarkable Content the
Centerpiece of Your PPC Campaign?
Marketers at an enterprise software company spent time creating a remarkable
piece of content for their industry. They experimented with distribution, testing
PPC results that pitted direct marketing (request a demo) against content marketing
(download a white paper with a “request a demo” call to action).
Approach Impressions Click
Through
Visitors Cost
Per Click
Demo
Requests
Downloads Demos
Performed
Cost
Per Demo
Conversions Cost Per
Conversion
Direct 50,000 1% 500 $6 30 NA 10 $300 1 $3,000
Content
Marketing
50,000 .5% 250 $6 NA 75 9 $166 3 $500
The direct marketing route was more successful at getting clicks. But a strong
piece of content resulted in more customers at a lower acquisition cost.
The company’s approach was remarkable because it leveraged an old channel
in a new way.
PRO TIP:
When your PPC campaign points to remarkable content, the cost per customer
conversion may be lower.

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Centerpiece of Your Press Release Strategy?
Oracle acquired Eloqua competitor
Market2Lead in 2010. To announce the
merger, the IT giant wrote a boring,
corporate press release. In contrast,
an Eloqua press release pointed to a blog
post that explained, in plain language,
what the acquisition meant to its customers.
Eloqua closed two deals based on that
piece of content.
Eloqua’s approach was remarkable because
it rethought the traditional approach to
corporate news, told a story rather than
“informed the public,” and stole the
competition’s thunder.

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As another example, one Thanksgiving, actor William Shatner burned himself on a
deep fryer. When it heard about the incident, State Farm asked Shatner to reenact
the event and offer safety tips for a YouTube video. The insurance company issued
a press release about the video that resulted in millions of dollars of earned media.
Additionally, the video itself helped cut claims on deep fryer incidents by millions
of dollars.
State Farm’s approach was remarkable because it told a story through the news
and created a timely, unique spin on traditional holiday marketing.
PRO TIP:
Have your press releases highlight
useful and entertaining content instead
of talking about your company in staid,
corporate language.

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What Can Happen When You Make Remarkable Content
the Centerpiece of Your SEO Strategy?
An open-source CMS company in the Netherlands wanted to gain a search
presence in the U.S. They couldn’t compete on common keywords, so they created
great content on up-and-coming niche-focused search terms. They lost 30 percent
of their organic traffic — but engagement went up 150 percent. Inbound links rose
40 percent. Social sharing was up 100 percent. And even with the traffic loss, sales
from organic search rose 185 percent, year over year.
The company’s approach was remarkable because it banked on forecasting what
the next big trend in its industry would be, and fueled content that the company
could be passionate about.
PRO TIP:
With search, focus on your ability to lead on a particular content topic, and use
search to drive engagement, conversion, and sales metrics instead of traffic.

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Centerpiece for Converting Higher-Value Customers?
A debt consolidation company had achieved a high close rate through traditional
marketing, like PPC, ads, and telemarketing. They could close customers in an
hour, and wanted more leads. Changing their focus to great content led to a
three-week close rate, in the short term (yikes!). But over time, those customers
were 217 percent more likely to make the first payment on their loan and continue
to make payments.
These customers were engaged
from the outset. They weren’t going
to sign up just to get a sales guy off
the phone. They were educated and
committed.

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A CEO of a B2B company in a similar situation was dubious of content marketing.
After giving content a shot, the company’s customer acquisition cost was
1.2-times the original; it also took 1.5-times as long to close a customer. But
those customers spent twice as much, stayed with the company five-times as
long, and were twice as likely to share their stories through social channels and
PR-originated press coverage.
These companies’ approaches were remarkable because they were willing to stick
with a strategy that needed time to show results and wasn’t about delivering
“MORE” — but rather “BETTER.”
PRO TIP:
Content marketing may not appear to be the most cost-effective solution from
the outset, but the long-term benefits are huge.

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It’s Not Easy to Create Remarkable Content, but Everyone Is
Capable of Doing It.
You have content that you know you absolutely must create to stay true to your
brand. Then, you have the truly explosive content that nurtures better customers
and helps form a powerful narrative.
According to Coca-Cola’s Jonathan Mildenhall, his company runs on a 70-20-10
content model:
• 70 percent is content they know they have to create.
• 20 percent is content they create expressly for campaigns.
• 10 percent is the experimental, weird, creative stuff
(which typically does not cost very much, either).
What is your 10 percent?
Marketers have outsourced creativity for far too long.
Take ownership and start telling compelling and
amazing stories. Your customers will reward you for it.

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Chief Content Officer magazine
CCO is the first globally-distributed magazine
devoted to the fast-growing, evolving field of
content marketing. It is written by, for, and about
the most innovative, influential global content
marketers. Sign up here.
CMI Consulting
Content marketing is changing your marketing
process. Connect with CMI’s consulting team
to get personalized help.
Managing Content Marketing
The follow-up book to Get Content Get Customers,
but focuses on how to manage and structure
content marketing inside the organization. A must
read for anyone who “gets” content marketing and
needs to execute content programs. Available now
at Amazon.com.
Content Marketing Research
Understand current budgets, benchmarks
and trends for B2B, B2C, Australia, the UK and
more. View all CMI research.
CMI Content Marketing Framework
Learn the common building blocks of any
content marketing strategy.
Read the Framework.
100 Content Marketing Examples
See how companies big and small from various
locations and industries are producing creative,
and successful content marketing campaigns
across multiple online, in person and print channels. Find it here!
Content Marketing World
THE premier annual event for content
marketing, where thousands of content
marketers come together in one location from around the world.
Find out more about CM World today!
Essential Content Marketing Resources
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Content Marketing That Breeds Better Customers
Why Higher Value Customers Pay Off In Gigantic Ways
Written by Robert Rose & Mark Sherbin
Illustrations By Andrew Moir
Design By “JK” Kalinowski

Content Marketing that Breeds Better Customers

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